Post-Thanksgiving Greetings

I can't believe the Thanksgiving weekend is almost over. One more day and then back to the grind. It has been nice having a few days off from my day job. I few weeks ago, I had a dental procedure to pull a cracked tooth, so I've been eating my meals on one side of my mouth and, unfortunately, have to continue doing this until I get a bridge put in. The first week following the procedure was painful. My gums were killing me. Thankfully, the pain subsided and I was feeling much better about a week later. This is what happens when you get old and your body starts falling apart. 

I hope everyone had/is having a good holiday weekend. We could all use a nice break from the noise these days and a few days of rest and relaxation (if possible). 

Since today has been filled with falling snow here in the Chicago area, I've stayed indoors. I went out yesterday for provisions so I didn't have to bother leaving home in the bad weather. It's a good weekend to stay in and read, write, and watch TV (all of which I've been doing). 

As we inch towards the end of 2025, I can't say I'll be missing it, but I'm also not exactly looking forward to 2026. Will it be more of the same? Another year of chaos, anxiousness, and dread? God, I hope not, but I fear it will be. 

The Fall of the Slop Bowl

My sister sends me a lot of articles to read (because she's a former librarian) and lately she's sent me a number of articles about the rise and fall of the slop bowl. What's a slop bowl, you might ask? Bowls of food all slopped together and sold at various fast/casual restaurants. For example, a bowl at Chipotle or a bowl at Sweetgreen.

I was a huge fan of the slop bowl at Chipotle for a long time. I would get a chicken bowl and a lemonade weekly when I worked in New York. There was a Chipotle in the lobby of the building I worked in and the lunch lines would be long. I knew down to the penny what my order would cost (because I got the same thing every time). I loved my slop bowl! Then I fell out of love with it when Chipotle had problems with people getting sick from their food and cleanliness and food prep issues arose. But I went back to Chiptole after these turbulent times and back to the slop bowl. However, the return visit wasn't the same. Even when I moved to Chicago and went out for lunch (during the BC, before Covid times), I didn't visit Chipotle as much as I did during my NY years. The food just didn't hit me the same way. 

As I moved on from Chipotle, I fully embraced a new slop bowl: Sweetgreen. A Sweetgreen location opened in the city where I live and I was a frequent visitor to get myself a hearty harvest bowl. But soon, the longing wore off for that too. Maybe if I wasn't working from home now, I'd be more inclined to venture out for lunch, but why bother when I have food in the fridge that I paid a lot of money for. I can make my own slop bowl, if I want. Why go out and pay nearly $20 for one? As someone on Reddit said when commenting on a story about the fall of the slop bowl, "We got slop at the house!"

Apparently, the desire for slop bowls has fallen greatly. The Gen Z kids don't want them or can't afford them. Traffic is down at places like Chipotle and Sweetgreen. Some of this surely can be blamed on people not going into offices and going out for lunch. Some folks, like myself, never returned to the office after Covid or only returned on a hybrid basis and that huge group of lunch time eaters caused a huge decline in the earnings for many restaurants. 

Maybe, also, the slop bowl just isn't as appealing as it used to be. Calling something you eat a "slop bowl" is a huge turnoff too, but is it wrong? Sadly, it isn't!

Dirty ICE

Yesterday, around noon (Central time), I heard a lot of commotion as I was about to take my lunch break from my day job. The commotion was a lot of car horns and whistles. By the time I got myself together and headed outside to see what was going on, the commotion was over, but I later found out it was caused by ICE agents in my hometown right on the same block where I live! My city is turning into a police state. What is going on in my country? People are being pulled off the street by ICE goons, shoved into unmarked SUVs, and taken to unknown locations with no due process. This is insane. 

While I was on vacation a week ago, I had a conversation with a woman at the time share office (an office that has Fox News running 24/7). The woman knew I lived in Illinois and asked me why our governor didn't want to accept Donny T's offer of military "help" with crime in Chicago. I tried to tell this woman that people (American citizens and non-citizens alike) are being pulled off the streets in Chicago and ignored when they try to prove they're citizens and locked up. That's not the kind of "help" that's needed here. The woman told me she didn't believe that was happening and why would she when she exists on a daily diet of Fox News? People like this lady truly live in a bubble and they're not interested in finding out what's really going on in the world. They prefer to have their "news" spoon-fed to them courtesy of Fox. It's sad, but true.

Despite all of this, I refuse to be afraid to live my life. It's hard, but I can't let this crazed administration cower me into submission.