Scarier Than Halloween?

For the most part of my engineering career, I performed repairs (surgeries) on countless PCBs. It didn't dawn on me that one day, I would have to undergo one myself. Warning: graphic image in this post, so be warned!

Recently I had a regular dental visit to clean my teeth. My dentist friend noticed the gum above my front top left incisor was darkened and inflamed. She did a check and found recesses of 5mm and 9mm around the affected tooth. X-ray revealed the foundation of that incisor had eroded, and she advised me to see a gum specialist.

She cautioned if I leave it untreated, the incisor would slowly loosen and ultimately come off. Moreover, periodontal disease is known to likely affect the brain and heart. After giving it some thought, I accepted her advice. She recommended me a gum specialist and I made an appointment for consultation the following week.  

The day came and I visited the specialist's clinic for a more thorough examination, after which he proposed a perio guided tissue regeneration (GTR) procedure to help secure and save the incisor and the neighboring teeth. A quick discussion with my wife and I went ahead with the surgery on the same day. The surgeon administered about ten jabs of anesthesia around the area before carrying out the procedure (I will spare you the gory details). It was over in about 45 minutes and I was prescribed two courses of antibiotics, anti-swelling medication, mouthwash, and painkillers.

The surgery set me back $1500 but in view of the risk of loosing my incisor and possibly my health, it's a price worth paying. Thankfully, the wounds are healing well and I didn't end up looking like a hamster. Will be going back for review in two weeks' time. 

Meanwhile, I'm taking baby food and resting as much as needed...

 

Steal and Escape

Two days ago, I received an email from a guy by the name Jason Richard out of the blue.  Here are his words:

A few months ago, I sent Joe a picture of the hardware hacker library I was building at work and asked him to do the same. After a few messages he felt that I needed your new books for the collection, so he sent them to me.

Things were unfamiliar, but not daunting... Until I got to page 149. That might have been scariest thing I've seen as I imagined someone asking me to RE it. After a few minutes of terror and intense imposter syndrome, I settled down and thought about it. Afterwards, I kept reading to understand how you would tackle the problem. Once again, I'm loving the information you are providing and am wondering if you ever thought someone would classify your books as a thriller? 

Don't ever say, "this is my last book"! For a 40-year-old man just getting into this subject, I need your knowledge. Thank you again. 

I was somewhat taken aback when I read that he classified my books 'as a thriller'. Who is this Jason Richard, anyway? After doing a Google search, I found a man by that name that matched his email address, and who owns the following company:

With so many online scams going on these days, I felt a need to exercise some caution. Since he mentioned he knew Joe (Grand, I suppose), I wrote an email to the Kingpin to check if he had indeed sent him my books. This morning, I received Joe's reply:

Thanks for checking - Yes, Jason is a friend of mine. I sent him a few of your books to add to his ever-growing bookshelf. He's hungry and eager for knowledge! 

Hmm... A founder of a high-tech escape room business in San Diego interested in PCB-RE? That's odd but interesting. But at least now I understand why he'd consider my books on this niche skillset 'a thriller', coming from his adventure games background. That figures. Maybe I'll write a reply and suggest to him the possibility of including reverse engineering skill into his escape room adventure. I'm sure it will be the next big hit!

Well, just a thought, anyway...