I just found out what blood type I have

Until tonight, I had no idea what my blood type is. Nope. I've never had it typed. Not in high school, not in college, never by a doctor. I was never in the military, so I had no idea what it is.

I don't know why, but that bothered me. So, I bought a home test kit on ebay and just ran the test. It was an Eldoncard kit and I paid less than $10 for it on ebay (and yes, that includes the shipping).

The test itself was very easy to do, I just needed four drops of blood, a little water, and the stuff that came with the kit:

• 1 Eldoncard 2511-1
• 1 lancet (needle)
• 4 Eldon sticks (mixing sticks)
• 1 alcohol swab
• 1 cotton ball
• 1 plastic pipette (eyedropper)
• Instructions
• You also need some tap water (not included)

The procedure is simple. Swab the area you want to poke. Get some water and fill up the mini dropper. Place four drops of water into some circles printed on the card (inside each circle has a different antigen in it. You then stab yourself, get some blood flowing, and using those mixing sticks, add the blood to the water and mix 'em up. It's important that you do NOT cross-contaminate the drops of blood or move the Eldon stick outside its own circle. If you do, the stick will carry the antigen into another circle and mess up your results. After you mixed your blood into the drops of water, you carefully rotate the card around and hold it for 10 seconds (up 10 secs, down 10 secs, left 10 secs, right 10 secs). This allows the blood/water/antigen solution to mix up a bit and spread out into the whole circle.

You then look for clotting and compare the results to the chart that comes with the instructions. The results were instantaneous. One of the circles instantly started forming big, messy clots. The others did not.


And now, the mystery is solved. I am A negative.

It's funny, but my older brother (a dentist) predicted that would be the result, based on heredity and that being the type my three brothers have. I don't know what blood type my sister has.

Here's the info on the procedure: http://www.eldoncard.com/
(check the Video/Procedure link at the bottom of the screen)

or

You can see a higher quality version on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZvmaH3kozY

I bought the kit on ebay for under $10 (including shipping).

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Funny thing: the kit comes with a pop-out lancet that you're supposed to just jab yourself with and it will poke in the appropriate amount. But I couldn't make myself use it. I guess it's because I'd never used one on myself before and wasn't sure how deep it would go, how much it would hurt, etc. I was more comfortable getting a fresh Xacto blade and using it to poke myself (and make a small cut) because -- having done that COUNTLESS times while working on miniatures -- I knew exactly what it would feel like. It didn't really bother me at all.

By the way, Donna is so needlephobic that I didn't tell her about this. I didn't want her to get all worked up thinking about me poking myself with a needle. I'll tell her sometime tomorrow.

Mixology - Frozen PAMAmosa

I whipped up an interesting little drink tonight. Bur first, the backstory.

A few weeks ago we were at Lin's and Crystal's house and had some Mimosas (sparkling wine and orange juice). Very yummy. And, by the way, when you're mixing the wine with juice, a cheaper wine usually does better. Cook's Spumante is our choice at home -- at least for mixing Mimosas, the added sugar helps make for a sweeter drink. The drinks were good, the company great, and we had a wonderful visit with them.

Now, I've always liked mimosas, but seeing as it's hot as you-know-what outside, my wife and I decided to add a little chill to our version. So we bought some orange sherbet to add to the sparkling wine. It's actually quite yummy, but it's not quite perfect. There's just something missing from it... a certain bite or flavor that would take it over the top. My first thought was to strengthen the orange flavor with some triple sec, but alas, we're out (yes, I need to hit Spec's and restock). So I thought about it a bit and then decided to try adding some Pama liqueur to it. Pama is a very sweet pomegranate liqueur that is a very pleasing mix of sweet and sour. And with it, a little bit goes a long way. So, I poured the sparkling wine, added half a glass of orange sherbet, mixed (use a fork; it helps break up the sherbet) and then added a nice shot of Pama. Then I tasted it, and liked it. I took it into the living room and gave it to my wife to taste. She took a sip, sat there with an odd look on her face, and then took another sip. I couldn't tell what the heck she was thinking, then she said, "It's not bad. In fact, I like it."

She liked it, but I could tell she didn't love it.

I couldn't blame her. It was good, but not great. It needed something else, and I couldn't get it out of my head that what it needed was some citris. So, I added a nice squeeze of lime juice (I also had lemon juice, but thought the lime would be a little sweeter, which was what I was trying to enhance). I sipped it and really liked it this time. But, it needed to pass the taste test of my wife. She's much more discriminating about subtle flavors than I am. So, I presented it to her and she took one sip, and her face lit up!

"This is good," she delcared, and proceeded to drink about half the glass.

Like me, she was quite surprised at what a simple shot of lime did to balance the flavors. This is a very sweet drink with a strong orange flavor, but the Pama and the lime really help balance the sweet and the tart.

So, preserved for posterity, here's my recipe for the Frozen PAMAmosa

• Start with a wine glass.
• Fill it halfway with orange sherbet
• Slowly Fill it with Cook's Spumante
  (stir occassionally to blend, and let the sherbet foam die down)
• Add 1/2 - 1 oz. of PAMA liqueur
  (this is a strong liqueur, so start small and experiment to find what tastes good to you)
• A squeeze of lime juice
  (garnish with a lime slice, if you're using fresh lime)

Although I didn't do it tonight, I suspect this drink would taste great with a rim of sugar.

If you make one, let me know what you think of it.

External Links:
www.pamaliqueur.com
www.cookschampagne.com

Happy Birthday to me!

I'm having a good birthday weekend. Friday my wife took me out to dinner at the restaurant of my choice (I chose Donarake's @ 1960 & Champion Forest). The food was great, and so were the two margaritas I had (with Sangria, of course).

Giftwise, Donna got me exactly what I wanted. The Shine On book that covers the history of my favorite beer, Shiner: http://www.amazon.com/Shine-100-Years-Shiner-Beer/dp/1933979208

She also got me the Star Trek Communicator Phaser two pack: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DXFEJK
This is a very cool reproduction of the phaser and communicator from the original Star Trek series (and yes, the Mark I mini phaser detaches to form a separate unit!).

When I told her what I got, my sister asked, "Oh, you didn't get any Spock ears to wear with those?" Heh. To which my wife replied, "Of course not. He's Kirk."

All in all, a great weekend (and so was today -- we just stayed in and got a little romance going).

Incidentally, my birthday was June 26.