Fairness, Mad Cow Disease and Indian Cuisine

While they may seem completely unrelated, all three of these things helped define my day yesterday.

First, those of you living in the Nashville area know that we had a teensy, weensy bit of snow on the roads yesterday morning, so most local school districts were closed. It was very pretty to watch, but bitterly cold, so I wasn't all that excited about sending my kids out to play in it. But they had other ideas. Where it got interesting was when they realized that school was not in session and their friends were out and about. I immediately got hit with, "We want a snow day, too! It has to be fair!"

So I gave them the look that all kids hate and sweetly said, "Okay. If it needs to be fair, then from now on we will do school from 8:30 to 3:30, Monday through Friday. No more relaxed Fridays, and we're going to have to add some new coursework to our day."

Looks of frustration and despair caused a moment of pause. And ultimately, "But that's not the kind of fair we mean!"

It was a fantastic lesson in how fairness doesn't always equal a good outcome. And how making all things equal always means pulling someone down to bring someone else up. Could it be that my children, albeit unknowingly, got a taste of Socialism yesterday?

They chose to do school on a snow day. They have chosen wisely.
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Last night the Red Cross did a blood drive at my church. I, being the good citizen, signed up over a week ago to make an appointment. I have one of the more rare blood types, and I know they definitely need folks like me to give. (Out of 100 people, only me and my daddy have it.)

So I picked up the little piece of paper sitting there while I was waiting and read all the reasons why you shouldn't give blood. I'm not taking any antibiotics. Check. I haven't had a recent blood transfusion. Check. Haven't been to Africa or had sex with anybody who's from there. Check. Haven't been doing IV drugs or had a recent tattoo. Check. I'm feeling pretty confident here that my blood will be good with these people.

After getting called back and giving my personal info, I begin taking the confidential health survey. There are a couple of questions on there that make me begin to worry a bit, but I'm still 75% confident that everything will be okay.

The lady comes in and asks me about my recent travel outside of the USA. Well, last summer I went to Thailand, I tell her. She wants to know where and puts it in. Anywhere else? I'm thinking about my cruise last February and wondering if it counts. So I tell her the Caribbean. She wants to know where. Oh, man. This cruise had 5 ports! So I have to slowly tell her each place I got off the boat and tell her how to spell them. This takes a little while.

And then the question that had me worried pops up. She says, "Between the years 1980 and 1996, you spent a period of time totalling more than three months in the United Kingdom?" I say yes. She says, "How long?" I tell her three and a half months. In college, I had the amazing privilege of spending the Spring semester of my sophomore year at the London Study Center for Samford University. It's definitely one of the highlights of my 34-year lifespan. But apparently this is a problem for the Red Cross.

She asks me when I left and enters May of 1993. Then something starts flashing and asking for a comment. She's apparently never seen this before and leaves to retrieve upper management.

He comes in and looks at my profile and starts talking to her under his breath. This is starting to worry me. He looks at me and says, "Unfortunately, you can't donate today. In fact, we're going to have to give you an indefinite deferral."

"Why?" I ask in a puzzled sort of way.

"Well, it's because of Mad Cow Disease." Apparently, there is no way to test for Mad Cow Disease, and those of us who lived in England during this 16-year period may have it. I know some of you are thinking this may explain a lot, but no comments are necessary. (Seth - I'm watching you.)

So I stand up to leave and he tells me I need to wait for the paperwork. I feel like there is this giant spotlight on me screaming "BAD BLOOD! REJECT!" It's totally humiliating.

He brings in a letter that states I can't give blood, and I'm entered in the Red Cross system as a disqualified donor. Oh, but the good news is, if they ever do come up with a way to test for MCD, I'm free to come back and let them stick me with a needle again. That's so comforting.
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And last, but not least, I tasted real Indian food for the first time last night. As some of you know, I leave a week from this coming Monday for Hyderabad, India. I'll be gone for 12 days with a group of nine other people from my church on a mission journey. I am so excited about this. I'll supposedly have Internet access while I'm there, so hope to keep up my blog. But obviously I can't promise how often. It's 11 and a half hours ahead, so almost just like Thailand last year.

Anyway, my group met at "Cuisine of India" over by Vanderbilt. Other than about 5 other people (only one of whom looked Indian) we were the sole patrons. Our fearless leader Kim ordered for us since most of us were Indian cuisine virgins. We had some flat bread that was pretty good, some deep-fried something-or-others for appetizers, which is good, because I can eat virtually anything that's been deep-fried. It's the Southern way, you know. For our entrees we had lamb and chicken, both pureed and both really red. It was hard to tell them apart other than the fact that the chicken was more lumpy. They also brought out fried chicken, which looked really scary because it was that same really red color, but it actually tasted pretty good. No dessert.

All of it was entirely edible, so I feel pretty good about being able to find something to eat while we are there. Now, I'm sure that this was cleaned-up, Americanized Indian food, so I'm not expecting it to be exactly the same. But I know I can at least eat the bread. Worst case scenario, I lose a little weight. Or I guess that would actually be the best case scenario! :)

So that was my day yesterday. Today is Valentine's Day, and my sweetie and I are going to eat with some friends and then go see Spamalot at TPAC. Can't wait!

Bradley asked me today why we celebrate Valentine's Day. I told him that I had no idea, so we looked it up. Guess what? There is no reason. This is a purely made-up holiday for Big Candy and Big Flowers. I'm dead serious. There was a St. Valentine, but he apparently had nothing to do with Cupid or candy or anything. Fascinating.

So if you are a Valentine's Day fan, I hope you enjoy it to the fullest. If you aren't, take heart in the fact that it is completely contrived and has no significance whatsoever.

But either way you go, you should definitely enjoy the excuse to eat some chocolate!