I do it for more than just the Fig Newtons

Although, receiving a pack of Fig Newtons is a huge benefit.

My blood type is O+, which is pretty close to being a universal donor. WebMD has a good description of blood types and what causes a transfusion reaction.

Every 8 weeks, Virginia Blood Services stops by the offices where I work. I try to donate every time they are here. It's easy.

I know some folks are afraid of needles. That's ok to be bothered by them, but don't let that stop you from donating.

Or attempting to donate. The phlebotomists (the people who are drawing the blood from the donors) screen you. You privately answer questions about yourself--they seem very interested in potential exposure to mad cow disease--and there is a simple test for your blood's iron content. I'm always amazed at the number of people turned away because of a lack of iron.

If all of that checks out, then you do like the cartoon shows here. They lay you back in a comfortable chaise lounge looking donation chair and you are subjected to a tiny pinprick. About 8 to 10 minutes later, you've donated a pint of blood.

After they remove the needle and tape some gauze to your arm, you get to grab some goodies. Water, juices, and clear sodas from the cooler and peanuts, granola bars, pretzels, and Fig Newtons from the snacks. I love Fig Newtons.

But that isn't why I donate.

When my son, Alex, was born back in 1989, his mother hemorrhaged a great deal during the C-section. I was there. I saw it happen. I watched her faint. They used 8 units of whole blood before they kicked me out of the room. (I got to spend quality time with Alex. Everyone was being very nice to dad and the baby.)

EDIT: Just to clarify, Alex's mother was indeed my wife at the time.

I had given blood before that time, but after that point, I gave regularly. If that blood hadn't been available, thanks to generous donors, Alex's mom would not have survived.

I think about that every time I donate. If you donate, thank you. If you don't, please consider it.

Here are some facts from Virginia Blood Services.

Waking on a dream; a poem's evolution

Emily Dickinson wrote the following poem:

Let me not mar that perfect dream
By an auroral stain,
But so adjust my daily night
That it will come again.

Thirty years later, Henry James recorded the following piece in his journal:

Oh, wretched Eos, shine not your rosy-fingered light,

caused by clouds hovering over the eastern harbor,

in such a manner that my dream, my perfect

--insofar as a dream can be called perfect,

as my sleepy fantasies do not have a realistic conformity

and only the real, the waking harming beautifully dangerous real

can be considered perfect--

dream is ruined, erased, devoid of its misty imagery,

sharp-edged and soft-focused simultaneously

like the ephemeral borders of a Brady daguerrotype,

Oh, sweet Hypnos, hear my unvoiced supplication

--unvoiced because I still drift in and out of your kingdom,

in that foggy mystical time when thoughts are more voluminous than shouts

and genius emanates from the tips of all my nerves--

to allow my return to,

like I had purchased a round trip ticket on a particularly punctual train,

to place me in possession of,

this exact same location

in this forgotten-during-the-daylight-hours dream.

Thirty years after this, Ernest Hemingway wrote the following on a cocktail napkin at Sloppy Joe's:

This fine dream is ruined

Because I didn't pull the curtain,

Would a repeat of last night's debauch

Bring it back for certain?

Thirty years later, Dylan Thomas etched these words in a sticky coffee stain:

I boiled and seethed at the rising of the light

My dream scattered like flakes of ash on a tradewind breeze

How I regret waking and living a new day

Missing this vision that I might never re-seize.

About thirty years after this, a group of men who would go on to form The Wiggles wrote this:

You dreamt your dreamy dream

But now it's time to wake up and move

Eat, brush, comb, dress, you're doing

the Getting Ready for School Groove.

Are poems really a reflection of their times?

(image is "Early Morning Light" a painting by Aldo Luongo.)

Good size slate for the mixtape

Quite a few suggestions for the Happiness Mixtape Project have come in from loyal readers:

A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley

I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic - The Police

What's New Pussycat? - Tom Jones

I'm a Believer - The Monkees

Oh, Happy Day - Edwin Hawkins Singers

I Believe I Can Fly - R Kelly

My deepest apologies for this photo, it is the only one I could find that captures the essence of the Welsh crooner. Please refrain from throwing your undergarments at the screen.

Do all of these songs belong on the mixtape? Leave your opinions in the comments.

Date night dilemma - a cry for help

Jocelyn and I need to go out. Alone.

She and I need to unwind. Alone.

But I'm not sure what to do. While we both like movies, we don't want that to be our date night.

And we're not dancers, despite the image (the one on the left, not my personal image.)

She asked Lori, the woman who styles our hair, who is also very knowledgeable about restaurants, night life, and happenings in the area. She recommended a jazz bar in the Shockoe Bottom area of town. We'll see.

I checked a couple of websites. These tips made sense, especially the one about entertainment that requires facing in the same direction.

The plethora of suggestions at Redbook were definitely geared to the female. I'm not doing Numbers 8 or 15, though 7 looked good if the night was warm. The suggestions are not all that wonderful for the most part, but they are really meant to get your own creativity flowing.

Over at lovingyou.com they have a large collection of articles divided into 'staying home' and 'going out'. We want the going out choices. Staying home, in a house with our floor plan means no privacy at all.

Our best "dates" are when I stay home during a school day. We can talk about any topic, we can go have lunch at a decent restaurant and we can behave like honeymooners (people that just married each other, not Ralph and Alice Kramden.)

But we need an evening out. A break from the monotony of returning from work, dinner, homework help, prepping the kids for bed, idle chit chat, a little reading and falling asleep.

Suggestions? The problem with a jazz bar for me is that it will be smoky and it violates the entertainment rule of not facing each other when out on a date.

Hair in the age of excess

One of the greatest hair metal songs of all time is nearly done in by one of the worst videos of all time.

David Coverdale, the leader and lead singer of Whitesnake, co-wrote almost the entire album with the lead guitarist, John Sykes, who would in turn lead the band, Blue Murder. Notice that John Sykes, nor any other member of the band is given any facial closeups during the course of the video.

In fact, other than Coverdale, the only person prominently featured is his wife (from 89 to 91, at least) Tawny Kitaen.

The full moon background, the black silhouette of Coverdale leaning back, the pointless parading of Kitaen, all make for a ridiculous video that serves as a statement of all that is hair. Even the short sequence showing the guitarist using a bow is silly. That is not real folks. I wonder how many kids went to the guitar shop looking for cello bows after seeing this.

But none of this absurdity should take away one bit from the power of this incredible Led Zeppelin-inspired tune. Close your eyes if you have to, but there is hardly a better example of 80s pop metal than Still of the Night, from the non-debut, yet eponymous album by Whitesnake. In Europe it was called 1987, named after the year of its release. (And yes, I own it.)

Enjoy. It runs over six minutes. And let me know how much you liked Here I Go Again so much better in the comments.

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Suzzie the Rat

There she is. The beady-eyed little sweetie. Not you, Monica, I mean the rat.

This is my daughter's pet rat, Suzzie. She is two years old. That makes her about 60 in human years. The photo was taken when she was much younger.

Suzzie is kind of chubby rat with graying hair now. Her energy level isn't quite what it used to be. She moves slower, seems less impulsive, and this gives her the appearance of being a wise old rat.

Maybe that's all wisdom is: keeping quiet until you've had a chance to think about it, whatever it is.

Suzzie doesn't leap up to the top story of her 3-story apartment anymore. She waddles up the ramps and will only climb to the top if there is the promise of food. Speaking of food, she expects to be fed, by Monica, or Jocelyn, or both if she can convince them, each evening around 9 or 10 p.m.

Last night she had to go without food because this morning Suzzie had surgery. She has a touch of breast cancer and the veterinarian is removing a tumor today. We'll get Suzzie back later today, a little drowsy, with a shaved spot and some stitches.

Despite being a rat--I purposely didn't show a photo that displayed her hairless tail, the attribute that normally bothers people--Suzzie is a pet. She interacts with everyone in the family. She likes sitting on your shoulder or being cradled in your arms. She will come when called. And she likes tiny bits of bread and cheese, though we keep her on a pretty strict "rat food" diet.

With some luck (and maybe another surgery if any tumors come back) Suzzie should live another year. We knew that when we bought her that we wouldn't have her for long, but she has been a source of enjoyment for us. She's led a pretty good life.

If you want a pet that is intelligent, clean, easy to maintain, and fun to have, I can't recommend a rat highly enough. Just be careful if you get a male and a female...they can start breeding at five weeks old and the gestation period is about five weeks. And the typical litter size is about a dozen. You can wind up with a lot of rats very quickly. I don't recommend that.

Let me know about your pet, exotic or mundane, in the comments.

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Secrets to Happiness: Secret #11

This secret is part of a duo. We really need the other secret to make it most effective, but it will still work pretty well on its own.

Identify your emotions

This is tough for most people, myself included, especially if you haven't made a habit of doing it.

Don't run out and buy any "mood" jewelry. Those are just fancy thermometers. In the summer you are likely to be "happy" or "relaxed" while in winter (if you live in a cold climate) you'll be "tense" or in some nervous negative mood.

To do this right, you're going to have to step back from yourself and be the scientific, dispassionate observer, the clinician. When you are in the middle of an intense feeling, like anger, frustration, elation, and such, you probably aren't thinking about identifying your mood. That's fine for now.

Let's try this instead. For the next few days, identify your emotions at the following times: when you wake up, during lunch, at 5 p.m., and before you go to bed. Do NOT attempt to figure out the reason for your mood. Don't blame anything good or bad at this point. Just give your emotion or mood a name.

It's like developing a vocabulary for identifying flavors. Not too easy at first.

How does this help with happiness? Well, the purpose of happiness is to enjoy life, to live life. I believe that too truly deeply enjoy something you have to be able to put into words how you sense it. Emotions are the indicators of the harmonics of life and us.

I did say that at least one other secret is necessary for this one to be even more valuable. We'll get to that today or tomorrow. The important thing for now is to step back, take a different perspective--pretend you are observing yourself from a secret observation spot--and honestly name your feelings.

Here are a couple that are tough to name, because we don't want to feel bad about ourselves:

1) envy - which I think is the worst of the seven deadly sins, yet I struggle with this emotion a lot. I don't want to feel envy, but I do. Identifying it when I do, takes away much of its power and gives me a chance to honestly examine myself (but now I'm hinting at the next secret...)

2) humble - it would be easy to say "pride" here, but I think recognizing when we are feeling humble is tough for a couple of reasons. First, the act of calling one's mood "humble" feels like an act of pride. Remember, be dispassionate. You are merely stating an observational fact. Second, we usually are able to identify "humble" when we have suffered some injury to our pride. I would argue that we aren't feeling "humble" at that point. That is probably "embarrassed" more than anything. They are two separate feelings.

So, after you read this, try it on yourself immediately and post your observation in the comments.

For example, I am feeling apprehensive, mildly frustrated, and a small amount of dread right now. That will change immediately after I post this to a mood concerning preparing for work, that I can't identify yet (because I am not feeling it yet.)

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Another mixtape solicitation

It is that time again. We added two songs yesterday. We're looking for nominees.

Remember: I need a song and an artist specified.

Leave your selections in the comments.

100 nouns for the 100th post

All the stuff I said that I wouldn't drone on about, I will list here without the droning. These are people, places, things, and ideas that I like. We'll cover verbs at the 200th post.

These are in no particular order:

1. Jocelyn - despite the "no particular order" sentiment above, I know who boils the oatmeal around here

2. 1984 by George Orwell (I like the Van Halen album, too, but it isn't going on the list)

3. Nocturnes by Frederic Chopin

4. Views of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia - even the two looking south from I-64 are good

5. The Child in Time by Ian McEwan

6. Chocolate bars with toffee such as Score or Heath

7. Evil Dead 2 - a campy horror movie from Sam Raimi (he's the guy who brings you the Spider-Man movies)

8. Sweet is the Night - a song by the Electric Light Orchestra from the album Out of the Blue

9. Lavender Mist: Number 1, 1950 by Jackson Pollock

10. State Quarters

11. Cashews

12. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson

13. Arrested Development - a short-lived comedy on FOX

14. Double Stuf Oreos

15. My kids

16. Winning - a song by Santana from Zebop!

17. Beers from Dogfish Head Brewery

18. Glory (the Edward Zwick movie starring Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington)

19. Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan (a Vertigo comic, the final issue, #60, to this entertaining story comes out in January)

20. Bertrand Russell - not that I always agree with his opinions, but I find his books enjoyable and thought provoking

21. Used bookstores

22. The Stand by Stephen King (the magnum opus of his early days)

23. Moonlighting - an old TV show from the 80s starring Cybill Shepherd and a non-bald Bruce Willis

24. A Case of the Stubborns - short story by Robert Bloch, horror-humor perfection

25. Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park - especially the little shuttle bus tour of the ranch; relaxing, informative, poignant; when we there, Lady Bird was home, too (she died this past summer)

26. Rollercoasters - they scare me, but I always feel great after riding them

27. Graceland by Paul Simon, the whole album, never gets old

28. The Lord of the Rings - the trilogy of films, that is, by Peter Jackson...geek alert, it'll get worse as we go down the list

29. Bored of the Rings by the writers of the National Lampoon; classic satire of the original Tolkien books...you will laugh out loud at the journey of Frito, Spam, Moxie and Pepsi

30. The X-Files - we watched it all from the beginning

31. Isaac Asimov was my favorite writer as a kid...I learned a lot of things from reading his fiction and non-fiction

32. Pete Rose - yes, he had (has) serious gambling problems and a not so wonderful personality (though he seems like nothing more than an outspoken confident midwesterner to me) but he represented how you are supposed to play and love the game of baseball; it is a travesty that he will not be in the Hall of Fame until long after he is dead

33. Mt. Rainier National Park - this is one thing that I really miss about living in Seattle: the ability to drive down to the mountain and take a walk in the woods and meadows

34. Convertible roadsters - I had an MGB in Hawaii and Jocelyn had a Triumph TR-6 in Seattle; after kids we gave them up; I'm thinking of getting one back, maybe a Saturn Skye?

35. Thunderstorms

36. Fried chicken, especially Popeye's spicy

37. Prayer of St. Gregory - a short work for trumpet and strings by Alan Hohvaness

38. Chex Mix

39. Beers from Brooklyn Brewery

40. William Steig - writer and illustrator of children's books, including Shrek and, one of my favorites, The Real Thief

41. Mark Rothko - see my post on the Rothko Chapel

42. USS Arizona Memorial

43. A Parliament of Whores by P.J. O'Rourke, humorous look at politics in America

44. Lucifer, a Vertigo comic written by Mike Carey; the story of the fallen angel who owns a piano bar in Los Angeles; he would like to be left alone, but he is forced to take on the Heavenly host, among others (3 issue mini-series, a special issue "Nirvana", and a 75 issue run)

45. Styx - my favorite rock band as a kid; saw them last summer, adequate, but I missed Dennis DeYoung

46. Irish Wolfhound - this is the breed of dog I've always wanted to own but we have an English Setter

47. Candles, lit, but not so many that it looks like a chick flick or a slasher movie

48. Agnosticism: I don't care to argue about this, just know that I have the same problem with atheists as I do with theists; there are more important things to argue

49. Flannel sheets in winter

50. Pixar Animation Studios - they haven't missed yet, not even with Cars

51. Bailero by Joseph Canteloube from his Chants d'Auvergne

52. The right tool for the right job

53. Spaghetti with either a butter sauce or mizithra cheese (or both)

54. The Wizard of Oz - book and movie

55. Kennedy Space Center

56. Ambient music, you know, New Age

57. Casino Royale, (2006) the best Bond movie ever...so far

58. Pears, see POTUS

59. Beers from Rogue Ales

60. Modern Pentathlon, an Olympic sport

61. Lost, and it never has frustrated me, I trust Lindelof and Cuse

62. The Onion, America's Finest News Source

63. The National Gallery of Art, the whole thing, including this

64. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, a family tradition since 1989

65. The Story of US, 10 volumes by Joy Hakim; she is also writing a six volume history of science

66. Lactase tablets, see this for the reason

67. My extended family, including my siblings, parents, and in-laws and their children

68. The kid's recitals

69. The kid's sports competitions

70. Cincinnati Reds - especially the Big Red Machine of the 70s

71. Cincinnati Bengals: given these last two, I am a master at being content with not winning

72. Baseball/Softball - playing, not watching

73. Darts, especially if no one is taking it too seriously

74. The old Montana speed limits: "reasonable and prudent" during the day

75. A. Whitney Brown, a humorist who isn't getting much love these days, but I like him; one of my favorite lines (adapted for the current world): There's six billion people in this world, so if you're a one-in-a-million type person, that means there are six thousand others exactly like you

76. Heated seats

77. Indoor plumbing, that works properly

78. Hot showers, with the right shower head, of course

79. Yellowstone National Park

80. Merit Badges, I'm fascinated with them; and Life Badges will pick up soon

81. Backyard volleyball

82. Soft-serve ice cream (with #66)

83. Babies, infants just make me happy, they cannot behave badly or be spoiled, and they're easy to return to their parents

84. Isn't It Time by The Babys from Broken Heart (the baby thing is coincidental, I swear)

85. Sports commentary that is intelligent and honest: Chris Collinsworth and Jason Whitlock immediately spring to mind; I don't think it's happened with political commentary, maybe Charles Krauthammer

86. Rushmore, the movie and the soundtrack

87. Chips Ahoy! like #14, I like them with a big glass of water (not milk, see #66)

88. All of Star Trek, except for Deep Space 9 and Voyager

89. The first Star Wars trilogy, except for any scene featuring an Ewok

90. The film music of Ennio Morricone, especially The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and Once Upon a Time in the West

91. The Carol Burnett Show, I miss watching that on Saturday nights

92. Dennis Brain, I have nearly everything that he recorded in his short life, he played horn and someone had the common sense to roll tape a few times when he performed

93. Cincinnati-style chili - cheese coneys or a three-way preferred

94. Kauai has always been my favorite island

95. Pomegranates - fruit you have to work to obtain

96. Unabridged dictionary - one of my favorite books

97. Stadium seating at movie theaters - no more hats or big hair getting in the way

98. Roy Steele - my grandfather (and my grandmothers, too,) but Roy had a big influence on my life, he trusted me with responsibilities when I was very young...I didn't let him down while he was alive

99. A comfortable bed with an acceptable pillow

100. Happiness, suggested by Gabe, approved by me

Not exhaustive by any means, but a pretty nice start...we'll look at it again after another hundred posts.

Two to the tape...a light week

We have two tunes to add to the mixtape this week.

Nikki Blonsky (as Tracy Turnblad): Good Morning, Baltimore

Michael Torke: Bright Blue Music, performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Zinman

The link for Bright Blue Music will open a pop-up from Amazon. I chose this because it contains a full minute of the nine minute work. The sample also contains one of my favorite moments, where the orchestra builds momentum with snippets of strings, brass, and woodwinds to an emotional crescendo. My little laptop speakers do not do it justice. This is meant to be played loudly. For me, this music is as sure of a pick-me-up as a shot of caffeine and the effect is more immediate.

Aimee left a comment with a couple of song recommendations. I'll tack those on to tomorrow's post after a thorough evaluation. I'm wondering where all of these 70s songs are coming from with her. She was a little kid in those days.

I should add that Aimee is my younger sister (by a considerable margin.) We have an older sister, Sandra, but I have never called her anything but Sis. (Aimee used to refer to me as "Brother" if I recall correctly.) But sibling stuff is for another post.

Good Morning, Baltimore and Hello World!

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This weekend I will be friendly

Wow, after last weekend's monumental failure at being tactful, will I improve this weekend when it comes to friendliness?

I'm not very shy, so being outgoing will not be too difficult. I'll need to be genuinely interested in other people.

I'll smile.

I'll say "Hi" to people. I'll wave from the car.

I'll ask people about themselves and I will listen.

This should be far easier for me than tact. However, I'll need to be tactful as I try to be friendly.

Friendliness seems like a slam dunk, no-brainer. Until someone doesn't return the friendly demeanor or they look at you like you're nuts. Keep the expectations low. Don't have any expectations for a reciprocal smile or wave. Don't assume that people will talk to you.

If they do, great. Even if they don't respond, they might benefit from a friendly face.

I'll try. I'll let you know on Monday, how it went.

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