Be nice to me! I gave blood today!

I have an eventful history with donating blood. It all starts with a blood drive in high school. Needles have never really bothered me, so I figured it would be a piece of cake. I was fine through the whole process until it was done and I stood up to walk to my cookies. I didn't *faint* but I lost all function in my legs and fell smoothly to the floor. They wouldn't let me drive home after that, so it turned into a big hassle getting my mom to come pick me up. Now these were the days of eating too little (because I hated the "table politics" in the cafeteria) and taking too much No-Doz so that I could 1) stay awake all day and 2) have enough energy for swim practice after school.

I figured that's why it didn't work out so well.

Fast forward 6 years or so to my training period at work here in Oregon. There was a blood drive. I signed up. I figured I wouldn't have a repeat of my high school experience. (You can already guess that I was wrong.) To make a long story shorter, just about the same thing happened--I got all the way through and then just about fainted as I was heading toward the cookies and juice. Again, they kept me there until they were sufficiently convinced that I was feeling better, and then they sent me off with all the cookies that were left because I was the only person left by that time.

When asked over the past few years, I politely declined all opportunities to donate again. Until today. Third time's a charm, right?

No.

Same thing. Got all the way through it fine. Then, I felt sick. I nearly hyperventilated. They had cold, wet towels draped over my face and neck, and I was breathing in a paper bag trying *really hard* not to get sick. (I succeeded in that, at least.) I got lots of juice and some cookies and crackers, and now I'm drinking boatloads of water.

Oddly, I'll probably do it again sometime. Maybe not in three months... but sometime. It's such an important action and gift--I figure the discomfort I go through is worth it on the other end when someone who needs it can use that blood I gave. If you find yourself thinking or voicing any excuses, be sure to also check out some reasons why you should push those excuses aside.

Early Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving last night with Chris and Charles and his kids. Marc and I preordered and picked up a turkey torte from Pasta Pronto. Oh. My. Gosh.

I think this is how it went.
Layer 1: stuffing
Layer 2: turkey
Layer 3: cream cheese
Layer 4: cranberry
Layer 5: more turkey
Layer 6: mashed potatoes
And the whole thing was enclosed in a flaky pastry crust shaped like a giant round cake.

It was heavenly!

Because this thing is huge, we cut it in half and froze half. (We're planning to all get together again for Christmas to eat the other half.) I couldn't even finish the slice I had, and I was starving. Yummy! Then for dessert, we had homemade eggnog ice cream and caramel sauce and some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Just writing about it now makes me hungry.

This was a much better Thanksgiving celebration than last year--when we did nothing at all. :)

Today I started packing for our Maui trip. (Yes, I hear you gasping in disbelief at the idea of me *not* waiting until the very last minute.) The great thing about not having to pack any cold-weather clothes is that almost everything for the whole 10 days fits in my normal carry-on bag. Okay, everything except for the bulky things like our snorkel gear. I'm hoping this short week of work will fly by...

Mysterious sounds

So I'm sitting at work this afternoon with my headphones on listening to my iPod. I had tons of windows open, as usual. And I kept hearing this funny scratching noise. At first I thought it was part of a song. Then I thought it was something wrong with my iPod when it kept happening. Then I realized that one of my open windows also had the search frame open--along with that annoying Microsoft dog that pops up and "digs" through your files to find whatever you're searching for. Evidently, if you leave him alone for too long, he starts scratching his ears.

That's my pointless story for the day.

TGTF. (Thank goodness tomorrow's Friday)

We're going to see Mortified this weekend. It's something I've heard about from a few different people, and evidently it's a total hoot. I'm looking forward to it.

The best steak

Marc and I just ate a wonderful steak. It was quite possibly one of the best steaks I've ever eaten (though Roy's on Maui might be a close second). If you ever find yourself looking for dinner in Corona Del Mar, I highly recommend The Bungalow. We went with a high school friend of Marc's and her husband. It was fabulous. I'm full. Very full.

Our flight to the O.C. was uneventful. Of course I did have to enjoy a Mexican hot chocolate from Coffee People at PDX--I have to savor them when I can get them! I do have to say that it was a LOT more convenient to fly into Orange County compared to LAX. We rented a dopey little Chevy Cobalt. The tires squeal when making normal turns. Haha!

Tomorrow is election day. Thank goodness for Oregon's vote-by-mail system. If you haven't voted yet, please be sure to. My goal for tomorrow will be to avoid all televisions as much as possible--the last thing I want to watch for hours on end is the media freaks making predictions and giving updates every 5 minutes. Good thing we've got HBO here.