Last year, the blood bank banned me for 12 months due to low ferritin levels (the protein in your blood that stores iron for when it's needed). The vampires put their standard at 30ng/mL, and my 4ng/mL was deemed insufficient. So I was happy to finally be welcomed again last month.

Of course, I was tested again. Scored 20ng/mL this time, which is technically considered a normal level (between 18-270). But since donations tend to lower your ferritin levels, it is still below their minimum level for donations. And anything below 50 is considered as iron deficiency. So I'm banned again, for another 12 months. Even if I manage to get it up above 30 next time, I will not be allowed to donate more than 2x/year in the future (was 5x).

The vampires' leaflet contains Q&A: "What can I do to increase my ferritin level?" with the not-so-helpful answer "It depends on the cause, but in general there is little you can do to influence this level." Meh. More reassuring is the remark "Low ferritin levels usually do not affect your health." So, that's that then.

This is a rare public post to inform everybody that I just removed all 60+ LiveJournal accounts that had access to my private posts on DreamWidth. Unfortunately, most of these accounts have been quiet for over a decade.

However, if you still use LJ and would like to read my private entries, then please let me know. If you have a DW account and would like access to my friends-only updates, then please contact me as well.

House renovations, day two. Asbestos removal from the toilet. Featured men in white suits and a three-stage decontamination unit in front of our house. Was happy to bugger off to work today rather than stay home. Apparently there was an inspection and they left a reassuring report with grainy B&W pictures. Unfortunately, rigorously removing the asbestos drains means that we have no drains connecting our house to the sewer today. So no showering and very limited water use. Bother.

Scheduled for tomorrow is asbestos removal from the bedrooms. This implies no shower tomorrow either, and a mess in the bedroom. Tomorrow might be the worst day of the lot. On Thursday they are going to be drilling a hole in the ceiling, which will be a mess as well, but at least then build-up work starts and hopefully we get our drains back on Thursday as well.

Update: pics or it didn't happen...

This is what our toilet currently looks like. Left is the drain from the kitchen, on top the drain from the bathroom. No points for spotting the missing link. And a second image from a better angle.

Based on NPR's top-100 list of science fiction and fantasy books. Copied from rpdom.
Bold if you've read, use italics for those you fully intend to read, underline if it's a book/series you've read part but not all of.

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
( more books )

Yep, I've still got some more reading to do...

Based on NPR's top-100 list of science fiction and fantasy books. Copied from rpdom.
Bold if you've read, use italics for those you fully intend to read, underline if it's a book/series you've read part but not all of.

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
( more books )

Yep, I've still got some more reading to do...

It's been a while since I did one of those. Inspired by alicephilippa


I am Blue/White.
Take The Magic Dual Colour Test - Beta today!

These pictures are actually from last year (okay, last week), but I only copied them from the camera today. There hasn't been any snowfall this year yet, but the white stuff still hasn't disappeared completely.



This last one shows a couple of bicycles on the frozen lake. They were probably thrown from the bridge I was standing one when taking this shot. The snow-outline of a third bicycle is visible, that was already fished out with a lasso. The ice was not frozen hard enough to walk on. The other side of the lake had a warning sign, warning potential swimmers for botulism and ice-skaters for weak ice.

These pictures are actually from last year (okay, last week), but I only copied them from the camera today. There hasn't been any snowfall this year yet, but the white stuff still hasn't disappeared completely.



This last one shows a couple of bicycles on the frozen lake. They were probably thrown from the bridge I was standing one when taking this shot. The snow-outline of a third bicycle is visible, that was already fished out with a lasso. The ice was not frozen hard enough to walk on. The other side of the lake had a warning sign, warning potential swimmers for botulism and ice-skaters for weak ice.

Finally got round to deciding what I want to replace the main house computer 'taz' (that is, the fileserver, gateway, compile farm and virtual machine host). I rarely use this computer as my desktop, even though it sits on my desk, because I generally sit elsewhere with a laptop. The Athlon (single core, 700MHz), which was new at some point, will be replaced by a Phenom-II X4 965 (quad core, 3.4GHz).

I got to pick up the goodies today and went on to assemble it as soon as I came home. Unfortunately that took up most of the evening and now I not supposed to install and configure it right away, as I really should be packing stuff for my vacation - or maybe go to bed and pack up in the morning.

Intarweb popular vote: in the past each new piece of hardware got a unique hostname (PCs daffy, coyote, taz and laptops tweety, roadrunner and sylvester). Now do I stick with this scheme or should I switch and keep using the same name for the replacement hardware that will perform the same function as 'taz' did? The old taz will be scratched (or given away) anyway..

Finally got round to deciding what I want to replace the main house computer 'taz' (that is, the fileserver, gateway, compile farm and virtual machine host). I rarely use this computer as my desktop, even though it sits on my desk, because I generally sit elsewhere with a laptop. The Athlon (single core, 700MHz), which was new at some point, will be replaced by a Phenom-II X4 965 (quad core, 3.4GHz).

I got to pick up the goodies today and went on to assemble it as soon as I came home. Unfortunately that took up most of the evening and now I'm not supposed to install and configure it right away, as I really should be packing stuff for my vacation - or maybe go to bed and pack up in the morning.

Intarweb popular vote: in the past each new piece of hardware got a unique hostname (PCs daffy, coyote, taz and laptops tweety, roadrunner and sylvester). Now do I stick with this scheme or should I switch and keep using the same name for the replacement hardware that will perform the same function as 'taz' did? The old taz will be scratched (or given away) anyway..