Observation Point & Cable News
A few weeks ago Baxter and I visited my Aunt Jean and Uncle Steve in St. George, Utah. We love visiting their house, both because it is in such a pictueresque area and that it is relatively close to our favorite vacation spot, Zion National Park. When we visited the Park, Instead of the usual Angels Landing, which we have done before, we opted for the Observation Point hike. We recommend it. It is longer but far less crowded and even ventures into some areas where you cannot see the buses. You feel like you are really out on your own. The ending elevation is also quite a bit higher so you can look down on the summit of Angels Landing.
Baxter “graduated” from training at work and his reward was a new schedule. He now works 10-hour days four days a week. Sounds innocent enough except that his shift ends at 11:00 pm, meaning he doesn’t come home until midnight on the nights when he works. His Aunt Faye and Uncle Blake have graciously offered to let him stay at their home on those nights when his shift ends and he is too tired to drive home. Good arrangement for him, kind of lonely for me.
I am still working at the call center. Even though the work is boring, it has been a good experience for me. I think it has made me more conscious of people in customer service-type jobs around me, and less likely to become frustrated with them. I am also making some friends at work which always helps.
A few months ago I was talking to my sister Claire on the phone and she said she is going to stop watching cable news. I only started watching it a few weeks ago but I quickly became a devoted viewer, particularly of Bill O’Reilly. It isn’t that I agree with everything he says, it’s just that he is very entertaining, and there is something about that smug, self-assured, I-know-the-left-hates-me-but-I-don’t-care-because-my-ratings-are-higher attitude that is alluring. And he really does ask good questions in interviews and yells at conservatives and republicans alike. Anyway, I have found though that watching cable news and listening to really partisan stories on NPR always just get me angry. I’m not any more informed, because cable really doesn’t go into any more depth than you can get from a headline, I am just mad and angry at no one in particular about something I have no control over. So I have decided to stop watching it. I actually decided to stop watching it Sunday, but I had written Bill an e-mail that I was sure he would feature on his show (he didn’t). Besides, I need to start reading the parts of The Economist magazine that aren’t just about the United States.
Don’t cross me
We shot guns with our Bishop today. It was totally fun. More later. For now, I’ll leave you with this lovely picture of me shooting a pistol….
…and Anna’s baby Abby smiling.
On…
school: I graduated from BYU about a month ago. Baxter’s dad was in town for his sister’s wedding (an 80 year-old bride!) and was nice enough to sit through two hours in a stuffy building on a hot day with my family and Baxter’s sister Liz. My brother Nathan who lives in Spain also came to graduation. It was great to have everyone there. I felt a little lost a few days after graduation, but am finding new things to occupy my time, like this website. I am also reading some interesting books that I never had time for during school.
my job: I got a job a couple of weeks ago with a call center a few blocks from our apartment complex. I ask people to do surveys; I am not a telemarketer. It’s only redeeming quality is that I can walk there and take in the sun. Other than that it is everything you would expect from a call center. The first day I actually almost cried because the random people I called were so mean. Really people, just say “No thank you. I don’t do surveys. Will you please take me off your internal list?” They will say “yes” and your pain will be over. No need to scream, yell, or be a smart alec. I promise. I have since vowed to always answer and participate in a survey when someone calls me. I know what your’e thinking – those people are so annoying and won’t leave me alone. Just try and sit in a cubicle and have people yell/hang up on you for 6.5 hours. You’ll change your mind too. The past few days however, I have been doing some surveys that are..ahem..kind of biased and very leading. To the point where I want to preface questions, “Um, if you just don’t want to answer this one, don’t bother.” I can’t, of course.
Baxter’s job: He doesn’t like it, the commute is long, the hours are long, he has to work Sundays. But he is grateful to have it during these tough times, though I have to remind him sometimes why we need him to go to work every morning. The whole experience with these jobs have been a good reminder that most people don’t have the option of spending their career doing something they love and getting paid for it, and we do feel blessed that we will both have that opportunity in the future.
Moving Across the Country:It will be expensive. We asked a nice couple in our ward who are moving to DC if they wanted to share a moving truck with us, saving a potential $500 – $800 each. They seemed enthusiastic the first week, but when I talked to the wife this Sunday she told me, “Um, I talked to my husband more and he said that we can’t really go with you guys. He didn’t give a reason, but he said we can’t go with you guys.” I am working on not taking it personally, because no reason was offered, not even a fake one.
Pressure to Have Children: We’re feeling it. We don’t really feel ready; we’ll let you know when we are.
Blogging: I apologize for the lack of posts. Besides graduation, you can see that there hasn’t been too many interesting things going on around here. We are planning a pretty awesome trip this summer though, and tomorrow we are meeting our Bishop to go shoot guns!
Western States Adventure
Today is John Muir’s 171st birthday. John Muir was a naturalist and an author who founded the Sierra Club. I didn’t know very much about him until 2004 when I visited UC San Diego to see if I wanted to go to school there. My tour guide couldn’t stop talking about him – even though our group wasn’t accepted to his college. John Muir was also instrumental in preserving the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park, and other wilderness areas in California.
This summer Baxter and I want to take a big vacation out West. We are hoping to hit Havasupai, the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles (Disneyland!), Santa Barbara, Seattle, Yellowstone, and Yosemite (thanks to Mr. Muir). I am afraid our loyal, but aging Honda might not make it unless we address some costly rattling and squeaking sounds, but it might be worth the investment. We need to relish the West before we become East Coasters.
So, anybody else have ideas of other great (and relatively inexpensive) places in the Western states area that we shouldn’t miss?
(We also need to drive across the country after the adventure, so recommendations of nice places in America’s breadbasket will do too).
Win a HP Photosmart All-in-One Printer
One of my favorite food blogs, A Veggie Venture (see link on left) is giving one away. The contest runs through this week. It’s free to enter so you might as well give it a try!
Click here to enter the contest.
Back from the Dead
This is enough to bring me out of blog hibernation…we finally decided where we are going to move!
Baxter was accepted to the PhD program at Princeton and that is where we have decided to go. I am very proud of him because the bad economy meant that Princeton accepted less people than they normally do. Even though I was accepted to some good MPH programs, I decided that I need a break and will reapply in a few more years to schools in and around New Jersey. That and Baxter says I need to get a job…
This is finals week at BYU. So far I am one final down and four more to go. Walking out of my Women’s Health final tonight I thought about how much I like school and how I am really going to miss it. I am happy that Baxter will now get the opportunity to go back to school.
New Jersey here we come…
Abigail Elizabeth Mock
My sister Anna had her baby yesterday. She’s so cute!
Abby was 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long.
