Category: Technology
2023 Week 8/9 – Sorry I’m Late
I’m finally getting into a groove with the new job and the ability to work from home some days. I typically get up early on the weekends because they are my days to do what I want, and I want to make the most of it. In January, I started an early Sunday morning routine of going to the grocery store at 8 am, washing the car, and topping off the gas tank. It’s usually a really quiet time of the day, and the store is normally well-stocked. I also try and publish Blog posts on Sunday since it’s the day I’m always online prepping for my upcoming week. Unfortunately, the last post was stuck in the queue and I didn’t have time to post one last weekend, so this one is a double.
I normally do a 1-2 hour Weekly Review on Sunday, but lately, it’s taken longer to get things in good shape for the week. My previous job only involved a few weekly meetings, but the new one has me in several a day, all of which I walk out of with action items. No regrets, though, I love the new job and do not miss the old one at all.
I recently purchased some new toys, one of which is an Elgato Stream Deck MK.2. The Stream Deck is a 15-button controller that’s fully customizable. Each button has its own mini full-color LED display.
You can create pages of icons for various apps and there are a lot of plugins to perform various functions. I’ve been doing some video editing lately and I have a page of commands to help with those tasks. Stream Decks are very popular with content creators because you can perform complex actions with the touch of a button. Besides that, it’s a fun addition to the MacBook Pro I use in my office at home.
While not a comprehensive list the Indy Today newsletter had some fun making a list of Indy restaurants from A-Z. They had to stretch a little for some of the letters (BBQ for the letter Q) but it’s a good read.
If you’re looking for a light morning read the Indy Today newsletter is great. it always has timely information and details about events happening in the city. It’s worth checking out!
If you’re into computers and electronics, you might have heard that Micro Center is FINALLY opening a store in Indianapolis. It’s going into the old Gander Mountain location in Castleton (just east of Ale Emporium). The nearest MicroCenter location currently is on the north side of Cincinnati.
This will help replace the void created when Fry’s electronics closed (when it was good). You can find almost anything computer-related at Micro Center, and their prices are very competitive. This place is going to be PACKED.
And finally… The History Guy had an interesting video about a “Broken Arrow” incident in 1964 at Bunker Hill AFB (not called Grissom ARB).
2023 Week 7 – Lock-n-Load
Feb 27, 2023 – I just realized this post was still sitting in the Drafts folder!
The last two posts have had a lot of food content in them so I’ll start this one with just one piece of food news. According to Eater, In-N-Out is expanding eastward and opening up an office outside of Nashville, TN to oversee “expansion”. My son & I tried In-N-Out on a trip out west several years ago and while we both enjoyed it, we liked Del Taco better.
Given all thats going on in the world these days, I found it very interesting an Air Force General sent his troops a memo telling them to get prepared to go to war with China in 2025.
“I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me will fight in 2025,”
Gen. Mike Minihan in a memo sent to the officers he commands and obtained by NBC News.
Gen. Minihan feels the upcoming 2024 elections are going to be a distraction where China will invate Tawain & provoke a war. I sure hope he’s wrong!
Here’s a link to a fun video about Keystone at the Crossing, the Fashion Mall at Keystone and the Bazaar (YouTube would not let me embed it into the post). The facility was opened prior to the completion of final leg of 465 in October, 1970 between Keystone and Shadeland Avenues. You can (kind of) see the 465 construction in the background of the arial shots. I visited it before it’s demolition in 1986 and only remember the wood paneling and the stairs everywhere (so many stairs)… Evidently the mall even had a Disco called Lucifer’s.
And finally… Speaking of history, it’s been 20 years since Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry creating the largest crash site ever on record. The following is a very well produced video shoing what happpened.
2023 Week 3 – Sorry, Have a Salad and Warm Up
Sorry about those warm weather comments last week. I feel responsible for the snow we have now and, and the snow we’re supposed to get this week. Mea culpa.
Are people still into the Zodiac Sign thing? I hadn’t heard anyone mention Signs for a long time, then I ran across an article on Eat This, Not That. Your Favorite Fast Food Chain According To Your Zodiac Sign tries to match you, your sign, and the fast food chain you’re destined to become in another life. Mine was shockingly accurate, so maybe there’s something to all this!
I’ve been a fan of a good salad for as long as I remember. As a kid, one of my favorite things to do when we went out for dinner was hit the salad bar (*Cough*Ponderosa*Cough*). So Many Choices! When I’m working downtown I have 3 favorite salads I rotate through.
Cluster Truck has cured my hunger too many times to count, especially during Covid, when getting lunch delivered was difficult at times. The Cluster Truck Cobb Salad has been my favorite for a long time. I’ve also watched as the delivery of this Salad has risen from $19 to almost $24 today (with a tip). It’s a little on the pricey side but when I need a big salad and only have 15 minutes to eat, it hits the spot. This salad has chopped egg, bacon, diced chicken breast, romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, avocado, red onion, and blue cheese. It’s normally served with a side of balsamic vinaigrette, but I substitute that for their ranch.
A newer fascination of mine is Sweet Green. Having recently been disappointed by a “salads only” shop near my office, I didn’t have high hopes for this one. Several of my co-workers had visited and all were singing the praises of Sweet Green. I finally launched the app and was immediately captivated by their Buffalo Chicken Bowl. Consisting of: blackened chicken, chopped pickles*, tomatoes, cilantro, blue cheese, za’atar breadcrumbs, shredded kale, chopped romaine, sweetgreen hot sauce, caesar dressing, this salad packs a punch. The Caesar dressing along with the hot sauce are the real standouts here.
*These are a new addition and I have not tried the salad with pickles yet, but I’m looking forward to it!
Finally, when I want a solid salad, and I’m ready for a short walk, I head a few blocks east to Whole Foods Market. Often referred to as “Whole Paycheck”, you can break the bank at the salad bar because you pay by the pound. Unfortunately all the good things on the salad bar are heavy. Mixed greens, cheese, olives, marinated mushrooms, roasted mushrooms, cucumbers, roasted chicken, bell peppers, bacon bits, and ranch dressing? Yep, that’s a big boy and I’m taking it down. My salads at Whole Foods average around $20 but I usually end up not eating dinner or just snacking later in the evening. PLUS it’s a good excuse to get some fresh air and walk away from the office for 30-minutes.
BONUS SALAD: If you’re ever in the Nora area I strongly recommend you go to Big Lug and order a Willie’s Special along with a pint of whatever brewers choice is on special that day. For $20 (before tip) you get a punch-in-the-face salad and a cold beer. The Willie’s Special has mixed greens tossed in ranch, topped with a choice of hot or mild fried Nashville chicken, black bean corn salsa, diced mozzarella, guacamole, & Frito salt. I HIGHLY recommend the MILD Nashville chicken. They make the sauce in-house, so I’m told, and it’s usually hotter than a true mild. I’ve also been told “it depends who makes it”.
OK, Special Mention (can you tell I’m kind of a salad junkie?): Sahms on 116th St in Fishers (same owners as Big Lug) surprised me last Friday with a Cobb that had diced grilled chicken breast (very juicy and well seasoned), capacollo, Roma tomatoes, crisp bacon, hard-boiled eggs, avocados, scallions, crumbled bleu cheese. The Chicken was still warm, normally a problem with salads, but it was not so hot as to wilt anything so it was a nice contrast to the cold salad.
So there it is, the 5 salads I’m thinking about when I’m thinking about eating a salad. As you can see, I’m not a micro-green and light vinaigrette kind of guy. When I was dipping my toes in the Keto diet I found that these kinds of salads are more in line with Keto than the Standard American Diet (SAD). That got my attention. But as I said before, this can be my one meal of the day and I’ll be completely happy. As someone who usually skips breakfast (now called Intermittent Fasting) I’m usually not hungry for anything before 10 am and by then I just wait for lunch.
And finally… You need to be nice to our future robot overlords. My suggestion is to purchase some Boston Dynamics stock to show your support.
2023 Week 2 – 4% and Climbing
We’re 4% into the year, according to @year_progress on Twitter, and it’s really hard to believe how warm this winter has been. We had a cold snap around the holidays, but it should not be in the 40s in mid-January. We checked out a new restaurant this week and dug into the history of mid-century telecommunications.
Benyue (Formerly Lucky Lou) has opened in the former Houlihans at the Castleton Square mall. If you’ve visited Saraga’s original location on the west side, you might have noticed Lucky Lou next door. It’s an extremely popular Duim Sum restaurant and one of the only places to get Dim Sum in Indy.
I stopped by on a Sunday, and the place had a nice lunch crowd. The restaurant itself is quite large, and there is plenty of seating. I was immediately offered several types of hot tea ($1.50), and I chose Jasmine. It was quickly served in a pot that held a lot more than I was going to drink.
Not knowing the portions (quite generous, by the way), I ordered General Tso Chicken, BBQ Pork Steamed Buns, and Shrimp Shumai. Every dish was served hot and tasted fresh. General Tso had a lot of dried chillis, and they added a nice spicy heat to the dish. The steamed buns were light and airy with a delicious BBQ pork filling. Finally, the Shrimp Shumai were perfectly cooked and full of ground shrimp.
If you’re looking for a new place to try, I’d recommend checking out Benyue. Their menu is quite extensive, and you’re sure to find something you like.
You have most likely seen an AT&T Long Lines tower and might have even wondered what it was. In the 1950’s AT&T used these giant ratio towers with specialized “Horns” to relay telephone (and television) signals across the United States via microwave. Garrett Fuller has a great article detailing the use of the long-forgotten (and now abandoned) AT&T Long Lines system. I found the following video interesting as well.
2022-Week 53 – Year in Review
Where do we begin? 2022 was a wild year, full of food, tech, travel, and fun. The site stats continue to improve, with an average traffic rate of just over 5000 page views per month. Thanks for returning to read my weekly ramblings! With that, let’s go back and revisit some of the highlights from 2022.
Food in 2022
- Week 5 – Cast Iron Pan Pizza
- Week 6 – Fitzgerald’s Lunch House
- Week 8 – Triton Brewing Company
- Week 13 – Pig Candy BBQ in Cincinnati, OH
- Week 16 – Schnitzelbank in Jasper, IN
- Week 17 – Schwartz Family Restaurant in Eckerty, IN
- Week 24 – Biebs & Ash in Goshen, IN
- Week 25 – Blue Ash Chili in Cincinnati, OH
- Week 26 – The AMP, Turchetti’s Delicatessen, and Wild Ginger
Tech in 2022
- Week 5 – Bose QC45 Headphones
- Week 27 – iPhone 13 Pro
- Week 28 – KitchenAid Cold Brew Coffee Maker
- Week 30 – Roomba i7+ Robot Vacuum
- Week 32 – MX Keys keyboard
- Week 46 – LG Ultra-Wide Monitor
Travel in 2022
- Week 14 – Gazelle T4 Hub Tent
- Week 16 – Southern Indiana Roadtrip
- Week 25 – Jungle Jim’s – Cincinnati
- Week 40 – Leadership Exchange in Nashville, TN
Fun in 2022
- Week 2 – Don’t Look Up movie
- Week 9 – Logitech MX Master 3
- Week 11 – Microsoft Flight Simulator on X-Box
- Week 34 – Indiana Sports Corp Corporate Challenge
- Week 44 – Camping at Hardin Ridge
What’s in store for 2023?
While I can’t predict what 2023 has in store, I’m already planning several trips to new places around the US and maybe even an international trip, or two, later in the year. We’ll continue the weekly post schedule, as that seems to be doable on all but the craziest weeks. I have a lot of post ideas saved up, and I look forward to sharing what I’ve found and continuing with my thoughts and observations. Happy New Year, and we’ll see you again next week!