Giveblood.org gives me a clean bill of health.

After donating blood on Friday, I finally made it back to the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Donor website and logged in to check my cholesterol. It was a healthy 149. My blood pressure was 122/88, and my pulse was 76. The American Heart Association says my blood pressure puts me into the Pre-Hypertensive category. Thanks, AHA!

I also realized that I've been out of the blood donation loop for years. As in, I haven't given blood since the girls were born. As in, I haven't given blood since we moved into this house.

Donating gets you points that can be traded in at the donor store. Critical blood-shortage days give double or triple points. The week of Saint Patrick's Day are double points days. The days before and after Memorial Day, and the entire Thanksgiving weekend, are triple points days. I gotta admit, the insulated travel mug for 550 points looks like a sweet deal. At the top of the list, there's a sweet MP3 player that's a mere 1400 points, which my math seems to indicate could be mine in just over a year if I donate as often as possible.

Whoo, saving lives is cool, and I'm glad I got back into it.