Week Notes, 2025-09-28
Weekly Features from September 22nd - September 28th:
Heavy on work-related stuff, so shorter than usual.
☎️ My on-call shift started at 5 PM on the evening of Thursday 09-25, and it kicked off with a BANG. Widespread reports were coming in of Epic users being unable to scan documents. A High Priority incident was filed at 8 PM, and the submitter of the ticket invited me to a conference call where troubleshooting was taking place. I didn’t have to contribute anything to the call except for my presence, which was mandatory since I was the on-call rep for this week. My manager was also present on the conference call, and he contributed significantly to troubleshooting the issue. I’m glad he spoke out, as I had no real solution for the problem at hand. The call lasted until 1 AM, wrecking us both mentally and physically the next day at work. Finishing up my job on Friday was a struggle.
📤 L. switched her schedule around to work on Saturday 09-27. With me being on call until Thursday 10-02, she won't miss much by working on the weekend. While she was out on Saturday, I stopped in for a brief time at Side Project's 12th Birthday Party, but otherwise kept things close to home. On Sunday 09-28, we had the usual round of church, coffee, and grocery shopping. No, not the most exciting weekend, but this is the payback for the enjoyable birthday weekend a couple weeks ago.
📋 One team member has been on vacation this week, so I've been called upon to help out with a couple projects. The first is an ongoing update of a hardware glossary that was last touched in 2018, with the idea being to generalize items that are in common--laptops, monitors, and so on--but specialize with other items, like credit card readers, label printers, barcode scanners, etc. The second project will be to update IP addresses for printers at a specific site on Wednesday 10-01. Both projects are detailed in ways I can appreciate, but also in ways that feel overwhelming at times. I must remember to breathe and not panic.
🏜️ My self-imposed deadline for the November vacation itinerary will whoosh on by. Cue Douglas Adams. Being on call may not give me enough time to schedule everything, so I'll give myself an additional week. The new goal will be to finish the itinerary by Sunday 10-05. I have a vague notion of plans during the first part of the trip, but nothing more concrete.
🌅 Monday 09-22 was the Autumnal Equinox, as well as the beginning of year 234 on the only calendar that truly makes sense. Meanwhile, Friday 09-26 was the equilux, as that was the day where day and night were 12 hours long by me. You want it darker? Well, you're in luck until Spring 2026.
🆕 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*--Listening links.
Other Things to Note from The Week That Was:
💫 Creating:
- Quiet week on this front, as my real job took up a lot of my mental energy.
🏥 Health:
- 7-minute workouts on Tuesday 09-16 and Thursday 09-25.
- Neighborhood walks with L. on Monday 09-22 and Thursday 09-25.
🎧 Listening:
Episode 251: The Autumn Equinox, Desert Oracle Radio
- I have a potential post in the works that feels like it could be its own episode of Desert Oracle Radio. It's about a quick stopover in Truth Or Consequences, NM, with a full moon shining at night in the high desert.
RA.1005 Lucrecia Dalt, Resident Advisor
- Sometimes RA breaks away from the four-on-the-floor format for something totally off-base. Lucrecia's mix was not beat-driven, but mood-driven and all the better for it.
196 - 196 almost 200, door.link
- The music in these mixes is often heavily represented by Japanese artists. The woman behind the mixes is actually from Argentina.
Episodes 758 & 759, Brainwashed Radio
- Two more installments in one of the longest-running music podcasts out there. This is one of my main sources of hearing new music.
Episode 607 - Road to GABF 2025, ABV Chicago
- Ryan and Craig spend nearly 2 hours talking about this year's Great American Beer Festival in Denver, their plans to enjoy it and recommendations for you to do likewise, and somehow they fit in time to drink four beers--3 of which are from New Mexico.
Episode 462, Hypnagogue Podcast
- This podcast was recommended a while back by Warren Ellis, and it's a mix of "ambient, electronic, and contemporary instrumental music," per the website. The actual percentage of this mix varies from show to show, with this particular episode more into the first two genres. Other episodes of the show have featured current prog-rock that still sounds like 1974, and still others have veered towards the old Windham Hill aesthetic at times (and if you recognize the name Windham Hill, you're also old). If any of these sound like your cup of tea, subscribe and let your ears, um, drink it up.
Let’s Delve Off The Bridge Together feat. Brian Merchant, Trashfuture
- A look at the horrors around us, but also at the stupidity of Samsung's decision to show ads on refrigerators in your kitchen.
🗄Organizing:
- Spent a small amount of time on the Greyrock project. I'll probably pick this up next week.
- My Bushnell spotting scope sold on eBay! The winning bid came in on Friday 09-26. I shipped out the equipment on Saturday 09-27.
- The blinds in my office broke, so I asked the apartment complex to replace them on Monday 09-22. New blinds were installed on Tuesday 09-23, but by Thursday 09-25, the replacements had already broke. A second set was installed on Friday 09-26, and so far, all is well. These are the blinds without the cord to raise or lower them, and while they work OK, I'm not a big fan of this design.
📖 Reading:
- Trump’s H-1B visa fee isn’t just about immigration, it’s about fealty, The Verge
- America’s friends will never trust the U.S. again, Japan Times
- America’s Split-Screen Economy, Jacobin
- This BMW Exec Just Told The Truth: Combustion-Powered Cars Will ‘Never Disappear’, The Autopian
- Only Power Matters, Commonweal
- 3DownNation contributors analyze upcoming changes to CFL game, 3DownNation
- The 20th Century Dies: David Bowie, Scott Walker and the 1990s, The Quietus
- Trump’s new H-1B policy caused short-term panic — and will cause long-term chaos, The Verge
- Good Grief: Sonic Youth’s Washing Machine at 30, The Quietus
🌾 Socializing:
- Bought additional coffee beans at Kaldi's in Kirkwood on Wednesday 09-24. This location recently shortened its hours of operations, which has caused me to arch an eyebrow.
- Picked up another beer order at Side Project Brewing on Wednesday 09-24, though unlike last week's visit, I kept my time there brief as I was rather tired.
- Visits to Ace Hardware and the UPS Store to handle the shipping of the Bushnell spotting scope on Saturday 09-27
- A brief stop-in at Side Project Brewing on Saturday 09-27, as mentioned above.
- Usual round of church, coffee, and groceries on Sunday 09-28, as mentioned above.
🧪 Testing:
- Switched back to the Apple Public Beta program and installed PB1 of iOS 26.1 and macOS Tahoe 26.1 on Wednesday 09-24.
- Reinstalled Orion (macOS) on Thursday 09-25.
📺 Watching:
Finding Japan’s Retro Vibes & Nature in KOBE 🌿 | Travel Vlog, YouTube, Mei Time
🇺🇸2 DAYS New York to Miami by America’s NEWEST Sleeper Train | Amtrak Viewliner Silver Meteor, YouTube, Kuga’s Travel (Kuga spent well over $600 to travel on a rattly Amtrak train. Poor guy got ripped off.)
Where were the ancient capitals before Kyoto? We explore Nara and Asuka, YouTube, Japan Guide
湯野上温泉駅 ライブカメラ | Yunokami Onsen Station Live Camera, YouTube, 福島県 下郷町 Shimogo Town, Fukushima Prefecture
Royal Albatross ~ Top Flat Chick Gets Weighed! 💕 ⚖️ Update on SSTrig GPS Travels! 👑 9.23.25, YouTube, Lady Hawk
This Sacred Hawaiian Place Is Finally Open to Visitors, YouTube, Hawaii News Now (The place in question is Kalaupapa National Historic Park, the former leper colony of Moloka'i)
Skidoo (1968): 1:33:54 - 1:38:27, YouTube, Hare Krishna in the Movies (the ending to one of the literally trippiest movies from the late 60s, and yes, the closing credits are sung)
🗃️ Work:
- Meetings resumed their regular length this week.
- Lots of work on Hardware documentation, as mentioned above.
- Other projects included updating workstation records in Epic, and starting an update of IP addresses for printers.