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Post by sneakers (Metro Houston) on Aug 16, 2018 17:12:25 GMT -5
Got a text from the blood bank at 10:03 AM this morning. They were done testing my platelets and they were on the way to waiting recipients. I couldn't convince them to give me three ice cream coupons for a platelet triple. I went grocery shopping this afternoon, and used my coupon for a pint of Cherry Vanilla. Also got my next appointment for next Monday. I try to go in every Monday during ice cream month!
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Post by dilbert3333 on Aug 17, 2018 7:12:25 GMT -5
Three pints of ice cream for a triple unit platelets would have been nice. in March 2016 a pub in NJ partnered with Community Blood to do a "Pint for a Pint" promo. Give a pint of blood in March, get a pint of Guinness on April 15. Fortunately for us platelet donors we're not limited to one donation every 56 days like whole blood donors so I got TWO coupons for a free pint for my 2 donations of triples. Plus a Guinness rep there was giving away a free Guinness pint glass laser etched on the spot with your name for each donor with a coupon. Only one glass per customer though regardless of donor coupons. My wife didn't want a glass with her name so she didn't go up, but I got to drink the 2 pints & take home a glass.
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Post by dilbert3333 on Aug 19, 2018 23:18:57 GMT -5
I made my 14th triple-unit platelet donation of the year to New York Blood Center on Saturday (4 to them, 10 to Community Blood Services) to get my Saturday bonus & 600 point promotion bonus, which SHOULD HAVE given me enough for the 32" Vizio TV I wanted. HOWEVER that model is no longer available in their Donor Plus program. Other 32"TV models are Proscan with a DVD player (another thing to go wrong), Hitachi (bleah) and LG - WORST PIECES OF &*()% ON THE MARKET!!!
So I will have to make another two Saturday triples plus get a critical period bonus for Labor Day to have enough for the next available Vizio 32" TV.
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Post by sneakers (Metro Houston) on Aug 20, 2018 11:38:21 GMT -5
I made my 14th triple-unit platelet donation of the year to New York Blood Center on Saturday (4 to them, 10 to Community Blood Services) to get my Saturday bonus & 600 point promotion bonus, which SHOULD HAVE given me enough for the 32" Vizio TV I wanted. HOWEVER that model is no longer available in their Donor Plus program. Other 32"TV models are Proscan with a DVD player (another thing to go wrong), Hitachi (bleah) and LG - WORST PIECES OF &*()% ON THE MARKET!!! I was wanting some thumb drives post-Harvey (all the ones that I had were waterlogged and corroded), and Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center used to have them. But they dropped them. I ended out buying a half-dozen at the grocery store.
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Post by sneakers (Metro Houston) on Aug 20, 2018 15:52:06 GMT -5
Went to the blood bank this afternoon. Hematocrit was too low today. That's a thirty-day deferral here, but since I usually come in Mondays it's going to be five whole weeks before I go back! I was at 40 two weeks ago, 42 a week ago, but only 38 today. Minimum here's 39 for male donors and 38 for female donors.
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Post by dilbert3333 on Aug 21, 2018 10:38:05 GMT -5
Went to the blood bank this afternoon. Hematocrit was too low today. That's a thirty-day deferral here, but since I usually come in Mondays it's going to be five whole weeks before I go back! I was at 40 two weeks ago, 42 a week ago, but only 38 today. Minimum here's 39 for male donors and 38 for female donors.
New York Blood Center switched a few months back from hematocrit to hemoglobin measurement. I was 13.5 on Saturday, good enough for my triple platelets. I got a contact at New York Blood Center to verify my charitable time for my platelet donations. My employer's foundation will cut them a check for $100 for my 10 hours of service in donations (2 hours in the bank as only blocks of 10 hours can be used for grants and I did four triples for 12 hours total).
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Post by dilbert3333 on Aug 29, 2018 7:27:11 GMT -5
I'm 720 points short of a different model Vizio 32" TV using NYBC's Donor Advantage program. A Saturday Triple would get me 125 for a single + 125 bonus for a triple + 100 bonus for a Saturday = 350 points, I need two more Saturday triples and something else to go over. Usually during a holiday week they offer a 75 point "Critical Period Bonus" but they haven't put one out for labor Day yet. I called last night to check and nope. I still have a Saturday noon appointment booked for this weekend .
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Post by sneakers (Metro Houston) on Aug 29, 2018 14:52:08 GMT -5
Usually during a holiday week they offer a 75 point "Critical Period Bonus" but they haven't put one out for labor Day yet. I called last night to check and nope. I still have a Saturday noon appointment booked for this weekend . Given the shelf life of platelets (five days after they get the testing completed, and they say "the fresher, the better") anything they get as of last night will probably get used by the weekend.
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Post by dilbert3333 on Sept 1, 2018 18:48:39 GMT -5
Today I made my 15th platelets donation of the year - all triples. Continuing a streak of 33 consecutive triples going back to January 2017.
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Post by sneakers (Metro Houston) on Sept 1, 2018 18:56:22 GMT -5
Today I made my 15th platelets donation of the year - all triples. Continuing a streak of 33 consecutive triples going back to January 2017. Did they do a Labor Day weekend "critical period bonus" or are you going to have to get poked twice to get the TV?
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Post by sneakers (Metro Houston) on Sept 3, 2018 21:45:42 GMT -5
Went to the blood bank this afternoon. Hematocrit was too low today. That's a thirty-day deferral here, but since I usually come in Mondays it's going to be five whole weeks before I go back! I was at 40 two weeks ago, 42 a week ago, but only 38 today. Minimum here's 39 for male donors and 38 for female donors.
My deferral ends on September 19th. I decided to schedule an appointment for September 19th, even though it is a Wednesday! I was the first automation appointment they had scheduled, but sometimes they talk a whole blood donor into doing automation.
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Post by dilbert3333 on Sept 6, 2018 8:49:23 GMT -5
Today I made my 15th platelets donation of the year - all triples. Continuing a streak of 33 consecutive triples going back to January 2017. Did they do a Labor Day weekend "critical period bonus" or are you going to have to get poked twice to get the TV?I was still going to need 2 donations or perhaps three if no bonus. I just logged into the NYBC site to check and even though it wasn't advertised I DID get 75 Critical Period bonus points! I have 5940 points in the bank. I need 6235 for the TV. I'm 295 short, but another Saturday triple will give me 300 points. It won't be until October though because Community blood said if I do 2 more donations before the end of September I get a $40 Target gift card for 4 donations within the quarter ending at the end of September. So September 12 & 26 I have appointments with Community. D-Series 32"-Class Full HD SmartCast LED TV
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Post by sneakers (Metro Houston) on Sept 8, 2018 23:00:22 GMT -5
They don't do really big items like TV sets here. The biggest thing (by point value) they have is a very nice Kenneth Cole laptop case.
Yesterday, I got a throw as a blood bank premium. Not really big enough to use as a quilt (I tried it last night and decided my arms stuck out at the edges), but it will be great when I get my recliner in my house and it gets cold (anything below about 50 for our native Texans, I read some of my posts on here and I was complaining it was cold when it was 36 outside).
I talked about that with my house caretaker yesterday, and he thinks he'll need two other strong backs to get it over here. It's at his ex-girlfriend's house; I lived with them for several weeks post-Harvey. I am not one of the strong backs. I messed myself up for several days after I picked up a 35# bag of dog food. Used to carry around 50# bags with no problems. Like about 45 years ago.
The throw is multicolored, and it has a Texas theme. Cowboy boots, cowboy hat, oil well, bluebonnets, a steer, and an armadillo. And, out in the Gulf of Mexico where storms not infrequently come in, it has the blood bank's logo.
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Post by dilbert3333 on Sept 9, 2018 22:04:26 GMT -5
I can sympathize with you Sneakers about past strength. Back when I had two good knees I was still very heavy. But at the gym my best exercises were legs. Particularly inclined leg press. Buff guys wold see this pudgy white guy walk over to the inclined leg press and watch as I humped the six available 100 lb plates over to the machine (arms weren't so good with me). Then the 45 lb plates. Then 25 lb plates. My peak was 1100 lb of plates on the Cybex machine (not a typo, eleven hundred pounds. I would do 3 sets of 5 reps.). I screwed up my knees when kneeling on concrete painting railings in front of our home. Crushed & tore the meniscus in my right knee.
My next platelets donation is to my usual NJ site Wednesday after work. Looking to get the 2 donations into them this month for the $40 Target card then 2 weeks into October give a Saturday triple to NYBC to get the TV.
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Post by dilbert3333 on Sept 11, 2018 9:46:06 GMT -5
As for temperatures. I've lived most of my life near NYC. Our summers can be quite hot and humid, this year it felt more like a tropical rain forest with all the wet weather. I lived in Phoenix for 8 months (October 82 through June '83) finishing up my electronics education, then moved back home to NY. Hottest there for me was 117 degrees. I visited the Yukon Territory of Canada one winter with my wife and it was a warm February for them, -26C daytime which was -15F. But it was a dry cold without wind so I could open my coat and be comfy without hat or gloves, just a sweatshirt over a tee. We watched the start of the Yukon Quest sled dog race.
I've also sweltered in some North Carolina summer heats on vacations to take stock car racing school. August in Charlotte inside a race car with a firesuit, helmet & gloves on and about 130 inside the car baking in the sun. Got my first taste of Sun Drop soda there and boy was it refreshing after turning laps on the track!
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