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Housing Kitsap's headquarters at Mickelberry and Bucklin Hill roads in Silverdale.(Photo: Meegan M. Reid / Kitsap Sun)

SILVERDALE New multifamily projects remain on holdas Housing Kitsap works to rebuild its finances. But Kitsaps housing authority is moving into Mason County with two self-help housing projects in the works for Shelton and Allyn.

Self-help housing allows families to build their own home alongside a group of neighbors, with the down payment covered by personal labor, help from Housing Kitsap staff and low-interest loans provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

However, the program has run up against Kitsaps skyrocketing property costs in recent years. Thats prompted Housing Kitsap to look beyond the countys borders, something the agency hasnt done in more than a decade.

Land is very difficult to find in Kitsap, said Dean Nail, Housing Kitsaps director of single-family housing. We would like to stay in Kitsap, but Shelton has a need for housing as well.

The two sites in Mason are still in their beginning stages. Housing Kitsap is still finalizing the purchase of the Allyn property, which is not expected to see construction until 2022. The Shelton property, on the other hand, is projected to start building this summer.

Housing Kitsap bought the Shelton property in June for around $510,000. That amounted to about $33,000 per lot far less than the going rate in Kitsap, which Nail says is more than $80,000.

One of the big things (Nail)does is look for opportunities, and hes looking all over, said Housing Kitsap Executive Director Stuart Grogan. Weve looked at a number of properties over the years and it's really exciting we have the two.

Those projects will mark Housing Kitsaps first ventures into Mason since 2006, when a self-help projectwith 22 homes was completed in Shelton. The Kitsap housing authority had previously coordinated self-help projects throughout the Olympic Peninsulabut has only focused on Kitsap sites in recent years, Nail said.

The self-help program is paid for by theUSDA,which provides low-interest loans to homeowners. Mortgage payments are subsidized based on household income. Housing Kitsap helpspackageconstruction loans for participants and provides assistance during construction.

There are currently three other self-help sites in the works by Housing Kitsap: Kingston's Maple Lane development, as well as Prosperity Park and Sherman Ridge, which are both in Port Orchard.

Constructiontakes around 12 months, withgroups of families working around35 hours per week on their home. Groups at Maple Lane and Prosperity Park are entering the final legs of building, and homes areexpected to be completed this spring. Another group at Prosperity started building a few months ago.

Brandon and Jessica Johnson move furniture to their new home at the opening ceremony of the Maple Lane Group One Kitsap Housing development in Kington on Friday, December 14, 2018. (Photo: Larry Steagall / Kitsap Sun)

This isn't the first time the region's hot housing market has prompted Housing Kitsap to take another approach.A few years ago, Sherman Ridge was the first batch of self-help projects where Housing Kitsap developed lots from scratchinstead of buying them at market rate.

The expansion into Mason comes on the heels of Housing Kitsap offloading several properties, part of the agencys three-pronged plan to regain financial stabilityafter emerging from near-financial catastrophe last year.

In recent months, the Housing Authority sold off the 550 Madison Avenue apartment complex on Bainbridge Island and undeveloped Olhava property in Poulsbo. The agency is still working on selling a third property, undeveloped Viking Crest land in Poulsbo. The agency has also moved toraiserent across its 17 properties.

For Grogan, the self-help projects in Mason allow Housing Kitsap to expandhomeownership in the broader region while staying focused on affordable housing options in Kitsap.

We have multiple needs and multiple interests for affordable housing. Sometimes it means rental housing is the right solution for a household and sometimes the opportunity to build and own a home longer term is really great, he said. But it's really important for all of those options are available.

Austen Macalus is the Kitsap Sun's social services reporter. He can be reached at austen.macalus@kitsapsun.com or 360-536-6423.This coverage is only possible with support from our readers. Sign up for a digital subscription.

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Housing Kitsap moves ahead with projects in Mason County - Kitsap Sun

A new course in adulting offered at the University of California, Berkeley, that teaches students basic life skills like self-care, self-love and sleep has gotten so popular that its having to turn hundreds of students away.

Students Belle Lau and Jenny Zhou launched the class in adulting last year with only 30 students in attendance. This spring, the class will be full with 80 students and an additional 200 had to be turned away, KTVU reported Tuesday.

Ms. Lau said the class will feature guest speakers on topics like managing time and money, fitness, nutrition, mental health and improving relationships.

Self-care, self-love and sleep, she added.

Ms. Lau said she was inspired to create the class after she moved to Berkeley from out of state and found herself struggling with the pressures of college life.

I felt stressed to want to accomplish so many things within a 24-hour day that I would feel helpless, she told the student-run Berkeley High Jacket. I know that I am definitely not the only college student who feels like this and thought it would be a great idea to have guest speakers come in to tell us ways to address and manage our stress without burning out or breaking down.

It seems many students are thankful for the help.

I want to feel prepared, like I know what Im doing and I know how to be an adult, 21-year-old Allegra Estrada told KTVU. You can know as much as you want about physics or biology or English but that doesnt help you when you need to do taxes or figure out what to eat.

Its harder to budget when youre not living at home because you have a lot more expenses, said 19-year-old Lauren Frailey. Im excited to learn how to manage my time better and that will definitely help me manage my stress as well.

The course is on a pass or no pass basis and is part of the DeCal program at Berkeley, which allows students to create and teach low commitment and unconventional classes, the High Jacket reported.

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Berkeley's new 'adulting' class teaches 'self-care, self-love and sleep' - Washington Times

What if optimal psychology is found in spirituality?

Last year, I proposed a unique perspective on trading and investing: the mistakes that we make in financial markets are not primarily ones of emotional disruption and cognitive distortion. Rather, they are the results of ego-attachment. Our financial investments become ego investments when we gauge our success and predicate our well-being on our profitability. Once that happens, we fear missing winning trades, refuse to exit losing ones, oversize positions, and cut winning opportunities short. No amount of self-help can truly help us if the self has been hijacked by the ego.

In the blog-book that I subsequently wrote and posted online, Radical Renewal, I expanded on this thesis, illustrating how sound decisions in financial marketsand indeed in all of lifespring from the soul, not the ego. This may initially sound mystical and unbearably touchy-feely, but is actually quite objectively observable. Consider the role of idea generation among portfolio managers at the worlds leading hedge funds. These managers develop robust processes for removing themselves from biases and distractions, connecting to valuable sources of information, and then processing that information in novel ways. This creative process is far from ego-laden. Indeed, it often springs from cognitive activities remarkably similar to meditation and prayer: dampening internal chatter and allowing a different voice to emerge. The idea advanced in Radical Renewal is that the worlds great religious and spiritual traditions are a veritable gold mine of practices for moving beyond ego-laden self-talk and discovering soul-full wisdom. These traditions are perhaps the greatest crowdsourcing experiment in history, revealing perspectives and practices that have inspired and guided self-aware individuals for millennia.

Typical traders and investors think of losses in financial markets as problems and failures, and they predictably respond with frustration or fear. Suppose, however, that the investor believes that life itself is a series of lessons, with a curriculum guided by a Higher Power. Now, all of a sudden, losses become learning opportunities. The spiritually-inclined investor can actually respond to setbacks with gratitude: each loss is there to teach a lesson. Perhaps the loss teaches something about the markets or strategies being traded; perhaps it illuminates something about the implementation of those strategies. When progress is measured in terms of learning and development, there is no longer the same ego-attachment to short-term financial returns. The goal becomes learning and improving; what makes us successful money managers now aligns with what will help us manage and navigate opportunities throughout life.

I was delighted to learn from the University of Pennsylvania that one of its graduate students, David Bryce Yaden, has co-authored a text that explores the psychological underpinnings of the worlds major religious traditions. Yaden points out that there is more than just mindfulness and yoga out there: traditions specific to various traditions point the way beyond self-actualization to self-transcendence. He offers the example of the Jewish custom of sitting shiva, where a community comes together in the home of a member who has lost a loved one. This channeling of the grief process becomes not only a way of healing, but a way of connecting to others and the meaning and significance of the lost relative. Imagine dealing with all our major losses in such a fashion!

If spirituality can guide performance in a field as inherently materialistic as investing and trading, what can it do for performance in other areas of life, from relationships to career development? We have just scratched the surface of best practices in peak performance psychology and, ironically, theyve been hiding in plain sight in the churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, and spiritual communities of the world. Beyond self-help is a treasure of methods for self-transcendence.

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What If The Key To Performance Psychology Is Spirituality? - Forbes

WSU student Mike Chan exercises next to a new therapy light in the Student Recreation Center. He believes therapy lights, currently being placed in high traffic areas on the Pullman campus, will help people combat the winter blues and improve mental health. Photo by Sarah Page, Division of Student Affairs.

By Steve Nakata, Division of Student Affairs

The cold weather and shorter days during winter months can leave even the best of us feeling tired, cranky and unmotivated. With that in mind, students, faculty and staff at Washington State University Pullman have been working on a variety of ways to improve mood and mental health.

Many people are familiar with what is known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression that is related to seasonal change. The Mayo Clinic warns that symptoms can start out mild and become more severe as the winter season progresses.

Even if one does not have full-blown SAD, the shorter days can have a noticeable effect on mood, energy, and motivation, said Ellen Taylor, associate vice president for Student Engagement. Our students have expressed that this is a concern of theirs, so we want to address this aspect of student mental health this year.

The Division of Students Affairs, working with the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA), have planned two days of workshops this week that will get the WSU community moving and reenergized, as well as encourage you to focus on self-care through mindfulness and creative expression.

Beginning tomorrow, Jan. 28, at 5 p.m. in the Student Recreation Center, there are a variety of different activities to participate in from rock climbing, yard games in the pool, a fitness class, to dodgeball, painting, and enjoying mocktails and healthy snacks.

The following evening, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m., people can explore mindfulness as a technique for restful sleep, the art and craft of storytelling, and how to cook foods high in vitamin D. The evening will culminate with dinner, dessert, storytelling and stand-up comedy. All activities on Wednesday evening take place in the Elson S. Floyd Cultural Center.

We will give you tools to help you be present in the moment, calmer, less stressed, and kinder to yourself, said Veneice Guillory-Lacy, GPSA executive vice president and member of the planning team. With physical fitness, people tend to forget that exercise helps us feel more energetic, mentally sharp, sleep better, and makes us feel better about ourselves. It is important that you take care of yourself holistically through mind, body and soul.

Event details, times and locations for all Winter Blues Busting activities can be found on the University Recreation website.

To help deter symptoms of SAD, 14 new therapy lights are being installed across campus. Locations include the Compton Union Building (CUB), Student Recreation Center, Chinook Student Center, Terrell Library, the SPARK building, Todd Hall, and Smith Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE). Cougar Health Services has therapy lights available as well. Future locations might include dining spaces and residence halls.

The idea for purchasing and installing therapy lights came from student Melissa Torres, an at-large senator for the Associated Students of Washington State University (ASWSU). She helped draft and lobbied for a resolution that was recently passed by ASWSU.

It shows how one student with an idea, who ran for senate, turned it into something that will benefit students across campus, said Quinton Berkompas, ASWSU president. It is the essence of why we get involved with student government.

Light boxes simulate natural daylight and activate hormones that improve energy, mood, and sleep. They also help our internal body clocks regulate daily sleep and wake patterns. To use them effectively, people should sit 10 inches away from the light for 30 minutes, preferably in the morning or early afternoon so sleep patterns wont be disrupted.

When it comes to SAD or any mental health concern, receiving professional counseling is often a vital piece to assessing, diagnosing, and treating the symptoms. Access to mental health services is top of mind for students, faculty and staff.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) within Cougar Health Services has streamlined the process for students seeking same day counseling. Previously, students had to drop-by the clinic and wait for an available counselor. Now they can make a same-day appointment by calling CAPS as early as 7:45 a.m. This allows students to schedule a time that wont conflict with classes or work and avoid potential wait times.

Next month the WSU community will have opportunities to learn from Dior Vargas, a self-described Latina, feminist, and mental health activist. A resident of New York City, she is the creator of the People of Color and Mental Illness Photo Project, a response to the invisibility of people of color in the media representation of mental illness.

On Feb. 26, Vargas will conduct several workshops tailored for students, faculty and staff before delivering a community-wide keynote address at 7 p.m., in the CUB Senior Ballroom. Her speech, followed by a book signing, will be livestreamed. More information about the workshops and Vargas will be shared closer to the events.

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Bust the winter blues with a high dose of self-care - WSU News

Toledo, OHIO (WTVG) - Do you feel like January will never end and that Spring is simply a season many moons away? Turns out, you are not alone. In fact, the past six days marks the longest stretch of overcast skies since January of 2015 in Northwest Ohio.

For many, it's simply winter in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan but all of the days without sunshine can cause you to feel blue or searching for smile.

Some cope by heading outdoors for fresh air, others to the gym or even some self-care at the spa.

Massage Green Spa on Monroe Street has an infrared sauna. The sauna claims to help boost immunity, reduce stress and fatigue and help with muscle cramping.

"The heat is the main benefit of it and on the colder days it helps with muscle pains which you see a lot of in the winter too," says Kelli Wolf.

The constant clouds have others on the search for sunshine out of state.

"People just want to get out of town," says Sarah Rosenberger, a travel advisor with Central Travel.

In the past few days Rosenberger has spent time booking getaways for people to Mexico, the Caribbean and Florida ahead of spring break. Others want to leave immediately on the search for sun, surf and sand.

So if you are struggling to smile without sunshine there are some fun options to tide you over until Spring or you could just simply embrace the grey days of January knowing warmer weather will come.....someday.

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Coping with the longest stretch of overcast skies since 2015 - 13abc Action News

Windows 10 will last you a good, long time, but you need to know some facts.

Windows 10 has been around for five years, but it's only now that Microsoft's support for Windows 7 is dead and gone that the question arises: How long will Windows 10 last before Microsoft replaces it with Windows 11 or whatever comes next?

Luckily, we know the answer. Microsoft has a long-established Fixed Lifestyle Policy for many of its products, which begins when a product is released and ends when it's no longer supported. Knowing these dates can help you decide when you want to update, upgrade to a new device, or make other changes to your software or machine.

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For each version of its OS, Microsoft offers a minimum of 10 years of support (at least five years of Mainstream Support, followed by five years of Extended Support). Both types include security and program updates, self-help online topics and extra help you can pay for.

Windows 10 was released in July 2015, and extended support is slated to end in 2025. Major feature updates are released twice a year, typically in March and in September, and Microsoft recommends installing each update as it is available.

The latest Windows 10 version to come out was the November 2019 update, which added some new productivity features, like the ability to create events directly from the Calendar flyout on the Taskbar, without having to open the Calendar app.

Here's how Microsoft breaks down its updates:

* Windows 10, version 1703 for Enterprise, Education, and IOT Enterprise editions were released on April 11, 2017. ** Serviced for 30 months from release date per policy updated in September 2018.

Some people have hesitated to make the Windows 10 upgrade, as several bugs were reported in earlier versions. But Microsoft has slowed down its update schedule, giving the company more time to test, pause updates, and disclose problems.

Your experience updating to Windows 10 should be fairly smooth at this point, and will let you take advantage of Microsoft support. This is particularly important for the security of your device -- without Microsoft's security upgrades and patches, your computer is at greater risk of malware taking hold through a loophole.

We recommend upgrading to Windows 10 as soon as possible. However, if you're still running Windows 7 and don't want to upgrade,these 7 Windows 7 security tips will help protect your laptopuntil you make the switch.

To start your upgrade, you could buy and download Windows 10 through Microsoft's website for $139. But you can try this free method, too. While Microsoft technically ended its free Windows 10 upgrade program in July 2016, CNET has confirmed as of January that the free update is still available for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users.

Check out our step-by-step guide on how to upgrade to Windows 10 free. Once you've upgraded, you can also check out 11 easy Windows 10 tricks you didn't know about.

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If you're a Windows 8.1 user, extended support for that OS will end in January 2023.

For more Windows 10 help, we show you how to customize 13 Windows 10 settings to your liking, and six simple security changes that all Windows 10 users need to make.

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How long Windows 10 will last before you need to replace it: 3 facts to know - CNET

Author Jenna Lisa Lobos provides 52 tips to help readers change physically, emotionally and spiritually in 'Love Your Body Love Your Life'

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --Former radio host and author Jenna Lisa Lobos recently published her book: "Love Your Body Love Your Life: 52 Tips That Will Radically Improve Your Health." This expansive self-help book establishes a road map for readers to find confidence in their own skin. With tips to take care of their inner body (physically, emotionally and spiritually), this book helps transform readers from the inside to change how they face the world outwardly.

Developed as a guide that doubles as a memoir, "Love Your Body Love Your Life" includes Lobos' own transformative journey of letting go of negativity in her life and developing a deeper, more intimate connection with herself. With a focus not only on physical changes but also on emotional and spiritual changes, this book helps to foster monumental, authentic growth into the lives of those who read it.

"'Love Your Body Love Your Life' started as a blog and newsletter that I developed as I was growing my organic skincare line," Lobos said. "I wanted to help readers change their lives from the inside with health and wellness tips that were easy to follow and encouraged their inner beauty to rise to the surface."

Along with the 52 tips that Lobos includes in "Love Your Body Love Your Life," she also has her own beauty ritual which is a daily practice that readers can easily follow. It is broken down into "morning," "during the day" and "evening" practices. There are also bonus tips for beautiful skin and a recipe for a green smoothie for readers to continue to focus on their physical health.

"Love Your Body Love Your Life: 52 Tips That Will Radically Improve Your Health" By Jenna Lisa Lobos ISBN: 978-1-4525-1664-6 (softcover); 978-1-4525-1665-3 (electronic) Available at the Balboa Press Online Bookstore, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

About the author Jenna Lisa Lobos is a certified health practitioner and the founder of BeautyMarkOrganics. She is the former host of Love Your Body Love Your Life Radio Show featured on iHeartRadio. She recently launched her podcast: Jenna Lisa. Her goal is to help women heal themselves from the inside to the outside. She works primarily from the teachings of B.E.S.T. (Bio-Energetic Synchronization Techniques). Also, she is certified under Touchstone for Life. To learn more, please visit her website: http://www.jennalobos.com/.

For Interview Requests & Review Copies, Please Contact: LAVIDGE Phoenix Krista Tillman 480-648-7560 ktillman@lavidge.com

SOURCE LAVIDGE

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Learn How to Heal Your Beauty From the Inside Out With New Self-Help Book - Yahoo Finance

28 January 2020

Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP

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Eric Benson (Associate-White Plains) is listed among the contributors to the "Self Help Asylum Guide: Seeking Protection in the United States," published by the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic (RHRC) at the University of Maine School of Law and the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, in collaboration with the Penn State Law in University Park Center for Immigrants' Rights Clinic and Thrive International Programs. The guide provides information to assist individuals who are applying for asylum pro se or without the assistance of an attorney. The immigration legal system is complex and navigating it on one's own behalf can be challenging. This guide seeks to aid the increasing number of families and individuals that want to apply for asylum.

Read the Guide.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

POPULAR ARTICLES ON: Immigration from United States

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Self Help Asylum Guide: Seeking Protection In The United States - Mondaq News Alerts

Jan. 29, 2020, 6:17 PM UTC

Evan McGonagill, 31, had a very different vision of her life.

She imagined that shed be living in Philadelphia, where she was building a career in university library archives. She planned to climb the ladder in her field and then perhaps go to graduate school.

But a visit to her mothers house in Boston changed all of that.

[My mother] had always been the record keeper in the family. She had done everything with our finances, said McGonagill. But when I visitedI was knee-deep in papers in two rooms. It was just a sea of scrambled records.

McGonagill didnt know that her mother, who and in her 70s, had been suffering from major neurocognitive disorder, a precursor to Alzheimers. Her mother had been forgetting to pay bills. Debt collectors and scammers were calling.

McGonagill decided to live with her mother for a few months to get her on track. A few months turned into several when her parents had to divorce, sell their house and move into different apartments.

The end of the caregiving never came. Its been two years since McGonagill moved in with her mom in a Brighton, Mass. apartment, and her fathers health is now fading, too. She schleps them both to appointments and manages her mothers medications and the household.

McGonagill let her job grant expire and didnt seek further employment in Philadelphia. Shes held a rotating set of odd, flexible gigs while her parents insurancethankfullypaid for their medical and assistive care. In turn, McGonagill has had to put her career on the backburner.

Ive never had a moment to get myself to set up in a different professional network, McGonagill told Know Your Value. Ive been in survival mode for two years, putting out fires constantly, moving my mom from the house to an apartment, hiring someone else to help. Its been full-time.

McGonagills situation is very common. Northwestern University found that up to 80 percent of older adults are cared for at home by family. More than half of caregivers are also employed.

And according to the National Alliance on Caregiving, 60 percent of caregivers are women, but the proportion of men who caregive (40 percent) is rapidly growing.

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Since 1993, the U.S. has mandated that employers must grant 12 weeks of unpaid family leave. However, this protection only affects companies with 50 employees or more (so, 60 percent of the workforce) and the majority of caretakers cannot afford to take this time off. Six states - Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Washington state and Washington D.C. - currently mandate some paid family leave.

Meanwhile, 43 million Americans work as unpaid family caregivers, according to the AARP. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found that 8.5 million caregivers are caring for a high-needs adult, meaning the adult has dementia and/or they need help with two or more daily self-care activities, such as bathing or dressing.

The same study found that caregiving is rarely short-term; 70 percent of caregivers surveyed had been in their positions already between two and 10 years. About half of caregivers do so out of obligation, be it cultural or due to specific family issues. Caregivers are likelier than non-caregivers to suffer from anxiety, depression, social isolation and financial loss.

As a result, there are a lot self-identification problems, said C. Grace Whiting, president and CEO of the National Alliance on Caregiving. What the research has said is people resist self-identifying as caregivers because its more like a second job than a true vocation. Theres a concern that the caregiving relationship is going to take over your life and replace other identities you have that are important to you. Then of course, theres the existential worry that your family member is dying.

In Vermont, Cathy McWilliam, 59, has been a caretaker for multiple elder members of her family for seven years. A hairstylist, McWilliam always imagined opening a salon of her own after her kids left the house. Her caregiving schedule, however, meant that she needed to continue her track of freelancing with a flexible schedule.

Im self-employed, and I can control my own thing, McWilliam said. But I always thought Id have my own building and the whole dream.

McWilliam said that she has suffered mentally and physically from being on-call 24-7 for her mother, who has dementia.

I wake up with heart palpitations, panic attacks, arrhythmia, said McWilliam. Im more forgetful.

Until the RAISE Family Caregiving Act passed in 2018, there was no official federal language around unpaid family caregiving. Priorities of the act include improving financial security and workplace issues for families, respite care options, and family planning throughout the U.S.

However, the law is in its infancy. The data is difficult to collect, according to the NASEM study, due to murky definitions of caregiving and a lack of official metrics. Caregivers are still not officially recognized by the U.S. health care system, thereby denying them rights to resources or information about the dependent.

According to Whiting, the lack of education and cultural discussion around caretaking means that many people are often caught financially and logistically unprepared.

Id love to see us get to a place where we talk about caregiving as a normal part of our lives, said Whiting. Having conversations early and often about what does it look like, asking If youre 80, mom, what do you want your life to look like? People are uncomfortable talking about it at first, but the more you talk about it the more its destigmatized.

In the meantime, more companies are open to remote, flexible employees. Sue Bhatia founded the staffing agency Rose International, which places thousands of contingency workers or project-based workers into jobs, ranging from $12 to $300 an hour. Rose International connects employers with potential contingency workers and negotiates their rates and flexibility. Women make up 65 percent of her workforce.

There is a huge demand for skilled workers, Bhatia said. Because of this huge demand, employers are willing to work with people who have a good skill set and soft skill set, its hard to find people who are eager to change and learn, so employers are more flexible in that regard. People can relate to a lot of these caregiving situations, and because of that, they're flexible. Humanization is happening

Bhatia said she placed one IT employee who had to take her mother to chemotherapy treatment frequently. This woman would bring her laptop and work while her mother underwent the treatments, Bhatia said.

As long as the persons good, its in everybodys interest to be flexible, said Bhatia. Mostly people who contingent workers are experienced. Theyre there because their skill set is unique and hard to find...Anyone who is a self-learner and can learn things themselves, take a couple of courses online - there are ways to gather skill sets. especially if people are ready to take responsibility for their own career.

Mary Pembleton is a rare person who made full-time caregiving work as a job. She was studying nursing when her grandfather fell ill. Due to his veteran status, Pembleton was able to get paid as a full-time caregiver for him, while also staying home with her children. After he passed away four years later, Pembleton started pursuing a writing career. She published a story about caregiving in the New York Times.

Im a natural caregiver and I love it, so it actually worked out quite well, said Pembleton.

Pembleton suggested carving out time for yourself and your own family in order to get through the harder times. Whiting said that caretakers should turn to support groups in hospitals, through specific agencies like the Cancer Society, or online. Exercise self-care, and a positive attitude wherever possible, Whiting said.

Make sure you have plenty to celebrate as a family, so that when you have a tough day, you can withdraw a happy memory from the emotional bank so to speak, so you can say this is a really hard day but I love my mom and weve done happy things recently, Whiting said

Whiting also argued that there is a very bright side to caregiving that we often ignore.

Theres so much out there about the challenges of caregiving, you just think thats a drag. Theres a richness there, of being able to celebrate someone and take care of someone you love...to be there with someone through these difficult situations, Whiting said. Its not just the drudgery of it. Theres a compelling human need to caregive.

Link:
Caregiving, or career? The choice no woman should have to make - NBC News

Aurora has been given permission by California regulators to transport passengers in its self-driving vehicles,TechCrunch has learned.

TheCalifornia Public Utilities Commission granted Aurora a permit, which was posted on its website Wednesday, to participate in the states Autonomous Vehicle Passenger Service pilot. Aurora confirmed the approval.

This permit lets us give rides powered by the Aurora Driver and shows that were committed to being good partners to California and the Commission, an Aurora spokesperson said when asked about the permit.

The company didnt provide more details about when it might start letting passengers in its vehicles. And based on the companys focus, its likely this wont be a broad robotaxi service.

Aurora has never planned to operate a robotaxi service. Instead, it has focused on building the self-driving stack and working with partners to integrate into vehicle platforms. The Aurora Driver, as the company calls it, has been integrated into six vehicle platforms from several manufacturers, including sedans, SUVs, minivans, commercial vans and Class 8 trucks. These integrations are not commercially available.

Aurora, which has operations in Pittsburgh, Palo Alto and San Francisco, has a fleet of about a dozen self-driving vehicles that are used for testing on public roads. The company started testing its self-driving system in Chrysler Pacifica minivans and has said it will continue to grow this fleet over the next year.

Aurora attracted attention early on because of the pedigree of its three founders Sterling Anderson, Drew Bagnell and Chris Urmson who had led self-driving vehicle programs at Google, Tesla and Uber. In February 2019, the company raised more than $530 million in a Series B round led by Sequoia Capital and includes significant investment from Amazon and T. Rowe Price Associates.The monster round pushed Auroras valuation to more than $2.5 billion. It has raised more than $620 million to date.

The approval from CPUC is different than the permits issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test self-driving vehicles in the state. Today, 65 companies have a DMV permit to test self-driving vehicles on public roads in the state.

Only four other companies, AutoX, Pony.ai, Waymo and Zoox, have CPUC permits. Zoox was the first company to receive a permit in December 2018.

The CPUC permit gives Aurora permission to use its self-driving vehicles to transport people. The permit comes with a few caveats. Companies issued the permits cannot charge for rides a rule that AV developers are lobbying to get changed and the vehicles must have safety drivers behind the wheel. Companies must also have the testing permit from the DMV.

Auroras permit, which lasts until January 2023, requires the company to provide reports to CPUC with information on total passenger miles traveled and safety protocols.

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Aurora can now give the public rides in its self-driving cars - TechCrunch