Back in the Saddle, Galloping Into Fall
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for September 7, 2025
This week was all work and no play, which doesn’t make for riveting blog material. I didn’t even get my usual arms-in-the-air photo—so I cheated. I tossed my face into Ideogram and told it to make me a cowboy. The pictures looked decent, except for one tiny problem: AI has no idea how to draw me. My whole deal—Shortarmguy—is that my arms, hands, and shoulders are one-of-a-kind, but AI keeps giving me the body of some ranch-hand from a Marlboro ad. Maybe someday the robots will figure out how to render a guy who doesn’t come off the shelf. Until then, I guess I’ll be riding into fall on fake horses while doing the real work myself.
On Labor Day we headed to Jeff & Cathy’s place in Hastings, where Jeff turns into a one-man pizza factory. The guy cranks out pies like he’s auditioning for his own Food Network show—same perfect crust every time, with toppings you didn’t even know belonged on pizza. Forget “master chef,” Jeff’s basically the Willy Wonka of mozzarella, and all of us freeloaders lined up like kids at the chocolate river.
Thursday night we joined Dan & Jen Walters, plus Luke and a couple of his buddies, for Bingo at the Crooked Pint. As usual, we had a blast gambling together—even if none of us got the thrill of yelling “Bingo!” Pulltabs didn’t exactly treat us like royalty either. But hey, who needs money when you can call it a win just for hanging out with good people for a few hours?
Hard to believe it, but Avery & Abby’s wedding is now less than a month away. Saturday night turned into a multi-hour strategy session of logistics planning—well, Sheri and Abby planned, while Avery and I perfected the art of nodding and tossing in the occasional smart-aleck comment. We capped it off with a nice dinner together, and just like that, another week was in the books. The countdown to wedding day is officially on, so I’m just hoping they remember to save me a seat somewhere near the cake.
@toddswank Bill Belichick’s girlfriend if Tom Brady never existed. #football #tarheels #northcarolina #newengland #patriots ♬ I Got You Babe - Sonny & Cher
@toddswank 3I/ATLAS, discovered in July 2025, is an interstellar comet now streaking past Mars on its one-way trip out of our Solar System. Astronomers say it’s just ice and gas—but doesn’t it look a little too perfect to be anything but an alien craft in disguise? #AlienComet #SpaceMystery #3IATLAS #CosmicVisitor #WhatIf ♬ A Sky Full of Stars - Coldplay
@toddswank Like father, like son 👀 Matthew McConaughey brings 17-year-old Levi to the red carpet… and the internet can’t decide who’s hotter. #M#MatthewMcConaugheyL#LeviMcConaugheyR#RedCarpetH#Hollywood ♬ whatta man - mette
