It’s Thursday. The beautiful weather continues past the holiday and into the work week in Illinois. The clear blue skies persist, but the temps have gone up significantly and we’re now in the 90s! That’s remarkably high for here in late May, but if you listen, you can hear everyone outside enjoying it!

So today I have another beaver sighting to share with all of you! This high-rolling beaver was spotted in Vegas, baby! But instead of blowing its paycheck at the blackjack table or pounding complimentary cocktails at the penny slots, this beaver was actually hard at work making an appearance at a trade show. Known in tech circles as DBeaver, it’s an open-source universal database tool. That’s right, this isn’t your average beaver—this one clearly picked up some serious tech skills along the way.

-keep

Keep,

Long time fan and former Chicagoland native, thanks for this great morning respite from the horrors of modern life! My recent business trip to Vegas included a beaver sighting that I immediately had to capture and share with you. Enjoy your extended weekend!

-NAS

It’s Wednesday. Okay, so this is a thing. Just when you thought the flavor possibilities for baked beans had been exhausted, Bush’s has unleashed chaos with some bizarre new flavors. Their new limited-edition summer flavors—Dill Pickle, Apple Pie, and Rocket Pop, sound less like side dishes and more like dares issued by a drunk uncle at a Fourth of July cookout. Dill Pickle beans might pair nicely with a burger, but Apple Pie beans feel like someone accidentally dumped dessert into the slow cooker. And Rocket Pop? That’s cherry, lime, and blue raspberry baked beans, which is either a stroke of marketing genius or evidence of the coming apocalypse. If nothing else, they’ll certainly give your guests something to talk about this summer.

-keep

It’s Tuesday. I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. We really lucked out with the weather because it couldn’t have been much better. While the East Coast was getting soaked with rain and parts of the West Coast were baking in the heat, we were enjoying blue skies and temperatures in the low 80s. That’s about as close to perfect as it gets here in Illinois.

The girlfriend and I headed over to my parents’ place for a Memorial Day cookout on Monday afternoon. There was plenty of good food, cold drinks, and enough leftovers to feed a small army. Earlier in the weekend, on Saturday morning, we made a trip out to check on the Corvette, which has been tucked away in storage all winter. Since I hadn’t visited it in months, I wasn’t quite sure what I’d find.

Thankfully, the battery tender had been faithfully doing its job, the new Michelins were still holding their air pressure, and the car fired up immediately after six months in hibernation. That’s always a beautiful sound. Best of all, it was still spotless. The old girl looked like she had just been parked yesterday. Sometimes the automotive gods smile upon you.

Now comes the hard part—getting back into the work routine. No matter how much you enjoy a long weekend, that alarm clock always comes far too early on Tuesday morning. After three days of sleeping in, eating too much, and pretending responsibilities don’t exist, suddenly we’re expected to slip back into the routine and be productive… again. Ugh.

-keep