Once again, I can’t sleep…I was lying awake thinking and decided to get up and be productive instead. It’s going to be rough tomorrow because I have a 9am meeting that’s going to go all day, so that fact that I’m up at 3am MST is insane!
Per my usual, I’m online doing some work (yes, work) and other mindless nonsense (I only checked facebook once). So, I figured it was time for a blog update. I was going to do a recap of my first month in Utah, but I was not with it enough to be able to do that post justice (it will come). In the mean time, it’s all about the cat…
Max must be one of the strangest cats in the world. Really, his personality just baffles me sometimes.
He has become a whole different animal since moving to Utah…
1. He hasn’t hissed at a single guest I’ve had over since we got here (that I know of).
2. He will actually let random strangers pet him.
3. He is losing some weight (maybe due to the 48 stairs he has to climb).
4. He doesn’t bite me anymore to wake me up to feed him.
But he has learned some new tricks…
1. He races (yes, races) from the 2nd floor landing to the master bedroom just for kicks.
2. He turns over (upside down) his food bowl when he’s done eating (even if there is food in it).
3. He now turns off the light in my office if I’m in there too long and he wants to play. He will sit on the desk and go over and reach his paw up and just hit the switch. I kid you not!
Just to be clear, I’m not an old cat lady, but since Max is worth some entertainment value to say the least, I figured it was a notable post, especially after he turned the light off when I was blogging…maybe a hint?
I tried to get him doing it but I kept missing him in action. Here he is checking out the light switch. 
Archive for January, 2009
Ode to a Cat.
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Dad
On Saturday the 31st, my dad will have been gone for 10 years. There are times that is seems like it was just yesterday and others when it feels like it’s been ages.
I miss him daily but know that I will see him again…I’m so grateful for the many opportunities he and my mom gave me. I’m grateful for his amazing example, it has helped to shape me.
I love my dad.
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Having your cake and eating it too?
It never ends, now does it? I must attract them like magnets!
They either go to town…
Or they just sit and don’t act…
Some great pictures on dating disasters: click here.
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You have got to be kidding me!
Who does this? How is this even an option?
My gosh, seriously, I’m beginning to think that MN is the only place that has a clue about the value of the public health system.
I could not live here if they get rid of the health department…
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Heather May
Utah could become the only state in the country without a state health department.
Republican lawmakers are considering handing the duties of the health department — from tracking and responding to communicable diseases and trying to reduce obesity and cancer rates to inspecting child care facilities — to other agencies.
The proposed dismantling would save $1.7 million in administrative costs by cutting director and division director budgets. It came as a shock to David Sundwall, the department’s director, who learned of the proposal Wednesday morning.
“It would be a breathtakingly bad idea,” he said, noting Utah’s public health system is one of the reasons the state is often ranked as one of the nation’s healthiest.
But Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, said, “We need to fundamentally question everything,” adding that the health department used to be part of the human services department.
Lawmakers are trying to cut $50 million, or 7.5 percent, from this year’s Human Services and Health budgets, and $102 million, or 15 percent, from next year’s numbers. Republican lawmakers said their philosophy was to pare back administrative costs before they eliminate programs that help people. Such proposals include eliminating out-of-state travel and reducing the mileage reimbursement rate from 50 cents to 36 cents.
“We want to avoid an amputation as much as possible,” said Sen. Daniel Liljenquist, R-Bountiful.
Still, lawmakers are also looking at cutting whole programs, and the health department is taking a disproportionate share, Sundwall said, noting 68 percent of the cuts to the two departments come from health.
One of the most troubling proposed cuts, according to health department officials, is reducing inspections of licensed child care facilities. Some 700 facilities, considered “highly compliant” because they have had less than three citations a year, would be inspected once a year instead of an average of three.
Marc Babitz, who oversees the division that includes licensing, said he’d have to cut the usual unannounced visit.
The change might allow serious violations to slip through, he said, noting an infant died this fall at a center that would have been considered highly compliant. But after the baby died, from strangling in a car seat while sleeping unsupervised, the health department found an unlicensed woman was left in charge of too many infants without enough cribs.
“We wouldn’t catch her [under the new budget]. It just frightens me,” Babitz said.
Other cuts would also impact children’s health. A pregnancy risk line, which counsels 20,000 women a year about exposures that can cause birth defects, would be shut down — and birth defects would no longer be tracked. An autism registry, which tracks prevalence and risk factors for the developmental disorder, would end.
The cuts also mean a slower response time to disease outbreaks and reductions in tobacco cessation, obesity and health promotion programs.
Sundwall said he knows attempts to preserve public health will be difficult; there is no constituency fighting for disease surveillance or the medical examiner’s office, like there are for aging and disability services.
“Traditional public health is not just about the vulnerable,” he said. “It’s about you and me.”
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His scruff was yummy!
What did Jason really expect…Kissing each girl and expecting them not to all freak out and get all emotional. Really, now..there are very few who could withstand seeing a guy they like kissing 7 other girls.
Some of these girls really, honestly frighten me. Jason, do you think can stay Mr. Perfect the whole time and not have someone upset with you…it is reality TV…there must be drama.
I echo the chemistry with ballroom dancing…ha ha! KS remember our stalking days? I just about peed my pants laughing.
1. Lauren is beginning to be clingy or maybe domineering to say the least…yes, “entitled” missy and she now too is starting to scare me.
2. Shannon is yet the biggest freak show ever! Her comment about her dog was over the top.
3. Nikki needs to chill out big time. And what was with the slide burns? And who says, “I want my turn”? She was full of crap at the dinner. Buck up baby…life isn’t fair.
4. Megan scares me. I don’t buy that she’s 25 y/o.
5. Melissa is over exposed…but it worked.
6. Naomi brought home the drama.
7. Jillian laid low and under the radar…good call girl.
8. Molly hit it.
9. Stephanie looked like a deer in headlights the whole time. She seems too intense tonight, even for me:)
So with all of that said, I can’t believe he was Mr. Drama about the last rose, but I will give him props for getting rid of the three that I didn’t like:)
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What a miracle…
My friend Karen from college (we lived on the same floor) married another friend, Nick, from college. Nick was on the plane that crashed into the Hudson.
Karen sent me their interview today. You have to see this…Click here.
I asked Karen’s permission to post this…they don’t want any media attention but just are so grateful that they have each other and that there really are more important things in life.
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The Bachelor Cried!
Stephanie’s little girl made him cry…BIG points!
But man of man if I were Stephanie that would have been totally emotionally attaching. And if he picks one of the stupid caddy girls I’ll reach straight through the TV!
So, the bust event was interesting. I still like Jillian but Shannon BUGS, her little laugh, that girl needs to stop being a stalker and annoying. She just liked it because it was about being naked with Jason…where some of the other girls really took it seriously for a charitable cause.
The “I felt like James Bond” comment cracked me up…especially in light of Erin’s lovely reminder of who the bachelor looks like…I nearly peed my pants laughing…The James Bond moment left when Natalie started talking about bears. Jason looked like a deer in headlights. Plus, man that girl is a party girl…can he not see that?! Obviously, because he didn’t kiss her and didn’t give her a rose!!!! Yippie! She showed her true self by freaking out when he denied her.
Shannon is a freak of nature. Nothing more needs to be said about that.
The drama fest doesn’t bode well for anyone…gosh sometimes women act like idiots.
Wow, I’m stunned that he didn’t pick Kari but kept the nasty Lacrosse chick.
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Sundance!
I was fortunate to go to Sundance all day on Monday. My friend Onalee comes every year and so it was perfect for me to see her and a part of home!
We had a ton of fun…met some super cool people including Daniel from People.com who hooked us up with some great pictures of the stars!
We were there from 10:30am until 1am. So much fun!!!
Enjoy the pictures from yesterday. There will be more after I go back up on Friday and Saturday.
Me at the ski lift!
One of the best theaters in town.
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Me at the photo op booth.
Me and On with the “birdflu” car…appropriate given how we use to work together!
Me and some bear, On swore I had to have a picture with…
Now, me with a moose…I think On just liked taking pictures of me with fake animals.
The theme for life…or at least for this time in life.
The chef who wanted to meet me!
Me and the chef.
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Our first MN dinner party in UT
Tonight we had the first of many, I hope, MN groupie dinner parties at my new place. It was great.
Everyone that was there was either from MN or had a connection to those people from MN. There were close to 25 of us total. Mama Wilson and Bessers even showed up!
It was so great to see everyone and personally, I really needed it.
Here are pictures from the night’s events.
J-Mo, Me, Erik, and Laurie
Me and Deborah
Half of the MN gang – Jenet, Laurie, Jenn, Deborah, Rickelle
The other half – J-Mo, Erik, Alicia, Mike, Marie, Stuart, Maura, Katie, Ian, Lindsay
Jenn and me
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BYU Men’s Volleyball
Tonight, Lindsay, Josh, Ella and Deborah and I went to the BYU Men’s Volleyball game against Lewis.
Here are some pictures from tonight of us…
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