Dad has a number of friends whom he hangs out with periodically. (Sorry-that should read “out with whom he hangs periodically.”) They’re lovely, nice people, but this being Utah, their politics lie just to the right of Mussolini’s; and like the majority of Utahns, they have quaint-and incorrect-notions about things like science, history and the ( Read more... )

I’ve long ago conceded that my memory is far from perfect, but sometimes it’s shocking to realize just how poorly I remember some things. Take, for example, my father’s story of nearly being arrested for espionage on his way to Elmendorf AFB in Alaska. I spoke to Dad about it a couple nights after I posted my version, and found that I was ( Read more... )

Sorry I’m a couple weeks late with this one. On Father’s Day this year I spent most of the day frantically preparing for a presentation I thought I’d have to give that evening in Baltimore (yes, on Sunday evening). As it happened, I didn’t have to present until Tuesday morning, by which time I’d been lulled into a sense of complacency. (I was ( Read more... )

Sometime during my childhood I invented the game of Show Cat. I'd hold one of our cats high, stretched between my widely spaced hands, and yell, "Show Cat!", as if to display the cat to a panel of judges and an appreciative audience of cat fanciers. The cats didn't seem to mind it too much, although they looked mortified about being displayed so ( Read more... )

Here's an example from our childhood that shows how awesome it could be to know that Dad had our backs. In actuality, it's the brother's story, but it's too good not to tell ( Read more... )

My father, in his pediatrics practice, liked to play with his patients' minds. When he saw a child about three or four years old, he would check for hearing and/or speech deficits by asking his patient a question. Usually, he'd inquire, "How old are you?", because most kids that age knew the answer, and because the replies often held telltale ( Read more... )

I'd been planning for quite a while to spend a few days visiting family in Utah. It was to be my reward for writing that pernicious, Procrustified paper for my meeting in November. But then the Great Car-totaling of 2006 (as it came to be known) intervened. My father, who had already been thinking about buying a new car, very generously offered ( Read more... )

In honor of Father's Day I'll tell you a story from my, samwibatt's and kayigo's early childhood, of which Dad reminded me on Sunday.

When I was four years old we spent two weeks in Tahiti. It was even more fun and exotic than it sounds; I wish I could remember more about the vacation. We arrived at Faa‘a International Airport on the island to Tahiti, and then ( Read more... )

In honor of Father's Day, here's a story from Dad's medical school days ( Read more... )

Here's a bit of medical trivia that you might find amusing ( Read more... )