St(range) Patrick's Day

During the spring and summer (and sometimes fall), North Salt Lake has food trucks on Monday nights. Since I like to support local businesses, I sometimes enjoy going over to the food trucks.

They have resumed for the year, so I decided to grab dinner from them on Monday. I got reuben sandwiches for me and my parents, since I like to eat corned beef at this time of year,

I feel a little weird making this picture the first one, because it will show upon Facebook, and I think some of my blog "readers" don't actually read and will think I made it. And also, I worry that people will judge me for not being vegetarian, even though I probably eat less meat than the average person.

and I also got a green-colored key lime cheesecake, because I like to eat anything green during March. (Well, as long as there's an accompanying green flavor, like mint, lime, pistachio, etc.)

I often wake up in the wee hours of the morning and remain awake for a couple of hours. So between Monday and Tuesday, I awoke at 5 a.m. feeling a bit nauseated, then I fell asleep again later.

Then, at 7:45, shortly before my alarm went off, I woke up feeling even worse. I ran into the bathroom and began forcefully vomiting the remains of my sandwich. There were little bits of corned beef and little seeds that were probably from the bread, but the most common element was the purple sauerkraut, which I kept blowing out of my nose. I hadn't thrown up since Thanksgiving 2015.

So what do I do now? It didn't seem like I should go into work, but I thought I would work from home. But first, I wanted to go back to bed, since I slept poorly.

Well, it turned out that all I wanted to do all day was sleep. I was too tired to work at all, and I ended up throwing up two other times, one of which was mostly water. I probably slept more than I have slept during any other illness. All I had was water and some Gatorade. My parents believe the cheesecake poisoned me, since they ate the same sandwiches but not the cheesecake, but I think there are too many variables to know what caused it.

On Wednesday, I felt much better, and though my appetite was smaller, I could actually eat. But I still didn't feel 100 percent, so I opted to work from home.

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day, so I wore my shamrock tie, green glasses, green pants, orange belt, and shamrock socks. I was ready to return to my office computer—but my office computer wasn't ready for me. I unlocked my computer as usual, but it was being unusually slow when all I was doing was looking on File Explorer to open my documents for the day. So I restarted my computer. But the restart was taking an irrationally long time. So finally I just turned the button off. When I turned the computer on again, it was totally broken. I tried a few troubleshooting options, but they didn't work. I was going to reset it, but I didn't know if the IT folks would approve of that, so I called them. They made a ticket for me, and then I waited for them to call. I couldn't do any work on my computer, so I did some low-priority reading while I waited. And waited. They finally got back to me when there wasn't much time left in the day, and they did tell me to reset it. I could have done that myself. Oh well.

I went home and had our meal of corned beef and cabbage. I didn't know that was a thing until I was an adult, and I only made it part of my celebrations beginning in 2015. I do like it better than merely adding green food coloring to rice or potatoes.

Also pictured is a (dried out) piece of Trader Joe's Irish soda bread. I didn't have the time or appetite to make my own this year.

But that evening I couldn't do much fun, because I had to "attend" a Zoom meeting for church instructors. Oh well, I don't know that my St. Patrick's Day would have been that interesting anyway. And since February 15, I have been eating green food and watching Irish-ish shows, so it's not like I missed out on any one-day-only festivities.

I'm feeling much better, though I didn't feel up to running yesterday, especially since I'm still working on my portfolio. I had to take three days off the portfolio this week: one because the food trucks took longer than expected, one because I was sick, and one because of the holiday and teacher meeting. I'm still working on it, but I can see the end now!

A few Reggie pics

Huh. I really don't know what to write about this week. I don't do a lot of interesting stuff these days. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for my portfolio, but I'm still not done. I still enjoy my job, and I got some positive compliments on my work this week, so that was nice.

I've had my new Garmin watch for a week now, and I'm still getting used to it and seeing what kinds of features it has. My impression so far is that Garmin is capable of more things, but Fitbit is more designed to be fun and motivational. 

Though it took a long time for him to warm up, Reggie has become quite the affectionate, sweet cat. He likes to jump onto my bed and then sit on me for long periods of time, just like Jimmy used to do. And he even slept on my bed part of one night. But he slept directly next to me, so I felt like I couldn't roll over or anything. Jimmy knew to sleep far enough away from me that we wouldn't disturb each other.

Cats are amazing. Sometimes we like to imagine fanciful things could be real, like a stuffed animal coming to life. But cats are a fanciful thing that really exists! They have faces that we find adorable, and they choose to spend time with us and love us unconditionally, and they make funny noises and do funny things. I just can't believe they're real!

It's just as well that it's still snowy, since I have to devote so much time to school. I haven't been able to go to See's Candies this year for their St. Patrick's Day Potato, which is my all-time favorite candy. 

Thnks fr th mmrs, Fitbit

 My life continues to be relatively uneventful. I did make some satisfying finds doing research at work, but it would be dull to explain it, especially with as vague as I need to be.

Every day when I come home, I work an hour and a half on my portfolio, with a half hour devoted to each of three sections I've been working on: two annotated syllabi and one annotated bibliography. Yesterday I finally finished the bibliography. So now I have to decide whether I keep working an hour and a half every day, devoting the extra half hour to the syllabi, or whether I only devote an hour each day, rewarding myself with the extra free time.

It's March now, which is the month when trail season resumes. I'm grateful for the snow we got today (I want wildflowers!), and in March the snow doesn't last as long, and it stays light later. So I might really appreciate extra free time on the trails.

While I was writing this blog, my new watch arrived. You might have heard this week that Fitbit recalled its Ionic watch because lots of people have been burned by its battery. Well, I have an Ionic. It has been fine, and only a small percentage of people have been burned, so I considered just ignoring the recall.

But then I thought if I can get a refund on it, it might be worth upgrading. And I decided to switch from Fitbit to Garmin, and I'll see how that works out.

It's less vibrant in real life.

I first got a Fitbit, the Surge watch, at the beginning of 2016, and I loved that watch. But it had a serious design flaw. Its watchband was very flimsy, like the flimsiest band I have ever seen, and yet it couldn't be replaced. When the cheapo band broke, the whole watch became unusable. I used Gorilla tape for a while, but then that didn't work. They no longer make the Surge, and it seems like a shady business practice to make a watch with an irreplaceable band.

So then I upgraded to my Ionic in October 2018. I appreciated that I could wear it swimming, and it had more features. But not everything was an upgrade. Worst of all was that the screen did not stay on all the time. I could set it to stay on, but that would eat up the battery. I hated that at first. Then I got more used to it, but I never fully liked it. I hated having to hold my wrist a certain way to see the time, instead of merely glancing down. I would often look for a clock in the room rather than look at my watch (I have consistently worn a watch since I was eight years old). And I especially hated when I was riding a bike. If I wanted to see the time or my distance, I would have to take my hand off the handle bar, then hold it steady in front of me. I just hated that!

So, now that I had a reason to switch watches, I decided to. My Garmin Instinct's screen will stay on all the time. It's not a touch screen, and I worry I won't like that. But I might like it more. With the touch screen, water droplets in the shower or the pool do weird things, and when I'm running when it's cold, I have to take my gloves off to manipulate the watch. I'm also hoping that the GPS will be better than on the Fitbit. This particular watch is geared more for trail running, which of course is my jam, and it also has a feature for stand-up paddleboarding, which I hope to do more of. The battery life is better. I hear the Garmin app isn't as good as Fitbit, but now I will see for myself.

Also, back in 2018, I chose to stay with Fitbit in part because I was doing step challenges with my cousins, but then that fizzled out. My Ionic had Fitbit Coach workouts on it, and I loved doing those workouts back in 2020. (Nearly every day that summer and fall, I would run up North Canyon in the morning, then come home and do a Fitbit workout. I miss those days when I could do whatever I wanted! Except be social, or go out in public, or...) But last summer, they quit the Fitbit Coach feature. They also used to send me badges when I hit a new milestone for lifetime miles or floors, but it has been years since I got one of those. So I really have less use for Fitbit these days.

I know there will be a learning curve with Garmin, but I'm excited to get started! 

In other news, I took the bus to work three days this week, since my UCard gives me free fare. I haven't taken it to work before because of COVID numbers, but I feel safer doing so now. I'm trying to save the planet here, and it also gives me time to keep reading the book on the history of St. Patrick's Day that I started last summer while working at This Is the Place.

Anyway, on Friday, I was standing at the bus stop after work. There was another woman waiting, and then out of the corner my eye I saw someone else come up. But she stayed standing on the sidewalk, rather than off to the side like we were, and she seemed to be facing toward us, rather than watching the road like we were. Evidently the first woman also found it a little strange, because she said hello to her, thinking that she must have said hello but wasn't sure because of masks. Then I looked at the second woman, and I realized that I knew her. She was in my junior high science class (and then in an adjoining YSA ward), and I knew she had some kind of mental challenge, ASD or something—she can still function as needed, but probably not going to go to college. I (re)introduced myself to her, and after we discussed our jobs, she randomly asked if I have any pets. (And of course I do!)

Anyway, that got me thinking about social norms. No one teaches you how to stand at a bus stop. It's just something you pick up. Clearly the girl I knew never picked that up. And I'm glad that, despite all my social awkwardness, I picked up how to wait at a bus stop.

Today I taught my youth Sunday School class. To illustrate the idea that we only have incomplete stories in the scriptures (especially the Old Testament), I had them guess Disney movies based on poor descriptions I came up with. Here they are:

• A sentient body of water can do anything but fight coconuts.
• A boy remembers his brother with a talking balloon.
• A woman turns into a dragon after she is not invited to a baby shower.
• A misfit lives in a magic house.
• An octopus is jealous of a fish.
• A woman sits in a pumpkin to find love.
• A girl falls in a hole and talks to flowers.
• Two pets eat pasta.
• A woman literally blows away her competition. (They struggled with this one.)
• A cowboy takes revenge on a boy who likes skulls.

I also showed clips from a wonderful recent devotional about unrealistic expectations of prophets. I highly recommend it. 

Trying my best

As I continue to work on my graduate portfolio while also working full time, I am reducing my expectations for myself. I no longer have to do a chore every weekday, and I no longer have to make dinner every week. The nice thing about making rules for yourself is that no one else cares if you break them.

I had the day off on Monday for Presidents' Day, and it was nice to get some extra relaxation, since my next holiday off is Memorial Day. 

For my run that day, I went down to the Jordan River Parkway. 

At one bridge there was a White Lives Matter sticker, so of course I tore it off.

Doing my part to end white supremacy

These mini snowstorms we have been having have been a bit frustrating. They're bringing us the havoc of slippery roads, but without the benefits of lots of snowfall. Ordinarily, I am super happy for February to end and March to begin. But I'm not feeling that way this year. We need March to act like February so we can get more snow. So if March is cold and snowy, I won't be happy because it will be cold and snowy. But if March is warm and sunny, I won't be happy because we are in dire straits for water.

Sometimes I feel bad that I don't do more to help the environment. But then I realized that if everyone acted the way I do, we would be in great shape. I can't remember the last time I used a plastic bag at the grocery store. I am very frustrated when I go to restaurants or dessert shops with all the single-use plastic. For example, this week I went to Kneaders with some colleagues. I know they usually put a lid on their soup. So I told the cashier, "I'm trying to reduce my plastic consumption, so I don't need a lid on my soup," and he also confirmed that I didn't want a spoon (I brought my own). But when I got my food, it still had a lid and a spoon, even though I specifically asked them not to! But if everyone acted like me, then the owners of restaurants would not give out single-use plastic, so that issue would be solved. (Now don't get me started on bottled water, which is morally bankrupt.) I try my best to do the right thing, so it's hard when my efforts seem so futile because of others' actions. (I have taken to driving without my heater on, since my hybrid car uses less gas when I keep it off.)

On Thursday, I took my parents to the airport so they could visit California, and all the signage to get to the terminal was very confusing. And it didn't help that it was snowy. 

Anyway, that means the last few days have just been me and Reginald in the house. Today marks two months since we put Jimmy down, so almost two months since we got Reggie. He has been very slowly warming up to us. One of the things I have missed about Jimmy is when he would come onto my bed to spend time with me. A few weeks ago, I picked up Reggie and took him to my bed to show him he could go there, but it didn't stick. So this week I tried it again, and it worked! He has been coming onto my bed frequently now. It is so wonderful to have a furry buddy sitting on me, and I love putting my hand or my ear on his body to feel or hear the purring. But so far, Reggie is a little less satisfying than Jimmy, because he is more restless and doesn't sit still for long. I guess that's one difference between old and young cats.

It's hard to get good pictures of him, because often when he sees me taking a picture, he gets up and rubs his head against my phone.

I have about two months before I graduate, and I still have a lot of work to do on my portfolio. So much in my life right now is on hold until I'm done with school. But I can do it!

Mid-February

 I don't really like February.

It sometimes pretends to be spring, but it really is just still winter. Running on the streets in the evening before sunset just feels bleak. I like every month except January and February.

Monday was Valentine's Day, so I didn't require myself to work on my portfolio that day. We got pizza, which has been our tradition since the disastrous Valentine's Day of 2014 (when my mom broke her leg while carrying a pizza downstairs). We watched the Olympics and Sleepless in Seattle. 

Valentine's Day is my least favorite of my nine canonized holidays. I think the holiday peaked when I was in elementary school. And now that my mom is retired, she doesn't come home with all the candy from her students. Last Sunday, I made a cherry crisp with cinnamon candies in the topping to celebrate the day. It was hard to taste the cinnamon, but when I did taste it, I don't think it's worth trying again with more candies. The flavors clashed just a little. (Not as good as the cinnamon crinkle cookies I made two years back.)

I need to sharpen or replace my food processor blade.

On Valentine's Day, my great-uncle Ross died. I didn't really know him that well. I think the last time I talked to him at all was in 2013, and I don't think I ever had a real conversation with him. He sent me a Facebook friend request, but I don't think he ever liked or commented on my posts, and I had to periodically unsubscribe from his posts, since he "shared" too many dumb things. (You know how it is with that demographic.)

Anyway, though I personally am not really affected by his death, I opted to accompany my parents to the funeral in Fillmore yesterday, because he was my grandfather's brother and the last of that generation. I felt a little weird going to a funeral for someone I barely knew. But it was fun to get more insights into my family. For example, my dad's cousin Larry, Ross's nephew, talked about how my grandfather's family wheeled their house into Fillmore during a Fourth of July parade. (I found a reminiscence from my grandfather that says it was the Twenty-Fourth. I'll have to do some more research on this sometime.) Ross's children came up to my parents and were especially eager to talk to my mom, even though he was my dad's uncle. But to me, these are only distant relatives, and I really don't know any of them at all.

Though I didn't work on my portfolio on Valentine's Day, which was planned, I also didn't work on it on Friday or Saturday. I didn't have the time. And I can't afford to take too many days off! I have two months until I defend it! So I have to reevaluate my expectations for myself and figure out what in my life is not as important, so I can focus on things that matter.

Bad dates

 Since my life lately isn't too exciting, I thought for this week's post, in honor of Valentine's Day, I would describe four of my worst dates over the years. I always like hearing about others'  cringeworthy dates, so maybe you'll enjoy hearing about mine.

#1. When I was in college, I had a custodial job, and one of my coworkers was from Mexico. I texted her and asked if she wanted to go to a play. When I picked her up, she said, "So, what game are we going to see?" English wasn't her first language, so she thought "play" was a sporting event! Then when we were waiting for the play to start, she spent the entire time looking at her phone. I think she only talked to me when she took a picture of the program and posted it on Facebook.

#2. My last semester of college, my roommate was dating a girl named Laura, and he suggested that we could do a group date. So Laura arranged for me to go on a blind date with her cousin. For the group date, we met at Laura's apartment and made cake balls. I met her cousin, whose name I honestly don't remember, so I'll call her Brittany. We made our introductions, and after I said I was studying English language/linguistics, Brittany said something like, "It seems like most language people I meet don't care about defending English." She went a prescriptive rant about how important it is to defend the language, even as I and Laura talked about how English has always changed. I remember standing at the stove, melting green mint chips, and thinking, "Ugh, this is just a terrible date." I wasn't interested in Brittany at all, and there we were with my roommate and his girlfriend, as well as Laura's roommate and her boyfriend. 

When the date ended, we arranged that I would take Brittany back to her apartment. So we walked over to my car. Now, I have heard girls say they don't like it when guys open car doors for them, and I wouldn't like that either. So I went to the driver's door and unlocked the car, and Brittany was just standing there. I said to her, "Your door should be unlocked." She said, "OK," and continued to just stand there, even as it was clear I wasn't planning on opening it for her. I thought, "Is this girl for real?" So I leaned over inside the car and opened the door for her, and she got in. (I later told my mom about this, and she said, "If  a guy didn't open my door, it wouldn't be a deal breaker, but the girl acting that way would be a deal breaker.")

The next day at church, Laura said to me, "I'm sorry for how rude Brittany was last night." I don't know if Laura knew about the car door incident, so I asked for clarification, and she said, "Just in general." Then she said that she actually meant to line me up with Brittany's sister, who would have been a better match for me, but then Brittany and her sister decided to send Brittany instead.

#3. Today is actually the anniversary of this date. Some of you readers know this girl, so I will call her Taylor. I picked her up to go to a concert on the U's campus. While I was in the left-turn lane at a light, Taylor was pressuring me to turn left before it turned red. But then I was just out in the intersection when I didn't feel safe to do turn, so I had to go in reverse to get back in the lane and wait for the light.

Then at the concert, Taylor rarely, if ever, clapped, so I could tell she didn't want to be there.

On the way back to her apartment, I was confused why my windows were so unusually foggy, and it was hard to see out of them. I remarked about my windows being so foggy. And only after the date did I realize what was going on. A friend had previously said that Taylor told her you shouldn't have hot air come out the top vent in your car; instead, you should set the heater to just come out down by your feet. So I realized that Taylor had turned down my heater, and turned off the defrost so it would just be on my feet, without telling me. I thought that was weird enough, but it really irked me that she wouldn't admit she had done it when I was complaining about my foggy windows. And clearly, her way was wrong, since it was hard to see out of my windows. I lost a lot of respect for Taylor that night.

#4. This one was actually a second date. On the first date, I mentioned I liked trail running, so for this second date, a June evening, we hiked up a canyon in Centerville. We had pleasant conversations on the way up. At one point, she asked me if I liked to lead when hiking; I think I gave some wishy-washy answer.

At least I saw a cool mushroom on this date!

We hiked to a waterfall, and then we agreed to run down. (She was athletic in high school but not so much in adulthood, so she didn't have the stamina to run up, but could run down.) This trail has a rope swing, so we took some time to swing on it. She got a little annoyed with me that I wasn't pushing her harder on the swing, but since she was spinning around unpredictably, I didn't want to accidentally grope her! 

At one point while we were running down, I stepped off the side of the trail to let someone come up. Once the hiker passed, Janice stepped in front of me to lead in running, without saying anything. I was OK with that, but I thought it was a little weird. But she was faster than me, so I didn't always see her.

At one point, we came to a fork in the trail—and I hadn't seen which way she went. We had come up one way, but that trail was less obvious, so I really didn't know which way to go. I decided to go the way we had come up, but I didn't see her. I called her name, but of course I don't have a loud voice. So then I went back and went on the other trail, but I still didn't see her. She had evidently realized I wasn't behind her, so she went backwards, and we kept missing each other. It was starting to get dark at this point. Eventually I heard her calling my name frantically, and she was relieved to see me. She worried I had fallen off the trail somewhere. 

We really didn't say much the rest of the way down. On the drive home, I asked her if she wanted to go anywhere else. She said only if we got drinks, but she didn't like shaved ice, and I didn't like smoothies, so I just took her home.

***

So, yeah, those are my four worst dates. I suppose I have been on other dates where the girl thought it was a bad date. 

Also, I have had several occasions when the girl cancelled last minute. I get that things come up. But if you don't want to date me, just say no. When they agree to a date and then cancel the same day, it means that I can't make other plans that day, and it just wastes my time.

minutiae

 Since I tested negative for COVID last week, I just resumed my boring life of working in the day and improving my grad portfolio in the evening. I did a couple of short evening runs after work, but since there's still snow on the ground, I'm still avoiding the trails. If it's not going to snow, it might as well just melt all the snow we already have. 

I can't entirely say my life is boring, because I really do enjoy my job. I learn so many interesting things. My supervisors have asked me to reach out to other people in the department to ask for help on finding sources. But I feel so weird doing that. These people are experts in their fields, so they have better things to do than read emails from lowly interns like me! I need to work on not feeling that way. I have been reading letters from Brigham Young, which are available online, and one of them was a response to a man who asked Brigham Young to look for his lost mule. It amazes me that people would, and still do, send random letters to high-ranking people they don't know. It stresses me out to send emails even when I have a legitimate reason to do so!

A few weeks ago, my mom got a notification that an Amazon package had been delivered. But when I went to the door, the package was nowhere to be seen, so she got a refund. (The delivery driver had not taken a picture of the delivery, like they usually do.) Then yesterday, I looked at the decorative barrel in our garden and happened to notice a package sitting on top of it! Since it was grey, it kind of blended in with the snowy atmosphere. I'm trying to figure out why they put it there: it's nowhere near our front door, and it's not even that close to the side door. There's not a clear direction that would lead them to that one spot. So weird.

I'm feeling guilty for a grocery store incident. Last night I bought some beets, and I put them in my reusable produce bag, which is not see-through. Then I picked out some avocados and absentmindedly put them in the same bag. I was going to use the self-checkout, but there was a line, so they opened up a regular till for me. I didn't even pay attention to the cashier weighing my beets, since I was still loading groceries, and I declined a receipt. And then when I got home I realized the beets and avocados were together, and I don't know what they charged me. They might have weighed the costlier avocados with the cheaper beets! I feel so guilty that I might have cheated them! But I didn't do it on purpose. Oh well.

For my Sunday School lesson for the fifteen-year-olds today, I talked about the importance of keeping a book of remembrance. To illustrate, I took a journal, then I asked them to give me a date within the range of the journal (October 2015 to August 2016). I would see what I could remember about the date, then turn to the journal to fill in the gaps. They picked the date of November 21, which was a Saturday, but I didn't remember what else happened that day until I checked out what I wrote in my journal. (It turns out that was the day I went to a play and someone with my same name had already picked up my tickets.) When I had finished the content of my lesson, they were all fascinated that I remembered the day of the week, so then they began pulling out random dates, including their birthdates, to ask what day of the week it was. My method is fairly simple: I just happen to remember the day of the week of various holidays in a particular year, and then I work from that. So in the case of November 21, 2015, I remembered that Halloween was a Saturday, so November 21 was exactly three weeks after that.

I also gave the kids little boxes of conversation hearts, since I had also talked about being "of one heart and one mind." They seemed to appreciate that.

For someone who obsesses over seasonally appropriate foods, it is a great time to be alive, and I think that I actually won't be able to try all the Valentine's offerings from various dessert shops. That is a great problem to have! Such a thing would have been unthinkable ten, fifteen years ago, though I also paid less attention then. Sometimes I wonder, "Are my eating habits sustainable?" But I have been eating this way for at least seven years, so I suppose they are.

Here are two Valentine's flavors from Baskin-Robbins. On the bottom is the classic Love Potion #31, with raspberry-filled hearts, but on the top is the new Secret Admirer, which has rose-flavored ice cream, but it didn't taste like flower to me.