CPR, AHA, AED, And Other Letters

I had to take CPR training a few days ago for my job. It has changed quite a bit since the last time I took the training. When I first took the training the AHA suggested a 15/2 ratio of chest compressions/breaths. Now it is suggested to use a 30/2 ratio. This is a concession to AIDS and the fact that many people are not real excited about doing the breathing. I can understand. It is certainly not tops on my list of fun things to do.

They are now also emphasizing using the new Automatic External Defibrillators (AED). I got to learn how to use them. There is one a few feet from my classroom door, across from the nurses station. It is really pretty simple. They are computerized and walk you through the procedure. About the only you could get shocked is if you are actually touching the person that it is being used on. If someone is clowning around and decides to take it off the wall and slap it on someone and shock 'em just for grins they will be sorely disappointed. The internal sensors will detect a normal heartbeat and will not let it give a charge. That's good.

The high spot of the training was when a fellow teacher was practicing dislodging a foreign item from the throat of a baby. The training set the mannequin up and gave instructions and then placed the plug (foreign object) in the mannequins mouth. The teacher followed all the rules: placed the baby on her arm, began to use firm blows on the back with the heel and palm of her hand. After 2 or 3 blows the baby's face flies off. And then we all roared with laughter. I guess she was thinking about her 5th graders at the time.

© 2008 Barry T Horst This work is licensed under a
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GOING GREEN

Did I miss something?

Apparently the color of choice has changed. I have always liked the color blue. The new color of choice is GREEN.

We got the April 2008 Country Living magazine in the mail recently. Green; REUSE; RECYCLE; REFRESH; The whole thing. On the inside it had The Country Living Green Guide; 50+ Ways To Make A Difference. I like #17 - Bulb Basics. It suggests that you drop the incandescent and go with the Compact Fluorescent. I've done that in part of the house. I don't like it. I turn 'em on and what do you think they do? They splutter and flicker and start out dim and have to warm up to get brighter. For an old man that makes it hard to see right away. They cost so much I feel like I need to use them instead of chucking 'em and starting all over again with the good old fashioned, heat throwing incandescents.

Same thing with the April 2008 issue of Metropolitan Home. This time Renovation Goes Green. They purport to have advice from top eco-experts. I don't know. I didn't read it. It wasn't my cup of Green Tea.
And now to top it all off I saw an ad from Wal-Mart touting Campbell's Tomato and Chicken Noodle Soup for Earth Day as being green and good for the environment. The label is green and the ad informs us that the can is recyclable; like it wasn't before? The ad also tells us that it costs less in packaging and to ship it because it is condensed. ????

It's always been condensed. So isn't it really the same as before?
I suppose that green is the new gold and if you advertise that your product is green then everyone will flock to it.
Sounds good to me. I think I'll try it!
For the rest of this week this blog is going GREEN in an effort to REUSE, RECYCLE, and REFRESH. By doing this Horst Household Happenings will now be eco-friendly, it will cost less to package and ship, and best of all save all coastlines of the world by keeping the polar ice caps frozen. Somehow the color green does this. I think it has to do with the way the heat energy from the sun is absorbed or something by the green instead of focusing it's deadly powers on the polar ice caps.
PS: Let me know by Saturday if you think I should keep the blog green or revert back to my tacky energy wasting ways on Sunday.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Take 'er Apart And See What Makes 'er Tick

When I was a little boy the toys I had were simple and relatively inexpensive compared with toys today. When my kids were younger (20 years ago) their toys were relatively inexpensive compared with toys today.

Toys today are like expensive, especially when your toy is a computer and you like to take your toys apart. I did just that not quite a month ago. Refer back my post from February 26. I mentioned briefly my experience with dismantling an external hard drive. Apparently this runs in the family.

My daughter Julie (22 years old) brought something to me last night. "Hey Dad," she said; "Look what I took out of my laptop!" She shows me a wad of dust. Then she tells me that it's all over the inside of her laptop. Then she asks if I have any canned air.

I tell her, "No, I used it all when I took my computer apart last week to get rid of all the dust and hair." Then I tell her, "That stuff is expensive, just blow on it!"

Later, Julie comes in the bedroom and tells her Mother that she put her laptop back together and she had lots of screws leftover. Chris told her that maybe her Dad or brother would like to take it apart and try to find where they go.

"No thanks," she said. "It still works; except the screen!"

It turns out that a couple of nights ago one of her cats knocked the laptop off the night table. The tumble to the floor broke the screen off. Julie had taken it apart to she if she could get the screen to work again. No such luck.

Apple Ipod, look out. Here comes Julie.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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American Living--American????

I took Chris to JC Penney the other day. While she shopped, I looked around. I noticed that they have a new line that they have been pushing. It is called "American Living." Here is a commercial for you to see.

I started looking at some of the products. I picked up a shirt that looked nice. "I might want to get one," I thought. I looked to see where it was made and it said, "Made in Jordan."

WHAT???

MADE IN JORDAN??? American living in Jordan. Okay!?!?

I started looking at other products. I needed an atlas. I felt like I was taking a world tour. I saw Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, and China. There were tags from Pakistan, Honduras, India, Taiwan, and Macau. Other tags said Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Thailand. I even saw a tag on a sweater that said the shell was knitted in Taiwan and finished in China. I didn't even know that Taiwan and China were getting along; much less doing business with each other.

Nothing from America.

Wait, there was a tag that said Northern Mariana Islands.

Say, aren't they a commonwealth in political union with the United States? "They sure are," according to the CIA Fact Book.

Wait a minute.

A closer look at the tag says that the fabric was imported. So It was made in the Northern Mariana Islands (USA) of imported fabric.

Oh well. You can't win 'em all.

While I was still looking at the American Living products in Penney's I began to look at the Arizona products to see if any were made in Arizona.

Nope!

Let's try being made in China, Hong Kong, Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Mexico. Nothing from Arizona.

One day I may try to figure out where St. John's Bay is.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Picture Monday, March 24, 2008

The picture above is not really from Easter. We took the picture of Scott on vacation in the Ozarks in 1987. I think we were at a miniature golf course in Branson, MO. Humpty Dumpty gives it a vague Easter Egg theme.

Easter 1988. Scott is holding a couple of stuffed animals he got and Julie is reveling in the warm sun in the front yard. She might have an egg or two in her lap.

What's cuter than brother and sister on Easter morning? Here they are in 1989 ready to go to church.

Fast forward to 2008. This is Jace showing off some of his loot from Easter morning.

More loot from yesterday morning. And to think they left them at our house in the refrigerator. I guess I can have them for later.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.

The Meaning of Easter

I found the following published on the Jesus Central page "The Meaning of Easter." If you would like more information on Jesus Christ please feel free to visit Jesus Central.

Jesus "Christ" is known as the founder of "Christianity". Christmas is a Christian holiday that commemorates the birth of Jesus. At Easter, Christians celebrate their belief that Jesus came back to life after his death (called "resurrection"). Read the resurrection story from an ancient biographer (Mark 16).

"The Passion of the Christ" refers to Jesus' final hours of torture and execution on the cross. Read this "crucifixion" story from an ancient biographer (Mark 15). Christians recognize Jesus as God, and the cross as God suffering a penalty on behalf of humans. Christians believe therefore that God no longer needs to punish (can forgive) humans for their wrong doing (sin).

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.>