the tundrah blog

so, for all my bitching and whining about being here, today was one of the days i was/am truly greatful to live here. i woke up this morning, did my usual routine, got ready for work, fed the cats, thought about whats going on after work that i would need any clothing or gear for. i planned on it being a normal work day, as in being in the office all day, maybe going to the gym later this eve. it had snowed a bit last nite down in my neck of the woods but nothing impressive. i was plannig on going up on Saturday with my Outside ad rep who is coming up for the weekend, so hadn't really thought about going today. when i got into work, late at about 8:30, everyone was all abuzz about going out on the hill. i almost didnt go, for lack of all the proper gear and mental prep, but i threw on my stuff anyway and headed out with four other peeps from the marketing department. when we got up there, at worst, there was a foot of fresh on all the runs. and, even better, i was with the OG Sun Valley kids who know their way around the hill. we had about six or seven runs of purely amazing fresh--did some traversing to nooks and crannies that we were pretty much the first to hit. when the bowls opened, we were about due to get back to the office, but we did one more run that ended up right under a mostly untracked chairline--it was sooo butter in there about 2 feet or more of new, people on the chair were hollering at me. one guy in particular was yelling at me, at first i couldnt hear what he was saying (i was a little preoccupied with seeing through the faceshots), then i made out "marry me! marry me!" i think he was just overly excited with the great conditions, but i still got an ego boost from it. yay for pow days. :)

so, last night i went to the Blaine County Idaho Democratic Caucus. I've never been to an event like that--it was pretty fascinating. The deal was that you got there, put your initial vote in for your candidate (you did not need to be actually registered to vote, nor show any sort of identification-scary), then went to stand in your candidate's area. fyi, there was little to no organization to this. there were 270 people crammed into a senior center, of which i'm betting the max capacity was supposed to be about 200. so it was chaos--it was hard to tell where you were supposed to be and what the hell was going on. once you sort of got into your "area", they began tallying the initial votes. then once they announced the numbers, a representative from each camp (not at all official--whomever in each group seemed the most passionate) went up front to claim why they should get more votes. they also fielded questions from the crowd and the undecided people. upon first count, Kerry had about 75% of the votes--the remaining groups--Edwards, Dean, Kucinch(sp?, sorry), and Undecided--were split about evenly with the rest of the votes. Kerry definitely had the most organized camp--he also is a part-time resident here, he and his Heinz-heiress wife have a 2nd or 3rd home here. they also had the most "smarmy" representatives--by far the most politico types in the room. his main rep was this glossy older guy who looks like he spends a lot of time in a tanning bed, talked with a fake New England accent, and kept name dropping about his neighbors "John and Teresa". that was a big turn off for Angie and I.

after the question answer part--all the non-Kerry types, and some of those who were changing their minds all went in a separate room to try to get at least one non-Kerry delegate to the next stage (i believe its the Idaho primary?). there was much huffing and puffing and arguing, but we went from having initially 16 people in the Edwards camp, to the necessary 41 to get him a delegate. it was very cool, but chaotic and frustrating. all these people kept holding out for Dean, even though he's not exactly in the race anymore. and there was this crazed Kucinich lady who was making small animal noses and throwing temper tantrums. Anyways, it was a sight, and i'm glad we went.

other than that, still working on some other job stuff... werd up.

.l

"when you flew through that windshield, and your life passed by reel to reel, was there a bit part for me?"

so. working on lots of stuff. or maybe not quite "working on" just yet, but lots of marbles rolling around in the 'ol head. may have a possible job opportunity back in the SD, will keep all y'alls posted. also am still brainstorming on the whole retail thing....

i was going to write a real post, but just noticed how late it is... must. get. home.

ps. whatever you do, beware of getting tapped into iTunes. "oh, only 99 cents a pop" you say. next thing you know you have 37 seperate charges on our bank card from good old Appledotcom.... but i did download some gems already that i otherwise wouldn't want to deal with buying.... namely Ryan Adams cover of "Wonderwall". i never have particularly cared for either Ryan Adams, nor Oasis, but the combo is just right. haunting even.

anyways. late!

friday friday. nothing much to report on this front. it's been snowing slash raining and pretty much everything is a huge nasty icy mess around here... on this weekends agenda is hacking away at the ice mounds that are encroaching towards my windows. sweet.

i feel like i've probably said this before, but i'm going to say it again because i've really been obsessing about it lately. i don't really like living here. i love my job, hands down. but pretty much the second i walk out the door to go home or go out or to try to be social, i feel like a fish out of water. there are definitely people here who i enjoy being around, and i think there are genuinely nice and cool people in this town. but, i dont think i ever will be a piece that fits. there's this weird feeling i get here that i can't quite explain--maybe i'm reading into this small-town defensiveness that comes out in people. the cliques develop and maybe this sounds self-absorbed, but i think especially girls/women around here are threatened by a single girl with a good job and a house and etc. i dont know. i wonder if sometimes i maybe just haven't given it enough a chance, or that because i've had a wary attitude since day one that i've never completely allowed myself to accept this place. i stick out like a sore thumb and its definitely been pointed out to me in not so many words. whatever. i'm tired of feeling lonesome. i miss Pete, i miss Eryn, i miss my family, i miss the group of people i've worked with and around. but, i've come to find that i'm desperately influenced by my sense of place. this place has no emotional kick for me. i have other places that i've lived in that i've fallen in love with, but thats also probably partly due to the emotions i associate with that place. and obviously i have no connection here. the pull of home is just so great right now, i can't stand it.

part of my reason for thinking about this so much lately is that i've been obsessing on a business idea that i would want to work on at home. maybe it's just me sub-conciously trying to get out of being here, but i really think i could pull it off. if anyone sees retail space open up in downtown Encinitas, let me know.

happy weekend all.
xoxo.

so, sorry for the lapse. it was a long but good week, and the computer was uncooperative in the meantime. somewhere along the way i picked up some sort of blaster/virus deal that booted me off every time i tried to use dial up. computer is repaired, and am now back in the ID, where it is snowing heartily. i of course lagged on bring any riding gear to work, so instead will go home at lunch to shovel snow. joy joy. i need the exercise.

"what about the goddamned party?" you are asking... well, it was fairly swanky. but, also, not quite as star-studded as the promotion-types had claimed. i did see Pharrel, which was cool. it was basically a hipster-fancy-LA-people type affair--cool venue, open bar, really good DJ--but, i didn't exactly find it extraordinary. i think if we had had a posse of friends around, it could have been a really good time. we did meet some nice guys who we chatted with, danced some, other than that it was just kinda normal. but, whatevs, sorry for the anticlimactic synopsis, wish i had some exciting story about meeting Beyonce and getting to drink champagne in Jay-Z's limo. a small part of me wishes i had stayed in my comfort zone and gone to see the Shins, but i'll just chalk it up to another glamorous experience in the jet-setting life of me. heh.

what else. not much, just recovering as always for the travel stuff---rearranging my furniture back into its proper coordinates after the cleaning people moved everything out of whack, reassuring the cats i wont leave again in the next few days, piling up disgusting-looking tupperware findings in the corner of the fridge to be disposed of in the near future...

off to answer emails and shovel some snow.

werd.

so once again, the life of average girl receives an unexpected invitation... what invitation you ask, dear reader? oh, that would be an invitation to the Spin/Vibe post-Grammys party on Sunday night, i shit you not. random circumstances propelled by a very nice guy in the music industry created a sequence of events that somehow has landed me a ticket to one of the cooler tinsel town parties of the year. freakish? yes, for sure. i'm sure my sister and i will stand in the corner oggling celebrities and their entourages... i'm trying not to expect too much in case it turns out to be a colossal flop. what i would truly really love though, would be a Beyonce sighting. that would truly make my year. but again, whatevs, it should be entertaining regardless.

the other part to all of this, and i'm sure someone reading this will think i'm mad for even mentioning it, is that the whole reason i was even going to be in So Cal on Sunday is that my most favoritest Shins are playing that nite in San Diego. i bought tickets for it a month ago with Pete and now i'm deserting him at the chance that i might get to see rock stars. sad, but true.

other than that, i'm leaving again tonite, am really excited to get to go home and veg and ride and sleep and see the friends and fam again. even am planning a trip out to the avocado grove with the Moms on saturday.... i can revel in the San Diego-ness of it all....

wish me luck, i'm sure i'll recap on Monday morning.

.l

hi kidlets.

i really should be powering away at work, but instead i'm enjoying my computer time (sad but true), catching up on friends blogs and sites i haven't checked out recently. also, the image above is from my new favorite artist. crazy cool stuff, and he's a nice guy to boot. go to: hybrid heart dot com.

so the tradeshow tour was just lovely. i lost my voice in Vegas on day two, which was not cool. i tried staying in one night, and woke up the next morning worse off than when i stayed out drinkin' and ragin'.... the highlight was definitely on the last night in Vegas--we were one of the co-sponsors of the Hard Rock High-Roller Rail Jam--snow was created, scaffolding and rails were built and a real-life legit rail contest was held--complete with big name supah-stars and the like. it went really well, here's a link if yer interested..... then, afterwards, we struggled our way through the 18 VIP lines (at one point i was so pissed that i started screaming at a bouncer "i fuckin' paid xxxx$$$ for this goddamn thing--you better let us in NOW!!!"--sadly, it worked.) to Baby's for a rockin' good time. the DJ was one of the best i've heard--played new and quality old tunes--including a Slick Rick song that i have vivid memories of listening to wide-eyed while of junior high age.... anyways, it was a super-good time. i'm not much of a partier, but that was definitely rad.

we then went on to Salt Lake where i was pretty burnt and avoided responsibility as best as possible. for some reason the Outdoor show brings out the best in the way of product-beggars and hangers-on... ugh. but, was spoiled by my ad reps, lots of nice dinners and a spa treatment... also snuck off and saw Return of the King the second time with my design guys. they are the best. so fun and easy to hang with, plus they kick ass...

so, i'm back for a few, then off to Mammoth for next week for some psuedo-working and lots of shredding. historically every On Snow Demo has seen a big dump, hopefully it will hold true this year....

thanks for the sweet comments, will talk to you all soon.
xoxo.

am home for the time being. survived losing my voice, a Rail Jam in the Hard Rock parking lot followed by a Pole Jam at a club, too many days in Salt Lake City battling granola heads, and finally being bussed home from Twin Falls last night due to bad weather. sweet.

more later.

.l