9.7.11: why i moved to utah....

lemme start this blog by telling you why i moved to utah...

downtown seattle from alki

i moved here from seattle several months back.  well, i arrived exactly 5 months ago at about this exact local time 1139pm.  why utah, you ask?  well, i've always wanted to move away from seattle, which is the first reason.  i was born and raised there, had lived there all my life and had always wanted to experience life in a new area.  to be honest, utah wasn't my first choice.  i'd always wanted to move to either san diego or nyc or jersey, somewhere where i have family.  but i love to snowboard and neither of those places have awesome mountains like utah, which is the second reason.  hello!?!?  utah has the greatest snow on earth!!!  if you don't know, now you know!  i know ya'll snowboarders/skiers will definitely wanna visit.  ;-)  lemme know...

i'd been here a couple times to snowboard before but this year, i came twice:  once in january and once in march.  cuz fortunately, my cousins, hank and mad, have a vacation rental condo up in eden [plug:  check out the rental site, http://www.vrbo.com/273568.  it's amazing!], a lil less than 10 minutes from powder mountain, aka pow mow.  if you've never ridden powder mountain, you'll know why it's called powder mountain when you do.  for the most part, fresh tracks for days, if you know what spots to hit up.  =)  well, pow mow is one of my favorite mountains to ride, as you can tell.  two times in less than two months.  sheeit.  hahaha...

mad, nancy, me and rachel waiting
for the powder country bus

anyways...  in january, i met up with hank, mad and one of their friends, nancy here for a snowboarding trip.  we hit up pow mow for four days straight, from the 21st to the 24th.  fun times!!!  although, the snow wasn't as epic as we'd hoped...  well, to make a long story short, on day three, nancy forgets her cell phone at the condo and i'm sure you can guess what happens next...  yup, she gets lost.  on the 2nd run of the day!  for 4 hours!  then finally, at 3pm, which is an hour and a half before the mountain closes, we're at the bottom of paradise looking up the mountain and oh snap! there's nancy.  so we're yelling her name, hella excited, screaming, "whoohoo!" and "yay!" and laughing.  then, some girl standing at the lift goes, "are you nancy's friends?"  we say "yeah", and that's when we meet rachel and brian.  nancy befriended them on the lift, rode with them all day and even went on the snow cat run.  without us!  can you believe it?!  sheesh!  and the whole time, we were looking for her, worried.  but hey, it was a beginning of an awesome friendship with rachel, who i knew would become one of my closest friends when she called in sick the next day to ride FIVE. DAYS. STRAIGHT.  doesn't she sound like someone you know?!  hardcore, i tell ya!    hahaha.  [side note:  last season was rachel's first year riding and she's ALMOST, but NEVER will be, as good as me!  ;-)  keep in mind, she went about 70 or so times.  i've probably gone that many times in my lifetime.  ok, i've probably gone a lil more but still.  insane!!!]

the crew:
 hank in the back, rachel, me, ray, melinda jeff and ronna

then, in march, i met up with hank again, my cousin, ronna, her bf, jeff, and our friends, ray and melinda.  once again, we rode for four days straight, from the 11th to the 14th.  great times!!!  rachel ended up riding with us all four days.  we all became facebook friends back in january, kept in touch and we told her we were coming back.  =)  and during this trip, she introduced me to two more awesome snowboarding buddies, tosh.a and phil.  we had such a great time!  once again, the snow wasn't as epic as we'd hoped...  until the last day, thank god!  =)  so, during the whole trip, i kept talkin' about how i was gonna move here.  blah blah blah.  i was kinda serious but not, sorta just blowin' air outta my you know what.  but here's where it gets crazy... 

so, i get back to seattle from vacay on march 15th, go back to work on the 16th.  and i'm telling my coworkers how much fun i had and about the friends i made.  and once again, i started blowin' air outta my [bleep].  well, one of my coworkers, donna, goes, "you should do it!"  and i'm laughing cuz once again, i was kinda serious but not.  and my manager, becky, agrees, "you should totally do it!"  then she asks, "do you want me to ask what the process is for putting in a transfer request, i gotta talk to craig (the gmm) anyways."  so, i'm like, "sure, why not?!"  i'm thinkin', "it wouldn't hurt to ask, right?  plus, who knows if it'll even get approved anyways."  then donna goes, "you should see if there are any openings".  reluctantly, i checked the intranet and what do you know, there's a supervisor position open at the the west bountiful warehouse, about 10-15 minutes from downtown salt lake city.  of course, they're both encouraging me to apply.  the position closed the next day, the 17th, so i was scrammin' to get all the paperwork turned in:  attendance record, letter of intent (which donna helped me with.  thanks, donna!!!), letters of recommendation.  the 17th comes around and i have everything i need to apply.  i kinda hesitate to send the email, but i do.  in time.  well, right before my shift is over at corp, which is at 430pm.  hehe.  the 18th, which is a friday, comes around and i get to work at 730am.  at this point, i'm hella anxious.  fyi, at the time, i received email notifications when people read my emails.  so, when the manager read my email, i was like, oh mah gawd, he might call me any minute now.  and if i recall correctly, he did at about 830am, not too long after he read the email.  i was so nervous but calm at the same time.  donna and becky didn't even know i was being interviewed.  =)  and you know what question he asked first?  "so, you're a snowboarder, huh?"  i'm cheesin' and of course, i say "yes!"  he goes, "yeah, me too".  and right then and there, i knew i had the position!  ;-)  jk.  lol.  [another side note before i continue:  donna told me to mention i was an avid snowboarder in my letter of intent.  thanks, donna!!!  you were right, it worked!  =)]  well, the interview went great, obviously.  that weekend was so nerve racking though.  and so was most of the day monday.  but i got the call the afternoon of monday, march 21st, i believe around 330pm.  my thoughts?!  OH EM GEE, i got the job (which is the third reason)!  i'm transferring!!  i'm moving in THREE weeks!!!  i was so overcome with happiness, joy, anxiety, nervousness, excitement, fear, you name it!  i had never felt so many emotions at the same time in my life.  it was and is still the biggest and best decision i've made in my life!  =))  and on april 7th, i couldn't believe i was back in utah, not for another vacay but for a completely new experience in life!  to this day, i sometimes still can't believe i'm here.  and i'm definitely enjoying and loving every minute of it!!!  life is great!  =)

oh wait, i forgot to mention the fourth reason:  awesome snowboarding buddies!!!  i am super excited to ride this upcoming season!  =)))

the kidz:
me, rachel and tosh.a

well, that's all folks...  until my next blog, which will probably be about random experiences i've had since i've been in utah.  actually, if you have facebook, you probably know what i've been up to.  so maybe i'll start blogging about my experiences from now on.  or maybe i'll randomly write about what i've experienced.  like this one time, in band camp..............................  =P

BTW....

i'd like to thank nancy for getting lost the one day she forgot her phone at the condo.  i'd like to thank rachel and brian for taking care of nancy when she got lost.  i'd like to thank rachel for being like me, oops, i mean for being a snowboarding addict and an awesome friend, and for introducing me to two awesome snowboarding buddies and friends, tosh.a and phil.  i'd like to thank donna and becky for the extra push, motivation and encouragement to apply for the position.  i'd like to thank hank and mad for letting me stay at their condo the first weekend i moved here.  i'd like to thank tosh.a and her husband, cory, for letting me stay at their place for a week while i found an apartment.  i'd like to thank all my family, friends and corp coworkers for their love and support.  i'd like to thank my utah fam, coworkers and friends for welcoming me and showing me what utah is all about.  love ya'll!  =)  and last but not least, i'd like to thank GOD, for without him, none of this would be possible...