So I just found out that JetBlue had an “All You Can Jet” promotion. Unlimited travel for a month for $499, $699 if you want to travel Fridays and Sundays.

Unfortunately, it ended October 6, and today is October 21. Although I had a baby during that month and so it wouldn’t have worked out anyway.

But isn’t that awesome? What a great idea. Travel every weekend – go see different members family for a quick weekend, take a week off and head down to Barbados or somewhere else that JetBlue flies…very quickly this turns into a great idea and well worth the money.

I’m on the lookout now, however, for next year. Unfortunately, JetBlue does not currently fly to Lexington. Or Cincinnati. Or Louisville. Hmm.

What's my Motivation?

I’ve often wondered at the purpose of my blog. Why do I write anything on here? Who is my audience? What should I write about?

Let’s take the birth of my daughter. How much do I want to write about it? Is my blog a journal so that anyone can know about all of the minute details of one of the most important things in my life? Do I make my blog private so that only people I know can read those details? Do I just tell little stories about her to make people laugh?

(I don’t think I want to expose my daughter to the unfettered internet. If I were to do it right now, I’ll probably be making a password-protected blog for people to read about Clara’s progress and maybe see some pictures or video. I think that will be the best way to let friends/family be a part of her life…yet give some privacy. I think I’ll feel a little safer that way.)

Not that I have any real blog-funny stories about Clara. Oh she’s funny, don’t get me wrong. She is MY daughter, after all. It’s just not the type of humor that someone reading a blog would enjoy.

I do have a lot of thoughts about other topics normally associated with blogs. Politics, for example. But am I going to throw out my thoughts on taxation, alternative energy, and foreign policy onto the internet?

Answer: Maybe every once in awhile. I don’t expect a lot of commentary (not that I do on any of my blog entries) but I think that it’s good practice for me to articulate my positions every once in awhile.

Elder Ballard has counseled members of the Church to use social media to talk about our testimonies of the Restored Gospel. Is that something that I feel comfortable talking about? Do I want to use my blog as an outlet for sharing my testimony?

Answer: I probably will, occasionally. I don’t think it will be incredibly overt: “Logan’s Testimony on Tithing and Why You Should Pay it Too” but more like when I talked about how I needed to come up with a new scripture marking system a couple months back. I can talk about the gospel and how it affects my life without being in-your-face about it.

I’ve often talked about sports in the past. I don’t have a lot of outlets to discuss the sports teams that I care about. But does my blog audience care? Do I care if they care?

Answer: I’ll talk about sports occasionally.

To summarize, my blog writing will continue to muddle along. There will be no definitive objective to my blog. I will just keep on stumbling, writing about random things whenever I feel the need to write.

Thank you for your continued patience, my friends.

A Non-Vampire Blood Post

Today there was a blood drive in the office park where I work.

I have been meaning to donate blood for awhile. My blood type is O negative, which anyone can receive. (I'm such a giver.) Once my name gets on that blood donation list, not a couple weeks will go by without a phone call reminding me that they would like my blood. However, I have spent the last year, since moving to Kentucky, not donating blood. I just didn't do it. However, I finally decided that, since I could do it on work time, I would go ahead and donate the blood.

So I went down with a co-worker of mine to the bus they had brought and parked in the middle of our office park. That's right, a blood bus. In the back they had little booths (kinda like catholic confessional booths) where you'd do the interviews and they'd poke your finger, and then towards the front they had the beds on either side of the bus so you could donate using either arm. A rather innovative idea, the blood bus. I'm a big fan.

My favorite part of the blood donation interview is when they find out I have been outside of the United States and Canada in the past three years. "Well, where have you been?" "Where haven't I been!" I respond, and then start to name all the different countries where Torrie and I went backpacking just over two years ago. This year I got to name the countries that we cruised to, after which I got some bad news:

"I'm really sorry sir, I want to take your blood, but unfortunately, Honduras is a malaria risk zone. You cannot donate blood for one year."

Sad! My dream of a kentucky blood donor shirt, dashed to pieces! I had so been looking forward to those cookies, and I could have said that I donated blood in a blood bus!

A half hour later, I received the worst news of not being able to donate blood.
Turns out, you can get half a day of leave time for giving blood. You know, to make sure that you have fully recovered. Since I don't have a lot going on today, I could have been out of here after lunch time.

Man! And now I have to wait until at least next June until I can take advantage of that. Dumb Honduras. Dumb Malaria. I remember marvelling, while I was in Honduras, at the lack of mosquitoes on the island where we were.

Oh well. At least I had time (and material) to write in my blog today :)