old age again

N0, not mine and Craig's. Craig is off to GJ to see his parents this weekend. There have been unwelcome developments on the health front. Now both his parents have had the experience of learning that they were misdiagnosed. For his dad this was good news. First he had Alzheimers, and then, it was determined to have actually been depression. Symptoms lifted in response to a visit to his brother in Florida that included unfettered access to the smoking he enjoys so much and deep sea fishing. His mother is less fortunate. She was diagnosed with Parkinsons and then last week after a new neurologist saw her was told she has something called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy which is much rarer, much faster in decline and just overall bad and depressing. So much so that apparently the doctor said there was no need to make a follow up appointment as he can do nothing for her.

schooling in Salt Lake

As Sam and I were driving up for his ski lesson this morning he told me all about the assembly they had in school last week. I recall junior high assemblies being either about venereal disease, the inherent safety problems with school buses or, at the other extreme, magic shows. Everyone my age remembers these, especially the magic shows. Magicians don't seem to have the junior high circuit anymore. Sam's assembly was all about avalanche safety. They learned about what to look for in the back country in terms of snow conditions and how best to survive in the event of an avalanche. I now know that if you aren't immediately crushed to death, you can breathe for awhile, but your exhalations will freeze in front of your face and you will eventually suffocate. There's your cheerful thought for the day.

all manner of work

Dashed from departmental meeting (always a fun time) to playing on the parents' team against Sam's indoor soccer team. Now, that was some fun times. Seriously. I am sure Auntie Sian would have been a much more desirable opponent, but I don't think I humiliated the boy too badly.

Spaghetti awards

Last night we went to Catherine's school to see the top short films from her MultiMedia class. Hers got two nominations for the four awards given out. We had to get dressed up so here are some pictures:Me, looking a little haggard...

Catherine and one of her co-producers, Gina.

how the other half works

While I was having my dull day at work, Craig was being evacuated by the bomb squad. In the end the suspicious package was detonated by a robot and it was determined contained only "personal items" which I guess does not include explosives. He got to come home at 3 o' clock.

update

Trying to be a little more regular with the blogging, but it is a busy time of the year. I am frantically working to finish my paper for the conference in Poland. It is due on Monday and I am still 'torturing' subjects in the sound proof booth. I think I have located pretty much every Russian on campus. Also just finished grading 50+ assignments for my language and society class and writing a midterm to give to morphology students this afternoon.

Beautiful Utah

This is a shot of the trail we snowshoed along yesterday.

Two of our party heading off cross country.