In the past, I’ve written about some of the great inventions in the course of history, including electricity and the bicycle. Given the current frigid temperatures in our part of Wisconsin, I’d like to add another one – the hooded sweatshirt.

Under-sung, the benefits of the hooded sweatshirt sneak up on you. The default description is “something you throw on to wear in the fall or winter.” The reality is much deeper.
 
This past week, for example, we have had multiple mornings and full days where the temperature did not rise above zero. You could see your breath in our basement for three days (heating vents don’t do a great job down there). That tells you a bit about what it was like walking around the house. Frigid.
 
In those circumstances, you don’t hang around in flip flops, shorts and a tee shirt. In fact, you really don’t hang around in a flannel shirt and jeans. You require more.

When temps dip this low, and the indoor quality of your house is affected, you react by layering, and pulling out all your hooded sweatshirts. Why is it so perfect?
 
Several reasons, including, first, your head. With age, and the elimination of hair from your scalp, heat escapes more quickly. The top of your head gets cold. Your ears get cold. When this type of brutal weather hits, your face and nose get cold.

The hooded sweatshirt is the quick, easy solution. Pull it on, flip the hood up. Bam, your head, neck and ears settle in for a more comfortable ride.
 
Similarly, it helps with your hands. Hooded sweatshirts all have that front pocket to deposit your hands. During these low temperature periods, having that pocket as a quick hand warmer is essential. Coming in from taking the garbage outside, your hands go numb, so a quick warmup is provided by inserting your hands in the pocket upon returning to your indoor cave. This also allows you to keep your hands together for added friction and warmth.
 
A slightly less compelling reason the hooded sweatshirt is such a great creation is its convenience. Who cares what color it is? Who cares what types of pants you have on? Pull it out of your clothes drawer and yank it on. Ah. Comfort. Simplicity. Feels good.
 
If you’re going outside, you’re going to put on a winter jacket anyway, so who cares how you look around the house? Stains on the sweatshirt? So what? That just shows you’ve been working.
 
You can wear it for days. Just make sure to change your undershirt and take a shower.

Want to sleep with it on, and pull that hoodie up over your head? Go ahead. Who’s there to stop you? Who’s going to comment? Your spouse? Unlikely.
 
Wearing the hooded sweatshirt is perfect for a nap. Curl up on the couch while watching something monotonous on TV, pull a comforter on, pull up the hood and stick your hands in the pouch and zonk out. Very neanderthal.
 
Let’s salute the inventor of the hooded sweatshirt, whoever that person is, probably hiding somewhere staying warm with their head covered and hands clasped in front of them.

​ 
How long will you (or do you) go before you face reality? Most people, it seems to me, go way down the path of their fantasy world or their “I’ll get to that tomorrow” attitude before they confront themselves and honestly recognize they’re not going to do something that they keep telling themselves they’re going to do.

That’s an observation on human behavior. And, it incorporates the shows I record on TV. Let me explain.
 
Given today’s technology, when something comes on television that I think might be worth watching at some point, I hit the “record” button. Whammo, got it saved for future viewing. Someday when boredom overwhelms me, I’ll click that show on, settle on the couch with a thick blanket and zonk out.
 
Until then, it sits in the “saved” column of shows. And sits and sits and sits. I tell myself I will watch the show at some point, then then a month has gone by, three months, six, even a year. Still, the show waits, lonely, waiting for that tap on the remote to open up and give me a spark of humor, intrigue, fear or athletic excellence.
 
As a University of Illinois graduate, I continue to root for the basketball team. Mostly I record the games so I can forward through the commercials, timeouts and video replays. I also occasionally see a special program about the team, and record that for future reference.

A case in point is the 1989 team, which went to the Final Four and lost to Michigan. That semi-final game to head to the national championship came on TV on the Big Ten Network probably 2-3 years ago. I recorded it. I watched part of the first half, then stopped because something else intervened. It continues to sit in my “saved” shows. I will probably never watch it. Do I delete it? No.
 
The question is, “Why not?” Some vague section of my brain says that I will pull it up one day and watch the rest of the game. This is where we get to: “How long before you face reality?”
 
With minor situations like this, that is easily reconciled by MAKING A VERY SIMPLE DECISION, you would think I’d delete the recording. Something holds me back. Some small crumb of desire that I want to see that game. It won’t let me go.
 
All of us face these reality choices in our daily lives in multiple ways. Not making that decision is why people hoard. They won’t face the reality that those baby clothes of your 37-year-old son will never be worn by anyone in your family again and should be donated to the Salvation Amy.
 
Another personal example: When television shows I like lose their steam, I continue to let the recording device do its thing until six, seven, eight, even more episodes pile up before recognizing that the series became a piece of crap months ago and I’ll never watch it again. Why does it take me so long to come to that conclusion?
 
There’s something in our brains that makes us want to hold onto things, hold onto beliefs. We’re not quite ready to say goodbye.
 
“The Equalizer” (the TV show, not the movies with Denzel Washington) started off extremely promising, then quickly devolved into formulaic oatmeal. I kept thinking it would improve. It didn’t. My recorder is still adding episodes I will never watch. Some day I’ll go into the controls and stop recording it. That’s when I’ll fully face reality.

​Early last year, I read a story about creating a “jar of positivity.” This, as the story pointed out, was to combat the negativity of news and the ease with which bad things affect our general mental outlook.
 
I thought, “Hmmmmm, could prove interesting.” The article pointed out that you should write them down, then pull them out at the end of the year and read them. This would help you gain a better perspective on the personal events that shaped your life in a positive joyous way. It would also help you mentally, spiritually, psychologically, and probably physically fight bad events that tend to bring you down.
 
Looking for something new, I latched onto the idea and wrote down good news as the year unfolded. I pulled them out, scratched on pink, green, yellow and blue 3-by-5 cards and read them. Here they are, with some explanations (I will point out that there were 30 in total):
 

• In editing a book for a friend, she sent me a “thank you” note afterwards that was one of the most in-depth heart-felt pieces of writings I’ve read in my life. I blushed.
• During November, I got in a cold round of golf with two close friends, Jeff and Jason, which turned into one of those miraculous days where almost everything goes right, shooting my best round of the year. It was 48 degrees with a 20-mph wind. Not ideal conditions to play, but the day was.
• My wife and I visited France, including Normandy, the Louvre, taking a river bike ride, sitting down for a painting class, hanging with good friends on the top of the boat as the world went by, drinking excellent coffee and wine, eating topnotch pastries and soup at outdoor cafes. Great learning and gastronomical experiences.
• Playing a scrambling round of golf for the first time competitively with my son, my younger brother, and his son. The bonding, team dynamics, chili and sitting around the campfire afterwards.
• Meeting with our soon-to-be in-laws as our younger daughter and her fiancé took us around St. Louis to show us the wedding event venue and what they have planned.
• Two of our three kids making it home for Thanksgiving and sitting around the fire in our cast-iron stove reading, talking, playing games.
• In early May, I finished the book, “After the Fall,” by Noah Hawley, entranced by how he dug into the way different people relate to events differently, twisting things around and demonizing people.
• May 16th, I went four for four in our old man men’s baseball league and pitched two bad innings in a 21-3 mauling of our opponent.
• To start the season in the old codger league, I got hits in 11 of my first 12 at-bats. Never to be duplicated, I’m sure.
• Took a trip back to the DFW area in Texas, visiting with multiple friends and family. The drive itself was its own journey, and catching up with good people you haven’t seen in eight years made it tremendously satisfying.
• I wrote a column on what it’s like to officiate small-town high school basketball when you drive there from a larger metro area, and it went viral in my own small world. It consistently overwhelms me when I hit a nerve with a large readership.
• I was invited to do the color commentary for a high school basketball game and made that happen near the end of the year, though technical difficulties prevented it from being broadcast. We still pretended we knew what we were doing.
• Another column I wrote: Discussing why parents should cheer for their kids rather than complain about officiating got 1,800+ hits on my LinkedIn account by the time I stopped counting. It says something about people wanting to watch local sporting events for the right reason – to cheer for their team and be positive.
• I was interviewed for a chapter in a book by a colleague on how leaders handle workplace stress/anger, using my sports officiating and communications career background.
• Made an anger management presentation locally in Waukesha. Twelve people attended. Small steps of progress.
• A long-term good friend I will identify as Ralph repeatedly messages me positive notes regarding things in my life, reinforcing our friendship. Goodwill towards others.
• Going to a play with one of my college roommates and his family, most of whom I haven’t seen for close to 50 years, and reuniting with my buddy’s brother-in-law who rode his bicycle with me for several days during my trip across North America in 1982.
• Having my son attend one of my old-man baseball games and me making a bone-headed play along with a sprint around the bases to score a necessary run, just beating a tag at home plate.
• Running poorly in the Wisconsin Masters Games in the 65+ age bracket. Just being there is enough.
• Haircuts and conversation with the woman who cuts my hair.
• A trip to Ireland and getting to play golf with my brothers and our sons, and explore the scenery, culture, whiskey, and food there – Belfast, Kilarney, Causeway of the God, Ballybunion/Dooks.
• Getting vegetables from a buddy in an annual trek north and then sharing them with another buddy in Marquette, MI. Friendship.
• Serving as our service person as our team ran in a Ragnar near Rib Mountain, WI. Cheering everyone on, taking photos, drinking beer, nodding off in front of the campfire, listening to the storytelling.
• Another round of golf with Jason and Jeff. Pouring rain the hour drive to see them and get to the course. Clouds part miraculously ten minutes before arrival. Light breeze, 64-degrees, brief sprinkle, then I shoot my second-best round of the year.
• Going to see a poorly played University of Illinois football game with a buddy and my younger brother. It’s all about getting together and hanging out, not the loss.
• Getting Father’s Day cards from all three of our kids. Made me laugh.
• Taking an e-bike ride (first time) in Maine with our younger daughter and her (now) fiancé and getting a tour of the local sites.
• Refereeing the Serbian National Basketball Tournament and trying to stay on top of the high-level play for the teams which came from all over the country, then chatting with them in the parking lot as the players hung out afterwards with each other, drinking, eating, barbecuing, and catching up on their families back in the old world.  
• Listening to Bill Carollo, head of the Big 10 football officiating team give a touching, motivational and humorous talk on officiating, aging, fitness.
• Helping as a clinician at a good friend’s basketball officiating camp in Pennsylvania over the summer, providing positive and constructive feedback to campers so they can improve and hopefully reach the college ranks.
• And, finally (is that all?), my best golf round of the year at one of my favorite near-by little tracks. Though I must acknowledge using a mulligan.

Much can go wrong in any year. More goes right than we tend to think about events in our lives. Writing it down captures those good moments. I recommend it. See if it helps your outlook in 2024.