Turn of the Seasons.

Fall has the synonym autumn. Why don't the other seasons have synonyms? Or do they, and I just don't know what they are? I tried to look them up in the thesaurus but didn't find anything. I did find it interesting, however, what the dictionary said about all four season as they pertain to different stages of life.

Spring is the first stage and freshest period.

Summer is the period of finest development, perfection, or beauty previous to any decline.

Fall (or autumn) is a time of full maturity, especially the late stages of full maturity or, sometimes, the early stages of decline.

Winter is the last or final period of life; a period of decline, decay, inertia, dreariness, or adversity. Kind of depressing sounding, isn't it?

Now, I am certainly passed the spring of my life. I am well beyond fresh. However, I don't think I could say that I have gotten to my finest development or perfection or beauty. Does that mean I am in the fall stage of life, or have I jumped completely to winter? I am quite healthy physically, so I don't think I would consider myself in any kind of decay. However, dreariness and adversity fit aptly. Can one go back to other seasons, or does one have to follow the natural order of nature? Hmmm..

The reason I bring this up is because for our annual company kick-off meeting, we went up to Snowbird and got to play around. There was something about being in the mountains with crisper atmosphere that signified to me that fall was here. Although the days have been still warm, the mornings and evenings have definitely gotten cooler. I am excited because fall is my favorite season. Anyway, we had a meeting in the morning, then had lunch, and then had the rest of the day to play around. We went on the tram to the very top of the mountain, and it was so nice. Here are some pictures of the view.





We also got to go down the Alpine slide. I guess like any business a ski resort would have to offer something during the off season. I don't know how to put a video on this, but here is a link to one instead. And this is the result of going too fast around a curve. Oops.


It's a lot worse than it looks. It's really deep.

Hearing First Hand Accounts of Yourself.

One day during my freshman year of college, I was in the community bathroom just finishing my shower, when I heard a coworker and another girl talking. It didn't take me long to realize that they were talking about me. They didn't know I was there and spoke freely thinking that I would never know. It was interesting to learn their perspective of the situation and what they thought of me. I think they were jealous.

Well, a similar but much more comical situation happened to my roommate. So, get this. My fun, personable, 18-year-old, cosmetologist roommate set me up with a guy who came in to get his hair cut. We went out to dinner about a month ago to...Dairy Queen. Now it would be one thing to meet there for ice cream, but for dinner it is a different story. I intended to post about it, but I never got around to it. So we joke around about it and like to get other people's reactions. Well, it so happened that yesterday she set up my other roommate with another of her clients and gave him a polite recommendation to not take her to Dairy Queen. She kept joking about it as she gave the next client a hair cut, exclaiming bewilderedly, "Who would take a girl to Dairy Queen on a first date!?"

So, the guy gives her a good tip and as he leaves, says, "I don't like to do big things on first dates." It took her a little while and some help from her boss to realize that he was the guy who took me to DQ! She was humiliated. When she got home she told me the story and we had a good laugh. Then, about 10 minutes later, I got a text from the guy. He wrote that he hoped that I didn't think he was a jerk for taking me to DQ and that he is not cheap. The thing is, money doesn't mean much to me. It's the effort. What are the chances?! All in all, I think things smoothed over enough. The hard part is that I will most likely be seeing him at church on Sunday.

So, guys, if you are going to take a girl to DQ, just tell her that you are going for ice cream, and you won't have any problems.

Amusement Parks Bring Out the Weirdos.

Every year my company takes us to Lagoon, a local amusement park, for our summer party. I look forward to it every year because it is free and I get half the day off, paid. I probably would never go otherwise. It's smaller, the rides are short and the lines are long, but it is sufficient. I enjoy the rush of the rides. But I think I would be plenty entertained there not going on the rides and just watching the people. I like to watch people; and there, there are all sorts. I am sure they think I am creepy and that I am judging them, but if they think that then they're judging me and we would be even. Well, as I was waiting in line for my favorite ride, Colossus—one with a lot of drops and loops—I happened to look down at a rather masculine foot with polished toe nails. I'm still wondering what the logic is. I thought I would share.


Some times, the farther away the better. But just in case you wanted a close-up.

Three Days of Wakeboarding and Still Not Sick of It.

My New "Office" Space.

I don't want to call it an office because it certainly is no office. This is my new view.



I have been trying to think of some pros to this new arrangement, and after some time I've come up with a couple.

1) I feel like I am in a more stereotypical office space.

2) I've met a few new people.

Oh, and 3) I am closer to the break room. Although, that might not turn out to be such a good thing.

That's all I've been able to come up with so far. And I am not optimistic about finding some others.

Utah Summer Games Triathlon.

This was another first for me. I have never done a swimming race before. That was pretty exciting. It was also the first time that I really did an open water swim. Unfortunately, the race overall was not as fulfilling as I had hoped it would be. I don't know if that was because I did a relay and can't say that I did the whole thing, or if, after doing a half marathon, it just wasn't as grueling. It was fun to be in that atmosphere again. I am certainly going to do a full one at some point. I am hoping that the next TriUtah Woman of Steel is somewhere close because that is one I really want to do. I have wanted to do it for two years now, but I keep missing the registration. I need to get a bicycle so I can start training.

St. George was really nice though. The weather was beautiful. I was worried that the water was going to be too cold. It was at first, but after I got going it was quite nice. It was a little hot for running though.

Not that I am extremely proud of my time, but here is a link to the results .

Working for a "New" Company.

The rumors finally came to fruition. I had heard that FranklinCovey was thinking about selling part of the company. Apparently, they had been thinking about it for many years. Well, today they called us all into a surprise meeting and announced that they just signed the papers that sold my half of the company to an investment firm, Peterson Partners. So, after the closing date (sometime in June or July) I will be working for FranklinCovey Products, LLC.

From what people say, this change will offer more opportunities to do things that before weren't "related" to our business. I think that as long as I have my job and get paid as much, I am ok with whatever. Hopefully it is true because I would like to branch into some other things.

There is one drawback, however. Because this new company is a private company and FranklinCovey remains a public company, we have to be physically completely separate. This means, I have to move. Right now I have a nice office with a window. Now, I have to move to a cubicle with no hope of seeing daylight. No more naps under the desk, no more closing the door for personal phone calls. It will be an adjustment, but I've had to deal with that before. I've gone from cubicle, to door, to door and window. I've come full circle.

This is my current office. (It's kind of messy because I just moved from my door only office.) I will have to post again after I move to the cube.