Serious and silly

I had a week where I feel like I can say something about every day!

Last Sunday, I wrote letters to Celeste Maloy, John Curtis, and Mike Lee, and I put them in the mail on Monday. This is the bulk of the letters:

I am severely concerned about the current state of the United States of America under the Trump administration. Actually, “severely concerned” is an understatement. My grievances are too long to include fully, but they include the following: pardoning people who attacked law enforcement at the Capitol, killing any boats that are assumed to have drug traffickers, filling government positions with unqualified people, removing history from museums and markers, flip-flopping on the Epstein files, posting mean-spirited social media content on official government accounts, and threatening to invade Greenland. I am dismayed that I can no longer trust the content on official government websites, whether it’s about health, science, history, or elections. And I am certainly infuriated by the brutal ways ICE is fulfilling its job: murdering people such as Renee Good and Alex Pretti; detaining children, legal immigrants, and US citizens; and not adequately training employees.

In your heart, I think you know that Donald Trump is not a man of honorable moral character, that he is a man who cares only about himself. Therefore, I invite you to encourage your colleagues in the House to do what you can to remove him from office, and then keep the momentum going when the vote goes to the Senate. I know you worry about revenge and retribution from him. But if enough of you can band together, you can remove him and strip him of his powers. Think for a moment what it would be like if Trump no longer had control over the US and the Republican Party. You could instead rally around a leader who has a firm moral compass and does what is best for the country, not his or her own personal interest—someone who is a good role model for your children and grandchildren, someone who tries to unite us.

I did add some personal touches to the introduction and conclusion, and Maloy's was slightly different, since she's in the House. I told Curtis I voted for him in the primaries (he was the least terrible option, though of course I didn't tell him that), and I invited Lee to repent for joking about Melissa Hortman's murder. Between Mike, Trevor, John D., and Robert E., I have a hard time trusting people with the last name Lee.

I went into the office for my Utah Historical Society (UHS) job (I'm expected to go in once a week). In the afternoon, I met my BYU boss for lunch (he loves lunch) as I started working for him again. Since October, I have been working full-time hours for UHS, but I've still been a part-time employee. But this week I resumed splitting my time between UHS and BYU. I gotta say, I have a harder time focusing for my BYU work. I think that's because (1) the assignments are harder, (2) I'm using my own laptop, and (3) I work on it at the end of the workday.

On Tuesday I went to DI, which I don't go to very often. I enjoy looking at the old CDs to try to find things that are not available on streaming services. On this trip, I bought the CD Shall We Gather by Enoch Train, a local folk ensemble named for the ship that transported many of the handcart pioneers. I heard the CD on my mission when my companion borrowed it from our district leader. (That was the only companion who I think is actually a bad person.)

On Wednesday, UHS had a ceremony for our annual awards. This time, it was held at Hill Aerospace Museum, so we were surrounded by lots of old airplanes. Military history isn't really my thing, but it was still a cool venue to be at. I'm on the committee that decides the best books and articles. Our top two Utah history books (published in 2024) were This Abominable Slavery: Race, Religion, and the Battle over Human Bondage in Antebellum Utah by Paul Reeve, Christopher Rich, and LaJean Purcell Carruth, and American Zion: A New History of Mormonism by Benjamin E. Park. I had a lengthy discussion with Christopher Rich after dinner, and I said hi to Ben Park, but he meets so many people. (I generally admire his scholarship, but last year he made a video about Pioneer Day that had some dead-wrong analyses—he obviously hadn't read my article!) And I also talked to the authors of our award-winning articles, as well as other scholars who were there. The awards ceremony also honors various community initiatives, but I'm not involved as much (or involved at all) with the others.

They dimmed the lights during the actual event, but all of us employees had to help set up

And I was glad we finally got a little bit of snow that evening! Still, it was a paltry amount for January. Sigh.

Thursday I swam with the recreational swim team again, which I've been doing pretty consistently this month. The swim coaches put up workouts for us, and I finished the whole workout on both Tuesday and Thursday this week! But they were easy workouts, posted by the easy coach.

Friday I ran up some of the new streets under development in North Salt Lake. 

Also, I was surprised this week to realize that when Catherine O'Hara was in Beetlejuice and Home Alone, she was younger than I am now!

Saturday, I rode my bike to the top of the Summerwood neighborhood in Bountiful, which is really hard to do, so it's satisfying to make it up. I went 6.8 miles total and climbed 1,100 feet. I shed a layer on the way up and put it on for the cold downhill. It's a challenging ride, but I find it less boring than a flat ride.

My boss also sent me a copy of one of the many books I've been working on for him in the last couple of years.

In my free time, I've been watching various Valentine's shows for a new spreadsheet I'm working on, and I've been playing Super Mario Galaxy on my Switch in anticipation of the movie coming out this spring. I don't know if I'll see the movie, but the game is probably the best video game I've ever played, even though it originally came out in 2007. And I've been catching up on my history books about the memory of the American revolution—I have a lull before we get more books to read for next year's Utah history awards.

It's been a while since I've posted any drawings about my dreams, so here are some I've had in the last month or so. As a reminder: I used to make AI dream images, but I've switched to drawing them myself in order to foster creativity. They are not meant to be good drawings. And I just think dreams are funny.

At the White House, David and Susanne hit Trump on the head with spoons, and Mark tries to figure out how to stab him

Reggie sits in a giant geode

Mark rolls down the street on a pair of lint rollers

On social media, people make fun of a company's new apatosaurus jingle

At This Is the Place, a hippopotamus follows Mark around

Oh, and what the heck, it's Valentine season, so I'll share some of the Valentine's treats I've had this week, in the style of pumpkinundation roundup.

The Arctic Circle Chocolate Covered Raspberry Shake is just a raspberry shake with little chocolate raspberry cups. It's OK, I wish it had more chocolate in it. 6/10.

The Cold Stone Berry Velvety has red velvet cake batter ice cream with strawberries and cream cheese frosting. I ate it, and I didn't distract myself with my phone, yet I still don't remember much about it. I think the cream cheese was a little potent, and the strawberries were a weird addition. 6/10.

The Shake Shack True Love Shake has strawberry, custard, chocolate whipped cream, and a crackable chocolate shell on the inside of the cup. I would love to see more creative things like this! 8/10.

The Kneaders Chocolate Raspberry Petite Cake is also called a Black Forest cake (according to them), and it's a chocolate cake with a raspberry filling. In previous years, they've just had a chocolate cake with a cherry on top, so this is more interesting. 7/10.