Week In Review 2026-07-04 🧨🎆🗽🇺🇸
This update covers Sunday 06-28-26 through Saturday 07-04-26 (icon Glossary, if needed).
LIFE
- 🈁 I barely escaped melting! Oh yeah, America turns 250 this week.
- 📕 The extreme heat warning for STL this week was no joke! I realize parts of the US east of me have it worse, and I do not envy anyone living in that part of the country.
- 📜 I am about a week away from finally having my mother’s ashes buried, and it’s finally feeling “real” to me.
- ❤️🩹 A side-effect of GLP-1 medication is increased sensitivity to heat and humidity, which is one additional reason why this week has been spent largely indoors. Having A/C certainly helps, but it’s not a cure-all. Several times this week, I have looked back fondly on the New Mexico vacation from May, as I can handle high temperatures better without the excessive humidity.
EXPLORE
- 🎨 My eBay listing for Caira went live on Friday 07-03. Most other folks selling Caira on eBay are doing so without any lenses included, so I hope my offering of two(!) lenses will attract some attention.
- 🔬 The OS 27 betas for iOS and macOS are pretty stable, but there are some noticeable bugs affecting both native and third-party apps. I will probably switch to the Public Beta cycle, which may start as early as next week. On a related front, a beta version of Typora (macOS) fixed some of the bugs that came about from macOS 27 Golden Gate, so it's usable again to draft posts like what you're reading right now.
- 🪟 Both L. & I played it close to home this week due to the weather. We went on a coffee date to Upshot Hi-Fi on Sunday 06-28. I worked for a few hours at Living Room Coffee on Tuesday 06-30 (and even their super-strong A/C had difficulty keeping up with the high temps). I also went to Side Project Cellar on Thursday 07-02, as it will be my last appearance there for a couple weeks. L. & I went swimming at night at our complex’s pool on Tuesday 06-30 and Friday 07-03, the latter date allowing us to see some of the fireworks from the nearby tiny town of Twin Oaks. Saturday 07-04, also known as America’s 250th birthday, saw us view fireworks from Kirkwood while hanging out in the parking lot of STLCC Meramec.
MEDIA
- 📰 You don't have to swallow frogs, Degenerate Art. My takeaway from this article is about the long-lasting, deleterious effects of “smartkiditis,” as this very well could have been my path in life. One symptom of this “disease” is feeling like you have the answers to everything, or that you can use your brilliant intellect to get these answers if enough time were provided. I am glad that I had a few humbling experiences in my life, all after college, which showed me brains weren’t enough to solve all of my problems. Even when combining my “superior” intellect with effort, I still fell short of whatever my goals were. It’s important to understand that you can’t have all the answers, which is something that per this article, Ezra Klein struggles to understand. He has apparently pinned much of his self-worth on his abilities to figure out the world he inhabits, only to stumble when his answers don’t match what he sees. Perhaps he's now entering his humbling era, allowing him the chance to re-evaluate how he views the world, or how it’s okay not to have all the answers? My guess is, since he’s getting paid to be a smart kid, no.
- 📰 The Great American State Fair’s Main Exhibit Is Trump Corruption, Talking Points Media. A bit obvious of a topic, given the upcoming holiday, but this sad excuse of a county fair (let alone a state fair) brings up more questions for me, namely: where is the VP in all of this? Is he learning how to be corrupt himself, or is he being given a slice of the pie to keep him happy? And what will happen if the VP becomes the President? Does he embark on his own path of corruption? Does he ask for a piece of the action from those currently embezzling the country to their benefit? Or, does his ego get in the way and cause him to go after these corrupt folks? This article won’t provide you with answers to my questions, but it may cause you to ask similar ones yourself.
- 🎬 Batch 317: Malt Couture's Season 1 Finale, Malt Couture. Similar in concept to how Eastenders marked Episode 6124 as the end of “Season 1,” Malt Couture announced a break in its production for the first time in the show’s nearly 7-year history. To mark the occasion, Alex and Stephen consumed some Old World beers from Germany and Belgium. I look forward to the beginning of Season 2 sometime later this year, provided that Alex’s health allows it to happen.
- 🎬 Riding Japan's Hello Kitty Bullet Train🚄 | Osaka→Hakata, Kuga’s Travel. After nearly 8 years of service, the Hello Kitty Shinkansen entered retirement in late May 2026. Train otaku Kuga pays homage by taking one of the final rides. If you would rather not watch the video, but are curious as to how the worlds of bullet trains and Sanrio can mix, here’s an article for you to enjoy.
WORK
- 🏥 My BCA class for October 2026 was approved by my boss’ boss, in one of his final acts before retiring on Thursday 07-03. The October class will be virtual, though if I were to go for actual BCA certification from Epic, I would have to travel to Wisconsin and take it on Epic’s zany campus. I’m not at that level (yet?), though perhaps this class may allow me to head down that path in the future. Apart from this approval, the only other highlight in this quiet week was tutoring the new guy, B., for an hour on Thursday. Otherwise, I spent my time catching up on tickets and closing out unresolved issues, some of which dated back to April!
OTHER
- 🗣️ I occasionally feel depressed about the upcoming burial of my mother’s ashes, but more and more, my feelings are of relief and accomplishment. As of Friday 07-10, it will be finished, and I can finally say this chapter of my life will be closed. Which reminds me...
NEXT
- 🔮 Next week’s update may incorporate different dates, as I will be in the Chicagoland area taking care of the burial. The following weekend will be busy as well, so I may end up publishing on a non-standard schedule for most of July. I’ll push work on my second Les Ketchup post to August.
PICTURE
- 📸 My last-ever photo with Caira, taken on Sunday 06-21. It’s not a special photo or particularly interesting, but it is the last photo with the device, so I guess that counts for something. Time to move on and let someone else, with luck, do something better with it.
