A milestone, of sorts

03 Jun 2011
Posted by jcfiala

So, I'm at what call 'between jobs' right now. I've got some contract stuff I can do on the side to bring in some money, and some savings, so I'm not hurting. Earlier this week, when the folks at Bonfils called me up and asked me to do a platelet donation, I realized I didn't have any strong reason not to say 'Yes'. I could set it up for Friday when I had some free time and it wouldn't interfere with any weekend plans with my wife, so why not?

Naturally today I ended up having bookending phone calls with potential employers. Life's funny that way.

I went in on time, and ran into a few snags. They thought my platelet count was a little low for a double-pull, for one, and for two they were running late do to some new folks and the usual randomness of life. So, they asked if I wanted to just donate some whole blood, which I agreed to. (What, I don't have to sit in a chair for two and a half hours? I don't mind that!) (Do you know what the nastiest thing about donating platelets is? You can't pee. It's vitally necessary to not drink immediately before you get in that chair, and to not sip on any liquids during the process. Well, it is for me.) So, I went through the whole blood dance, and as part of it they handed me a '4 gallons donated' pin.

4 gallons.

4 gallons of my precious bodily fluids have been given to others to use.

It's a little scary, isn't it? It's a shame I'm not type O like my wife, who gets to normally donate whole blood. It's a lot easier.

Why don't you donate some blood, if you can? Just think, if we can figure out how magic works, I'm pretty sure that means you get to control them with your will! :)