This probably won't be as popular as last week's.

Hmm...I don't really have a lot to say about this past week. It's been an enjoyable October so far, but I wish it felt a little more like fall.

In the last few weeks, there's been a strange thing when I go running, in that the sweat drips down from my forehead into my eyes, to the point that I have to take my glasses off and rub my forehead and eyes with my shirt, because I can't see with the sweat in my eyes. (I didn't realize how long that sentence was turning out.) I've frequently had that happen once I arrive home, but it's never been an issue when I've still been out, and it's happened several times recently. It's kind of annoying.

I was quite startled last week with all the "likes" I got on my blog on Facebook. I didn't think it was a great blog, and I've done blogs about my birthday before, so I don't know what changed that time. Maybe it was the thumbnail image of my teenage face.

I wonder if I would have gotten fewer likes last week if I had expressed an unpopular opinion. I find it troubling that when there's a national tragedy, people use it as an opportunity to say how much they like guns. That's all I'm going to say about that at this time.

I neglected to blog about another interesting occurrence from the day after my birthday. There are some situations that I don't like to encounter because I feel guilty no matter how I respond--if I find a spider in the house, I feel bad whether I kill it or let it go; at a yellow stoplight, I feel bad if I slam on the brakes or if I coast on through. It's the same with beggars on the street. If I give money to them, am I feeding an addiction or giving money to a fraud? But if I don't give to them, am I being uncompassionate or judgmental? But on the day after my birthday, as I was walking up to work, a guy told me that they (he and a wife or girlfriend or something) were looking to get some food. I whipped out my lunch and told him I couldn't give him money but he could have my lunch. He said, almost defensively, "Dude, I don't want your lunch! That's your lunch!" Oh, I thought, so you don't mind taking my money, but you won't take my lunch? I would have willingly given it to him, but I found it unlikely he would take it; in fact, moments before I had seen him decline a man's sandwich. I think I encountered this same guy before; on that occasion, I offered him an apple, and he said, "No, we want JB's all-you-can-eat breakfast," and as I walked off he said, "You're sure there's nothing you can spare?" even though I just told him I was willing to spare an apple. Offering him my lunch was an occasion where I didn't feel guilty.

I've had a long Sunday.

***

Time to move on to Pumpkinundation Roundup! This week has a bit more caramel apple in it. This week also features a lot of going out to eat. I'm much more likely to go out to eat (especially to fast-food places) when I know they have seasonal desserts. McDonald's is pretty much the worst restaurant there is, but I make sure to go there when they have Shamrock Shakes; Kneaders is overpriced, but they have the best dessert selections. I'm less inclined to go out during times of the year when I don't eat desserts.

 Arctic Circle pumpkin pie shakes have been around longer than it's been cool. In fact, besides pumpkin pie and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, they're the earliest pumpkin thing I can remember eating. They're good, but sometimes a little too spicy, especially if they haven't been mixed well. This one was mixed well, though, but I forgot to take a picture of it until I'd already eaten it.

 When I got this Kneaders Oreo caramel apple, they asked if I wanted it cut. That takes the fun out of it, but I understand why they asked; it took me a couple of bites to penetrate the apple. It was pretty good. One of the good things about caramel apples is that they're sweet and satisfying, yet most of it is healthy. Kneaders apples, however, are less healthy than most, because they put a lot more than caramel on them.

 I went to Nielsen's Frozen Custard and got a pumpkin concrete. Despite having lived in North Salt Lake almost my whole life, this is only the second time I've had one of their concretes. It was good, but I didn't think it was better than ice cream. It tasted really pumpkiny at first, but then I kind of grew numb to the taste. Nielsen's was established in 1981, according to their marquee, but they're stuck in the 1960s, down to the fact that they don't accept credit and debit cards.

 These Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seed barkThins don't really count, as they're made year round, but I only eat them this time of the year. I've often thought they should utilize pumpkin seeds more in candy. (In 2013 and 2014 they had pumpkin spice M&Ms, before switching to pumpkin spice latté this year, but I've thought it would have been more inventive if their autumn variety included an actual pumpkin seed in it instead of just flavoring.) These were very simple, just dark chocolate with pumpkin seeds. They were good, but nothing where you're like, "This is the greatest combination ever!" It was more chocolate than seed.

Pizza Pie Cafe is a restaurant that I've only paid attention to because they have seasonal desserts; I first went in July for their patriotic one. They do a different pizza of the month every month, and sometimes it's a dessert pizza. This month it's pumpkin dessert pizza. It was good, like cookie meets pumpkin pie.

These caramel apple salt water taffys have been around for years. They're pretty good, although you get tired of them pretty quickly if you eat too many. I don't know for sure, but I suspect they were made by Sweet's in Salt Lake City, then shipped to Oregon to be distributed by Western Family, only to be shipped back again to Utah to be sold. Maybe it doesn't work that way. The caramel apple ones are more flavorful than the candy corn ones (which I haven't had this year...yet). Sometimes I've seen Halloween taffy variety bags, where they have caramel apple, candy corn, licorice-flavored pumpkin faces, and vanilla-flavored ghost faces. The ghost ones are the only ones I've never seen for sale by themselves, even though I thought they were the best.