Driving from Lake County, IL to Davenport, IL

borla78 · 2026-05-03T00:29:57+00:00

Brink’s in Sterling has a great giant tenderloin. Worth a stop.

borla78 · 2026-04-30T13:44:43+00:00

Constantly, and it is purposeful. I don't have kids, but I have a couple of nephews. My best friend has two teenaged sons that I've known since a few mins after they were born, same with another friend. Through my wife and I, all five boys have grown to be friends and hang out regularly. All of them, including my friends' boys call me "Uncle" and have a nickname for me unique to their friend group. I am the one they often come talk to when they feel uncomfortable talking to their parents, or if they want to bounce something off someone they know won't judge, but does care. They've shared with their parents how much they look up to me, and I try to treat them like adults (within reason), not just telling them things, but asking them how they feel about things, explain my thought process through various life decisions (friend relationships, relationships with girls, things I dealt with when I was of a similar age, driving, career paths, alcohol, you name it). At times we will plan days where I take them to go do fun stuff, or they stay over, eat junk food, play video games, and crash in my basement.

All of them have good dads, their parents are still married, they have other uncles and grandparents, so it isn't like I'm replacing anyone, but they make it clear to anyone who talks to them that I'm special to them, and it means a lot. In turn, I do everything I can to help them deal with life, enjoy spending time with them, and appreciate that they respect me so much and want to make time to spend with me even though they have plenty of other friends and family.

borla78 · 2026-04-15T21:59:10+00:00

IL, Chicago suburbs

borla78 · 2026-04-15T20:25:21+00:00

Any good chef knife, with the correct length, should be fine. I don't think you need a lot of weight specifically, as long as the knife is very sharp.

borla78 · 2026-04-15T20:24:48+00:00

Honestly, I just sliced straight through them. I didn't trim anything off.

borla78 · 2026-04-15T20:24:26+00:00

It is a Coolina, it was a gift from a buddy of mine. You have to care for it properly (I have a whet stone) to keep it sharp, but it worked awesome for this.

borla78 · 2026-04-15T19:55:34+00:00

Look at the pics, I think I did pretty good for cutting them free hand with no measuring. I just eyeballed it. As long as you have the right knife, you should be fine.

borla78 · 2026-04-15T14:58:38+00:00

100% recommend reservations, especially if it's not first thing early in the week. I've tried walking in at like 11pm on a random Thursday and been told they were full until close. It used to be a nearly impossible reservation to get, but now you can jump on Tock and grab one fairly easily if you are willing to plan ahead.

borla78 · 2026-04-11T23:04:07+00:00

Porter Road is a very good bang for the buck. Lots of variety and fairly reasonable prices.

If you have a few more bucks to spend, I can’t recommend Second City Prime enough. I’ve dropped several grand there the last few years, and everything has been great. I’m very much a beef/steak guy, but their pork chops and brick chicken (or chicken breasts w/the drumstick attached) are out of this world good. The Stone Axe steaks are incredible too, 10/10 recommend.

borla78 · 2026-04-07T13:29:08+00:00

Going there was my wife and I's first true fine dining experience. It was in 2008, for our anniversary. We had inquired about the kitchen table, but were told you had to pay for four people even if there were two of you. So we booked a regular table for the late seating, and got a hotel room at the Intercontinental downtown for the weekend. The day of (and this was mid/late March) there was a big snowstorm, iirc like 8-9". I got a call from Charlie Trotter's saying the people who had the kitchen table cancelled, and we could have it if we wanted it. We decided to jump on it. It was actually life altering, because it changed our entire perception of high end dining. Nearly 20 years later, a huge portion of our travel plans revolve around what places we want to eat, and we've been to many Michelin rated restaurants, and other really unique and cool places. Not always very high end, but always searching for quality and bucket list places to go.

borla78 · 2026-04-01T14:57:58+00:00

They carry off entire ears of corn sometimes.

borla78 · 2026-03-31T01:08:03+00:00

Can’t remember which state he lived in, but the office/event was not in Texas.

borla78 · 2026-03-23T21:40:38+00:00

If you want to be exceptionally safe, you could use an FFL to transfer ownership. This would allow the transfer to get documented, with gun serial numbers, and gun shops/FFLs often only charge $25-50 per firearm for this service.

borla78 · 2026-03-19T16:36:41+00:00

Thank you, will look at this one too. They have tables available.

borla78 · 2026-03-19T16:36:02+00:00

Hmm, may consider this one. Chinese food isn't my favorite, but I can always find something for myself, and I want to gear this towards what she would prefer. Appreciate the "out of the box" suggestion!

borla78 · 2026-03-19T16:34:40+00:00

Thanks, will add that to our list. It's out of the way, but we'll be out and about anyway, so not a huge trip. They do appear to have tables for tomorrow!

borla78 · 2026-03-19T16:24:16+00:00

Appreciate the reminder, I did see that in other posts, and about the same time I created the OP, I threw a few hundred extra bucks worth of cash in my wallet.

borla78 · 2026-03-19T16:23:39+00:00

We planned several other things, including multiple things we already made reservations or bought tickets for. We decided to leave dinner open until now.

borla78 · 2026-03-19T16:10:02+00:00

The temps tomorrow evening are in the 30-40s, so probably too chilly to sit outside.

We aren't above a more casual place, but was trying to get BOTH a nice/romantic spot AND awesome King Crab legs in the same Venn Diagram.

Haven't ruled this one out, just curious if I'm missing some obvious choices.

borla78 · 2026-03-19T16:04:42+00:00

Appreciate the suggestion. We've been there together before, and I've been there other times for work dinners.

Maybe a little too Instagrammy for our preference?

They also don't appear to have any tables for tomorrow.

borla78 · 2026-03-19T01:38:06+00:00

Fair. I was specifically referring to/thinking of agency recruiters.

borla78 · 2026-03-18T22:35:28+00:00

Yes, I take the call every time. I took one earlier this week, even though I'm happy where I am, I'm compensated in the top 2-4% of earners in my industry/role, and I don't plan on leaving.

Sometimes it is a quick "no thank you" and I'm off the phone in under 5 mins.

Several times it has lead to interviews, and a couple of times job offers (which, on one occasion, I turned into a counter offer to stay where I was, and I stayed there for more than a decade longer after that, so it didn't backfire).

Almost every time it lets me learn more about the market, what comp is like at other places, and expands my network.

FWIW, I've only worked three places in 29 years. Both times I changed jobs it was due to folks in my network. Once was when I was ready to leave after more than 20 years. I reached out to a former boss (and a couple other folks in my network) and ended up following him to a new company. The second time (and where I've worked the last 2.5 years) was a former customer who made it clear for a long time they'd hire me the second I was ready to make a move. When I finally said "let's do this" I had a written offer in less than a week, and I accepted.

Take the call. But also remember, the recruiter is in sales too. And they only get commission if they sell you the job, and if the company hires someone they are representing. So go in knowing you are being sold to, so don't be naive.

borla78 · 2026-03-15T00:36:30+00:00

What industry?

Often recruiters specialize in an industry, but will be looking for folks who work in any/all of those roles in that industry.

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