We are a few hours away from Easter, which means my spring break is fast approaching an end. As usual, I accomplished precious little this week, though I suppose I didn't have too much more free time than usual, working my usual schedule, and having jury duty on Monday. And I picked up Katamari Damacy this week, and that ate up a lot of time later in the week. Really addictive, uprooting buildings and mountains, viewing your destruction from an almost-borg-like detachment and drive, except for the colorful rainbows and delightful pop music. Lots of fun, highly recommended.

And, of course, I had to deal with the Terri Schaivo coverage all week, which made me about as angry as any news story ever has. Especially over the weekend, when it wasn't yet clear that the Senate's meddling was going to be ultimately ineffective, and it wasn't as obvious I was in the vast majority in being supremely pissed off with the government violating the rights of families and ignoring the rule of law. I donated blood Monday, and was told I was ineligible because my blood pressure was too low; I was afraid my blood pressure would be through the roof from watching the news (turns out they just put the sleeve on my arm wrong). The whole situation is aggravating from so many angles, but I think what drives me nuts is that the far-right Christians talk about the government having contempt for life and about the forces of evil at work in our society, and they want to give government more power, and allow it to trample the rights of the family. Does it not occur to these people that human history suggests their beloved Republicans won't be in power forever? Do they not tremble at the thought of resurgent Democrats taking a break from their Satanic rites to send jack-booted government thugs for their children, to take them off to be raised in some village by Hillary Clinton? If you think the rulings by--what is now, thirty-something?--judges proves that this country gives no value to life and takes pleasure from watching people die, why do you want to give that government more power, power that might be used against you? They seem opposed to cloning, why can't the government demand the DNA of a dying relative in order to guarantee them a chance at further survival? Why is not disrespectful of life to take a pass on the miraculous possibility of cryogenics? After all, if death is so terrible that Schaivo's life now can be seen as precious, it must be worth taking any action to avoid. That certainly is the message of Easter in the Christian faith; death sucks so much, Jesus couldn't even stand it. Nothing for us in the afterlife, avoid at all costs.

If there is one thing about this that really pisses me off, it is the statements I keep hearing from protesters, that it is illegal to starve a dog, but we're starving a human being. Hello? Since when was there a law, anywhere in the planet, that requires anyone, when caring for any non-human animal suffering from mental or physical deterioration to the point that it cannot eat or drink, to surgically implant a feeding tube and keep supplying nutrients for 15 years? You put the animal down as quickly and painlessly as possible, and you do that on humanitarian grounds. How can you conclude human beings deserve any less?

I could say more, but I've probably said too much as it is, as I'm sure everyone else is as sick of this case as I am, and I'm writing this as it appears the family has finally just about given up (if Jeb Bush gives in to their requests and seizes her from the hospice, I belive my head will finally explode). I'm dreading tomorrow, as I've agreed, again, to go to sunrise service with my mom at the cemetary. It's a lovely place, and if today's weather is any guide, should be a nice morning to watch the sun rise. But I've already warned my mother, if they bring up Schaivo, I'm gone.

But enough of the unpleasantness. I got a haircut today. I think it looks pretty good, same as I always get, pretty much. I've been getting dandruff lately, which I've never had a problem with before, so I was hoping a sporty new 'do would nip that in the bud. Maybe I just need to air my scalp out or something.

Jury duty Monday was exciting. Sat around reading until 11:30 or so, when they sent us home. I didn't want to get on a case, becuase I knew we'd be busy at work this week, but after watching their little motivation film they show you, I was eager to do my civic duty. So when they discharged me, I called the blood bank, and they squeezed me in that afternoon. As I mentioned above, there was some uncertainty about my blood pressure, which made me nervous, thinking about my family history of blood cancers, but common sense told me my blood pressure was probably not 80/50, and they tested it again, and it was normal. But there was some debate over whether they had to go with the first reading regardless. They decided I could give, though; they said they needed the blood, as I was the only apheresis donation scheduled that day, but I think they were just eager to try out their new machine (I'm not positive, but I think I was the first person to use it at the East County branch--though apparently they've had the machines for awhile at some of the other branches). Which is fine, I was looking forward to trying out the new machine. I was a bit concerned that, unlike the old machine, no saline is added to the blood that is returned to you; I always figured that the added saline, and the diminished concern of dehydration that brings, was an advantage of apheresis donations. But the machine worked pretty good, and supposedly was faster than the old ones. The old machine would collect blood for a few minutes, then return blood for a few minutes; the new machine only takes a small sample of blood, takes what it needs, and then quickly returns the rest. I would think since less blood is out of the body at any one time, that must be better for you. And the machine calculates the best donation for you to make, so you can give as much as you can. For me, this meant, instead of the typical platelets and plasma donation, I gave double platelets (I think it was double, my memory may be failing me), as well as some red blood cells. The new machine has a helpful screen telling you how much time is remaining, and how much has been collected. I gave about 450 ml of red blood cells, and 450 trillion platelets. I did notice I felt dehydrated even the next day; I don't know if that was due to the lack of saline or the removal of whole blood as well as components, but I will have to be careful to drink more water next time. And I'm always glad to do my part. And it gave me an excuse not to run that day.

My running has been going pretty good. I don't think I mentioned the Walk for Autism, a few weeks back. Poorly organized, but it's for a good cause, and I think it was the first year, so I can forgive that. Started fourty minutes late. But once it got going, I did okay. 24:05 isn't going to get me in the record books, but at least it shows I'm gradually getting my fitness back. I had hoped to push myself a little harder on my run this morning, but about a mile and a half in, I started having muscle spasms in my right calf. Tried to run/walk most of the way back to my car, and it cleared up enough that I ran the last seven minutes or so no problem. But I hope that's not a sign of a larger problem. The Race for Literacy is only about two months away.

Saw the American remake of The Office Thursday. Must admit, I was surprised, I didn't hate it. Didn't really like it, either; it reminded me of The Onion's list of least-essential albums every year (I don't think they did that this year), in that it was pretty much a remake of the first episode of the British series, adding little. All I could do was watch and mentally compare the two (which seems to be the critical impulse--this review did a good job, and I found the Annie Hall analogy quite apt), and make snide remarks about the "pretty boy," and other casting missteps. But the show wasn't terrible, and I understand future episodes will be more original, and draw less on actual scripts from the British version. So I'll give it another chance.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned in this space my friend who was moving to Japan to tutor students learning English, but I don't think I've mentioned him since he left. He left for Japan March 1; March 8, I get a call from LAX, that he has abandoned his job without telling anyone and fled Japan in the dead of night. Not surprised he failed, but surprised it was that fast. Out of a need for teachers, they apparently skipped his two-week training period, rushing him into the classroom after about two days, and at one point had him handing out fliers for eight hours straight on a street corner in the snow. To be fair to them, his main criticism of them is that they dared critique his performance (apparently, his habit of keeping his hands constantly in his pocket left the Japanese unsettled). But so he is back, and may be moving to Vegas, which is exciting. Though it's probably the last place in the world he should live (though gambling is pretty easily available in San Diego these days, and at least in Vegas he'll find lower limits and better games).

So, I'll wrap this up now. Can't help but feeling I'm forgetting something, but I can always post that later. I've just been avoiding posting, since I figured I'd have to mention Schaivo, and knew it would get my blood boiling. But now I'm caught up, and free to write what comes to mind in the future. School starts Monday, I'm sure I'll have something exciting to report from that.