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2024 June Update

What’s Going On:
June went by just as fast as May. I’m sensing a pattern in 2024 as the days blend together, and the weekends go by WAY too quickly. Our office was closed on July 4th and 5th (and I took the 3rd off as a PTO day). So, at least, I feel like I’ve gotten a break. I have a busy couple of weeks at work coming up that I need to prepare for.

I just realized that in June, I had lived in the same house for 20 years. It doesn’t seem like yesterday, but I was surprised to see it was 20 years ago. I’m doing everything I can to pay off this place before I even think about retiring. There is nothing like NOT having a house payment when you decide to give up the 9-5 grind. I don’t see myself retiring 100% anytime soon, but not having a house payment gives you more options to do something different.

Luckily, I moved from a career that could be a daily grind (IT Consulting) to something I enjoy (Operations). I’m still involved in the IT aspects of the company, but I like the other parts, like organizational operations and HR the most. We’re moving our office in October, and that’s a project I enjoy being involved in as well.

What I’m Buying:
If you’ve never tried a shampoo bar, it’s a game changer. It’s like a bar of soap, but for your hair, it’s much easier to travel with than liquid shampoo. C.O. Bigelow sells the Badger brand shampoo bar, and I ordered one a few months ago.

As soon as I used it for the first time at home, I ordered another one for my DOP kit. They seem to be out of it at the moment, but I was able to find it on Amazon at the link above.

Speaking of DOP Kits, I ordered the Tom Bihn Standard Spiff Kit (in Sangria 210 Cerylon) for my shorter trips in June. I have an awesome canvas DOP kit that I use on longer trips, but for 2-3 nights away, I wanted something a little smaller as I have learned how to pack lighter and NOT check a bag. In fact, I traveled over a week in Thailand last February with only a carry-on and a personal item. My Switzerland/Paris/London trip last September taught me never to check a bag again if I could help it.

I had never heard the term “Kitchen Candle” before reading this article in Food and Wine. I ordered a Vanilla Kitchen Candle from Amazon, and there really IS a difference! The scent is a lot less strong and helps cover up those smells left over from the last dish you cooked. I’m a fan and will keep one of these around from now on.

I love my flashlights, and I finally pulled the trigger on the (newish) Olight Arkfeld Pro. It has upgraded specs from the original Arkfeld (now in my car), but now it’s “Pro” and has a green laser! This one is now in my EDC because you never know when you need to laser-point something. 🙂

What I’m Eating:
I watched a YouTube Video from America’s Test Kitchen about Cast Iron Pizza a few weeks ago. I love pizza and had to try this out. Let’s just say I’ve fixed two in the last two weeks, and I’m never going back to frozen or delivery. The cheater’s move is to purchase pre-made pizza dough (and sauce) from Fresh Thyme. It saves you a lot of time, and they both taste delicious.

I was in Huntington, Indiana, the other day and finally got a chance to try the tenderloin at Nicks Kitchen. The place is pretty small, and they had a decent lunch crowd. I sat at the lunch counter and placed my order (with pickles, mayo, mustard, and onions).

This sandwich did not disappoint, and it lived up to the hype! The crinkle-cut fries (with Mama Selita’s Jalapeno Tomato Ketchup) and freshly made iced tea rounded out the meal. The total price was around $20 with a tip. Service was attentive, and I’d 100% return here again when I was in the area.

What I’m Watching:
I started the latest season of The Bear, and it’s just not holding my attention. The other two seasons were just OK. It’s just not living up to the hype for me. I do enjoy the chef cameos and the random Easter eggs sprinkled throughout the shows, but I’m not sure I’ll finish it any time soon.

What I’m Reading:
I just finished a 13-hour audiobook by A. American called Going Home. It’s the first book in The Survivalist Series (I’m looking forward to starting book two called Surviving Home). I didn’t realize I liked the dystopian genre, but I enjoyed this book. In fact, I decided to start watching “The Last of Us” on HBO because of it. I’m only 1 episode in, but I really like it so far.

I tried Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited 30-day trial but can’t justify the $11 a month when I have had good luck getting books from the local library using Hoopla and Libby. That’s where I got the Going Home audiobook (for free).

What Else:
Chat GPT released a desktop app for the Mac, and I have been playing around to see if it’s helpful. So far, when it comes to writing, I’ve found Grammarly to be easier to use, but at $150 a year, I might not be renewing. Some AI features in an upcoming MacOS release will render Grammarly an expensive add-on that will probably no longer be needed.

And Finally…
The most significant Security Flaw in North America

2023 Week 30 – All Along the Cairo Skywatch Tower

What’s Going On:
I finally booked my flights for an upcoming business trip to Switzerland. Getting there wasn’t the challenge; it was trying to figure out what to do with the couple of days I had after the conference was over (too many options!). Right now, I’m planning on taking a train to Paris for an overnight visit, then off to London for a couple of days before returning home. Now that the travel is secured, I need to figure out lodging and activities (like where to eat!).

Where I’ve Been:
I had lunch with my son last weekend, and while in the Lafayette area, I traveled a little ways north to check out a place that’s been on my list for a while. The Cairo Skywatch Tower (AKA the Delta Lima 3 Green Ground Observation Tower) is a long-lost piece of Korean War history. Before the United States had a national radar system, volunteers across the country would set up observation posts to scan the sky for enemy aircraft.

Part of the Ground Observer Corps, the Cairo Skywatch Tower was one of 750,000 volunteers aged 7 to 86 years old working in shifts at over 16,000 posts throughout the country and Operated as an arm of the United States Air Force Civil Defense Service.

What I’m Reading:
One man’s quest to make pickleball quiet
Funeral directors in 15 states can now offer the eco-friendlier ‘water cremation’
The Ultimate Guide to California’s Best Burritos

And Finally…
This might go on the Paris must-do list…

2023 Week 27 – Gettin’ Stuff Done

What’s Going On:
It’s going to be a busy week as people return from vacations and deadlines start to loom. Last week was a 3-day week, and with so many people out of the office, it was a good time to get caught up on some low-priority tasks and prep for some big meetings coming up next week.

I’m still using a combination of Todiost for work tasks, Apple Reminders for personal tasks, and Evernote for capturing everything else. It’s worked very well this last year at my new job, and if it ain’t broke… The Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, first released in 2001, is still the key to my productivity.

What I’m Eating:
I received my order from Enso Supergreens late last week. I will agree with the review I read leading me to this AG-1 alternative. Supergreens is a VERY fine powder that mixes very well with liquid. I’ve been using Oat Milk and a Milk Frother I picked up from Amazon, but any shaker-style bottle will work.

Once mixed, Supergreens has a creamy, minty & slightly sweet taste. It reminds me of a melted Shamrock Shake from McDonalds. It’s also a lot less grainy than the AG-1 samples I previously tried. This is something I can see myself drinking daily and actually enjoying it. Eventually, Supergreens could replace the daily multivitamin and probiotic I’ve been taking for the past year. I’ll report back in a few months and let you know if I’m still drinking it.

Room Service on Wheels, a delivery-only service in Fishers, has expanded its location and opened up a brewery called King Jugg Brewing Company with a lot of outdoor seating. I visited this week and found they didn’t have any of their beers available yet (next week, I was told), but I stuck around for lunch.

I had anticipated getting their chopped salad, which looked very good on the menu, but I pivoted last minute and went for the Tenderloin.

I was told the Tenderloin is marinated in buttermilk, and each one is hand-breaded to order. It arrived piping hot, fully dressed with LTMOP and a side of house-made chips. A little piece was hanging out the side of the bun, and I gave it a quick sample. DELICIOUS! Nice, lightly seasoned breading and a tender pork cutlet. This was an enjoyable sandwich; I will say it’s the best Tenderloin in town. I look forward to returning soon and ordering it again, along with one of the new house beers,

I immediately sent a picture to my friend Rick, the “Tenderloin Connisour,” and told him he needed to check this place out for his All Tenderloins, all the Time review website. I’m curious to hear his feedback & read his review.

What I’m Watching:
I just finished The Bear on Hulu last night. Pretty intense show that people “in the industry” seem to enjoy. If you like drama and food, you should check The Bear out.

LOTS of YouTube videos have been streamed this week, concentrating on Amateur Radio equipment and licensing. I’m determined to get my license upgraded soon.

What I’m Reading:
2023-2027 General Class Study Guide by Gordon West – Study guide for the General Class Amateur Radio Exam. The FCC updates their questions every 4-years to keep with changing times so you have to make sure you have the right study guide. July 1, 2023 was the start of the new 4-year calendar so my timing for getting back into the hobby was perfect. After taking several on-line proactive exams I realized I didn’t know as much as I thought I did and needed to bone up on the tech before attempting to take the test. This is going to be a project I hope to complete this summer.

And Finally…
Following up to last weeks Nuclear Sub tour we give you Mike Rowe on a Nuclear Supercarrier!

2023 Week 11 – Have a Seat

WEIRD mix of weather this week with a low temp of 19 Saturday morning. We had 2 dustings of snow, and the temps are expected to be in the 60s mid-week. I did a thing Saturday night and bet against Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Championship. I turned $2 into $42. Fairleigh Dickenson, who I have never heard of, made it a great game and ended up winning 63-58.

I’m still battling some lower back pain and narrowed down one of the contributors to my home office chair. I thought it was adequate, but after healing up and sitting it last weekend for a couple of hours, my lower back pain flared up again. After some research, I decided to move to a “Gaming” style chair.

This is an interesting sub-category with various makes and models that appear similar but are priced entirely differently. Color makes a big difference within the same lineup, with some colors being 50 percent less than others in the same line. Take the AKRacing AK-SX-WT Gaming Chair for example. I purchased the black with white trim version for $283. If I wanted all black, it was going to cost $489. SAME chair, just a different color. As I revisited Amazon to get these prices, they have already changed in a week since I ordered. My black and white is now $384, and the purple-trimmed model is now selling for $287. If you’re interested in this chair & can wait, you might save some serious money.

Overall the chair was delivered quickly, and it only took about 20 minutes to assemble. The hardware appears stainless, and the fit/finish is very nice. It sits like a leather automobile seat and has a large, adjustable lumbar and neck pillow. You can even pull a lever and recline the chair to a flat position (not sure WHY you would want to do this, but you CAN), and the armrests are adjustable up/down, left/right, and forward/back. Overall I’m giving this chair a 9/10. It’s supportive and comfortable and has helped elevate my back pain when sitting in the home office for extended periods of time.

And finally… My son wanted a globe when he was younger, and I was surprised at how expensive it could be. I saw one for a reasonable price at an antique store, only to find out it was old enough not to have the correct names for some countries. Lesson learned. The following video shows what it takes to make some of the most expensive globes in the world.

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!

8888 Keystone Crossing, Indianapolis, IN, 46240 - Coworking Space on ...

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 4 – Championship Weekend

Tonight we’ll find out who’s going to Super Bowl LVII. The 49ers and Eagles start the action at 3 pm with the Bengals and Chiefs playing the second game at 6:30 pm. I’m predicting the Bengals and Eagles are headed to the big dance on February 12, 2023. I have a $5 Draft Kings bet on each matchup today, so just a LITTLE skin in the game to make it interesting.

I took a little trip to McCordsville yesterday to revisit Trax BBQ. I had been craving smoked meat for a few weeks and decided it was time. I ordered a 2-meat platter with pulled pork and brisket. BOTH were very tender and flavorful. For sides, I picked Mac-and-Cheese and Hush Puppies. The mac was nice and cheesy and went well with the pork and beef. The hush puppies looked great but had an off taste that I’m attributing to the oil needing changed in the fryer. I mentioned it to the counter staff on my way out, so hopefully, they were able to do something about it. I decided to try their potato salad and beans on the next visit. Oh, the house-made pickles were delicious, as were the variety of sauces ranging from sweet to vinegar to mustard to hot. You’re sure to find one that hits the spot.

Pulled Pork and Brisket at Trax BBQ in McCordsville

The meal with a fountain soda and tip came out to around $24 which is not bad for the quality of the food (not counting the hush puppies). Trax BBQ is right next to the railroad tracks in McCordsville and shares the space with Scarlet Lane Brewing. Scarlet Lane has some interesting brews. I was initially planning on having BBQ and a Beer but nothing jumped out at me so I opted for the first Diet Coke I’ve had in about 6 months (it was good).

And finally… The boys over at Jolly set the scene for the 2023 Girl Scout Cookie season. These two Brits have a very interesting show on YouTube. They traveled to the United States last year and had quite an adventure learning all about American Cuisine.

2023 Week 1 – Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2023! I hope everyone had a nice New Year’s weekend and returned to the office with a new spark, ready to tackle what 2023 has to offer. I was off work for 2 solid weeks and was ready to hit the ground running when we all came back into the office last Tuesday.

It’s official! Saraga International Grocery in Castleton is FINALLY open! The grand opening and ribbon cutting were on December 23, but we were in the middle of an artic freeze, so I’m sure the turnout was pretty light. I had an invite but decided to stay home and stay warm instead. I stopped by after Christmas for a brief walkthru, knowing I would be returning later in the week for some more serious shopping.

If you’re looking for that hard-to-find ingredient or like to try foods from other countries, this is a place you must check out. It’s no Jungle Jim’s, but it will fill the need for a lot of items I would normally drive to Cincinnati for.

I’m a slow riser in the AM & after getting a short news brief from NPR via the Alexa alarm, I like to scan the headlines before getting out of bed. There are some really good newsletters out there, and because of these, I can’t tell you the last time I sat down and watched the local news. Some of my favorites are:

Now, I don’t read all of these each morning, but I always have at least one in my inbox queued up for something to read when I have some downtime, like standing in line or waiting for my food at a restaurant. Do you have a favorite daily newsletter to share? Leave us a link in the comments!

And finally… When was the last time you watched a truck being built? It’s amazing the amount of automation in use these days, and the following video shows how they assemble the new Ford F-150 Lightning.

2022 Week 45 – Lights Out

70-degrees in November? I’ll take it! We had some BIG wind gusts that came through Indiana yesterday, and about half the houses in my neighborhood ended up without power for a little over 5-hours. Luckily I work off laptops and iPads, so I had enough power to get through most of the day using my iPhone as a hotspot. As the sun started to go down, I even broke out the Jackery 500 Portable Station to run a few of my USB Camping lights.

In September, the Washing Post ran an article titled “Customs officials have copied Americans’ phone data at massive scale.” In it, they detail the breadth of the program and how it’s raised some concerns on Capital Hill. As someone who plans on taking a couple of International trips in the next 12 months, this is a little scary, to say the least.

Contacts, call logs, messages and photos from up to 10,000 travelers’ phones are saved to a government database every year
Washington Post

Although I’m not part of the demographic they are looking at, “individuals who are of a significant law enforcement, counterterrorist, or national security concern,” the fact remains this database exists and appears to have little oversight in its use.

And finally… Ken Block is at it again, this time with a fully electric rally car on the streets of Las Vegas. The electric motor sound is not as pleasing as the turbo-charged gas engine, but the impressive abilities of his latest vehicle almost make up for it.