I've clocked in about two months of work here at the conference office so far. And so far, there have been four championships that have taken place: women's and men's basketball, golf and tennis. As the sports info intern, I have been able to traveled to all of them:
Men's basketball was hosted by Weber State, so it was in Ogden, where the conference office is.
Women's basketball was hosted by Eastern Washington, so we traveled to Cheney, Wash. just outside of Spokane.
Women's Golf tournament was hosted by Northern Arizona, so we traveled to Chandler, Ariz. (it was hosted at an off site golf course).
Men's and women's tennis was hosted by Sacramento State , so we traveled to Sacramento, Calif.
Unfortunately, that means working through the weekend but I don't mind so much. I've been back for about week now from the last two championships, golf and tennis, but been catching up on things. I apologize for not posting a blog in two weeks, I've been kicking myself for it.
Traveling has been tough. Once I go through a round of all the championships, it will get easier because I can know what to expect, but the first time traveling to anything is always rough. Traveling back to Sacramento was the worst.
Words to describe how odd of a feeling it was to be staying in hotel in a town where you lived less then 2 months earlier, a place where your life was altered so drastically. It was hard being there and it was hard going back to Utah.
One really doesn't know how familiar a place can be until you're not in it anymore. I miss simple things like the way a California license plate looks like on the back of the car you're following down the street, or the little reflectors on the lane markers. The lanes here in Utah don't have them because the snow plows would break them off.
Since moving here, I've been wanting to get involved in some sort of community service type thing. I'm hoping it will take my mind off of home and I really enjoy serving others. I've been really yearning to get involved in the community. Get some good solid work down, get rooted, get my hands dirty or help clean up someone elses.
It makes my skin crawl when I just go about my own business, not involved in anything. I miss the culture of Sacramento. There were so many things going on in Sacramento that I miss doing or going too. I miss going to the open mic nights at Luna Cafe and hearing about peoples inner thoughts via spoken word. I miss second-Saturdays when everybody and their mother didn't know about it. I miss Boudin's sourdough bread bowls and the sushi Aaron and I would get at Bento Box. I miss Jack's Urban Eats and I miss the river. I miss rowing and the way the trees turn all sorts of bright reds oranges and yellows and shed their leaves so I can shuffle through the thick piles at school. I miss the sunshine and when it doesn't snow in May. I just miss everyone being different. I especially miss the nights going to the river and sitting on the foothills, worshiping God during sunset. I even miss my ornery young youth pastor who would yell at me for doing things with my friends in youth group as a non-church function - ha.
Most of the Christians here have a heart for mormons, but I've always had a heart for those who have pushed organized religion to the side. I want to show them the Jesus that I know. The one that rebuked religion and churches, overturned the merchants tables in the temple, and actually practiced what he preached. California has always been like a camping site for the refugees that live on the fringe of civilization, the one's Jesus hung out with, and I miss ministering to those people through the way I attempted to live.
One of my favorite past times was going to the open mics and reading off some of the stuff I wrote about my Jesus, hoping they would see what I see. Always hoping I could transpire the picture I saw in my heart of Christ onto theirs. I would read poems out of the Outlaw Bible of American Poetry that talked about Jesus. The poets I would call "Christians without even knowing it" and I would always give testament to Christ.
In Sacramento I was pegged the "good little church girl" one to many times. It made me really uncomfortable to be smashed into that box and I was CONSTANTLY trying to fight against it.. But here, you're either mormon or you're a part of "the others".
At any rate, I'll end here with one of my favorite quotes. Hopefully my useless ramblings have provoked some spark.
"We're writing suicide notes with transparencies and posting them to the glass boundaries that surround the seas of change." - Sage Francis.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
The Ogden Adventures
It happened. I graduated and got a job. I picked up everything and moved from the familiarity of California to the obscurity of Ogden, Utah.
Forty minutes north of Salt Lake City, Ogden's this quaint little town with a whole different kind of personality. It has it's pluses and minuses.
It's 15 minutes from three ski resorts. Plus
Living at the bottom of a mountain, walking distance from trailhead. Plus
Dog food plant on the end of town. Minus
Not having experience driving in the snow. BIG minus...
But at any rate, moving here from California has been a definite adventure. Learning the ropes of a new job at Big Sky Athletic Conference has been great. The people here that I work with and in the town are extremely nice and accommodating which in turn minimizes rope burn from this new town.
So far, I've been blessed with renting an amazing two bedroom condo across the street from tennis courts and a soccer field with the backdrop of Mount Ogden in the background. And I pay a steal for rent: $625.
Speaking of a steal, I just found a roommate which is a total God incident. Now, I realize it's going to be hard to understand how this may be hard for some people to understand, but trust me, if you knew me before I knew God, I was a hot mess. I believe that God, or Godhead through the Holy Spirit, speaks to everyone, its just a matter of quieting oneself to hear His voice.
At any rate, God confirmed this lady roommate with me, and when September rolls around, she'll start her job and move in.
Aside from the blessing of a housing situation, I've gotten a bit of rope burn. The first, and mildest burn, was when I was trying to find the three mile loop on the Mt. Ogden trails (the trailhead near my house I mentioned earlier).
After work one day, I drove up to the trailhead to go for a run, mistake No. 1. After getting to the end of what I believed to be the three mile loop, I followed the arrows that pointed to what I believed to be the trail, always taking to the right of whatever fork I met figuring I'd get back SOME HOW.
Turns out, took a wrong turn and I ended up running right in front of my house. With my keys in the glove box of my car. Which was parked at the trail head in the opposite direction.
From that day forward, I've never parked my car at the trailhead.
My second burn came from a spring storm the night of the NCAA basketball championships.
I went over to a friend's house to watch the Butler v. Duke game. It was raining when I came over around 7 p.m. By the time the game was over around nine, it had started snowing and within the hour, there was at least a foot of snow on the ground.
Now, before I explain my emotional breakdown of my first experience driving in snow, I'd like to explain that my car, the S.S. Nessy as my fiance has named it, is a 1991 Volvo 740 station wagon with rear wheel drive. And I guess I should also explain that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get anywhere in Ogden without hitting some sort of steep hill. And I've been told rear wheel drive is THE WORST kind of car to have in the snow. Let alone the massive boat that is the Volvo.
So I'm sure reading that, the equation for disaster is already adding up in your minds.
I couldn't even turn around in the street without getting stuck and losing control/getting snowed in. So when I got to the end of the street and stopped, I realized I made a big mistake while my tires started spinning and my car started fish tailing FROM THE FRONT.
In hind sight, this was a total blessing in disguise as in order to get to my house, I'd have have climbed a very large hill and would have failed, miserably.
So, I waved down a passing truck and these two gentlemen helped steer me back to my friends house where I stayed the night and proceeded to attempt to keep composure throughout the rest of the night.
That was by far the COLDEST burn I've ever felt. I'm such a baby.
Needless to say, the snow storm made me officially cross off "Living in the snow" from my Bucket List. And yes, I do have an actual Bucket List.
In other Ogden adventures, went snowboarding here. First time in Utah and about my 10th time snowboarding. At all. I'm hoping as time goes on I'll be able to get better at it because this time was a total disaster.
Utah resorts are so different than the ones I grew up on in California. Instead of a main lodge with tons of lifts based close by, they've got a main lodge with a gigantic gondola that takes you all the way to the top of the mountain and you can decide what route you want to take down as the trails vein out across the mountain. It takes about 45 minutes to get down the mountain instead of the quick, short runs in California.
This region is slowly turning me from my sunny California girl ways into a rough and tough flannel wearing mountain girl. And not the flannel that all the hipsters wear in California. No, no the thick red lumberjack flannel. Yup.
Essentially, I probably could stay to my sunny California girl ways and just marry my mountain man (Aaron was born in Colorado. 'Nough said). But he's off in Louisiana and Papa God's gonna take care of me till Aaron comes back.
And might I add on a separate note that I am absolutely deathly afraid of buying a scale for fear of finding out just how much weight I have gained since I stopped rowing last May.
I've been eating pretty healthy with momentary lapses of Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. And I've been exercising about five times a week on average. But I have definitely lost some of the definition I used to have as a rower in college.
Oh well, life changes and we move on. Hopefully I'll lose some weight as I eventually train up for a marathon (another Bucket List item, the one right before backpacking Zion National Park in southern Utah).
In other news, Aaron is geographically closer to me this week as he is doing pre-deployment training in southern Wyoming but since his phone doesn't work there and he's very busy, I get to talk to him once every couple of days for a couple minutes. No fun, but I guess it's conditioning for his deployment =/
Good news is he come to visit May 28-June 13. As a late birthday present (his birthday was April 11), I'm surprising him and him to a Real Salt Lake game in Salt Lake City against the LA Galaxy. I plan on dragging him through Ikea with me and taking him to a couple coffee shops I scouted out in SLC, then off to the game.
In the mean time, I'll be traveling to Phoenix for the Big Sky Golf Championships and will drive down to see my grandpa in southern Arizona before the championships begin.
I leave Saturday and come back Wednesday and then leave again on Friday for Sacramento for the Big Sky tennis championships. I requested an early flight so I can get to see some of my friends and family in Sacramento before the tournament begins.
Good things are coming ahead, God is good.
I'll keep you guys posted as time rolls on.
I know it's long, but I imagine them getting shorter as time goes on since I just summed up an entire month in one blog post.
Till next time.
Forty minutes north of Salt Lake City, Ogden's this quaint little town with a whole different kind of personality. It has it's pluses and minuses.
It's 15 minutes from three ski resorts. Plus
Living at the bottom of a mountain, walking distance from trailhead. Plus
Dog food plant on the end of town. Minus
Not having experience driving in the snow. BIG minus...
But at any rate, moving here from California has been a definite adventure. Learning the ropes of a new job at Big Sky Athletic Conference has been great. The people here that I work with and in the town are extremely nice and accommodating which in turn minimizes rope burn from this new town.
So far, I've been blessed with renting an amazing two bedroom condo across the street from tennis courts and a soccer field with the backdrop of Mount Ogden in the background. And I pay a steal for rent: $625.
Speaking of a steal, I just found a roommate which is a total God incident. Now, I realize it's going to be hard to understand how this may be hard for some people to understand, but trust me, if you knew me before I knew God, I was a hot mess. I believe that God, or Godhead through the Holy Spirit, speaks to everyone, its just a matter of quieting oneself to hear His voice.
At any rate, God confirmed this lady roommate with me, and when September rolls around, she'll start her job and move in.
Aside from the blessing of a housing situation, I've gotten a bit of rope burn. The first, and mildest burn, was when I was trying to find the three mile loop on the Mt. Ogden trails (the trailhead near my house I mentioned earlier).
After work one day, I drove up to the trailhead to go for a run, mistake No. 1. After getting to the end of what I believed to be the three mile loop, I followed the arrows that pointed to what I believed to be the trail, always taking to the right of whatever fork I met figuring I'd get back SOME HOW.
Turns out, took a wrong turn and I ended up running right in front of my house. With my keys in the glove box of my car. Which was parked at the trail head in the opposite direction.
From that day forward, I've never parked my car at the trailhead.
My second burn came from a spring storm the night of the NCAA basketball championships.
I went over to a friend's house to watch the Butler v. Duke game. It was raining when I came over around 7 p.m. By the time the game was over around nine, it had started snowing and within the hour, there was at least a foot of snow on the ground.
Now, before I explain my emotional breakdown of my first experience driving in snow, I'd like to explain that my car, the S.S. Nessy as my fiance has named it, is a 1991 Volvo 740 station wagon with rear wheel drive. And I guess I should also explain that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get anywhere in Ogden without hitting some sort of steep hill. And I've been told rear wheel drive is THE WORST kind of car to have in the snow. Let alone the massive boat that is the Volvo.
So I'm sure reading that, the equation for disaster is already adding up in your minds.
I couldn't even turn around in the street without getting stuck and losing control/getting snowed in. So when I got to the end of the street and stopped, I realized I made a big mistake while my tires started spinning and my car started fish tailing FROM THE FRONT.
In hind sight, this was a total blessing in disguise as in order to get to my house, I'd have have climbed a very large hill and would have failed, miserably.
So, I waved down a passing truck and these two gentlemen helped steer me back to my friends house where I stayed the night and proceeded to attempt to keep composure throughout the rest of the night.
That was by far the COLDEST burn I've ever felt. I'm such a baby.
Needless to say, the snow storm made me officially cross off "Living in the snow" from my Bucket List. And yes, I do have an actual Bucket List.
In other Ogden adventures, went snowboarding here. First time in Utah and about my 10th time snowboarding. At all. I'm hoping as time goes on I'll be able to get better at it because this time was a total disaster.
Utah resorts are so different than the ones I grew up on in California. Instead of a main lodge with tons of lifts based close by, they've got a main lodge with a gigantic gondola that takes you all the way to the top of the mountain and you can decide what route you want to take down as the trails vein out across the mountain. It takes about 45 minutes to get down the mountain instead of the quick, short runs in California.
This region is slowly turning me from my sunny California girl ways into a rough and tough flannel wearing mountain girl. And not the flannel that all the hipsters wear in California. No, no the thick red lumberjack flannel. Yup.
Essentially, I probably could stay to my sunny California girl ways and just marry my mountain man (Aaron was born in Colorado. 'Nough said). But he's off in Louisiana and Papa God's gonna take care of me till Aaron comes back.
And might I add on a separate note that I am absolutely deathly afraid of buying a scale for fear of finding out just how much weight I have gained since I stopped rowing last May.
I've been eating pretty healthy with momentary lapses of Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. And I've been exercising about five times a week on average. But I have definitely lost some of the definition I used to have as a rower in college.
Oh well, life changes and we move on. Hopefully I'll lose some weight as I eventually train up for a marathon (another Bucket List item, the one right before backpacking Zion National Park in southern Utah).
In other news, Aaron is geographically closer to me this week as he is doing pre-deployment training in southern Wyoming but since his phone doesn't work there and he's very busy, I get to talk to him once every couple of days for a couple minutes. No fun, but I guess it's conditioning for his deployment =/
Good news is he come to visit May 28-June 13. As a late birthday present (his birthday was April 11), I'm surprising him and him to a Real Salt Lake game in Salt Lake City against the LA Galaxy. I plan on dragging him through Ikea with me and taking him to a couple coffee shops I scouted out in SLC, then off to the game.
In the mean time, I'll be traveling to Phoenix for the Big Sky Golf Championships and will drive down to see my grandpa in southern Arizona before the championships begin.
I leave Saturday and come back Wednesday and then leave again on Friday for Sacramento for the Big Sky tennis championships. I requested an early flight so I can get to see some of my friends and family in Sacramento before the tournament begins.
Good things are coming ahead, God is good.
I'll keep you guys posted as time rolls on.
I know it's long, but I imagine them getting shorter as time goes on since I just summed up an entire month in one blog post.
Till next time.
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