I used to train every year in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR when I was an employee in an office setting.  It’s been years, since I had any training, and I noticed things have changed since then.

Selfish Reasons

For two very selfish reasons, I want as many people to know CPR and basic first aid, like the Heimlich maneuver as possible.

The first is obvious…I’m old and have a a large family history of heart disease.  I try to stay fit with diet and exercise and I don’t smoke or drink, but I’m still likely to have heart disease.

The second reason is a situation that happened to me a few years ago.  I was in a steak house with 5 other co-workers and started to choke on a piece of steak that I hadn’t chewed properly, and I realized pretty quickly that I wasn’t going to be able to swallow or expel the meat in my throat.  One of my co-workers noticed I was struggling and asked if I was okay and I shook my head “no” and it soon became clear that not one of the five people at the table knew how to do the Heimlich maneuver.

Fortunately, when I stood up, I was able to dislodge the steak from my throat myself and I was fine…it all took less than 30 seconds.  But I was amazed to confirm that not one of the five adults at the table knew what to do.

Be prepared to save a life…especially if you hang out with me a lot.  Thanks!

Current Knitting

Work was progressing just fine on the latest niece’s blanket.

But I was being nagged by two issues with the design of the blanket.  First off, I was thinking the fabric was too dense and not drapey enough.  I usually have a rule of thumb that if I consider ripping out a design 3 times because of the same issue, it’s time to rip.  But my decision was really make for me when my two-sided cable wasn’t matching the row gauge for the rest of the blanket.

See how it blistered out at the bottom and also at various points along the cabling.  With both these issues, I decide to start again.  This time on larger needles and changing my two-sided cable to a double-knitting version of the cable which matches the row gauge perfectly.

It will take a bit longer to finish the blanket now that I’ve restarted it, but I will sleep better at night.