jessamyn's temple of ego

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Someone from MetaFilter asked a question about her leukemia being out of remission and asking how hard was it, really, to get a marrow transplant?

This started a spate of people signing up to the National Marrow Donor Program which was, at the time, free (it costs some money generally but they have sponsored free times occasionally). To register to be a donor you have to complete a process online and then you get this cheek swabbing kit in the mail. You run the little swabs on the inside of your cheek, package the whole thing up (nifty sticker) and mail it to them.

They keep your information on file and if you match someone needing a transplant you can donate either stem cells [via a blood donation process] or marrow [via a surgical-ish big needle process] and possibly save someone's life.

I don't know why it took me so long to sign up for this. I'm an organ donor and I donate blood. This seemed like a logical next step.

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I've been messing with some data. I have a list of every IP I've ever connected to MetaFilter from [2001 til 2009] and I had a friend create a KML file out of that which I uploaded to Google Earth and took these snapshots. Still figuring out how to get it to display on Google MAPS, but this is pretty nifty, don't you think?

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my sister's guestroom at her temporary digs in the second half of my Mom's two-family place. Comfy!

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made me think of Michael Jackson

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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/3672675609/" title=""Try to look pleasant""><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3337/3672675609_493a3a6885_m.jpg" width="186" height="240" alt=""Try to look pleasant"" />

he's no better at it than I am

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No STFU, I seriously WAS.

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It's closed part of the year because peregrine falcolns nest there

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it's like a little over half a mile but straight up.

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One of those weird things you don't know you have in common with someone til you've known them a while...

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I have a vast fear of jumping

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And yeah I'm up on a big rock like a total idiot. We left soon after this.

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did not get obligatory shot with me covering the U

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Heffeweizen I believe

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I'm not one of those people who finds email psychically uneasing; I see email as a problem to be solved. That said, if I'm on my computer, my email box is open and there's a little bell that lets me know when there are more things to deal with. Recently gmail let you adjust the custom colors on your inbox -- you can also do this with tools like Greasemonkey + stylish -- and I decided to dial the whole thing down until it was barely there.

Combining this with blocking the big colorful Gmail logo in the upper corner and I have an inbox that is even more innocuous, even less in my face than usual. Peaceful summer email.