Take 5, D.

Week Notes, 2025-08-17

Weekly Features from August 10th - August 17th:

🎡 So how was the Missouri State Fair? Hot! Almost too hot at first. Our attendance on Saturday 08-09 first felt like a mistake, as both L. and I overheated at our first exhibit. The Poultry and Rabbit building had no air circulation in spite of open doors on both ends, so what air we encountered was stuffy and hot. I brought my Sony camera for photos, but I was really too uncomfortable to take more than a handful. Fortunately for our health and well-being, we were able to cool down next door at an air-conditioned Floriculture exhibit, which was followed by an inhalation of cherry limeade and lemonade. After these two steps, we felt more acclimated to the weather in Sedalia, and ended up staying at the fair for 4 hours (and over 11,000 steps!).

🎪 I'd slot the Missouri fair in-between Illinois and Kansas in terms of size, with Illinois being the largest fair I've attended, and with the Kansas fair as the smallest. These other two states had better food on offer than Missouri, though Missouri won the battle of having more beer--okay, Busch Light--seemingly everywhere, much to the joy of folks from Iowa. The livestock on display was more like Illinois, though in keeping with Missouri history, Missouri had mules to show whereas Illinois had goats and alpacas. For crafts and home economics, I have to say Missouri's offerings were disappointing. What was on display was rather mundane, as there were far better homemade quilts and crafts on display in Kansas, and both Illinois and Kansas outshone Missouri in the baked goods wares. L. felt she could compete with her cooking and sewing skills, and if she were to enter items for judging, I would go back to the fair in Sedalia. Otherwise, I'm okay with attending the Illinois fair instead, or exploring what Iowa or Kentucky has on offer.

🪿 Beyond the fair itself, there were other great moments from last weekend. We stayed in Columbia, and spent some time on Friday 08-08 exploring its grocery stores, dinner at a Hawaiian-inspired chain that was better than expected, then an evening in downtown Columbia walking between Flat Branch Brewing and Logboat Brewing. On Saturday 08-09, L. and I drove to Sedalia via Jefferson City, which turned out to be a fortuitous route because we found a seller of concrete geese in Tipton! Within a few minutes of our arrival at the store, L. was already reserving a goose to pick up in September, so we may have a one-day getaway nearby prior to retrieving our newest family member. Perhaps we could stay at this B&B we saw on Sunday 08-10 during our drive back to STL?

📆 On Thursday 08-14, I met with my manager for the first of a quarterly series of 70-20-10 meetings. Having any sort of career development discussions with my manager is a relatively new experience for me, sad to say. At my last job, my first manager had some interest in developing her team so they could work in other parts of IT, though her efforts weren't fully organized1. By contrast, my current job and current manager have both a structure and a plan, showing me there are paths for learning and growing, even to the point of leaving the team. All of this organization and development is rather shocking to me, and I'm still not sure how to process all of this!

☀️ Another August weekend, another spell of hot and damp weather. Time to ramp up the indoor hobbies to keep myself occupied.

🆕 I will be providing further explanations for the media files I'm noting below. This week, I will be talking more about the--*spins wheel of fortune*--Reading links.

Other Things to Note from The Week That Was:

💫 Creating:

🏥 Health:

🎧 Listening:

🗄Organizing:

📖 Reading:

🌾 Socializing:

🧪 Testing:

📺 Watching:

🗃️ Work:

  1. With hindsight I can say that this particular manager meant well, and for a few years, I could also honestly say she was the best manager I had during my IT career in STL. All things come to an end, unfortunately. Amidst the drama surrounding my former employer’s rise and fall, a new CIO alienated the IT department by his immediate desire to outsource almost all of its functions. When that wish was thwarted, largely because the CFO showed him there wouldn't be much savings, the CIO pivoted to degrading and belittling all of his direct reports. My manager's demeanor changed quickly, as she became more interested in keeping the lights on in her department than career development. Surviving the CIO was the main task at hand, which proved to be a battle she and her department couldn't win--most of the team was slowly outsourced, turnover was rampant, and skilled folks ended up leaving the company altogether. Eventually, the CIO was told to leave, but the damage was already done. Alas.↩

  2. As part of their 1000th podcast release, Resident Advisor has commissioned 10 podcasts to celebrate. The Frankie Knuckles Foundation in Chicago released a couple private tapes made by Frankie, one dating from 1989 and the other from 1996, and it's astounding to hear just how quickly dance music evolved in such a short time. Likewise, it's also somewhat astounding in a different direction that the 1996 mix could be played today and sound contemporary, though that's more because of the lack of equivalent progress than of Frankie being ahead of his time.↩

#Documentation #Life #Metablogging #WeeklyNotes