Randoming on May 3, 2026 👋🏻⚰️🌤️🥤🎂
Random thoughts too long for a Mastodon post, but not long enough for a full-blown post.
- 👋🏻 Ever get a sensation of walking into an establishment and quickly realizing you’ll never come back? It’s different than visiting a store or restaurant while traveling, as it’s expected to have transient experiences on the road. In this case, I’m talking about visiting two businesses local to me yesterday while feeling that these visits were my last. The first was at a Japanese-style sandwich shop that’s housed at a cursèd corner in downtown Maplewood, and the second was at a bottle shop I used to frequent under its old name. I don’t want to put either business on blast by linking to them, though if you live in the St. Louis region, their identities should be relatively easy to figure out. What I will say, however, is that the sandwich shop was pricey and far too salty for my taste (to the point where my heart was racing afterwards), whereas the bottle shop’s new owners clearly favor bourbon and barbecue over beer. Better bottle shop options exist closer to me, and as for the sandwiches, most of them aren’t bringing a lot that’s new to the table, and its location has seen plenty of dining establishments turn over in short order. I have no problem wishing them good luck in the future, but I’ll do so from afar.
- ⚰️ I’ll talk more about this in a later post, but the process of burying my mother’s ashes has entered its later stages. Actual dollar figures are being bandied about, along with sensible options for grave markers. So far, the estimated final cost is far less than I was fearing, but I won’t quote anything until I get quotes on the grave markers. I am oddly satisfied with the overall process as it stands, but check in with me after I’m back from my vacation to see if my mood changes.
- 🌤️ If there’s a time I would recommend people visit St. Louis, it is between early April and mid-May. The abundance of greenery and flowers is quite attractive, and generally the weather is still somewhat moderate for both temperature and humidity. Just be sure to bring your allergy meds, as this area is lousy with pollen and mold! Around mid-May, summer weather starts creeping in and sticks around for good at Memorial Day. Soon, it becomes too hot to wear clothes, and even being naked doesn’t help cool you off. In other words, if you want to visit STL, do it now.
- 🥤 "The Mormons are coming! The Mormons are coming!” A couple blocks away from a Crumbl Cookies outlet will be the second Swig dirty soda shop in the St. Louis region. As I’m nearing the age in which some folks take early retirement, I am likely too old to enjoy this sugary and caffeinated abomination. Of course, you could follow the example of Dennis Lee and make your own “filthy soda” at home, but I suspect if you were to make the drinks depicted in his article (CW: Substack link), you’d never speak to me again.
- 🎂 Tomorrow, my father turns 77. If he had a Union 76 ball on his car’s antenna, he would have to remove it. I don’t know of anything associated with 77, unless you’re talking about the punk explosion in the UK, which wouldn’t work for my father as a) he never liked punk to begin with, and b) he doesn’t have enough hair to shape into a mohawk. Anyway, happy birthday, Dad!