blood donation, voting

Yesterday, after work, I went to give blood. Started off pretty standard, read the paperwork and sit quietly. When I was called up to give the history, I realized quickly that the technical was a trainer. His trainer had to keep logging in and reminding him of things. Still, not bad. When it came to the fingerstick to check the iron, things went a little south. The actual stick was fine, but when he squeezed my finger a small spray of blood shot out and hit his gloves. It didn't hurt, but we were both a little taken aback. I was headed towards some kind of apology, but realized that it really wasn't my fault.

He finished up that test and then wrapped up the rest of them - sending me on my way to the collection area.

The needle didn't hurt much going in, but partway through it started to slow down and the tech (not a trainee) had to adjust the needle. That hurt a little, but it did speed up the process. The rest went fine.

Later that evening, the site bled a bit when I took off the gauze, but a band-aid took care of that.

I was up early this morning to do my civic duty and cast my ballot in the election. I was third in line, expected to be in and out of there pretty quickly. What I didn't factor in was that the process was new and the site was short on staff. Things went okay with the scantron sheet - but when I tried to load it into the scanner - it was rejected. I had already let go of the sheet when the lady at the table insisted that I tear off the "stub". Which I would have been happy to do had there been even one sign indicating that I was supposed to do that. The first page of the ballot got spit back out, giving me a chance to tear off the stub. That page got accepted when I tried again and so did the next one - but the instructions were a little vague on if buttons were then meant to be pressed.

So, I think my vote got counted this morning - but I don't say that with the utmost confidence. It's almost too bad that no one challenged my right to vote - I was sort of looking forward to a fist-fight after the whole "tear off the stub" fiasco.

Lots to do today - include hiring a student assistant - so, time to get back to work...