I'm Okay

Just a quick post to let anyone who might be reading this know I'm ok. Yes, I commute by Metro. Yes, I ride the Red line, even going home in the same direction the 2 trains that collided were headed. I, luckily, don't get on until a few stops beyond where the crash happened. I, also luckily, left my office about the time of the crash, so got to the subway about 10 mins after the crash had happened. My commute home was slow-going & took more than twice as long as it usually does, but was otherwise uneventful.

Depending on which station/news report/website you look at, there are at least 7 and possibly 9 fatalities; there could still be more to come. There were about 75 ppl injured. Please keep these ppl and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

The Egg Fairy

Seeing how I live in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area, there really aren't many farms right around where I live. Somewhat surprisingly, however, there are some very nice farms not too far away, within an hour or so. I had reason to visit one yesterday (Legacy Manor Farm).

While I was there, the owner asked me if I could use some eggs. She explained that they had more than they could use & since their next scheduled market wasn't until Wed, they were getting overrun with eggs. In fact, she was throwing them out for the hogs to eat because she had to do something with them. I said, "Sure, I can take some" figuring she'd give me a dozen or maybe two dozen & gee, freshly laid eggs from free-ranging birds sounded pretty good to me.

HA!

She loaded a HUGE box of eggs into my car. When I got home and got them sorted out, I had more than 16 dozen eggs!!! I'm not a frequent egg-eater, so 2 dozen would have been pushing my outer limits (and would mean needing to bake something to use them up), but there is NO WAY I'd ever be able to use up almost 200 eggs before they went bad!!

So, I played "egg fairy" yesterday. I called friends and visited neighbors, bearing fresh, organic, free-range eggs. I manged to give away somewhere around 9 or 10 dozen eggs (rough estimate) so far, & will be bringing more with me to our dance classes tonight for our students and those who help us out to share the wealth. (I feel a little bit like Oprah: "you get a dozen, and you get a dozen, and you get a dozen...."

I am the egg man!! I am the walrus!! Coo coo ka
choo!!

Be the Match Marrowthon

I've written before that bone marrow transplant is a subject that's near and dear to my heart. Thousands of people each year are thrust in the unfortunate position of needing a transplant due to leukemia, lymphoma, genetic disorders, etc. In about 70% of those cases, there isn't a suitable match within the family. Imagine how scary it must be to be that potential recipient, hoping that there's a match in the national database & the relief they must feel if they're lucky and one is found. Every person who joins the registry as a potential donor increases that potential recipients odds that a suitable match can be made...

Every once in a while, the National Bone Marrow Program provides the opportunity for new participants to join the registry free of charge.* The current opportunity runs until Monday, June 22nd, while funding remains. Their hope is to add 46,000 new names to the registry during this Marrowthon.

The process of joining is easy:

1. Confirm your eligibity -- are you between the ages of 18-60 yrs old? in good health/meet the medical guidelines? live in the US? etc.


2. Complete the online form & a registration kit will be sent to you.


3. When you receive your kit, follow the instructions to do a cheek swab & send it back to them.

That's all there is to it -- quick, easy, painless & if you do steps 1 & 2 before June 22nd, it's also free!

*A question I often get asked is why isn't it always free? Bone marrow matching is based on number of factors. Bottom line is it takes $ to type each sample that comes in, so they can determine which of the potential donors would be a match for a specific person in need of a transplant. Funding has been provided for the Marrowthon, so the cost associated with typing any new registrant has been covered, but donations would gladly be accepted from those who are able so that the funding can be stretched further.

Tragic

My thoughts & prayers are with the family of Stephen Johns, the security guard who was shot & killed at the US Holocaust Museum yesterday. How sad that a place that stands in witness of the consequences of mankind's inhumanity and of the dangers of intolerance became a place of further intolerance.