Laundromat Bizatch

This is the second - and last - time. At least this time it happened at the end.

As I was packing up my wash, I realized that the woman staffing the laundromat was FUCKING SMOKING in the back. I don't need to say any more, do I?

I like the owner, and I really like the machines there, but I'm not going back. There's a laundromat across the street from me, but it's a really sketchy place. Maybe I'll find a new one. And all this after T$'s landlord started cracking down on people who aren't living in the house using their laundry and showers. *grr*

Periodic Table

Looking for a simple periodic table to include in a test (unsuccessful, but I've got a copy at work, and it's not really needed), I stumbled across an online test-your-memory version. I am proud to say that despite the astronomy quips of "there's Hydrogen, Helium, and everything else," "we have three elements: X, Y, and Z," and "everything other than Hydrogen and Helium is a metal," I managed to get 7 right on my first try. I knew where Berylium was (it and Lithium are important in cosmology), but forgot the "e" in Be. The others were CNO, useful in fusion in massive stars, and in general science classes. Another couple attempts saw me place Argon and Xenon, but I didn't have the patience to narrow down where the 10 or so others whose names I know would be located. Sadly I don't know where Iron (Fe - last thing that everything fuses to naturally in massive stars) or Uranium (I have a nice talk on nuclear powerplants that will see Homeland Security drag me away someday) are located.

If you give it a shot, along with telling me your score, please tell me your college major or occupation so I don't feel so bad. :-P

Donate Blood!

Last time I tried to donate blood, I was rejected in the screening process because I was on antibiotics. I just got an email (since I signed up via the web last time) reminding me that if I gave blood then, I'm eligible again now. Maybe near the end of next week, in the middle of my finals week, I can make the time to go. If not, then after I turn in grades.

Donating blood is very important to me. My Nga Boo (grandma) has received something like 5 blood transfusions in as many years and wouldn't be alive today without them. Ever since I was old enough (age 17, I believe) I've tried to donate blood. At first I was too light, and later I was too busy. Shamefully I've only made the time thrice ever to donate blood. For most people, donating blood is a really quick process - after the paperwork you're in and out in fifteen minutes. It takes me an hour just for sufficient blood to drip out, and then I invariably have to wait another half hour to an hour until I can stand without fainting. I haven't yet had to drive after, but I know it takes a while for me to function normally after. This means I have to set aside something like four hours, half a work day, to be able to give blood at all, and sadly I have a hard time doing so. Every time I go I fear that they'll reject me on weight, or iron, or antibiotics. And yet, I want to try, again and again.

You, do it too! Go donate blood for those times I was rejected. Donate for all the friends and family you have who received transfusions. Donate for the transfusions you yourself will need. Donate for all the money you couldn't send, all the time you couldn't take, to help people devastated by Katrina, by the South Asian tsunami, by the Kashmiri earthquake. It will be easier for you than for me. It'll take you fifteen minutes to donate, and less than that to sign up online through the American Red Cross, AABB (American Association of Blood Banks?), or America's Blood Centers.