I continued my lobbying assignment from Tri-Connections/TURN, and emailed and phoned the 11 members of the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee who make initial decisions on the funding of people like Danny. The culmination of my effort was testifying before their committee at their hearing the morning of Jan. 12th. Quite an experience to sit and listen to over 40 to 50 different people/organizations dealing with various disabilities lobby the committee for their particular cause. I was next to last to testify and threw out my “numbers oriented presentation” after listening to everyone else throw out their “numbers”, and instead tried to tell them what Danny would have said if he were able to testify. Apparently it caught their attention, as several people came up to me after and complimented me on my remarks. In fact, a Tribune reporter even got my name and number, and asked if she could do a story on Danny. I’ve never heard from her since, but still, I gained an appreciation for what legislators go through trying to weigh public input against hard economic times and budget cuts. Shelley met me during the meeting, and afterwards took me on a tour of the Capital and grounds. I was highly impressed with her knowledge and obvious stature wherever we went, as she must have introduced me to at least 10 legislators who all knew her, including one who let us into the House chamber and visited for several minutes with us. Shelley is well known on capital hill, and wherever we went, staff knew her and welcomed us to their area. Only time will tell what happens to Danny’s funding in the future. I drove down later in the month and signed another year’s lease for Danny. While there, Danny shopped for and bought another gerbil for his apartment, and we had a quick dinner at Wingers before I drove back to Salt Lake. His lease remained the same for the second year in a row without an increase.
Linda and I took a quick 4 day trip to our condo in St. George and enjoyed getting away and relaxing. We saw two good movies, Avatar and It’s Complicated, and visited Mesquite one evening for our usual donation. We went back to the church we had attended last trip there, going to the early service as they pictured a Choir on their brochure who sang church music. To me, they looked like they were a gospel choir from the picture, and I was looking forward to a rousing morning of gospel music. In fact, it turned out the people who sang were 70 to 80 year old congressional members who could barely stand or sing. Oh well, we still put $5 in the basket as it was passed around.
I celebrated my 8th year of quitting smoking on Jan. 5th. And I continued my exercise program like Danny of walking on the treadmill 30 minutes per day. No weight loss, but I’m sure I’m healthier. I signed up for a Healthy Living Utah program offered thru work and got some additional tips on calorie management, and had a good talk with my physician at my check up this month about weight loss. He explained that the pill I take for diabetes makes it hard to lose weight, but would consider taking me off it for another less effective pill if I would lose 10 pounds.
I met the cabin classic group for a lunch last week, and all we talked about was our health issues….sad, but true. The second of our group was diagnosed for prostate cancer just before Christmas. While on health related issues, Linda is going in for cataract surgery for one eye in February, and the other in March.
Linda and I went to a good play at the U called Touched. We’ve enjoyed being able to babysit grandchildren several times. Stephanie got free tickets to a U of U basketball game and invited us to go with her and the kids one Saturday afternoon. She has her condo listed for sale again and has had two people come by already – but no bites. Stephanie was also elected to an employee committee at her job with the Utah State Tax Commission. Debbie and Kaylee came up for hot tubing the other day in our back yard. Debbie recently got a nice bonus and raise at her Risk Manager job with American Express. Katie’s employer, Ogio, recently was acquired, and Katie survived job cuts and reorganization. She is well liked there, and continues to work ¾ time. Little Jack is now 10 months old, and I was impressed with the way he picked up on learning how to climb our stairs with me. Cole and Jessica bought and moved into a new home in the Lehi area this past month. Little Emry is likewise growing and crawling, and both her and Jack will probably be walking in another month or two. Jack was born one week earlier than Emry and twice as big, but they’re pretty evenly matched now. Jackie is busy making wedding plans for May – it’s going to be a busy spring.
And that’s the news from the Days. Love,
Tom & Linda
