20 Questions
I'm about to be "known."
Inspired by the Proust Questionnaire and the Colbert Questionert, this is a list of 20 questions to have a little fun with and share a bit about myself to the world.
1. What is your favorite word?
I like “Petrichor” quite a bit. It’s also my favorite smell. “Quadrotriticale“ is also a fun word. However, I think I have to say, “Yes” is my favorite word.
2. What is your least favorite word?
I think the word I hate the most is “No.”
3. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Perfect happiness is a moment of stillness where I’m fully present. There’s no weight of the past or worry about the future. Just a quiet sense that right now, this is enough.It feels like about 5:30 in the morning, with a distant thunderstorm on the horizon. It’s crisp, but not cold outside, and the coffee is the right temperature.
4. What is your idea of absolute misery?
Feeling lost in regret about the past or dread about the future. A cacophony of noise, external or internal.
5. What was your first job ever?
Babysitting my brother.
6. What was your worst job ever?
The summer before college, I worked for the park district. We built a sidewalk, planted a ton of evergreen trees, and built a play set. It was basically digging a lot of holes in the sun.
7. What was your best job ever?
Occasionally, on Saturday, Dad would ask me to work with him at the Pharmacy as a tech. We’d have a morning rush of like five customers and then I’d run to get lunch, and we’d spend the rest of the afternoon talking baseball, reading the newspaper, and basically just hang out. Those were great days.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to try?
I think I would have made a pretty good college professor. I was able to do some adjunct work at the community college level, but I never fully tried to become a full-time professor.
9. What is the trait you hate most in yourself?
I procrastinate too much.
10. What is the trait you hate most in others?
Rudeness. A couple of examples that bother me: Looking at your phone while someone is talking to you, talking loudly on the phone in quiet spaces, and bringing your dog into a restaurant or store when it is obviously not a service dog.
11. What’s a piece of advice you’d give to yourself at 23?
Say yes to more things that scare you a little and say no to more things that drain you completely.
12. What is your greatest extravagance?
I subscribe to nearly all the streaming entertainment services.
13. What’s one thing you own that you really should throw out?
I just recently got rid of a ratty, old, sweat stained baseball hat that I did not want to throw out. I own a snowblower that I’ve never used.
14. You have dinner reservations for four, excluding family and close friends, who are the three people (alive, dead or imaginary) you’d invite?
Barack Obama, Robin Williams, and Dave Filoni.
15. What is your baseball walk-up song?
For a long time, I always answered this with “Three-Lock Box“ by Sammy Hagar. Now, I kinda like “Bleed It Out“ by Linkin Park or “Detroit Rock City“ by KISS.
16. Have you ever asked someone for an autograph?
Lots of people. I got Larry Bird’s autograph when he came to a basketball camp I was at while he was playing for Indiana State. Gene Simmons signed my copy of Mike Grell’s Sable novel, which is a weird combination. I’ve got a bootlegged “Six Million Dollar Man” screenplay signed by Kevin Smith (He wrote it). My favorite one is comic book artist, George Perez, who drew a brooding Batman and signed it to me.
17. You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life: what is it?
John Cage’s 4′33″. We are so lucky to live in this day and age, where we can just take out our phones and listen to beautiful compositions like this for free.
18. Coffee or Tea?
I drink coffee a lot more than I drink tea, but I love them both.
19. What is something you’re really excited about right now?
Finally completing Captured Ghosts.
20. Describe the rest of your life in five words:
Still figuring it all out.
Be seeing you.
5K
Last Sunday, my wife, and I decided to walk to this nearby park in a neighborhood or so over. The park had wide sidewalks and nice grounds with wildflowers, alfalfa, and cornflowers. We ended up doing the park loop twice before heading back and we realized as we were approaching the house that we’d ending up walking 3.2 miles, effectively walking a 5K. It was unexpected and fun.
I am still kinda tired though.
Digger
Digger is a new Tom Cruise movie that popped up on my radar so I had to see what this was all about. I went into this totally cold, so I was not mentally prepared for the trailer, in which we see Cruise playing a dipshit oligarch in what appears to be a Dr. Strangelove-style satire/thriller.
It’s so nice when Tom remembers he can really act when he wants to and this looks like he’s angling for an Oscar.
The logline ain’t bad either:
The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.
Homerun Derby
I didn’t watch any of it. I kind of forgot it was happening. Then I get a notice that Jordan Walker is in the finals of the MLB Home Run Derby. I still didn’t turn it on. A few moments later, I take a peek at Twitter/X and there it is… Walker won the derby.
I then find out what happened. The hometown hero, Kyle Schwarber, hammered 11 home runs in 15 swings. I watched the clip and as Jordan’s 12th finals home run flew deep into the left field stands, the non-Philly fans cheered. What an ending to the finals.
It’s a reminder of the romance of baseball and I can only hope it is a harbinger of good things for Walker and the Cardinals in the future.
Josh Whitman Gets Contract Extension
Josh Whitman isn’t going anywhere. Not until 2036, anyway.
The Board of Trustees approved his extension Thursday. It raises his salary to $2.15 million for the 2026-27 season, then adds $100,000 every year after that. Over the full deal, that’s $26.1 million. It’s his fifth extension as athletic director.
You don’t lock someone up for ten years if you think they might walk. You do it when you can’t picture the place without them.
Whitman is 47. He’s run Illinois athletics since 2016, long enough now to be the fifth-longest-tenured AD in the Power Four. He also played football here, back before any of this. So the man in charge once wore its colors on a Saturday. That means something.
Then there’s the record.
The basketball team reached its first Final Four since 2006 this April. The women’s program has made the NCAA tournament in three of the last four years. Football has piled up marquee bowl wins. He hired Brad Underwood. He hired Bret Bielema. He hired Shauna Green. Three swings, three hits. Without question, he’s the best Athletic Director Illinois has had in decades.
Ten years in, the school asked him to do it all again. Same chair. Higher stakes.
I’d take that bet.
