Gratzi Italia!

This July my husband and I took a trip to beautiful Italy to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. Since we're both lovers of history, wine, pizza, and soaking in different cultures, we couldn't have picked a better place to vacation!

We took TAP Portugal Airlines from Newark to Lisbon and then to Rome. It was a good thing we brought some home-made lunch with us or we would have gone hungry! Even though we had confirmed vegetarian meals with the airline, they brought us incorrect meals - about 70% of which looked inedible.

We got to Lisbon a bit late and even as I think about it today, I have a hard time explaining exactly how they got us on our flight to Rome in time. We got off the flight from Newark in Lisbon and were boarded on to a bus that took us to a small customs area. From there, we were told to get into a small SUV which drove us to a small bus stop like terminal. We were then boarded on to another bus which took us straight to our flight. During this whole confusing ordeal we were wondering whether we were going to be put on the correct flight and if any of our luggage was going to make it to Rome.

Amazingly though, all our luggage arrived in Rome safely!

Once we made our way out of baggage claim (around 11:30 AM), we converted some of our cash for euros and looked for transportation to our hotel. While I'd been warned that taxi drivers in Italy would take advantage of tourists and charge exorbitant prices, I never thought I'd be welcomed to the country with a 60 euro (even after the haggling) cab ride to a hotel roughly 10miles away!

After checking in to our hotel and freshening up, we headed to Rome's City Center to eat lunch. After seeing the monument of Victor Emanuel II and taking a few pictures in various spots around the small streets, we grabbed lunch at a local pizzeria. And of course no lunch in Italy would be complete without a gelato so like true Italians, we enjoyed those as well.

I was so happy I'd worn my comfortable sneakers that day because after walking about 6 miles in the smoldering July heat, my feet and back were feeling jello-ish. We covered a lot of ground and important sites the first day - Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon (which was partly under reconstruction). The Pantheon was an amazing site. The architectural feat and the attention paid to aesthetic detail for something that was built just over a hundred years after Christ was incredible. It was neat to imagine it being used as a temple by the people that lived during that time period.

The next day, we took a tour of the Vatican. We were so glad we'd bought the tickets online prior to the tour. The line of people waiting without tickets was 4 hours long whereas it took us a relatively short 45 minutes to get inside! The Vatican tour was a very unique and educational experience. I couldn't believe how well maintained everything was inside. As I was really excited about seeing Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel, I was glad that during the tour we got about 15 minutes inside to admire it.

We also toured the St. Peter's Basilica after the Vatican tour. I found the beatified bodies of the Popes to be a little spooky but still very interesting. We were lucky to have had a very knowledgeable and thorough tour guide who took the time to go through all of the interesting facts about the Vatican and basilica.

Dinner that night was at a vegetarian restaurant named Il Margutta, in the arts district of Rome and near the Spanish Steps. While the meals were high priced, the variety and preparation of the dishes was commendable. The restaurant had an upscale yet cozy setting but they must have liked to keep the air conditioning to a minimum since even after we asked them to turn it on, the place was like a sona!

The next morning, my husband and I caught the 9am high-speed train to Florence. To the untrained tourist, the whole train booking, finding, and boarding scene can be a little unnerving at first. As long as you keep track of the timings and numbers for your train using the digital bulletin board, all will be okay.

Florence, as opposed to Rome, is a more laid back sort of town. Vacationers visit to enjoy the fine wines and easy-going shopping. Rome, on the other hand somewhat reminded me of cities I've visited in India - crowded, fast, and unkempt. In Rome, I was disappointed to see so much graffiti covering up the city walls whereas Florence was clean and well kept.

Since I wasn't feeling very well the day we got to Florence, we kept the site-seeing to a minimum. After walking around the city center for about an hour, we visited the Uffizi Museum and had a drink at the rooftop cafe. I'd really hoped to be able to visit the Duomo and the Statue of David but getting back to the hotel and relaxing was all I could think of at the time. That night after I felt more recovered, we enjoyed dinner at a really cute outdoor restaurant called La Piazetta. Their margherita pizza and their pesto sauce were simply delectable.

One thing we noted throughout our trip was if "still water" wasn't specified during the time of order at any restaurant we'd be served sparkling water. And for a country where water is more expensive, in some cases, than wine or gelato, that could be an expensive mistake!

The next afternoon we caught the train to Venice and within 2.5 hours were at the Venice train station. I think from the moment we set foot on the vaporetto to get to the island, my husband and I decided Venice was going to be our favorite spot of the three we'd visited in Italy. We absolutely fell in love with the people, the culture, the small alleys between old buildings that reminded us of Disneyland, and even the street vendors trying to sell their ridiculously priced China-made glass items as real Murano glass.

And since no trip to Venice would be complete without a gondola ride, we took one right before sunset around the Island. I loved looking at the small residential balconies decorated with potted plants and the beautiful architectural designs around the old windows. We imagined retiring in one of the little apartments and making a small living with a gelateria. We came quickly back to earth (or rather the gondola) however when we remembered that the island was sinking.

After the gondola ride, we ate dinner at Antica Osteria Giorgione, a cozy little restaurant with excellent service, authentic tasting food, and reasonable prices. After dinner, we enjoyed gelato while sitting near the canal and watching the water boats and taxis. This was my idea of a vacation.

Strikes among the train, bus, and taxi unions are common in Italy. We happened to get caught in one the next day when we were trying to get back to Rome. We were told that the few vaporettos running would charge 5 times more to take us to the station! Thankfully though we still found a water bus to take us back to the train station. But at the station we had to wait 2 hours in line for tickets to get on one of the few trains going to Rome.

The night we got back to Rome, we went to the Trevi Fountain since we'd heard it was a popular spot during the evenings. It was fun place to people watch as there was a huge crowd surrounding the beautiful fountain. There were people enjoying gelatos, taking pictures, chatting with friends, and trying to ward off pesky flower vendors.

The next day, we visited the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It was a good thing we went to the Roman Forum first to buy tickets as the line inside the Colosseum looked like it would take 2 hours to get through.

The Colosseum was breathtaking. The pictures I'd seen of it before just didn't do it justice. This depiction of Roman architecture and engineering is incredible. It was also incredibly sad to think about the number of lives (both human and animal) that were sacrificed in the structure.

The Colosseum was the last monument we visited in Italy and was a great way to end our trip. Our getaway was coming to an end but we were grateful for having the chance to visit a wonderful country with such exciting sites, delicious food, and wonderful people.

Why Aren't You Tweeting?

About a year ago my husband introduced me to Twitter. I've been hooked ever since. If you haven't heard of it by now, Twitter is a social networking service that allows users to follow each other based on their "tweets" or answers to a simple question: What are you doing? While there are thousands of users on Twitter, I am surprised by how many of my friends and colleagues still don't know about it or are disinterested in using it. Here is my attempt to change their minds.

Twitter allows people (or Tweeple, if you prefer) to connect to other users based on a common interest or topic. The idea is to expand your network without necessarily having to know the person you want to connect with, as with Facebook. In this way, you could follow people whom you share common interests with.

Since you are given 140 characters per feed to say what you want, many users have started using Twitter for research purposes or to have their questions answered by other Tweeters. For example "Should I get the Wii Fit or EA Sports Active?". So, unlike with Google where you have to directly do the work and read a bunch of material to find the answer to your question, Twitter allows your question to become an "open forum" for discussion.

In this same fashion, you can also follow discussions or questions posted by other users on Twitter. Since the service does not stop you from following people you don't know, you can gain insight by reading opinions of others on topics that interest you.

Twitter has tapped into another aspect of social networking that genuinely sets out to connect people throughout the world rather than keeping them connected to the same social pool of which they have always been a part, such as Facebook or Myspace. So here is my advice to those who still haven't become a part of this new pool: go tweet tweeple!

Salary Reduction or Job Reduction?

Which one would you choose - a reduction of your overall salary or being laid off? In my opinion, the answer seems simple - take the pay cut to save jobs on the whole and help to reduce our increasing unemployment rate. But surprisingly, many would disagree.

There are employees that believe that they are carrying their weight better than their neighbor, or that they are more qualified and more indispensable. This, as I have seen first hand through my own lay off in December, is a misconception. The lines for reduction in work force are not that clearly drawn. While there are under-performing employees that are let go, some good performers go with them as well. This can be due to several reasons: overall compensation, reorganization of the team, team considered an "overhead", length of employment, low level of billability (not necessarily controlled by the employee himself), etc. Additionally, many good performers, even if they haven't been laid off, will jump ship to avoid hostile work environments or the fear of more upcoming lay offs.

I've also been trying to understand the pros and cons from a corporate perspective. Why not give people a pay cut instead of letting them go completely?

I've heard that one of the cons of cutting pay is the fear of reduced morale. To that I say, have you noticed the lack of morale in the country in the past year!? I would think a cut in work force would cause a greater morale reduction. Luckily, I've been back at work (at the same company)for the past 2 months. What I've noticed though is that the morale due to the cuts has people depressed, unconvinced their work is being appreciated, and worried of unknown upcoming events. My employer became one of the 66% predicted to announce salary reductions from the top level down recently. While people weren't thrilled to see their pay checks diminished, their reactions were better than when the lay offs were announced. Most people went home relieved that they had a job in these turbulent times, even if it meant less take-home pay.

Cutting workforce sends a stronger negative message to investors and shareholders, than does cutting salaries. This can be detrimental to the health of many smaller companies that do not have the capital backing to support their institution besides with the help of their investors.

Additionally, and as mentioned before, a believed benefit to cutting workforce is trimming fat. This, however, is not always the case since many times valuable workers also get reduced for other reasons. Further, the employees who have not been cut are forced to take on additional work to compensate for those that have been laid off.

From a corporate standpoint, cutting pay may also help to equalize salaries that may have been to high due to the past economic boom.

While there are obvious financial benefits to reducing workforce, this shouldn't be an option considered by employers until all others have been tested such as, hiring freezes, travel reductions, cuts in charity events and advertising, tools consolidations to avoid unnecessary redundancies, and of course salary cuts.

Mahalo Big Island!

For our yearly big trip this year, my husband and I went to the Big Island of Hawaii. My husband really wanted to see the volcano and I just wanted to be on the beach. What better place to enjoy the beach than paradise itself!

We started our stay in the Big Island at Hilo. Hilo is a quaint little town, untouched by commercialism like some of the other places in Hawaii. With lots of greenry and old buildings, the town reminded us of some of the places we had visited on our trip to the southern part of India. We stayed at the Hilo Seaside Hotel - not the most luxurious hotel by any means but for the money, it wasn't terrible. My husband, however, was determined to get out of that hotel the first chance he got so he booked a resort for us in Kona for the the last part of our trip.

On our second day in Hilo, we went to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to check out Kilauea. The weather was absolutely gorgeous with clear skies and low humidity. We went down the Chain of Craters Road and took pictures along the way of various spots where we could see the smoke coming from the craters. That was the highlight for my husband in Hilo. It was interesting to see the rugged terrain created by the lava flows. Though we knew the land was still fertile, it looked very uninhabitable and arid, like an alien planet in a way. On the way down to the end of Chain of Craters Road, we saw the Thurston Lava tube, a cave-like structure created by lava flows, and Holei Sea Arch. The whole drive took about 3 hours and was very entertaining.

After eating lunch at Thai Thai Restaurant near the park, we headed to go check out Akaka Falls. On our way, we stopped at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens. The one hour walk through this beautiful rain forest park set off the ocean coast was definitely worth it. From the recommendation of a few local Hawaiians, we checked out Akaka Falls (instead of Rainbow Falls). The scenery was absolutely breathtaking - a 442ft waterfall, set between lush vegetation, landing into a huge pool of water below. My husband and I just stood there for a while taking in the beauty.

While there weren't a lot of restaurants that we as vegetarians could enjoy in Hilo, we went to a small Italian restaurant called Cafe Pesto for dinner. The food and service there was excellent as was the atmosphere. And, more importantly, they had many food options that we could enjoy.

The next day, my husband and I, packed up our bags, ate breakfast at the Coconut Grill (in the Hilo Seaside Hotel), and headed to Kona. Since we had rented a convertible for the trip, the top-down two hour drive there was very relaxing and scenic.

On our first night at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort, we went to go check out the Keauhou Manta Rays showing as that was a special activity that the hotel arranged for its guests. The next day at Kona consisted of snorkelling at Kahalu'u Beach Park in the morning and lying in the sun at the Hapuna Beach for a few hours in the afternoon and enjoying the wonderful ocean spray. Hapuna Beach is one of the nicest white-sand beaches in the Big Island just north of Kailua-Kona. After the beach, the rest of the day was spent exploring restaurants and stores on Ali'i Drive.

All in all, though the four day trip was short, we took full advantage of all the activities and sights that the Big Island had to offer. Hawaiians are very hospitable and made the experience of being visitors fun for us. I can't wait to go to one of the other islands next!

I'd Like A Big Chair And Music With That Latte

Most people who know me will tell you that I'm an avid Starbucks fan. In fact, I believe that I have significantly helped create the company's hefty bottom line! Recently, McDonald's announced that it will also be adding coffee bars to many of its stores in the U.S. While this is a direct answer to Starbucks' baristas, I am not sure that McDonald's will achieve the same success any time soon.

While McDonald's can compete effectively in providing convenience and low prices to its customers, the company cannot beat the Starbucks experience. Starbucks customers enjoy frequenting the stores for the atmosphere and service. The ability to customize their drinks with "one pump of caramel, extra whip, and one Sweet N' Low" and be able to sit in a cozy oversized chair with a good book far exceeds the desire for higher convenience. In addition, customers enojy the consistency of their experience at stores wherever they go. No matter which city or country Strabucks is established, customers can feel "right at home" with their in-store experience. Starbucks has been able to manage increasing beverage prices based on both the experience that it provides along with the perception that the price charged accounts for the beverage's higher quality.

In general, Starbucks caters to a different breed of customers altogether. These customers typically tend to be more educated, less price-sensitive with higher disposable incomes (making on average of about $55K a year), and enjoy in-store Wi-Fi and easy-listening amenities. Many Starbucks customers are students or work-from-home employees. They frequent Starbucks to find a retreat near a window, people-watch occasionally, and sip on a warm caramel Macchiato.

McDonald's, on the other hand, generally caters to the price-sensitive customer who is looking for a quick (big) bite to eat. Many of these customers often bring their children to the stores and can enjoy watching them play in the secured McDonald's R Gym while they dine. Thus, McDonald's has built its brand on being a lower priced, high convenience provider. For those who go to Starbucks to lounge quietly or socialize amongst a similar group, McDonald's will likely not provide a comparable alternative.

Starbucks has even managed to become a genericized trademark like Kleenex or Xerox. Thus, the phrase "let's go grab some Starbucks" is often used when referring to purchasing even generic espresso beverages. In addition, the company has also done a good job with incorporating its coffee bars at stores like Barnes & Nobles, leveraging a similar customer segment. While McDonald's may grab a small percentage of Starbucks' drive-thru customers who are looking for quick service, it will have difficulty justifying its experience to those who are coffee store experience lovers like myself.

Bienvenido a Miami!

This past June, my husband, best friend, brother-in-law, and I went to visit my brother in Miami. Since most of us had never been, we thought it would be a great time to go since my brother was already there for an internship. What a better time to take a trip to the penninsula than in June? Sunny skies, warm breezes, sandy beaches – the epitome of a summer vacation!

To take advantage of the short time we had in Miami, we hit the ground running the Friday night we arrived. After getting ready, we went straight to the Delano to experience the Miami nightlife. The boys enjoyed ogling the ladies, while I checked out styles and trends and enjoyed the strong but delicious mojitos. Unlike any lounge in Dallas, the outdoor bar at Delano was covered with oversized individual beds around a large pool of water. Sitting on the bed, many times we would feel little refreshing sprinkles of water carried by the breeze on our skin. It was definitely Miami-esque.

We got ready relatively early the next day to go to South Beach. While walking to the beach, we grabbed some pizza at a small pizzeria. Although most of the restaurants on the street looked a bit run-down, the food there was decent. After soaking up the sun and wading in the water for a while, we went to the Miami Seaquarium. There, we went on the Dolphin Swim where we took rides through a small lagoon holding a dolphin's fin and interacting with them up-close. It was an unforgettable experience and definitely worth doing once in a lifetime. However, as there were 6 people total that shared an instructor for total of an hour, the time per person felt short.

After the aquarium, we went jet skiing in the early evening. Because we were the rental store’s last customers for the evening, the store allowed us to take our time on the water at Biscayne Bay. We had a guided tour of the area and drove our jet skis to see Shaquille O'Neal's, Elizabeth Taylor's, and Gloria Estefan's jaw-dropping homes. After the tour, we rode the waves freestyle and our 45 minute ride turned into an hour and half!

Being the Thai food lovers that we are, that evening we went to the Thai House for dinner. The food was fabulous. In fact, my brother, who had previously never preferred Thai food, raved about the food all night. After dinner we caught a taxi to the Opium Garden to enjoy the rest of the night. While the club was impressive inside, the hassle to get in was excessive in my opinion. The bouncers were very high-nosed about whom they let inside. After waiting for about a half hour, my husband and I finally got inside. The other 3 guys went to go check out Prive and then showed shortly after to where we were. Although the music was great, the atmosphere was a bit pretentious and the drinks were super expensive.

We headed back to Dallas on Sunday afternoon, completely exhausted. Although we had packed a lot into basically a day, the experience was well worth it! We got a chance to enjoy various activities in the span of one weekend in Miami and left wanting more.

Will You Be My Friendster?

I must admit that I am a member of online social networking. With a busy work and life schedule, it’s been hard keeping in touch with friends and networking sites like Facebook have made it a bit easier. Now, I get up to date information on my friends and can send them quick messages just by logging on to the website from anywhere. Thus, the application allows me to connect with friends who have different schedules and lifestyles.

Many different social networking sites have turned up around the world including MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, Orkut, etc. While they all have their own appeal and unique features, MySpace and Facebook have significantly prevailed in the market. Though Friendster was one of the first sites to offer social networking on a large scale and was even awarded a patent for its social networking concept, it has lost significant customer base because of its slow technology, its limited features, and its basic interface design.

Long-time users of Friendster may not want to experience the switching costs of joining another networking site, but they will experience long viewing and uploading wait times. This is due to limitations of the site’s hardware and bandwidth. Friendster’s lacking technology has not only caused user delay within the application, it has also hindered users from adding fun applications to increase socialization. While one can search for specific individuals (knowing their first and last name or email address), features that allow performing a mass search, based on one’s school or email network, are not available. Further, although there is a message board on Friendster where friends can type “testimonials” for people in their network, the page is not set up to maximize space effectively. Advertisements seem to occupy almost 25% of prime “real estate” on the profile page and the user’s various profile sections can’t be minimized to occupy less space thus making the site less customizable. These design flaws contribute to making Friendster look disorganized and chaotic.

It is also unclear what market segment Friendster is targeting. While Facebook targets generally college or post-college based users and MySpace targets high school and non-college affiliated users, Friendster has not clearly defined its niche. Initially the site focused on online dating but competitors such as dating websites seemed to snatch much of that market share from Friendster as well.

Although Friendster has built a large brand name and has revolutionized early online social networking, it has seen a huge user turnover. At this point, the site can either fix its various limitations or merge with another firm that will help to reinvent it. It should also try to appeal to an untouched part of the market by adding a unique application. For instance, the site could add a fantasy sports application where users could make predictions on game and player outcomes. This would not only help expand Friendster’s user base but also offer them another means of interacting.

Social networking is here to stay as long as we use the Internet for communication and our increasingly hectic lives limit the time we have to spend with friends. In order to take advantage of this growing trend, social networking websites must continuously revitalize and offer unique and leading-edge features to their customers.

The Buzz Around Project Management

Recently, there has been a lot of buzz in the job market around project management. While project managers (PM) have been present in almost every industry for a long time, the title has received a lot of attention with recent outsourcing ventures and large IT projects.

Often handling multi-million dollar projects within tight schedules and pressure, project managers are responsible for a host of activities including organizing resources and tasks within projects and meeting end goals. PMs frequently have hands-on experience in the industry for which they are managing projects and help to coordinate inter-group and multi-division communication and plans.

A dismal 16% of all IT projects are considered to be completed successfully. With increased IT projects being coordinated throughout the world, the need for a lower failure rate is ever-increasing. Project failure consists of going over budget, time, and scope. Project managers help to alleviate these risks by enforcing short-term and long-term deadlines, communicating with all stakeholders involved, and reporting outcomes and costs regularly.

Recently MBA graduates have filled many project management positions in various industries. Their rounded education in finance, process/project management, operations, and strategy make them valuable candidates for companies as well. Additionally, most MBAs have had previous industry experience and therefore can adjust quickly to corporate culture. Without an MBA (sometimes even with one) candidates are generally expected to have either project management experience and/or up-to-date certifications (PMP, Project+, etc).

With increasing IT projects and rising salaries, project management positions have become extremely lucrative. These positions offer a variety of projects and challenges that many professionals may not face in their current jobs. In some ways, project management offers a similar experience to that of a professional changing employers or positions to broaden skills and/or portfolio of experiences.

Feeling Heavenly

Imagine being inside a snow globe surrounded by tall pine trees, fresh powdery snow at your feet and falling from the sky. This is my attempt to describe the scenery on a mountain at South Lake Tahoe in December of last year. My husband and I, along with 3 of our friends, went to Tahoe to snowboard for a few days. Not having been skiing or snowboarding before, my experience was both exhilarating and painful! Since my husband grew up near the mountains in Colorado, he was very familiar with skiing and longed for it ever since he moved to Texas. But like many skiers, he flipped his nose up to snowboarding, so this was a relatively new experience for him as well.

Tahoe is mojo for the outdoor junky. There is something outdoorsy to do in Tahoe at almost any time of the year. During the summer, vacationers flock there to enjoy the immense lake (72 miles around) and partake in water sports, camping, fishing, hiking, etc. While in the winter, people like myself visit to enjoy skiing and snowboarding on the mountains. Vacationers not interested in the outdoor physical activities can relax at a restaurant, bar, or even casino (depending on which side of the California-Nevada border you're in) in the cute little town. As the city is known for attracting tourists, the locals are very friendly and helpful. There are also many restaurants, hotels, and shops nearby. I especially enjoyed the shops right at the foot of Heavenly Mountain.

On the first full day, we went to the Sierra at Tahoe. We had heard that the slopes were beginner friendly as compared to the other mountains in Tahoe. Once we arrived, we went to get our tickets to the slopes, our training passes, and our gear. While I was told that snowboarding was less expensive as compared to skiing, it was by no means cheap! The gear, especially the boots worn on top of several pairs of socks, was heavy and uncomfortable but definitely blocked the wind and snow. It took me almost 30 minutes to get everything on and tightened!

I was a little nervous about the upcoming experience. As I walked outside bundled up with my step-in snowboard in hand, I tried to take in the beautiful scenery and the crisp air. While the rest of my crew immediately attached themselves to their step-ins, I tested the ground to gauge its softness and looked anxiously at the "green" slopes scattered with dozens of snowboarders.

We had snowboarding instruction for about 2 hours where we learned how to start, stop, steer, and "fall properly". While I didn't have any problems falling, I never did master getting back up correctly. It was a little embarrassing as the instructor always had to give me a hand.

After snowboarding for about 6 hours that day our bodies felt like jelly. I could hardly sit or walk as my thighs felt torn. Surprisingly, we had sweat a lot on the mountain even though the actual temperature was probably around 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit with an even lower wind chill.

The next day, we went to Heavenly Mountain, which was right near our hotel. The gondola ride up the mountain was beautiful as we were able to see the lake from a distance. Heavenly, while much bigger than Sierra, also had fresher and softer snow (better for the bum). It also had higher slopes for the more experienced skiers and snowboarders. In general, this was the mountain that attracted most of the winter tourists.

That night, after another fun and exhausting day in the snow, we went to a cozy little Thai restaurant called Thai One On. While I've tried many different Thai restaurants, this family-owned business was out of the ordinary. The service and food were exceptional. The owner even came out and talked to us and our food was prepared exactly the way we had requested.

I am sure that after that trip my husband is no longer as much of a ski snob and we will make it a point to do that again. Maybe next time, I'll try skiing. While we were exhausted, we couldn't believe how fast 3 days went by and weren’t looking forward to getting back to a somewhat “less than scenic” Dallas.

The "Education" of Outsourcing

By now, most people have heard of or have had first hand experience with outsourcing. Companies participate in outsourcing mainly to reduce internal costs but also to focus on their core competencies. They most often outsource routine work efforts but have also been outsourcing large development projects as well. I do wonder, however, if the diminishing level of education in our country is connected to this in any way. Is it facilitating outsourcing?

While the US is home to some of the world's most renowned schools and colleges, only 33% of our workforce pursues higher education past high school. This is lower than the mean for most developed countries. While lacking in developed physical infrastructure and many basic amenities, countries like India and China have been aggressive about providing college education to their growing workforce. Though these schools do not necessarily have the most leading edge equipment, they do offer rigorous career development programs. Graduates often get jobs in call centers or IT companies and have contributed to the development of these countries. This developing workforce is leveraged for its knowledge and its affordability by US companies. US Companies can employ more people from places like China or India at considerably lower costs than possible in the US. But, there are so many people who are paid minimum wage in our country. Why doesn't our government take a more active approach in supporting them through vocational or industry-specific programs that will give them long term skills - such as for Network Operations Centers or even for application testing? It is true that if more people in the US were to get higher education, their pay rate would likely increase - that is just the way our economy works. But, more graduates competing for the same job would possibly balance out wages as well.

I also wonder if we are losing many of our college graduates to other countries. There were over 565,000 foreign students in US schools between 2004-2005, a large number from both India and China. While I don't have exact numbers, I am sure a huge percentage have gone back to their countries of origin and thus have contributed to the lower education levels of the US. In addition, the knowledge they have acquired from US based programs has not directly helped our economy. I am sure though that this is something that the US has not changed due to trade policies that it has established with other countries. None the less, it is a topic of concern.