A Different Spin

I have been back from Uganda a little over one month now, and well as busy as I have been the things I have been doing have been drastically less exciting then my prior six months in Uganda. For those of you who are mysteriously interested in my not so interesting life as of current, this is for you!

When I arrived in Salt Lake City, my good friend Taralee and Brendan were kind enough to let me stay with them in their recently purchased house. I am currently still residing here probably for another month of so until I start my job and can find my own place. Being the great friend Taralee is she also recommended that I work with her at Fidelity. At first I was a little put off by the idea being that I hate math and finance has never been my forte. After some though however, I decided that it would be a good challenge for me. On a personal level I am pretty stoked to learn about investments and finance and the company seems to be a really great place to work. Needless to say I start my new job on Monday as a financial advisor. The first four months however will be training to learn the ins and outs of a completely foreign field.

The second week I was back in Utah I decided to drive to Vernal to visit the family. On the way back I hit an elk totaling my car. It was sad being that 1.) I killed the elk, and 2.) My ever so dandy car is gone. On the upside I did get a new car. Although it is not my dream car (hybrid) it is a very nice car that I hope will last me a few years until I have the finances to buy my hybrid. The car I currently has is a green Saturn Ion. Although I have not finished a full tank of gas yet, it is appearing that it is getting at least 35 miles to the gallon and possibly a bit over.

Another busy thing I have been doing is dental work. When I was in Uganda one of my tooth implants came out!!! I had it temporarily fixed in by which I mean glued to my other teeth. When I came back I found out that it was not as easy of a fix as I had hoped. I had to have surgery because the screw had broken off of the cap and part of it was stuck in my implant. After going under the “knife” so to speak it was found that not only was the screw stuck in there it was not possible to remove. This left me with the option of having to replace the entire implant!!!!

I am still in the midst of figuring this situation out being that it is a very expensive procedure that really should not have happened in the first place. We will be negotiating with our dentist whom I believe was negligent in placing the crown causing the tooth to come out. Although he is a very nice man I don’t believe I should be responsible in paying for a mistake he made. When he originally screwed the crown in it was loose. He never took it out. At the time he said he was worried it would ruin the entire implant so he thought we should wait for it to come off by itself. Little did he know that by leaving the tooth loose it would break the screw causing much more damage than he thought. In retrospect and speaking with a couple of specialists, he should have actually taken it out in the fist place.

On top of trying to replace my tooth, getting a new car, and starting a new job I have mostly been wondering around visiting friends and family. Although I have had nothing to do I have stayed very busy doing “nothing.” I am, however, looking forward to starting my new job and will hopefully be moving in to a new apartment shortly. For those of you who don’t care about these things (which I imagine is most) sorry its not more interesting. For those of you who do care I will try and write more another day!

Washington D.C.

While in Uganda my good pal Josh and I e-mailed frequently. Amongst our conversations of politics, world events, and random banter we decided it was past due for a visit. When I booked my flight home I decided to stop in DC for a week for the purpose of seeing Josh. It was a spectacular time of pure laziness and relaxation.

My flight from Uganda to Washington DC was surprisingly very pleasant. While waiting in the Entebbe airport I noticed that the girl sleeping across the way was indeed one of the acquaintances I had met on my river rafting trip three days prior. When she woke we did a bit of seat swapping and sat next to each other on the way to London. It was a lot of fun. In the meantime I met one of her acquaintances whom were stopping in London for a couple of days. Lorinne was also stopping in London for a day. Both of them tried to talk me in to changing my ticket and spending at least a day touring with them. Although I was tempted, I opted out wishing them both the best of luck.

When I arrived in DC Josh was there waiting. I spent the next week catching up with him and getting to know his wonderful girlfriend and friends. They were all very welcoming and a blast to be around. Most of the trip consisted of playing Wii, Guitar Heroes, Sing star, and general bantering. We went on a hike which was also a lot of fun. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and can not wait for Josh and Abby to come visit SLC in which I hope I will be as great a hostess.