City Creek Center

SLC's City Creek Center opens on March 22nd. It is highly anticipated by Utahns and I am really looking forward to sharing it with visiting family and friends. CCC will add 700,000 sq. ft. of shopping and restaurants to the downtown area with a retractable roof and pedestrian skybridge.  There is also a residential area of the center that is owned by the LDS church. The three stores that I am most looking forward to are Zagg, LUSH and Restoration Hardware. For a list of stores, dining and entertainment, check out the the CCC website.

Back to Business

I saw a segment on Studio 5 about a meet and greet for Utah Bloggers on Wednesday, February 22nd. It was hosted by Soel Boutique and See Jane Blog. I did not attend but it did give me inspiration to get back to business. I often have those moments of "that would make a great blog post" and then I forget when I get busy with something else.  I just need to get into the habit of blogging at least 3-4 times per week.

GOP Primary - Romney vs. Huntsman

There is a buzz of excitement here in Utah regarding the GOP primaries.  Two of the candidates, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, Jr., are LDS.  Huntsman served as Governor of Utah for four years and left office with an 80% approval rate. 

Huntsman is well liked in Utah as he was a very good governor.  However, Mitt Romney is the savior of the 2002 Olympics. Saving the Olympics brought (and continues to bring) millions of dollars to Utah. The U.S. economy is a disaster, due to the statist approach of the current administration and Washington's seeming inability or unwillingness to roll up their sleeves and fix the problem with capitalist solutions and reduction of the behemoth that is our bloated government. Whether LDS or not, Utahns have seen first hand his ability to turn around disasters so they are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Social Issues

Both men state they are "pro-life".  However, the LDS church reaffirmed abortion as a permissible choice in 1999 under the following qualifications: life of the mother is seriously endangered, good health of the mother is seriously endangered, pregnancy was caused by rape or incest, the fetus has severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth. So when they say they are "pro-life", this is for the benefit of the evangelicals in the Republican primaries.  Mormons allow exceptions but many other Christians do not.  (Unless said person is Rick Santorum and then there is only an exception for his wife but no one else on the planet.)

They are split on same-sex marriage.  Romney is against it personally but believes that it is up to each state to determine the rules for recognition of marriage.  He does not see it as a federal issue.  Huntsman does not want the current definition of marriage to change but wholeheartedly believes in civil unions. He supported bills for civil unions but none ever came across his desk for signature.  This is why Huntsman was so popular in SLC, the Gayest City in America.  Many Mormons do not have an issue with homosexuality and the right of marriage for them.  The LDS church has an issue with changing the definition of marriage from one man/one woman.  It invites an uproar from the polygamists to have their "celestial marriages" recognized by the state.  This is a very sensitive issue in Utah.

Here's where things get tricky for Utahns.  Both men are LDS.  However, Romney has served as a local lay clergy (in Massachusetts, not Utah) and tithed, sending millions of dollars to the church.  Huntsman states he is "spiritual" and draws from "an array of sources for inspiration".  Therefore, the LDS leadership issued a "temple recommend" for Mitt Romney.

I do not think that Huntsman will remain in the race much longer so all of this may be a moot point.

UPDATE: Governor Huntsman dropped out of the race on January 16, 2012.

Ski Utah

Utah's ski community markets the ski resorts as having "The Greatest Snow on Earth".  Not having seen all of the snow on earth, I am not sure how this was determined but it certainly seems as though we really do have great powder.  Ski Utah and the Utah Ski & Snowboard Association were founded in 1975. They promote the resorts to both skiers and snowboarders.  January is National Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month and Ski Utah is promoting deals for learning how to ski or snowboard this winter which can be found here <http://www.skiutah.com/winter/locals/lssm>

If you are not a local, Ski and Snowboard Month's website has a contest where you can win a 4-day trip to Utah to check out our gorgeous snow and have a great time at the ski resorts.

Grocery Shopping Like a Mormon

Because of the availability of items for food storage, I have learned to grocery shop like a Mormon. Mormons believe that they are commanded by God to keep one year of food storage.  This is calculated at three meals per day per person in the household.  They also supposed to have a 72-hour emergency kit.  There are 11 Costco stores and 9 Sam's Club stores in Utah. There is also a bulk product store chain - Macey's. Often times, regular grocery stores (and Walmart) have bulk sales where they line the larger aisles with 20-lb.+ bags of items that keep for a long time and massive stacks of canned goods.  In addition, Utah has several companies that produce dehydrated and freeze-dried foods for storage kits. The upside to bulk purchases is that price per portion for our meals has gone done significantly.  I eat a vegan diet so most of the foods for our meals can be purchased in bulk.  The downside is that we do not have a significant amount of space in which to house the items.  I also have to make sure that Skip is available to accompany me when I purchase certain items, such as the bags of beans and rice, which are 20-lbs. each.

The Mormon culture of food storage has definitely changed my grocery shopping habits and meal choices, despite not being a member of the Mormon faith.

Inversions

One of the down sides of living in the Wasatch Valley - temperature inversions.  We have had less snow so far this winter and this results in more and/or longer inversions. For example, this week the inversion is expected to last 5 days. Temperature inversions are caused by warm air holding down cooler air in the valley with the warm air acting as a lid. This lid holds in pollution from vehicles, factories and wood smoke. Even people who do not have allergies have a rough time and it is dangerous for people with asthma or COPD.  I can only imagine how horrible the air quality was in the days of coal burning stoves.  We rely on the snowstorms to clean out the valley's air in the winter so hopefully, there is significant snow on the way.

Crazy Winds

Freaky weather event today.  I am not sure if this is normal for this time of year.  Serious winds in the canyons and it is very interesting, at least to me, that this event followed a couple of days of inversion.  The valley is definitely being cleaned out by the winds.  North of Salt Lake City, the canyons near Bountiful are clocking 93 mph winds (hurricane force) and in Centerville, 96 mph gusts.  The wind speeds are definitely increasing as the day goes on.  Semis have been toppled over.  Travel in and out of any of the canyons is either being discouraged or shut down completely. Running the trains has become very dangerous in certain areas and the Frontrunner trains are stalled between Layton and Woods cross.  For now, TRAX is still functioning. UDOT will try to rescue the passengers on the Frontrunners but buses would not be a good idea as they are high-profile vehicles and will have the same problems with the winds as the semis.  Transformers have been blown out and approximately 12,000 homes and businesses are without power.  Debris is slamming into vehicles and homes.  Many of the descriptions by the various newspeople sounds very much like a Category 2 hurricane but with snow instead of rain. Amazingly, school has not been cancelled or delayed.  If I had a school-aged child, there is no way that I would allow them to ride a bus to school, especially since authorities are recommending that EVERYONE stay off of the interstates and out of the canyons.

UPDATE:  Centerville Schools announced that they are indeed closed for today.  Somebody came to their senses.