Did you know that there is a day to celebrate the Bill of Rights? Yes, believe it or not, there is a day to celebrate our personal freedoms and the limits of the federal government as noted in the first 10 Amendments to the US Constitution.

Little did I know until I read Ken Herman’s column in the Austin American-Statesman. For those who need to put it on the calendar, it is officially December 15.

I suspect that there won’t be any parades, or any office parties. Hallmark won’t pull out their Bill of Rights cards a month in advance to cash in on the influx of consumers looking for just the right way to celebrate. And worst of all, most people will simply take it for granted – not that December 15 is in fact the official date, but the Bill of Rights in and of itself after 220 years in existence.

We have lost sight of what the Bill of Rights really means anymore. That cannot bode well for the future of this country.

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What defines clinical excellence? In his book "Outliers", Malcolm Gladwell writes about the "10,000 Hour Rule". Based on his research and observations, he claims that the key to success in any field is a matter of attaining 10,000 hours of practice.

After four days of interacting with many physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, educators, and students in San Diego, it became readily apparent to me that Malcolm Gladwell was describing clinical excellence in the physical therapy profession. Very well, as a matter of fact.

Clinical excellence is not a degree program. It is time in the clinic - assessing, treating, observing.

So what does 10,000 hours look like in physical therapy? And why should the physical therapy profession care?

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The Republican Presidential debates have all the makings of a great reality TV show. Money. Power. Scandal. All they need are a little tweaking by an executive producer like Mark Burnett (“Survivor”) or Jerry Bruckheimer (“Amazing Race”). It could have all the makings of a “Big Brother”, only with a lot more long-term impact.

We could put all of the Republican presidential candidates in isolation on an island, or in a big house. If it was the latter, it would have to be palatial to do justice to the candidates and their budgets.

Each candidate would have an evolving, week-by-week back story. Mitt Romney’s ten thousand dollar bet. Herman Cain’s alleged adultery. Newt Gingrich’s not-so-alleged adultery and history as Speaker of the House. The list goes on and on. Reality TV needs juicy story lines, and we have plenty of them now.

Let’s get Megyn Kelly to host the series.

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The past week had me out in San Diego for the American Physical Therapy Association's Combined Sections Meeting (CSM). It looked like a pretty good conference program, and hey, you can't beat the weather in San Diego, right?

As it turns out, San Diego was overcast the majority of the time I was there. When it was all said and done, I really can't say that I was that impressed with the programming. More on that later.

But there was a huge redeeming feature to those days in San Diego. It turned out to be a "meeting of the minds" of sorts - brought to us by social media.

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