Not much

 It wasn't too exciting of a week. I'm still settling into my new job, which has been enjoyable so far. At the turn of the year, when my Church History Department job told me that could only offer me a part-time job, it was disappointing. At that time, I had interviewed for another part-time job, which was not offered to me, and I don't think I would have accepted it. Those events made me eligible for my new state job, which I think will be a great boost to my career. Things really worked out well. And honestly, I also think that the project I'm working on with the CHD will be a great boost to my career, possibly more than a full-time job there would have been.

My new job is remote, but we have meetings in the office every two weeks, so I had to go in. They introduced me to the rest of the Utah Historical Society, and the assistant director pointed out I was wearing a tie. I was dressed more formally than anyone else, but that's because I have to dress up for my Church job, which I was going to after the state job. It is a little weird to have two jobs simultaneously. A lot of the content is the same or similar, but the cultures and rules are different.

I haven't been on a trail run since early November, and usually I can return to the trails by mid-March, but it will still be a bit before the trails thaw out. And I'm not even mad. Can you believe that just over six months ago, we hit 107 degrees in September?

I really can't believe that cats are real! These little soft creatures with adorable faces that like to spend time with us! When I wake up in the morning, Reggie darts onto my bed to sit on me and purr. I do get annoyed that he always tries to lick my chin. But this week he sat on me while I was lying on the ground after a workout, and then he bit my pec through my shirt. So there are worse things than licking. 

Irresistible!

Another job

The most important part of this week was that I started my second job! On Monday morning, I headed to the state offices in Millcreek to begin my job as assistant editor for Utah Historical Quarterly, a publication of the Utah Historical Society, which is just in the process of rebranding from its previous name, the Utah Division of State History. I will have to go into the Millcreek office twice a month or so for meetings, but most of the time I will be working remotely. The state history offices used to be in the Rio Grande building, but they have to repair/upgrade the building after the 2020 earthquake. It sounds like that building will be completed in 2026. That is about the same time there will be a new Utah history museum at the capitol. So if I still have this job in three years, I will probably end up at Rio Grande.

I received a state-issued laptop, which I will use at my bedroom desk. I'm glad I bought a desk last year! I had a virtual meeting with the other UHQ people (there's only three of us for now, and one of those is a temporary student position), and my state laptop's camera shows more of my bedroom than my personal laptop does. So I will need to do a better job of keeping my room clean. Also, now I'm paranoid that sometime there will be a meeting going on, and I will have my camera on by accident while I'm changing in my room.

Most of my time this week has been going over orientation materials, but I did spend some time editing an article for the journal. My supervisor had very flattering things to say to me about my experience and about what my other bosses (listed on my references) said about me. It's nice to feel like my educational and professional experience is finally paying off—even though I still don't have a permanent full-time job. I had to talk with my insurance agents this week to update my health insurance. I will be earning full-time wages but without benefits.

And I'm still enjoying my Church History Department work. At the Church, I get to be a historian, and at the state, I get to be the editor for other historians. Having two jobs isn't ideal, and I'm still getting used to a new schedule, but this setup allows me to diversify. I found some fun things in the archive this week, and I suspect that one day (in a few years) you might hear about it.

On Tuesday I attended a North Salt Lake city council meeting because they were thinking of putting new apartments in a strip mall by Orchard Elementary. I didn't know much about the proposal, but I went to learn, and it was my first time attending such a meeting. At first, the crowd was a bit unruly, and I worried it would be an angry meeting like you see on the news, but the city officials professionally calmed the crowd down, and it went smoothly. The city voted against the apartments. (On at least two occasions, I have had dreams that there was a See's Candies location in the strip mall.)

I enjoyed St. Patrick's Day, but it wasn't very St. Patrick's'-y. I made corned beef and cabbage (one of the few times a year I cook meat), but I didn't have time to make Irish soda bread. After I came home from the Church History Library, I changed into all my green clothes.

I attended the concert for the local band the National Parks. They always put on a great show. In the past, if I wanted to attend a concert, I felt an obligation to make it a date and take a girl. But thankfully that's not the case anymore, and I was happy to attend by myself, since I didn't know who else would want to go. I showed my ID at the Union Event Center so I could go upstairs, which is 21+ only, since that's where the bars are—even though I remainly firmly anti-alcohol.

There were two passable openers, but the real draw was the National Parks. On March 3, they released their sixth album, 8th Wonder, but I haven't listened to it as much, since it's new and it's been competing with St. Patrick's Day music. This concert was a release party for that album, but they sang songs from all their albums except their third one, Places. I remember them saying once that with Places, they were trying to sound popular instead of being authentic to their own sound. And indeed, I think Places is their least-memorable album. (My favorite remains their sophomore album, Until I Live.)

Yesterday, I decided to go on a long bike ride, since I'm doing another sprint triathlon in May. Of running, swimming, and biking, biking is my least favorite. But I thought it was a good day for it, especially since trail season will resume soon but not yet. I took my bike to the Legacy Parkway Trail (I'm glad I have a car that can have a bike fit in it), which is nice and flat. I went twenty-two miles, the longest I've ever gone, but since it's so flat, it was easy. There were lots of places with standing water, and in several of them I could hear very noisy frogs! So that was fun. I rode from North Salt Lake to Farmington, but once you get to Farmington, there's lots of street intersections, which makes the ride less enjoyable.

Very noisy frogs here

I gained weight after Christmas, and sometimes I get frustrated that my weight isn't going down very fast. But I am so obsessed with seasonal candy that it makes sense. I wonder what my body would be like if I ate healthier. We are now transitioning from St. Patrick's Day to Easter. St. Patrick's Day has better music, but Easter has better candy. This morning I made carrot cake pancakes, and I was happy to use peach jelly bean whipped topping on them.

I discovered that a Facebook friend unfriended me this week—which is fine, because I regularly unfriend people, and I had wondered how long I would keep him on my friends list. But it got me wondering why, and I realized that we are essentially opposites. He is very right-wing, he loves manly things like cars and watching basketball, and he complains about pumpkin everything and the abundance of Oreo flavors. Pretty much everything I'm not. (I also can't help but wonder if it's old-fashioned homophobia, since I also see he's not friends with another gay friend.)

Have a great week!

The last low-key week

 It was my last week working part-time. I sometimes think I've squandered my extra time over the last two months, but I did do some different things this week.

On Thursday, I was a judge for National History Day, which was like a science fair but for history. I helped judge exhibitions for kids between sixth and eighth grade. It was more stressful than I expected. I worked with one other judge, and we were assigned nine exhibits to look at. We had to rank them to decide which would go on to state, and we had to evaluate all nine of them. I had to work with my co-judge to make sure our assessments agreed. It was just frustrating to make these subjective judgments. But we both agreed on our top entry. These girls did a presentation about antibiotics, and not only did they fit all the historical requirements, they made their display look like a giant pill bottle that swiveled, instead of just the typical cardboard display. (I feel weird posting random kids' work here on the blog, so I'm not going to share a picture.) I'm glad I did something unusual, but I don't know whether I'll do it again. But since I will be working for the Utah Division of State History, I know I will be asked to help out again.

Then yesterday, I decided to attend the Siamsa, a St. Patrick's Day festival at the Gateway. Back in 2017, the last time St. Patrick's Day was on a Friday, I was doing a holiday bucket list, and I wanted to go to the St. Patrick's Day parade, but they held it the day after St. Patrick's Day, which didn't count–on March 18, I've moved on to Easter. This year they had it the Saturday before, but this year I don't care about the parade. So I just went to the post-parade festivities.

All that plastic confetti (litter) makes me cringe.

It was fun to walk around literally dressed head-to-toe in green (hat, sunglasses, hoodie, shirt, belt, pants, socks, shoes) and see what was going on. I bought a loaf of Irish soda bread and various flavors of green taffy from Rocket Fizz, including pickle taffy.

And I settled in for the sets of two local Celtic-inspired bands, Murphy & the Giant (rock) and Shanahy (folk). I was pleased to recognize the voice of one of the Shanahy singers as Kate MacLeod, whose voice graces my Pioneer Day playlist.

I was lucky enough to find a comfy seat with a good view of the stage.

St. Patrick's Day is a dumb holiday, and yet I find it fun. 

Then this morning, I made the mistake of leaving my scriptures open and unsupervised while there's a cat in the house. When I came back to my room, they were partially eaten.

Now, you all know that I adore holiday-themed foods, the more unusual the better. So permit me for a moment to geek out about some of the more interesting St. Patrick's Day foods I've had lately.

A week and a half ago, since I only work part-time, I took the time to drive all the way to Clearfield to try Lucky Slice's corned beef and cabbage pizza. Since most themed foods are sweet, it's nice to have something savory. I really enjoyed the pizza! I worried I wouldn't, because it had Irish cheddar, and I'm picky about cheese. But it was a pleasant surprise. I wish we had a closer location. 

Then last week, I made Irish soda bread cookies. They were surprisingly tasty, and I love that they look like mini loaves of Irish soda bread. I added a teaspoon of caraway seeds to the recipe.

Now, I have long associated toadstools with St. Patrick's Day. 

So I was happy to see that Normal Ice Cream, a local shop that is anything but normal, had a "composed cone" called a "fairy circle." A fairy circle is a collection of musrooms that grow in a circle. And the ice cream was flavored like candy cap mushrooms! I had never heard of sweet mushrooms before (I don't like regular mushrooms), and I was happy to find that this was one of the best ice creams I have ever had there.

And they also had a "pot o' gold composed cone," but they were out of the chocolate coins that were supposed to go with it, which was disappointing. I think it was supposed to look like a rainbow, but the "rainbow" sprinkles weren't very rainbow. It still tasted good though, and it was vegan!

And of course I've also had plenty of mint and Lucky Charms–inspired things, but those aren't as interesting.

working professional

 Last week I mentioned that I will be starting a new job, but the other applicants hadn't been notified yet. But now I can tell people.

On Thursday, February 23, I had a video call on which I was offered a long-term part-time job as an editor for Utah Historical Quarterly, an academic journal published by the Utah Division of State History. The lead historian, who offered me the position, was very flattering. She told me my interview and writing sample were nearly perfect, and she said my references only had good things to say. So that was reassuring.

But I couldn't accept the position immediately. I had applied to a full-time editing position with the Church History Department, and I hadn't heard back yet. If they offered me a position, which would I choose? Would I have two part-time jobs (my current Church History Department contract and the state job) or would I choose one full-time job? So I reached out to the hiring manager for the Church job to see if they had made a decision. She called me and told me they offered the position to someone else.

So I was glad I didn't have to choose. But even if I had to choose, I think I would have picked the two part-time jobs. That way I don't have to choose. I'm literally working for church and state at the same time! My Church job has me doing history, while my state job will have me editing history. I think this arrangement will ultimately be better for my career. My Church tasks right now are fun and exciting and will give me some great opportunities, and honestly I think I would miss some of the opportunities if I had the full-time Church job I applied for. And all my professional experience in academia has been at the Church and BYU, so it will be nice to get some academic experience outside of the institution.

Still, it is a little frustrating that I still don't have a permanent full-time career yet. I've just spent my whole life not knowing what things will look like in the not-too-distant future, and that will continue for now.

Three years ago, I interviewed for a part-time editing job for state parks. They didn't hire me because I was going to grad school. That would have been a fun job because my geology background might have been relevant. But for many years I have thought it would be fun to edit for Utah Historical Quarterly, and now that will become a reality!

It's nice to feel like I'm actually going somewhere with my career, like grad school is starting to pay off.

On February 25, the Church History Department hosted a women's history symposium. It had originally been planned by Kate Holbrook, who I worked with on At the Pulpit, but then she died last summer, so they held the event in her honor. I don't know that I'm especially cut out for academic conferences like that; sometimes I had a hard time focusing, especially when the speakers had accents or laryngitis. But if I want to consider myself an academic, I need to get used to settings like that. And I asked what I thought was a reasonably intelligent question during a Q&A.

This week I was doing some research, and the sources I needed were not digitized, and the microfilm was not available, so I had to call up the nearly 170-year-old original documents up to my desk. I couldn't help but think, Who gets to do that?! Is this real life?

I feel like I haven't really taken advantage of all my free time the last couple of months. I haven't done a lot of fun or memorable things. But this week will be my last part-time week, and I will be helping out as a middle-school judge for National History Day, which is like a science fair but for history.

I'm looking forward to starting a new phase of my career next week!