I am feeling so very good right now. It does not compared to the horrid feelings and anxiety I had this morning. I went in for my scheduled appointment to donate blood at a Life Source blood bank. I had donated blood a couple months before and all went well. This time however the experience was completely different. My body reacted very strangely compared to last time. I think I started feeling dizzy after only the first pint. My heart then felt to start to race and pounded heavily. I notified the nurse and she raised my chair back and elevated my feet. It didn't seem to help and I had them stop pulling more blood from me. The nurses placed a few ice packs on me and I took deep breaths so I wouldn't feel as nauseous as I felt. A couple of minutes after I seemed to feel a bit better. They had me sit up right slowly, but after few seconds I had to go back down again.
After 10 minutes I thought I felt OK to sit upright again. I just felt a little nauseous but the dizziness was no more. I walked to the snack table and began to drink some juice when I felt the lightheadedness come back once more. I told the volunteer who then called the nurses. Within a few seconds I was in vertigo! They say I might have actually passed out for a few seconds. I remember feeling my heart racing even faster than before and I remember saying "make it stop, make it stop!" I might have been shouting that. Everything darkened and I saw blurry shadows, the voices echoed and I heard them farther and farther away. My fingers began to clench and tingle. I recall a girl being amazed and tried to make me laugh. She mentioned that she heard how it felt and that I should just let myself go and embrace it. I immediately responded "No!" it felt horrible. I vaguely remember around four people holding me up with ice packs all over. I think everything was pitch black for a few seconds and slowly my vision began to come back. I still felt dizzy, nauseous, numb and out of breath. Again I had to lay down this time for several more minutes with ice packs all over.
I had to call my sister to pick me up. As I left I thanked everyone for taking care of me. They wished me well and hoped that the experience would not prevent me from making a donation in the future. It truly won't, it will just be a long while before I do.
I missed posting the "Happy St. Patrick's Day" wish yesterday, but the good thing is that the partying continues through the weekend. It truly has been a festive weekend with the Irish green spirit and March Madness celebrations in many Chicago pubs. I've been out everyday since Thursday, not that happy seeing my teams lose though. I have two brackets formed, but Duke and Illinois loses has caused me to lose many points.
This morning I caught a few more basketball games and missed the parade. I was determined to at least catch some pictures of the green river, and fortunately made it out. As I drove through the loop area it was clear that MANY people had taken advantage of the sunny weather and ventured out. The pubs were packed and a few had lines forming outside. Cheers!
It's that time of the year again folks! It's time to choose your teams and pick your 'winners' and fill out your brackets. The Chicago Tribune has a neat little flash app that makes it very easy to make your selections. Choose your 2007 NCAA men's basketball championship brackets. 
I am really digging Windows Vista! If it wasn't for the fact that Vista came pre-installed with my new PC, I would not have tried the new Operating System on my own. I usually tend to wait several months even maybe a year before installing any new OS on my PC, to ensure all the major bugs and weird kinks are discovered and fixed. I set up my new HP desktop this weekend and clicked around and quickly fell in love. Granted I packed my machine with extra RAM and upgraded the processor, but the speed is wonderful. The interface itself is very user friendly and rather 'cool'! The new look is refreshing and very interactive. The Vista sidebar includes a clock displaying time, series of pictures I can skim through, top RSS headlines. I must humbly admit I am a fan, much to my many previous reservations. Windows Media player fits nicely on the task bar. The security may become a bit tiresome, because of how frequently you are asked whether to allow a download plug-in or app. You can refine your settings, but I prefer being asked. I don't usually say this but - Go get this Microsoft software! (Note: Your computer must meet the minimum system requirements.) Below is a screenshot of my current desktop. 
I am feeling so very good right now. It does not compared to the horrid feelings and anxiety I had this morning. I went in for my scheduled appointment to donate blood at a Life Source blood bank. I had donated blood a couple months before and all went well. This time however the experience was completely different. My body reacted very strangely compared to last time. I think I started feeling dizzy after only the first pint. My heart then felt to start to race and pounded heavily. I notified the nurse and she raised my chair back and elevated my feet. It didn't seem to help and I had them stop pulling more blood from me. The nurses placed a few ice packs on me and I took deep breaths so I wouldn't feel as nauseous as I felt. A couple of minutes after I seemed to feel a bit better. They had me sit up right slowly, but after few seconds I had to go back down again. 
I had to call my sister to pick me up. As I left I thanked everyone for taking care of me. They wished me well and hoped that the experience would not prevent me from making a donation in the future. It truly won't, it will just be a long while before I do.
Out of the blue I received an email inviting me to attend a Maxim/Nautica Jeans launch party at a hip local night club. I've received other club invites from various promoters, after all I'm still a club head. Yes you might not have guessed it, but I love dancing and dance music. I even have trance music playing on my myspace background. 
I am raising money for Junior Achievement of Chicago and would really welcome your support. Please take a moment to visit my online fundraising page and make a donation. It's really easy - you can donate by debit or credit card and receive a record of your donation. Please visit my page and donate now: www.firstgiving.com/HSBC_N2STeam 
