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Is anyone else missing the snow and smashable Christmas lights from last year as much as I am?

We also only run an autocontrol when we do antibody ID.

It's snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cliff, you are a complete STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE!! I sent an email to and got a reply from Mark Yazer - the SCARF site is down for maintenance. Whew - I was afraid it had gone out of existance.

I spoke too soon. I don't think I can find the smashing lights, but you now have snow!

Sorry, this new software doesn't have the smashing lights or snow. I'm sorry.

I was a little shocked, and saddened, when Cliff didn't have Red Sox logos raining down after they won the World Series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I only run an auto ct if I am doing an ab id. Not run routinely.

We test in gel on ProVue and all specimens are collected in EDTA. Antibody Screen, Major Crossmatch and Antibody Panels are tested with Anti-IgG Gel cards. So we are not concerned with detecting antigen-antibody reactions that cause in-vitro hemolysis or rejecting hemolyzed specimens.

I think I will get away from the venting,(although venting can be very important to ones sanity at times) because although we have a few issues (generally minor, like not checking pending logs when they are supposed to and acting on them) for the most part my techs are very responsible and really take their jobs to heart. They all really care and I am so thankful to have worked with this group for the last 12+ years. I will be retiring Jan 3 and its been a great group to work with. I will still PRN a few shifts here and there but not as manager. I will still check in on BB Talk. Will have time to visit and spoil my little grandbaby. Hopefully get to move back to New England (New Hampshire or Maine), depends on the housing market. Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. Thanks so much for this website, it is a great thing.

Auntie and others, we share your pain. If I may add to the list of pet peeves: 1. Starting weekly temperature discs on fridge/freezers on the wrong day and/or time. Then 5 days in a row 5 different techs document that the scribe is OK. 2. Not recording medical record numbers and dates on panel scoresheets. Record keeping in general. 3. Not printing copies of panel scoresheets on both sides so you get the extended antigen typings on the the back. Not changing the scoresheets when you open a new panel lot. 4. Filing QC records etc. with bloodstains (hopefully reagent but you never know) all over them. 5. First cousin to the above: finding blood all over the counter, centrifuges, agglutination viewer, outside of the biohazard bin, drawers or cabinets, making you wonder if a worker had been shot or merely had sneezed violently during a torrential nosebleed. 6. Discarding packing lists from the blood center so I have to get copies to check the bimonthly bill. Happens pretty much each cycle. 7. Finding obviously broken thermometers, pipettors etc. in place. Whoever broke them knew they had done so but decided to keep it secret.. 8. Not telling you when the last kit, vial, package, bulb or box was opened so you might have a ghost of a chance to order more before you run out. 9. I put out a half dozen pens and markers a week. Where do they go? Even if we supply the whole lab we should have reached the saturation point decades ago. 10. A tech asked me if it was OK in a pinch to just use one drop of plasma/serum per tube for an antibody screen; another tech had told him that was fine if you didn't have much sample. This was right before last year's competency eval, so I included that as a question. 5 people said it was OK. So we had a little inservice on the value of following the manufacturer's directions, our own P&P, and the need to validate any variations in protocols etc before you do so. I heard a great line a few years ago that went something like "Ignorance ain't what you don't know; it's knowing too many things that ain't so!" Thank you, I feel better.