Just a brief update on the family. Our winter has not featured much travel as landslides and ice storms and/or threats of such events have closed roads north and south, east and west of Portland on the weekends we have wished to travel. Trudy has been working hard at a new job and both she and I have been saving money so Sam can take a 10 day east coast trip at the end of May. Sam and i have been watching the Blazers and were fortunate enough to see the game with LeBron James and the Cleveland cavaiers where Mr. James scored the last 10 points and led his team to a 1 point win. Sam and I saw "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" and I was pleased to note that Sam saw the cinematic stylistic differences between the movies and was able to articulate the themes of the two works rather eloquently. I remember these great moments when Sam acts less than ideally as almost any 14 year old boy will do at times.