Finally...News

Hey There,
By the title of my e-mail I don't mean to infer that I haven't had lots of news to share lately...quite the contrary actually. However, I've been waiting for final word on some especially exciting news until I e-mailed you once again. So here it is...as some of you have probably guessed....My internship site has officially offered me a job which I have accepted! I'm pumped! I love Salt Lake City and so far and all of the people I've worked with at my internship are amazing. I will be working part-time as a research assistant and spending the rest of my time training the acceleration athletes. It looks like I'll get a nice combination of hands-on research experience and hands-on training of athletes. Since TOSH (The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital) also obviously does orthopedic surgery procedures I get the experience of working in a more clinical setting as well. So far everything about staying here is a plus. And still not a Culver's to work at within 100 miles! Great huh? So if anyone is wondering...I'll be an Exercise Specialist at TOSH by the time I'm home for Christmas. Yippee!
Speaking of Christmas, I found cheap airline tickets so I'll be flying home instead of taking the train. Not getting paid for the last three months has done nothing to increase me pocketbook so for awhile I was thinking I would have to spend 35 hours on a train and/or bus :(. I'm glad I found a flight since I'll probably be anxious to get home quickly once that day comes. Dates of my Christmas visit will be December 15th until January 1st. I'm hoping to do a lot of visiting while I'm home since I'll be flying back to SLC and hitting the job here really hard after the holidays.
What else I've been up to...I spent the entire past weekend taking video clips of the Speedskaters at the World Cup event here at the Oval for biomechanical analysis. It was fun since I got a special credential and got to hang out where the normal spectators couldn't go. I wish I would have realized the credential got me free food on the first day instead of the last ;) Apparently probably 6 million or so people in Europe saw me on TV...but here in the US speedskating isn't covered very well...I think they put bull-riding or something like that on instead...Bah!
My parents got out here to visit a week or so ago. They finally saw the mountains, although we had a bit of an inversion when they were here and the weather was sort of rainy. Thankfully, they being hearty Wisconsin farmers, we just bundled up and still managed to see most of the sites (though they were somewhat rainy/cloudy and I cursed the weather all weekend long). What we really need here right now is a good snowstorm. We've been having a bit of an inversion...basically causing the valley to be smoggy and cooler than it should be and it to be warmer at higher elevations. A good snowstorm will clear it right up. Not to mention make the skiers very VERY happy. Otherwise the weather here continues to be wonderful. Mostly sunny and high in the mid-upper 40's. No snow in the city yet but a few ski resorts have been able to open in the mountains.
I must send props to Ben Craker...the first non-family member to visit me here in SLC. Everyone else should come to town on business too so we can go do lunch ;)
I will be spending Thanksgiving with a friend from work and a few of her friends. All of them have families that are out of state and will not be able to visit them for Thanksgiving. I had several offers for Thanksgiving dinner actually...and for awhile we joked that people would need to submit menus so I could make a more informed decision. I was sold by Tara's peanut butter ice cream pie...I'll be bringing a big spoon...MMMMmmm...who needs turkey anyways? ;)
Since my last e-mail I have also had my first experience with sushi. I can say that although going to a classy restaurant with the kids from work was fun...I'd rather grill out around a bonfire and eat off a tailgate on somebody's back 40 than eat sushi again real soon. I don't want to say I hated it..but I do believe it will take some experimentation to figure out what I like.
There's so much I've probably left out here but I can save all of that for Christmas. A few of you are MIA...You know who you are...and I hope to hear from you soon. :) Take care and have a great Thanksgiving!
Steph~