Articles of Interest

• City Paper had a fascinating article this week about foster parenting (written by Melissa Meinzer). Our own Sue Kerr was mentioned.
• The New York Times ran an article titled, "36 Hours in Pittsburgh". I was at Borders coffee shop studying yesterday when a group of youngish men decided to sit down and talk loudly about this article. The young man studying for his mcat-s and I (studying for my Computer Science GRE) exchanged looks. Fortunately, the men speaking had positive things to say about Pittsburgh. The article was written by Jeff Schlegel.
  
• Talking Points Memo had a long post by Steven Greenhouse about the difficulties facing young adults entering the workforce nowadays. I actually must say that I made my final decision to minor in computer science because I had seen so many job offers that included health insurance for people with programming skills. I mean, I'm already interested but the health insurance and an interest in going to a masters program in IT, IS, or CS tipped me over the edge. Database programming languages and going to see my doctor never would have struck me as related two years ago. This is no longer the case. The article brings up that there is a feeling amongst young people my age that an undergraduate degree no longer seems enough. I agree.
  
• Better late than never. It must be commented upon that the end of an era has arrived: Bill Gates has retired. Here's an amusing "to do list" someone wrote for Bill...Gates, that is. (It makes me really happy that when I write Bill, I'm not referring to Bill Clinton.)
  
• Okay this isn't an article but it is serious. I was chillin' at the pool the other day when a guy went into Cardiac Arrest. This was the second time in two months that I'd been around when an older guy had to be rushed to the hospital due to cardiac problems. The first one was at home when my dad's blood pressure interacted with his sleeping meds (he's fine now). According to the American Heart Association:

• "Almost 80% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen in the home, and many are witnessed by a family member. Effective bystander CPR, provided immediately after a sudden cardiac arrest can double or even triple a victim's chance of survival. The American Heart Association provides life-saving CPR training to students, families, healthcare providers and others to increase survival from sudden cardiac arrest in every community, and works to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke."

• Luckily, they were able to revive the man at the pool, but it made me realize that I couldn't really remember the process for what you're supposed to do in that situation. The American Heart Association will be offering two CPR classes, which I have now decided to attend, at the Blogher conference. I would encourage everyone reading this blog, to think about making sure you know what to do. The population in Pittsburgh is ah, getting a bit older, and as such, we should all be prepared to deal with these types of situations. The Red Cross has offices all over Southwestern PA offering trainings.
  

Peace.

-Agent Ska-