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!