bob.rocks

Bob was donating platelets today when I was there. This guy's a regular donor too, and I see him when our days and weeks overlap. He's older- maybe 55-60ish, and he apparently started donating when he was 30. So I was talking with him today, and it turns out that he has given over 600 platelet donations- around 630 I hear. This is amazing!! I thought that I was doing superbly having recently received my 5 gallon pin (with 8 donations equaling a gallon, I've donated over 40- probably 45 by now). This floored me. Currently there are stricter requirements on the frequency with which you can donate. Platelets regenerate very quickly, so when I first donated (8 years or so ago) you could go in every 48 hours, but only up to 24 times per year. Once I really got into regular donations at Children's Hospital (about 2 years ago) they had changed the regulations limiting donors to every other week. In some cases (like when your antigens are matched with a patient) you can donate more often, but this is rare. Platelets only have a shelf life of 5 days (as opposed to blood which is 42 days) so I think that they wanted to spread out donations so there was less of a chance of having too many at one point, and then not enough at another. One of the technicians said that Bob held the Guinness Book of World Records for most platelet donations. I tried to look this up online, but couldn't find any category for platelet donations- just blood donations. I'm going to have to go to the library or a book store to check this out. If this is true, it's going to be next to impossible for anyone to beat him, because when Bob started donating, he said you could go up to 52 times per year. Since that number's down by more than half, it would take someone 2 years + to equal one of his early years. I'm intrigued. I'm always up for a challenge, but this is one I don't think I can win.

As an aside- if you can donate blood, you should. Whole blood donations take no time, and can be done every two months. That's 6 times a year, which would only add up to 3 hours total. Three hours to help save some lives. Come on now people- how can you make excuses when it's so easy to help. If you go to Children's Hospital Boston, you'll get a free gift- like a t-shirt with the "give pints for half-pints" logo. So cute.

inappropriate.language

Have you ever checked out answers.com? It's the site google links to for definitions. So when I was checking out wazoo, I noticed the little volume icon next to the pronunciation of the word in question. I clicked on it and low and behold, a voice said wazoo! "This is cool!" I thought, and entered in other words to hear the computer's pronunciation. Sometimes a man responds, and other times a woman. I like the mans voice better- especially the way he says inappropriate and chicken. I quickly found that there were some words for which the volume icon was not available. Most likely because people like me would think it was funny and abuse the feature for our own amusement. I've tested out a bunch of words, and so far have not found any "normal" words which don't have the icon next to them. So when you have some free time, see if you can find any, and get back to me.

wazoo?

I wanted to check the spelling of wazoo (as in "up the wazoo") when I was just using it in reply to my brothers comment. (It's not a word I write often, and it turns out that I did spell it correctly.) So I googled it, and clicked on the definition link, and here's what it says. I always assumed that it meant something like "all over the place." This is not the case folks. Not at all.

sister.from.another.mister

Lets all take a look at the above picture. I know...sunglasses may be needed to deflect the glare from my leg. In all fairness to me, this was taken on may 27th, so I haven't had any short worthy days prior to now. I'll build up a decent tan as the summer progresses. My sister, however, is freakishly tan. She does this without any help from lotions, tanning booths, etc. It's 100% natural. When they were little, she and our youngest brother *k* (who are 2 years apart) would turn super dark and their hair would change from its normal light brown to blond. Our other brother *b* and I (who are also 2 years apart (order goes like this- me '78, *b* '80, *j* '84, *k* '86)) tend to burn before emerging with either a freckly tan (me) or no tan at all (*b*). I tell *j* all the time that she's part african-american, and that she and *k* have a different father than *b* and I. I also tell her she's going to die from skin cancer at age 30.

so.much.to.share

Here are just a few of the note worthy highlights of earth fest:

• Went early with sister *j* and got lots of free stuff (whole foods’ bags, chips, cereal, a yummy spring mix salad, hats, pens, lots of variations of juice, dancing deer cookies, flowers, chocolate earths, cottage cheese, soap, etc.)

• The *ki’s* (high school friend and her husband who just happen to have the same initials) and I go check out the booths and as we head back to our blanket (with much pushing and shoving in the process), we arrive only to have *j* say, “Watch out for that guy. Seriously, he’s really drunk.” This is where it gets interesting- Right next to our blanket (and remember, we’re in really close quarters now so I’m talking super close) is an out-of-control drunk kid (dk) who keeps flailing around while his two friends try to control him. Everyone in the area has backed up, giving this kid a good 15 foot circle to flip out in. This kid is big. Not fat, but tall and really built. Then there’s this little kid (lk) who’s literally half the size of dk, who keeps egging him on. Dk keeps lunging at lk, punching him and knocking him to the ground. His poor sober friend (sf) tries to hold him back, and ends up wrestling him to the ground and holding him down by the neck. Dk tries to throw sf off of him, and sf essentially strangles dk until he passes out. I’m not quite sure where the police or paramedics are at this point, but they’re not with us. Sf apologizes to everyone in the area (seriously- I felt really bad for him) and he and another kid get dk up and out of the area. ** Several people mentioned to sf that his friend needed help- I’m sure he had alcohol poisoning- hopefully he got some (help that is). *mk* showed up immediately after this all went down. I told her what she missed out on and I think she was sad.

  
  **note- when the *ki’s* and I had recently tried to come through the crowd, we had to force our way through. For sf, dk, and the other kid, the crowd parted like the sea with moses (was it moses?). I guess no one wanted to be puked on.

• *mk* pointed out that there were lots of 20yr olds wearing entirely inappropriate clothing. Remember- it’s super hot and muggy out, and it poured for 15 mins straight. I was wearing a tank top and jeans (because all my shorts have mysteriously disappeared) and *mk*, and both *ki’s* were wearing tanks/t-shirts and shorts. These girls were all wearing their cute little skirts and fancy shirts and shoes, complete with matching accessories, fendi bags, and chanel sunglasses. Lordy, lordy.

  
  

• Oh, and my picnic blanket made its debut, although I was rather overprotective of it what with all the strangers trampling over it. It’s in the laundry as I write this.
  

The Hatch Shell when Brandi Carlile was on- before it got super crazy and crowded.

We left at the end of James Blundt. Frankly, I was scared to see what would happen when everyone left at the same time. So we squeezed our way out early and hung out on the Fielder bridge to listen to the end of his act. He was great.

wait.til.we.get.our.hanes.on.you

This little fellow was hanging on his dad's shoulders enjoying the music of brandi carlile. How cute is he?

the.finished.product

Here's the tv cabinet in it's completed state. While I found the turquoise/green color scheme interesting, this fits in with the rest of my furniture. The outside is "china white" like my bed, and the inside is a light yellow color. My dad suggested I paint it black. I'm not sure why- probably so there wouldn't be any reflection, etc- I'm pretty sure he was kidding anyway. I used the knobs that were on the original door and attached them to either side. I didn't notice that they were different sizes until I was about to attach them. I decided that it added to it's homemade charm! I still have to work on the plant situation because I'm not too excited about the current arrangement. I think I need something bigger, yet not necessarily taller. Maybe something with a leafy vine type growth. The problem is really that it's two feet deep, so the placement is tricky. Too far back and they look funny...too far forward and they look funny. If any of you are particularly knowledgeable in the plant department, and can recommend something that would work up there, I'd be happy to know about it.
I'm glad to have finished this guy and am now fully focused on finishing the picnic blanket. I work well with deadlines, and saturday is my deadline for finishing. This was originally because I planned to use it for the earth fest space saver, but the weather reports aren't looking good, so I may have to go with a tarp instead. I know I said I wouldn't go if it was rainy, but I'm far to invested now as I've gathered some music from iTunes and have been listening up. The way I look at it, the rainier it is, the fewer people I'll have to fight with for tarp space!

happy.news

Check out this site. It not only makes the news tolerable, but enjoyable!

numb.lip.update!

I forgot to update you all on my numb lip situation. I'm sure you were all waiting with bated breath! It turns out that of the two lesions they removed, one was an obstructed salivary gland as they had thought, but the other was a "benign, noncancerous nerve tumor." Marvelous. Apparently during the surgery I had four years ago, a nerve was cut (or something) and when it regrew, it formed a disorganized nerve bundle. So yeah, they cut out some nerve endings which explains why my lip is numb. The dr. said I should regain feeling in my lip within the next twelve months or so as the nerve regenerates. I guess I should start looking into that lip piercing.

old.doors.are.great

A few years ago I built my bed out of doors I found in peoples trash piles. I've always been able to build/modify things to make them work for me, but this was a whole new level of success. Quite frankly, I was pretty surprised that it all worked out in the long run. While I am great at coming up with ideas, I'm not the best at being patient. When I get excited about something, I don't want to wait for it. While this doesn't mean that I take short-cuts, it does mean that I'm not as careful about thinking things through and measuring them out as someone else (my dad) might be. So I was fully expecting the headboard and footboard not to match up, or the slats which hold up the boxspring to be to short. Miraculously, it worked out perfectly. Cut to present time; I have a big tv which is sitting on a silly little table. I also have a cable box, a dvd/vcr player, and a playstation (karaoke revolution- woo hoo!!), which are precariously placed on the floor and on a tiny shelf below the tv. In the garage I have a door which I found in our neighbors toss pile a year or so ago. This door's great- it's a panel style like the one I used for my footboard, and it's turquoise on one side and a yellowy-green color on the other. I've decided to build a tv/dvd/vcr/cablebox/playstation cabinet and use this fabulous door for the cabinet door. Actually, I decided this a year ago when I found the door. The problem was that the tv was wider than the door, so it wouldn't be easy to plan out. After much hemming and hawing, I came up with a plan that seemed like it would work. I'd cut the door in half down the middle, and attach a 2x4 to each side which would allow there to be two doors which would open in the middle. Over there's a picture of one of the doors clamped together after being attached to the 2x4. I talked with my dad (who's excited about this stuff too, but he's much more level-headed in the planning dept than I) and he said he could help me out saturday morning. So I drove out to my parents place at 10am, and am just getting back now. Clearly this project took a tad longer than I'd anticipated. It's still not done- I have to use wood putty to fill in some holes and paint the whole thing- but I can't wait to get all my gear in there! Here are two more pics- one opened and the other one closed. What I still can't figure out is who would paint a door these colors. Now maybe separately they're okay, but seriously...both of them together?? I can only imagine opening a green door and finding a bright turquoise backside. Maybe they did it for the shock value. Shocking it is. It's too bad that I have to paint over it- but I think it wouldn't complement my current room colors! I'll put one more up of the whole thing once it's completely done. Yay!

child.people

This is a picture of me, drawn by *e* on a placemat from the 50's diner. Notice the pig-like nose and the electroshock hair. I also have four fingers on the left hand, and six on the right; a fact you can't distinguish from the cropping of the photo. It does average out to five per hand, so we're doing well! I have to say, for a four year old, I don't think this is half bad. When I was that age, I specifically remember drawing feet sticking out of the top of the head. At first glance, people assumed they were antennae (which they did look like) and I often had to explain that they were legs. My people were super-people. They could flip upside down and still be able to walk on two feet! I learnt this from my friend Lauren (whose name I can post since I haven't seen her since we were five) and thought it was cool because she was cool . Now really- how popular can five year olds be? Now when I look back through the container of my childhood artwork my mom saved, I sometimes come across a person with four feet and smile.

saturday.plans

Since I didn't get things together early enough to plan a camping trip, I'm going to be hanging in Boston for Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday the 27th I'm going down to the Hatch Shell for WBOS's earthfest. It should be pretty cool. James Blunt, Los Lonely Boys, Brandi Carlile and more folks are playing, there's face painting and magicians for the wee ones, and food samples for everyone. I know you're all super excited by now, and are thinking that it can't get any better, but it does....it's all FREE!!! It goes from 12-6pm, but I'll probably try to get down there a little earlier to stake out some grass with my soon-to-be-finished picnic blanket. Let me know who's coming!

fortune.telling

Here's the fortune in my fortune cookie:

"If you never change your mind, why have one?"

Good point. However, being a gemini, I already have much experience in the mind changing department. And really- that's not a fortune. It's more like a thoughtful statement. Written as a fortune, the above would read something like this:

"You will soon experience new changes in your current decision making process."

**For those of you working on your Chinese, today's word, duck, is"Ya-zi."

boots.and.a.raincoat

Finally...a day without rain! I feel like I really took advantage of it too- something I don't always do. I did a quick workout at the gym today to keep ahead of the competition (we have contests at my gym every so often to help motivate people). Then I mowed the lawn which had grown quite thick and long thanks to our monsoon like rains. Then I met up with *ja* and *ki* and we went to coolidge corner for lunch (at Zaftigs..mmmmm) and poking. I went to high school with both of them, but hadn't seen *ki* since we graduated (which, shockingly enough, was 10 years ago...TEN YEARS!!! I really don't feel old enough, nor do I feel that I've accomplished enough, to have finished high school soooo long ago. Our reunion will probably be in November, which means I have six months to get it together.) After lunch, I hung out at the park with my little pals. Surprisingly, there weren't nearly as many kids there as there should have been on the first sunny day in over a week. A few days ago *e* asked if we could go to the park. I looked at her and said "*e*, it's pouring out!" She didn't seem concerned. Apparently she had asked to go bike riding at some point during the weekend. I figure she must have gotten so fed up with the rain that she decided it would be best to go about her life as usual...just with boots and a raincoat on. Ahhhh...to be four again.

numb.lip

One more thing I forgot to post- My lip is still numb from the surgery last Thursday. Not totally numb, but I can definitely pinch the top part and not feel anything. Is this weird? I'm hoping it's because it's still a little swollen and healing, but I can't help but worry that some nerves were messed up when the glands were removed. I think I'll wait until this Thursday and see how it's doing before I call the Dr. to check it out. I guess it wouldn't be so bad to have a paritally numb lip. If I ever decided to get my lip pierced I'd be all set!

wake.up

I like to read my brothers blog. He lives 3000 miles away, so I don't see him much. I was first alerted to the fact that he had a blog a couple of years ago when our Dad e-mailed telling me to check out the pictures of his leopard print hair. Nice! I felt like it gave me a way to keep up with him, so I try to catch up every-so-often.

A recent post has to do with how hard a time he has waking up It's pretty funny- especially the part where he makes up stories and doesn't remember them later on. When we were in high school his alarm would go off and wake the whole house (minus our youngest brother who suffers from similar issues) and he would go on sleeping. He didn't even wake up enough to turn it off. So it became my job to wake him on my way back from the bathroom. (As I'm writing now, I realize that I'm not sure how he managed to wake up for school during his senior year when I was off at college. I guess that my Dad must have inherited my job.) I'd open his door, and yell enough to get him out of bed. Luckily, I never suffered any physical abuse or thrown objects as a result of this.

Our Dad was up relatively early to go to work, and was usually downstairs by the time we had to leave. One day I was angry with *b* for something, and "forgot" to wake him up. I got ready, went downstairs, and was on my out to the bus when our Dad asked where *b* was.
"I don't know." I said.
I can still see my Dad's eyes rolling as he heard the radio blaring and realized that I never woke him up. *B* had to ride his bike the three miles to school that day.

Maybe this was the training that eventually led to his current ability to bike very long distances (like 85 miles in 7 hours!). Maybe I should take some credit here?

predictable.twists

I'm angry. I just watched the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. Fair warning- if you haven't watched it yet, and are planning to, don't read on.....stop now. Okay. So I don't understand why television shows have to build up relationships and story lines only to disappoint their audience. I know- everything in life isn't always candy and daisies, but neither is it unrealistic romantic relationships that end with someone dying or someone ruining a great potential relationship by having sex with their ex. Well..maybe that part's believable, but still. In real life, people actually do learn from their mistakes. They don't sleep with all their coworkers and sabotage healthy relationships for the fun of it. Denny dying angered me the most. I knew it was coming too. Television has gone so overboard in their quest to create a "twist" that the "twist" is completely predictable. Do you know what would be a great twist? Don't kill off Denny. Let him live, let Izzie marry him, and let them have a shot at a decent life together. There's always room for some dramatic heart transplant rejection later on. And Meredith...come on! The whole McDreamy thing is so old. It's not going to work out. I can see it all now in next season's premier. (Cue the music and the dreamlike filming...)

*Meredith picks Derek. They have some great passionate sex. They fight a lot. They want to put in the effort to make this thing work, so they try moving in together. Maybe they even get a new dog (but find a new vet to take him to). They fight some more- Addison comes into the picture; Derek thinks he should have worked harder at their marriage. Blah..blah..blah...In the end, someone cheats, they break up, and Meredith's back in the unhealthy miserable state she used to be in.**

That's it. If she doesn't pick Finn (aka McVet) in the premiere I'm done. No more watching for me.

wet

It has now been raining for five days straight, and doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. According to the weather channel, it's supposed to be rainy for another 10 days (and who knows if it'll stop then; that's just as far in advance as they go online). I'm not saying that I've never been through periods of rain, but this is getting ridiculous. It's not just sprinkling either, it's darn steady, and there's currently a flood watch in effect. The baby grass I seeded a week or two ago is the only one happy with this weather! Our neighbors gutters are full, and water is pouring over making it sound like it's raining even harder than it is. I remember when we were younger, my brother and I would go outside in our bathing suits and take "showers" under the overflowing gutters. I even brought out a bottle of shampoo once and lathered up. I'm sure all that muddy gutter water really made my hair sparkle.

In Phoenix it's 110 degrees. Vegas has an average of 72 100 degree days each year, and it's near 100 right now. One of my best friends lives in San Diego, and sometimes I envy the constant 70 degree sunny weather there. But I have to say I love New England weather. I like every season for a while, and when I start to tire of one, it's on to the next. I think I'd get bored if the weather was so constant. Plus, there's no sledding in Vegas.

oral.surgery

Yesterday I had oral surgery. I had some glands taken out of my lower lip. It's no big deal, and I had the same surgery four years ago. The thing is, I don't remember having any problems with the first surgery. I went in, the Dr. shot my lip full of novocain, made a little incision, and sewed it all back up. No swelling, problems talking, eating, etc. It goes without saying that I was expecting the same thing for the second surgery. This wasn't the case. First of all, the novocain shot hurt like heck, and I'm no baby with needles- I donate platelets every other week, and have a needle in each arm for over 90 minutes. The actual surgery itself didn't bother me since I was numb from the novocain, but the whole left side of my lower lip was swollen and bloody despite the six stitches I got. It actually wasn't that sore (it felt very much like a canker sore) but because it was so swollen, my lips didn't close all the way, making swallowing difficult and drooling necessary. When I tried to swallow, I made this whistling noise through my teeth. When I tried to talk, I sounded like I had a mouth full of cotton. When I tried to drink something, I dribbled it down my chin. I tried a straw, but because I couldn't form a seal with my lips, it didn't work so well. I'm getting a little off track, so I'll get back to my point...Was the first surgery really so easy? Or did I "forget" the unpleasant aftereffects of surgery? I can't imagine that there could be such a drastic difference from one to the other, but I also think I'd remember it being such a pain. Hmmmm...

europe?

So *tm* and I are doing the backpacking through Europe thing this summer. I sent out an e-mail to all of my friends asking for ideas of places to go and things to see. Here's a copy:

Hi everyone!
For those of you who don't yet know, I'm backpacking through Europe this August-Sept with my pal *tm*. I'm super excited and have been doing tons of research on places to see, etc. A couple of years ago I drove across country with my sister, and before we went, I e-mailed most of you asking for any ideas of places to see. We ended up seeing many great places that we would have missed had we not asked. So...I figured I'd try again!
We're probably flying in and out of Amsterdam, and then making a circular route through Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Czech Rep, Germany, Denmark, and maybe Austria, Luxem. and Greece. (I'm probably missing a few places in here.) We're doing it as cheaply as possible without sleeping with rodents- so the whole hostel, Eurail, backpack thing. If any of you have favorite places to visit, hostels to stay in (or better yet- know people who live there and would like some company!!!) or other insider info (tips on what to bring/not bring, etc), I would be so happy to hear it. Also, if any of you are looking for a place to vacation, I say go to Europe and we'll meet up with you! We'll be leaving here August 5,6,7th-ish, and staying for at least four weeks (hopefully more).
If you don't have Europe experience (at least of the backpacking sort) but know someone who does, please pass this e-mail along to them so they can share their wisdom!
I hope you're all doing well, and thanks for your ideas!
SCS

So anyway- I figured I'd post it here to in hopes of reaching a broader audience. (My friends are great, but haven't traveled as extensively as I'm sure they'd like!) I'm also having a huge problem picking out the best backpack for me. I'll talk more about that later.

pet.peeve

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people talk about their parents to others, and refer to them as "Mom" and "Dad". Hey...they're not my parents, they're yours. Unless you're talking to one of your siblings, say "my Mom" or "my Dad". No wife would ever refer to her husband as "husband" to another women (unless she was on the show Big Love), she'd say "my husband". So...I was watching Honey We're Killing the Kids the other night, and the nutritionist, Dr. Lisa, refers to the parents on the show as Mom and Dad. This is even worse. They're definitely not her parents. For the love of Pete....just say "your Mom and Dad". Really..how hard is that?

ear.to.ear

The orange line T is not the safest branch of the Boston subway system. While this is a known fact, I've never viewed it as so dangerous as to forgo the perks of public transit (ie- cheap rides) in favor of the more extravagant taxi option. However, recent events have caused me to reconsider my frugal impulses.

Sunday May 7th, 6:45pm. *tm* and I head over to the Forest Hills end of the orange line to catch a ride downtown to see Wicked. Usually there's a T hanging out on the tracks just waiting for people to board, but today we have to wait for a few minutes before one pulls in. It's decently full (for the end of a line at least) and we wait as people exit the car. An older women pushing a cart full of crap was one of the last people to disembark, followed by her husband. At first glance, I thought she was homeless, but after noticing the mans shirt and hat (a Matty in the morning Kiss 108 freebie) I realized that they had just finished the Walk for Hunger, and were returning home. (Or maybe they were homeless, but had scored some freebies anyway.) The man was saying something to someone on the T, but I wasn't really paying attention. So, *tm* and I hop on just as they make the announcement that the "doors will close and reopen momentarily". As the doors close, a man in our car gets up from his seat, and says something to the older man like "Watch yourself old man. I'll slit your throat from ear to ear". (Actually, both *tm* and I thought he said "here to here" instead of "ear to ear" (and thus the name of this blog) but after further consideration, we decided that he must have said "ear to ear" since he was making the motion with his hand.) To top this off, he was tapping a razor blade on the T window- you know...the kind where the blade is pushed up from the handle. I was about to get up and run for my life (after all, we all know what happens when you're forced to testify against a crazed gang murderer) when he packed his stuff up, got off the T and was questioned by a T official.

Needless to say, we took a cab home.