Overall, this wasn't a very eventful week. I had a rather boring Presidents' Day.
But there were two things of note.
One was that we finally got snow in February. It was a poor excuse for a snowstorm, but I'll count it toward my desire to see snow in nine out of twelve months. I have seen snow on Memorial Day that was as "impressive" as the snowstorm yesterday. But now it needs to snow in March, April, May, and June--both for my wish and for Utah's snowpack.
The other noteworthy thing is that, with it being February, my internship ends this week. But my boss, Reid Neilson, managing director of the Church History Department and newly designated Assistant Church Historian and Recorder, is working it out so that I can work for him for another six months. He told me some flattering things. I'm really excited. I've loved working with him. I love the projects I get to work on and all the things I get to learn. If you want to know something about 1850s Utah, I probably know it.
My mom has a coworker (teacher) who should be fired. My aunt has a boss (principal) who should be fired and banned from leadership positions. My dad has a boss who should be fired (and being doomed to starvation wouldn't be bad either). But as for me, my boss is the nicest boss I've had. And I've had many nice bosses.
In 2011, I had a BYU custodial/sports setup job that was temporary. They said they would invite people back that they wanted to keep working for them. I never got invited back. (I don't think my boss realized how good I actually was, because sometimes I was sticking around cleaning things that other people missed. Sometimes people would turn the lights out on me because they thought everything was done.) I don't know if I would have taken it if I had been invited back, but I felt bad that they didn't think I was good enough. I sometimes thought, "If I can't do custodial stuff, well, what can I do?" Well, apparently I can do editing (and research). I may not be cut out to be a custodian, but I am cut out to be an editor. And that's just fine with me. Because editing is more enjoyable.
(And let's not forget that editing pays better.)
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Iron wheels a'rolling
This year's Valentine's Day was much better than last year's.
On Thursday this week, I had an appointment with an eye doctor. Now that I'm a grown-up, I have to take care of my own appointments and insurance. I haven't had my eyes checked for almost three years, and I haven't seen an ophthalmologist since November 1, 2007. I thought I might need new glasses, since it's been nearly three years. My eyes have gotten a little worse, but not enough that I need new glasses.
I am really worried about our weather this year. Look at this graphic from the Deseret News:
February is halfway over, and I still haven't seen it snow once this month. The mountains look like I would expect them in April or May. When I came out of my eye appointment on Thursday, for a split second I thought, "It's a little chilly for October." Then I remembered it wasn't October, so it really wasn't chilly at all. Some people hate snow, and while I don't like traveling in it, I wish I could impress upon people how much we need it. I learned just how valuable water is after taking my groundwater class. (Incidentally, the Deseret News yesterday ran an article about the groundwater of Snake Valley, which I visited on a field trip in that class. Keep your greedy hands off of Utah, Vegas!) I like unseasonable weather, but only when it lasts a few days, not two and a half months.
Due to the unseasonable warmth and increasing daylight, on Friday night I went running on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and ran further on that trail than I've been before (I did drive to the trailhead). I ran up near a weather station, where I was able to see Ensign Peak from a distance. When I came home, I said, "I saw Ensign peak, but I didn't go to it." My sister thought I said, "I saw some puke, but I didn't get in it."
Then yesterday, Valentine's Day, my family went up to Golden Spike National Historic Site. This was quite fitting, because that was one of the topics I had been researching this week for work. The building of the Transcontinental Railroad was an essential event both in United States and Utah history. The completion of the railroad in 1869 marked the end of the pioneer period. It's only fitting that it's on Utah's state quarter. I tend to be pretty cynical about history (as a discipline, not about historical facts), but I can't help but be fascinated by how events build on each other. For example, would the railroad have had so many Irish workers if not for the Irish Potato Famine? And I could go in depth on how the 1853 railroad survey of John W. Gunnison triggered events that helped oust Brigham Young as territorial governor, but I don't feel like it right now.
Sadly, Valentine's Day is one of the most boring holidays. But that means that I'm not that sad when it's over.
On Thursday this week, I had an appointment with an eye doctor. Now that I'm a grown-up, I have to take care of my own appointments and insurance. I haven't had my eyes checked for almost three years, and I haven't seen an ophthalmologist since November 1, 2007. I thought I might need new glasses, since it's been nearly three years. My eyes have gotten a little worse, but not enough that I need new glasses.
I am really worried about our weather this year. Look at this graphic from the Deseret News:
February is halfway over, and I still haven't seen it snow once this month. The mountains look like I would expect them in April or May. When I came out of my eye appointment on Thursday, for a split second I thought, "It's a little chilly for October." Then I remembered it wasn't October, so it really wasn't chilly at all. Some people hate snow, and while I don't like traveling in it, I wish I could impress upon people how much we need it. I learned just how valuable water is after taking my groundwater class. (Incidentally, the Deseret News yesterday ran an article about the groundwater of Snake Valley, which I visited on a field trip in that class. Keep your greedy hands off of Utah, Vegas!) I like unseasonable weather, but only when it lasts a few days, not two and a half months.
Due to the unseasonable warmth and increasing daylight, on Friday night I went running on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and ran further on that trail than I've been before (I did drive to the trailhead). I ran up near a weather station, where I was able to see Ensign Peak from a distance. When I came home, I said, "I saw Ensign peak, but I didn't go to it." My sister thought I said, "I saw some puke, but I didn't get in it."
Then yesterday, Valentine's Day, my family went up to Golden Spike National Historic Site. This was quite fitting, because that was one of the topics I had been researching this week for work. The building of the Transcontinental Railroad was an essential event both in United States and Utah history. The completion of the railroad in 1869 marked the end of the pioneer period. It's only fitting that it's on Utah's state quarter. I tend to be pretty cynical about history (as a discipline, not about historical facts), but I can't help but be fascinated by how events build on each other. For example, would the railroad have had so many Irish workers if not for the Irish Potato Famine? And I could go in depth on how the 1853 railroad survey of John W. Gunnison triggered events that helped oust Brigham Young as territorial governor, but I don't feel like it right now.
Sadly, Valentine's Day is one of the most boring holidays. But that means that I'm not that sad when it's over.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Utah's past and my past
One of the things I have loved about my job recently is learning about things that happened in the pioneer days of Utah. Often, I have never heard of these things.
For example, I learned that Capitol Hill in Salt Lake was once called Arsenal Hill because there was an arsenal on it. The arsenal was burned down in 1870 (get it? an arsEnal destroyed by arsOn?), but powder magazines remained on the hill until 1876, when some teenage boys accidentally set them off. The boys were blown to pieces, and rocks and debris flew everywhere, killing a pregnant woman and a three-year-old and damaging hundreds of houses. A Civil War veteran said it was worse than some of the destruction he had seen in the war. The residents at the time thought it was an event that would never be forgotten. But they were wrong, because everyone's forgotten it.
I was also thinking about the recent controversy of Dixie State College becoming Dixie State University. Some people think using the name Dixie with rebel mascots brings to mind slavery. But no one seemed to have a problem with the University of Utah Utes. The Ute tribe used to capture children from other tribes and sell them into slavery. That was one of the issues that fueled the Walker War of 1853, because Brigham Young and the Mormons found that practice abhorrent (and rightfully so, I might add). This doesn't mean that I think the U shouldn't have Utes, and I don't have strong feelings either way about Dixie's mascot, but I do think that if slavery is the only issue at hand, it should be applied consistently.
Back in October, I bought a CD, Saga of the Sanpitch, about Sanpete County. I got it because it had some songs by Cherie Call, my favorite singer, but I grew to like several of the other songs, both for the stories and for the music. Yesterday, the Utah Pioneer Heritage Arts was having a performance that was a preview of their Kane County CD, so I went to it. It was at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneer Museum, which is where the arsenal was once located. I had considered taking a date, but I thought it might be awkward and guessed it would only be old people. I was right. Three of the performers looked to be in their 30s or 40s, and there were two teen or preteen girls (probably there with their parents or grandparents), but other than that I don't think there was anyone under the age of 50. I have nothing against people that age, but I was a little out of place. (And for the record, I don't consider the 50s to be old, just older than me.) I liked the stories they told and sung, and I bought their Sevier County CD, The Valley of the Trails, but I haven't listened to it yet. The Sevier County CD doesn't have Cherie Call on it, but she wrote one of the Kane County songs, so I hope she'll be on that recording.
The last few days were very windy, which is very annoying when it blows over your recycling bin and blows your trash all over the neighborhood. One of the shoeboxes I had recycled ended up on another street. After I came back from the performance, I went through other people's yards, picking up newspapers and pieces of sensitive documents I had torn up. Someone evidently picked up my shoebox, but I still picked up the powdered Gatorade container that was on the next street down. But I didn't go down into the gully of our neighborhood. And I feel like a terrible person for not doing so.
On Friday my family went to see Mary Poppins at Woods Cross High School. It was a very good performance. But I had a bit of a weird experience, thinking, "I graduated from here, moved away on a mission, moved away to college, graduated from college, and here I am back at the beginning." I saw my old French teacher, Mrs. Jamison. On the last day of school she almost told me she hoped I learned French on my mission, but then she thought French would be too easy for me. She hoped to see where I went in the Davis County Clipper. But my mission was never announced in the paper, so she never found out I went English speaking. I talked to her after the play, and I told her I had taken advanced French, but I didn't tell her I went English speaking. (Why I wasn't called on a foreign-speaking mission is still one of the great mysteries of my life.) I also saw Mrs. Wagstaff, the physics teacher, but I didn't think she'd remember me.
I've thought about going in depth explaining why college is better than high school. But that would be like explaining why brownies are better than Smarties.
For example, I learned that Capitol Hill in Salt Lake was once called Arsenal Hill because there was an arsenal on it. The arsenal was burned down in 1870 (get it? an arsEnal destroyed by arsOn?), but powder magazines remained on the hill until 1876, when some teenage boys accidentally set them off. The boys were blown to pieces, and rocks and debris flew everywhere, killing a pregnant woman and a three-year-old and damaging hundreds of houses. A Civil War veteran said it was worse than some of the destruction he had seen in the war. The residents at the time thought it was an event that would never be forgotten. But they were wrong, because everyone's forgotten it.
I was also thinking about the recent controversy of Dixie State College becoming Dixie State University. Some people think using the name Dixie with rebel mascots brings to mind slavery. But no one seemed to have a problem with the University of Utah Utes. The Ute tribe used to capture children from other tribes and sell them into slavery. That was one of the issues that fueled the Walker War of 1853, because Brigham Young and the Mormons found that practice abhorrent (and rightfully so, I might add). This doesn't mean that I think the U shouldn't have Utes, and I don't have strong feelings either way about Dixie's mascot, but I do think that if slavery is the only issue at hand, it should be applied consistently.
Back in October, I bought a CD, Saga of the Sanpitch, about Sanpete County. I got it because it had some songs by Cherie Call, my favorite singer, but I grew to like several of the other songs, both for the stories and for the music. Yesterday, the Utah Pioneer Heritage Arts was having a performance that was a preview of their Kane County CD, so I went to it. It was at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneer Museum, which is where the arsenal was once located. I had considered taking a date, but I thought it might be awkward and guessed it would only be old people. I was right. Three of the performers looked to be in their 30s or 40s, and there were two teen or preteen girls (probably there with their parents or grandparents), but other than that I don't think there was anyone under the age of 50. I have nothing against people that age, but I was a little out of place. (And for the record, I don't consider the 50s to be old, just older than me.) I liked the stories they told and sung, and I bought their Sevier County CD, The Valley of the Trails, but I haven't listened to it yet. The Sevier County CD doesn't have Cherie Call on it, but she wrote one of the Kane County songs, so I hope she'll be on that recording.
The last few days were very windy, which is very annoying when it blows over your recycling bin and blows your trash all over the neighborhood. One of the shoeboxes I had recycled ended up on another street. After I came back from the performance, I went through other people's yards, picking up newspapers and pieces of sensitive documents I had torn up. Someone evidently picked up my shoebox, but I still picked up the powdered Gatorade container that was on the next street down. But I didn't go down into the gully of our neighborhood. And I feel like a terrible person for not doing so.
On Friday my family went to see Mary Poppins at Woods Cross High School. It was a very good performance. But I had a bit of a weird experience, thinking, "I graduated from here, moved away on a mission, moved away to college, graduated from college, and here I am back at the beginning." I saw my old French teacher, Mrs. Jamison. On the last day of school she almost told me she hoped I learned French on my mission, but then she thought French would be too easy for me. She hoped to see where I went in the Davis County Clipper. But my mission was never announced in the paper, so she never found out I went English speaking. I talked to her after the play, and I told her I had taken advanced French, but I didn't tell her I went English speaking. (Why I wasn't called on a foreign-speaking mission is still one of the great mysteries of my life.) I also saw Mrs. Wagstaff, the physics teacher, but I didn't think she'd remember me.
I've thought about going in depth explaining why college is better than high school. But that would be like explaining why brownies are better than Smarties.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
What an eccentric college grad does in January
January, the worst month of the year, is over! Actually, a lot of the bad things about January didn't happen this year. The smog wasn't very bad, and there wasn't much ice. I worry about our snowpack. You may know that I am waiting for a year in which I see it snow nine out of twelve months. I got eight months in 2010 and 2011, but I only saw six months last year. January is usually not a month I worry about, but come April and May, the snowstorms are like, "Well, this is a snowstorm, but just barely." Well, this January's storms were of the "barely" variety. I hope February brings indisputable snowstorms.
On Monday this week, my ward went to Orchard Lanes bowling. Out of three games, I broke 100 twice, at which point I'm always satisfied. But in one of those, the lane was broken, so it gave us extra points. But I might have still broken 100 anyway.
A few nights ago, I had an Inception-like dream. (At least, that's my understanding, because I've never seen that movie.) [Cue the wavy screen.] In one dream, I dreamed that my sister had a son while I was on my mission, and years later, I didn't remember his name, and I felt like a terrible uncle. Then I woke up from that dream, and in the next dream, I verified with my mom that my sister in fact did not have a son. My mom told me, however, that a neighbor's girlfriend was pregnant with twins. (In real life I told that person about this dream, but I don't want to embarrass him publicly, because this dream doesn't describe him at all.) This guy was the executive secretary in my ward, but then on a Saturday I got a call that I was going to be executive secretary, presumably because he was being released. I was sustained at home, even though no one was there, so I could start the next day. And then I woke up from that dream, and I was telling everyone about the dream I had just had. [Cue reverse wavy screen.] There may have been one or two more levels of dream as well.
On Thursday, I once again helped with tutoring. I feel even dumber when I have to refresh myself on sixth-grade math. But in fairness, sixth-grade math was a lot longer ago than high school math.
Then with it being an unusually warm and un-smoggy January, I was able to go running yesterday, although I only had time for a partial run. I was running past a house when I heard a small girl saying, "Daddy, do you see that boy running?" I heard the dad say "hi," but I had already passed the house, and the dad sounded more like he was saying it to appease his daughter rather than to greet me--but I feel a little like a jerk for not turning around and waving.
Then a friend and I went to the Clark Planetarium. It reminded me how much I've forgotten from the Geology of Planets class I took two years ago (for instance, I don't remember the difference between stony, iron, and stony-iron meteorites). But it is amazing to think about how enormous Jupiter is, and yet how small it is compared with the rest of the solar system, and how small that is in the galaxy, and how small that is in the universe. [Booming sound of a mind blowing.]
And after dealings with real outer space, I introduced my family to a DVD set I recently got. You might think I only watch horrible 1960s sitcoms, but you'd be wrong. Oh no, I watch other things as well. I also watch cartoons based on horrible 1960s sitcoms. Even if they were from the 80s.
Gilligan's Planet actually is pretty similar to the original Gilligan's Island, except they're stranded on another planet (and Gilligan has a pet alien, and Ginger looks different, and it's animated). They even got most of the original cast! Gilligan's Island is my favorite show, and with the episodes about Gilligan becoming a radio, the castaways getting superpowers from eating radioactive vegetables, Gilligan turning magnetic and then invisible, and a mad scientist switching their bodies around, there is nothing too ridiculous to me. Last night I also caught an episode of Lost in Space, and it was very similar to the Gilligan's Planet episode I had just watched! (Well, only a little bit similar. Skipper and Dr. Smith were both accused of not working, and they both responded that they were watching for aliens.)
Here I am a college grad, watching cartoons and struggling with sixth-grade math.
On Monday this week, my ward went to Orchard Lanes bowling. Out of three games, I broke 100 twice, at which point I'm always satisfied. But in one of those, the lane was broken, so it gave us extra points. But I might have still broken 100 anyway.
A few nights ago, I had an Inception-like dream. (At least, that's my understanding, because I've never seen that movie.) [Cue the wavy screen.] In one dream, I dreamed that my sister had a son while I was on my mission, and years later, I didn't remember his name, and I felt like a terrible uncle. Then I woke up from that dream, and in the next dream, I verified with my mom that my sister in fact did not have a son. My mom told me, however, that a neighbor's girlfriend was pregnant with twins. (In real life I told that person about this dream, but I don't want to embarrass him publicly, because this dream doesn't describe him at all.) This guy was the executive secretary in my ward, but then on a Saturday I got a call that I was going to be executive secretary, presumably because he was being released. I was sustained at home, even though no one was there, so I could start the next day. And then I woke up from that dream, and I was telling everyone about the dream I had just had. [Cue reverse wavy screen.] There may have been one or two more levels of dream as well.
On Thursday, I once again helped with tutoring. I feel even dumber when I have to refresh myself on sixth-grade math. But in fairness, sixth-grade math was a lot longer ago than high school math.
Then with it being an unusually warm and un-smoggy January, I was able to go running yesterday, although I only had time for a partial run. I was running past a house when I heard a small girl saying, "Daddy, do you see that boy running?" I heard the dad say "hi," but I had already passed the house, and the dad sounded more like he was saying it to appease his daughter rather than to greet me--but I feel a little like a jerk for not turning around and waving.
Then a friend and I went to the Clark Planetarium. It reminded me how much I've forgotten from the Geology of Planets class I took two years ago (for instance, I don't remember the difference between stony, iron, and stony-iron meteorites). But it is amazing to think about how enormous Jupiter is, and yet how small it is compared with the rest of the solar system, and how small that is in the galaxy, and how small that is in the universe. [Booming sound of a mind blowing.]
And after dealings with real outer space, I introduced my family to a DVD set I recently got. You might think I only watch horrible 1960s sitcoms, but you'd be wrong. Oh no, I watch other things as well. I also watch cartoons based on horrible 1960s sitcoms. Even if they were from the 80s.
Gilligan's Planet actually is pretty similar to the original Gilligan's Island, except they're stranded on another planet (and Gilligan has a pet alien, and Ginger looks different, and it's animated). They even got most of the original cast! Gilligan's Island is my favorite show, and with the episodes about Gilligan becoming a radio, the castaways getting superpowers from eating radioactive vegetables, Gilligan turning magnetic and then invisible, and a mad scientist switching their bodies around, there is nothing too ridiculous to me. Last night I also caught an episode of Lost in Space, and it was very similar to the Gilligan's Planet episode I had just watched! (Well, only a little bit similar. Skipper and Dr. Smith were both accused of not working, and they both responded that they were watching for aliens.)
Here I am a college grad, watching cartoons and struggling with sixth-grade math.
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