Easter; or, my birthday; or, a lovely InstaCare morning

Dear all,



Sunday was Easter, obviously, but it was also my birthday. To celebrate, I started off by spending a glorious, sunny morning in the Taylorsville InstaCare with a stabbingly painful strep infection--one of my tonsils looked like a spiky marble.



But, hey, any excuse I can find to take more Augmentin (the manufacturer sends me thank-you notes now) makes me happy. Happy!



Afterward, I spent some time with my parents, who were visiting from Orange County, and my sister, who is taking over Provo with her raw, unbridled brilliance. They're fun folks.



Then, for the finale, I went to my aunt 'n' uncle's house--with everyone in tow--for dinner, along with my best man, Steve, and his wife, Emmy, who is with child. If my lobbying efforts succeed, they will name him Jeffrey Joaquin Bitter.

Anyway, here are the pictures:

An update, long needed

Dear all,

Well, I'm sick again--it's some stomach nastiness that's making me dry-heave. On the bright side of things, it's a heck of an abdominal workout, and my eight-pack stomach is re-emerging. Nevertheless, I am still enfermo, and I'm passing the time by looking at my old friends' blogs. Man, I miss these folks. It still amazes me how such a cluster of talented, smart, spiritual kids ended up in one stake. I don't know why, and I don't care, because it was great, and I'm just glad it happened.

Here are a few of their blogs; even if you don't know them, I'd suggest taking a look (I suppose I could put these in the "Links" section, but I hate html code):

http://swellchelbelle.blogspot.com (Chelsea & Michael Christensen)
http://rileyspace.blogspot.com (Matt & Rachel Riley)
http://dnariley.blogspot.com (My friend Dan Riley and his wife, Nichole, with possibly the most offensive blog name of the bunch)
http://saltybloggers.blogspot.com (My friend Kelli Harris Salter and her husband, Jared, presently all living in Hungary; she's a great photographer, and it shows on her blog)

Anyway, that's all the blogs for now. There are more, for sure, but my emotional sensibilities can only take so much, and I'm practically weeping as it is.

Okay, so several people have asked me for an update on PhD stuff; here's the summary:

Cornell - No
FSU - No
Georgia - No
Houston - ?
Missouri - ?
Ohio - ?
Tennessee - No
UNLV - ?
USC - ?
Utah - No

I'll be sure to keep y'all updated.