personal

Well it was bound to happen eventually!

My wife has been dreaming of the day she would own a MINI (old or new) and having driven her Mitsubishi Eclipse for the past 8 years it was definitely time to make a change. The Eclipse has served her well during this time covering around 125K but these past few weekends I've had to perform maintenance that proves the car is getting old.

What's with the title of the post you may ask? It's actually quite simple really, a few years back Lea was Minnie Mouse at Disneyworld, a character she played along with others for about 5-years and now she is driving one, hence the Minnie to MINI reference in the title!

[Click Image To Enlarge]

The new MINI Cooper is actually a great little car with plenty of power for its size and good economy too. I'll be interested to see what MPG Lea can get out of this on her many trips back and forth to Orlando. An interesting note that I can't believe I didn't already know is that the MINI Cooper and Cooper S both use 91-octane Premium Gasoline! While this is going to have an impact at the pump I'm optimistic that the MPG will tell the real story.

The Original Mini and it's somewhat successor in the United Kingdom being the Mini-Metro have a soft place with me as while growing up my Mum had 2 of the original Minis. I learned to drive in the Mini-Metro and it was also my first car. To top it all off I used to race both at the amateur level at our local racing circuit, Brands Hatch near Swanley in Kent.

Seeing this 'mini-marvel' makes me nostalgic; thinking of all the adrenaline pumping moments while trying to out-brake or out-maneuver the person next to, behind or in front of you on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

Sadly, the pursuit of high-octane weekend-fun came to an end when a friend, who was on the same team (low-budget, so we took turns), rolled our only car and everybody agreed it was fun while it lasted but too costly to start over again with a new car. Needless to say, he was fine and walked away with barely a scratch which is more than could be said of the car! Believe me when I say roll cages work!

Browsing around the last couple of evenings I have realized just how much of a following the new MINI has and it really excites me to think I could relive my youth with a 'modded-MINI'.

While Lea has said she would be happy to let me 'mod' or to use the more Stateside term 'pimp' (what the hell is that all about!) her ride; I feel it may prove a little inconvenient if she needed to go somewhere just as I am half-way through an impulsive Stage 2 modification of the engine.

So who knows maybe I'll go grab myself one of these modern beauties and relive the days of my youth, covered in grease and oil and grinning from ear to ear with joy. We'll see, but for now I can delight myself with the occasional drive of the wifes car! :)

Wow, I can't believe I have been so busy that is now more than a month since I last posted!

Anyway, back to the big news. At long last after 6-months, 4 of which I have been paying 2-mortgages I have finally sold my house!

For now it doesn't seem real having been making trips 2 or 3 times a week to check on things for what seems like forever. I think it will be another month or so before the financial benefits really start paying off and we can begin diverting a good portion of the extra income we will have toward the Wedding and Honeymoon at the end of the year.

I am certainly not going to miss cleaning the swimming pool every week along with the routine trips to the supply store for jugs of chlorine.

Well that's the big news, so 'what else has been happening?' you may be asking.

Most recently I had dental surgery along with the extraction of one of my wisdom teeth as it was causing quite a lot of pain. The hole left behind still feels a little strange but I'm told it will go away over time.

My Mum and Brother came out and visited for about 10-days over the Christmas/New Year period and got to enjoy the warm winter weather of Florida having left freezing fog and generally miserable conditions behind in the U.K. We didn't do much, just relaxed and enjoyed the time together along with several hundred games of pool.

Doesn't probably sounds like a terrible lot but combined with work and various other time crunching activities it runs away from you fast. Too fast!

Anyhow, without the need for trips to the old place anymore I can spend more time 'geeking-out' with Lea and keeping my various sites and other at home endeavors up to date so you can expect a little more regular content beginning very soon............

The Holiday season often leads to a higher demand for blood donation and so being a giving person I answered the call. Only problem is, as I found out, my blood is not suitable for donation, and at this point may never be!

So, this must have many people thinking, he's a drug user or he's got some kind of disease; NOT SO PEOPLE! I am perfectly healthy, feeling good and living a pretty normal healthy lifestyle.

Apparently, and I have since checked this with the World Health Organization, the rule is as follows. (Probably in need of a little background here for any new visitors to the site, but I am originally from the United Kingdom or the southeast of England to be more precise, anyway back to the issue at hand):

Excerpt from the American Red Cross - Blood Donation Eligibility Guidelines

"You are not eligible to donate if:
From January 1, 1980, through December 31, 1996, you spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of 3 months or more, in the United Kingdom (UK), or

From January 1, 1980, to present, you had a blood transfusion in any country(ies) in the (UK). The UK includes any of the countries listed below.

* Channel Islands
* England
* Falkland Islands
* Gibraltar
* Isle of Man
* Northern Ireland
* Scotland
* Wales

You were a member of the of the U.S. military, a civilian military employee, or a dependent of a member of the U.S. military who spent a total time of 6 months on or associated with a military base in any of the following areas during the specified time frames

* From 1980 through 1990 - Belgium, the Netherlands (Holland), or Germany
* From 1980 through 1996 - Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy or Greece.

You spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of 5 years or more from January 1, 1980, to present, in any combination of country(ies) in Europe, including

* in the UK from 1980 through 1996 as listed in above
* on or associated with military bases as described above, and
* in other countries in Europe as listed below:
o Albania
o Austria
o Montenegro (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
o Belgium
o Bosnia/Herzegovina
o Bulgaria
o Croatia
o Norway
o Poland
o Czech Republic
o Denmark
o Romania
o Finland
o France
o Slovak Republic (Slovakia)
o Germany
o Greece
o Spain
o Hungary
o Ireland (Republic of)
o Italy
o Kosovo (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
o Liechtenstein
o Luxembourg
o Macedonia
o Netherlands (Holland)
o Portugal
o Serbia (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
o Slovenia
o Sweden
o Switzerland
o Turkey
o Yugoslavia (Federal Republic includes Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia)"
Holy crap!

There must be hundreds of thousands if not more people who fall into this categorization in some way, shape or form. I could have lied and donated, but I respect their rules even if I don't necessary agree with them.

I understand the need for protecting people and all that, but according to the World Health Organization there has never been a single case of someone developing vCJD or 'Mad Cow Disease' from donated blood!

Excerpt from World Health Organization article - ('Some of these patients have donated blood. However, to date vCJD has never been known to have developed in a recipient of this blood').

That said, the Lancet published an article that stated the possibility exists, everyone got scared, and this is still the case today!

(Excerpt from the BBC News - The single case was reported in the medical journal The Lancet and involved a sheep given BSE-infected cattle brain to eat. When the sheep's blood was transfused into another sheep, the second animal fell ill with a BSE-like disease - even though the first had yet to display any symptoms. Professor Chris Bostock, director of the Institute for Animal Health in Edinburgh, which helped carry out the research, said that the experiments in sheep were the closest possible to human tests. "In scientific terms, we don't normally send out a report on a single case - but we feel it's very significant," he told BBC News Online. "It suggests there is a risk from blood transfusion in the human population."

But he added: "The benefits of having a blood transfusion will greatly outweigh any risks."

While scientists have long acknowledged a theoretical risk of humans with undiagnosed vCJD passing on the infection through blood transfusions, no cases have actually been recorded.

Despite this, the National Blood Service already takes precautions to minimise any chance of infection.

It filters out some of the components of blood which experts believe are most likely to transmit the infection. )

In fact, and I checked this on their website, the National Blood Service in the United Kingdom are more than welcoming to donors providing a close member of your family has not contracted vCJD. Furthermore, they are taking precautionary steps with donated blood.

(Excerpt from World Health Organization article - 'The UK no longer sources plasma from its inhabitants, and as a further precautionary measure, has instituted leukocyte reduction (removal of white blood cells) from blood transfusions').

By removing the potentially infected white blood cells or leukocytes from the supply (They are produced in the bone marrow and help to defend the body against infectious disease and foreign materials as part of the immune system) either at the donation site or shortly thereafter, this dramatically reduces the possibility for infection.

If faced with the certain death of a loved one, versus the slight possibility they might someday in a directly or indirectly related situation come down with vCJD, don't you think most people would accept the risk (about 1 in a million) and allow a blood transfusion knowing every possible test to detect illnesses and diseases at that time had been performed and it was known to be free (to the best of their ability) from all contaminants? I know I'd take the risk.

A few more facts to set the scene:

(Excerpt from Wikipedia - I didn't check their sources, but they are listed if you wish to do so)

o CJD occurs worldwide at a rate of about 1 case per million population per year.
o On the basis of mortality surveillance from 1979 to 1994, the annual incidence of CJD remained stable at approximately 1 case per million persons in the United States.
o In the United States, CJD deaths among persons younger than 30 years of age are extremely rare (fewer than 5 deaths per billion per year).
o The disease is found most frequently in patients 55–65 years of age, but cases can occur in persons older than 90 years and younger than 55 years of age.
o In more than 85 percent of cases, the duration of CJD is less than 1 year (median: 4-months) after onset of symptoms.

So what it boils down to, is helping out your fellow human being is not as easy as it sounds.

Face it folks if you fall into this category like me, we are now considered 'UNCLEAN'!

I didn't ask or research the issue, but I'm guessing that if you are a registered organ donor (and you fall into this category) you are automatically excluded now also!

Like I have already stated, I could have lied and donated, but I respect their rules even if I don't necessary agree with them; but in helping save lives, let's hope they find a reputable test for this and SOON!

ADDITIONAL:

I also asked about people whose diet did not contain beef or those of vegetarians, the response I got was - 'It doesn't matter!'.

I realize this is not news to some, but having experienced a similar situation, some 7-years ago in California I had hoped some kind of test or way of appropriately cleaning the blood had been achieved. Sadly, I was wrong but I will continue to offer to donate, hopefully one day I will be permitted to do so!

Dave
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http://www.poscribes.com

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