November Sunshine

Tennessee’s beautiful weather has continued this week, with temperatures up in the 70’s all week. This has prompted the Winn’s to do more things outside, at least while they still can. They went golfing on Saturday with some friends, and Alixa is starting to feel much more comfortable with her new clubs. She had two pars and a bunch of really great shots. Jarom also got to play nine holes earlier in the week with a nuclear scientist who worked at a naval base in Pocatello (that’s right, Pocatello, Idaho has or had a naval base.) He worked on the prototypes for the Nautilus and Enterprise projects, which were the first nuclear powered submarine and aircraft carrier.

In order to help Lixi pay for life, Jarom has begun to sell his plasma at a local donation center. Apparently this sort of work only attracts the lowest dregs of society. This is startling, because as you sit in that place and look around, these are not necessarily the kind of people that you want to be sharing bodily fluids with. They test the blood, so I assume that it all comes out clean, but it makes me nervous for those who might be on the receiving end. But they pay between $20-$40 a pop, which isn’t bad for an hour or two of sitting.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this is what happens when the folks at the blood bank don't know what they are doing.  I guess Lix doesn't have to worry about Jarom taking up heroin.  He bruises like a peach.

One of the rules about donating is that you must weigh at least 110 lbs. To verify this fact, all donors must step on a scale before starting. It was during this weigh-in that Jarom realized that he has cracked the 200 pound barrier for the first time in his life. This made him sad, and has inspired him to increase his exercise regime. He is also motivated in part by his many friends and family members who have recently run marathons. They all tell him that it is great and that he should try it, but he doubts that he will ever go that far off the deep end. His lazy personality will probably keep him from ever becoming one of those runners, like this lady who finished her jog despite having a rabid fox attached to her arm, or this guy who finished his cross country race despite having a rusty nail embedded in his foot. In fairness, I guess such craziness extends to all sports, as evidenced by this college football player who had his finger amputated instead of sitting out the last few games of the season.

The Winns also made some new friends this week. The Grose family (unfortunate, I know) lives in their ward and consists of two adults (about 5 years older than Jarom and Lix) and two kids (about 20 years younger) and a dog. They are nice people who seem to get along well with others, but the best thing about them is their media room. It has a projection screen, speakers as big as bookshelves, a Wii and PS3, and 2 400 DVD changers. On Friday night they went over to play Rock Band and watch a movie. I anticipate that there will be many more visits to the Grose residence in the future.