Searching for Elvis

It turns out that Halloween gives lonely SLC newcomers an excuse to invite yourselves over for treats and socialization. It’s called trick or treating. And that’s what we did tonight.

Shane came up with the idea for his costume this morning in the shower at 6:45, and woke me up to help him assemble it in time for work. He claims to be “A ND and CA response to a Salt Lake Winter.” I made my costume as Shane was putting on his shoes to go to the Zimmerli’s this evening. I was “a highway.” No natural disaster for me this year. Unless I claimed to be I-15 at rush hour.

Last night at meeting, our elder and his wife were discussing how they were planning on dressing up to hand out candy at their house to make it more fun. Their costumes sounded marvelous, and we said we’d stop by to check them out. True to our word, we quickly ate dinner and assembled our costumes (you can’t go trick or treating without one, after all) and hurried over to their house at 8:45, hoping that we weren’t too late. On the contrary. The boys had a bunch of friends over, Lynnie, aka Marie Antoinette, handed us a regular size Twix and Snickers, and we were welcomed in. A little after nine the doorbell rang and in walked a bag lady and clown, two older ladies from our Wednesday night meeting. Feeling left out, Bert decided to go put on his costume, and Elvis was in the building. We had a great time eating snacks and enjoying each others’ company while the highway retaped her stripes, the confused ND/CA winter boy tried to cool off half of his body, and Marie Antoinette scratched her wig and attempted to make Elvis modest. And a good time was had by all.

A sunny weekend, a mormon welcome and other auspicious events

For the first time in six weeks, we experienced a weekend in Salt Lake that did not involve snow or rain. Shane was in denial, but I knew it was inevitable.

In order to celebrate our good fortune, we woke up really early on Saturday and made our way over to the REI garage sale, where we picked up some steals (his and hers approach shoes, climbing shoes, North Face fleece, head lamp, ski backpack, etc. etc. etc.). In addition to the ridiculous sticker savings, we were able to use the $25 off coupon we got from the Warren Miller show last week. We are such good bargainers.

Taking a page from M&M’s book, we spent the majority of the day on Saturday fixing up the apartment. We made a run to Home Depot to get shelving and installed that in addition to unpacking and organizing about 84,000 cubic feet of our most prized possessions.

Not wanting to waste the entire snow-free day indoors, we took a left out of our driveway, left at the first light and then didn’t stop until we were at Solitude and Brighton ski resorts. Yes, folks, there are only two turns and 15 miles between us and the resorts. We gained about 3000 feet in elevation, and the sun was going down, so our little walk was somewhat chilly. The surface of the stream had a new layer of ice on it, and there were still patches of snow left over from last week’s storm.

BRRRR!!! Thank goodness for layers.

So I gained a few pounds. OK?!?!

We enjoyed a nice meeting this morning up in Bountiful, the ever-expanding meeting. There was yet another family there that just moved here from Minot, ND (“Why not Minot?”). I’m telling you, I think we started the migratory trend. A delicious and fun lunch was had at Clay and Shara’s, followed by gospel meeting, more house organization and dinner. The real excitement happened after dinner, when…

…We were visited by an extremely friendly lady who welcomed us to the neighborhood with a friendly card and a friendly plate-sized cookie!

Normally I would have been a little confused by the fact that they found us after living here in our new apartment for only one week since we haven’t even written our address on anything formal yet, but I was warned by our realtor that we will be greeted by someone from the nearest LDS ward within the first three weeks of moving here. If we do not get welcomed to the neighborhood (most likely with food), then someone is apparently not doing their job. The lady was very nice and chatty, writing down key points of information that we revealed about ourselves throughout the conversation, like our names, occupations, where we lived previously, how many siblings we have, maiden name, etc. Kind of creepy, in retrospect. I wonder if her notes are going to make it into their extensive genealogy project or into our personal files. She scheduled a time sometime this week when she will drop off a welcome meal, cooked by one of the other neighbors in the area (apparently from South America, since we expressed an interest in ethnic food). She kept pressing us to see if there was anything we don’t like or are allergic to, and after about two minutes of intense questioning about our food likes and dislikes, I finally told her that I probably would not enjoy eating organ meat. She wrote that down, too. They’re all just so friendly! That seems to be the Salt Lake City outsiders’ motto, anyway.

Photographic evidence of Jayna in Thailand

Well it’s already been over a week since I got back from my trip to Thailand, and I’m just now getting back into the swing of things. Immediately upon my return to the states, I came down with a bad case of the flu. It wasn’t the bird flu, I don’t think.  Shane checked my vitals and made me wiggle my toes every 20 minutes to make sure I wasn’t paralyzed (That’s one of the effects of the bird flu, paralysis and death). I have been working as a freelance graphic designer at an advertising agency downtown for the past week and really like it. Everyone is really cool and talented, and it’s wonderful to be in such a creative environment. Last night Shane and I participated in the annual company Warren Miller film/fajita party and had a great time. I currently share a lime green office with a mannequin named Julie (left over from an outdoor display) and have been informed of the shared company ski passes which “are meant to be used” often, even if that means on a weekday. I really, really, really hope this job turns into something full time.

I posted my Thailand pictures on Smugmug and included captions for extra effect.  click on the picture for more.

Babe in Thailand

Shane here. Somehow at the end of our summer of retirement I got a job, and Jayna got a vacation to Thailand. Something about that seems a little “off,” but what can you do? Apparently Jayna’s doing lots of fun things like petting baby elephants, visiting exotic markets, and honing her civil disobedience skills (seriously, she used to be such a nice girl). Click the photo for more.

Meanwhile I’m busy working and trying not to sink too far into the pits of bachelor-style living. For example, my dirty clothes are still entirely contained within the confines of a single laundry basket, my towel is folded on the rack, and as of this morning, there were no dirty dishes in the sink. In reality, it’s only by comparison to my wife’s activities that I am anything less than content because work is really interesting right now, and I’m loving it here in SLC.

It has snowed in the mountains every weekend we’ve been here, and it’s now looking like this weekend is going to increment the streak to four. Last Sunday afternoon I took a little drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon, and this is what I found about 20 minutes from our apartment. My excuse for the phone-level quality has something to do with the real camera being in Thailand.

So, which of us would you rather be right now? No, on second thought, don’t answer that. I’m at peace with my role in this relationship for the time being (especially when I’m at 9000′, it’s below freezing, there’s over a foot of snow on the ground, we’re only two weeks past summer, and I’m only a half hour from home). Hmm, after reading that over, I’m beginning to think it’s a good thing Jayna’s in Thailand after all. I’m not convinced her reaction would be quite as positive as mine.

Well, regardless of your preference, at this point it’s a lot easier (by which I mean affordable and logistically feasible) to be me (geographically speaking of course), and if you’d like to try that out for yourself, I encourage you to come visit us. To address a question that Derek asked a while back (which was unfortunately sequestered in a misguided anti-spam-bot’s holding tank for some time), old friends, new friends, you’re all welcome. And Derek, I feel that we particularly “owe you one” after you graciously arranged for us to have access to your hotel room in your absence after our sleepless red-eye flight out east for the Hindley wedding. Thanks again!

And on that note…

I’m leaving for Thailand tomorrow!  I should be back in about a week and a half.  If anyone is in the SLC area and knows how to make dinner or play tennis, give Shane a call.  His lil’ wifey is still retired and making the most of it.

Current forecast: tennis

We played tennis tonight because it was so warm out.  Our downtown apartment is on the first floor, court-side, so we just hop over our balcony and we’re on the court.

It was 85 degrees at 6 pm and it is supposed to snow on Saturday.  I seriously do not understand.

Weather icon multi-pack

Unlike Santa Barbara, Salt Lake likes to use all possible weather icons every week.  It has done this the entire time we’ve been here.  It snowed last Saturday and then it was 75 on Monday.  This city must really like change.