It has been a while since I posted anything other than a quick outrage at some insanity going on in the world.  That is not really bad.  I have had precious little time to read or post lately.  Not all due to work.  A lot of it due to personal life (as in it has been full).

In the last 6 months, it seems I have lived a life time.  My mother was diagnosed with cancer, had a pneumonectomy, and is now doing very well.  Work has increased to the point that 60 hour weeks are normal, and a 40 hour week is a vacation.

I have commented on some blogs, missed many, and tried to catch up when I had a moment.  This is the first weekend that I have had a chance to actually sit down, relax and write something non-inflammatory.

So I decided to write about an event that happened just 3 weeks ago.  My "official" donation of my 103rd pint!  of blood (Yea, would I be so lucky if it was Guinness, right Cap'n Starkers?).

It is not a BIG thing as I passed my 100 one about 6 months ago.  But it means my next one is going to be my 13th gallon!  The unlucky number.  IN the blood business, that does not mean I am going to die, or stroke out.  It means I am going to get a phlebotomist that cant find a vein the size the Mississippi!  And it has happened.  I am blessed (cursed?  I do hate needles!) with good donating veins, and in all the pints I have given (over all about 150 considering the ones before they had computers and in other cities), they have only missed my vein about 2 or 3 times.  That makes me VERY lucky!  I hope it lasts through the 13th gallon.

We shall see.  My next eligibility is when I will be in California (my wife will be getting her caps for her implants then - at a great price for 4!), so it will not be right on schedule, but within a week (I am trying to save myself from the calls, and the blood service from making them!).

But as the title says, the last one was in and out, and easy as pie.  And all my stats were dead in the middle of "normal".  Yeaaaa!  for a 50+ year old (I am actually older than Bernie Mac, so I see my mortality) that is great news! A friend that has been giving for the last 10+ years is up to 60 (he has me by about 3 years in age as well), but each time he goes, his stats get a little more "marginal".  Fortunately, like me, he uses these visits not as just an exercise in masochism, but as a warning.  So his doctor has him ticking on all 8 cylinders as well.

Which is kind of a mixed blessing.  Blood donors live longer, not because we do things better, but because our "hobby" means we catch things earlier.  When you think of it, how many people get 5-6 physicals a year?

I think the Blood service does that not out of an altruistic calling, but just to make sure their supply does not disappear! (that's a joke. )

So everyone take care!  Have fun, and know that while I may not comment much, I try to read when I get a moment.  New faces and names, some old returning.  But still a great place to blog!

Election 2008 - let the games begin!