Our former Regent Square neighbors (we left, they didn't) just returned from a fall semester of living and working in Qatar that they captured in their blog Monroes Abroad. (Wait until you check out the house that they lived in!) It is an interesting read that captures some of the culture clash that you read about in the article.
I find the Education City model, and the participation of American Universities very interesting. It is kind of like the food court at your local mall. You know, the Orange Julius, a chinese place, a mexican place, a cheese steakery, a pretzel shop, but with universities and majors:
Carnegie Mellon offers business and computer science Virginia Commonwealth offers fine arts (including fashion design, can't wait for Project Runway Qatar) Georgetown offers foreign service Cornell offers medical related majors and Texas A&M offers engineering fields, including petroleum.
The "Food & Flavor" section of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is usually the last place you expect to find coverage of global supply coverage, but today, Gretchen McKay brings together environmental sustainability, farm raised fish and the high protein diet in the closing paragraphs of her early-lent homage to fish:
"...because fish is an excellent source of protein, and also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids that benefit heart health, groups such as the American Heart Association still recommend eating up to 8 ounces at least once a week.
The government and other groups track fish with highest levels of mercury, a list that includes swordfish, tilefish, shark, orange roughy and king mackerel. (For a complete list, visit www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sea-mehg.html)
"As with anything, you just need to do it with moderation," says Ms. Liu. "The benefits still outweigh the dangers."
Then again, with fish prices going the way of gasoline, it's probably not too hard to cut back to acceptable levels.
A boom in ethanol production has caused many farmers to plant fewer soybeans -- a key feed for many species of fish -- in favor of more corn. That, in turn, has sharply increased the cost of raising fish. Fuel costs for fishermen and product that is flown or trucked in has also increased. Cod, by way of example, has nearly doubled in price since the late '80s."
There you have it. Higher demand for ethanol, higher demand for corn, higher production of corn, lower production of soybeans, higher soybean prices, higher fish food prices, more expensive fish.
If you watch the local news in Pittsburgh (and if you live in Pittsburgh you know you can't pass up the steady diet of fires, urban and rural shootings, threatening weather and sports reports approximately 25% of which include at least one person wearing one item of Steelers attire) you may have seen gsully on Channel 11.
To respect her privacy, I will not go out and find a link to the video to the report where she expressed a deep sense of fear about the contents of our hand lotions.
I will tell you that she felt ambushed by a Channel 11 reporter (who did not appear in the story as it aired) who approached her in the parking lot of Waterworks Mall as she was loading groceries into the car. She was asked if she was concerned about a report she knew nothing about and really had no opinion on. They then took her reaction and edited it into the report as if she had been made aware of the whole thing, and used her natural expression of concern as a mother to tease the story promising potential fear.
I guess we feel a little exploited, which makes sense because we watch the local news because of the way it's put together is often like The Daily Show without intentional comedy writers, presenting news that is often literally not fit to print since many of the stories don't even make the newspaper the next day.
By the way gSully was not wearing ANY Steeler gear, and in my very partial opinion, looked fantastic. I was creeped out a little by a woman in a parka who seemed to lurk behind her left soldier.
P.S. It's been an interesting couple of months for Sully's and the local media, more on that later. P.S.S. I have not been in China since early October. I've just been busy.
The world of Spend Management (or at least Supply chain Management) and my health collided yesterday at Allegheny General Hospital.
Those of you that know me personally know that for the past 18 months I have had abnormally high results from liver function tests. Otherwise asymptomatic, we have not been able to figure out what is causing these high levels. With some diabetes in the family it is better to figure out what is happening than not. The last avenue we have to do this was a liver biopsy.
So I block my calendar, GSully lines up some great care for the kids, and we show up at AGH at the appointed time. We check in, I get my "red light district length" hospital gown on and wait. The scheduled time of 11:15 comes and goes. Fifteen minutes my Doctor comes in.
"I am embarrased to say that the needle necessary for your biopsy is on backorder, so I can not perform the biopsy today."
GSully thought he was joking. I was just to shocked to even be mad at this my first personal encounter with our "3rd world" healthcare system.
It turns our that there are 3 types of liver biopsy needles: suction, cutting an spring loaded. Just as a jet pilot is certified to fly a CRJ, a 737 or a 747, but not all three, if you use one type of needle, you are not able to use the other 2 types. (I don't know what type of needle my doctor uses.)
Turns out it was not the Doctor's fault, or the nurse's fault, or operations fault -- it was of course the suppliers fault. The supplier had switched manufacturers and was now having trouble meeting their production schedule. They knew on Friday that they didn't have it. They thought they would get it on Monday. They were not due to receive it until after I was due to check it. Blah Blah Blah...whatever.
For my 3 hours of time, I did receive 2 free lunches in the AGH cafeteria, 2 free cups of coffee from the cart in the main lobby, free parking, some graham crackers and a few apologies. A "You've got to be kidding me" story for the blog, and some free time on one of the 5 best weather days Pittsburgh will have all year. And I get to go back and try to do it all again soon.
As a young family with young children, hopes, and dreams, GSully and I were both moved to tears by Mark Roth of the Post-Gazette's coverage of Randy Pausch's last lecture at CMU. Now the inspirational lecture is posted in several parts on YouTube. Start by watching part 1...
To the Ferris Wheel, the Big Mac and modern organized labor add the emoticon to things invented in Pittsburgh. It's been 25 years since Scott Fahlman, a rather distinguished professor of at Carnegie Mellon decide that jokes should be designated by the now famous colon dash close parens combo. On his CMU website you can catch up with the other things he's actually accomplished in his life, or you can skip to his history of the Smiley and even peruse the mother thread where the first Smiley appeared.
The complexity of pricing schemes seem to increase daily with the advent of technology. As companies are better able to track your purchases, they are able to develop programs and promotions that would have been impossible to manage in the past.
Giant Eagle, who has used it's Advantage Card program to launch a regional juggernaut of Get Go gas station/convenience store through it's "Fuel Perks" program, which in turn launched them into the gift card business is a great example of this. (If your outside the area that the Giant Eagle flies in, Fuel Perks essentially refund 1-2% of your grocery purchases back to you in gasoline depending upon the size of your personal vehicles gas tank.)
I was the victim of a promotion gone wrong on Saturday. The requirement was to buy $25 of various products, primarily General Mills cereals. In return, you would receive a $10 coupon, printed at the register for your next Get Go purchase. I have 3 kids, eating $25 in cereal is maybe a 60 day proposition, so this made sense.
The coupon did not print at the register, which triggered a 30 minute odyssey to get my $10. First stop, the customer service desk. Second stop, the chief cashiers desk. Third stop, lane 16, where we twice tried to ring up the promotion to receive the coupon. It turns out that they did not have another way to produce the coupon, so the next step was a debate about how to give me $10. Should I get a refund? a Giant Eagle gift card? a Get Go Gift Card?
Finally they decided to give me a $10 refund, because it required the least amount of paper work on their end, but led to my 4th stop, a repeat visit to the customer service desk, and after 30 minutes I was out the door $10 less poor.
To their credit the staff at the EdgewoodTowne Centre Giant Eagle was very friendly and did nothing but try to give me my $10, and found a solution even when they could not create the original coupon. They did, however, prove that complex promotions like this are virtually impossible to manage when the IT doesn't work as planned.
Since we've moved "down by the river," we've been able to pick up a new hobby that keeps you fit and gets you in touch with nature -- kayaking on the Allegheny River.
After borrowing a neighbors kayak a few weeks ago, we were hooked. A quick trip to Dick's Sporting goods for a boat, paddle, life jackets and cart that allows us to roll the boat the 1/8th of a mile or so from our garage to the waters edge, and we were in business.
At the spot where we live close to the Fox Chapel Yacht Club, there's generally lots of boats around, but very little boat traffic. So after slogging through a little bit of muddy shallow, you're out on the waterway.
In the kayak, you're literally sitting on top of the water. You will get wet, but not as wet as the jet skiers and water skiers you might be surprised to bump into.
The south shore is tree covered hillside. When the sun is shining with blue skies and blue water, it's the closest feeling I've had in Pennsylvania to the wide open spaces you find out west.
The wildlife surprises -- fish jump out of the water, geese and other birds swoop in and skim the water for catch. You'll make some friends out on the water as you pass fellow kayakers, and a few owners relaxing on their boats docked at the club.
Heading toward Oakmont, you'll find some islands in the water for exploring. The route (link) we've mapped here is typical for us. Almost 3.5 miles, it generally takes about an an hour with no lengthy stops.
This past Wednesday was "Kennywood Day" for our school district. Kennywood is a Pittsburgh tradition and historic landmark founded in 1898. Completely ingrained in the Pittsburgh culture, it's practically assumed that every school kid, township, borough and several companies will host an annual Kennywood Day.
Virtually every Pittsburgher visits Kennywood each year and many more than once. Many end up working there at some point. I currently work with at least 2 ex-Kennywood employees, one of whom is married to an ex-Kennywood employee. Having lived in other cities, I can think of no other amusement park as completely ingrained in a cities identitiy as Kennywood. (Well, maybe Hershey Park.)
This year was milestone year for my 6 year old son, who rode both the Phantom's Revenge and the Pit Fall for the first time. Despite being pretty quiet and shy, he's been a coaster nut since his first ride on the Jack Rabbit when he was 3 years old.
Sitting by his side as we plunged down the hillside at speeds up to 85MPH, I saw the amusement park experience in a new perspective. Not just about fun, dizziness and fried food, thrill rides present real tests of courage for our kids (and adults too, I suppose).
So as we sat at the top of the Pitt Fall and my son said to me "This is a great view dad," as I tried to pry my eyes open, or he bounced along saying "I must be the bravest kid in the whole world." after conquering Phantom's Revenge, I decided that there's a valuable lesson at amusement parks about the rewards that come from taking calculated risks.
Sully (aka Justin Sullivan) is an award winning strategy consultant for Ariba, Inc, helping Global 2000 companies save money in the globalized economy. During the Clinton Administration, he was a career-appointed Policy Analyst for the United States Office of Management and Budget, the White House budget agency. A Pittsburgher by marriage, he came to Pittsburgh in 1991. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University twice (where he also played basketball for about 4 minutes) -- a BS in '95 and an MS in Public Policy in 1996 -- where he studied riverfront development.
Since returning to Pittsburgh in 1999, Sully has lived in Regent Square, and helped add 3 little Sullys to the world. Sully's Stuff was launched in 2005 to give him a forum to spout off and as a platform to promote "Stride Against Stroke" to raise over $3,000 for Gaylord Hospital's stroke programs while training for the Harrisburg Marathon. In addition to Sully's Stuff, Sully's writing will appear in the January 2006 issue of Federal Times.
