Happenings

1. I read an interesting book this week called "Pretty is What Changes." It is about a woman's struggle to decide whether or not to have a prophylactic (preventative) mastectomy when she finds out she has a gene that makes her highly likely to one day get breast cancer. It made me think and it made me cry, so it was a darn good book according to my criteria.
2. I went on my final Goblin Valley/San Rafael Trip for work. (Was that really this past week? It feels like forever ago.) It was crazy windy! I had to sprint away from the fire every time the wind picked up and still got a few ouchies. And the sand! Oh, the sand! It was everywhere! My teeth, nose, eyes, hair, sleeping bag, water...EVERYWHERE. The first day actually wasn't as bad. It was HOT (it was forecast to be 97...I don't know if it made it), but a storm started to come in late afternoon and it rained a bit, which cooled things down. It was still too hot to sleep in the tent, though. This made for a dilemma. Do we sleep in the hot and stuffy tent, our one haven from the sand, or do we sleep outside and brave the sandstorms? In the end, we chose outside. I had to keep turning my face every time the wind blew, but eventually I fell asleep and didn't notice it anymore. When I woke up, I could hardly open my eyes and my face felt like sandpaper. Oh, but lest you think this account is a complaint, please note that I was grateful for this experience. The whole trip, I thought "I'm so glad I have a place to live that provides protection from the elements!"
3. I watched the new Indiana Jones. I don't get understand all the complaints about the movie. I thought it was thoroughly entertaining. And I may have a crush on Shia LeBeouf.
4. This may seem boring, but I got a new work phone! Now, my phone/radio actually looks like a cell phone instead of a satellite phone. That thing was huge.
5. In light of my recent discovery of the joys of solitary recreation, I took a drive up American Fork Canyon today. I mostly drove around and looked at the mountain scenery. I also got out of the car and wandered around a meadow for a while, looking for some good photo ops. I found this amazing little creature which I later found out from this great website is a hummingbird moth. It's called that because it's actually a moth that is often mistaken for a hummingbird. I also photographed another moth (or maybe a butterfly) and I think I got a pretty good picture...which is good because I accidentally knelt on an ant bed to get that picture and I would have been bugged (pun intended) if it had been in vain. So the first two pictures are of the hummingbird moth, the third is an unidentified moth, and the fourth is me by the river that is next to the moth meadow. It was a beautiful spot!