The Family Letter

Gee, that header looks familiar.

So, I'm on my way back from Home Depot today and decided to use H1 (for those curious enough to check, here's the route). I'm cruising along, and suddenly catch a movement that's "not right" in my left rear-view mirror. I focused on that and saw a gold car swerving right at me. I figured he was changing lanes–that happens here in Hawaii, people start a lane change before checking to see if their target lane is, you know, occupied–and so I sped up a bit to let him in behind me. A second later he swerved towards his left, then started back my way.

About that point I said to myself, "drunk driver. I'm so screwed."

I decided to try slowing down instead, hoping he'd pass and wouldn't hit me in the process. About that point he skewed left, then right, then left again. It became apparent that he wasn't drunk, he had lost total control of the car. Total. At one point he was nearly perpendicular to the direction of traffic.

After a couple of swerves he flipped the car. It rolled in front of mine, and came to rest upside down against the guide rail at the right side of the road.

I pulled over and dialed 911, and discovered that there were no overpasses or exits in sight, apologized that I couldn't pinpoint the location, and let someone else finish the call. I got out and walked back towards the flipped car, and determined that the driver was not only okay but walking around outside the car. I talked to him for a minute to make sure he was physically okay, then the police started showing up.

I stayed long enough to make sure a statement wasn't needed (since he wasn't hurt badly, it wasn't), then walked around the assortment of ambulances and fire trucks that had shown up, got into my car and continued on the way.

Needless to say I'm still coming down off the adrenaline rush. I have never witnessed anything like that save on bad "caught on video" TV shows. That car rolled side to side at least twice, and the dust cloud from the final "landing" was amazing. I'm not sure how he got out in one piece, but thank God he did.

Phew!

In other news… I did give blood on Monday. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, the a pheresis process, but I lived. My BP dropped a bit at the end so they're recommending I just stick to whole blood donation (the shorter process) from here on out, and I think I shall.

I knew things were bad out here, but this is almost depressing!

Speaking of new things, hold your cursor over some of the links on the page. (For example, the word "apheresis" in the next paragraph.) I'm trying out a new link-preview thing. I've noticed it doesn't always work, but I like the ability to see a web site before going there. And, in some cases (photos, Wikipedia entries, etc.) you can even read or see what you need without ever clicking the link. Thoughts from the readership?

And in other news, I'm going to try being an apheresis donor this morning at the Blood Bank of Hawaii. Those who have known me for a while know that blood donation is one of my "causes." I tend to start blood drives where ever I go–provided there isn't one in existence–and I'm sure I'm approaching 15 gallons in 17 years of donation¹. St. George's will be hosting the first annual Main Street Blood Drive this September.

But I have never really learned to like having a needle in my arm. I dare say it bothers me less now than it did ten years ago, but I still don't enjoy the process. Apheresis involves only one needle now, not two, but can still take up to two hours. Even though several blood centers have told me that I'm an ideal apheresis donor (something about good veins and something in my blood that makes it more useful or something), I've just stalled. Last time I donated whole blood here, however, the nurse mentioned something new: The product they collect through apheresis helps cancer patients. And given how many cancer patients I know or have known… Well I couldn't say no that time.

Add to that the fact that they put the red blood cells back in–therefore my iron won't plummet and I won't have trouble on the treadmill for two weeks–this might be a viable way to donate from henceforth… Provided I make it through this morning!

1. Hard to say since those donations have been at a minimum of six different donation points over the years. [back]

I gotta tell you, I've seen some nifty time-wasters in my time, but this is the coolest of late. There's even a dashboard widget for my MacOS enabled readers.

Mind you, you need to have Google Earth installed to make all this work. It is free, and I highly recommend the application, as another cool and free toy. And it won't mess with your mail accounts, either. Promise.

This thing sort of makes me feel like I'm one of those geeky tech guys on Alias or James Bond. Let me just trace his IP, Mr. Bond, and we'll target the missile!

As promised, here are some of the photos from Montana. I have more, and will add them to this album when I find and/or upload them.

Enjoy!

Virginia City

As Jane just put it, "Allloooooooooha!" I'm back.

Yes, I know, I didn't mention leaving. But as some folks probably figured out from reading Jane and Rev Ref, I spent the last two weeks in Montana. I flew into and out of Billings, MT, the