- I’ve been into reading blogs lately. The little peek into other people’s lives is so interesting. I won’t link to specific ones here, but in case anyone is out there wondering if anyone ever reads their blog: we do.
- Last weekend I went camping in Father Hennepin State Park here in Minnesota. I hadn’t been there before, and we were looking for a lakeside spot with a decent beach.
It rained on Saturday morning and stayed cool for most of the day, so we went to a couple of thrift stores in Isle and Garrison. My husband collects horror VHS tapes, DVDs, and Blu-Rays and found the motherlode at one of those spots.
I’m hoping that convinced him that thrifting out of town is the way to go. You can find so much. Four years later, I’m still riding my Miss Priss cookie jar high.
Other than thrifting, we hiked around a bit, grilled, played games, had drinks around the fire, and generally enjoyed being away from Minneapolis.
- I’m on my second consecutive week back in the office 2x weekly. I’m still not sure what the point of it is. The most my coworkers say to each other is "Good morning."
Mostly, it dices up my weeks in a jarring way. I think I’d rather go in two days in a row than every other day. I’m probably almost done complaining about this every time I update, but I can’t make any promises.
- I’m a big fan of a local publisher here, Birchwood Palace Industries. They make books, zines, and printed novelties. Old internet fans may like their booklet of 4,936 band names from the ‘90s internet.
I recently picked up the first in a new series from Birchwood, Dead ZIP Codes. Each issue will explore a disused zip code. This first issue was about 40024, which was home to the Trappist monk Thomas Merton.
This led me on a deep dive into Merton’s life, and I’m still not really done with it yet. What a fascinating person. I’m excited to read some of his work when life is less busy.
I almost pulled the trigger on some fudge from the abbey he lived at, but I haven’t. Yet. Maybe it’ll happen one day when I’m trapped in the office and need a dopamine hit. Why shouldn’t I buy monk fudge?
- The Minnesota State Fair is upon us again. For me this is an end-of-summer signpost, and one that I look forward to every year. I have a list of foods to eat and a mission to explore the Fine Arts building. Other than that, I'll probably be drinking beer somewhere in the International Bazaar.
- I was excited to revisit Mario Paint when it was released for Nintendo Switch Online. I loved that game so much as a kid, and playing it in 2025 was quite the nostalgia trip.
Here’s an updated version of the islands I used to draw all the time:
And here’s the "song" I composed. Enjoy!
