I am on vacation this week in Park City, which is about 30 minutes from where I live. So in a way, it’s kind of like a staycation, but without actually being at home.

Every other year, I retreat with my wife to the mountains to try and regroup, relax and attempt to get caught up with some things I want to do but don’t during normal days at home. Things like reading books and magazines, blog posting, swimming, drinking, hiking and just plain down time. Most of the reason why I pick this time is that it’s both my birthday (Aug 6th) and my wife’s birthday (Aug 3rd). Like automatic birthday gifts for both of us.

And each year, I actually do some of things on my list. It’s not a chore and I don’t beat myself up if I don’t do everything, but I do take notice of my overall state of mind before, during and after this week off. Then I try to change things in my life to help me reduce my stress, change how I deal with daily matters and learning how to relax during non-vacation hours.

Why do I do this? Because I know myself well enough that if I don’t, I feel like I will crack under the pressure of normal daily life. Or as I have come to realize, I am a very nervous person. If you’ve met me in person, you might be questioning this, since I appear to be a calm, cool and easy going person. And I really am. But for me, I have a lot of worries that fuck with my nervous system. Way short of a being a nervous wreck, but enough to constantly give me cause to rattle my nerves. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Even on vacation, I’m connected. Maybe not while at the pool or out hiking, but I do at least have one type of gadget with me, normally an internet-connected phone. My phone checks email for me a couple times a day, my day job email included. On Monday, an email from our VP of IT came in asking for an update on something he’s asked for. I had updated him, but not before I left. Unlike some that can ignore this thing until they get back from vacation, I let it weight heavy in my mind and seriously contemplated replying and drafting a response. After a few hours of going back and forth, I finally decided that I was on vacation and that if it was serious enough to address, a phone call would be made to me asking to take care of it.

Here’s another example. I had promised to help someone in a move on Sunday afternoon, but due to being out of town on Saturday night [a quick and cheap Wendover, NV trip] and leaving for Park City on Sunday night – combined with a family issue that came up, I wasn’t able to help, which combined with the work email I received, further added to my nervous state.

Wireless Goes Wired

Adding to all of this, my Palm Pre [which I have yet to blog about here in greater detail] is on the fritz, with the screen being non-responsive most of the time, and the earpiece being completing broken, needing both a USB cable and a wired headset plugged in at all times to use the phone. My frustration level trying to use this Frankenstein-looking device, topped with worries and concerns about a work email, and a broken promise to help someone move left me a bit rattled at the start of my vacation. Not wanting to set the tone for the entire week, I decided I had to deal with my anxieties. So I took a couple of hours while my wife rested in Park City and drove down the 25 minutes back into Salt Lake valley. I helped with the move, I got a replacement cell phone ordered and drafted and deleted four different responses to the work email. Since then, my worries and concerns have gone down drastically, only coming up once while waiting for dinner on Tuesday night.

Self Torture

So why in the fuck do I do this to myself? Why do I let all of these items weigh so heavy on my mind? I know part of is that I feel like I have to take care of things all the time. While I know I don’t have to, I’ve edged myself into a place where I feel I need to. I’m not a controlling person at all, so this surprises me that I have let myself meld into this type of mindset. Most of the time, it’s just easier to do things then to let my mind worry about doing them or letting someone else do them. Trust me, I would prefer to let others do the stuff I do. I’ve blogged about fixing computers and would be more than pleased to have others know just as much or more than I do so that they can either fix their own issues or help others that I normally would. I’ve gotten better at saying no to many people I used to help, which has helped, but still, there’s enough other items that cause my nerves to jumble that affect me much more adversely.

So how I do stop this level of self torture? Or at least significantly reduce it to a manageable level? That’s the question I am looking for an answer to. My concern is that if I don’t find a way to effectively reduce and eliminate the nerve-induced trauma I experience on a regular basis, that it can get worse and start affecting other aspects of my life that it hasn’t already touched.

My first plan of attack is to find ways to de-stress over situations I don’t need to worry about. Once I can get a grip on that, I think all other situations that I do need to manage will be much easier, without the weight of worry. Then sometime before the end of 2010, I hope to be a much calmer person, at least internally to my own self. Wish me luck.

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Shannon, Marty, Reba and Shannon’s Dad

Back in April of this year [I'm not that far behind], we had a couple of visitors to our fine state of Utah. Shannon, who is more famously known as Bubblewench [Blog, Twitter] and her dad spent a few days in Park City to golf, ski and just hang out. Since Shannon knew my wife and I lived here in Utah, she gave me a heads up and we planned a meet up.

Jumping back to October 2009, I met Shannon at Avitaween. Shannon was nothing but a fun and cool person, not only fixing me some wonderful pasta, but also making me a couple of drinks before the costumed-festivities started. Both my wife and I connected with her and had a blast. So imagine my excitement when we had the chance to meet up with her again – without having to travel [BONUS!]

We met at Market Street Grill, which is a local restaurant that serves great food and drinks. We all ate so well and shared some great wine and awesome company. Shannon’s dad [who's name I cannot recall] was such a nice gentleman and I can see why Shannon is the great person she is.

If you have a chance to meet Shannon, please do. Make every effort to do so. She’s fun and full of energy and just good people. I know I’m looking forward to my next meet up with her [and her dad, too].

To read Shannon’s post [which was posted back in April], go here.

Those of you that read my last post, you know I went to Vegas for a few days. Here’s what I did:

- photo set of the bands at the show on Flickr

Park City

Inside Harry O’s waiting for Joan Jett to take the stage

Not even being home an hour, a friend of mine had tickets to go see Joan Jett at Harry O’s in Park City. For those that do not know it, this time each year, Park City is host to thousands of people for the Sundance Film Festival. It gets very crowded in the ice and snow.

After a drive up Parley’s canyon that was slick and snowy, we made it safety to the venue and enjoyed a great show. This was not my first time seeing Joan Jett live [saw her back in 2006 on the Van's Warped Tour], but this performance was much more intimate.

Getting my drink on

Joan Jett takes center stage

Joan Jett was there to promote “The Runaways”, a coming-of-age film starring Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart. During the middle of the show, they came out on stage for applause.

From left to right: Cherie Currie, the back of some dude’s head, Joan Jett, Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart

Once the show got over, we got back in the car and headed back down the same snowy and slick Parley’s to go home.

And that was my weekend. How was yours?

Snowy Sunday Ep. 005 from Marty Mankins on Vimeo.

For the YouTube version, click on this link: Snowy Sunday Episode 005

And even more snow…

…is coming. My last quick post said four days worth, but the latest weather reports are showing at least eight days! Eight days! I’m happy, but I know if we get too much, too quick, it’s going to get old fast. For now, I’ll enjoy it… and have my camera ready at all times.

Still no scooter… *sob* I miss it a lot
 
Quiet Out Here

I know it’s been quiet out here on BL. I meant to work on another blog post mid-week, but for some reason, every time I did, I got distracted or interrupted and had to press ‘Save’ and close it down. I promise next week will have more activity out here.

Club 48

Since last October, there is a bar that has become one of my favorites here in town. It’s called Club 48. I’ve sent many a Twitter from there about it and I can’t say enough great things about it. It’s not fancy by any means, but it’s also not a dive bar, either. They have great drink prices, a very diverse crowd. And they have karaoke on Friday nights.

♫ Women to the left and right of me, and Doritos to the back… ♫

Whenever someone quits the company I work for, we go there to have one last sendoff. We had my going away party there when I quit last October [only to go back to work for them in February of this year]. And we were there in April when my boss left. This week it was Amber leaving, who had been with the company for a while. We will all miss her. Good luck Amber.

“Grrr! Who the hell is this drunk motherfucker next to me??”
 
Park City

Saturday night, we get a phone call from my step daughter, who is in Park City attending a wedding. Her and her boyfriend got a room and wanted us to come up to watch Ayla (Reba’s granddaughter) while they continued their wedding fun. So being the nice parents we are, we head up the mountain to go babysit and hang out. We like Park City a lot, and have time share there [in fact, right next door to where we were staying ] and enjoy the cooler temperatures in the summer time. Plus, the scenery is really nice.

The Canyons… just a small part of it.
 
That’s all for now

Thanks for stopping by. Will post again soon… real soon.