apparently i have more internet connection here than i originally thought. "thank god," you say. i heard you. don't lie.

to get the important things out of the way, my grandmother is recovering very well from her surgery. she's starting to do some walking exercises, and the nurse (who we've taken to calling "nurse ratched") says that she'll probably be home thursday or friday. this is very good news.

there are a few things i've discovered about people in utah. their sense of security is varied. for example, some people don't lock their car doors, but they still put those big metal lock things on the steering wheel. the people next door lock their house, but they leave their back door wide open so the dog can get in and out as desired.

a lot of people here don't wear sunglasses. i was driving down 3900 this morning and as i passed the cars waiting to turn onto the road, i noticed that the drivers had thrown their arms over their eyes to shield themselves from the sun. shortly after, the radio was giving me the traffic report, and there were about three times the crashes than there are in minnesota. coincidence?

another thing i've learned is how damn conservative this state is. not necessarily politically (well... probably that too), but more so in how they act. for example, you cannot buy a car on a sunday. this is apparently true in minnesota, but that rule has been in place for quite some time. this is a RECENTLY IMPLEMENTED rule in utah. also, malt beverages like mike's hard lemonade are coming under fire because they're too readily accessable to "novice drinkers," so they're being moved OUT OF REACH.

but the weather is nice here. and there are a lot of mountains. big mountains. mountains with names like MOUNT OLYMPUS. how many mountains in minnesota have names like MOUNT OLYMPUS? that's right. none of them.

ps: i have no idea what's happening in pop culture, so if someone (sam/kim) wants to leave me comments with the big stories, that would be great.