I drink from the keg of glory!

Ah, we've returned from the George triumphantly. It wasn't an easy quest ("Quest? What quest?"), but we were sucessful. Let me just say that it is not that easy to find an apartment down there. We walked in to so many places and they had no openings until October, which really doesn't work for those of us moving down there in a week. And then some of the landlords were just crazy. An example: we walked into a housing office, the place was kind of on the low quality side, but not too bad. Until we walked into the office. Or should I say the crammed corner? There was no room in there at all. And the lady at the desk was a bit, shall we say, creepy. She told us she had one opening, but she needed a quiet couple, because everyone in that building was quiet, and she just needed a nice, really quiet couple. OK, that makes me wonder, "So, what were the previous tenents like? Loud? Obnoxious? Doing drugs?" I don't think that was quite the right thing to say to us. Needless to say, we did not return. Another example: we had a booklet that had advertising for various apartment complexes. One page was a whole ad that basically said, "No smoking." Yes, a whole page. And yes, that is really all it said. No information on rent, nothing about square footage or ammenities, nothing except no smoking. In fact, I think I'm going to quote that one for you:

"Tired of living around 2nd hand smoke? Well, we have good news for you! Sunset Springs Apartments is a Smoke Free Community. Smoking is NOT permitted ANYWHERE on the Sunset Springs property--inside or outside of the buildings, in the driveways & parking areas, in the park, at the swimming pool, at the spa, in the clubhouse, on the sidewalks, in the office, at the picnic areas or at the playground

Smoking is not an option at Sunset Springs.

After all, we believe that since you don't have to be around smoke at the grocery store, in a restaurant, at a theater, in the mall, or on an airplace, that you shouldn't have to be around smoke when you are at home.

Come home to Sunset Springs!

We are THE SMOKE FREE COMMUNITY in St. George."

Yes, word for word, that is the ad. I especially enjoy the really long list of places that you can't smoke, in case you were confused what they meant by no smoking ANYWHERE on the property, they spell that out very clearly for you.

Anyways, we have an apartment that we have applied for (the general check for any criminal record or bankrupcy or anything like that), and we should be approved either tomorrow or Tuesday (holiday gets in the way). Now, here is where the real fun begins. After we are approved, we have to get the utilities in our name before they will let us move in. This takes about 2 days. And you have to be there in person to get the utilities transferred. HELLO?! We don't live in St. George, we don't live anywhere close, what the heck are we supposed to do? I am a bit worried about this, even though we went to the utilities office and asked if this would be a problem. She said that it should be fine, we should just be able to go in and sign up, and then move right in, but I'm not entirely convinced. We are going to be moving down there with all our stuff in a moving van, and we might have to wait 2 days?! Not really set up for a lot of immigration, is it? And I guess there is no possible way to do this over the phone. You can do it by mail, and we just might do that, but we'd have to fed-ex it or something. I don't know, it'll all work out one way or another, it' s just a frustrating system. Good old St. George.

And another thing about that city: no one appears to know how to drive. We drove around quite a bit yesterday, looking at apartments, and people were just kind of going wherever they wanted to, whenever they wanted to. It was near chaos. And roads were under construction, and other roads would abruptly end, and other roads wouldn't go under the freeway, it was insane. I guess we won't be driving all over town once we move in, but man alive, it was not fun. I'm not thrilled about that. I'd like to say to all those people who knock Utah drivers, it just gets worse the further south you go. That's my experience.

Now, after that rant, it may sound like I'm not very excited for this move, but I am. These were funny observations, and I'm not holding them against the town as a whole. It will be much better when we are a little more settled, which is soon, and I am ready for this change. I also met Clark's boss, and he is such a nice guy, so willing to help us, and so excited for Clark to come on. This job is going to be so great for him, he will love it there. So, all in all, it was a good trek down there. I feel we accomplished everything we set out to do, and I think I really will enjoy this town.

Now this motherload of all blog entries is over.

Moving right along

Well, the decision has been made. We are officially moving to St. George to become Southern Utahns. We're going down tomorrow to find some housing, and then we'll move probably in the next week here. It's very exciting, kind of stressful, but in a good way. I'll be glad to move, be out on our own again, and doing something different. On that different note, today is my first official day of unemployment! I'm loving it! Sure, I've got tons to do because we are moving, but it's really not that bad. Most of our stuff is already in boxes in our storage unit, so all we have to do is pack the little we kept with us for the summer, pick up the rest, and head on down. It's kind of a lot of driving (particularly for Clark who just went down), but then we'll be settled, and it will feel so good to have all our things back. I miss my kitchen towels, how sad is that? I'm also excited to be back on the high speed internet scene. Most people here at the Blockburger residence just don't have a need for it because they have it at work. I've missed it.

I will miss the piano they have here. We've been thinking about purchasing a piano, but I don't think it will happen for a while. We've got to worry about moving, and then we have to get a couch (our old one didn't make it out of Wymount), and a dresser (they were built-in in Wymount), and get settled, etc. We'll just have to wait on that one. It's been so nice to live in a home with a piano this summer, though. I love playing it.

Of course I'll miss all the family here as well. It's been good to live with the Blockburgers, I think. I feel like I've learned a lot about them as a family, and about living with family. It's been hard, but it's been an overall good experience.

I have a doctor's appt today. That is kind of funny: Hi, I've never met you before, and I'm actually moving, but can you help me out at all? We'll see how it goes.

Like sands through the hourglass. . .

So are the days of our lives. I kind of feel like life is all drama lately. Where's the sitcom?!

It just seemed like a funny beginning. Life is not that dramatic, or traumatic for that matter. I am fast approaching my last day at RPT. In just a short while (less than 24 hrs), I shall be unemployed and loving it! It's been a good job, I've had good experiences, but I am ready for a change, for something different. I don't quite know what it will be, but it will be something, and that's the important thing.

Clark went to St. George today. I'm all alone tonight. Well, not all alone, I live with my in-laws, there are plenty of people in this house. But still, I'm not with him. Which can be hard. And it can get lonely. Which is why I'm blogging at 11:00pm. This is not typical for me. I'm not even tired. But I really don't have anything to say. Oh, this one thing was fun, tonight we were looking through old pictures, and saw some cute ones of Clark as a kid. He really was a cute boy. It was fun to see.

Ok, I'm boring. Maybe I'll go bore myself to sleep.

The longest day

Right now I am at work. I am so very bored. It's been a long day, not because I've been here longer than I usually am, and not because it's been a stressful day. It's only been long because no one is here. We had very few patients today, and that is a nice break sometimes, but it sure makes time creep by. I keep looking at the clock, and I can't believe only 2 minutes have passed by.

Only 2 more days of work for me!

I have been thinking about my future a lot lately (hm, gee, I wonder why). I'm trying to figure out where we need to be, because I'd go to either St. George or Evanston, and I'm sure I'd like either one, I just don't know where I'm supposed to be. If anyone has any thoughts or comments they'd like to share, please do. Not that many people read this, but the important people do! And I've been trying to think what I want to do with my life, especially as far as work is concerned. I know that I want a bit of time off, a few weeks or a month or something. But then after that, I'm not sure what I'd be happiest doing. I might want to do something in the physical therapy field, but I might be happier doing something that seems a lot more menial. I actually like secretary work, and I enjoy typing. Or I might want to go back to school, I just don't know for what. It's all so up in the air.

Well, duty calls. Or really just the timer is beeping.

St. George

Well, there has been quite a bit of excitement over here in the past day. Christy's dad (Christy is my mother-in-law) had a stroke, and most likely will not make it. He lives in St. George, so she went down with Jessica and Steve to see him, see her mom, and just to be there. It's sad. In some ways, it was his time, it's a good thing, things were going downhill anyway, but you can't use that to say that it was a good thing. It's still very sad. My heart goes out to their family.

Then Clark has another job opportunity looming on the horizon. Yes, this is after he has accepted a job with Schlumberger. Yes, that is supposed to start like next week. This new job is in St. George (suddenly St. George is popping up everywhere), and he is going down there Friday to check it out and see what the deal is. Yes, I said Friday. Then we have like a day to decide whether he flies out to Houston on Monday, or we start looking for places to live in St. George. It's making me a bit stressed, but I have to remember that regardless, he has a job. We'll just have to see where.

I quit my job in 4 days!

Here's a funny little story from work. So, my name is Shannon, and I have red hair, thus I often get questions about begin Irish. I might be some small part Irish waaaay back, but I'm not sure. So, not really. I got this question yesterday from a patient, and after I told her I wasn't Irish, she asked if I was Scandinavian, whcih I am. She said red-heads are always either Irish, Scandinavian, or Jewish. I had never thought about that before, even though I am a red-head. And then it got me to thinking about our melting pot culture, and how my red hair might have come from Ireland ages ago and just been handed down from generation to generation, or it might have come from Scandinavia, or it might have been some other thing, who knows. But it made me realize that I come from so many places, and I have so many things all wrapped up into one person. It was kind of a cool thing to think about. Makes me want to learn more about my family history and (Kim would be so proud) my culture. Which ties everything back to St. George - my great-great-great-grandmother was one of the first settlers there.

the end of an era

Well, first off, I won Spider Solitaire today, the medium level. I guess I do that about once a day, but it often takes a lot more than just 1 game. I enjoy the fireworks show at the end. It makes me feel special.

And then, after that glorious moment of victory, I used the new hair dryer. It worked out well. I came to a sad realization that my old hair dryer has been with me since I moved out of my parents' house, way back 7 years ago. That is a long time. And I also realized that I've pretty much had that hair dryer since I started actually doing my hair. Also very sad, I was what you might call a "late bloomer" as far as the world of fashion is concerned. So really, this is the end of an era we are witnessing. But on to the new. It worked, it was quieter, and my hair is just as straight as with the old one, so it's a keeper.

We also went shopping today for various baby gifts. All sorts of people are having babies, it's insane! So we purchased gifts for some of them. It's fun to look at baby things and all, but I just have no idea what people need or want for their kids. For anyone reading this who is having a baby soon, take this advise of mine: REGISTER. It helps all us non-parents out so much, heck, I'll bet it helps parents out, because we don't know what you need or want. Having a baby and getting married seem similar in that you can spend as much money as you want, really. You've gotta have some basics, but all the details are up to you. You can go for the designer crib, the changing table, the dresser, all the clothes (which they will grow out of in like a month), the mobile, the toys, the stuffed animals, the matching crib sheets and rug and blanket, the new paint/wallpaper, and the list goes on. It really can be an expensive venture. But all you really need are some clothes, a place for the tike to sleep, and diapers. I guess car seats are good. And not that those other things aren't good, but sometimes it's not necessary, and sometimes you don't need the most expensive thing at the store either. But the main point is, you are having a baby, hooray! Now register.

Day One

Today I start my blog. I’m not really sure what I’m going to say in this thing, but I’ve got to come up with something. I’ve always wanted to be a better journal writer, and maybe this is a good opportunity, especially since I don’t have to write a whole page at a time. A paragraph will do.

Here is an interesting story from yesterday. My hair-dryer blew up. Well, it didn’t blow up, it sort of caught on fire. Not a full fledged fire, but there were some flames inside, and then they died down. I decided it was time to get a new hair-dryer. So, we did. I haven’t used it yet. I’ll keep you posted.

Today I had to work as an aide instead of my usual job as the exercise specialist. I used to be an aide. When I was an aide, I was very excited to be bumped up to exercise specialist. Now that I’ve been doing this for not quite 2 years, being an aide was actually quite fun. I didn’t have to use my brain as much, and I got to talk to people more. It was good. I have to go back this afternoon as my regular self. I’m just taking a break for a few hours.

I’ll be honest, my motive for writing a blog is to get my husband to pay more attention to me. He seems to read blogs all the time, so I decided to make one as well. And we used to email each other all the time, particularly when we were dating and living in different cities. It was a good way to communicate. Now we see each other every day, so we don’t need to email. But I think there is something to be said for the written word, you can express thoughts and ideas differently than when speaking. So, this is now a substitute for that. I listen to NPR from time to time, and I heard a story a while back, just a short clip really, about blogging. The woman writing the story said that she blogs everyday, and so does her husband, and pretty much everyone she knows. She made the point that nobody talks anymore, they expect you to read their blog. And she made the point that instead of talking to her husband at the end of the day, she would just read his blog. That was their way of communicating. Kind of sad. I am not hoping for this to be me. But it is interesting that it can happen to people in this day and age.