Finally did it

On March 22, 2012, City Creek Mall opened to great fan fare.  I finally got to the new mall two weeks later, which a week before my brother’s birthday and a day before Easter. I had to go to Deseret Book to get Jay’s present, a DVD.  I had wanted to get “17 Miracles” for Christmas, but when the stake president came out with the reading list for 2012, I decided to get Jay one of the recommended books. I rode Trax, but instead of getting off at City Center, like I did yesterday, I got off at the

Temple Square

station. I wanted to see the Western half of the new mall before I went inside it.  After I made my purchases at Deseret Book, which had opened sometime in 2009 or 2010, I started my tour of City Creek. Up I went on the escalator and walked across the new skywalk that crossed

Main Street

. I seen a few times during its construction as I rode Trax. After I walked thru the skywalk, I went back because the line at Kneaders was too long. (As of yesterday, it is still starts outside the south doors of the restaurant.) I went back the Nordstrom’s (western) side of the mall, visited Rocky Mountain Chocolate and bought something, then I checked out Blue Lemon, which directly across from Deseret Book. I had eaten twice before and was surprised that it was crowded too. (It still had a long line yesterday, but at least it wasn’t out the door.) So I decided to eat at the

Food Court

on the Macey’s (eastern) side of City Creek. To my delight, Chick-fil-A was opened for business. Finally there were more options than McDonald’s. It was crowded at the

Food Court

, but I was too hungry to care. When I left the

Food Court

, I exited the way I had before; heading for the exit on South Temple and State.  Then I crossed the street and went shopping at Harmon’s, which opened a month or two before City Creek did. I bought some Easter candy and a few others things. After Harmon’s, crossed the street at 100 South and State, walked up the street and entered City Creek at

State Street

. Years before I would enter the ZCMI mall at

State Street

in about the same location.  Except this time, I was still outside instead of inside.  I walked thru the mall and when I crossed

Main Street

to get to Trax, I had a sense of deja vue. Years ago as a college student, I would cross from ZCMI center to the Crossroads Mall at this same spot.  I got the same deja vue yesterday as I waited for the light to change. It was like I was back in the 80’s again.

It will be awhile before I eat again at City Creek.  Yesterday, I boarded Trax, transferred at Courthouse and caught the Red Line to Café Zupas. It was less crowded and so worth the ride there to have my BBQ pulled pork and Mango Berry salad. Heaven! I will that Mango Berry salad again.

 

The Great Utah Shakeout or The Largest Earthquake Drill The State of Utah Has Experienced

Weeks before last Tuesday, I was informed that there would be an earthquake drill. Every building on campus had the maps posted at all their exits.  A few days before the drill, the bookstore put up notice that they would be closed between the hours of 10:15 am to 11:30am on April 17^th.  My boss, Lisa conducted meetings with those in office the day before. We saw a depressing video that left me with no hope of surviving the real thing. It said thousands would die and life as we knew it would be over. Highways and such would be in chaos and buildings would all be leveled.  Lisa did show some other videos, one which was the earthquake that my Steven experienced. It was more informative than the death wish video that someone in Utah put together. I enjoyed the video of the fireman who demonstrated how to get under a table and hold on.  The narrator had to tell him to get completely under the table.  Oops.  Penny, who was raised in Southern California, told us that the longest quake she was in only lasted 42 seconds or less than a minute.

Tuesday morning arrived and so did the talk.  A few joked about a real earthquake happening just before or at the time of the drill. The nervous chit chat increased as the time grew shorter. I got out my iPad and earplugs so I wouldn’t have to listen to their ramblings during the drill; I did not care to listen to that again.  I was in an earthquake drill at Blue Cross and one woman could not quit yakking.  Granted we were under our desks for 15 minutes.  I decided right then that if an earthquake happen, I wouldn’t get under my desk; I just get myself out of her misery.

At 10:15, a text arrived to cell phone, informing me to get under my desk. So under I went, but I sat instead of rolling up like a ball.  I am too tall to sit under my desk; I would have to take out a few ribs or my neck to fit under there.  I did turn on my iPod on my iPad and listened to some song. I could hear people leaving, so I texted Karie in St. George and told her two individuals didn’t shut up the entire time. I put my iPad in my bag and put on my jacket, then I wore my cross pack. I was quite surprised that my neck wasn’t sore, but if I had been under my desk like I had in the first drill, my neck would have been sore.  Next time, I am not taking the time to wear earphones; I will do my best to ignore the loudmouths or laugh at their nervous chitchat. Maybe I will get lucky and they will be put out of their misery.

I was the last one out of the office. Pat and Lisa walked me out.  I had to text Karie and that is why I was last. Next time, not gonna happen.  We met up at the appointed spot on the lawn on the corner of 2^nd & University or the lawn in front of Big Ed’s. When I got there, I noticed that not all of the office was there, so I went looking for them.  While I was searching, I ran into Jen, who used to work in our office and I picked up a 1^st aid kit from the tent that was set up.  In my 1^st aid kit (or was it a 72 hour kit?) were band-aids, ointment, toothbrush, toothpaste, a bottle of water and a granola bar in a Campus Store plastic bag. I stuffed it in my bag and forgot to take it out, so it went home with me.  I brought it back the next day and added an overnight pad for young women.  Hey, I’ve been told those things belong in a 1^st aid kit. The next day after I decided it would be a take home ER kit, I added deodorant, small package of tissues, and lotion.  Since I had gum in my desk drawer, I threw that in the kit too. My ER kit or “Hoofin’ like a New Yorker” kit is now hanging on a coat hook by the trash basket under my desk. I still have to walk on glass to get to my purse and bag. If my lunch is in the frig, I will probably forget to grab it, but then maybe not.  It could be on the way out to the evacuation spot by Big Ed’s.  That is if the frig isn’t blocking the exit.

Oh, by the way, I texted my out of state contact (my oldest sister) that we had an earthquake drill and I was fine.  I didn’t know that living apart that from my family would provide me with so many contacts out of state. That prep was probably the easiest prep of the whole drill.

Thoughts on Easter – A Day Late

Today during sacrament meeting, the choir did the Easter Program. The choir director has cancer and decided to go hatless today and show her new hair. It reminded me of when my sister, Mary, had cancer and lost her hair; there is a picture of my sister with her very short hair and her granddaughter with a little bit of hair. Isabella seems to saying “Lookee, we got hair!” Both heads of hair in the picture remind me of a newness and hope. Isabella is very young, probably 18 months old and still experiencing new things, like her hair getting combed and styled. Mary was recovering and experiencing a new growth of hair being restored to its former glory. When I think of Easter, I think of newness, like Isabella’s new hair and renewal like Mary’s new hair. I think also of hope. The hope of things restored and of thing resurrected. I get my hearing back and so does my dad. But I hope when I see him again that he is still bald, because I am not sure if I will recognize my dad with head full of hair.

Good Friday Weather

4/6/12
6:20 am Penny -Well its snowing at my place. Glad Im letting UTA do the driving...Ithink! haha
7:04 am Susan - Hard to be it is Easter weekend.
7:04 am Penny - I know
7:16 am Penny - Sorens headed up 4th south. 2 trucks and paramedics
7:27 am Susan - There were slideoffs just before Foothill. Cop & ER mobile in Research Park. Heard a siren when I got off at the business loop. What a Good Friday.
9:13 am Susan to Darren, Crystal, Jared & Mark - So did you have fun driving in that **** this morning?
9:15 am Jared - I just hated cleaning my car off
9:18 am Susan to Jared - So it is better weather in Happy Valley (Utah Valley)?glad my nephews are okay.
9:19 am Jared - I don't know... i haven't seen salt lake
9:23 am Susan to Jared - Oh no! happy valley got dumped on too?
9:30 am Susan to Isaac - Is BYU under snow too?the school to the north got dumped on.
9:31 am Isaac - Yep, lots of snow
9:35 am Mark - Beautiful snow covering the ground! Beautiful day! how could i not enjoy it!
9:35 am Susan to Mark - Haha
12:08 pm Darren - I didn't actually ha
12:11 pm Susan to Darren - Ja! You probably laughed at all the poor suckers on the road. At least I hope you did. Lol

Conference Weekend Weather

Thanks to the The Weather Channel, KSL and others, I took the weather was going to be going from one extreme to the other. It did, but not quite as predicted. Saturday was nice; the sun was out. I walked to the library in short sleeves, jeans and socks with shoes. I wished I had worn sandles and capris; my jeans and socks were too warm. People were out biking and I even saw a guy jogging in his shorts and t-shirt. KSL did report that it got into the high 70's at the airport, so it is fair to say that Saturday weather came as predicted. I woke Sunday to the sound of cars traveling on wet pavement. It was probably raining, but soon after the morning session of conference began, I noticed it was snowing. Lightly because the only way I make sure it was snowing was if I looked at the trees outside our condo. Bewteen the sessions, I took another walk around Holladay. I wore my gloves and my hoodie. I could feel the cold go up my legs, the jeans I that wore both days, were not enough. It snowed the whole time, although it melted when it hit the ground. The pictures I took just showed wet sidewalks and grayish skys. I am sure the snow did not melt on impact in Park City, Utah. The Weather Channel app on my iPad was showing colder tempatures. While the weather people weren't exactly right about Salt Lake County, at least they were right on about Park City.