A Little Something for Everyone

I actually have a little tidbit about each member of the family for this post. I will start with the most pressing issue: my wife. We had yet another visit at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital this week. Fortunately we had some good news. The official diagnosis is idiopathic thrombocytopenia (ITP). Everything else has been ruled out. Her platelet count is still low, but not low enough that the doctor feels the need to treat it. So despite feeling quite fatigued, Kate is doing well. The bruises are going away.

Don't Need a Helmet, Got a Hard Hard Head...

Patrick's best friend Kaison does not wear a helmet while riding his bike. Patrick knows that he is not supposed to ride his bike without one, but he feels dumb wearing it while Kaison doesn't. Monday afternoon he learned what happens when you go without protection. He and Kaison were involved in a head on collision, which left Patrick with a nice goose egg on his forehead, and scrapes all up and down his arm. So he learned the hard way that his mom and pops aren't just being mean by making him wear the helmet. Sometimes kids just have to learn the hard way that parents are right. Kind of like when my mother told me if I made this ugly face that it would stick. Turns out she was right...

Bean also has learned from her brother's mistake. She found her Wildcats (High School Musical, of course) helmet this week, and hasn't taken it off, even though she doesn't ride a bike. She lounges around the house in it. She insisted on wearing the helmet to school, and Kate allowed it, rather than fighting her. Soon after the bus departed with Bean on it, the school teacher called. She told Kate that she remembered that Lauren had a history of seizures, and wanted to know if the helmet was a precautionary measure due to a recurrence of the seizures. Kate explained why Bean had the helmet, and assured her that there was no risk of anything, except Bean looking like the village idiot.

Call on me

And then there's Whitney. Last Thursday Kate found a message on the phone from Lucas. Lucas is a young man in Whitney's class who was calling to see how she was doing with her math homework. She called him back and had an awkward conversation with him. It was nice to see that she's growing up. But do not, under any circumstances, insinuate that he is her boyfriend. Otherwise she will punch you. It seems that to her boys still have cooties, which is fine with me.

Gettin' Jiggy With It

Samantha participated in a dance competition last Saturday. She did very well.

And finally, there is me. Last week during a Jazz playoff game I saw a commercial for the NBA in which my cousin Jeff sat next to Carlos Boozer, while Booz read books to elementary kids. Jeff did a good job of pretending that he didn't notice the camera was on him. It wasn't as cool as when the news showed up at the school during a snowstorm, and Jeff was seen 'accidentally' wandering into the camera shots repeatedly. But cool nonetheless.

Last Thursday I gained national prominence when I sent an e-mail to the Jim Rome show, which was read on the air. Before you listen to the clip, let me set it up for those who don't listen to the show. Every day Rome reads dozens of e-mails and texts from listeners. At the end of the show he reads the 'Triple U'. It is uninspired, unfunny and unreadable. If the material is bad enough, the sender will get blocked from sending future messages. (No, my e-mail was not the Triple U). Before he reads the Triple U, Rome announces the 'sponsor', which is usually something annoying, irritating, or that people just hate. People send Triple U sponsors to the show, and that day Rome picked mine. He had a little fun with it, and I got my 1 minute of fame. I'll take what I can get.