I have a new best time for donating a pint of blood: 5 minutes 9 seconds. That's it! That's all it took. 28 seconds better than my last record. I'm still proud of that. My hematocrit was 13.9, too, which is satisfying, but not as satisfying as 5 minutes 9 seconds. Let's hear it for taking the stairs.

They also happened to be giving out boxes of Girl Scout cookies, one per donation volunteer. I grabbed Thin Mints.

It took me some effort to gather my energy to cook up lunches for the coming week, and I managed after I put on headphones and started some music. Now there's an asparagus-bean soup in the fridge, and I won't have to worry about that for a few more days. So that's two items crossed off the week's to-do list.