Update on Clark

The good news is that Clark seems to be recovering well from his fall. He has a lot of pain in his hip when he tries to walk, but X-Rays show no hip or pelvic fractures.

The bad news is that doctors discovered that Clark's heart is enlarged and not functioning efficiently. They've started him on meds to manage the problem and will keep him one more day in the hospital to make sure the meds work as intended. They've also told Clark that he needs to slow down and work less hours. Those of you who know Clark know that 14 - 16 hour days are not uncommon for Clark, and that he never gets enough rest. Trying to get him to work only 8 hours a day will be like trying to get a three pack-a-day smoker to cut back to half a pack. It's not going to be easy for him.

How many of us would be glad for a doctor's prescription for more rest and less work? Let's hope that Clark takes his 'medicine' like a man.

Get well soon, Clark.

Marion's 75 year old father is in the hospital after he had a fall last night.

Those of you who know Clark know that he is not your typical septegenerian. He works 14+ hours every day at his family-owned health club and doesn't show any signs of slowing any time soon. He had drained their junior-olympic-sized pool to paint it and at 9:30 last night he was inside the pool walking down the slope from the shallow end to the deep end to help the painter he had hired. He didn't realize that the painter had already painted the sloping bottom of the pool and he slipped on the slick concrete, hitting his head hard and knocking himself unconscious for a few minutes.

To compound matters, there was no one else nearby and the painter, not wanting to leave the knocked-out Clark alone in the pool, frantically yelled for help for about 5 minutes until a neighbor heard the commotion and knocked on Clark's front door, alerting Ingrid who was in her office doing paperwork. An ambulance arrived later and took Clark to Sutter Memorial Hospital in Antioch where he seems to be doing fine.

Marion spoke to him this morning and he seems his old self, but is complaining of pain when he tries to stand. We're afraid he may have a hairline fracture of his pelvis or hip and we are waiting for the doctor to order X-Rays to check it out.

We'll let you know further information as we hear it ourselves.

The Arizona rental market

Our 4 unit apartment building in Prescott Valley, Arizona will finally have no vacancies next month for the first time in over 6 months.

The collapse of the housing market over the last year hit Prescott Valley especially hard. It had been the fastest growing city in the U.S., surpassing even Las Vegas in new home building. Thousands of construction workers had moved into the area for all of the jobs, and they all needed places to stay. The rental market had been very good, and rents had increased about 25% over the last 4 years. When the bottom dropped out of housing construction, the jobs went away and the workers did, too. I ended up with 3 vacancies out of my 4 units, and everyone else in the area had similar problems.

My solution was to lower my rents drastically, back to 2003 levels. Within one month of my rent decrease all of my units were rented again. In a falling market, it's best to lead the market down and not follow it. The math made it an easy decision, too. The $350 a month that I'm giving-up in lower rents isn't one-quarter of my loss in having 3 vacancies. I'd rather have them rented at a lower rate than vacant for even one more month. I only wish I'd done this months ago. Oh, well. Hindsight is 20-20, right?

Science Fair

Brodie's school had their science fair yesterday and Brodie's entry earned 3rd place in the Life Sciences division! Unlike previous years where 1st - 5th place awards were given out in each grade level, this year all grades compete against each other equally in 4 divisions.

Brodie's project was to test the reaction time of kids versus adults. He dropped a straight ruler through their open hand and measured where on the ruler they caught it. We had a table to convert the measurement into milli-seconds. He theorized that the kids would have faster reactions than the grown-ups, but after testing almost 20 in each group the average results were equal to 1 one-thousandth of a second. His conclusion noted, though, that there was a greater range of scores for the kids, and that the top 3 fastest scores overall belonged to kids.

For his efforts he received a giant trophy; a bit of overkill on the PTA's part, I think, but he is very proud of it.

Brodie's 9th birthday

Brodie turned 9 yesterday, and for the ninth time in his ten February 19ths, it rained. No worries, though. He had a full day of school, homework and Tae Kwon Do, and then came home to be surprised by 3 of his friends from school who came over to have dinner and cake with us. Brodie was very surprised!

He wasn't planning on having any party because we had just returned from a trip to Big Bear Lake to play in the snow with our friends, the Urbans. Their daughter, Natasha, was born the day after Brodie and we have been friends since we met in the hospital that day. We rented a cabin together over the President's day weekend and spent the whole time playing in the snow. Sledding, snowmen and snowball fights. Brodie and Nik loved spending the weekend playing together with Natasha, and as far as Brodie was concerned, it was way better than a birthday party that only lasts a few hours.

It was great for Marion and I to have a few quiet days of relaxation, too. We enjoyed being away from the responsibilities of home and having a few peaceful nights of adult conversation by the fire. We made all of our meals in the cabin, and the sledding hill was right across the street. We never got in the car once after we arrived and it was a wonderful vacation.

New Beginnings

As a technology professional, I guess it's high time that I entered the 21st century and posted a blog so to keep friends, family, and internet voyuers apprised of the happenings in our family. This is definitely not going to be an every-day diary of my thoughts and feelings, but it might be a good place to post travel stories and pictures.