My Muddy Valentine

Of the nine holidays I formally celebrate, Valentine's Day is my least favorite. I'm not anti–Valentine's Day, like some people are; it provides a little bit of brightness in the winter. But there's just not much to look forward to. The food is literally the best part.

Since I was able to run up North Canyon, my favorite trail, on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I thought I'd try it out for Valentine's Day, since the snowpack hasn't really improved. 

There was definitely more snow than there was on Christmas, so I opted not to go up the usual way to Rudy's Flat.

Instead I took the new Mahogany Ridge Trail up to Cave Peak. And much of the trail was muddy. I think it was muddy from the small storms we had this week, which were rain in the valley, but they appeared to have left a dusting of snow on the trail. Much of this dusting had melted (hence the mud), but there were patches in the shade that were still covered in snow.

Honestly, I can't say it was a great run. February is just not a pretty month—no wildflowers, no green, no fall leaves. Even December was prettier. I didn't like running on the mud. It was a reminder of the  terrible winter we've had this year. And I wish I had worn a hat, because the sun was in my eyes (in the summer, it's higher in the sky). But at least it was pretty easy for me.

As I was coming back down, I met an older man who asked me about the trail conditions. He wants to go to Rudy's Flat sometime, because his name is Rudy, but yesterday was not the day to do it.

I was a little disappointed to get my Halloween shoes all muddy, but they already have 294 miles on them. My run was just under seven miles.

I allowed myself to do virtually nothing for the holiday. My mom made sugar cookies, and we had our traditional pizza dinner to remember our worst Valentine's Day ever, when my mom broke her leg carrying a pizza downstairs. One of the pizzas got overcooked, but I remarked that it's better overcooked than thrown on the floor.

And I spent the bulk of the day watching Valentine's-themed episodes of various sitcoms on TV: The Simpsons, The Nanny, Frasier, Roseanne, and Bob's Burgers. That seemed to be about the best way to spend such a bland holiday.

And now that Valentine's Day is over, we can move on to the holidays that are actually fun.

The Office

With my part-time state job, I work from home most of the time, but I'm required to go into the office once a week. (If I were full-time, I'd have to go in every day.) Our office building is an old building, and it's not a very nice building at that. I was delighted this week to get a new office space! Our old office was small with fluorescent lighting, and the only window was in a closet that the building folks kept locked. I likened it to the January of the building—dark, cold, and unpleasant.

Our new office space is large and has a nice window. So much better! Many of our colleagues are moving into the newly finished North Capitol Building, so this room opened up. We will be here until June, at which point we will move to a different building altogether.

Being single and gay comes with a great deal of existential crisis, but one advantage is that I only have to support myself, which means I kind of have a disposable income. As I've been biking in the last month, I've been annoyed to discover I had a slow leak in my front tire. As I contemplated getting a new tube, I realized that I haven't had it tuned up since 2018. That doesn't sound like a long time, but eight years sounds like a long time. So Wednesday I took my bike to Bountiful Bicycles (it's always nice to support local businesses) so I can get it tuned up. I think they're replacing the chain, and also I'm going to try out an insert in the tire that prevents punctures. All the repairs will be costly, so I'm glad I can afford it. 

Thursday, my dad informed me that there were eagles circling above our house. I do hear that February is the month they pass through Utah. So I went outside to see them. It was hard, because they were flying near where the sun was shining, but I did get to see them. I don't know whether they were bald eagles or golden eagles.

Just seeing this picture makes me want to squint, even though of course it's not going to hurt my eyes

On Friday, the Bountiful library was having a book sale before they close for renovations, and I went over to see what they had. Back in the 1990s, the Utah State Historical Society (now Utah Historical Society, my employer) published a newsletter called Beehive History with very short history articles. The library was selling a set for five dollars, so I texted my boss to ask if we could use it.

I looked at other books while I awaited her reply. She responded that it might be useful (she had never seen bound copies before), so I went back to get them. There was a woman standing next to them with a stack of picture books. As I started to put them in my tote, she said, "I was just about to buy those." I explained that I work for the Utah Historical Society, which produced them, and she let me have them. I said, "I feel bad," and I almost said, "You can have them if you want"—but I stopped myself. I have always had a mindset that other people's needs come before mine. I have no idea what this woman planned to do with these brief 1990s history publications, but whatever it was, I am 95 percent confident that I have a better use for them.

I also bought a Thanksgiving cookbook and a Daughters of Utah Pioneers book of pioneer songs. I also bought six CDs: Keith Urban, New Christy Minstrels, Tony Bennett's duets with various singers (including Lady Gaga and Carrie Underwood), Backstreet Boys' Christmas album, and two patriotic albums for my Fourth of July playlist. 

Yesterday I took my parents to Great Salt Lake State Park to see the mirabilite mounds, which are special mineral deposits that only form a few places in the world (and they only form here under certain conditions, including low lake level, unfortunately). I went with my dad last year, but my mom hadn't seen them. I don't think they were as cool as they were last year. I found myself sad and worried about the environmental conditions: the low lake level, the abundant patches of invasive phragmites, the warm February weather, the visible smog. Will we be able to save our planet?

In the afternoon, I went on a street run. (The trails have snow, the pool was closed, and the bike was in the shop, so I had no other cardio options!) I went to a neighborhood near Mueller Park, where I hadn't been before. It was very steep, and I had to take some breaks, especially since I didn't know how long the steep would last. There was a random bench overlooking a gully and part of a football field next to it.

It would be fun to explore more of this neighborhood on a different day. Unfortunately, on my way home, when I hit eight miles, I could feel my IT band starting to act up. I feel like I do a decent job of cross-training! Oh well, it doesn't usually bother me when I'm on the trails, which is really what I prefer.

Do you ever remember something random in the middle of the night? Last night for me, it was this queer-coded scene from Get Smart in 1968.

Serious and silly

I had a week where I feel like I can say something about every day!

Last Sunday, I wrote letters to Celeste Maloy, John Curtis, and Mike Lee, and I put them in the mail on Monday. This is the bulk of the letters:

I am severely concerned about the current state of the United States of America under the Trump administration. Actually, “severely concerned” is an understatement. My grievances are too long to include fully, but they include the following: pardoning people who attacked law enforcement at the Capitol, killing any boats that are assumed to have drug traffickers, filling government positions with unqualified people, removing history from museums and markers, flip-flopping on the Epstein files, posting mean-spirited social media content on official government accounts, and threatening to invade Greenland. I am dismayed that I can no longer trust the content on official government websites, whether it’s about health, science, history, or elections. And I am certainly infuriated by the brutal ways ICE is fulfilling its job: murdering people such as Renee Good and Alex Pretti; detaining children, legal immigrants, and US citizens; and not adequately training employees.

In your heart, I think you know that Donald Trump is not a man of honorable moral character, that he is a man who cares only about himself. Therefore, I invite you to encourage your colleagues in the House to do what you can to remove him from office, and then keep the momentum going when the vote goes to the Senate. I know you worry about revenge and retribution from him. But if enough of you can band together, you can remove him and strip him of his powers. Think for a moment what it would be like if Trump no longer had control over the US and the Republican Party. You could instead rally around a leader who has a firm moral compass and does what is best for the country, not his or her own personal interest—someone who is a good role model for your children and grandchildren, someone who tries to unite us.

I did add some personal touches to the introduction and conclusion, and Maloy's was slightly different, since she's in the House. I told Curtis I voted for him in the primaries (he was the least terrible option, though of course I didn't tell him that), and I invited Lee to repent for joking about Melissa Hortman's murder. Between Mike, Trevor, John D., and Robert E., I have a hard time trusting people with the last name Lee.

I went into the office for my Utah Historical Society (UHS) job (I'm expected to go in once a week). In the afternoon, I met my BYU boss for lunch (he loves lunch) as I started working for him again. Since October, I have been working full-time hours for UHS, but I've still been a part-time employee. But this week I resumed splitting my time between UHS and BYU. I gotta say, I have a harder time focusing for my BYU work. I think that's because (1) the assignments are harder, (2) I'm using my own laptop, and (3) I work on it at the end of the workday.

On Tuesday I went to DI, which I don't go to very often. I enjoy looking at the old CDs to try to find things that are not available on streaming services. On this trip, I bought the CD Shall We Gather by Enoch Train, a local folk ensemble named for the ship that transported many of the handcart pioneers. I heard the CD on my mission when my companion borrowed it from our district leader. (That was the only companion who I think is actually a bad person.)

On Wednesday, UHS had a ceremony for our annual awards. This time, it was held at Hill Aerospace Museum, so we were surrounded by lots of old airplanes. Military history isn't really my thing, but it was still a cool venue to be at. I'm on the committee that decides the best books and articles. Our top two Utah history books (published in 2024) were This Abominable Slavery: Race, Religion, and the Battle over Human Bondage in Antebellum Utah by Paul Reeve, Christopher Rich, and LaJean Purcell Carruth, and American Zion: A New History of Mormonism by Benjamin E. Park. I had a lengthy discussion with Christopher Rich after dinner, and I said hi to Ben Park, but he meets so many people. (I generally admire his scholarship, but last year he made a video about Pioneer Day that had some dead-wrong analyses—he obviously hadn't read my article!) And I also talked to the authors of our award-winning articles, as well as other scholars who were there. The awards ceremony also honors various community initiatives, but I'm not involved as much (or involved at all) with the others.

They dimmed the lights during the actual event, but all of us employees had to help set up

And I was glad we finally got a little bit of snow that evening! Still, it was a paltry amount for January. Sigh.

Thursday I swam with the recreational swim team again, which I've been doing pretty consistently this month. The swim coaches put up workouts for us, and I finished the whole workout on both Tuesday and Thursday this week! But they were easy workouts, posted by the easy coach.

Friday I ran up some of the new streets under development in North Salt Lake. 

Also, I was surprised this week to realize that when Catherine O'Hara was in Beetlejuice and Home Alone, she was younger than I am now!

Saturday, I rode my bike to the top of the Summerwood neighborhood in Bountiful, which is really hard to do, so it's satisfying to make it up. I went 6.8 miles total and climbed 1,100 feet. I shed a layer on the way up and put it on for the cold downhill. It's a challenging ride, but I find it less boring than a flat ride.

My boss also sent me a copy of one of the many books I've been working on for him in the last couple of years.

In my free time, I've been watching various Valentine's shows for a new spreadsheet I'm working on, and I've been playing Super Mario Galaxy on my Switch in anticipation of the movie coming out this spring. I don't know if I'll see the movie, but the game is probably the best video game I've ever played, even though it originally came out in 2007. And I've been catching up on my history books about the memory of the American revolution—I have a lull before we get more books to read for next year's Utah history awards.

It's been a while since I've posted any drawings about my dreams, so here are some I've had in the last month or so. As a reminder: I used to make AI dream images, but I've switched to drawing them myself in order to foster creativity. They are not meant to be good drawings. And I just think dreams are funny.

At the White House, David and Susanne hit Trump on the head with spoons, and Mark tries to figure out how to stab him

Reggie sits in a giant geode

Mark rolls down the street on a pair of lint rollers

On social media, people make fun of a company's new apatosaurus jingle

At This Is the Place, a hippopotamus follows Mark around

Oh, and what the heck, it's Valentine season, so I'll share some of the Valentine's treats I've had this week, in the style of pumpkinundation roundup.

The Arctic Circle Chocolate Covered Raspberry Shake is just a raspberry shake with little chocolate raspberry cups. It's OK, I wish it had more chocolate in it. 6/10.

The Cold Stone Berry Velvety has red velvet cake batter ice cream with strawberries and cream cheese frosting. I ate it, and I didn't distract myself with my phone, yet I still don't remember much about it. I think the cream cheese was a little potent, and the strawberries were a weird addition. 6/10.

The Shake Shack True Love Shake has strawberry, custard, chocolate whipped cream, and a crackable chocolate shell on the inside of the cup. I would love to see more creative things like this! 8/10.

The Kneaders Chocolate Raspberry Petite Cake is also called a Black Forest cake (according to them), and it's a chocolate cake with a raspberry filling. In previous years, they've just had a chocolate cake with a cherry on top, so this is more interesting. 7/10.