Mark My Words: Slow news week, but admire the postcards

My weekly update is a day early this week because I have something else scheduled for tomorrow. I'm just writing in late morning / early afternoon, hoping there will be a safe window to go on a run when there won't be lightning.

Honestly, it was a slow news week. I don't have many exciting things to say.

On Monday, I ran on the Wild Rose Trail, and I had heard that they had installed new signs over the previous weekend. I was eager to see the new signs, because I keep encountering cyclists on the foot-only Chukar Loop, and some of them don't believe me when I tell them it's a foot path. But the signage was so poor that I can understand their confusion.

As promised, there were new signs. But I was extremely annoyed that there were no new signs at the single most confusing spot, and another confusing spot didn't have a new one. I guess some new signs are better than none, but it's still such a missed opportunity.

At least this will be a little helpful

When I went running on Thursday, I saw a black cat around the corner from my house, so I slowed down and approached the cat so I could pet it. And it obliged! Aren't cats the most wonderful little creatures?

And I was happy that it was a black cat, because I had just been admiring all the vintage Hallowe'en postcards our friend Laura gave me this summer. Black cats were very much a Halloween trope at the time, along with witches, pumpkins, bats, owls, and ghosts. (Spiders and skeletons came later, and vampires and mummies especially came later.)

1909

1908

1923. For some reason I like the 1900s and 1910s images better than the 1920s.

1908

1911

1914

1910

During general conference last week, I made my own Halloween illustration in order to encourage creativity and use my brain, even though I'm not an artist.

And yesterday I finally installed Windows 11 on my personal laptop. I had installed it back in 2022, but I hated it, mostly because it always hid labels, which made it extremely frustrating to work with multiple windows or documents open. So I uninstalled it. But I have Windows 11 on my work laptop, so I knew Windows 11 had improved—most importantly, it allows for labels. And so far Windows 11 is working great on my laptop. (My laptop is kind of a work laptop, since I use it for my BYU contract job.)

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Though it was a slow news week, I have a lot for pumpkinundation roundup!

I made my first visit to Pinkbox Doughnuts and had the Pinkbox Doughnuts Apple of My Eye Doughnut. It has an apple filling and is coated with peanuts, like some caramel apples are. I don't know if the red frosting is flavored, because the peanuts overpowered it. This was a very enjoyable doughnut, but I could have done without the paper stick they used as decoration. 8/10.

This summer I had a red, white, and blue shake from Wayback Burgers and enjoyed it, but I was disappointed with the Wayback Burgers Pumpkin Churro Shake. I think it was just flavored with Torani (or similar) syrup. It didn't taste like pumpkin at all. 4/10.

I can't say the Good & Gather Pumpkin Spice Instant Oatmeal tasted much like anything. I've had various pumpkin oatmeals over the years, and I can never remember which ones are worthwhile. This one isn't. 5/10.

Great Value Twist & Shout Double Filled Pumpkin Roll Sandwich Cookies have a cream cheese flavor reminiscent of the filling of a pumpkin roll. I can't say they really taste like the pumpkin cake. They're fine. 6/10.

I got this Dawn Pumpkin Spice Powerwash Dish Spray last year. Honestly, it kind of stresses me out, because I'm not really sure how to use it. I can't find the seasonal scents on their own, only with the spray nozzle, and it seems wasteful to buy so many nozzles. I can't say it really smells like pumpkin spice. 6/10.

Witch's Brew Nik-L-Nip is beyond the scope of pumpkinundation roundup, but I included it because I think it's so weird. This is a dumb candy—a tiny swig of sweet liquid, and then wax you chew on!?? What kind of candy is that!? And why do they bother making a seasonal version of such strange candy? 4/10.

There are some protein bars that are good (Built, Barebells, FitCrunch), and there are some that are not so good. The David Pumpkin Spice Flavored Bar is a not-so-good kind, though I've had worse. It just tastes really weird. 4/10.

Ne-Mo's makes little cakes that are sold at convenience stores, and I was excited to try the Ne-Mo's Pumpkin Spice Cake. It's pretty mediocre though. (In fairness, I didn't eat it before the sell-by sticker, but it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference.) 5/10.

At work they brought in iHop Pumpkin Spice Pancakes. They seemed overcooked to me. They were nothing special. 6/10.

I have had the Great Value Candy Corn Flavored Syrup in the fridge for years, because we don't go through that much syrup. Candy corn is a vague flavor. 5/10.

Jumbo-Filled Caramel Apple Dum-Dums are apple lollipops with caramel inside. There's more hard candy than caramel, unlike a Tootsie Pop. They're pretty good, but I don't love the way hard candies make my mouth feel. 7/10.