Last night was amazing. I sat out on my front wall and using only a half watt of power from my walkie-talkie, I was talking with a person on the New South Wales district of Australia! How is this possible, you ask? Via the wonders of the internet of course.
I signed up on Sunday for a church blood drive to hopefully make up for a terrible experience a week ago.
I was climbing into the blood mobile when I slammed my toe into the top step. At first I was just embarrassed but then it really started to hurt and I noticed blood was flowing out from under my toenail. Well, the last thing I wanted was to leave a trail of blood on the blood mobile floor, so I asked for some help and got my toe bandaged up. One of the nurses said "maybe it's not your day to give blood." I shoulda listened.
I still wanted to do what I came there for, so I did the iron test (they poked my finger) and climbed up on a 'couch'. 
I spun around on the couch so they could try the other arm. I wanted them to. I know how valuable a bag of blood is to someone who needs it, especially here in Hawaii where we can't just bring in some more A negative from the next state.
I'm sitting there with a bandage on my toe, on my finger, on my right arm, and here comes the technician with a needle for my left arm. We decide to take the extra time and really try to find the main vein on the left. I'm actually pretty confident because I often have trouble the first time but usually am successful the second time. The area is preped and in goes the needle. The nurse is pretty sure he got the right spot, but nothing is flowing. We'll later discover a skin plug in the needle.
Somehow I walked out of the blood mobile with four punctures, but without giving blood. I was disappointed. They gave me a little pin to make me feel better. I did feel better until I read it. "I gave blood at the Hawaii Blood Bank". I guess they don't have pins that say "I tried to give blood."
Looking back on it now, I think my veins constricted in reaction to the pain I was experiencing in my toe. I should have listened to that first nurse and come back later. I'll give it another go on Sunday, September 10th, but I'll definitely be watching out for that top step. It's a doozy!
Peace, Love, and Phlebotomy,
Rich
(This experience is not the norm, and I have always found the blood bank staff to be very friendly and professional. The blood bank needs your blood too. To give blood or find out more information, contact The Hawaii Blood Bank.)
People interested in donating blood must:
» Be in good health.
» Be 18 years of age or older (17 with parental consent).
» Weigh 110 pounds or more.
» Bring a valid photo ID.
The donation process takes about an hour and includes some paperwork and a short physical. The actual collection of blood takes five to eight minutes (unless you're special like me!)
Em's only been open for 32 minutes and the stress has already gotten to her! She wandered over to our neighbor vendor and got a massage.
We just finished setting up Em's booth and we are awaiting hoards of bead-wanting customers to descend on us. We have no idea what to expect. Em's friend Wilberta has come to help and support the effort.
Here is a picture of my crew mates at KITV. On the left is Marty, my boss. In the middle is Melissa (we call her Mel), she is the topical producer. That means she hangs out in the newsroom and finds out what the big stories are for the day, and then she quickly crafts promos to watch our newscast that evening. "Find out tonight how this truck wound up in a tree...", that kinda thing. On the right is Ezra. He is the newest to our team and he helps edit, write, produce our non-topical promotion. He often helps me out with graphics too.
Just wanted to try sending a photo from the phone to the blog. This is my view on the bus as I ride in to work. Yesterday was a big day for Bryan and me. We went on the air with our call signs for the first time. I was intending to key up the repeater to test my signal by calling for my friend KH6HAK. We had made no arrangement to meet and I did not expect him to come up. Well no sooner had I released the PTT button, he comes back as clear as day! We talked a little as I was walking home from the bus stop, and KH6QX came up to say that there would not be a net that night. Bummed and relieved at the same time, I asked Hank to stand by while I got Bryan on the air. Within a minute of finding out his call sign he was on the air! Terrified, but on the air. We both just had our first radio contact! Now I have to overcome that fear and get on more often. Maybe this morning. Tonight we'll log into the 7:30 net and introduce ourselves there.
Peace, Love and First Contact,
Rich
Cool. Riding home on the bus, who pulls up next to us but Dwayne 'Dog' Chapman and crew, lookin for somebody in Chinatown. The cameraman had a PD170 filming, with a larger DV cam on his lap.
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