Day: August 13, 2026

Someone in Illinois won a Billion Dollar Powerball Jackpot. Meanwhile, as I loo at my life and debt and everything all added up at once, 2 million after taxes would take care of all my bills, wants, and needs for an extremely long time. Heck, I could do all of it on an 8th of that amount. 250 goes an extremely long way in my life. That says a lot about my life–where I am and what needs to happen to get me right.

Problem is not knowing how to get there.

I deal in practical worlds. Kinda. I’m an academic, so that is not entirely a practical world, but it isn’t the lofty flights of people who work with money on computers. I’m also way too old to be an athlete. My kids are cashing in on that side of things, and given a good season or two, they’ll be able to set themselves up comfortably for life. It won’t be generational wealth, but it will be wealth enough to live well. Living well and living happily are my primary goals anymore. I want to be able to do that and experience all the wonders life has left to offer me.

I trust there are plenty.

Tomorrow we head back to the states to fall into a new school year and earn that money and move one step closer to a retirement. I’m looking at retirement as the beginning of the next act. I need that sustaining income to give me the time and space to be the writer I know I can still be–even after the mid forties decline I’m only now realizing has rocked me hard. I’m working on building back up from that. I still have it in me. It takes a lot longer for it to come out though. Practice is my priority there. Flexibility as well. The more I write different things, the more I regain that flexibility that defined my style. The more I read, the more I hunger for that style to flourish.

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “Conspiracy theories falsely blame Colombia earthquake on Alaska research program” Yeah, well… No. I got nothing here. We’re just crazy people anymore.

Today was media day for UNI. The DV high media day took place a while ago but I haven’t gone through the footage of either. I do know this: They gave my kid a camera and let him film the process. He had a lot of fun with it. He didn’t know it was coming and some of that lack of preparation shows, but he has a natural chill that makes him feel approachable on screen. That will be helpful to him moving forward. He’s a team guy and he aims to be that at the next level as well. He has a lot of steps to go before he gets there. This season is a big one. He’s finally at the point where he’s making plays on film. He looks sharp in all phases of the defensive game, forcing turnovers from the pass and from run fits. He’s ready in a way he wasn’t last season and it shows. This will be a great opportunity for him to show the rest of the league who he is, because it’s playoff teams for the majority of the season.

How will they do? That remains to be seen. I’m seeing a lot of good on the defensive side of the ball–especially from the secondary. It remains to be seen what caliber the offense actually is. Coach has some thoughts, but I’ll wait till next week to sort all that out. One thing appears clear: The offense is better than it was last year. The trust is greater than it was last year.

Some Sports Thoughts:

1. Recently, “Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, declared themselves eligible for the WNBA draft, saying they identify as women.” Stunts like this have no value other than for a man to feel more powerful. It is a sad state of affairs we are in right now with this hyper-politicized debate about an issue that is not an issue in the WNBA at all, and hardly an issue at any level of sport. Indeed its a bad faith argument.