Donating Blood

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Jenni Elyse

Blood drives are regular occurrences at my work. Normally, I’m fairly gung ho about participating in the events hosted at work, but I’ve always shied away from donating blood. I’ve always been afraid it would hurt and I was worried about passing out. I seemed to never feel well whenever the blood drives came around either, but I think that was psychological more than anything. Most importantly, I hate getting stuck by needles. Needles and I are definitely not on speaking terms. I get very lightheaded and nauseated if I watch the needle go in so I have to turn away when the actual poking occurs. (That didn’t bother me until I saw my older sister Caryn get an epidural. 8O )

On Friday, my work held another blood drive. For most of the day, I ignored it, didn’t give it a second thought. However, right after lunch, one of the executive secretaries started to encourage people to give blood because there was only one person in the chair at that moment. After a lot of internal debate and some external debate with some of my co-workers, I finally decided to donate blood.

Fortunately, my phlebotomist was very skilled. I didn’t feel the needle going in at all. I only felt a little bit of pressure, which I was extremely grateful for because I’ve had some pretty awful experiences when I’ve had to have my blood drawn.

Apparently, I’m a slow bleeder. Federal regulation stipulates that you can only have a needle in your arm, while donating blood, for 20 minutes. This helps prevent infection and irritation to your vein. Most people can donate an entire unit (one pint) of blood in no more than 10 minutes. It took me a little over 18 minutes to donate an entire unit. At one point, I had three phlebotomists working on me trying to get my blood to drain faster. I guess if I ever get in a bad car wreck, there’s a good chance I don’t have to worry about bleeding to death. ;)

I was very nervous at first, but donating blood wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I think it depends on the phlebotomist you get. I should’ve done it a long time ago. I’m fairly certain I’ll donate blood again, even though I have a bruise the size of a small kiwi on my arm. (I followed the directions precisely and didn’t take my bandage off until 4 hours later. Corey thinks it has to do with the phlebotomists moving the needle around trying to get me to bleed faster.)

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Christmas Party

Posted on December 11, 2009 by Jenni Elyse

Last year, because of the economy, Henry Schein canceled all Christmas parties. We weren’t sure if this year would be the same. About a month ago, Henry Schein sent an e-mail to all of its divisions stating that company-wide Christmas parties were still canceled, but individual department parties were okay.

My team decided to go to the Rodizio Grill for lunch and see A Christmas Carol afterward. When I found this out, I was both excited and worried. I love the Rodizio Grill, but have you seen their menu? Welcome to Calorie City! I decided to enjoy myself because I haven’t been to the Rodizio Grill in more than five years.

When we got there, Megan gave everyone a cracker, which is a brightly colored paper tube, twisted at both ends. It usually contains a party hat, joke, and some type of trinket. If two people pull it, it’s supposed to give good luck to whoever has the larger end, kind of like a wishbone from a turkey. They’re traditional in England around the holidays.

My cracker contained a green crown, a joke of Laffy Taffy quality, and a plastic compass. When I saw that Gentry got a purple crown, I quickly said, “Hey-Gentry-can-I-trade-you-crowns-kay-thanks!” At that point, I basically commandeered his crown without waiting for an answer. He had to know it was inevitable with my obsession with purple.

If you haven’t been to the Rodizio Grill, I recommend you try it at least once … unless your a vegetarian because servers bring around a variety of meats grilled in a traditional Brazilian way. As you can imagine, this can be quite delicious and very fattening. Luckily, I’m not much of a meat person so I only ate some of it while shying away from the chicken hearts completely. Not my idea of a good time.

I did eat a lot of the awesome grilled pineapple. It’s glazed with brown sugar and grilled to perfection. In pineapple, there’s an enzyme that causes your tongue to become raw when you eat too much of it. However, that enzyme is neutralized during the cooking process so you can eat as much of the grilled pineapple as you want without killing your tongue and I definitely did. I think I ate an entire pineapple, but I don’t feel guilty about it because it was so yummy and worth the amount of calories I consumed.

After lunch, I had a meeting with a financial aid adviser at BYU so I wasn’t able to go to the movie. Honestly, I wasn’t too heart broken about it because I’m not much of a Christmas movie fan. I do like the story of A Christmas Carol so I might go see it with Corey some time.

All in all, I think I can speak for everyone when I say, “We had a great time.”

A Full Schedule

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Jenni Elyse

I didn’t think I was going to make it back to school in January because of recent events. But, miracle of miracles happened and I still get to go! :D I’m so excited and nervous all at once!

Today, I finished confirming my schedule for Winter Semester 2010. I’m taking 9 credits, which makes me a 3/4 time student. I figure that since I’ll be working full-time I shouldn’t take anymore credits than I’m already taking. The classes I’m taking are Japanese, Doctrine and Covenants, and Writing & Rhetoric.

So I can still work full time, I’m taking evening classes and working during the day. I’ll be going to work at the butt-crack of dawn–6:30 am. 8O I don’t want getting up that early to be a huge shock to my system when I start school so I’ll be going to work 30 minutes earlier than the week before each week until school starts. I hope my body will adjust quickly, which is very unlikely. Wish me luck because I’m going to need it!

Even though this looks to be a strenuous and busy schedule, I’m looking forward to it. I have wanted to go back to school for nearly the entire time–10 years–I’ve been gone. I’m looking forward to a different kind of challenge. And, I think only the English class will give me a challenge, if it even does. I guess I’ll see what the semester holds.

Not a Typical Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2009 by Jenni Elyse

I feel like Halloween was/is kind of a bust this year. I didn’t really like my Halloween blog theme all that much. I started to customize a new design about a week ago because I wanted to be ready to switch to it on November 1. But, once I was done customizing it, I was way too excited about it to wait until Sunday. ;)

My work canceled trick-or-treating and thus … decorating. The management team is worried about the swine flu. They’ve been putting all kinds of procedures in place to help limit its spread at work, which I’m very thankful for. They had the employees vote on whether trick-or-treating should remain the same or whether the company should just send the employees home with treat bags for their kids. The latter option won. I was a little bummed and a little relieved at the same time.

Because trick-or-treating was canceled, I decided not to go all out on a costume this year. And, because my brain slugs were a big hit and are so awesome, I decided to wear one again this year.

I feel like I’ve changed a lot over the past year. I decided to take a picture with the brain slug on my head in as close to the exact same position as possible as last year’s picture.

Wearing a Brain Slug (2009)

I think you can tell I’ve lost weight when looking at these pictures side by side. It would’ve been better if I had full body shots, but I don’t think my face is as full as it used to be. (I wonder if that’s because my hair’s longer.)

I haven’t posted an update about my weight loss for a while so I guess now is as good of a time as any. I have almost lost 40 pounds. :D I’m trying to decide what I want as my reward for hitting my second benchmark. But, I have a couple of weeks to decide if I continue to lose weight at the same rate I have been. Do you have any ideas?

I’m really worried about the holiday season that’s approaching rapidly. My cravings for sweets have become stronger over the last month. I’ve had a very hard time saying no to things and I feel like my resolve is slipping. Don’t get me wrong; I really want to lose the 60 pounds I’m still striving to lose, but I don’t feel like my motivation to have self control and to exercise is as strong as it was. I’m hoping with Daylight Saving Time ending on Sunday, I can get back into exercising before I go to work in the morning. Then, all I’ll have to worry about is my self control with my eating habits.

By the way, happy Halloween! :D

My Workspace

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Jenni Elyse

Yesterday, I posted a new picture of me on my Facebook profile.

My Facebook Profile Picture

I took these pictures with my Macbook while I was at work yesterday. Fridays are a little more relaxed than most days because I’ve usually finished my weekly projects by then. This week, I decided to take a couple of minutes to goof around.

Anyway, when my friend Debbie saw my photo, she noticed the picture of Jack Skellington on my wall and said she’d love to see a video blog of my cubicle. ;) I thought this was a great idea, except the only ability I have to record video is with my cell phone, an old Nokia 5300. I decided it was going to have to do, but I’d supplement it with some pictures too.

As you can see (sort of), I have an L-shaped cubicle. And, because I spend most of my life at work, I have completely personalized my workspace. I want to feel comfortable and at home while I’m working.

My magnet board doubles as a dry erase board. I have a few Twilight-inspired magnets I received from Debbie–her husband Tarl designed them. I also have a couple of magnets my co-workers have brought back for me on some of their trips.

Not only have I personalized everything on or in my cubicle, I have customized my Desktops too. Right now, I’m sporting Halloween-themed backgrounds. Next week, I’ll probably change my background back to my Ewan McGregor collage. :D Who wouldn’t want to stare at his pretty face all day!

In 2001, I received the Support Tech of the Year award and in 2003, I received the Team Schein Award for my work with certification.

I used to travel a lot. When I traveled, I wanted to bring back a souvenir of each place I went, so I chose magnets because they wouldn’t take up too much space.

While I was in the Support department, my team decorated our cubicles like The Nightmare Before Christmas for Halloween. I drew the Jack Skellington on my wall as part of the decorations. Jack Skellington is one of my all-time favorite fictional characters so I had to keep my rendition of him.