Tuesday, December 16

vampires in orange Winnebagos

I spent 45 minutes giving blood and debugging a portable printer today.

originally, i thought the Carter Bloodcare "mobile unit" was due on 6/12 (6 December) instead of 16/12 (16 December), but their email reminders changed that. since i was the first appointment of the day, i unexpectedly found myself helping the staff-of-3 "fix" the printer that's connected to their Windows 2000 based laptop. Okay, I merely advised them to move the printer a bit, so there wasn't so much strain on the parallel cable .. at which point it worked perfectly (instead of spewing junk). If only all technical support issues were that easy.

the blood donation was almost painless .. the nurse did a great job of minimizing the pain involved with the needle prick, and things seemed to go much smoother than my last donation (late July). and this time, i didn't make the mistake of letting them take blood from my right (bowling !) arm.

the "mobile unit" is a specially-designed RV painted orange (inside there is a private consultation room and 4 or 5 couches where you rest while the blood is drawn). there's also a bench on which to sit, after the donation (where you drink some juice and eat a couple cookies) .. this is to make sure that help is available, if you begin to pass out (i have learned not to lie when they ask if you had a good breakfast). and yes, I Got the T-Shirt for the effort.

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