This morning we made our way to Arlington Heights and met CJ Chilvers for breakfast at Scratchboard Kitchen. I have followed CJ’s blog and newsletter for years and have a ton of respect for how he approaches his craft. It was awesome to finally meet him in person!
This Waukegan, IL Tesla Supercharger is the largest I’ve ever seen. 20 charging stations with Gen 3 capacity. ⚡️
We had a great time having our minds blown seeing Siegfried Tieber doing a guest performance at Dennis Watkins’s Magic Parlour.
Great but short time exploring the Museum of Science and Industry upon arriving in Chicago today.
Captured the Tesla Coil at the Museum of Science and Industry at 120 fps and playing back at 1/4th speed. Super cool. ⚡️
Ferrofluid under magnetic pull. Super cool to zoom in. Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Captured with 5x camera on iPhone 16 Pro.
My cousin Josh’s column today, Night Riders Lament, was really good.
North Shore Weekend Log
Friday
- Drive to Duluth.
- Pizza and beer at Ursa Minor Brewery.
- Ice cream at Love Creamery.
- Check into Airbnb just past Duluth.
- Hot tub & homework.
- Pre-order donuts at World’s Best Donuts in Grand Marais.
Saturday
- Drive to Grand Marais.
- Stop at Fika Coffee for delicious coffee.
- Pickup donuts at World’s Best Donuts.
- Traipsed around Artist Point taking photos and exploring.
- Walked out on pier to Grand Marais Light.
- Shopping around Grand Marais: Lake Superior Trading Post, Joynes Ben Franklin, The Sweetwater Co., Great Gifts, The Big Lake, The Market, Sivertson Art Gallery, and Drury Lane Books.
- Last customer at Crosby Bakery.
- Surprising rush of dining demand at 4pm — dinner at Angry Trout Cafe.
- Ice cream at Superior Creamery.
- Return to Airbnb.
Sunday
- Send Weekly Thing 296.
- Check out Of Airbnb.
- Get candy to bring home from Great Lakes Candy Kitchen.
- Fabulous lunch at New Scenic Cafe.
- Delightful time at Gooseberry Falls.
- Visit Glensheen Mansion.
- Dinner at Va Bene in Duluth.
- Drive home.
We’ve driven by Glensheen Mansion many times and finally we stopped and took a tour. It is a pretty incredible residence. Worth stopping!
We thought it was going to be very cold and rainy but the rain held off and the day turned incredibly nice for us to hike up to the Fifth Falls at Gooseberry Falls today. Gooseberry has to be one of the most accessible parks we have and it is a great place to explore!
Morning stop at the Great Lakes Candy Kitchen — treats for home!
Grand Marais Light.
Artists Point in Grand Marais.
World’s Best Donuts in Grand Marais. Pro tip: you can order the night before and skip the line entirely!
Stop at Fika Coffee, my favorite coffee shop on the North Shore, on our way to Grand Marais this morning.
Our Airbnb for the weekend up north is a converted garage set in the woods. Nice place!
Exploring FIFA Collect
I’ve been intrigued with FIFA Collect for a bit. My interest was piqued when I saw that they are dropping collectibles with “Right to Buy” for the 2026 World Cup and I am very hopeful to go to at least a match. I’m guessing tickets will not be easy to get so getting a “Right to Buy” collectible for the city that I want to go to might be really nice.
This morning I sat down with FIFA Collect and really figured out how it works. I was generally impressed. It is a full NFT solution built on the Algorand blockchain. I have used a ton of blockchains but hadn’t had a reason to use Algorand. Algorand is not a Ethereum ecosystem blockchain so I downloaded Pera wallet to get started. Then I bought $20 USD worth of ALGO on Coinbase, transferred to my wallet and swapped 100 ALGO for 12.232474 of USDC-a, which is the USDC stablecoin token for Algorand.
A few minutes later I purchased my first FIFA collectible on the marketplace, a World Cup 1994 USA #611 poster.
I can buy some drops and hope I get lucky to find a “right to buy” collectible. Alternatively, there are already collectibles on the marketplace that others are selling with those rights. Right now the cheapest “right to buy” collectibles are selling for around $300.
Delicious pizza and beer at Ursa Minor Brewing tonight in Duluth.
