University of Utah Employee Appreciation Day 2006

This is the 3rd annual Employee Appreciation Day at the U of U. It's a really fun event and thousands of people participate. Everyone in my department volunteers. I volunteered at Bingo. That's me with the sign practicing to work at Little Caesars Pizza.

Yes, that's me doing karaoke, which is weird. It was even stranger on that day because I'm singing with my boss (the man to my right) and because I didn't have 1 drop of alcohol in me. We're singing "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles.

The last photo is me with my good friend Christine.

My new car

2006 Honda CRV, dark blue, manual transmission, moon roof, 6 disc CD changer, and stereo controls on the steering wheel. It's the first brand new car I've ever owned.

My cats

Ralphy is the fluffy black cat. He's about 10 years old and has no tail. Bud is the orange cat. He's about 9 years old and is the mellow, loving cat. These two cats were adopted by my sister when they were brand new kittens. She had them for years, but then found herself with a house, a baby, and a husband. So, I adopted them about 3 years ago.

MuShu is the tabby-siamese mix. He's about 2 years old and is the newest member of the family. I never meant to have more than 2 cats, but my friend Christine found him in the road. He had been hit by a car and she rescued him and got him patched up. She already had 3 cats in her small apartment, so I adopted him.

Sugarhouse Park

This is a beautiful park in Salt Lake City with views of the Wasatch Mountains.

University of Utah

This is the University of Utah, where I work, with the Wasatch Mountains in the background. That's me in my office at work. I work in Human Resources, as the Manager of Training and Development.

The dolls in the background with the spiders are a joke my team played on me when I returned from Germany. They filled my office with things that scare me. (What you don't see are all the photos of clowns.) They said that if I ever leave again, they'll bring in real bugs and clowns.

The Gateway Shopping Center

The Gateway shopping Center (the daylight photo), is the newest, most popular shopping area in Salt Lake City. It opened in November of 2001, just a few months before the Olympics. In general, Salt Lake does not have great shopping - certaining nothing like Europe or the large cities in the U.S. But the Gateway brought some good shopping to town.

The closest location for good shopping is Las Vegas, Nevada, which is about 6 hours south of Salt Lake City, and known mostly for its casinos. This is a photo of the Bellagio in Las Vegas, one of the best resorts in town. The fountains you see in the photo of The Gateway were designed by the same people who designed the fountains you see in front of the Bellagio. Both fountains are choreographed to music.

Trolley Square

In addition to the Gateway, Trolley Square is also a popular shopping spot in Salt Lake City. This site has been around for a long time. Prior to holding shops, restaurants, movie theaters, and clubs, it was originally a trolley car station. When I was a kid, they still had old trolley cars in front.

The site is most known for the water tower in front. It changes colors depending on the weather.

Temple Square

As you probably know, Utah is the home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For short, they call themselves "LDS." Most people call them "Mormons."

In Salt Lake City, about half the population is Mormon. Outside of Salt Lake, and especially in small towns in Utah, the population of Mormons is much higher, from 80% to 100%. I am not Mormon, but many of my friends are.

Above are photos of the Mormon temple. There are a full buildings owned by the Mormon church in temple square, including the tabernacle where the Morman Tabernacle Choir performs. From Thanksgiving through Christmas each year, they decorate the entire area in beautiful colored lights.

All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet

Utahns (that's what people from Utah are called) love food. Especially cheap, all-you-can-eat food. So, above is a photo of the dessert bar at a local buffet. That's my friend Nigel (as in "...Tuffnel," not "Making Plans For...") and me pigging out. Chuck-a-Rama is the most popular buffet in Utah. My friends and I affectionately call it "Up-Chuck."

Green Jello

Utahns also love Jello - especially green Jello. I have no idea why. They love it plain, out of a cup, with fruit, and their specialty is green Jello salad with shredded carrots. The weirdest Jello salad I've ever heard of is Jello with cocktail shrimp. Yuck! During the Olympics, this green Jello pin was a highly sought-after item. I'm lucky to have one.

2002 Olympics

Speaking of the Olympics, here are some photos from the Salt Lake Olympic Games in 2002. The first are fireworks at our City-County Building. The second is the Olympic Torch. The torch was on the University of Utah campus. The third is the fireworks during the closing ceremonies. People could see the fireworks from all over the Salt Lake valley - they were beautiful! The Opening and Closing ceremonies were both on the University of Utah campus, so they closed school, and therefore my work, for 2 days.

I wasn't looking forward to the Olympics, but once they were here, I had a blast. It lasted 2 weeks and downtown Salt Lake was like a huge international party every night.

Gary Coleman lives in Utah!

So, do you remember the television show "Diff'rent Strokes" from the 1970's? The wealthy Mr. Drummond adopts 2 kids, Willis and his cute little brother Arnold - played by Gary Coleman. Well, last year, Gary Coleman moved to Utah. He lives in a small town about 2 hours south of my city. To see a video clip on our local news about the tv star moving to Utah, go to http://www.abc4.com/mediacenter/default.aspx?videoId=21274.

Bear Lake (on the border of Utah and Idaho)

These are photos from taken on the East side of the Bear Lake.

Bear Lake

These are the mountains overlooking Bear Lake. It's about 2 and 1/2 hours from Salt Lake City. Bear Lake is partly in Utah and partly in Idaho. These photos are taken on the Utah side.

Bear Lake is known for being very blue. It is not known for bears - I've been there almost every summer of my life and never seen one. There's also a rumor of a "Bear Lake Monster," but I've never seen that either.

Mountains

These are photos of mountains in Utah on the way to Bear Lake.

The Bear Cave

The Bear Cave is a little fast food place in St. Charles, Idaho. It's on the north side of Bear Lake. They have the best hamburgers in the world.

What you're seeing with my burger is fry sauce. It was invented in Utah, at another fast food place called Arctic Circle. Utahns love it, and it's also found in Idaho (which is just north of Utah). It's basically just ketchup and mayonaise mixed together. Although, some restaurants will add other ingredients.

It's so popular in Utah, that there's an Olympic pin for it. (I don't have this pin).

Minnetonka Cave, Idaho

This is Minnetonka Cave. It is in a beautiful canyon North West of Bear Lake. I learned that stalagtites grow from the ceiling (because they have to hold on "tight") and stalagmites grow from the ground up (because they "might" reach the ceiling some day).

I also learned that the difference between a cave and a cavern is that a cave only has one entrance, but a cavern has 2. This is a cave.

more Minnetonka Cave

In this cave I experienced complete darkness. At the back of the cave, they turned out all the lights. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. They only kept the lights out for a few seconds, because if you are in total darkness for very long, you become disoriented and fall down.