Blood Oath

I just donated blood again. It is such a nothing task for me to do, but it really benefit someone in need. Everyone should do it more often!

I used to donate every few months when I was living back in Albany because the Red Cross would call me to ask me to come in every time I was eligible. Keeping up with it was no trouble at all when someone else was keeping track of my donation schedule! Now that I am in the city, there are no phone calls, not even any emails reminding me to donate. Time just flies right by me, and before I know it, it's been two years since my last donation! Yikes.

Since I put 5 blood donations on my 101 list, and then realized I was more than 1/2 way through my allotted time frame without donating a single time, I have really tried to be diligent about my donations. I was triggered into it when some of my co-workers were talking about a blood drive that they participated in to get GirlScout cookies. That is an EXCELLENT reason to donate, in my book! I made the decision to visit my local blood bank that very night, even if I would have to settle for the typical Lorna Doone cookies (which are also delicious). Since then, when the nurse gives me my dismissal sheet with the next date I am eligible to donate written across the top, I immediately add a reminder to my calendar. That little pop up window telling me that I can donate again prompts me to look up a blood drive going on in my neighborhood and make an appointment for some time in the coming weeks. Once the appointment is done, the new "eligible" date goes on the calendar!

It is so easy to let other things in life get in the way of taking the time to make an appointment, or deciding which date would be best to take an hour away from the office to sit in a chair squeezing a bicycle handle. But if you were in a hospital bed instead of an office chair, wouldn't you wish someone would give up an hour for you?

September 17... exciting day!

I found a video of the flash mob I was in last weekend for this guy "John" for his 40th birthday. I had to view the video without sound, so if it isn't great, I apologize. The camera jumps around a lot, but I saw my white top in there a few times! Check it out!

(I am dead center, white tank top and brown hat).

Later that day, we went out to celebrate my good friends Rufio and Yeah-Yeah's birthdays. The night started with paella and hairpieces...and ended with karaoke and diner food. Naturally. But it also resulted in one portion of #81 on my list.... we were outside when the sun rose at 6:38am.

SO many updates.

Wait, when I logged into my blogger just now, did it really just say "Last published July 7th"??? Oh dear. I promise I haven't been inactive since then. On the contrary, I have been TOO active, and therefore unable to post. Here are a few updates:

Since I am hearing rumblings in the news of temperatures plummeting in NYC over the next few days, I am going to go ahead and call this the end of the season. That means that #53 is officially done! My flowers and basil plants still look great, but I need to make sure to harvest that basil before I lose it to the cold! Who wants to come over for homemade pesto??? Maybe I can make it my signature dish! (#64!)

...Baby steps, here. Baby steps.

I've been making progress on other parts of the list as well. The most obvious one being my recent contribution to #39 on the list, which was do donate to some sort of children's charity. For that, I decided to send 14" of my hair to Wigs For Kids, an organization that provides wigs to children going through medical treatments. I was happy to do it, knowing that my locks were going to help make some child feel good, even when dealing with a terrible illness.

I am also proud to say that I have now donated over a foot of hair to each of the three major wig-making organizations: Locks Of Love (x2), Pantene's Beautiful Lengths, and Wigs for Kids.

Recently, I also reached out to a girl that used to be a very good friend of mine all through middle school and high school that I lost touch with when we both went off to college. I have often wondered what became of her, and how she was, and with the help of another buddy of mine, I recently tracked her down! The two of us have been emailing each other every few days with updates about our lives, and our families. It is odd to send "updates" to someone you used to know so well... especially when those updates are things like "Well, I'm married.... I live in New York City...", but it is sort of fun, too. I also tried reaching out to another friend of mine from high school a while back. I had basically given up hope when I didn't hear anything back for a long time, but this friend wrote back to me just YESTERDAY! Hooray! It is so nice to hear from these people again, and now I am wondering who else I could possibly track down. #11 on the list: CHECK.

My final update is a little premature, but I am counting it for #21 anyway. I am taking part in my first FLASH MOB tomorrow! There is a whole choreographed routine that I am learning (and need to look at a few more times before I head to rehearsal in the morning) that is about 3 minutes long and SUPER complicated. We are going to be surprising some man who has a milestone birthday this weekend (either 40th or 50th, I think) and his wife set up this huge surprise. The whole flash mob thing is weird, because we are less than a day away and we still don't even have a location yet. In fact, I guess they are going to tell us where to meet a few hours before the event, and then we are going to travel to the location together (and not find out where it is until we get there). I don't even know what time this dance will be taking place. They gave us a block of time to reserve for ourselves, but I am guessing we won't find out the actual time until we arrive. They don't joke around about this stuff staying secret! They really take every precaution to make sure that there won't be people standing around with cameras or anything to give it away when birthday boy arrives. I hope someone takes a video of it so I can post it here....And let's be honest, I hope this is me tomorrow...

So those are my updates! Off to see a Broadway Show tonight, and count it toward my list!

Get Rich Quick

Congratulations, you have stumbled a blog that will tell you the secret to getting rich quickly, starting today. You may not believe how simple it is to make a fortune in a short amount of time, but follow this one simple step and you will be swimming in a sea of money, Scrooge McDuck style, in no time at all.

The secret? Buy stock in Advil. Lots of it.

If you have read my blog before, you know that I recently started running. I have run over 20 miles since I began my running adventure. And while I know that's what some people run in a day, I am just proud of the fact that I have run that distance in about 3 weeks. Due to purple and swollen toe nails, I had to take a few extra days off and wait for the skin on my toenails to disconnect entirely before I could pick up running again. (Why am I so gross?). And while I accepted the fact that I would be losing toenails, I did not expect that I would lose my kneecaps as well. This is where the Advil comes in.

My left knee started bothering me about 2 weeks ago, but I figured it was just a reaction from all the exercising I was forcing my unwilling body to do. I thought it would get better once my legs realized I was determined to keep this up. My solution? Pop a few Advil after each run... and the next day too. I kept giving myself more challenges....beat my own time running a 5K.... run up the very steep hill where I was vacationing.... walk without a limp. Before long, it resulted in two knees that were crying out for mercy, with only the swelling around them to stifle the screams. My solution? Start taking Advil regularly, with an extra dose after running, combined with icing frequently. And I got professionally fitted for new running shoes. (Which is an interesting experience on its own. Not that I didn't enjoy being videotaped while I ran in front of people in a shore wearing jeans and the flowy top I wore to the office in an effort to have the most physically fit person to ever live tell me why I suck at running and what shoes I need to even begin to run like a human being. But I digress.)

So, a few more days off. Armed with new running shoes, a knee brace, and a fresh bottle of Advil, it's time to hit the gym again. RUNNING! For a mile. Then I had to hit the brakes and try walking. Only to find out that my knees were so jacked that walking actually hurt more. The result? Going only about a mile and a half before having to limp home near tears. Tears that can only be soothed by even more Advil. (Ok, and pillows to elevate both legs, and a significant amount of ice to battle the significant amount of swelling).

Unfortunately, I think the only step I have left is to see a doctor. But what doctor would recommend against Advil? And since I plan to keep up with my running as long as I physically have knees to do it with, now is the perfect time for you to buy your stock. When those Advil stocks begin to skyrocket from the sudden spike in sales, you can thank me by paying for my medical bills. And a nice steak dinner.

I really like steak.

Who saw this coming?

I worked out 5 times last week. FIVE.

And I ran 5K!!! Not a 5K race, as in against other people, but I have been hitting the treadmill hard lately, and I ran 5K on Friday night! Super proud of myself. Through all of my excitement, I barely noticed that the room was spinning.

Unfortunately, what I did notice were my toes... which don't like to run. After pulling the shoes off my aching feet, I found that the second toe on each foot was badly bruised and swelling. (Gross alert). They were starting to hurt so bad that I actually had to puncture the nail on each foot to leach the blood out and relieve the pressure. The rest of the weekend was spent heating up needles to take care of the blisters that were causing my toenails to lift off my foot. Nice, huh? Aren't you glad I shared it with the world?

I am shockingly unphased by this "injury", even though for the first time in my life, I have a real excuse to avoid exercise. (Andy tells me that "The Golden Girls is just starting" doesn't count as a real excuse). I think it is because I finally feel like I am getting somewhere, and I am pumped to keep going and in a few week, sign up for a 5K race and check that off my 101 list.

Naturally, I have to balance all this workout out with some down time... like reading. Which I have been doing quite a bit. Reading the Bible, specifically the Old Testament. Another one on the 101 list. I have read parts of the Bible before, but never all the way through. I was actually surprised to find how many generations of Adam I still had memorized from who knows when I even learned them. I was more surprised to find out how much sex is in this book. Dang, yo!

I will admit that it is a bit of a tough read, so I am going to be taking it in stages. Read Genesis - Exodus, take a break and read something a little less steeped in history and repetitive phrasing. Then return to the Good Book again before firing up the next read in the cue on the old Kindle.

Started exercising furiously and reading the Bible in the same week. Who saw that coming?