​Here’s how far things have gotten out of control: I’m a graduate of the University of Illinois, and one of the few sports I still avidly root for is their basketball team. This past week, the prognosticators decided that the Illinois basketball team is a bubble team in the NCAA tournament in March 2024 (meaning they might qualify for the tournament or they might not). That’s how far things have gotten out of control when it comes to the prognosticating society in which we live.

I’ve ranted on this subject multiple times, but this “year in advance” opinion about what the basketball team might do relative to the NCAA tourney is too much. Rather than reporting and showing facts and figures and telling a story about something that happened, our so-called newscasters (actually opinioncasters) decide to tell us something that’s about to happen. Who the heck knows how they come to these predictions? They never have to defend their research or how they came to their conclusions, so they can say whatever they want. The incredible thing to me is how much stock so many people seem to put into what the talking heads have to say.
 
This predictive analysis so heavily infects our lives that most probably are unaware how much we’re affected daily by these personal statements. From stocks, to sports, to politics, to the environment, to the economy, we are told over and over and over about how things are going to turn out. So, we should worry or place bets or find shelter or not vote or build a cabin in the woods to deal with the whatever it is that the people on TV are ramming down our throats.
 
My older brother has a thing about how stupid it is that before the NFL season even starts, a full prediction is given by various people who cover pro football. They pick the winners of each division and literally go through the playoffs, determining each game and the Super Bowl winner. How silly is that? That league is so competitive that most games are 50-50, particularly the first half of the season. You don’t even know which teams are above average until nine games have been played. Then you have the injuries, which no one can predict, that devastate a front-runner or make a quarterback ineffective because his two most reliable receivers are out for the season. But, they still predict in August what will happen the following February.
 
The stock market and economy and interest rates and the housing market receive similar treatment from the so-called experts, as we’re told the ups and downs and where things are headed depending on the whim of the day. It’s babble. White noise. They have nothing of true news value to discuss so they argue back and forth on trivialities to keep viewers interested.
 
Just this past week, every single announcer I listened to when the NBA decided who would win the lottery and get the top draft pick this June, WHICH WILL BE VICTOR WEMBAMYAMA FROM FRANCE BY THE WAY, said that he will be the BIGGEST GAME CHANGER IN THE NBA SINCE LEBRON JAMES. Okay, we’ll take your word for it, just like Chet Holmgren, Zion Williamson, Greg Oden, Yao Ming and others were supposed to change the NBA landscape before injuries changed their lives.
 
Here's the thing: life changes. Events occur. Things we can’t predict actually occur that change the world or who wins a game or the price of gasoline. We can’t factor in everything. Data can only take you so far. And opinions are just opinions. Some people may be more informed than others or have greater experience, but remember they are trying to influence you, not inform you. Take it for what it’s worth.

​Several months back I pondered an idea, and thought to myself, “That will not turn out the way you think it will.” That made me consider the concept of how we project what will occur in our lives. We see a certain path and figure that will make it so.
 
When I put together these columns, I often get a seed and plant it, followed by watering. It germinates, grows roots. I wrote that thought down – “NOTHING ever turns out the way you want it to or hope it should.” It has now simmered for many weeks, been reinforced by other events that make it more relevant.
 
The reality we all face vs. our projection of how we think something will turn out probably causes each of us the most repeated cognitive dissonance because of how pervasive this syndrome is. Think first how difficult it is not to project into the future. Just take each day as it comes. Don’t hope for an outcome. Don’t plan for contingencies. Accept whatever comes your way and respond accordingly.
 
That’s difficult, probably impossible for a human to do. Our brains don’t function that way. Let’s take a common example – finding and starting a job.
 
When you interview for a new position, you are typically given a list of tasks that will be involved for you to do on a regular basis. That list is not exhaustive. You know there will be many other things you must do if you accept the position. You also will come to know that items you are told will be part of the job actually aren’t.
 
The point of this is you expect to do certain things and not other stuff. The reality once you take the job is that you’ll do things you weren’t told about, and certain things you were told you’d be doing won’t be part of your daily routine. It doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would.
 
Another example could be a sports team you play for. You know your teammates and how the season turned out the previous year. Based on the competition and your preparation, you think the upcoming season will turn out a certain way.

Then, someone gets hurt. Another teammate loses his job and has to move to another state to stay employed. Three people take vacations at the same time and you’re short-handed during those weeks and each game you get hammered (games you expected to win).

The season turns out not at all what you expected. You hoped for a solid third place finish, perhaps even second with some luck. Instead, you’re just a step away from landing in the cellar. The season didn’t turn out the way you expected.
 
The weather person predicts thunderstorms for tomorrow at a specific time. You know the odds of this happening are slim, yet you let that affect whether you’re going for a bike ride. The day doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would.
 
This occurs in almost all facets of life. You start a relationship, and you believe things will work a certain way. Over time, there are so many unexpected variables that you realize it’s best to lower your expectations and raise your acceptance level.

​There are many markers in life, milestones that tell you something about yourself, where you stand. Most of us get revelations – big and small – along the way. It may be a lesson learned, an accommodation that maybe we don’t want to make, or a recognition that we either should or shouldn’t be doing something in particular.
 
These markers come in many forms. It’s possible there’s a book you finished recently that has a particular passage that resonates, and you choose to incorporate that into your daily meanderings. On your morning jog you may find the hills are starting to kill your knees, so you choose to walk the inclines instead or purchase knee supports to continue plowing ahead while alleviating the jarring. Perhaps you grow tired of a friend constantly complaining and you decide to point out to him the folly of his behavior and you wait to see if he changes his attitude.
 
Regardless of the time, place, or type of marker you encounter, what follows is some form of change. Typically, it’s subtle. We don’t change dramatically. It’s all about increments.
 
Over the past year or so, this type of accommodation has occurred to me regarding my golf game. The essential lesson for me has been, “You can’t hit the ball the way you used to.”
 
Sounds simple. Sounds like something a human can figure out and then move to a new level. It’s not that simple.
 
So much is involved. Your ego, for one. Your sense of yourself, for another. You see yourself as being able to do something you could when you were 31 or even 48, and when you get into your 60s, that just ain’t the case anymore. The body joints don’t function the same. The muscles don’t torque the way they used to. Your flexibility decreases.

All of those changes decrease your ability to crush a golf ball. Watch the pros, and you’ll see the difference from the regular tour to the senior tour. Take a look at the old codgers, and we’re swinging like a joint that has no oil.
 
The blues are the championship tees in golf, the white tees are considered the men’s regular tees, then courses now have tees to shorten the holes for the elders, often gold tee boxes, then there are the front tees – the red. Long ago, my age bracket moved away from the blues and to the whites. The current adaption to not being able to hit the ball the way you used to means moving to the golds.
 
This has happened in increments and not without psychological and emotional difficulty for me. You want to think you can still crush the ball with the 40-year-old golfers. And, that is not the case. You can’t kid yourself.
 
I play with a good friend who I’ll term J. He is 15 years younger than me. When I want to move up to the gold tees on an egregiously long hole that is totally unfair to me at my age, he gives me the poke. He mocks me. Blows smoke my way. I laugh, defend myself. But, I also feel like I should compete and go back to play the white tees on holes way too long for my age.
 
These tee box decisions may sound trivial, but actually are difficult. You confront what you are no longer capable of doing. Face your personal limits, regardless of your competitive drive. I haven’t fully figured it out yet, but am in process of adapting, letting go, still challenging myself and not letting J get away with harassing me too much.
 
I don’t think any of us fully figure these types of things out. We adapt, sometimes under duress and sometimes due to our intelligence, which helps us make good decisions. Regardless of the impetus, you shift to a new plateau, enjoy a different vista and if you’re lucky, get to savor it for a number of years before the next adjustment.

​Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already here. We’re applying it every day. We just don’t think about it for the most part.
 
As AI takes up more space in the news, we wring our hands. It bothers us, taking control from humans, likely eliminating more menial jobs and thrusting us into the ever-unknown future. What happens next? The predictatologists are predicting, and perhaps they have slightly informed opinions, but who really knows?
 
At this point AI inroads into our careers and lives has already occurred and it will dig deeper. Take the case of a writer, someone who tries to make a living by applying the written word in creative and unique ways. Writers entertain, inform, report, tie facts together, make sense of the world.
 
Currently, AI takes some of those functions away, albeit the basic ones like standardized phrases and responses that can be determined by prior use. An example is your email or text messaging and how you reply to someone.
 
I noticed this several years back. As I typed a note to a friend, one, two or even three words would pop up as a way to finish the sentence I’d started. The software program in Microsoft Outlook decided on the most likely following words and laid them out there for me. Since I didn’t know what was going on at the time, I never hit the “tab” key to use their selections. But, I certainly could have, and I imagine many people do.
 
There’s a degree of righteousness I feel for still never having applied the tab key. “Those bastards aren’t going to put words in my mouth” is my sentiment. Yet, I know AI’s claws are edging closer to digging into each of us.
 
As birthdays crop up or work anniversaries on Facebook or LinkedIn, we are exhorted by their programs to send a specifically tailored message developed by their software engineers. “Have a good one” or “congrats” or “enjoy your day” all might be choices just waiting one click away for your finger to tap and send and connect to your friend or colleague, letting them know you’re thinking of them when you really aren’t.

Because if you were, you’d send a personal note. You’d capture something in the relationship the two of you had and add that to your message. It would be funny or incisive or tell a story only the two of you remember. That’s worthwhile, meaningful communication.
 
To me, on the AI/software front relative to communications, that’s where the problem lays. Sure, you can tap a basic all-in-one message and you can apply a framework to a news story about a fire because certain standard issues tend to arise and would be included in the first couple of paragraphs. To dig into the meat is a whole different story. You must research, connect quotes, go to different sources for information and figure out how to tie it together.
 
Maybe AI will get there some. I don’t know. I’m not the person to ask.
 
What I do know is that us humans have a deep need to connect interpersonally and we do a much better job of that than a program written in code does. That’s not going away.

​There are so many fun things about refereeing high school basketball (and the levels below that), that I hardly know where to begin the list. I’m not being sarcastic or ironic when I say that. I’m serious. The positives of officiating a sport FAR outweigh the negatives.
 
This past season, I had a high school varsity basketball officiating assignment in Nowheresville, WI. Suffice to say that the high school population barely topped 100 students and the population of the town in the 2010 census was 1,123. Small town stuff.
 
When you enter a smaller community, you drive back in time. You slow down, look around, pay attention to the downtown of a law office, two bars, three abandoned buildings, maybe a bank and a feed store. You often have to go to the gas station for minimal groceries. You drink it all in as you drive the one square block commercial strip. It reminds you of yesteryear in a good way and a sad way.
 
People wave. They stroll. They don’t hurry. You can find the high school without a map, because somewhere on one of the streets, there’s a big sign telling you where it is, or you see the lights of the football field.
 
The Athletic Director (AD) greets you with an oversized smile, a powerful handshake and a big clap on the back. “Good to see ya again. Let me show you to the locker room. What would you like to drink at half time? Would you like some popcorn or something else from the concession stand after the game?,” he asks. A cooler with three bottles of water are iced down and ready when we enter the locker room.
 
Those are niceties. What follows next is a cool thing, something you wouldn’t consider, something that makes me think referees bring something good to those types of communities, and unexpected.
 
Two middle school boys greet me with HUGE smiles as I head back to the court to watch the JV game. They nudge each other, clearly enthralled to see the BIG town referee coming to their gym.
 
“Where ya from?,” one asks excitedly.
 
“Outside Milwaukee,” I respond.
 
One nudges the other, “I told ya.”
 
“What’s it like there?,” he asks.
 
I ponder this one. What do you tell a kid this age about your own community, which though bigger and having more services and up-to-date businesses, doesn’t differ in basic structure from his small town?
 
I defer the question and talk about some of the games I’ve reffed that year, what the players were like – size, speed, intensity of the games. They listen, rapt, eyes large.
 
They poke each other repeatedly, giggling and posing other questions one wants the other to ask me. It’s amusing watching and listening to them as I realize they don’t get this type of opportunity often. It really is a big deal for them to chat with me.

And, during this interaction, I much more fully recognize the nature of being an ambassador. Everywhere you go, you have the opportunity to touch people. You can make that experience positive or negative. As a basketball official (and human), I choose the positive path, and I extol to these two young boys the joys of officiating, how you get to travel and see new places. I encourage them to referee basketball. They nod their heads as I get up and walk to the locker to change into my uniform. I hope to see them one day on the court with a whistle.

​Wouldn’t it be great if there was no garbage on the side of the road? Man. Nirvana. See grass, trees and bushes the way they are supposed to be seen: not encased in plastic or surrounded by Styrofoam cups and beer cans.
 
And, you know what? The crap overloading the sides of our roads across the United States shouldn’t be the norm. It should be the exception.
 
When I travel by car long distances, I catalogue in my head the level of the garbage coating our raw environment. It helps me draw distinctions and make sense of the type of people who live in certain areas of the country. An imperfect measurement of life quality, no question, nonetheless….
 
Recently returning from a trip that started in Wisconsin and ended in Texas, I zoned in with my observaton gauge to determine how each state fared on a scale that rated which one has drivers that throws more trash out the window – a scale that determines to me how much people care about where they live. It didn’t turn out the way I thought it would.
 
On the trip, I covered Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. For you, what state do you think had the most garbage? And which had the least?
 
Using my intense visual observation skills, the state with the least garbage (ranked #1) to the one with the MOST garbage (ranked #5): 1) Missouri, 2) Wisconsin, 3) Illinois, 4) Oklahoma, 5) Texas.
 
You can argue about any of those choices. Part of the ranking is the roads I drove and maybe certain ones are cleaned more regularly by highway crews than others, but it was pretty much all interstate, so  that kinda goes out the window.
 
No question that wind plays a factor. Flatter areas allow the wind to whip more waste products longer distances, particularly if there are no trees or shrub growth to block the projectiles. That theory implies Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas would be the worst, which turned out to be the case.
 
The inherent cultures of each state come into play in the rankings, IMO. Which state has a better conservation ethic? Which one could care less about keeping their land pristine? Again, IMO, I feel like Wisconsin has the best land ethic, protecting its resources. Not sure how I would rank the other states. But, Wisconsin was below Missouri in my rankings.
 
How well funded state cleanup crews are is certainly another variable. As is volunteer groups that get out and regularly do pickups, which seem to be increasingly necessary with each passing year, as flaying plastic materials launch across our national landscape.
 
I sang “America the Beautiful” to myself on the drive, changing the lyrics to more accurately reflect our country, which is definitely NOT “America the Beautiful” these days when you look around and open your eyes. We can easily do much better. It’s on the shoulders of all of us to make a difference.

Next time you take a long drive, look out the window and make your own assessment. Take photos of the egregious spots. Think about what your part is in keeping our country beautiful. How does your state rank?

​If you have happened to move multiple times in the course of your life, you’ve likely expanded your view on how the world works. The nuances of different cultures -- whether in the U.S. or overseas somewhere -- stands out. We’re not homogeneous. Yet we have distinct commonalities from country to country.
 
A long-time friend from high school and college spurred this column. He said something to the effect, “You should write about how your moves have affected you.” He focused on the positive things, and reinforced the importance of sharing broadly how residing in different locations has grown my outlook on the world.
 
He and I met in Kankakee, IL, a blue collar town, just starting to experience the declines of the manufacturing industry in the 1970s. We attended the University of Illinois together, and since graduating and beginning our careers, I’ve lived in Ottawa, IL, Milwaukee, Washington, D.C. and Maryland suburbs, Columbus, NE, Kennett Square, PA, Grapevine, TX and Hartland, WI.
 
As best I can recollect, he has lived in Denver and returned to Kankakee, with a stint or two elsewhere, though I can’t remember where those were exactly. It’s been a long, thoughtful and fruitful journey for both of us.
 
In terms of what I’ve learned, the word “journey” stands out. Beyond traveling to new locations, which exposes you to a host of new experiences, people, cities, towns, scenery, architecture and landscape, you receive the gift of a diverse path in life – the journey itself. We all have a journey. Some are broader, some take you to more new locations, but the actual “living through” each new experience is hugely important in terms of the benefits of living in new places.
 
But I think my good friend was looking for more in this column. I think he was digging into specific details. I’ll give it a shot.
 
One big plus is making new friends. Most of us tend to keep friends we’ve made earlier in life. Moving around introduces you to people, gets you out of a comfort zone, forces you to adjust. Whether you need that push or not, you make good friends if you keep yourself open as a human.
 
You must adjust when you move. This is good. Life is not stagnant. You cannot live in the past. Appreciate the past, enjoy the memories, and create new ones.
 
You gain new insights with each move. Your views are altered, you probably become smarter (though this could be debated depending on how you take new information into your system and assimilate it).
 
You grow in tolerance and compassion. Exposed to others who perhaps don’t think the way you do, you are forced (more than you would be if you remained locationally in place) to adjust, listen, think, challenge yourself. I believe this makes you a broader human being, coming to terms with how every person you meet has a unique background and story to tell, influenced by events you hadn’t considered.
 
There is enrichment – historically and personally. Through the diversity of the people you encounter, you raise your awareness of life and situational circumstances affecting others.
 
Accents, local and regional cultures make sense. “Y’all” is synonymous with the south. When you hear it every day, it becomes part of you.

A “bubbler” is a water fountain in Wisconsin. Who would have known if you hadn’t lived there? Not me.
 
You grow in respect. You develop passion and compassion for things you’d never thought about.
 
I hope I captured most of my buddy’s message here. Either way, I’m confident I will hear quickly from him after he reads this and enriches me with part of his journey.

​There are a lot of antique and consignment stores throughout Wisconsin. They present very specific challenges to owners when it comes to protecting their merchandise.
 
As an owner, you may think putting in an alarm system protects you against break-ins. It does.
 
You may also believe cameras protect you against shoplifters and employee theft. They do.
 
But do you consider these systems in tandem (alarm and video)? Maybe, maybe not.
 
Due to the unique layouts and the types of wares displayed in antique and consignment stores, H&S Protection recommends you install a combination of both to best protect your premises and assets.
 
Here’s why: Antique and consignment stores typically house trinket-type items, and the stores themselves are often cramped and hard to navigate. This presents specific security issues.
 
As an owner or someone displaying wares on consignment, you want an eye kept in these nooks and crannies. That means an expert like H&S Protection is a good choice to hire to walk through the store and determine EXACTLY the best placement for security cameras.

Similarly, there could be a side window or door overlooked if you solely place cameras, and ensuring those spots are covered by an alarm system to detect illegal entry would also be necessary. Again, our experts at H&S ask questions, discuss your concerns and point out issues for your consideration.
 
It’s frequently a good idea to have alarm AND cameras systems in place for your antique or consignment store. Give H&S a call to set up a meeting to see how we can help with your full security needs. In the Stevens Point area, call 715.344.0727. In southeast Wisconsin, call 262.574.7777.

​Everyone who reads has transformative books in their lives (if you read in-depth, which hopefully you do). Maybe it is an epic historical novel. Perhaps it’s a non-fiction piece.
 
Regardless, the writing moved you. It made you think. You kept some of the message/plot/tips with you LONG after you finished reading. It affected you to the point where you internalized, acted and shared something outside yourself over the years.

That’s what great writing does – takes you to another level. You are better off for having read the book, and in some way it has shaped your view of the world and how to better understand and approach it.
 
Here are a few of mine in no particular order:

• “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People” by Stephen Covey: Sharpen the saw and seek first to understand before being understood are two critical lessons that stayed with me over the years. They’ve kept me on top of things, always learning, and listening to recognize where others are coming from.
• “Crossing to Safety” by Wallace Stegner: I’ve recommended this novel to more people than I can count, an epic piece of writing about long-term friends, lives well-lived, and that we all must come to terms with people we care about leaving our lives.
• “Living with Change” by Wendell Johnson and Dorothy Mueller: Had this one in a college communications class and it taught me the powerful difference between opinions and facts and to qualify statements regarding how you see/perceive something rather than categorically saying, “This is the way it is.” We all have personal visions of what we see and hear in the world, and you adapt best when you understand those differences and pay attention to others.
• “Ethics” by Harry Stein: As a writer for Esquire magazine many years ago, this compiles his columns on the slippery slope of ethics. He poses dilemmas, then describes how he grapples with the issue based on specific incidents and situations in his life. Brilliant stuff to get you thinking and considering how gray the world is rather than black and white.
• “The Brothers K” by David James Duncan: A Tolstoy-like novel with a baseball theme following a family through the turmoil of the 1960s as the kids come of age and take different paths. Duncan plays with religion and baseball to illuminate how the kids come to terms with conflicts in the era. Very hard to put down after the first 100 pages, and incredibly affecting in how you look at family dynamics afterwards.
• “Passages” by Gail Sheehy: I’ve probably read this book 5-6 times and every time except the last one I came away with new views about my own life and what stage I was going through. The last reading it seemed a bit dated, which is sad for me, because of the challenges it helped me understand in previous readings regarding a stage of life I was going through.
• “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert M. Pirsig: This book teaches you to think and solve problems in unique ways. I’ll use this example in my own life: I lived in a group house and the doorknob to my bedroom got stuck repeatedly. I applied what I read in the book to approach this dilemma with a fresh mind, and chose to use my left hand to open the door rather than my right. Bingo. Problem solved. When stuck on something these days, I approach the problem by looking at it from the outside with open eyes. It often works.

What are yours?

​We live in an Era of Chaos. We’ve probably been in this period for four or five years now, perhaps longer. Covid didn’t start it, but it did accentuate it. More instability. Less certainty.
 
One could argue we are in a time of fluctuation. Temperatures go way up. Then they do way down. Climate change is discussed repeatedly, and its salient characteristic is that there’s no stability. We don’t know what to predict.
 
If you talk to anyone past a certain age, let’s say 60 or so, you can get them to go off on “when I was young, it seemed like the weather” (insert your phrase here regarding the amount of snow, rain or cold)…. Someone that age has seen a lot and lived through a lot. Strictly on memory, they have knowledge of what it was like where they grew up, spent their twenties and thirties, and on through their forties and fifties.
 
It's not just weather that puts us in this Era of Chaos. Supply chain issues globally don’t appear like they will be rectified any time quickly. We will be living with varying amounts of the products we were used to get and have times where they are unavailable. We will have to get used to that, adjust, find other ways to source the product or replace it. That will take time. It means instability. People will get frustrated and angry.
 
The top two percent of income earners in the U.S. have benefitted repeatedly financially, probably since the 1970s. That appears to have accelerated. That gap with the rest of the people causes more disruptions – from economic instability for families to the lack of housing (or too costly housing) as the rich buy up two, three, four and five homes, causing an acceleration in prices for everyone else. The rich get richer.
 
Refugees span the globe. The homeless increase in the U.S. People want to find a better, safer place to live. Immigration into the U.S. has been a hot button for decades, perhaps longer. When people are desperate, they leave their homes and look for a better life elsewhere. That’s been going on since we were a tribal species, which, quite frankly, we still are. That’s gonna accelerate as well.
 
Where you live becomes a critical life choice when it comes to finding greater stability in the face of these issues – the changing climate, refugees, income inequality. Many of us will make situational living choices to benefit our families and careers.
 
Out of necessity, I foresee the redevelopment of much of the north’s urban centers in the U.S. which fell apart as our manufacturing facilities moved south, then overseas. Toledo, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Buffalo and Detroit are all examples of cities that lost thousands, if not millions, of jobs as industrial processes vacated their area or died. They will come back out of necessity because people will recreate through personal innovation livable communities that develop and attract others. That will be a very positive thing over the longer run, the next 25-50 years or so.
 
As we rumble and ramble through these changes, there will be a lot of finger-pointing and ranting (which we’ve been seeing reflected more intensely in our political dialogue the past 15-20 years). Predictability and stability go out the window. Air travel and changing energy prices and technologies reflect these inconsistencies.
The ability to assess, remain flexible and adjust to rapidly changing circumstances is incredibly important for all of us. As my older brother often says, “Batten down the hatches.”