Thanks to everyone who replied – you really saved me!

RESULTS for my field work:

Here are the questions I asked:

Do you donate blood? (Yes/No)
If so, how often? (<1x a year, 1x a year, >1x a year)
If not, why? (It hurts/I don’t like needles/Blood freaks me out/No Reason)
Are you aware of the requirements for donating to babies? (Yes/No)
If you knew, would that change your mind regarding donating? (Yes/No)

I asked 30 people these questions, of which 6 were male and 24 were female, the majority of whom were 36 years or older.

67% of respondents answered they do NOT donate blood. The reason was 80% “Other”, and all of those respondents elaborated that there were health reasons that caused them to not be able to donate. The other 20% of the respondents who answered no equally stated that they do not like needles or that it hurt too much.

Of those who DO donate blood, 40% donate <1 time a year, 40% donate once a year, and 20% donate multiple times a year.

80% of the respondents had no clue that there were special requirements for donating to babies, let alone what those requirements are.

I confirmed this information – most of the population has CMV, a common viral pathogen found in all population groups. Nearly all CMV infected people are asymtomatic. It causes few problems for healthy individuals. But in newborns and immunocompromised individuals, it may produce a variety of disease processes. To donate to these groups, you must not carry this virus……and only about 15% of the population does not carry it.

Since the majority of the respondents could not donate due to health reasons, knowing the requirements didn’t make a difference in their desire or ability to donate blood. Therefore, 67% said knowing would not make a different. 20% said this information would change their mind, including some individuals who currently donate – they shared they would be willing to donate more often if they knew their blood was being used to help babies. However, at this point I realized that, even knowing this information, they have a high likelihood of being CMV Positive, so their blood would not be given to babies.

This field work was interesting, in that is quantified many of the things I have felt existed for some time. Hearing specifics and analyzing them was very interesting. I also realized most women, at least in my case, were more willing to respond to me, let alone answer my questions. I also found that my questions could have been much more valuable in nature – I am not sure asking the questions about the babies gleaned as much information as I had hoped. I am not sure the data I collected helped me to suggest what changes could be made to encourage people to donate as most who do not, can’t.

Okay peeps, you might remember I am in a Statistics class in my MBA program!  And, well, Gina waited a bit too long to begin asking people me survey questions and, thus far, my sample is kind of small.  So if you could PLEASE answer the following questions asap, that would totally help me out!

Do you give blood?    Yes    No
If so, how often?    < 1x a year    1 time a year    > 1x a year
If not, why?    It hurts    I don’t like needles    Blood freaks me out    No reason
Are you aware of the requirements for donating to babies?    Yes    No
If you knew, would that change your mind regarding donating?    Yes    No

Demographic Information
Gender    Male    Female
Age    <20    21-35    36-49    >49

Please email your responses to gmdimples33@yahoo.com.

Thanks so much!  Some of you may receive an email from me so sorry if this is duplicated!

Gina

So I haven’t updated this blog for a few days – sorry!  Let me try to get you up-to-date:

• Sea World was FUN!  It was a bit of a cold day at first so we stayed dry…..but then it warmed up and we got silly……so silly we thought we could sit up close at the dolphin show.  I mean really, how much splashing can they do?????  Yeah, we were wrong……especially since they use their tails specifically to splash the crowd and yeah…..a dolphin was right in front of us!  We had great fun though!
• The new job ROCKS!  It is surreal because it has been 10 years since I’ve worked there so things are foggy and “new”, but at the same time I remember enough that it is freaky to be back (in a good way).  I found some documents I had created or worked on…..yeah, weird.  On my first day I was given my old ruler….LOL!  I am kind of anal about rules; they have to be metal with cork.  It had my name on it – and what appears to be Kirstie’s writing for my last name and she was little.  It was cool.
• School is going well.  The new job has made doing homework MUCH better as the commute is way better.  I ALMOST like statistics, but not quite.
• Shoulder still sucks but I am trying to ignore it.

Okay, hope that helps my 2.78 readers out!

Okay, I didn’t want to mention anything sooner, but you HAVE heard that I don’t really like the job that I received at Gretchen Fox.  The drive alone is enough to turn me into Queen Cranky!  But there are real issues with the way they do business – like they want to dock salary peeps if they leave early or lied to me as they don’t offer benefits.

ANYWAY, going back during the summer, I had contacted a company I had worked for 10 years ago.  At the time they no longer needed to fill the Accounting/Office Manager position so I said thanks and let me know.

Well, last Friday, after ending another HORRIBLE week at work, but reminding myself that I am very fortunate to even have a job with this economy, I checked my email.  Bam, there was an email from Corey, a partner from the firm.  He was seeing if I was still interested because things had changed.  It was late, but I replied to his email stating I was still in the market!  Well, he and I met yesterday (Tuesday) and we got each other up to speed on the last 10 years – both professionally and personally.  He was excited to bring me back, but wanted to make sure his partner, Son, was cool as well.  He promised to call me today.

Today was LONG as I waited for his call.  After 4pm I thought maybe he had lost my number and called, but he was unavailable.  He finally called me at about 5:20 and asked, “Why were you calling again?”  I called him a butthead, but to the point I start Monday!  I am SO excited and here is why:

• This job is in Tustin – aka CLOSE TO HOME.  No more 70 mile one way commute!
• This job pays WAY better
• Many of the procedures that were in place when I was the Accounting Supervisor are still in place
• This is a fair company that follows the rules and is fair in compensation and really offers bennies!

There are more things, but that is the gist of it.  Kenny is SOOOOO excited ’cause he was tired of me getting home at 7:30 or later.  And he misses me in the morning, too.  He just plain misses me.  Kirstie is thrilled too because it’s been almost impossible to see each other!

So WOOHOO!  Special thanks to Kenny and Teddi who did extra prayer duty for me!

To check out where I will be working, click here.

Okay – short, sweet, and to the point:

• Shoulder – no tears but I did strain the ligament connecting my collar bone to my shoulder.  However, I have arthritis in my shoulder (!!!) and the addition of the strain is causing my bones to rub.  So I have two causes of pain remaining.  I need to take meds and rest the arm (um, trying but I am left handed!) and in six weeks if I do not feel better, we will be discussion surgery.  Physical therapy will not help me due to the bones rubbing…..
• Job – blah.  I try to look at the bright side, I truly do, but the light and tears don’t mix well.  LOL
• School – made it through the first week but I am not quite yet at the point of liking statistics.  LOL
• Kids – are doing well.  Kirstie got thru her first major tests in college and I am sure she did well.  Kenny is doing very well this year in school and Josh is rocking as well.  They all seem to be these social butterflies too…..not sure where they get that!  LOL

Okay, gotta get ready!  Gina OUT.

Hello peeps – this was a long week for me!  Driving 70 miles one way to work really, really sucks!  I rode my bike two times; the first time was a bit scary, but by yesterday I felt very confident and comfortable.  There were times when I thought, “I was born for this, now I understand what my Dad said about the feeling of riding….the wind in your face, etc.”  Not that riding in traffic is all that fun, but it sure is great to white line when everyone else is stopped!

On that note, I have found that the majority of drivers are kind to bikes – they move over, etc.  I was surprised, however, to find that there are a minority of drivers that not only are oblivious to us bikers, but purposely move to block our way!  What is THAT about?  I don’t understand what the issue is – are they mad because I don’t have to stop?  Hello!  I am one less car filling the freeway with congestion!  Do they think it is wrong for me to pass in between?  It is totally legal.  And most of all, do they really want to be in an accident with a bike?  Sheesh.

Also on that subject – I hate when people clean their windows on the freeway, even when I am in my car.  I mean seriously, hello peeps the water goes behind you for hundreds of feet, getting everyone behind you wet.  What if someone just got their car washed?  What if someone had just cleaned their window and now you messed it up?  And finally, what if there is a motorcyclist behind you and they are getting plummeted with water??  I am just asking people to think about it…..clean your windows when you are stopped.

And throwing cigs out the window when you’re driving…..not only is this illegal as it is littering, but it is very dangerous to have a burning object plummet you when you are on a bike……..

I don’t like my job much.  Won’t get into the details, but most days I just want to cry on the way home.  But it’s a job and I am thankful that I have income coming in.

The kids are doing great – don’t see them nearly as much with the commute, but I spent some time with them Thursday night.  Ken also spends the night several times during the week so that is nice, too.

School started Wednesday – Statistics! – and so far, so good.  Will be spending lots of time on this during the weekend!

Okay, must have more coffee.  Will write more later.