The CragBaby

Sigh.

Once again I was the victim of theft.

I thought I handled it so well this time, but as I write this I am quite bummed. I have lived in Salt Lake City for six and a half years, in many different locations, and out of those six years I have lost six big items. Yep, that means I am batting approximately one big loss per year. Today’s theft was the worst as the item lost was my car.

Sigh.

To date I have lost the following items, none of which were returned.

• mountain bike - I used to have a real nice bike that was stolen from my backyard. This was a painful loss, leaving me to feel so violated.
• car stereo - this one wasn’t a big deal. I actually was going out to the car to uninstall the stereo in order to give it to a friend. Yet, someone had beat me to the process.
• cruiser bike - this one wasn’t painful at all. In fact, I didn’t know it was missing until months later. It was a beater bike that needed some tuning and I found it missing when Spring arrived and I went to do the necessary work. It was given to me and was a quirky bike.
• wallet / phone - this one was truly painful, causing months of identity and credit worry. The items were stolen from my car while I was bouldering at Cabbage Patch in LCC. The Cabbage Patch boulders are seriously right off the road, maybe a 20 foot walk. Yet somehow the perpetrators broke a window and took the items unbeknownest to me. The person was found and prosecuted, but who knows where my credit cards ended up.
• scooter - I cried for days on this one. I bought a scooter, similar to a Vespa. and truly loved the thing. It was part of my identity and at the time scooters were rare in SLC, which made me like it even more. I truly loved this thing. One day it had some problems as I was driving home from the gym and I had to park it in the parking lot of an antique shop. When I went to retrieve it the next day, it was just gone. The story is long and convaluted, but in essence the lady of this store had given it to her friend who was then wanting a ransom for it … blah, blah, blah. It truly is a real weird and long story that ended in me never getting my scooter back in one piece. Funnily, the antique store went out of business about a year later and I believed it was karma.
• car - today the good old faithful Honda Civic was gone. She wasn’t real pretty with her huge dent, but I adored her. She ran so well, even in her old age.

The faithful civic with H.I.P. #1 on the Salt Flats.

The worst detail of the car situation was my car insurance. Please read: ALWAYS HAVE COMPREHENSIVE INSURANCE. My little Honda was a 1991 and pretty banged up, so I figured I would only get liability coverage. In my mind I thought comprehensive would be real expensive and not worth the investment for an old car. I WAS WRONG!!!! I found out from co-workers that the premium insurance is usually only dollars more as the main expense lies in the collision insurance. I was so shocked at learning this fact that I called my insurance company back to learn the cost difference, the total being… get ready for it… $30. By paying $30 more per year I could have recoupped the cost of my vehicle whereas now I have nothing.

Sigh.

This fact really is bothersome as I research out all areas of my life, analyzing the best deals and thoughtfully planning how I spend my money. Somehow it had never crossed my mind to see the cost difference between the two insurance plans. Why the insurance agent didn’t tell me about my options when I bought my policy? I don’t know. It actually makes me angry because isn’t their job to be… "my agent"? However, the main fault is mine as I didn’t do my damn research. How in the world did it slip my mind to ask when I am usually so diligent?!

Sigh.

Ok … enough of the pity party…. I’m back to the giggly self with a newfound insurance lesson.

Pic taken during the move in process.  We really have cleaned up more sense then.

Shaft and I recently moved to the 414 located in Sugarhouse. I have lived alone for two and half years and wasn’t quite sure about living in the room mate scenario again. The answer? It’s completely superb. To be honest, the 414 might be my best living situation yet. Let’s see… I get to hang out with Shaft on a regular basis, CB can run around in the big fenced in yard, I have access to a mac, linux and windows machine, plus I get to spend time with two great kids for half the week. Add to all this the fact that we have guitar hero and I feel like the luckiest girl on the lower east side.

I love vindication on my decisions. Today is going to be a great day! w00t!

Within the last couple weeks my little Honda has had some hiccups where I had to frequent a mechanic. My usual mechanic is now, unfortunately, retired, so I at first was at a loss of where to take my car. But then I remembered that on the NPR show Car Talk I’d heard mention of their mechanic files where listeners have submitted names and comments of good mechanics. I thought I would see if there were any mechanics listed for the Salt Lake area and ended up with a great handful of results. I picked out a couple and called around to see who had the earliest opening, ending up making an appointment with Clarke’s Automotive.

The car problem ended up being my lil’ Civic needing a new alternator. The shop called me with a quote, fairly priced the piece and labor, and completed the work in the expected time frame. So when my car was having a starting issue a couple weeks later I took it back to Clark’s. They were honest and told me they couldn’t find the source of the problem besides some corrosion. They cleaned the battery off for free and sent me on my way.

I was real happy with my experience and would highly suggest Clarke’s Automotive Shop. They are located on the corner of 17th South and 500 East and their number is 801-485-2858.

Not quite sure why I haven’t blogged lately.  Busy, I suppose.  Perhaps not in the mood.  Lots of ideas, but lack of initiative.  Part of life, eh?

Yesterday I made one of the wisest, yet hardest, choices of my life. I have cut ties with my biological family and am starting a new life, a new family that consists of just me.

Perhaps this sounds harsh to some of you who come from loving families, but my situation was anything but conducive to my emotional well-being. Firstly, though, let me note that my biological family has many traits and aspects of which I admire. For instance:

• When all the sisters get together it is a great time filled with jokes and humor.
• My father is well educated and I respect his viewpoints on a variety of subjects from books to life outlooks. He has always supported me emotionally in my schooling and career.
• My mother has gone back to school and has amazed me with her determination, capturing a spot as the valedictorian of her class.
• I have always been grateful that my mother pushed me to compete in piano performance as it is a talent that I will always be able to fall back on.
• Barbara has amazed me through her perseverance of extremely rough times as her husband finished medical school and she raised a family while running a business.
• Barbara is an excellent mother. She raises her kids in the most loving manner.
• The year I took off school to live with Barbara and help with her kids was one of the best years of my life as I thoroughly enjoyed the time I was able to spend with her children.
• Jamie’s ability to attract people through her smile and friendliness is something I have never been able to master.
• This past year Laura has amazed me on a variety of levels, which I referenced in an earlier blog post.
• My brother Jordan is getting ready to serve his mission and I know he will do a great job. I am also impressed by his drum skills and driven nature to create the first drum line in the local highschool.

That being said and even with all their great qualities, they are completely incapable of communication and have never learned control over their words. I know that I don’t deserve to be called a “crazy bitch”. I know that it is out of line for someone, even a family member, to tell me that I need to kill myself and try to physically fight me. I know that when someone does an act out of line, an apology is in order and that I don’t need to just accept their actions. I know that I am a person worth loving. And I know that if anyone else in the world would have done and said the things these people have, I would and should have let go a long time ago.

So I cut the ties.

Sure enough, I was instantly bad mouthed. To be honest, I love it. I love it because it is vindication, proof that I made the right decision. Their harsh words motivate me to be a better person, to kick ass in my job, life, volunteer, hobbies, etc. It motivates me to surround myself with positive rather than negative.

I love my family as human beings, but I deserve to be treated well. I deserve to be loved. I deserve for someone to be proud of me.

This weekend I am going to brainstorm goals and values that my new family will live by. I am real excited about this new opportunity. All the past years are lost and I can’t get them back, but I have learned a lot. Going forward I can create an environment that provides me with exactly what I deserve. I no longer will have these “christians” in my life and I wish them the best. But, the best for me is without them.

Perhaps this is a personal matter that will scare off any readers of this blog. But the truth is, this is who I am. I strive to be a good person and I am happy.

an interesting day. the level of dishonesty in some people amazes me. christians. the ones I know don’t seem to understand that values are usually attached to that noun. all that matters in today’s society is ones self, not minding if others are crushed on the way. they proclaim their christianity while lying and spitting in one’s face.

bummer days mean I need to focus on gratitude. today i am grateful for:

• independence
• perseverance
• determination

having steam to blow off isn’t bad. perhaps the end result is strength.

[Edit: I know I offended Doughy by this post, so am adding a disclaimer. This post is about a niche group of Christians, not all Christians or Mormons or anything else as a whole. I was basically blowing off some steam concerning a personal situation. Sorry Doughy... please still be my friend.]

This past week was a little volatile for me and filled with a handful of bummer days, which is out of the ordinary. In hindsight, I believe there were just many variables all colliding within the same week. However, during the bummer week I had five friends who just went out of their way to help me out, to which I wanted to say thank you.

• One day I came home from work and noticed a package in the mail. I looked at the stamp and noticed the British pound symbol and instantly smiled. Inside was a fantastic cd and the best card, sent as a late birthday present from my British Team Buddha friends.
• The next day was yet another struggle, but once again I came home to find surprises awaiting in the mail. I had a new Cheyenne cd from my friend Harper in New York and a big box full of cereal from my good friend Sam (the cereal being an inside joke).
• Shaft and I went out to a symphony on Friday. I always know the program prior to attending, but this night was an exception where we had gotten tickets last minute, not being able to read up on the show prior to attendance. To our surprise, it was a light-hearted performance of family fun music and a magician. With anyone else the show might have seemed silly, but since I was with Shaft I could laugh out loud and thoroughly enjoy the illusions.
• My friend Sam was in the Salt Lake area this weekend. On Saturday we went to a play and enjoyed some supper afterwards. The night was fantastic because we had the chance to just chat openly about life, fears, hopes, etc. I find conversations with Sam to be refreshing.
• Mr. Math left me a kind note and some delicious cookies, which made me smile.

Thanks everyone. I appreciated your kind gestures.

This weekend was such a blast that I thought I might ramble about it a little on the Crag Baby blog.

Friday: My work day finished up at the Nanotech Conference at the University of Utah. I went just for the afternoon portion to hear the discussions on commercializations. The event was informative with interesting speakers and attendees. That evening Shaft and I went to the Sarah Vowell reading at Capitol Theater. I had received the tickets through my volunteer work at KCPW and it was such a treat. Sarah Vowell was hilarious and I can’t wait to get her new book for my father. After the reading, Shaft and I enjoyed dinner at Cafe Molise and sipped some martinis at The Red Door. Man, I love Chocolatinis!

Saturday: I participated in the Deadpoint Comp at The Front. The problems were diverse with a whole section of crimpy problems sprinkled in with a good handful of sloper and reachy problems. My friends and I even luckily ended up with some great prizes including a free month to The Front (which I gave to Ms. Pear so that we can climb together in the gym) and a gift certificate for some free running shoes (which Shaft gave to me). Later that evening I attended one of the best parties at my friend Eric’s house. It consisted of a great crew of folks in costume, all enjoying the catered sushi and the open bar. Pictured above is me and Jules.

Sunday: I lazily enjoyed the morn with the CB-GBers and caught up on some reading. I took the CB-GBers for a small hike and hung out with two of my favorite kids. I was going to go climbing, but sometimes it is nice just to lay low.

Life is great! I love to savor the good times so that I can reflect back when times are bumpy. I really am grateful for the people in my life, the awesome job I am lucky enough to work, the area in which I live, plus so much more.