WSOP 2010

Looks like Mike will be joining the tournament this year.  So glad he's decided to try it.  He's picking his satellite carefully for maximum payoff to the Main Event.  The Main Event starts in July but there is plenty of action going on right now.

Happy Father's Day, Dads!

He Passed. NO, Philip passed his finals!

Crap.  As soon as I typed the headline I knew I would have to clarify it.

Anyway, Prince Philip will be graduating with his class.  He called us today from school to say he'd passed his English final and pulled his semester grade up.  We were very happy NOT to have to deal with summer school.

However..
He comes home with the paper that the teachers have to sign that says he passed each of his classes. HE CAME HOME WITH IT. As in, the paper he had to turn in to the office today that tells the school admin that he CAN graduate.

I swear, after this last infection I'm so weak that he's just gonna kill me. Someone please use my ticket for the graduation if I'm 6 ft under by the 11th.

Prom 2010 and St. Viator Foundation

April 24 has always been a busy day. First of all it's David's birthday. (Happy Birthday, Little Brother!) This year he turned 40. Amazing.

This year it was also Bishop Gorman's Senior Prom AND the St. Viator Foundation dinner. For those that don't know, I have been involved with the St. Viator function since Philip was 5 years old. The kids that he grew up with at St. Viator mostly went to Bishop Gorman High School. So when Midori Bernal asked Philip to attend with her, I was thrilled. He would get to go to Sr. Prom with the kids he grew up with. Between dropping him off, taking pictures, forgetting the corsage, and me trying to get to the hotel for my event, it got more than a little crazy that night. There was so much more that went on but I'm mostly trying to forget it.

So this year:

• Philip only took one girl, not three like last year.
• We bought Philip his first tuxedo instead of renting.
• The St. Viator event was a masquerade ball.
• I won my 12 noon Mass parking spot again thanks to Susie Portz. I had to leave early and Susie took over the live bidding for me. God, I love that woman.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

Good Faith in Prince Philip

In an effort of good faith on my part, I have shot some graduation pictures of Philip.  I know he can do it (and we had the lighting set up for Philip's friend's pictures anyway).

I'll post a few more on my artist's blog at http://lantramart.blogspot.com.

Good News and Bad News

Which do you want first?  Good news?  OK.

• The good news is that Mike's tumor is considerably smaller after the 8 weeks of radiation.
• The bad news is that his PSA is up again.  The score was 3.9 yesterday.

I give up guessing what all this means.  So I'll just give you my humble opinion.  The tumor in his prostate has shrunk because that's what radiation does.  It zaps the sucker into oblivion.  What I'm not convinced it does is erase the rest of the cancer from anywhere else.  That is what his body is fighting right now.  The stuff that has already spread.  His radiation was very specifically targeted to the largest problem areas.  So, while the score is not terribly high, it is rising.

Sorry so long

I know it's been a while since I posted. I plead stress. Anyone wanna argue with me?  No?  Good.  OK, back to being civil.
We had a very nice visit with Steve and Sherry and Elise Relf last weekend.  Elise turned 21 so we felt even older than usual.  Also Mike's mom and Tony came to visit.  We really had a lovely start to the boys' spring break.  So now that Easter is over and the boys go back to school tomorrow, I need to get back to some serious work.  Deadlines are looming.

Philip is 18

When the hell did that happen?