Saturday, September 15, 2001

A little down

Feeling a little down the past few days. Partly because of the events in NYC and Washington DC, partly because I just came back off of a good vacation and now I don't feel like I have anything to look forward to the rest of the year, but mostly because of relationship issues that I'm having trouble deciphering (can you say "mixed signals").

I'm hoping it will get cleared up tonight, otherwise I'll take one more whack at it early next week before choosing to move on.

posted by Wuphon's at 8:08 PM

The evening wander - Sep 15

Well, Amazon.com is now up to around $5.7 million dollars. Today the average gift is about $37.75 per donor (I think this is because Amazon increased the maximum that you could give from $50 to $100 sometime this week, it was around $34 earlier in the week). Just my morbid statistic of the day.

Went for a short bike ride this morning (only 9 miles in 42 minutes). Boy it was chilly out there this morning (about 50F when I started at 8:30am). I was wearing a short-sleeve jersey under a long-sleeve jersey and it was just barely enough (needed a wind shell and something to cover my ears and my finger tips). Looks like I need to get a few more pieces of gear if I'm going to continue to ride in 50F weather (my goal is to keep it up until we're down in the 40s). Once I got going (after about 10 minutes) I didn't feel the cold (my body heat had gone up high enough), but when I stopped I could see the moisture evaporating off of me like steam (pretty wild). The main reason I stopped and turned around was that I wasn't doing so well at keeping my heart rate within limits (I blame that on the morning 1/2 cup of coffee a few hours earlier). So I need to work on my cardio again for a while to drop the heart rate and get more efficient.

I am so ready to go on another vacation like the one I just took, except that I'm planning on 16 nights away the next time. (My ultimate goal would be a 23 day vacation.) Not sure where I'll go next time for my big trip (which will probably be a two or three years away since I'll not want to blow all of my vacation time at once). Probably a wander out to Chicago and up through Canada or wander from Pittsburgh down the Mississippi River and then back up through the mountains. I figure I'll take a pair of 9 day trips next year (not sure where yet).

posted by Wuphon's at 7:55 PM

Friday, September 14, 2001

Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund Drive

Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund Drive - Amazon.com Update

Amazon.com is now up to around $4.7 million dollars. Yesterday, the average gift was around $34, today it is about $36.50 per donor.

posted by Wuphon's at 2:38 PM

Thursday, September 13, 2001

Trip Statistics

Just for the record (for those keeping score), I went 2370 miles on my vacation and was away for 12 days (almost 200 miles per day). Sadly, it was cut short by events in NYC so I'm not as rested as I was expecting today (still having difficulty focusing on the task at hand).

posted by Wuphon's at 8:16 AM

Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund Drive

Amazon.com has set up a way for internet users to donate directly to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund (and Amazon.com is waiving the processing charges that it normally imposes on such transactions). So far they've collected $1.9 million from Amazon.com customers. Please note that you will not be added to any mailing list if you use the Amazon.com site (they do not share donor information with the recipient).

You can also attempt to give directly using the Red Cross donation form, but they are experiencing very heavy traffic. All donations are tax deductible (as if it mattered to anyone).

Yahoo! is also running a donation system with $322,000 collected so far. They do share donor information with the Red Cross.

posted by Wuphon's at 8:08 AM

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

Blood Drive

One of the local medical centers here in York is running an emergency blood drive due to the events in NYC. So I got up this morning and whistled my way down to the medical center to see about donating. I found out that at this point they had a 2 hour wait and were suggesting that people who didn't want to wait or who could come again later sign up to be called upon in a few weeks. Their thinking is that due to the overwhelming response of donors that there will be a problem/shortage in about 4 weeks of available donors (since you have to wait 8 weeks before donating again).

I have a very flexible schedule, so I just signed up for the "on-call" list.

I've never given blood before, but the Red Cross web site has a very good section on what to expect and what could keep you from being eligible to give blood.

posted by Wuphon's at 5:14 PM (0 comments)

Topics to write about

- The near accident that we witnessed on a rainy road in Charlotte
- The bed and breakfast in Columbia NC
- Thoughts on the way home Tuesday
- What I did on Sunday & Monday of this week
- How strange it felt to sleep in my own bed last night

posted by Wuphon's at 8:40 AM

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

A day of infamy

Well, as usual, I was late tuning in since I listen to CDs in the car and not the radio (even when changing CDs I didn't pick up on the fact that something was happening this morning). So I had left Columbia NC around 8am and was driving my way back through Nags Head and then planning on going north to Ocean City MD to spend the day on the eastern shore of MD before staying overnight in Salisbury MD. But when I finally stopped for lunch on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel around noon, I started catching snatches of conversation and radio reports from the speakers in the gift shop area. I spent a long time just standing by the speaker in the gift shop, listening to the reports, in total shock. While I was having lunch (which tasted like cardboard even though it was was probably a very good sandwich) I watched two missle-type warships and a submarine put out to sea past the bridge-tunnel area. That and seeing the road block on the southbound side at the north end of the bridge-tunnel is what drove it home for me more than hearing about it on the radio.

Needless to say, I drove straight home instead of staying one more night on the road (I was planning on staying in Salisbury MD and hitting Ocean City, Bethany Beach and Assateague Island).

posted by Wuphon's at 10:37 PM

Home again - Odometer 3120

Home, finally home (a day early after hearing the news about the New York City Trade Center disaster). Got back to York just in time to go to the prayer service at my church and touch base with some friends.

Time to catch up on some bloggin'

posted by Wuphon's at 10:31 PM