My Brilliant NIL Career

Yes, I may be signing a contract to teach 2 sections of English 4 Honors (Brit Lit) for a local school district that includes a lucrative Name/Image/Likeness addendum. Five figures, folks!

Gonna be uuuuuuuge!

I already have my crackerjack messaging team churning.

Only the best people, the best people working for me, the best team ever, the best!

Already packaged Scott Kaple, Scott R. Kaple, SRKaple, SKaple, SRK, and SK. Oh, and sk. 

Man of the people, not all people, but most people, at least some people, and so sk.

The obvious, local car detailing shop, outdoor gear store, plumbing and electrical, and insurance connections. All Scott's.... See, see how that works, same name.

It's beautiful, it's gonna be uuuuuge, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

OMG, Scott brand, I just thought of that before my team did. Paper towels, wow! My image on the package. And toilet paper, everyone loves toilet paper. My students will love that. 

We're going national--na-tion-al!

And shop towels. Can you say tie-in? Plumbing and electrical and shop towels--Boom!

But wait, there's more!

Rags in a box and car detailing shop. See what I did there? Tie-in!

Even more! Booooom!

Scotts lawn care products--we're taking the campaign outdoors. You've got lawn food, grass seed, weed control, pest control, spreaders, yard tools, mulch and soil. Just imagine, my face on a bag of mulch. That's rich.

Uge and Uger! We're going international--in-ter-na-tion-al!

Now about Scotts International Trade Consultant in Krakow....

Boom!

Looks like my NIL income will be more than the teaching gig. Imagine that.

Pop, Pop, Fizz, Fizz

 The post on June 23rd, An Index (12), was spurred by this map.

An easily processed visual, green would be counties increasing in population and red those decreasing between 2010 and 2019. I know enough of my geography to spot the growth where heat and/or water are issues. Hot spots, so to speak.

Then my eyes landed on central Texas, northward to Kansas and Nebraska, over to Iowa, and down through Illinois, and southward along the Mississippi River. Wow. Turn out the lights.

Of course, South Carolina caught my attention. Cities are booming, rural areas are collapsing. Half the counties in the state lost population the past decade. My first thought: How do they maintain a decent public school system? If they have one to begin with.

Of course, state legislative districting, and congressional districting will--must--change if these trends continue. And health care availability. And grocery center access. 

Take a look at your state. With few exceptions, the great shift continues. 

As for Arizona, go figure. 

Please, Pass the Torch!

Pretty simple really. If you believe as I do elective offices are not career (lifelong) destinations. To that point, I would limit senators to 2 consecutive terms and representatives to 3 consecutive terms in the US Congress. 

What about institutional knowledge, some may ask. Well, aren't we sending bright enough folks to represent us who can get up to speed? We are, aren't we?

Honestly, the term limits issue is secondary to my main gripe. I want to send elected officials out of office when they turn 68.  All of them, at every level--municipal, county, state, and federal. Elected school officials, too.

Middle of the term? I don't care. What about all that life experience? I don't care. The expertise? I don't care. Folks my age and older, we had a good run. Full disclosure, I'll be 69 next month.

Just go home. Senators, for example...

Diane Feinstein 6/22/33

Chuck Grassly 9/17/33

Richard Shelby 5/6/34

Jim Inhofe 11/17/34

Patrick Leahy 3/31/40

Bernie Sanders 9/8/41

Mitch McConnell 2/20/42

Jim Risch 5/3/43

Ben Cardin 10/5/43

Angus King 3/31/44

Dick Durbin 11/21/44

Richard Blumenthal 2/13/46

Ed Markey 7/11/46

Tom Carper 1/23/47

But what about seniority? I don't care.

Jeanne Shaheen 1/28/47

Mitt Romney 3/12/47

Joe Manchin 8/24/47

Mazie Hirono 11/3/47

Ron Wyden 5/3/49

Elizabeth Warren 6/22/49

Jack Reed 11/12/49

Roy Blunt 1/10/50

Debbie Stabenow 4/29/50

Patty Murray 10/11/50

Chuck Shumer 11/23/50

John Boozman 12/10/50

Deb Fischer 3/1/51

Mike Crapo 5/20/51

This is age discrimination. I. Don't. Care. 

Roger Wicker 7/5/51

John Kennedy 11/21/51

John Cornyn 2/2/52

John Hickenlooper 2/7/52

Marsha Blackburn 6/6/52

John Barrasso 7/1/52

Sherrod Brown 11/9/52

Rick Scott 12/1/52

Susan Collins 12/7/52

Shelley Moore Capito 11/26/53

Bob Menendez 1/1/54

Mike Braun 3/24/54

Jerry Moran 5/29/54

Time to pass the torch to folks in their 30s and 40s and 50s. The middle of the 21st century is rocketing toward us. 

So go home. Stay home. Oh, and shut up.

Hoyt Lewis (F)

Hoyt stood at the edge of the loading bay and watched the light flurries swirling around on the asphalt in front of the warehouse. He took one last deep pull on his cigarette and then flicked the butt out into the cold air.

“Hey, Boss.”

Hoyt stared across the parking lot.

“Boss? Terry called. Wants you at the store at 12:45.”

“Okay, Frank. Did you get the carpet invoices matched up?”

“Yep.”

“Good. Thanks.”

Hoyt nodded to the other man and glanced one more time out the bay before closing the metal door. Hard to believe, he thought, hard to believe it had been 30 years since he was hired to manage the warehouse.

He remembered Terry shaking his head. “Kind of young, no warehouse experience.”

“No, sir, no warehouse experience.”

“But management experience. Platoon leader, right?”

“Yes, sir, I was.”

“Well I’m not one to fiddle fart around. And we want to support our vets. I’ll run it by the Old Man. I’m sure he’ll listen to me. Plan on starting next Tuesday. I’ll call Monday, set up a time for you to come in and get the paperwork done.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Oh, and by the way, your chain of command is me, and the Old Man, but he will never set foot over there. Any of the floor managers come over and start giving you crap, just call me. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

Nearly 54 and still here. Hoyt picked up his coffee mug from the loading area desk and headed to the office.

His oldest brother Harold said he would never last a year there. Too monotonous. Told him he could get on with the railroad, told him to be patient.

Henry told him to go to college, maybe get an accounting degree, make some good money. “Baby Brother, you’ve got some brains. Use them.”

Howard told him to stay with the army. “Bro, you’ll have 20 in before you’re 40. Then maybe the railroad or maybe something like the post office and, man, you’re going to be set.”

Set? Set, as in settled? Who was set? Felt set? The hell with set.

Unsettled? Like when Dad died from lung cancer and seven months later Corrie died in the accident.

What did the Old Man say to him? “Well, that’s a gut punch.” Yes, that’s what it was. That’s exactly what it was. That’s the wording he would use. “Really punched me in the gut. Yep, a real gut punch all that. A sucker punch. To the gut. Got me right in the gut.”

Terry shook his hand at Corrie’s funeral. “Damn shame, Hoyt. A damn shame and I’m sorry.”

Is there any other kind of shame of that sort? All of it, always, a damn shame.

Hoyt poured himself another mug of coffee.

Frank leaned his head in the door. “Boss, we got 200 mattress sets due later this afternoon. We going to stack them on 1 and 2?”

“Yes, probably, for now.”

Lyman 2022