Tag: utah

Personal

SLC 2020 Earthquake

| E. Sosa

It was 7:09 am on Wednesday March 18th, 2020. I was still sleeping when all of a sudden I was abruptly woken up by a 5.7 magnitude earthquake. It was scary. I was laying in bed, and immediately got up to find cover and hang on. I kept calling Champ to come to me, but the little guy was terrified. He went to a corner of the apartment and just sat there scared. He even peed himself and he has never had an accident as an adult; understandable given he or I have been through something like this. The quake lasted for a good 30 seconds if I’m not mistaking. I was living in one of those newer condos in downtown SLC, so I could feel the whole building sway. Once the earthquake was over I immediately put on some clothes and went outside. Did ya catch the date above? March 2020, what else was happening in March? Hmmmmm….

Right, we’re in the beginning of what was at the time a scary new coronavirus spreading! As soon as I exited my building I saw everyone was distancing and just scared because of what just happened. Right across the street there was a park with a big soccer field, so I went there to go wait things out a bit. Luckily we ran into Champ’s best friend so I just let the two of them play out there while I contacted my family and friends.

It was safe to go back in, but unfortunately the power was out and not coming back until 10p that day; I found it weird Rocky Mountain gave us a specific time. So I decided to go to my company’s office; it was going to be empty anyways, and empty it was. I did bring Champ with me because he was frighten. The aftershocks were scaring him and we had more than 50 aftershocks 2 hours after the quake, I couldn’t leave him home alone without power. In the office one of the Security Guards saw him, but gave me a pass saying “I didn’t see a dog here;” thankful for that. Afterwards I went to my sisters place to wait for the power to come back, and right when the clock struck 10p lo and behold the power was back.

What’s the moral of the story? 2020 was weird. This was just one of those weird moments I went through. I’ll never forget how this felt, or Champs’ reaction to the quake; he looked so innocent and scared, I can tell he even felt guilty for the accident, but I wasn’t going to get mad at him for it. Whenever we ran into our next quake, hopefully we’re prepared.

TL;DR Scary quake, Champ peed himself, and this all happened with the coronavirus started spreading.

Personal

Becoming a snowboarder

| E. Sosa

One of my first jobs in Utah was at a call center. I was providing technical support for a telco that has a major presence in the east coast. I could relate with a lot of callers since I partly grew up in NJ. Whenever I was asked where was I, and I responded Utah almost everyone responded with joy of how beautiful this place is; I want to say about half of those folks had been out here to ski or snowboard. I responded by saying I haven’t done either, and every one of them would insist I get out on the slopes. I had seen the license plate slogan “Greatest Snow on Earth.” I thought that was all promo, but came to find out later on, it may well be the greatest snow on earth.

I had only been in Utah for a year, and didn’t have many local friends. Most of my friends back then were folks similar to me. They were either Dominican, out of state students, or both. I was dating a Dominican student at the time and we both had not been either skiing or snowboarding. For my first time in the slopes I decided to go with a skiing lesson, and she decided to go with a snowboarding lesson. Man she looked so cool. From her boots, the board, and just about every piece of gear she wore for snowboarding. I was jealous. Add to that the fact that my skiing lesson was a disaster. I was not taken up on the lift, because I could not make it pass the damn kiddie hill you go up using a handle tow. It also could’ve helped if I had wore the appropriate clothes to lesson. I decided to just casually go up there in my jeans and hoodie. Luckily the instructor lend me the jacket you see in the image above.

I was eager to go up to Sundance again, but this time I wanted to snowboard. I waited until the beginning of the 2011-2012 season to go again. This time I got hooked. Not only did I have a blast, I also got to get on the lift, fell miserably to the ground getting off the lift, but made it down the slopes in one piece, bruised of course. My second time I went up was with my cousins when they visited me for Christmas in 2011. I kept going up like 2 or 3 times a season and slowly progressed. I was a bit frustrated with my progress, I wanted to start shredding like a pro. I signed up for a snowboarding class during my last year at UVU. Because I was working in the mornings I had to take my lessons at night. Let me tell you something about night skiing, there’s a reason why it’s cheap, specially in Sundance, because it’s rough. Most of the time the ski runs are icy, and once the sun sets it gets really cold. This however proofed to be the best setting for me to learn. I didn’t become a professional snowboarder like Shawn White, but I did get good, really good. So good, that me and my cousin, Randy, decided to venture out into different resorts throughout the state and region. We had a blast out there.

Once I got really good at snowboarding I then came to realize why every single person I had told I lived in Utah loved this place. We do indeed have the greatest snow on earth. When you’re snowboarding through on it, on a powder day, one of the best feelings ever. It’s like you’re flying. Do yourself a favor and get out there!

TL;DR if you’re reading this and live in the Rocky Mountains, close the browser, and hit the slopes, ASAP. You will not regret either snowboarding or skiing.