I've been thinking a lot about the many Iowans who have been dealing with floods lately. I was a student at Wartburg College in Waverly, IA during the last great flood (1993?). The Cedar River runs through it, and that's one of the major rivers involved in the recent flooding. My roommate lived in Cedar Rapids last I knew, and I hope that everyone I know and their familes are safe and as unaffected by the flooding as possible. It's happening in MO now, too. I remember hearing 15 years ago that this probably wouldn't happen to such an extent for another fifty or hundred years, but if climate change is real (and I believe the scientists who have concluded as much), then better infrastructure and planning will be required to protect people and their homes from the weather.

Speaking of flooding in MO, the Royals swept the Cardinals in St. Louis! I watched the first part of the game while eating a Chipotle burrito (I know you're surprised) and the end of it while giving 2xPRBCs at the Community Blood Center. That was kind of cool. Instead of removing a pint of whole blood, they hooked me up to a machine which filtered out my red blood cells (equivalent to the RBC count of two pints of blood) and returned my plasma and platelets with saline. Feeling the direction of the flow switch kind of tickled my vein, which felt weird. I thought I'd feel like a salty dawg after having saline pumped into me, but I haven't noticed that yet.

My cousin Gevelle graduated from U-Dub last weekend! Good for her. May she figure out what she wants to do before she's in her mid thirties.

I've taken SADI on mile-plus walks for two days in a row. I didn't think I'd feel like it after donating blood today, and maybe I won't tomorrow. We'll see. At least she's feeling more playful today than she had been this week.

My brother takes a big test tomorrow, so think smart thoughts for him. I guess I'll get to see him sometime in the next few days, too.