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How to save a life

I tabled for Get Carded last week. They’re the student group that signs people up to be organ donors. (Incidentally, manning tables is apparently so common among student organizations that it deserves its own verb. That’s really all Get Carded does, anyway.) Although sitting at a table for two hours and getting people to sign organ donors doesn’t sound like much fun, I have to say it was. While I was there, we got about 20 people to sign up and save lives. One of them was me.

I think some people might have been deterred by the idea of signing up to be an organ donor. They probably think that there’s a lot of icky paperwork (or worse, costs) involved. Not so. All you have to do is sign a card and carry it around with you. It carries the same force as being designated as an organ donor on your driver’s license (although you should specify it next time you renew your license because then you’ll be in the organ donor database). If you’re a Floridian, check out Get Carded’s web site and print an organ donor card. If not, find out about similar groups in your state or country. Because you never know: tomorrow you might be dead, and your organs will go to waste.

College meal plans are supposed to be convenient. But if you don’t know what you’re dealing with, they might not be. My plan for this semester is 150 meals and $300 in “Flex Bucks.” Too bad I didn’t know the specifics. It turns out that meal-plan meals are served at one of two cafeteria-style dining halls on campus, and Flex Bucks are accepted at the restaurants. So I have four months to eat at a cafeteria 150 times with only $300 for other eatery options. After a month, I had 140 meals remaining and $138 in Flex Bucks, so it was time to switch gears. I’ve found that the dining hall is a convenient solution to the Breakfast Problem* on certain days of the week. Also, it took me about a month to find out that there was a second dining hall only half as far away from my dorm as the one I had been going to. Combine those facts with a steady supply of non-perishable foods in a cardboard box in my closet, and I’ve got a recipe for success… and a cheesy metaphor.

How does your height compare with averages from around the world?

HEERS AN ENGLISH 2 LOLCAT TRANZLATOR
IZ PRITEE AWSUM

* The Breakfast Problem is, quite simply, the problem of what to eat for breakfast. Do you eat the same thing for breakfast every weekday? I do. Then I get sick of it after a while and move on to something else. But a good breakfast is hard to find. It has to be easy to store and prepare, ostensibly healthy, and, above all, delicious. For those seeking closure to this ongoing story: since finding out about my shocking meal and Flex Buck balances, I’m down to 140 meals and $112 in Flex Bucks. That means I hopefully won’t run out of the Bucks any time soon. And if I do, there’s always cash.