ivman's blague

Well, I think I’ve given blood for the second and final time in my life. A week ago this past Saturday I decided to try giving blood again when the Blood Connection had its bloodmobile at our church for a blood drive. I had given blood several years back and just made it through my unit when I started to have a vasovagal episode. It didn’t come as a huge surprise since I had had problems when visiting people in the hospital who were receiving fluids or transfusions. After that incident I decided that maybe I shouldn’t give blood again. This latest time, though, I thought maybe the same problem would not recur. However it did. I was able to finish giving my unit of blood and didn’t pass out completely, but I felt terrible for the last third of the unit as and for a while afterwards.

The next day, though, I noticed that I had a rash and hives all around the site where they had drawn the blood. The following day it was creeping towards my wrist and my underarm, and the same thing was appearing on my other forearm. Below is a picture of my left arm.

I took Benadryl before going to bed that night to see if that would calm my allergic reaction. It did basically nothing but make me half-loopy all day Tuesday. I went to see my doctor Wednesday, and we figured out that I was having a reaction to the chlorhexidine gluconate they had used to clean the site where the needle would go in. The nurse had chlorhexidine gluconate on her gloves and touched all over on my left arm during the whole process. There were apparently traces of the substance on the other arm of the chair from previous donors - hence the rash on my right forearm where it had touched the arm of the chair. I’m on Prednisone for one week (nasty stuff!) The rash is finally going away and bothering me much less.

What’s kind of funny is that in two of my French classes in recent weeks we’ve been talking about various sports in French, one of which was rugby. I told my students that I had seen a t-shirt in France that said, “donnez du sang - jouez au rugby” (that is, give blood - play rugby). We all chuckled about it since rugby is such a rough game. I’m thankful that some are able to give blood with no ill effects, but after my experiences recently, I think the next time I decide to try giving blood, I’ll go out for rugby instead!

Yesterday we had some guests for lunch. One is our niece, a nurse in a local ER, and another is a senior nursing major at BJU, currently doing her clinicals. They were talking about how surprised they are at how unfeelingly sometimes medical personnel talk among themselves about their work. It made me think of something in my files that I could post, wanting very much to have something to laugh about concerning medical things.

Things you don’t want to hear during surgery

Wait a minute, if this is his spleen, then what’s that?

Someone call the janitor–we’re going to need a mop.

Bo! Bo! Come back with that! Bad dog!

Hand me that…uh…that uh…thingie.

Oh no! I *know* I had my wristwatch on when I came in here!

Oops! Hey, has anyone ever survived 500 ml of this stuff before?

Everybody stand back! I lost my contact lens!

Could you stop that thing from beating; it’s throwing my concentration off.

What’s this doing here?

I hate it when they’re missing stuff in here.

Better save that. We might need it for an autopsy.

That’s cool! Now can you make his leg twitch?

I wish I hadn’t forgotten my glasses.

You did WHAT to our car?!

Well folks, this will be an experiment for all of us.

Sterile, schmerile. The floor’s clean, right?

Anyone see where I left that scalpel?

OK, now take a picture from this angle. This is truly a freak of nature.

It’s gonna blow! Everyone take cover!

Nurse, did this patient sign the organ donation card?

Don’t worry. I think it is sharp enough.

Rats! Page 47 of the manual is missing!

FIRE! FIRE! Everyone get out!

I’d love to hear about the experiences, both good and bad, of those who’ve given blood or received blood.

quotation…

“Many brave men have died for countries that don’t exist any more.” - Dr. Drew Conley

=^..^= =^..^=
Rob

When the doctor got a bad cut, the nurse said, “Suture self.”

Tags: French, medicine, sports, t-shirts, work

Does the thought of taking tests fill you with terror? Probably. Classes haven’t even begun for us yet, and I’m already thinking about tests. We’re in faculty in-service meetings this week on campus and they have been excellent - very helpful and thought-provoking! Next week we’ll be working in our offices getting our courses ready to go. Then after several days of course registration, classes will begin September 3. Part of teaching is writing and grading tests. But tests aren’t limited just to the realms of academia. Many potential employees have to take tests to show their competencies for the jobs they’d like to land.

Here’s a story about a man in that very situation.

Tom is applying for a job as a signalman for the local railroad, and is told to meet the inspector at the signal box.

Tom seems like a good prospect, and the inspector decides to give Tom a pop quiz. He starts off by asking, “What would you do if you realized that two trains were heading towards each other on the same track?”

Tom says, “I would switch one train to another track.”

“What if the lever broke?” asks the inspector.

“I’d run down to the tracks and use the manual lever,” answers Tom.

“What if that had been struck by lightning?” challenges the inspector.

“Then,” Tom continues, “I’d run back up here and use the phone to call the next signal box.”

“What if the phone were busy?”

“In that case,” Tom argues, “I’d run to the street level and use the public phone near the station”.

“What if that had been vandalized?”

Tom quickly replies, “In that case I’d run into town and get my Uncle Leo.”

The puzzled inspector asks, “Why would you do that?”

“Because he’s never seen a train crash!”

(So, did Tom pass the test and land the job?)

Now here’s a little test for you. It appears to be a list of trick questions with obvious answers, but it really is!

The world’s easiest test?

(Answers follow, but NO cheating!)

1. How long did the Hundred Years War last?

2. Which country makes Panama hats?

3. From which animal do we get catgut?

4. In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?

5. What is a camel’s hair brush made of?

6. The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?

7. What was King George VI’s first name?

8. What color is a purple finch?

9. Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

10. How long did the Thirty Years War last?

Now remember … NO cheating!

Answers to the world’s easiest test…

1. 116 years, from 1337 to 1453.

2. Ecuador.

3. From sheep and horses.

4. November. The Russian calendar was 13 days behind ours.

5. Squirrel fur.

6. The Latin name was Insularia Canaria — Island of the Dogs.

7. Albert. When he came to the throne in 1936 he respected the wish of Queen Victoria that no future king should ever be called Albert.

8. Distinctively crimson.

9. New Zealand. (Chinese gooseberries is an older name for kiwifruit.)

10. Thirty years, of course! From 1618 to 1648.

If that test made you feel as dumb as it made me feel, maybe this final item about testing will make you feel like a rocket scientist (or at least a rocket surgeon…).

A college football coach had recruited a top talent for the team, but the player couldn’t pass the school’s entrance exam. Needing the recruit badly, the coach went to the dean and asked if the recruit could take the test orally. The dean agreed, and the following day the recruit and the coach were seated in his office.

“OK,” the dean said, “What is seven times seven?”

The recruit looked terrified as he thought it over for a moment then said, “I think it’s 49.”

The coach immediately jumped to his feet. “Oh, come on, Dean,” he begged, “give him another chance!”

Lends weight to the oxymoronic nature of the expression “sports scholarship,” doesn’t it? Do you have a test experience you’d like to tell about? We’d love to read about it in the comments.

quotation…

“Right affections lead to right thinking, and right thinking leads to right living.” - Dr. Bryan Smith

=^..^= =^..^=
Rob

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, then the lesson afterwards.

Tags: school, sports, teaching, tests, trains, work

You would have to have your head totally in the sand not to know that the Olympics are going on. We’ve followed the first week and a half far more than we thought we would, but the remaining events really aren’t our faves.

Undoubtedly the dominant name has been Michael Phelps. The mainstream media has proclaimed him “the greatest athlete of all time” and the debate will rage on until the next “greatest athete of all time” comes along. Michael has definitely achieved wonderful feats in a very tough sport and seems himself to have a good attitude of humility, but there are still many who are asking, “Well, what about __ (fill in the name of their favorite sports figure)?! Is Michael really a greater athlete than __?!”

I found a terrific comic online this morning that I want to share:

I’ve put out a new poll in the sidebar about what my readers think about Michael Phelps’ being the greatest athlete of all time.

For today’s iv, I’m sharing two stories - one funny and one thought-provoking - about some runners, Olympic or not.

Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood. They parked their truck at the end of the alley and worked their way to the other end. At the last house an older woman was looking out her kitchen window, watching the two men as they checked her gas meter.

Finishing the meter check, the senior supervisor challenged his younger coworker to a foot race down the alley back to the truck to prove that an older guy could outrun a younger one.

As they came running up to the truck, they realized the lady from that last house was huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped and asked her what was wrong.

Gasping for breath, she replied, “When I saw two gas men running as hard as you two were, I figured I’d better run too!”

In the late 1990s at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with determination to run the race to the finish and win. All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry, slowed down, and looked back. Then they all turned around and went back. Every one of them.

One girl with Down’s Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, “This will make it better.” Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line.

Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are still telling the story. Why? Because deep down we know this one thing: What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. More important than winning for ourselves in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course.

A friend told me that, upon reading my last post about becoming empty-nesters, he thought it sounded like I was saying, “Well, life’s all over … now we can die.” I laughed and told him, “Far from it! Let me tell you about Friday of last week….” My wife and I decided to take the day off and “head for the hills” for the day to do some of our favorite things - a last hurrah before my teacherly duties began this week. We headed to Flat Rock, NC, to a shop called The Wrinkled Egg. That day we weren’t interested in the shop as much as in the new barbecue place right behind it. It’s called Hubba-Hubba, and let me tell you - HUBBA! HUBBA! We definitely found a new favorite - or as my wife Becka put it, “yet another reason to go to Flat Rock!” We picked up a cranberry-apricot scone at the bakery in the back of the Wrinkled Egg for dessert/mid-afternoon snack and headed for Carl Sandburg’s house. We didn’t want to tour the house on this trip - we just wanted to see how this year’s baby goats were doing. We took the hike to where the goats are kept and enjoyed petting them. Here’s a picture of Connemara (the Sandburg’s house) and a picture of Becka with several of the kids.

After that we headed to a quilting shop Becka really likes in Hendersonville. What a nice place - they have an area with rocking chairs and magazines for husbands! I had actually brought along my own entertainment a Sudoku book to pass the time pleasantly, warding off dementia while Becka touched every bit of fabric in the place (of which there is a lot!) After that we went to Lyda farms to get some produce and some early apples. From there we headed off to the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, NC, to go to Sliding Rock. It was really crowded, and so I had to wait in line for about a half hour before I could slide down the rock into the 55 degree water in the pool at the bottom. Below is a 10 second video clip of Sliding Rock (viewable on the blog itself, not in e-mail or blog readers).

Here’s a picture of me ready to begin my trip down the rock…

The line was even longer by that time and we had some other things we wanted to do, so I changed into warm, dry clothes, and away we went!

On the way back to Brevard, we stopped at the ranger station across the road from the Davidson River Campground. They have done a lot of renovation on the ranger station, and there’s a lot for children to enjoy inside. One thing we enjoyed outside the ranger station was watching hummingbirds visit their two feeders. After that, we went shopping at four different stores in Brevard (and bought something in each) before having dinner at the Pisgah Fish Camp. While eating dinner we decided to drive back to the ranger station to take some pictures of the hummingbirds - something we hadn’t thought to do earlier.

There were even more hummingbirds when we went back than there had been earlier. And the hummingbirds actually flew right up close to us to check us out! Here’s a little video footage of their activity (viewable on the blog itself, not in e-mail or blog readers). Sorry for the talking in the background - Becka’s on the phone with one of our daughters telling her all about it.

After that, we drove back to Greenville. Now does that sound like two people whose lives are all done and are now ready to die?!

I can’t figure out a way to work up a poll question to get at the following - have you decided to and actually gone ahead and tried out any of the activities and/or places that I’ve written about in the past several years on my blog? If so, which one/s? Since it’s impossible to structure as a multiple choice poll question, please just tell about it in the comments to this post.

quotation…

“What you live for and base your decisions on has the greatest effect on your children.” - Dr. Drew Conley

=^..^= =^..^=
Rob

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have become really good friends.

Tags: Olympics, shopping, sports, Sudoku, travel

The semester is off to a good start. Here in Greenville, we’re bracing for some wintry weather overnight. My wife and I have finally figured it out. People here in the South must sit around and eat French toast when we get snow or freezing rain since beforehand they raid the stores for bread, milk, and eggs.

This Saturday is the Republican primary here in South Carolina, with the Democrat primary the following Saturday. We’ll be glad eventually to be able to make it through dinner without half a dozen calls from volunteers, pollsters, and push-pollsters! In an effort to get our minds off the 2008 election that has been going on for almost a year already (!), here’s a little something else to read.

This is old news, but I’m passing it along anyway as a reminder….

The Green Bay Packers delivered a shocking announcement today.

Their starting quarterback this Sunday will be Mrs. Brett Favre, who will play for Brett during the first quarter. Fans in Green Bay were shocked when this announcement was made, but Mrs. Favre assured the fans that, “Hey, I know this game. I live with Brett. I have taken several road trips on the team plane. I’ve gone to the pre-game meals. I know a lot of the Packers. I’ve played around with a lot of the Packers in the back yard. I’ve tossed the football with them, and I know what a slot right 60-Prevent-Slot-Hook-And-Go is and I know how to avoid a corner blitz.”

So they polled the people in Green Bay, and 50% of Packers fans are excited, motivated, looking forward to the big game.

All right, you think that’s ridiculous? Here’s another announcement for you to reread:

In a shocking announcement today, Mrs. Hillary Clinton announced that she is running for president of the United States because she knows Bill Clinton and has lived with him, and she was there on a lot of trips to China and other places around the world, and she has really cared about kids for 35 years. She’s fought for and stood up for kids, and she’s tried to fix health care. She heard her husband speak about foreign policy and she thinks fifty percent of the American people say, “That’s good enough for us.”

I received a picture today that pretty well says it all!

So much for getting our minds off this stuff, huh!? I usually stay away from politics on my blog, but I figured that the vast majority of my readers (the “vast right wing conspiracy”?) would be far more amused than offended.

quotation…

“Are you more in love with God’s blessing than with God Himself? … If you don’t have the Lord with you, all the rest is empty.” - Dr. Drew Conley

=^..^= =^..^=
Rob

Politician: One who shakes your hand before the elections and your confidence after.

Tags: politics, rookies, sports, weddings and marriage

My wife and I enjoyed our family Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, November 11, since Nora, Aron (Nora’s boyfriend), Mark, and Katie will all be out of town this week. We have come up with “Plan B,” though, so we’ll have a nice Thanksgiving Day anyway. We can chuckle about what I’m posting today since an already cooked and devoured turkey is impossible to burn.

12 Reasons to be Thankful You Burnt the Turkey

1. Salmonella won’t be a concern.
2. Everyone will think your turkey is Cajun blackened.
3. Uninvited guests will think twice next year.
4. Your cheese broccoli lima bean casserole will gain newfound appreciation.
5. Pets won’t bother to pester you for scraps.
6. No one will overeat.
7. The smoke alarm was due for a test.
8. Carving the bird will provide a good cardiovascular workout.
9. You’ll get to the desserts even quicker.
10. After dinner, the guys can take the bird to the yard and play football.
11. The less turkey that Uncle You-Know-Who eats, the less likely he will be to walk around with his pants unbuttoned.
12. You won’t have to face three weeks of turkey sandwiches, soups, and casseroles.

I’ve discovered the “tags” feature of my blog. You can find the “tag cloud” in the sidebar of the blog. What are “tags” and “tag clouds”? Tags are used to categorize or label the main content of a blog post. To a post about baseball, for example, I’ve given a “sports” tag. Clicking on the sports tag will take you to all content, old and new on this blog, about various sports. It’s a good way to read all the posts about things of special interest to you. A tag cloud depicts tags (or topics) on a blog in a way that reflects the frequency of their usage. More commonly used tags are given greater weighting, appearing bigger and bolder, like this. At a glance, you can see which topics are given more attention on a site that uses tags.

Megan called the other day to let us know that Drew has learned to sit up all by himself now. Doesn’t he look pleased with himself?

Our son-in-law Jim is encouraging little Drew to be a Detroit Lions fan….

quotation…

“Any worthless thing that keeps me from a vital relationship with God is a curse to me.” - Dr. Drew Conley

=^..^= =^..^=
Rob

If you can’t find the time to do it right, how will you find the time to do it over?

Tags: family living, holidays, sports, Thanksgiving