Take 5, D.

Week Notes, 2025-10-12

Weekly Features from October 6th - October 12th:

▶️ Some of this week's update will be written early, and by early, I'm talking about on Wednesday 10-08. The Triangle Trip1 will have started no later than 10 AM on Thursday 10-09, and will have ended sometime in mid-late afternoon on Sunday 10-12. Generally, Sunday is prime writing time for me, but instead I'll be driving back to St. Louis during those hours. I'll leave space for myself to write up a proper reflection of the trip once I've returned and the routines become routine again.

🛣️ I'm writing this section on Monday 10-13. The trip was enjoyable and exhausting, and as usual it wasn't long enough. Here's a quick breakdown of what happened:

​ 🥦 Thursday's highlight was meeting people for an extended dinner at Bloom, a vegan fine dining restaurant in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. It was my second time at Bloom, and my feelings about it are the same as with the first visit: their small plates are delicious and creative, their large plates less so, and the immense amount of oils used in the dishes will make you feel like you had a massive steak dinner afterwards. Half of the folks in my party at Bloom couldn't attend the Homecoming festivals for various reasons (no interest, foot surgery, living in Sheboygan), so the dinner became a pre-reunion reunion for lack of a better phrase. Getting to Bloom was frustrating, as I had forgotten just how annoying it can be to drive in Chicago proper. I've admittedly fallen out of practice, so the constant stop-and-go was an unwelcome reminder.

​ 🚗 Friday started off with a return down memory lane, as my plan was to replicate as much as I could of my college drive. I lived in Elmhurst during my years at Cornell College, as well as for a few years afterwards, so many of my road trips there would commence with being picked up at home, having a massive meal at the Portillo's in Elmhurst, then driving on Interstate 88 to US 30 in Rock Falls, IL. From there, US 30 would lead directly into Iowa, and to Mount Vernon. L. had never been on this route before, so once I explained the layout, she was game for it. There were two exits for US 30 connecting to Rock Falls, one east and one west of the town, and I took the eastern exit for this particular trip; in the past, the western exit was preferred. Our lunch was along the Rock River in Rock Falls, a town that clearly had seen better decades (which also jogged my memories of the trips, as there weren't any stops in Rock Falls from what I recalled). From there, US 30 travels in Illinois for about 30 miles, crossing over the Mississippi River at Fulton into Clinton, IA. Once in Iowa, it's another 70 miles to Mount Vernon. Our trip was a bit longer than what I had recalled in the past, but we both enjoyed the scenery and hearing KRNA again for the first time in years. Good news: their playlist hasn't changed much in 30 years.

​ 🏫 After checking into our hotel in Coralville, L. and I returned to Mount Vernon and ate our dinner with an all-alumni gathering, which naturally was held in the indoor track of Cornell's athletic center. Nothing like the fine scent of a rubber track to accompany your wine and salad! The meal was far better than anything I had eaten in college, the scenery notwithstanding. L. was impressed enough by the workout equipment in the gym that she couldn't help but try it out2. Afterwards, we joined up with our group at a couple of the bars in Mount Vernon to talk with other adults who came back for Homecoming, along with the occasional current student now and then. Both L. and I were really talked out that evening, so once we made it safely back to the hotel, we slept for quite a while.

​ 🍺 Our Saturday started out slow and creaky. We eventually picked up the pace, thanks both to a great hotel breakfast and a nourishing bowl of ramen at Hokkaido. Fortified and awake, we made it back to Cornell's campus and joined the "Obscure Places" tour, highlighting locations that were either not seen by many students or which had undergone major renovations from the time we were students. The tour brought me back to Merner Hall, which is where I lived in a converted study lounge with three other freshman in 1989-90, as the school foolishly decided to make this lounge into a permanent dorm room. Let's just say this decision lasted only a year. The lounge has returned to its original state, so no marks of my freshman year hijinks exist--good! After the tour ended, we all wandered about taking photos, then resting for a few minutes before attending a book signing by a college friend at a local art gallery. When that wrapped up, a group of us eventually decided on eating at Big Grove Brewery in Solon. If you knew the area from my time, the idea of having a great dinner at Solon, or of Solon having any dining options besides pizza and gas stations, would be beyond imaging. However, in the year of our Lord 2025, I can say that the best meal on the trip happened in Solon, Iowa. I made a quick return to Mount Vernon to talk with some other folks, but I promised L. we'd leave at 10 PM to return to our hotel. Reader, I kept that promise.

​ 🍞 Sunday was the come-down day. L. And I checked out of the hotel, and ate a decent-to-good brunch with a larger group of friends at Harry's in downtown Iowa City. We all said our goodbyes, L. and I bought lunch for the road at the nearby Bread Garden Market, then we made the trek back to STL. Farms in all three states were harvesting this weekend, so the air on all three legs of the Triangle Trip was laden with dust and crop residue. I was almost thankful to see the sprawling suburbs of St. Charles County, as that meant no more driving through farmland. We returned home at 6 PM, thus ending the vacation.

🇮🇸 Iceland recently tried out a four-day work week, and found the results were to its liking. Given how productive I felt in a three-day work week, I can understand why. There wasn't a lot of wasted time at my job, as I worked on some projects involving updates of print queues and IP addresses. I also became the unofficial SME for Haiku and Canto, both mobile apps in Epic's system.Now may be a good time to really learn about them, eh?

🦟 Cooler weather was on tap during most of the Triangle Trip, and for a couple days prior at home. I hope the lower temperatures kills off some of the mosquitoes and gnats around here, as I'm tired of being a target for bug bites or weird coughing fits due to a small cloud of insects getting near my nose or mouth.

⏸️ For the past few updates, I have provided further explanations for the media files I've tracked during the week. I'm going to hit pause on these explanations, at least for this week. I like being able to flesh out what I've read or watched or heard, but I am also aware of how easy it is for the readers' eyes to glaze over yet another long list. Hell, sometimes I'm even bored by my own explanations. This idea will require a remake and possibly a remodel. CPL 593H.

Other Things to Note from The Week That Was:

💫 Creating:

🏥 Health:

🎧 Listening:

🗄Organizing:

📖 Reading:

🌾 Socializing:

🧪 Testing:

📺 Watching:

🗃️ Work:

  1. It's not the most creative name, but the path from St. Louis --> Chicago --> Iowa City/Mount Vernon --> St. Louis does form a specific geometric shape, so...↩

  2. L.'s face is blurred for her privacy. You're not seeing things here...or to be more specific, you're literally not seeing her face.↩

#Documentation #Life #Metablogging #PersonalHistory #WeeklyNotes