Xpinionated

You see it almost every day.  ‘The shortage of blood is a crisis in America, unless you give!  Donate Blood’. 

But they are some finicky folks.  They will not take your blood if you’ve been to certain countries in the past year, or if you’ve recently had body work done, or for any of many different reasons.  I understand why they have to be so selective, but if the crisis is as dire as they imply, shouldn’t they at least take the blood, test it, and go from there. 

It seems to me that the number of malaria cases (the risk associated with taking blood from folks who have travelled to certain foreign lands) in the U.S. is considerably lower than most countries.  So it seems like there’s a lot of missed blood opportunities by wholeheartedly rejecting blood donations from certain travelers. 

I don’t really know what my point is.  But I wonder how much of a blood crisis there is if we can afford to dismiss so many different groups . ..  .

By the way….yesterday Sept 17th marked the five year anniversary of Xpinionated- the blog!  Yep, five long years and not a single dime made.  No income, nothing….

Anyway, there have been a lot of changes, a lot of comings and goings and it’s been one heckuva ride.  WIth that said, I want to let you know that I will be doing absolutely nothing for this milestone…no contests (no one ever participated in any of my contests anyway), no giveaways( cuz I don’t owe you jack, except my witty wit humorously biting style of blogging), and no super posts. 

5 years gone and here’s hoping for another 15….

By the way, one of the best lines I’ve heard in a long time:  “He could be whore mongering all over Greensboro but he’s not asking us for anything so it’s fine by me!”  Reply?  “As long as he is a self sufficient whore mongerer, let him be!”

I’m not going to comment on this story other than to reprint it here:

An autopsy was planned Tuesday to determine what killed a Snellville man who died after being head-butted during a fight with a man with no arms.

No charges have been filed against the armless man.

Snellville police Chief Roy Whitehead said Charles Keith Teer and William Russell Redfren, who had been in an ongoing dispute over a woman, scuffled Monday afternoon in the driveway of a home on Pine Street in the Gwinnett County town.

“There was somebody between them trying to separate them and the fight occurred around the witness,” Whitehead said.

Whitehead said that according to witnesses, Redfren, who has no arms, kicked Teer, and Teer then struck Redfren.

Bystanders got the two men separated, but Redfren “came back and head-butted [Teer] one time,” Whitehead said. “That’s what we understand at this point.”

After being head-butted, Teer complained of being dizzy, “and then he collapsed. He was dead on the scene,” Whitehead said.

He said that after the fight, Redfren and the woman got into Redfren’s truck and drove to the Snellville police station.

“They were calling us,” Whitehead said. “He was going to call to report the dispute, and then when [Teer] collapsed, they told 911 they needed EMS.”

Whitehead said investigators were awaiting autopsy results before deciding on whether to file charges against Redfren.

I just found this email I sent out the day before Devin was born.  Some reason I find it cute….

Hello all,
As you may be aware, my wife and I are expecting a child.  Originally, his debut was supposed to occur in January but it looks like a 95% chance (still waiting to get confirmation from one doctor) that he will be delivered tomorrow.  As such, my availability tomorrow will be null, sporadic at best.  

It’s a sad state of affairs when children go to school just to end up in the trailer.  But that’s exactly what happens to over 10,000 Gwinnett County kids.  It’s amazing how fast a strip mall can go up yet it takes seven years to build 30 schools.  There are places I pass where I can remember nothing but trees and nature but in 2 weeks every tree is gone, in 8 weeks the strip mall is darn near complete and in 12 weeks I’m ordering a smoothie. 

And what about all of the empty business parks?  Why can’t these be turned into schools?  I imagine the infrastructure is there in terms of internet and phone wiring, fire alarms, heating and air.  In fact it probably turn into more of an exercise in partitioning off classrooms, adding doors, etc. 

See the table below for the list of trailers used in Gwinnett County, Ga:

Table data from http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2007/09/07/trailers_0909.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=13