Every Street

 As I have mentioned in this blog, I have tried to go running on every street in North Salt Lake. And I completed it this week!

Since I have visited every county in Utah, and every city in Davis County, I had often considered going on every street in NSL. Then in December, I saw a news story about a man who ran on every street in Salt Lake in 2020. So I decided that NSL was a good goal. The idea was to finish every street by the end of 2021, but I didn't have to revisit streets I had already been on. I really began taking this more seriously in December, and I printed off this map just before Christmas.

I will specify that I only ran on public streets, which I define as streets with green NSL signs. If it has a blue NSL sign, or a private sign, it doesn't count as a public street. This means I didn't run in mobile home parks or in many apartment complexes. (However, some apartment complexes and townhomes did have green signs, so I did run in them, even though they might have been private roads.) Some of the private roads are gated, so I couldn't do all of them anyway, and others feel more like driveways or parking lots, so I feel like I'm trespassing.

I also didn't run on freeways (I-15, I-215, Legacy Parkway), for obvious reasons.

I ran to most of the streets from my house, but I did drive down to Foxboro for many of the streets there, usually after it snowed (since they don't have as much snow down there).

And now, I'm relieved it's over!

I don't like running to the western part of NSL. I have to wait at several traffic lights and railroads. And if I run to the western part, it means that the hardest part of my run is at the end when I run home uphill. 

I don't like running with the busy traffic on Highway 89 and Redwood Road.

Also, I hate running where there aren't sidewalks, and the industrial area of NSL has few sidewalks. On Center Street, east of Highway 89, the sidewalk is only on the north side of the street; but west of I-15, it's only on the south side. It's annoying to have to cross.

But it has been fun to learn more about my city. For example, I often see signs for Shamrock Plumbing, and now I know where it is. It's been fun to see all the churches I didn't know about. 

This experience has also helped me with my other North Salt Lake bucket lists. I visited a few Foxboro parks I hadn't been to, and it's my goal to go to all of NSL's parks. (I think I have one left.) And I noticed we have a Domino's Pizza because I ran past it. (Of all the pizza places, Domino's is literally my least favorite!) It's my goal to visit every restaurant in NSL; I think there's one I still have to go to that's only open in the summer.

But now that it's over, I can stick to the routes that I enjoy in the eastern part of NSL and Bountiful. And tomorrow is March, which is usually the month when I can hit the trails again. And I will also need to budget my time differently from now on, because I have some exciting developments where I will be making money again.

School in February

School is hard!

In many ways, I think this semester is harder than the fall was, even though I've gotten better at prioritizing my time and I'm not running up North Canyon every day. 

But I have classes three days a week instead of two, and on Wednesdays I have two classes. Not only do I have assignments due every week, I have long-term projects that I need to be thinking about at the same time. I don't have much time for myself. I aim to spend five hours a day on school stuff, but sometimes I have to do more (and sometimes I end up doing less). 

The graduate history program feels like an expensive book club: we read books every week, then talk about them in class. Two of my classes are undergrad classes, which have a more traditional lecture format (with a Zoom twist, of course), so those are a refreshing change of pace. 

We also have to write a lot of book reviews, as though I were back in elementary school writing book reports. And then at the end of the semester, we have to write historiographical essays, which is basically just saying what other historians have said about a given topic. I'm a competent enough writer than I can adequately fulfill the assignment, but I can't say I enjoy it. Also, I come from a linguistic background, and I think linguistics is more permissive when it comes to tone and structure. (I got a graded paper this week that disliked when I put a preposition at the end of the sentence, a grammatical prescription that is total nonsense!)

Now, when I'm doing my own historical research, it can bring me great joy. It's fascinating to learn new things, and there's this great feeling of satisfaction when you find a source that you didn't know about or that answers the question you were looking for.

But I guess if I want to write my own historical book, I need to know how other historical books are written. And not everything I learned in school (elementary, high school, college) was enjoyable, but it was helpful. 

When I'm not doing school, I try to do daily exercising (which this week included shoveling snow).

I'm getting close to finishing my goal of running on every street in North Salt Lake. I had to do some evening running this week, which is not my favorite. I love evening runs in the fall, spring, and summer, but not so much in the winter. They're just cold and depressing. (It also doesn't help that winter runs are on streets instead of trails.) They're often too cold not to wear a jacket, but when I do wear a jacket, I get sweaty, which gets uncomfortable. 

School and running keep me busy, which is good. It prevents me from looking at random grocery stores and buying seasonal desserts every day—I like doing those things, but they're not good things to do when there's a pandemic and I'm not making money.

Oh well. We only have one more week of February! I like every month but January and February. I'm just trying to keep my head above water until the semester ends in May.

Mediocre Valentine's Day

 On Valentine's Day, the love of my life is my kitty, Jimmy.

There is a lot of social stigma against cats. Since I am deeply insecure, I wonder, "Am I dumb or trashy that I have and love a cat?"

But one of the best things about Zoom school has been seeing other people's cats. And if my fellow grad students have and love cats, it seems the stigma is unwarranted!

Yesterday I saw Jimmy chasing his tail, which is rare for old cats to do. And then I sat next to him on my bed, and he put his paw on my knee.

Of the nine holidays I formally celebrate, Valentine's Day is my least favorite. I'm not the "I'm so bitter because I'm single" kind of person, but in many ways I do feel like it's irrelevant to me.

"But," you say, "there's other kinds of love, like your family and friendships." True that, but those are things we have all year. 

My Valentine's Day playlist is my shortest of all my personal holiday playlists (only 22 songs), because there aren't a lot of seasonally appropriate songs. Whenever I see "Valentine" playlists, they're mostly full of generic love songs that we hear every day. That's no fun!

As I have said many times before, Valentine's Day is all about the candy. This week, I did another Taste Off kit, this time with local chocolates, that most iconic Valentine's gift. Our favorite was the heart shapes from Chocolate Covered Wagon, and everyone else agreed, because they ended up winning.

I have various categories for holiday treats, and chocolates are category 1 for February 14, since they are iconic. I have counted sugar cookies as category 3, because only the shape and colors are seasonal; they taste like sugar cookies from any other time of the year. But as I thought about it this year, I decided to make them category 1 for Valentine's Day. They seem to show up more often in February, and I have many memories of decorating heart cookies at home, in school, and at church. So I think they are sufficiently iconic. (They were already category 1 for Christmas.) 

I'm halfway through the day, and this is just a mediocre day. We are having our traditional pizza dinner in commemoration of the worst Valentine's Day ever. But I guess it's OK for it to be a mediocre day. School is my major focus right now, it's Sunday, and we're in the middle of a pandemic. And Valentine's Day is just mediocre anyway.

Small businesses

 During this pandemic, I have tried to make a conscious effort to support small, local businesses. It has saddened me to see many of them close down. Not only is it the right thing to do to support small businesses, it's actually fun! I love a good Target run or the convenience of Amazon, but small businesses just have a special feeling.

So, I'm going to tell you about many of my favorite small businesses!

Now, what exactly is a small local business? I'm not really sure, because some local businesses have done really well even in other parts of the country, and some major chains have local franchises. For my purposes, I'm going to focus on Utah-based businesses with a relatively small number of locations in the region (potentially including other states). 

You'll notice that a great majority of them are food businesses, because I'm a glutton like that. When they are dessert businesses, you can guarantee that they have interesting seasonal offerings, or I wouldn't even bother with them.

Book Garden. I hadn't paid much attention to this Bountiful business until this year, but it has an impressive collection of both used and new books. They have a convenient website where you can see what books they have, and they have carried many of the books I have needed for class. They even have a section called "Old Cool," which consists of vintage books. I've bought some mid-twentieth-century Halloween and Easter children's books there. I went this week to buy a book for class (I can read it online, but they had it for only six dollars), and I almost bought another "old cool" book, but then I realized it would just take up space and I would never use it.

Goodly Cookies. The current fad in Utah is cookies, and it's a fad I hope lasts a long time. Of all the cookie businesses, Goodly is the best. Their large cookies have amazing texture, and they come up with creative flavors. I'm sad the only location is in Salt Lake, which is no longer part of my regular commute.

Chip Cookies. Chip might be tied with Goodly for best cookies (though I think Goodly has a slight edge), and they also offer wonderful cookies of the month. There are a few locations.

RubySnap Cookies. While Goodly and Chip taste better, RubySnap wins for creative flavors. For example, one of their February cookies is rose, with actual rosebuds on it! In April, they have coconut carrot curry. In October, they have butternut squash. Their cookies taste great, but they have a distinctive tang. It's not bad, just a little weird. I think they have a terrible location, with awkward parking. 

Brownies! Brownies! Brownies! Two years ago, when I would help with weekly tutoring, the location for tutoring changed, and when I looked on Google Maps for the new church, I saw Brownies! Brownies! Brownies! (It is a cumbersome name to type.) They offer little brownie sandwiches with unique flavors. The brownies themselves are average (which means they are great), but it's the fillings and toppings that make them stand out. It is a little expensive, though.

Taste Off. Formerly known as Utah Taste Off, this isn't a business you can visit. Every week, they choose a food theme, and they feature six local businesses. You buy a box with (usually) two of each item from six different places. Then you pick it up from a location that varies each week. So not only are you supporting Taste Off, you're supporting the businesses that they support. You vote for your favorites online. It's pricey, but it's fun (and not unreasonable).

Twisted Sugar. This is one of many soda/cookie places where the cookies are served cold rather than warm (like the ones above). Of those cold-cookie places, Twisted Sugar has the most creative flavors. They have a few locations in Davis County.

Cutler's Cookies and Sandwiches. I think there are three locations, but the Centerville one is best because they have monthly cookies. The sandwiches are homey, and the cookies are simple but wonderful.

Atlantis Burgers, Apollo Burger, Crown Burger, etc. These restaurants are all separate, yet they're basically the same. The signs out front have similar fonts, and inside, you can expect the fries to be the same, and they will sell baklava and pastrami burgers. They are operated by Greek immigrants or their families. I think it's the most random genre of restaurants! I like Apollo Burger for its veggie burgers, but Atlantis Burger is closer to my house and offers eggnog shakes at Christmas.

Pizza Pie Cafe. I am still sad that the Bountiful location closed down, but I have still gone to the Layton location. They have monthly dessert pizzas. Their regular pizzas aren't exactly gourmet, but they're still better than, say, Little Caesars. They are a great deal for all-you-can-eat pizza and salad. But I do wish they had more veggie options.

Blacksmith Ice Cream. Bountiful has an adorable Main Street, and Blacksmith is suitably adorable. It's not the best ice cream I've ever had, but it's perfectly enjoyable.

Parsons' Bakery. I must admit, I like the idea of Parsons' better than the bakery itself. The owners lived just above us when I was a kid. I remember going to their old location in Five Points Mall (torn down long ago), and my mom would buy me a sickly-sweet alligator donut with frosting inside it. Many friends worked there when I was in high school. But really it's a mediocre bakery. I often find the cookies to be overcooked, and they're not really better than what you could make at home. But they do custom orders, which might be where they really shine. 

Normal Ice Cream. I'm not sure why they picked the name Normal, because they are anything but normal. They are the RubySnap equivalent of ice cream (and I think the two businesses have even teamed up). They have super weird, creative flavors, and their two locations (Trolley Square and 900 South) offer different monthly menus. They sell composed cones, which are ice cream cones with random toppings thrown on. Again, I would say their creativity is better than their flavor, but it still tastes good.

Sugar Fix. I don't think there's a storefront you can visit. These are cookies sold in gas stations. A year ago, they drastically reduced their distribution, and I was worried they had gone out of business. But they still sell them at Holiday Oil and select Chevron stations. They have the best sugar cookies I have ever had.

This year, I have decided to count heart-shaped sugar cookies as category 1 for Valentine's Day, which means they are iconic to the holiday.

Penguin Bros. Ice Cream. Can't decide between cookies or ice cream? At Penguin Bros., you get both. They give you ice cream between their own cookies. I must say, they are a little hard to eat if you have sensitive teeth, and the cookies are crunchier than I generally like, but they can't be too soft or they wouldn't work for ice cream sandwiches. I've been to the Sugar House location, but apparently they started in Provo.

Pace's Dairy Ann. Anyone who grew up in southern Davis County remembers getting Pace Bars at school, which are seriously the best ice pops ever made, especially when they're fresh from the restaurant. (Now they sell them in plastic wrappers instead of paper, which probably keeps them fresher, but it's worse for the environment.) I go there most in summer and in March, when I have their mint shakes. They can be slow, however.

Neighbors Market. Somewhere between a grocery store and a convenience store, Neighbors Market is kind of gross. But if I'm cooking and suddenly realize I'm missing an ingredient, it's the closest place that has the most common ingredients. They also sell a surprising amount of random stuff, such as Caramel Apple Sugar Babies, my favorite Halloween candy.

Nacho House. Just a nice mom-and-pop Mexican place.

Chile Amor. Their location and parking are awkward, but they're another valuable local Mexican spot.

Benchmark Books. If you are looking for any kind of book in Mormon or Utah studies, Benchmark probably has it. Their small staff is very knowledgeable. 

Let's keep shopping at these places so they don't close down!

Catch 22s

 I try to choose the right and do good things. But sometimes it is literally impossible to do everything good.

During this pandemic, we are told we should (1) avoid dining in restaurants, in order to stop the spread of the virus; (2) support local businesses, including restaurants; and (3) avoid single-use plastic. (Well, this last one is all the time, not just in a pandemic.) But since so many restaurants use plastic containers and plastic utensils, it is only possible to do two of those three things. If I dine at a restaurant, I am doing 2 and 3 but not 1. If I get takeout, I am doing 1 and 2 but not 3. And if I don't eat out, I am doing 1 and 3 but not 2. 

Often, I will specifically tell them that I don't need a spoon or a straw (which can be a little awkward), yet they still give them to me. It drives me crazy! I feel so guilty using plastic! (Seriously, how do people live with themselves when they drink bottled water?) I went to Bahama Buck's yesterday and told them I didn't need a spoon or a little umbrella. But since the person filling my order was not the one taking my order, I still ended up with a spoon and an umbrella. The umbrella is not plastic at least, but it's entirely wasteful because it doesn't even serve a purpose. (It wasn't even raining!)

But this is not the only time I feel like there are opposing things I should be doing that are good. While I'm in school, my exercising has been reduced (at least in the winter). It is a little comforting to know that no matter what I do (homework or exercise), I'm doing something good. 

But these are not the only examples. Here are many ways that I feel conflicted in trying to do the right thing:

Reduce, reuse, recycle BUT Don’t hoard. Declutter.

Use plants that don’t use much water BUT Grow your own garden to reduce transportation.

Don’t let your money burn a hole in your pocket BUT A penny saved is a penny earned/Save for a rainy day.

Help other people BUT Take care of yourself first.

Help other people BUT Don’t enable other people.

Don’t judge people or jump to conclusions BUT If something seems suspicious, report it.

Replace incandescent Christmas bulbs with energy-efficient LEDs BUT It’s wasteful to replace Christmas lights.

Be friends with everyone, including those who are different from you BUT Be friends with people who support you and your values; don’t spend time with toxic people.

(I know I will think of more examples after I post this.)

Then, of course, there are all the foods and nutrients that are either good or bad, depending on who you ask (and depending on whether they make money from them): wheat, milk, eggs, meat, fats, sugar, chocolate, potatoes, corn, carbs, etc.

I know there is a balance between all these conflicting ideas, but it can be hard to find that balance.

It is distressing to know that no matter my efforts, I'm not doing everything right. But at least I'm probably doing something right.

Periodontal, presidential

 My five-week break is over. Spring semester began on Tuesday.

I'm taking Utah history, environmental history, and US history since 1877. The first two are undergrad classes, so there's more than thirty people in each class. That makes me feel less inclined to participate, since it's hard to interject via Zoom, and I don't want to steal the thunder from undergrad students. But the third class is only for grad students, and it's required. I had the professor for my borderlands history class last semester, and she's pretty lenient. She's also removed some of the regular requirements to help us cope with COVID, so I'm not too concerned about that class. 

I am a little sad that most of my time once again will be devoted to reading. It can be exhausting. Last semester, I looked forward to the end of the semester, because it would be festive Christmastime. This semester will end in May. May is a fabulous month, but it's just kind of...open ended. But then I will have all of the summer to look forward to. Or maybe I won't look forward to summer. Who knows what summer 2021 will look like?

On Tuesday afternoon, I had a dental appointment. I was supposed to have one in September, but my old dentist stopped taking my insurance. If I upgraded my insurance to keep going there, it would more than double my monthly payment, so I just picked a new dentist, and it took me a few months to get that worked out. 

It's a good thing I did, because the new dental office diagnosed me with periodontal disease. They seemed surprised that the last office hadn't noticed when I went in March. The hygienist (who was the most friendly/least socially awkward of all the office staff) listed off possible causes of the bone loss when I asked. The only one that seems to fit is genetics. I don't have any other diseases (that I know of), and I have good oral hygiene. (I didn't have good oral hygiene when I was a kid, since my parents didn't enforce teeth brushing, but I do now.)

They didn't do my cleaning on Tuesday, since they weren't prepared for my necessary deep clean. So I have to go back this week.

On Wednesday, I was happy to watch the inauguration. I was going to do my strength training in my pajamas with the inauguration in the background, but it seemed important enough that I take it more seriously and put on my Biden/Harris t-shirt.

It was the first time I ever watched an inauguration (I worked in 2017, was on a mission in 2009, and was young before that). I felt so happy while watching it! First of all, I was happy that Amy Klobuchar was MC, since she was my first choice for president. I hope we haven't seen the last of her. Then I was so happy to see Joe Biden cross himself for the prayer. It's refreshing to see someone (especially a Democrat) who is deeply committed to his faith. I was especially happy that the prayer quoted James 1:5, that most significant of Bible verses in Latter-day Saint theology. And regular blog readers know how I feel about Lady Gaga, so I was delighted to see her sing the national anthem wearing a giant dove brooch. She did a beautiful job, as expected. And then, how exciting to have our first female/black/Asian vice president! (My first year at Sundance, I had a coworker named Kamala, so I know she must be happy now.) And of course, it was refreshing to have the president tell us that he will fight for those who didn't support him. So much better than the last four years of us versus them.

Unfortunately, I did have to temper my enthusiasm. I realized that the joy I felt was not so much because I'm wildly enthusiastic about this president or think this will be a spectacular administration. It's just a relief to be done with the last one! The fact that Mike Pence and George Bush attended but Trump did not is a testament to the fact that he is a narcissistic, selfish, evil man. I hope we never hear about him ever again, except if he is convicted of a crime or when he dies. Well, it would be nice to hear if he had a change of heart, but in that case, I think the news stories would be more focused on the airborne swine and Mephistopheles's snowballs. 

In other news, I have continued running on new streets in North Salt Lake. I ran down Redwood Road to the southern end of North Salt Lake. I have most of the eastern part of the city done, but I have a lot in the western part still to do. I have driven down there for some of the roads, since I don't love running through traffic. 

I often talk about my dislike for January. But I do love being able to see six-pointed snowflakes with my naked eye. 

I love to experiment with variations on recipes, so today I wanted to try cherry chocolate pancakes, using the cherries we have in the freezer. They were a challenge to make; I wasn't used to the cocoa consistency, and the cherries made the pancakes thick, which made them harder to cook all the way through. They were OK.

When I'm in school, I feel guilty anytime I'm not working on school stuff. You might think I'm stressing myself out, but really I just try to get ahead and stay on top of everything so I'm not stressed. I'm hoping I get into a new groove this semester so I can be even more productive than last semester!

Science fair

Hmm. Since it's January, there wasn't a whole lot that was interesting this week. I've just been enjoying my last full week off before spring semester starts. 

One thing that was out of the ordinary was that my mom asked me to help judge elementary school science projects. Along with two other judges, I judged five projects: one kid created boxes with lightbulbs and different kinds of insulation; some girls tested how to prevent berries from rotting; some girls tested how long it took different kinds of soda cans to explode in the freezer; two boys tested whether basketball, soccer, or running burned the most calories; one boy tested different amounts of hydrogen peroxide in "elephant toothpaste." I was also supposed to judge a girl seeing whether salt or a heater melted ice faster, but she didn't show up.

This was all online, of course, and science fairs have changed a lot since I was a kid. I don't know if today's presentations would have been more traditional if there weren't a pandemic going on, but an online science fair would have been impractical back at the turn of the millennium. Our dial-up AOL couldn't have handled video streaming, even if the technology had been around. Apparently PowerPoints existed, but I hadn't heard of them. 

When I was in school, everyone was graded by first, second, or third place. In fifth grade, I remember one of my classmates only got third place, and I remember thinking that was unfair, because his science was sound (at least as far as I could tell as a fifth-grader). His display board was sloppy, with pencil-written captions. But he did the project all by himself, not having a supportive family and probably not having a home computer. (He was a troubled kid. He once slashed a teacher's tires, and in sixth grade he was expelled.) But before we began making our projects, they presented us with an example of what not to do: a demonstration and explanation (not an experiment) about volcanoes. One kid in another grade did that exact project (the bad example!) and still got second or first place. I remember thinking that was so unfair and ridiculous.

All of this is to say that I tried to be fair and impartial in judging.

One evening this week, I was sitting in my room, petting Jimmy, when suddenly I heard a crash and the sound of shattering glass from the living room. For years, our tall lamp in the living room has been crooked. Finally the strain of being crooked became too much, and it crashed to the ground with no provocation. So my parents ordered a new one. 

Never mind the clutter of our house.

I've also been pursuing my goal of running on all of North Salt Lake's streets and visiting all of its parks. 

Then Friday, January 15, was my arbitrary date for beginning the Valentine's Day season. It's nice to have something going on this time of year, but Valentine's Day really isn't great. The best/most interesting thing about it is the candy and desserts, but even Valentine's Day sweets aren't as good as the other holidays, holidays where the candy is one of the lesser parts.

Last month, I made cherry crisp and modified the recipe to give it a gingerbread topping. So this month, I made cherry crisp but modified the recipe for a red velvet topping.

Ten of the twelve months of the year have their own wonderful things going on in the moment. But for all of January and February, I'm mostly looking forward to other times of the year, instead of what's going on at the moment.