Your choice: A pint of beer or a jar of wind

The blood supply always seems to be in short supply. On the other hand, the beer supply always seems to be readily available. The connection is obvious: Trade beer for blood.

The Red Cross in Cleveland has taken up that idea, offering a pint for a pint. If you donate blood, you'll receive a voucher for a free pint of any beverage. It doesn't have to be a beer -- it could be a latte or a soda -- but beer makes for a better story and more attention, the main purpose of the idea.

My first thought when I read about the pint-for-a-pint idea was that people would see an easy opportunity to get drunk. Giving blood leaves a person dehydrated and more susceptible to alcohol's effects, but the voucher requires the user to wait at least 24 hours before redeeming the coupon. I guess I'm not the only one who thought of this idea. As someone who couldn't wait to turn 18 just so I could donate blood, as well as vote (it's true I didn't have a big social life), incentives wouldn't be a big deal. I show up at the polling place to fulfill a sense of civic duty and to give the poll workers something to do. I give blood because it's a simple way to help others and to give the workers something to do.

But others have responded to giveaways at blood donation sites, taking home trips, hats, cameras and ice cream. Our local chapter has given away t-shirts, but I think we can get a lot more creative. Instead of a voucher for any a single beverage, how about a voucher for a free gallon of clean water? With the water problems we face, some clean water would go a long way.

Even better, how about a voucher for a discount on your water bill in exchange for a pint of your blood? Parents would be lining up every family member at the blood donation site trying to lower their water bill. Or, how about a top prize of a trip to some place, any place with lots of water? The winner could bottle up that water and bring it back to make a profit, like they do in Florida.

With Florida possibly getting hit by a third hurricane in as many weeks, people are beginning to wonder if there's a higher force at work. Is Florida being blown away to prevent another role in the upcoming election? Is it a complication mission to eliminate all the alligator farms which dot the Florida landscape? Or is it a way to keep those imaginative entrepreneurs at bay?

While rough weather may keep voters from the polls and shut down a few alligator farms, the hurricanes are only helping the burgeoning businesses in Florida.

As if Florida didn't have enough wackiness, now Florida natives are selling everything under the sun related to these past two hurricanes. On eBay, the items range from shingles blown off a house to water from the downpour of Hurricane Frances. If you crave a little bit of everything, a debris set is available containing the water, sand and branches left over from the storm.

But my favorite souvenir comes in a jar. It's a jar of wind from Hurricane Charlie. Let's give credit to the man who came up with this one, because he knows someone out there is likely going to buy this item, which is essentially an expensive jar filled with...nothing. How could you prove him wrong? If you take off the lid, the "Hurricane Charlie wind" would escape and you just lost your investment. And what would you be testing? I presume the 120 mph winds would have died down once inside the jar.

Obviously, these new business people didn't have enough to occupy their time or they were just trying to raise money for repairs, which was imminent. My husband's friend, in town for a wedding while Hurricane Frances was rolling over his current home, was already planning to return to a house full of water.

Asked frequently throughout the weekend if he had boarded up the windows in anticipation of the hurricane, he said he had not. He left the windows alone, allowing an escape route for the water which would inevitably enter his home.

-- Ronda Graff has never been through a hurricane, but is planning a slumber party for 10 little girls, which is usually rated at least a Category 4.