#82 Donate Blood

This week’s item from my bucket list was a rather special one as I got to do it with my sister who is visiting from The Netherlands! I can now cross off #82 Donate Blood!

We decided to go to Square One, where there is a permanent blood donor clinic in the mall.  It’s located down at the end of a small hallway and looks just like a small doctors office with a waiting room, and a few beds set up in front of a T.V.

A tad nervous...

At this point we had to get pre screened with some minor questions and then get an iron test to see if our iron was too low to donate. Apparently our iron tests were beyond good and the nurse even joked that she wanted to steal some of it from us! She also said to thank our mom for her cooking and that she deserved a sticker!

I got a sticker for being a 1st time Donor!

Just a minor prick!

From there we went to another room to fill out some more questions. Nothing too stressful!

Just when I thought mid-terms were over

Denied!

Unfortunately this was the end of the road for my sister. It turns out because she has lived in Western Europe for longer then 5 years she is not eligible to donate in Canada ever! The reason for her being ineligible is because of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreak in the U.K. that happened in the early 90’s. For the less intellectual individuals, such as myself, I am talking about mad cow disease. Fortunately, being the good spirit that she is, my sister then became the happy photographer, proud of her little brother.

At this point it was time for the needle! I pictured the needle to be a little smaller and fit in my veins a tad easier than it did. The nurse wanted me to look away but I refused to for the sake of this blog. As she put in the needle it seemed like a very slow pushing and turning motion. Maybe I’m a suck but it seemed like the needle was too big to fit! All crying aside, I got it done and it really was not all that bad, I promise! After all, the nurse explained that I was potentially saving 3 lives! Three people with only half a pint of blood, WOW! For you late night folks, that’s only a mug of beer at Jack Astor’s! The best part is that all that blood I donated today will be fully replenished inside me within 24 hours!

The picture doesn't do the needle any justice...

I swear I’m not looking at her like I want to hurt her!

I’m A. O. K!

She was so nice to us! She even put on The Big Bang Theory for my sister and I to watch.

Look at all my blood!

Time’s up!

Maybe I can get on the wall behind us?

Group Shot! At this point I really started feeling like a patient and like something was wrong with me.

Best part of all… Juice and cookies!

So remember, one visit to the blood donor clinic and you could save 3 LIVES! After all… “It’s in you to give”.

For more information please visit Canadian Blood Services

Or 

Call 1 888 2 DONATE (6283)

#82 Donate Blood

#21 Scuba Diving

            Hey all! So with this week being so jam-packed with mid-term assignments, and exams, I unfortunately do not have the time to cross something off my list. With that being said, I chose to write about the past experience that has topped my list thus far. #21 Scuba Diving! Sure whitewater rafting and bungee jumping are up there, but scuba diving had a different effect on me.

            After a couple drinks at the bar the second night in Jamaica, I met a guy who was thinking about scuba diving in a couple days and insisted that I join him. We got chatting about it for pretty much the remainder of the night, and I came to the conclusion that this would be the time to do it. After all, I had this on my bucket list. It had to be done!

            The next day I inquired about qualifications and/or tests I would have to complete in order to scuba dive in Jamaica to get the wheels in motion. I received some brochures and chatted up one of the sales ladies that was walking along the beach that morning.

            I believe it was a Monday that I decided to make my first trip out scuba diving (almost a year ago today!). The morning was a beautiful 30 degrees Celsius, and my excitement was through the roof! The day started off with an instructional video that we had to watch for safety reasons. This lasted about 40 minutes or so in a tiny room in the back of the dive shop.

            Then off to the pool for more safety tips, and of course we had to learn how to use all of our equipment and practice.

            I remember the first few breaths being very dry and a little weird, and then it hit me. I WAS BREATHING UNDER WATER!

            At this point we were ready to head out to the open water! I remember feeling so excited and nervous at the same time. We arrived at our dive spot and I started to get my gear on.

Our instructor was amazing!

            I was the first person to make the jump into the water. As I made the leap, I took a big breath before hitting the water and I sounded like Darth Vader. Funny because I forgot I could just breathe normally since I was using a regulator.

            At this point I was the first one in the water, and at the front of the boat. There was a rope connected from the boat to the bottom of the sea. From what I recall, it was not an anchor, but a permanent rope connected to the bottom to prevent any further damage to the reefs. I remember holding on to the rope as instructed, when all of a sudden panic set in. I’M BAIT! All I was thinking at this point was some great white shark was going to violently grab me thrashing back and forth.

            Thankfully at this point there were two of us, and I started to calm down thinking of how my odds were now cut in half. PHEW!

            By now, it was time to descend to the bottom, but I was still feeling a little anxiety. The moment I put my head in the water and started looking around my heart nearly stopped. It was so mesmerizing.  I felt like I was caught up in the movie, “Finding Nemo”. Before I knew it I was the first to the bottom and couldn’t wait to swim around. Although it only felt like a 5-minute dive I believe we were in the water for about 30 minutes and descended to 60ft. We swam through coral openings and swam with plenty of fish including a stingray! It was the most unbelievable experience I have had to date. It’s as if you are apart of the sea life. Fish just swim along side you and are not scared of you at all. I’m forever hooked! Hopefully next time I can see a shark or two!

#21 Scuba Dive

            

#69 Plant a tree and pee on it

For my fourth post I’ve come to a realization. I wasn’t going to mention any alcohol in this blog and figured it would be a very clean, green, tree-hugging version of myself. But then I thought… I have Facebook readers! They want nothing more than to look at something ridiculous that will kill time while on their computers at work or while sitting through class trying to find anything to do but listen to their prof at the front of the room blabbering on about what happens in the “real world”.

The night was Sunday and I was drinking like there was a prize at the bottom of the bottle. Realizing that I had yet to scratch something off my list, I began to think this may be the night I get my first tattoo. Let me clarify… my first drunken tattoo… that I would regret for a lifetime. Maybe something silly like ‘hello kitty’ on my lower back.

After waking up in a drunken daze, obviously confused as to where I was, I realize I’m in my buddy’s bed and hating life. I walk out to the living room where I see him sprawled out on the couch (yes, alcohol is the devil). While trying to recap the night (which doesn’t work out that well) I find this photo of me on Facebook.

I was helping the tree up after it tried to fight me.

At this point in time I had my “AH-HA!” moment.  I must complete #69: plant a tree and pee on it! Ok, maybe this was my third thought. My first thought was ‘what tattoo did I get last night?’ and second was ‘how did I manage to snag my buddies bed all to myself, while he got the couch?!?’ Come to think of it, there were many questions I had before thinking of this one…

For starters, I do want to admit to not planting the tree in a very cool spot. I had more imagined for my first tree planting experience. Also, is it against the law to plant a tree in a city park? Consider this tree my exchange for all the trees I have cut down to have a bon fire, or ruined while attempting to make a tree fort.

Now the fun part!

Step 1: Find a tree that I can plant

This Maple tree was growing wild in my backyard. It's mine!!!!

Step 2: Find a location

Not ideal... but this way no one should hit it with a lawnmower.

Step 3: Plant MY tree

Step 4: Pee on it! (Why? It’s my tree, that’s why!)

Step 5: Admire MY maple tree

Should I name it?

#69 Plant a tree and pee on it

#32 Invent Something

Although this is not quite an invention that will win myself any awards or come close to competing against the The Stark Hand, This is more of a fun game that two friends and I came up with one night after a couple wobbly pops. Move aside Kings Cup… There’s a new sheriff in town!

The game is called Draw and the object of the game is to… well I don’t feel I have to explain that, pretty self-explanatory. If it’s not, and you have no idea what will happen after a few rounds, then grab some friends, a few drinks, and follow along!

What you will need:

         - Each player needs a drink of some sort

         - Each player needs to have 5 cards; 10, J, Q, K & A

         - Each player must have 5 men lined up in front of their cards. In our case we used pennies, but anything will do. (Army men could be fun)

         - One official Die… (We used cardboard from a pizza box and covered it with white duct tape.) It must have 6 sides, which will have 10, J, Q, K, A, & a drink symbol.

Time to play!  

The game itself is pretty easy. It’s called Draw because it’s supposed to be like an old western and each player is supposed to draw their gun the fastest. In this case the guns are the cards. (A tad safer, you get to play more then once, and the winner won’t end up in jail)

-       Cards are face down in front of each player arranged in any order that they desire. (Typically Low-High or High-Low)

-       Each player takes turns rolling the die.

-       When the die lands on Ace for example, then the slowest player to draw their Ace on the table loses a man and has to drink.

-       If there is a tie between 2 or more people then they must face off against each other and roll the die again.

-       The last man standing is of course the winner! If that person has 2 men left (pennies in our case) then they get to give out 2 drinks to anyone that was playing. If they have 3 men left, 3 drinks etc etc…

CHEERS!

#32 Invent Something

#86 Attend an NFL game

Made it to my first and definitely not last NFL game!!!

Although this was a last minute idea by one of my friends, sometimes those turn out to be the best trips… In this case, it was for sure a huge highlight in my books and is now being crossed off of my bucket list! Sayonara # 86!!!

The day started off with of course a Tim Horton’s run before we hit the road to Niagara Falls. After shaking the cobwebs out of our heads we then proceeded along the Q.E.W at a whopping speed of 50km/h. (Funny cause it felt way faster…) 45 minutes or so later we arrived in Niagara Falls and of course I came up with a genius idea. LETS WALK ACROSS THE BORDER!

Something tells me they didn't think it was so "genius"

After flagging down a cab at a decent rate, we then drove to the stadium which was 40 minutes away from the border. (We could have done our research with that one for sure) BUT WE MADE IT!

Beer time!

Another thing we learnt that day was that you cannot buy alcohol before 12pm, or from people that are tailgating… So we kind of missed out on the complete tailgating experience. However, we did head to the bar where we soaked in the pre-game atmosphere. (These Bills fans are nuts)

A view from the patio!

We consumed a few pitchers of Dos Equis, hammered back some appetizers, and watched a ton of drunken Americans shot gunning beers and cursing at Tom Brady fans. What a great Country!

GAME TIME

Yes... THAT CLOSE!

The New England Patriots came out strong with a 21-0 lead by the second quarter and it looked to us like a blow out was in place. However, the Buffalo Bills came back with an exciting victory over the Patriots with a 28-yard field goal kicked by Rian Lindell with time expired on the clock.

BILLS 34, PATRIOTS 31

Now the fun part… How to get home with over 70,000 people flooding the streets? If a cab is out of the question, why not ask a Military Police Officer! Cause that’s what we did… London Price, you’re our hero!

#86 Attend an NFL game