Starting Over

The weekend was pretty low key.  I went over to a friend's house on Thanksgiving Day and had the normal turkey and dressing and some amazing pumpkin pie.  It was awesome and it never ceases to amaze me how easy it goes down and how much I can eat.  I wound up eating 3 whole pumpkin pies over the 4 day weekend.  At least it wasn't cheesecake. 

 

The rest of the weekend I went to several meetings, hung out with a friend playing pool, driving around looking at multi-million dollar houses in Deer Valley and Park City.  I wish I would have had my camera as there were simply some amazing homes that had breathtaking views that are indescribable.

 

Overall I am really all over the place living here.  Some days or parts of days I feel happy with things and enjoy what I'm doing and what is going on.  Other times I feel cornered in and claustrophobic with the cold weather and it just seems like life is closing in on me.  I simply prefer the sun and warmth to sort of blossom and open up energetically.  I really think the skiing is going to help as it will be such a different and new experience that will I'm sure be very fun and fulfilling.

 

Saturday we went up to the Stein Ericksen Lodge in Deer Valley and had lunch.  It was so cool and exactly the mountain vibe I've always envisioned with the mountain ambiance, the nice restaurant, and the views of the white ski slopes.  It was really cool.

 

I think I'm learning so much about myself here and hopefully I will grow forward in a positive direction.  I certainly haven't been doing things well or effectively in many years and I can only hope I move towards a good life.  We'll see.

Last week was finally the first week I've worked at a job in 1.5 years.  It was nice to go to work and have somewhere to go and taking the bus turned out to be a nice adventure.  The office is really cool, basically a converted old mining building.  The finish out is definitely done in a mountain feel and all of the furniture and chairs were new 2 years ago so all is clean and nice.  I would say there are about 70% women to men and most are in good shape, living the mountain, active lifestyle.

 

View of the building:

 

 

It was a pretty long week, however, as we did not have a lot to do and most of the week was spent reading employee and departmental manuals from prior years.  A lot of the time I was trying to act busy and search something work related on the internet.  This week plans to be more eventful and more time will be allotted to training on specific computer applications and procedures.

 

View from parking area of golf course.  Nice.

 

 

 

There are some cool condos right around the building which all went for over a million.  Location location location I suppose.  The developer supposedly sold out at the peak a few years ago and ran away to the bank.  Good timing.

 

Today my battery went dead on my car so I got a jump and headed straight to auto zone.  After going around and around about payment the manager finally warranted my battery and gave me a very slightly used battery for a free swap.  Truly amazing and a spiritual God shot for sure.  He was amazing.  I felt like crying almost as it was such an act of generosity as he was truly trying to help.  I showed him I only had $7 and he told me about being stuck in Egypt with only $7 and how it was.  Awesome.

 

Doesn't look like we'll really have snow for Thanksgiving so that is a bummer.  Time to get creative I guess on my 4 day weekend next week.  We'll see.  Not much else going on.  Not spending any money and have been living on peanut butter sandwiches and pasta.  Finally.  Trying to get a routine; work, workout, eat at home, and meetings.  Pretty simple and I think really good for now.  I'm slowly realizing that the rock star life I've always wanted just isn't happening for me.  I'm 36 so that is a pretty good indication that I'm probably not headed in that direction.  It's only been leading me to crazy choices, insane thinking, and sabotaging actions.  Pretty nutty for sure.  The good thing is that this is a very simple, non tempting place to live and start living a simple, normal life.  I certainly don't feel so tempted to be a part of something crazy exciting and glamorous.  We'll see.

Saturday I went to a meeting and decided to go on a hike afterwards.  I have been feeling pretty out of shape lately and a flight of stairs from one block to the next puts me into heavy breathing mode.  Not good.  I started hiking up the top of town towards the mountain.  I ran into a few people I knew and followed them up to a popular mountain bike trail.  It was perfect and exactly what I was looking for that day.  I had the cheap camera so I just took some snapshots to get the effect.  I saw a few houses before leaving town that I liked.  This one was for sale for I believe $1.2 mil.

 

 

I liked this little house better and think the quaintness of the house would suit me just fine!  I don't think I could live here full time but it's fun to play around either way.

 

 

The hike went up a mountain bike and hiking trail.  We trudged through a decent amount of snow but most of it from last weeks storm is long ago melted.  Still nice.

 

 

 

 

The rest of the day I ate some bad food; Wendy's .99 menu and a pint of Haagen Daz Coffee Ice Cream.  Body for Life!  Oh well, I haven't been eating so bad lately.

 

I woke up Sunday and it was a gorgeous day and near perfect.  I got in my car to go take off and make the most of the day and it wouldn't start.  I turned it over and over repeatedly and nothing.  I even jumped it with my roommates car and it would not start.  Luckily I have roadside assistance on my insurance and got it towed this morning to a mechanic I was referred to.

 

Today was my first day at work.  We had new employee orientation all day and it was pretty cool.  The mission of the organization is solid and I like working there and look forward to being busy and productive.  I left about 8:15 to grab the bus at the end of the block.  After getting on and traveling to a few stops I began to feel like I was in junior high school again as new people would get on the bus and I can remember back then thinking who else was on my bus.  Pretty wild. 

 

After work I took the bus to the gym in town and worked out legs.  It was a pretty nice gym and I liked the energy.  I then left and made my hour and a half long commute back home. 

 

It's all an adventure now so I don't mind.  Each day is new and I won't be here at this job forever so I just intend to do my best and make the most of the opportunity.  It's pretty wild how I wound up here and I think it is all for a bigger plan than I even know at this time.  Things just seemed to flow so easily in getting the job, finding a place to live, and life certainly is easy here.  I think it would be cool to make another film in the future and I think I have a lot of books, experience, thoughts, introspection, conversations, meetings, etc. to fuel an interesting creative effort.  I just need to let the idea germinate and have the willingness to express it all.  We'll see.

 

The time seems to go by so slowly here.  I am writing this at 9:30 and it seriously feels like 11:30.  I guess that is good.  I've rambled long enough.  More to come.

The last 2 days have gone by very slowly.  I hit a meeting at noon each day and then proceeded to try and find something to do.  Since I've shopped everywhere there is to shop I basically decided to cut my losses and just chill at the house.  Surfing the net, taking a nap, and reading some.  I did watch No Country for Old Men last night and thought it was great.  So well shot and done.  Actors were great and definite weird ending.  The clouds rolled in last night before the rains today so I snapped some cool shots.

 

 

 

I'm not sure if the pictures look dark on your monitor but that is always the difficult part. 

 

I met a guy today that is going to be working with me next week.  I'm really excited about starting work next week and excited to have a solid 3 months of work.  It has been a long while and I am really set on keeping a great attitude and doing my best.  We'll see.  My boss is supposedly very nice so that is going to be really cool.

 

Tomorrow I'm going to get a ski pass for the winter so I can ski whenever I want.  This will give me something to do on the weekends and holidays since I don't think I'll be going home this year.  The pass is half off through work and it will be awesome to go and basically ski for free from here on out as I have the equipment and the pass.

 

More shots of the mountain I can't get tired of looking at:

 

 

 

Just a shot of downtown.  Pretty small downtown but this gives a little feel.  Just snapped it from the parking garage.

 

 

I have started to bond with the landlord's dogs.  She was gone for 3 days this week so I hung around the dogs during the day by myself.  The little cocker is so cute and she has bonded with me.  It's nice to have the benefit of a dog without having to own one! 

 

 

That is about it for now.  Overall I've been feeling cooped up and trapped here without anything to really do.  I'm glad that will be ending soon with work and then I can get into a routine.  Tomorrow I am going to take the bus for a trial run into town and see how long it takes to get there.  Free bus during the week will be nice and will cut back on gas and trying to drive in the snow and ice.  I'm out.

Friday evening I went to the ski swap in town and wanted to check out some jackets as I really need a medium weight jacket.  I've got a few fleece sweaters and a huge, heavy ski jacket but nothing in between.  I got in the swap late so there was no line and decided to check out the skis and boots.  Needless to say the deals were pretty crazy so I got some skis, boots, poles, and gloves to have for the season.  I figure I can use it for the season instead of renting for $40-50 a day and come out ahead.  I can also sell the stuff later on ebay if I choose to. 

 

I woke up Saturday early and went to the courts to play tennis at 8.  I was definitely rusty after not playing in 2 months or so and it took me a bit to get grooving.  Actually I never got grooving at all but started hitting the ball a little better.  It was great playing indoors once again and my serve was rocking.  After the practice I went home, took a shower, and headed to a meeting.

 

 

Afterwards I went up to Deer Valley to check out the resort.  It was a literal ghost town with virtually no one there.  The drive is great and beautiful and overlooks all of Park City.

 

 

Deer Valley is where supposedly all the big wig millionaires and celebrities ski.  It is pretty nice but I'm definitely not blown away by the village.  I'm sure there are way better ski areas in the country but what do I know.  I'm sure it is better than skiing in Park City as they don't allow boarders and it's pretty expensive which keeps out the crazy teens.

 

 

 

Mail lift at center of village.  I'm really ready to ski and it's almost torture to keep seeing the snow but not be able to test out the skis.

 

 

 

I don't know if it is obvious that these shots were taken with my inexpensive little 5 megapixel point and shoot.  I don't think the camera takes very good pictures but it is very convenient and works for now.  Eventually I'll get a nice point and shoot as I don't think it works as well as others I've seen, same model that is.  Perhaps the guy sold it on ebay because he didn't like the quality.

 

I didn't get a picture of most of the amazing homes on the mountain but here is a little taste.  Some crazy money up there and most are 2nd and 3rd homes.  Nice lifestyle.

 

 

One more week until I start working and I'm really ready.  It is crazy how slow the day goes by here as it gets dark at 5:30 and most things are done inside.  I could kill a mean day in San Diego running around, going to the gym, riding a little, and eating burritos.  Here the clock literally seems to move at half the normal pace.  Wow.

 

I went out with a woman from Match today and met up at a coffee shop in Salt Lake.  She was really nice and we got along really well it seemed but I'm just not really attracted to her.  Typical story.  I don't know, it just seems difficult to go in not being psyched about it or having that charged up energy in my chest.  It's probably my craziness playing out again but here I go again.  I always want the women that aren't available or don't want me. 

 

It's supposed to snow a lot this week.  We'll see.  I kind of like it snowing for now.  It's different and different it good!

The last few days have been pretty chill.  I woke up both days, made breakfast and headed over to a meeting at noon in town.  Great group of people and I have really been welcomed despite my initial fear of not being accepted.  Not sure what I was thinking.  Walking to the meeting today I snapped a nice pic near main street.

 

 

The snow has really made this place even more beautiful.  The only problem is that it's starting to get really cold to me.  I don't have a lot of cold weather gear so my plan is to buy a smaller jacket soon to get me through the tough winter.  People today have been telling me about days where it is 40 to 10 below Zero and they are skiing.  Completely nuts.  I thought the die hard cyclists were crazy.

 

I'm really grateful to have the time to go to so many meetings and meet some great people.  I have been feeling very nutty before arriving here and since settling in and going to a meeting a day things are feeling so much better.  I feel grounded again and so much happier and hopeful about being here and the near future.

 

Yesterday I joined the health club down the street.  It is a very nice club and there is another location in town which might work better after work.  I'll see.  No 24 hour fitness's out here so that was my best option. 

 

Tomorrow I hope to catch up with a guy I met and play some indoor tennis.  I always used to love playing indoors years ago at the Houston City Club so this will be my next chance.  Feels awesome hitting the ball in perfect conditions without the harsh sunlight.

 

Leaving this morning I shot the exterior of the house.  The star is the landmark to make it home.  That is all for now.

 

Today it really started to snow.  I woke up and the snow was blowing at a 90 degree angle.  It added to the charm of the place and the view from the living room was amazing.

 

 

I'm really looking forward to skiing.  I need to check with my work and see if they have any sort of discount passes available or a deal on a season pass.  I figure I can rent equipment for a while until I figure out what I really want and need.

 

I went to Salt lake again today and I think I'll probably spend a decent amount of time getting to know the city during my stay here.  I like it for now and it's got a neat vibe with the winter coming on.  Tonight when I was driving home it was slightly treacherous but I gladly made it home.  The snow was coming down and it was almost hypnotizing and it was hard to see the road with the white snow falling.  I never felt the car slip, however, so I'm hoping I can make it through the winter without snow tires.

 

View from front balcony and driveway.  This is the area that could be a problem as it is a pretty steep incline while going through several feet of snow.  We'll see.

 

 

My parking spot.  Unfortunately not covered but the snow came off effortlessly this morning and it's nothing like the Dallas ice so far that seems impossible to scrape off.

 

 

Other than that I'm going to join the gym down the street and start working out again regularly.  I also want to do the spin classes and others such as Yoga and Pilates.  It will be nice to do something else besides ride.