Cold, Basketball

Stardate 57010.7 (01-07-2004)

The last entry did not show up as a link on the calendar, so I had to fix it. I figured as long as I was doing that, I would fix a few other things that were bothering me about it. It now looks and works better. There is no huge blank space next to it, and the buttons are back. I've added the current books some of us are reading and the music we are currently into to the welcome page. I was thinking it would be of interest to family. April goes through books too fast to put hers up, however. I might add a bit more, but I'll have to decide exactly what.

Patrick's delayed birthday party went well. He liked the laser tag so much we arranged the party there. I think that is a good place to have nine boys in the 5-6 age range. They can run, yell, and create havoc pretty much as they please. Most of them are from what April refers to as Patrick's gang. He's been bullying kids at school for fun, and we are trying to correct that. The first time doing the laser tag they all bunched up in the middle. The second time they were much more relaxed. By the end the parents were anxious to get everyone home (it was a school night, after all). My brother Verne came along, which thrilled Patrick a lot.

Work has been busy. January is usually busy, but this year a few states have implemented some rules based on Medicare. To me, the Medicare system is set up to try and walk through as much twisted logic as the federal government can devise to find which exception to the rule a doctor can qualify for. Why states are basing worker compensation (WC) on this is beyond me. California is leading the way because their WC rates are getting out of hand. They delayed sending out the information, which delayed our release. This gives me a little more time, but I will pay for it in the months to come.

It's been very cold. Tuesday morning was a struggle to get out of a nice, warm bed and deal with it. The fact that I had been up most of the night did not help. I've been having some remnants of a cold keep me awake. Thomas woke up screaming about 3:30 that morning. When I went to see what was wrong, he told me he wanted a Star Trek phaser (specifically, the Enterprise phase pistol). Patrick asked for one last Christmas, and it was my gift to him. Thomas told April later that day that I said he had to give up all his toys to get one. I'm not sure if he dreamed that, or just didn't understand when I told him he had to pick which things he wanted most. He wants just about everything, and I keep telling him he can't get all of it. So all that contributed to staying in bed longer than I should have.

The first practice for Rachel's basketball team was tonight. It went ok. Rachel has some work to do with dribbling and shooting. The bad news is that the coach set the practices on Wednesday night from 6:30 to 7:30. The games go to the first week of March. April is not happy about having to tape Enterprise, either.

I did get to use the snow blower today. It takes about the same amount of time to clear the driveway and walks as to shovel, but it is a lot less effort.

End of Entry