Week In Review 2026-05-02
This weekly update covers Sunday 04-26-26 through Saturday 05-02-26.
LIFE
- 🈁 Deadlines often have a way of adding clarity and purpose to one’s actions. The pending trip to New Mexico gave me a reason to intensify my focus, and I actually felt like I accomplished things I wanted to do!
- 📕 For past vacations, I drew up a detailed itinerary for each day. A scheduled plan for being in a new place helped out most of the time, but eventually drawbacks started making themselves known. Having a tight itinerary can be just as restrictive as it is freeing, as I discovered to my chagrin during our trip to northern New England in August 2023. Since then, my vacation planning has become progressively looser to the point where our New Mexico time will be as close to “winging it” as I’ll get. Part of me is quite nervous about this development, while another part wants the former to calm down, as it should turn out okay.
- 📜 The Beaker project has ended one phase as of this publishing date. Questions that frankly should have been asked beforehand will finally get aired, though I regret I will be out of town when some of them get answered. However, the regret isn’t substantial enough to change my plans!
- ❤️🩹 I sense my EAP will wind down in late May, which is okay by me. It’s been a great help, and I have no regrets for taking part in it. Meanwhile, spring allergies have been taking their toll on me this week, as most adventures leave my eyes dry and irritable within a few minutes of stepping outdoors.
EXPLORE
- 🎨 I have a Randoming entry in my blog, which I plan on making into a regular feature. Posts that are too large for Mastodon and too small to stand on their own will go into this new category.
- 🔬 Caira arrived as scheduled on Monday 04-27. I have taken a couple test photos after setting it up, though I have no real opinions as of yet. Making sure the device works out of the box is my first step!
- 🪟 Worked lunch at Comet Coffee on Wednesday 04-29, putting me about five minutes away from my haircut appointment after work. I also ate lunch at Living Room on Thursday 04-30, taking a half-day off from work as comp time. With the upcoming vacation, I will likely be curtailing some outside adventures before our departure.
MEDIA
- 📰 The BookKeeper: Exploring Tottenham’s worsening finances and how much relegation would hurt, The Athletic. A fascinating look behind the scenes at one of the "Big Six" in the English Premiere League, as a demotion to a lower division looms. The closest equivalent in an American mindset would be when Southern Methodist University’s football program had a “death penalty” imposed upon them in the 1980s, with SMU needing 30+ years to achieve the success they had beforehand. Tottenham Hotspur may fare worse were they to be relegated—they’d live to play, unlike SMU, but their debts may doom them for longer.
- 📰 The Angine de Poitrine Argument for UBI, UBI Guide. How to weave Einstein, Ireland, and microtonal math rock from rural Quebec into a strong argument for Universal Basic Income. "The point of bread is to be eaten and enjoyed."
- 🎬 Low ABV 501 - More/Revolution EMPIRE, ABV Chicago Cream Team Exclusives. The real star of this episode is hearing Ryan and Craig play a guessing game with Chicago TV commercials, in which the jingle is provided and you had to guess the company behind it.
- 🎬 Well There's Your Problem | Episode 197: The Illinois Central Electric Wreck, Well There’s Your Problem Podcast. Keeping the Chicago theme going, here's a story about a deadly 1972 rail accident near present-day McCormick Place that was new to me. I may not look at those Metra galley trains the same way again!
- 🎬 Monument Waves 009: Aksamit, Monument Podcast. Monument isn't always about the loud thump. Sometimes, their podcasts take on a chill or ambient approach, like this one.
WORK
- 🏥 I spent a couple days re-editing my guide for establishing the minimal version of certain Epic mobile apps, adding in some recent changes I found out this week. I shared it with the team on Friday 05-01. While the guide is longer and more exhaustive than I had planned, my hope is that anyone new to the process should appreciate the included details.
NEXT
- 🔮 Dropping off a roll of film at Schiller’s on Saturday 05-02 so that I leave for my vacation with an empty camera and two full rolls of film to use.
PICTURE
- 📸 Welp, here’s one of my first photos using Caira. The attached lens is a Lumix 25mm f/1.7 for Micro Four-Thirds, so it’s the equivalent of a 50mm full-frame lens. The photo mode per the Caira app is Film, and it doesn’t look too shabby. I don’t plan to take Caira with me on the vacation, but I will make some attempts to test it out beforehand.
