Secrets

Is it ever okay to share a secret with someone else?
How many people can you tell a secret to before it is no longer a secret?
Can you keep secrets from someone AND STILL be completely honest with them?
Is it okay to keep secrets from your spouse?
What are the requirements for something to be considered secret.

Don't worry. To my knowledge I am not keeping any secrets from anyone, especially not Marni. I just heard people talking about this somewhere, I don't remember where, Work maybe, and was just thinking about it.

Thou Murmureth. Okay...or no?

So went down to Lilly's big appointment with the cardioligist at Primary Children's in SLC yesterday. What I thought would be an in and out appointent lasted about 2 hours and gave us different info than I expected. I expected they would say it is fine, go home. The response was a little more lengthy.

First a nurse came in and hooked Lilly up to an EKG thing to get a print out of that. You can see pictures on Marni's blog. potterimarn.blogspot.com
Then her Cardiologist came in and listened to her for a while (Lilly was really good by the way, a lot better than she has ever been at the doctors before) and looked at the EKG. He said that like her pediatrician, he thought that the murmur sounded like a Stills Murmur which I guess is an innocent murmur that is nothing to worry about. However, the EKG was not normal. So he had is attending come in and double check. She also thought the murmur sounded innocent, but the EKG was not normal for a normal heart of someone her age. They still didn't think it was anything to worry about, but sent us for some chest x-rays to check the size of her heart to make sure. After that was all done, which took forever, he said that her the size of her heart was within the normal range but was on the big end of that range. Again he and the attending talked and agreed on everything. That being basically they think it is still quit possible that it is nothing to worry about, however because of the EKG results feel that they should definitely run more tests. They said it could be some big long medical term which is basically what athletes have that cause them to drop dead on the basket ball court with no warning. That being said, if it is that she would not have to worry about it for about 20 years, and if needed it could easily be fixed with surgery before that. Basically if it is what it could be, it means there is a small hole or leak between the 2 chambers of the heart, or a small hole in some flap in one of the chambers. Again either way even if it is that, it is nothing to worry about for some time. Now to determine if that is in fact what it is, or if it is just an Innocent murmur, they need to do an ultrasound, that takes about 45 min, and requires that she be still. So for that they will have to sedate her. They also said it is best to do that after she is at least 2 years old, so we will go back in about 6 months. We don't have an exact date yet, they are suppose to call us sometime to get that scheduled. Meanwhile they said not to worry, that even if it does turn out to be a problem it would be much longer than 6 months from now before it would be a concern. So we went to lunch and to IKEA. Both nice. Then to Target, and home. Any further questions, feel free to ask. I tried not to leave anything out.

Update

So this is the last week of class before finals week, and I have been working on homework. As always this stresses me out, so I decided to take a little break.

For todays topic I wanted to write about a little change that took place recently. Other than my wife and some members of her family, I don't think anyone knows about this. I have yet again changed jobs. It actually happend then end of October. This time it was my choice, not something I was forced to do. I chose to leave Qwest for a better less stressful job. I won't go into the details, as it is boring, but basically I was already stressed out with school, qwest was stressful, mostly because of numbers that we were expected to meet, that seemed unmeetable no matter how hard we tried, and then to top it all off we were required to work overtime everyday, because they did not have enough employees because everyone was either getting fired for not meeting their numbers, or quiting before they could get fired. I talked to my coach, the manager that does the schedules and the Human resources people, and was basically told by everyone to deal with it, that they would not take away my overtime and let me work a normal 40 hour week. My Coach even suggested that if the overtime was taking away from my study time, that maybe I should sacrifice Family time, so I could devote the time they were requiring to work, and time to school. That was pretty much the last straw for me. So I looked around and found a new job. I now work at Feature films for Families. I work customer service, but don't actually have to talk to customers. I never work overtime, and I get off earlier in the day giving me more time for school and family. I had to take a small pay cut in the beginning, but am already getting raises and should be making more now or close to it than I was at Qwest, and I have more raise possibilities ahead that I did not have at Qwest. All in all, I like it a lot better.

I think I mostly have not said anything to anyone because I figure everyone already thinks I change jobs way too much, and this is just more evidence of that. In fact, what other people would think about that, or about me as a result of that was one of the things I considered when debating on whether on not to change jobs. In the end I decided working at a job with less stress, more opportunities for raises and more time for school and family was far more important than what other might think. So if you think I was wrong to change jobs yet again, please know that your opinion mattereth not to me. I am happier now.

All is well that ends well

Yesterday we took Lilly in for a check-up after her first encounter with and ear infection and Croup. She was not happy! Not because she was sick, but because she was at the doctors offices. She HATES doctors and nurses. She is once again in perfect health. We got her a flu shot though, just to be on the safe side. She was given a sucker for her trouble so that helped her feel better. She would still complain if she saw the bandaid, we had to take it off so she wouldn't think it hurt anymore. Now we just need to figure out how to get her over her picky eater stage. She use to be such a good eater. Now she spits out and throws food she once loved to eat. I hope it is just a stage.
We then drove to Salt Lake to see my brother Timothy get h0me from his Mission in Paris, France. I was pretty excited. Unfortunatly, because of a strike in France they were unable to get the plane refueled for a while, left an hour and a half late. That caused him to miss his connecting flight in Cincinatti or somewhere, so by the time he did get on the plan he didn't get into SLC until about 11PM. Needless to say, we were not able to stick around and wait for him. (he was suppose to arrive around 6:45PM.) I did talk to him on the phone for a little while before we headed home. A member that was on his same flight let him borrow a cell ph0ne, that was nice. So I guess we will just have to way until next Saturday when Dad brings him up to visit with us. And Lilly will have to wait until then to Meet her Uncle for the first time. Ofcourse I think she still hasn't meet some of her other Aunts and Uncles and Cousins, but Timothy has been in another country her whole life, so He has a little better excuse. :) I would like her to meet everyone though, whether we go there or they come here. I think we all just need to move closer together. I vote for Hawaii.

Sick

So Lilly has been sick for about a week now. We are not sure if it is because she has started going to the nursery at church, or if it is because we recently took her to the doctor for her checkup, where there were also sick kids. Either way it is not fun.
It started out just as her being stuffed up with a runny nose. Then by this last weekend, she had started caughing and pulling at her ears. Finally Saturday night we decided to take her to the doctor, so we went to insta-care. It is a lot faster than the emergency room, and from what I hear cheaper. I guess we will know when we get the bill.
We found out she was gettting an ear infection, which she is now on antibiotics for. She also has croup (probably spelled wrong) which they gave her stairoids (probably spelled wrong as well) for. And they had to take a an xray of her chest to make sure she did not have pnemonia. That was the worst part. She hated the whole thing. Like most people, she is not fond of Doctors. But for the xray, they had to strap her in the plastic think that forced her to hold still with her arms raised above her head. It seriously looked like some sort of Child torcher device. I felt so bad for her. The said it wouldn't hurt though. Her screams said otherwise.
Luckily she does not have pnemonia, but she will be on anibiotics for her ears for about another week. I think she is already doing a little better. She has partially lost her voice, and is teething again to top it all off. Poor little girl. I feel so bad for her. She is really cute though, even when she is sick.

Thou Still Murmurith?

So last Thursday we tool Lilly in for her 18 month check up. All went pretty well except the shots, because like any normal person, she hates them. And there were a couple other minor concerns. First she has a small hernia just above her belly button. She has had it for a while, but we asked the doctor about it this time. She didn't think it was too big a deal as it is small, but said sometimes they do require surgery. So, she revered us to a surgeon to know for sure. We will see how that went. Anyone of my 2 or 3 readers may remember a while back a blog I wrote that talked about a small heart murmur detected on an earlier visit. That brings us to the second concern. As you may remember, it was suppose to go away as Lilly got older. Well, it hasn't yet. Although the doctor is not concerned and we shouldn't be either (but I am), she did refer us to a pediatric cardiologist to have it checked to make sure there is no reason for concern. That will be on December 5th at Primary Children's in Salt Lake. It should all go well, and our doctor thinks he will listen and tell us there is nothing to worry about, but until then I will worry. I will keep you posted.

Excuses

I know I said I was going to work on keeping my blog up to date and since my last post was May and it is now October, I am obviously not doing a good job. However if you want excuses about that, I have some. :) I think the main reason is that at the time of my last post we only had Dial-up internet at home, which sucks. We just recenty got high speed again, so hopefully that will help me keep this going. I also spend more time on the computer now because of some online classes, so if I ever need a break from that I can always do a quick post. I usually don't mind taking breaks.
But for now I better go, just wanted to let all my fans, or fan out there that I will now work harder to keep this more up to date. I mean it this time.

Alright I guess now is a good time to update my Blog. Basically to make a potentionally long story a little shorter...That may not be possible for me. Sorry.

I went to work at Conservice the Monday following our move. At that time we were staying at Marni's parents house, because our stuff was still far from being unpacked. For the most part it was a pretty normal work day. However soon after getting to work I found out that when I billed a property on Thursday I billed it wrong. I billed it as I always did, however earlier that month I was notified that we need to change a couple things on the billing. Not a big deal, I even put a reminder not on my desk so I wouldn't forget. But I forgot. So I went to my team lead and let him know about my mistake, but he already knew. He told me not to worry about it too much, just to work on my other stuff and we would figure out that property later.

I was a little worried because I had never made a mistake like that before. I even talked to Aaron who sat by me and found that I was not the first person who had made similar mistakes and probably would not be the last. In fact if I remember correctly, he himself had misbilled properties.

The rest of the day when pretty normal until about 10 min before it was time for me to go home. My team lead IM'ed me and asked me to meet him in the confrence room. When I got in there both he and the Vice President of Billing were waiting for me. Basically they said I was there to talk about the billing mistake I had made. She (VP of billing) then proceeded to tell me that because of that mistake they were terminating my employment effective right then. She told me I could gather my personal stuff and go. She then got up and very coldly showing no emotion or feeling what so ever left as though she didn't care, Which I am sure she didn't.

I didn't tell Marni for a while that night, not until we went to bed. Partially because she was in a good mood (after all it was just a week before Christmas) and I didn't want to ruin that. Also as we were staying with her family temporarily I didn't want to tell her in front of them.

Luckely we had a lot of our Christmas shopping done or $ set aside. Plus other $ to live on set aside, and now without a rent payment due, I guess it wasn't the worse time to get let go. Though it really seemed like it at the time. It did however free up some time to get unpacked and moved in so we wouldn't have to stay with Marni's parents too long. And then I set out to find a new job.

Later that week I called up the President of Conservice and set a meeting with him. Basically I told him I thought it was Crap that I was let go after 1 billing mistake, My first like that, when others had made the same mistakes and still worked there. And basically he told me that the dicision came from a upper managment guy in California who I never met because I made him look bad. I guess he had personally promised the company that I was billing that the changes would be made and when they were not it made him look bad. Since that hurt his pride and he didn't know how to handle it he felt the only way he could feel like a man again was to lash out at me proffesionally and take away my job. I hope he sleeps at night now. I know I do.

After a couple weeks I was given a Job at the Qwest Call center in Logan where I am currently working. I did not start here until January 22nd 2007, so I had to go over a month with no job, but it all worked out.

I do miss some aspects of my old job, like some of the people I worked with, and the work environment. But overall it worked out better for me as this is a better job. Hourly I make about as much as I did at my last job. But I get Commision on top of that, plus rather than pay over $200 a month on health, dental and vision insurance for just Marni and I, I know only pay about $32 a month for Marni, Lilly and I.

So like I say, I hope that guy in California sleeps well at night, because I have not had a bad nights sleep yet. Actually though I don't lose sleep over it, I kinda hope he makes some mistake that costs the company $ and loses them business, and he loses his job, or better yet causes the company to go out of business since they are just starting out anyway. Unfortunatly that probably won't happen. Oh well.

I know what you mean

I spent a lot of my day with Lilly today. That is a good thing, but I know what Marni means. Marni painted the bathroom today, so I got to play with Lilly to distract her so she wouldn't play in the paint. I wanted to do other stuff around the house while I watched Lilly, but she made sure I knew that was not going to happen. Marni always tells me how hard it is to get anything done around the house because Lilly does not like to be left alone, and alot of the time wants to be held. Don't get me wrong. I beleive Marni when she tells me this, Now I have experienced it. I love spending time with Lilly, I just have trouble coming up with new things to do when she gets bored with what we are doing. I guess I just need to be more creative.
Now I am being a slacker. I say that because Lilly is in bed, Marni is finishing up painting, and rather than helping Marni, or doing something else productive, I am here typing. I would like to help Marni but she is doing a really good job, and with the bathroom being small, I am afraid I would get in the way. I also know I could help out more around the house in General, but it is hard. Sometimes I know what needs to be done, I honestly just don't know what to do. Other times I think I use the excuse of Lilly hanging off my leg or not following me if I leave the room to not get things done. I guess I just need to buck up and be a better husband and help out more. Sorry I will try not to be such a slacker.

Trees

As we all know Trees are good. They look nice, they give us shade, and oxegon. For all these reasons and more, we went and bought a new tree yesterday. And we planted it! Basicaly at the house in Franklin in the corner where the sidewalk along the street and the sidwalk to the house meet up, there was once a large bush (actually about 4 growing close together as if one) and in the middle of them a small tree. We decided to take out the bush as it was overgrown and blocking the sidewalk. We thought about leaving the tree, but it was so tangled in the bushes, especially the root system that they all came out. So then we had a bare spot of lawn and a lack of trees in the front yard. So we decided to plant a tree there. We will eventually plant other things such as flowers and stuff that won't overgrow the tree. Anyway, Lilly Loves trees! She likes to go on walks an look at them and touch them and pull off the leaves. Se we decided this can be Lilly's very own tree. We got her a Silver Maple. It is only about 6 ft tall right now, but Soon it will tower above us all.

PS. Don't worry I havn't forgotten to finish with my Blog updates. I will try to later today or by this weekend for sure.

Update

Before I get too much into why I haven't been writing, I wanted to do a quick update of somthing that happened around the time I stopped writing.

On December 14th of 2006 (a thursday) Marni and I dropped Lilly of at Marni's parents house so we could go up to Franklin to clean the carpets. Just a side note, December 14th was the day Lilly turned 8 months old.

Well maybe 15 minutes after we left we got a call from Marni's mom letting us know that Lilly was crawling. So not only did she decide to start crawling when Marni and I were not around, but she did it on the day she turned 8 months old and close to the actual hour that she turned 8 months old.

After hours of cleaning we hard floors clean enough to walk on! The next day I didn't feel good so I didn't go to work. I think it was because I was up until about 2am cleaning carpets. But it gave me a chance to rest, and then later in the day with Marni's parents help, get all our stuff loaded into the moving truck.

Then next day, saturday, we took all the stuff to Franklin and moved in in. By moved in in I mean we took the stuff out of the truck and put it into the house. We were no where close to being moved in. That night Marni and I went to my Work Christmas party, which was weird. We got some weird looks like people were surprised we were there. Later I would find out why. You will have to stay tuned for that.

I'm Back

Well i think I'm back. Of course by now, my fan club probably thinks I went the way of the dodo, so these new blogs may not be looked at for awhile. But for those of you who have not given up on me, I am still here. I will try to post more later as to where I went and why i haven't updated anything for a few months. For now I have to get back to work....sorry to disapoint.