Plasmapheresis Thoughts from the White Board - May 29

That's a fancy word for donating plasma, or something like that.  My lifetime record for doing so is now three times.  By the time you read this post, it may be four.  I am debating about going again this morning.

It's been interesting so far.  My first time was not so great.  The long wait and the same dumb questions over and over were bad enough, but no worse than some doctor office visits I've had.  The bad part was that I had it in my head that donating plasma was like going to a doctor's office to do blood work - i.e.: no eating beforehand.  So on my first visit, they sent me out to eat something, as I hadn't had food since I'd gotten home the night before from work.

Well, I went and had an apple and a granola bar of some sort, but it wasn't enough.  I got very light-headed and almost passed out after a couple of cycles of my blood went through the machine.  They said I turned white as a sheet.  I felt it.  The experience was not one I'd willingly repeat.

The second visit went better, but I still got pretty drained (no pun intended).  By the end, I felt really washed out.  Thankfully, they'd run the machine at a slower pace than usual.  It helped me not to feel quite so queasy.

You know, it's surprisingly difficult to find humorous images of plasma donation.  So I went with this one, which isn't all that funny after I got the idea of a mosquito sitting on my exposed arm, sucking the red stuff out of my tender flesh...  Full body creep, that does. / Source: WellSphere.com

Movie Review: Star Trek: Into Darkness

Saw my first summer movie today.  Thought I'd do a review.

Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)



Right off the bat, let's clear up a few things.  First, I don't consider myself to be a "Trekkie."  When I explain, some of you may say I still qualify.  Just the same, I don't claim the title.

If you say a "Trekkie" is a fan of Star Trek in its various iterations, then I do qualify in most respects.  I remember watching the original series on Saturday afternoons as a kid.  Of course, it was far into re-runs by then (this was the mid 80s), and looked its age even then.

I was later a devoted viewer of Star Trek - The Next Generation.  I still enjoy an episode of that one if I caught it on TV, but they've been out of re-runs for some time in my area.  And not too many years back, I watched the entire series via the "library of the Internet," as I like to term it.  No, I won't be explaining myself further on that turn of phrase, as I don't wish to be construed as advocating piracy.  Let's just say that I think shows that I could have recorded via VHS and watched later are not off limits from re-watching via... other channels.  But if I had money, I'd buy the box set of "TNG," as it is called.  But only if I had plenty of money and all my other needs were getting covered (food, gas, house, etc...).

Book Review: A History of the Middle East

Been neglecting the blog for awhile now.  As the weather warms and - especially - since school is mostly out (I have one math class that isn't too taxing, even though it is still -shudder- math), my mind has been wandering to other areas and leaving much undone.  I have a whole stack of reviews of books (and movies) I haven't been progressing on.  But since the demand for them isn't high, and since most of the comments I receive lately are spam from folks who, if they are reading my blog, certainly aren't giving much of an accurate representation of it in their comments, I suppose my tardiness is not too big a deal.

On the home front, as I write this particular passage of my introduction to this review, I am listening to the purring of a little orange kitten.  My wife practically begged me a couple of days back to let her get a small orange kitten from one of my cousins who had placed it on Facebook as being open to adoption.

Now I'm not crazy about adding "another pathetic life form" (to quote one of the few good lines from The Phantom Menace) to our menagerie.  But my dear wife pinky swore that this would be the last time she'd ask for a good long while.  And she misses having a cat.  To be honest, I miss her cat George too.

So I reluctantly agreed to allow the cat into our home (such as it is, for now).  And things have gone fairly well, so far.  But now my wife has gone over to school, and I am just waiting for my lunch to cool off before eating.  And the kitten sits next to me, purring away.  I hope contentedly.  The sound is pleasing to me, at least.

Well, I gotta have a bite and then go up to the plasma donation center.  Yeah, I do that now.  There's a whole story from my first visit.  Ask me and I might tell you about it.  But for no, I am off.  The review, which I jotted down my notes for a week or so back, follows below.

Thanks for reading!

Source: Amazon.com

A History of the Middle East, by Peter Mansfield, with Nicolas Pelham

From the book’s cover:

Over the centuries, the Middle East has confounded the dreams of conquerors and peacemakers alike. In this classic work, Peter Mansfield follows the historic struggle of the region over the last two hundred years. This new edition updates recent developments in the Middle East, including the turbulent events in Afghanistan, the troubled relationship between the U.S. and Iraq, the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict, and the rise of Islamic Jihad.


Incisive and illuminating, A History of the Middle East is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand what is perhaps the most crucial and volatile nerve center of the modern world.

Walpurgisnacht Thoughts from the White Board - May 1

Only six months until Halloween!

No, seriously, May 1 has great symbolism and history to many cultures throughout the world. It all started thousands of years ago with some pagans...  blah, blah, blah.