-t, you could go up to Shreveport. Hotel rooms are cheap, and it's not 8 hours away. [link] is my favorite.

I like donating blood (AB+, sometimes in demand), and I haven't for a while. If I could find a donation center, I'd go, but the web site is giving me no love.

My mom was told she couldn't give blood because of some sort of hep exposure when she was young, but a few years ago someone told her she could. Except she's underweight, so it doesn't matter.

People are freaking, Dana. Someone just dumped a box of evacuation Procedure Mnauals on my desk. There's been no official word, though.

(Eta: I checked Shreveport, Heather - everything I could find said "no rooms available". It doesn't help that I need a place that will let my dog stay with me. A friend of mine has offered to let us crash in her living room, and considering that us = me, DH, MiL, dog & 2 cats, that's pretty generous)

I don't get how they figure out BMI just from height and weight. What about muscle mass? Doesn't that count?

on the CDC's website, they talk about how BMI is just one indicator, and how the percentage of body fat is also a key factor.

This is also true for me, but their position is becoming increasingly absurd given that they reject me for living more than six months since 1980 in a European country with no cases of mad cow, yet they have no concern that I have been living 24 years since 1980 in a country (USA) that has had at least two cases of mad cow.

excellent point.

they talk about how BMI is just one indicator, and how the percentage of body fat is also a key factor.

thanks! For some reason I was one of those myth-believers who thought that BMI was supposed to measure body fat.

-t, my uncle with four dogs is having to go up to Arkansas to crash with a friend. This is nuts.

My parents' dog should be fine, however. I called the dog boarding place, and while they declined to release any specific information about him to me (I am so not kidding), they said they won't be leaving, and they'll stay with the dogs if necessary. So it really turned out to be a lot of drama over nothing, but my grandmother is not worried about it now. Instead, she has switched to worrying over whether my mother's plane will be able to land on Sunday.

(AB+, sometimes in demand)

My sister's AB+, and she's always being called in.

My mom was told she couldn't give blood because of some sort of hep exposure when she was young, but a few years ago someone told her she could.

My mom was the same, but the policy did change just a few years ago.

Evacing Norleans?

The hurricane is hitting there that bad?

(I guess I could google it, but y'all are faster.)

Projected path of Dennis.

I can't give, but my blood type is very common (A+) and is rarely in critical need.