Get paid to give plasma

http://local.survivalinsight.com/Selling_Plasma_and_Finding_a_Paid_Plasma_Donation_Center_

Albuquerque_NM-r1299612-Albuquerque_NM.html

Donate Plasma and Get Paid

If you are in need of some extra cash but do not have much spare time, consider making a paid plasma donation. Although the process is a little more complex than that of donating blood, the big advantage is that, unlike with blood, one can make multiple plasma donations a month. For 3-4 hours weekly, you could donate plasma and get paid up to $280 a month, and by doing so, you will also be helping others and potentially saving lives.

Plasma is the liquid component of blood. It is a yellowish color and mainly comprised of water and blood-based proteins… You will be comfortably reclined while a needle is placed into the vein of an arm and blood is collected in sterile equipment. The plasma is then separated from the red blood cells, which are then returned to your arm. The process is fairly painless…

It looks like I’ll be trying this out, so stay tuned for further information.

No chicken for me again this month

Sunday, January 31, 2016 3:19 AM

Hi Kara,

I found a renewal request taped to my front door. FYI, this is what happens to many of the notices taped to tenants’ doors:

Photo taken 1/25/2016

But I can’t complain about the extra litter, because I’ve learned a lot from it, including the fact that some of my neighbors in 2-bedroom apartments are paying the same or less than I’m paying for a 1-bedroom.

When I signed my last renewal, I wondered why I wasn’t signing a 12-month lease. Now I realize that when someone is forced into a lease for a shorter term, it just means the apartment manager gets to increase the rent more often. When you set the renewal rate for a 12-month lease higher than all the rest (except month-to-month), you’re forcing tenants into shorter-term leases, and that results in an increase in your profits, right? I suppose it’s business as usual, but it doesn’t seem right to me.

I’m not sure what to say about the renewal rates indicated in the notice. Have you made improvements to my apartment or the property that I’m unaware of? Have you determined how much I’ve been over-charged for utilities through CUBS? Why do you think this apartment deserves a higher monthly rent? Maybe it’s for the ghost that resides in my broken toilet, which makes noise all day long, irritating the hell out of me?

Did you know that this state has the highest unemployment rate in the country? And as I’m sure you know, there was no increase in my Social Security Disability income this year. Where should I get this extra money you want to charge me for rent? Perhaps you can direct me to a place where they pay for giving blood?

It appears that the young man whom you hired to pick up trash has been promoted. Are you planning on filling this position sometime in the future? I recently filled two tall kitchen garbage bags with outside trash. (You’re welcome.) Since you’re saving money by not paying someone to pick up the trash, maybe you can deduct these services from my renewal rate?

This is what I’d like to see: A renewal lease for the same amount (or cheaper to put me in line with my neighbors), with a 12-month term, so I won’t have to go through the renewal process again for at least another year.

I await your response.

Johnna Stahl

Mon, Feb 1, 2016 5:00 pm

Hi Johnna,

I reviewed your account and you have stayed at the same rental rate since you moved in back in April of 2013. The renewal rate that is automatically scheduled for your apartment this year is set at $745, plus the $30 for your washer and dryer, for a 10 month lease term.

I was able to get a lower rate approved for you. I was able to get the base renewal price down to $730. So the new total monthly rent would be $760.00 including the washer and dryer, and I am able to do this for a 12 month lease term.

You have shared that you have some financial struggles with your income on a fixed basis, so I completely understand that any increase in your monthly rent is going to be a challenge. Unfortunately, the increases are mandated by our company and their rent increase schedules that they have in place and since your apartment has not had any rent increases since you moved in, it must have an increase on this renewal.

If this price works for you, let me know and we will have your new lease prepared. If you choose not to renew your lease, remember that you will need to give us a 30-day notice to vacate.

If you are unable to stay with us at the new rental rate, I have listed several other nearby apartment communities that are part of the Affordable Housing Program and offer rental rates that may work better with your budget.

Arroyo Villas
Ventana Ranch Apartments
Westpark Apartments
Arrowhead Ridge Apartments (Rio Rancho)

You should be able to check their prices and availability for most, if not all, of these communities online.

On another note, our porters are still employed and are on a schedule to get to every area each week. I will definitely have them do a more thorough job around your area, since you have reported that the area has been rough with regards to trash and other debris.

Please let me know what you decide with regards to your lease renewal.

Best wishes,

Kara Buchman, CAM
Community Manager
Vistas at Seven Bar Ranch Apts.
CORE Realty Holdings Management Inc.
Office (505) 792.7227
Fax (505)792.5005
vistasmanager@crhmi.com

Photo taken 2/1/2016

Tue, Feb 2, 2016 8:54 pm

Well, Kara, I hope you’re happy. I’ve just spent the last days of the month snacking on saltine crackers, and now you’re raising my rent way past my ability to pay. I wish I could afford a lawyer, but you can bet that I’ll be looking for some kind of legal help.

Do you know how expensive it is to move? Perhaps one of your employees mentioned that I traded a piece of chocolate cake for a coupon for a free haircut last month. Yes, after more than two years, I was finally able to get my haircut because I had a free coupon. I couldn’t afford to buy chicken last month, and now you’re forcing me to do the same this month.

I just don’t know what to say to this, except:

Please tell me why my neighbors in 2-bedroom apartments are paying less than me.

And I want you to respond to all of my CUBS issues. Like now.

I want my toilet fixed. Now.

I also want my washer and dryer serviced with whatever maintenance is required.

You know I have no choice but to sign another lease. I hope you’ll be happy with your new, extremely angry tenant.

Yes, I’ll be posting this on my blog. In fact, I’ll be polling my neighbors and posting how much they pay in rent and utilities, too. Yeah, we’re gonna have fun this year — I’ll be losing weight, posting pictures of the trash your employees fail to pick up, and the name of these apartments will be in a lot more Google searches.

Johnna Stahl

(These two photos and the featured photo were taken on 2/1/2016.)

Celebrating Black History Month in 2016

https://painkills2.wordpress.com/?s=black+history

http://www.vox.com/2016/1/31/10871544/birth-of-a-nation-nate-parker-interview

The Birth of a Nation just smashed records at Sundance. We talked to director Nate Parker.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_birth.html

On the evening of March 21, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson attended a special screening at the White House of THE BIRTH OF A NATION, a film directed by D.W. Griffith and based on THE CLANSMAN, a novel written by Wilson’s good friend Thomas Dixon. The film presented a distorted portrait of the South after the Civil War, glorifying the Ku Klux Klan and denigrating blacks. It falsified the period of Reconstruction by presenting blacks as dominating Southern whites (almost all of whom are noble in the film) and sexually forcing themselves upon white women. The Klan was portrayed as the South’s savior from this alleged tyranny. Not only was this portrayal untrue, it was the opposite of what actually happened. During Reconstruction, whites dominated blacks and assaulted black women. The Klan was primarily a white terrorist organization that carried out hundreds of murders.

After seeing the film, an enthusiastic Wilson reportedly remarked: “It is like writing history with lightning, and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.” African-American audiences openly wept at the film’s malicious portrayal of blacks, while Northern white audiences cheered. The film swept the nation. Riots broke out in major cities (Boston and Philadelphia, among others), and it was denied release in many other places (Chicago, Ohio, Denver, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Minneapolis). Gangs of whites roamed city streets attacking blacks. In Lafayette, Indiana, a white man killed a black teenager after seeing the movie. Thomas Dixon reveled in its triumph. “The real purpose of my film,” he confessed gleefully, “was to revolutionize Northern audiences that would transform every man into a Southern partisan for life.”

As the NAACP fought against the film and tried unsuccessfully to get it banned, the Ku Klux Klan successfully used it to launch a massive recruiting campaign that would bring in millions of members. Griffith later regretted the racial prejudice that his film promoted. He tried to make amends by making INTOLERANCE, a film attacking race prejudice. But INTOLERANCE never approached the success of THE BIRTH OF A NATION.

Too much laughter isn’t good for TMJ

But that won’t stop me. 🙂

Made me laugh out loud (which is rare)

http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/gop_primary_20160201

(Sorry, Republicans.)

$4.30 for a bag of chips? Really?

I love potato chips. Ruffles is my favorite brand. But I don’t eat them very often because it’s like eating pretend food. But since I’m out of food until tomorrow, I thought I would treat myself to one of my favorite foods today.

That is, until I saw the price of $4.30 for a bag of Ruffles potato chips at Walgreens. Really? Are they covered in gold? Can I make earrings out of them? Seriously?

(I also checked Walmart, where the price was about 30 cents less.)

So, let’s remember how good potato chips are, while understanding that a lot of junk food is just not worth the price.

Opioids did NOT cause the current increase in heroin use

Posted yesterday on Pharmacist Steve’s website:

The pharmaceutical companies that manufacture and market OxyContin, Vicodin, and other highly addictive opioid painkillers — drugs that have fueled the epidemic of overdoses and heroin addiction…

http://samquinones.com/reporters-blog/2015/11/18/the-dayton-heroin-bust/

This writer, Sam Quinones, put out a book entitled “Dreamland (The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic)” last year. Of course, the book is based on a bunch of drug war theories that mostly apply to rich, white people — just like the heroin “epidemic” — and don’t have much to do with the real opioid war or its victims.

I made a comment three days ago, but it was never posted. What’s the matter, Mr. Quinones, are you afraid of the truth? Or won’t the truth help you sell more books?

“…new market that exists in the U.S., created by the overprescribing of narcotic pain pills nationwide…”

As a 30-year intractable pain patient, I’ve lived through the drug war, and I don’t agree with you. I believe the heroin market was created by the under-treatment of pain, and doctors abandoning pain patients and those who suffer from addiction, forcing them into to the unregulated, underground drug market. And you can see that the problems have only gotten worse since the DEA began jailing and convicting doctors and patients in the opioid war.

Oxy is an easy drug to blame, isn’t it? But doctors aren’t stupid. They knew that Oxy was an opioid and that opioids can be addictive. But even with all this alleged increase in drug abuse, the percentage of people who suffer from addiction has stayed about the same. No, Oxy isn’t to blame, and neither are opioids, pain patients, or doctors. Drugs don’t cause addiction — I think you know that. If one drug becomes unavailable, those who suffer from addiction will just try another. And because of the increasing restrictions on opioids, at the current time, many are choosing heroin.

The fact is that the opioid war is what has caused a drug overdose epidemic in the rich, white population, which is why it’s getting so much media attention. Tell me, do any poor, disabled people buy your book?