Tag: news

Blood Drive Health Scare

OK. I have been donating blood since I was 17 and a junior in high school. On Tuesday, I was turned down for the first time ever. Needless to say, I was a bit bummed out. I had a blood pressure reading of 176/110 and they turned me away. I immediately called my doctor to see about getting in and of course they can’t get me in until sometime in December. Why is it that doctors schedule you so far out when you are calling for something you think is important? Oh well, I digress. I went out last night after worrying all day about having high blood pressure and bought a digital testing machine to keep track of my blood pressure until I am able to get in to see the doctor. I tested it several times last night and then again this morning and could not get a reading near the one they gave me at the blood drive. Either I was just freaking out at the blood drive for some unknown reason or the girl doing it made a mistake. Either way, this mornings reading was 110/79 well within the normal 120/80 range. I will keep testing it until I see my doctor, but it seems the blood drive was an anomaly rather than a decisive “You have High Blood Pressure” reading.

Funny thing about the blood drive, even after being declined for donating that day, the lady in the cantina still gave me a coupon for two free tacos from Del Taco. You give blood or not, here are some artery clogging tacos. Or maybe they are just for lubricating your veins.

Good Eats

We made a quick weekend trip to Texas to see Renee’s family after her grandmother passed on October 31st. We spent some time with her family and managed to eat some good Texas food to boot. We got some BBQ when we were laid over in Houston. Then we went to dinner with her family and had some chicken fired steak with white gravy. Lastly, Renee was able to have some Bluebell Ice cream. “The best ice cream in the country.” We also made it to our home church and enjoyed seeing all of our family there. It is always great to get home and sleep in your own bed after a few nights away.

I can see clearly now….

The smoke is almost completely gone from the valley and I was able to see a beautiful sunrise on my drive to work this morning. I worked outside over the weekend and though smoky still, it was much better than previous days. We even managed a little rain on Saturday which was a tremendous help to the air and especially the guys on the front line fighting the fires.

Now with real, smoke flavor!!

Eye-watering, lung choking goodness has arrived in Apple Valley. The Santa Ana winds are gone and now the smoke lays down perfectly in our valley. Visibility was less than a mile when I left the house today. Mountains, who needs to see mountains when you can enjoy life inside a smoker. I know the lack of winds is great for the guys fighting the fires and I do wish them the best at the difficult work they do. However, the inundation of smoke in the valley is something I don’t wish to continue for too long. Our towns new motto: “Apple Valley, now with real smoke flavor!“

SoCal is burning!

What do you get when you combine the driest year on record with strong Santa Ana winds? Southern California on fire. When we went to bed last night, there were 10 reported fires in the LA area alone. The canyon where we went to Cornerstone music festival is ablaze near Irvine. Driving in this morning I could see the smoke just over the mountains from our place in Lake Arrowhead. We have avoided being inundated with smoke as the winds are blowing from the deserts into the LA basin, but that can all change before they extinguish all the blazes. I guess we will just pray and see where it goes. It’s always interesting in Southern California. I imagine we will see torrential rains now since these fires are usually followed by mudslides in the burn areas. Such is life in Southern California.

LANFESTivities!

This past weekend Jesse and I went to the Ontario Convention Center to check out LANFEST 2K7 hosted by NewEgg.com. It was pretty cool to see all of the vendors and the gaming paraphernalia there. I even won a brand new case for my PC from CoolerMaster. I told them of my replacing my power supply the weekend before with one of theirs and they let me spin the prize wheel. We also snagged some shwag from the booths by NVidia, AMD, Crucial, Seagate, Kingston, NewEgg, Shuttle, Antec, Microsoft and Logitech. It was pretty cool to see the gamers compete against each other too with huge Plasma screens mounted above their heads for all to see the action. Not bad for the $5 General Admission fee.

Rock Art

This past weekend we went to Cornerstone California in Irvine and saw some great Christian Metal bands. Friday night we saw Demon Hunter and Tourniquet. Both put on a really great show, but Tourniquet was the best. The next night we saw Neon Cross, Once Dead(formerly Vengeance), Barren Cross and Bloodgood. It was a great time and my neck needed several coats of Icy Hot in the days following. Yesterday, I took Jesse to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena as part of a field trip for his Art class. We enjoyed talking about the artists and their techniques. Today it’s back to work after a 3 day Rock Art weekend.

Who do you meet at a blood drive?

I stopped after work to make my regular blood donation (and get my coupon for two free tacos). Next to me is a guy that seems familiar, but it is not until I see his name that I recognize him. I went to elementary/high school with him. I turn around and give him my name and we talk for a moment before he moves to the next station. I then have one of the ladies waiting tell me her name and she also went to school with me. After I catch up with the guy, he tells me that they are married and that another classmate is also at the blood drive. Once I hit the “cantina” after donating, I spend most of the time catching up with my three classmates. Who do you meet at a blood drive? Twenty-three years after graduating high school, I run into three classmates who also donated blood. They stayed here in my hometown, while I moved away for 18 years and then came back.

Back from Vegas

I returned Saturday from Photoshop World in Las Vegas. It’s a conference put on by NAPP(National Association of Photoshop Professionals, 70,000+ members). I had a great time and stayed at the Desert Rose Resort. It was like having an apartment in Vegas without the noise and smoke of the casino. I had a great time and was able to meet up with people from the NAPP forum as well as the guys from PhotoshopUserTV at the House of Blues. Here is a brief video. I enjoyed the conference, but it was nice to be back with my family afterward.