I gave blood yesterday. My friend Shannon is having surgery next week, and apparently my blood type matches hers (or is at least a type she can accept). So, I cut out of work early (around 2:30) and headed up to the Kaiser Permanente in Woodland Hills. Made really good time getting up there, considering I didn't drive... left downtown LA at 2:30, got there at 3:20. Apparently, there's no traffic on Ventura Blvd. at that time of day, and the Rapid bus just rocketed the entire way.

It all went pretty smoothly - I give blood pretty regularly, so it's all relatively routine - except for right at the beginning. You can't donate blood if your temperature is too high, in case you're coming down with a fever or are otherwise under the weather. Now, I had just taken a bus (which was somewhat un-air-conditioned) for almost half an hour, then walked across Kaiser's parking lot in 90+ degree weather. So, of course, my temperature was higher than normal. I had to wait about 15 minutes for it to come back down, before they could take the blood.

Random tangent: I work at a decent sized hospital, not small by any stretch of the imagination. But I swear, Kaiser looks like an airport, except without the planes.

Okay, where was I?

Oh yeah. Blood.

After I cooled down, the donation went quickly - only took them about 5 minutes to drain the pint of blood, but I had to sit around afterwards for another 15 to make sure I was okay. Drank a lot of apple juice, and had a small bag of Teddy Grahams. Good thing I didn't have more.

On the way back home, Jen called me on my cell phone to let me know she had a surprise for me. I got home, she put a blindfold on me (no, it's not what you're thinking... perverts), and surprised me by driving me to one of my favorite restaurants, Picanha (a churrascaria in Burbank). Also surprised me by being in a really good looking dress (you looked amazing, sweetie!). After donating blood, red meat looks very tasty.

It tastes very tasty too. I proved this by eating a lot of it. :)

My wife kicks ass.

Afterwards, we headed home, and just hung out around the house for the rest of the evening digesting a ton of meat. Today, it's back to the grind, with D&D tonight.