Calling all the college-bound kids! It’s almost that time for them to hit the books again, but no need to stress!  Lifestyle expert Nekia Nichelle has all the essentials they need to keep them calm, cool, and collected for their next semester at school.

COSORI LITE 4.0- QUART SMART AIR FRYER

There’s nothing like a home-cooked meal in your dorm room. The Cosori Lite Smart Air Fryer will not only help save your college kid some coins, but they’ll have delicious dishes to keep their belly’s full.

Its compact frame makes it perfect for small spaces such as dorm rooms. It has a 4.0-quart capacity and temperature range of up to 450°F make no compromises. There’s 7 cooking functions to choose from. You can cook your favorites at the touch of a button with a variety of customizable cooking functions, including optimized Chicken, Fries, Bacon, Steak, Vegetables, Preheat, Keep Warm functions.

Best of all, smart control lets you monitor cooking, find recipes, and more from your smartphone. Cook with confidence with the built-in automatic shutoff feature. The air fryer will automatically turn off if overheating is detected or when the basket is removed for safe cooking. On August 17th two additional colors, white and green, will be available for purchase.

MONEYTHINK

For high school seniors and their families, starting the school year means time to start thinking about college and financial aid deadlines!

Did you know that student loan debt affects over 45 million students nationwide? It’s a huge problem, in part, because accurate information is so hard to find and comparing financial aid offers is really complicated.   

Well, Moneythink, a national nonprofit that started right here in Chicago has a solution for you! 

Moneythink created a free online college affordability tool called DecidED. That’s right, it’s free for students and families, totally accessible, and they do all the math for you. Their tool simplifies the whole process by automatically comparing financial aid letters.

Students and parents get a clear and accurate picture of college costs and other important factors, so that you can choose the best option. It’s also great for college counselors and student advisors, because it gives back your time with students instead of spending energy doing administrative tasks. 

Check it out today! It’s so worth it. 

Visit www.decided.org

LOVEVOOK BACKPACK

Let’s not forget the backpacks to store all of these essential items and more! The trendiest backpack that I found is one by LoveVook.  The laptop backpack has multiple divider pockets, easy for holding 15.6 Inches laptops, iPads, phones, water bottles, umbrellas, readers, journals, magazines, clothes, pens, wallets and so on. The coolest part about this backpack is the invisible anti-theft pocket on the back can well protect your wallet, mobile phone, and other valuables. It also comes with an external USB port with a built-in charging cable– great for a techy student that needs to keep all his/her devices fully charged.

MULTI-FUNCTIONAL BTRFE LAPDESK

This lap desk for laptop is quite convenient for a lot of uses. It makes a decent table for breakfast in bed, with plenty of room for a plate, glass, and coffee mug. It also makes a good work surface for a bed. The desk would also be convenient for a standup desk conversion, putting monitor, keyboard, and mouse at a better height for working standing up. With its adjustable height and angle, it’s super convenient for those late night study sessions or zoom classes.

SABRE PEPPER SPRAY GEL

College life is supposed to be a fun time for the kids, but safety is important too. With the rise in crime in the Chicago area, its important for students to be aware of their surroundings and take what precautions they can to avoid being victims of crime

SABRE is actually a local Chicago company that makes personal safety products specifically designed for students in our area. They are the #1 manufacturer of pepper spray products in the US and exclusively supply every major police department including the Chicago PD.

Sabre’s Pepper Spray Gel is really popular on college campuses, especially among young women who may have to walk somewhere at night.

Its really easy to use, just point and spray across an attackers face eye to eye and the major advantage of the gel over traditional spray is that it doesn’t blow back on you which of course can happen in a city like Chicago which all know can have really strong winds at times.

Sabre is offering back to school discounts on all their top products, just visit sabrered.com for more info

Back To School discount offer of 20% off: https://www.sabrered.com/back-to-campus-deals/

As summer wraps up, the night sky puts on a show. The annual Perseids meteor shower peaks this week, and there are plenty of public star party events to attend.

This is what’s happening this week in space right here in Chicago.

SpaceX Starlink Launch, Tuesday, August 9th, 6 pm, Kennedy Space Center

SpaceX is targeting Tuesday evening for a launch of 52 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX will host a live broadcast of the launch here: SpaceX

Adler at Night, Wednesday, August 10th, 4-10 pm, Adler Planetarium

Every Wednesday night, Adler Planetarium is open in the evenings and it’s free for every Illinois residents. This event is popular and crowded, so make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to see all the exhibits. Information here: Adler

Astronomy on Tap Chicago, Thursday, August 11th, 7-9:30 pm, Begyle Brewing

Join the Begyle Brewing Company and Northwestern CIERA astronomers for a night of astronomy and trivia. JWST and the first images taken will be discussed by astronomers that use the images to carry out their research. Event details here: JWST Event

Stargazing at Cantigny Park, Saturday, August 13th, 7:30-11 pm, Cantigny Park

Head out to Cantigny Park’s annual French Picnic Under the Stars for a night of stargazing with scopes provided by the Naperville Astronomical Association. NASA Solar System Ambassador, Andy Salata will be giving a special presentation called, “Exploring the Universe: Visual Light, Spectroscopy, and the Webb Telescope”. More information here: NAA

15th Annual Perseid Meteor Shower & Stargaze, Saturday, August 13th, 8:30 pm-12:00 am, Indiana Dunes State Park

Indiana Dunes State Park is a short drive from Chicago but far enough away from the city lights so that you can see the annual Perseids Meteor Shower. Join park rangers for some sky lore and constellation stories while you watch the skies for this incredible show. More info here: IDNR

This week, I lost my fishing buddy.

Lake Wisconsin lost a man whose very presence will surely be missed by the natural order itself when early spring buds blossom and autumn’s palette is sprinkled over the woods and sky and he is not there.

So many friends and loved ones lost a man who brought great humor, a true raconteur’s storytelling sense, and a depth of character and solid connection to an old-school moral code to the world that few people ever achieve.

Rich Lobojko was a genuine hero to me since the late 70’s – a man’s man, certainly, but also a father figure in some ways  — perhaps more like a favorite uncle who might slip you a beer, pull your hat down over your eyes, and let out a deep, hearty, resonant laugh that let you know that he cared about you. That you were in on the joke.

It emanated from him, and you felt it.

A hard worker all his life, Rich was able to enjoy some nice years hanging out and traveling with his lovely wife Verna, his children and grandchildren, and the myriad fellas who joined him up at Lake Wisconsin once or twice a year. I only missed one trip since 1997, and that was because I was in Tennessee.

“Not a great excuse,” Rich would say, and then the deep laugh would come out.

Rich was clearly in his element at the lake. He had been coming to these cabins for forty-plus years, seeing new resort owners come and go, developing lasting friendships with them, and taking a kind of ownership of the grounds and water, really, that they could not quite manage.

To me, he came to embody the place. “The fishing trip” was sacred.

And Rich was clearly the host, whipping up batches of Spam and eggs, cooked to order, with a dash of garlic salt on the yolks, venison sausages courtesy of a successful November hunt by his son Mike, and stacks of toast. There Rich would be, spatula in hand, telling stories of working with his crew years ago in the cold Chicago winters, giving it all an immediacy that you could feel – all of it fresh in his mind, painting a picture.

He created a gaming table the year after one of the fisherman dice players complained of having to walk up to the board. It was a thing of beauty, with its smooth, felt nap and the way it effortlessly glided over small ball bearings in the base. Upon seeing it, the complaining dice player expressed his gratitude to Rich, who just said, “I made it so you’d stop spilling the whiskey.” And the laugh would come out again.

That laugh. That look on his face.

He loved it there. We loved having him there.

And we loved him.

Ever since the first shelter-at-home order, there’s been an endless debate about the future of work. Will we go back to the office? Work from home? Some sort of hybrid mix?

For as heated as this discussion gets, there’s one character who receives universal respect.

The water cooler.

The pro-office crowd lists “water cooler” right away. We need the water cooler. That’s where the magic happens.

The anti-office crowd concedes this point, ensuring the audience knows they’re not anti-water cooler.

Look, I’ve got nothing but respect for the water cooler. I’m one of the biggest water cooler guys out there. But we’re just gonna have to do this virtually…

The standard office water cooler looked like the one above until 2016-17. It stood six feet tall and came with 6,000 cone-shaped Dixie cups. Each of those cups held less than a shot of water. It worked well for coffee mugs, but if you needed to fill up a water bottle, the design was “one-size-fits-none.” You’d put in your water bottle at a 45-degree angle and call it quits at about 1/3 full.

There were two dispensing taps – red for freakishly hot, blue for lukewarm. The only people to lift the red lever were weekend skydivers, Harley Davidson owners, and the possible vampire who’d start each day with a glass of hot water and a plate of Colby jack cheese cubes.

But over the last 4-5 years, with the rise of La Croix and other seltzers, the traditional water cooler was gradually pushed out of the office. People opted for 21st-century options with trendy European-sounding names like “bevi.” I don’t think it’s possible to say “bevi” in anything other than a whisper.

Touch-screen. Sparkling water. I think you could order an Uber from the home screen. These high-tech upgrades pushed the old school water cooler to a dusty basement corner, next to the fax machine and 55 feet of ethernet cables. It’s like a depressing version of the Beauty and the Beast appliances.

But whenever I see a fancy water cooler, I picture a different type of work. Instead of people gathering and talking about last night’s Cubs game, people fill up one at a time and send each other Cubs GIFs over Slack.

Instead of someone saying, “I’m swamped, I’ve gotta go through this whole Excel spreadsheet,” the fancy water cooler mocks the spreadsheet and has 16 different apps to automate the process.

Offices with an old-school water cooler, you could count on leftover pizza and turkey sandwiches in the fridge. With the fancy water cooler, every lunch is either Chipotle or, “It’s like Chipotle but for sushi.” Everything comes in a burrito.

I’m not passing judgment one way or the other. I just think companies who want people to come back into the office full time should look no further than the water cooler. It’s a domino effect; once you swap out the old-school water cooler, next thing you know, Slack has replaced in-person meetings. Zoom defeated the conference room. Cubicles turn into an “open floor plan” turns into, “Wait a second, why don’t I just Slack and Zoom from my house?”

Offices made themselves so comfortable that they drove people away to the comforts of home.

But what am I suggesting as an alternative?

Again, it all goes back to the water cooler. But, this time, I suggest we look at a good Midwestern high school for inspiration.

Especially in August, you’ve got the football team outside doing two-a-days. Same with the cheerleaders holding tryouts. The marching band’s out there in 95-degree heat. Somehow, the tuba player never passes out.

What do you see at all three sites? This guy.

Nothing says hard work’s getting done like an Igloo 5-gallon water cooler. You see it at construction sites, too, or any sporting event. For anything that involves blood, sweat, and tears, chances are this Igloo water cooler is near.

And what happens with the football players, cheerleaders, and the marching band? They become a team. Few things bring people closer than going through a difficult challenge together. It’s true for the Army, the Marines, and don’t you feel closer to the grocery store butcher after going through those COVID years together?

Without the struggle, loyalty plummets. If I’m working from home, and I’ve never met any of my colleagues in person, why wouldn’t I leave if another place offers 10-20% higher pay? But if I’ve gone through the valleys with someone, I don’t want to look that person in the eye at the water cooler and tell them I’m leaving. It’s easier to keep going for another 35 years.

So, am I suggesting companies put their employees in shoulder pads? Move things outside? Have people carry around tubas and French horns? Not necessarily.

But I am suggesting office two-a-days. Not a year-round thing (at least not at first), only suggesting this for the month of August.

Instead of making things more comfortable, pivot the other way. Start by bringing in the Igloo 5-gallon water cooler. Next: take out the wifi. Turn off the A/C. Get rid of Slack.

What to bring back? Spreadsheets. Fax machines. Cubicles. Yep. Bring it all back. Isn’t “90s retro” kind of in right now anyways?

First working session – 8 to 11 am. Next – 1 to 4 pm. From 11 to 1, everyone breaks for a massive spaghetti lunch in the cafeteria. Those two 3-hour blocks are intense, but it’s focused, and you’re in it together with people who were previously 3-inch squares on a Zoom call.

Here’s the thing, full five days a week return to the office upsets people because it feels forced and inflexible. Hybrid is better, but there’s still this feeling of, “I don’t understand why I have to commute two or three days a week… for the rest of my life.”

With August two-a-days, there’s an end in sight. It also allows employees to rekindle a love for the office — an “office romance,” if you will.

September comes. Everyone heads back home. But they can’t stop daydreaming about the office.

I miss talking about Ted Lasso at the water cooler. I miss giving Denise an actual high five, not the stinkin’ ‘high five’ button on Zoom. And that two-hour spaghetti lunch...

Gradually, there’s a reverse mutiny. The team bands together, demanding more office two-a-days. Management obliges, and everyone lines up outside like it’s the morning of a new iPhone release. Doors open, and people rush through like a football team charging down the tunnel.

Upstairs, the boss — a Bill Lumbergh-looking guy — looks down at the action with a sense of pride. Without looking, he takes a cone-shaped Dixie cup, puts it under the old-school water cooler. Pulls one of the taps.

“Thank you, old friend,” he says, patting the cooler on the back. He takes a small sip, which ends up being the entire Dixie cup.

“Yow, that’s hot!”

If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy “The Extroverts are Coming” and “Company Announces Zero Day Work Week. Plans to Run on Guilt.”

Shameless plug – My books are available on Long Overdue Books. This is also a great writing community if you’re interested/working on/or have always dreamed of writing a book.

Ran the numbers, and it’s been 119 days since my last Medium Rare. I think that’s the longest streak ever. I blame my 11-month-old son as the best possible distraction. Hopefully, the next post will be up sooner!

A Chevy Impala and Forest Preserve filled my Sundays.

In one of those synchronicity moments, I was thinking about writing a blog about the picnics of my youth when the picture of a picnic table showed up on my Facebook feed. Never one to overlook an omen, I decided to proceed with my picnic reminiscence.

Let’s go back to a sunny Sunday summer day in 1961. I am 5 years old. It’s about 1 pm and I am sitting on the living room floor in front of my dad as he watches a ball game, something I do not yet care about. I am wearing shorts and a tee shirt, Dad is in his weekend wardrobe of a short sleeve white dress shirt and lightweight slacks.

Our third-floor apartment on Farwell, just east of Sheridan, is quite spacious. My sister Linda and I have our own separate bedrooms. Our parent’s bedroom (we could call it a master bedroom then) is furnished with a whitewashed wood bed and dresser set bought second-hand when we moved here a year earlier. The dresser top is covered with cosmetic products, samples Mom has garnered from her short career as an Avon Lady.

A horn beeps impatiently in the street below. I look out the window to see a long, low, red 1959 Chevy Impala, fins flaring. It’s Uncle Poldi and it is time to go. We hustle down the stairs and out the front door.

Poldi, a swarthy Viennese-born engineer, is already impatient. Aunt Paula, also Viennese as is my mother, sits crowded against him on the front bench seat. Childless, they have an apartment in the Rogers Park Hotel, just around the corner. It will be another year before they rent an apartment on Jonquil Terrace.

Dad slides in next to Paula–but not too close, Poldi has a jealous streak. Mom places a wicker picnic basket in the car’s enormous trunk and then joins Linda and me in the back seat. Seat belts are non-existent, as are electric door locks, electric windows, and electric air conditioning. Mom pushes down the schnoppel to lock the door, then turns the crank to lower the window and naturally cool the car.

The car is getting crowded, but we have one more stop to make. We pick up my grandparents, Mama and Papa, from their apartment on Sherwin near the EL. It is one of their last good years before a move to the Selfhelp Home and Papa’s death from bladder cancer.

As the grandparents join us in the back seat I climb onto Mom’s lap to give them more room. Carseats? We don’t…

Twenty-five minutes later (Poldi is a very slow driver) we arrive at the Skokie Lagoons Forest Preserve. We unfold out of the car and Linda and I run to grab one of the wooden picnic tables. The adults unpack the trunk and follow us with tablecloths and picnic baskets. They bring a few folding chairs, too. Not the collapsible ones we use today for the grandkid’s baseball games, but the kind with metal frames and plastic webbing, the kind that leaves marks on your bare skin.

Paula breaks out the reusable plastic plates and utensils and then unpacks her fried chicken (home-made-not from a bucket) while Mom distributes turkey sandwiches on Wonder Bread. Mayonnaisey potato salad appears. Large thermos bottles filled with ice tea and lemonade make the rounds.

After lunch, but before freshly baked brownies, we spritz with bug repellent and hike along one of the many trails. We don’t go far, my parents don’t want to leave the grandparents, dozing in the folding chairs, alone for too long. And even in the shade of the towering trees, it is getting uncomfortably hot. And the brownies call our names.

The drive home is quiet, most of us drowsy, the lingering aroma of chicken and chocolate and bug spray hanging in the air.

I miss those family picnics.

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I know. I know. Though some of us still think Al Gore won, turns out–popular-vote-count notwithstanding– he didn’t. (Damn you, breakneck headwinds stirred up by Ralph-Nader blind obstinance, hanging chads and tilted-rightward SCOTUS.) Yet we can still dream, can’t we? So here’s mine. From a 2022 perspective.

Riding the tidal wave of peace, prosperity and budget surpluses conjured by Bill Clinton, (who, it was rumored, had said “no” to all offers of fellatio from female staff), Gore severely gored pushover Bush.

After firing a fusillade of progressive legislative volleys supported by Dem forces in both houses, Gore was faced with his first presidential crisis: 9/11. Within months, Osama Bin Laden was tracked and liquidated in Afghanistan. and the Saudi family forcefully persuaded to permanently cut off their allowance to Wahaabi cultists.

In the Al Gore first term, American’s began to see injections of amelioration on most every surface of the body-politic anatomy. And the booster shots surged on during the following unbroken skein of Democratic party rule.

By 2020, under the two term administrations of Gore, Obama and first-term of Warren, Americans basked in the sunbeams of:.

Stanching the advance of global warming, hence egregious carbon emissions, polar ice melting, acid rain, coral reef deterioration, decline of ecosystems, mass obliteration of flora and fauna species, sullying of air and water quality, decline of aquatic life, dramatically decreasing floods, droughts and forest fires, restoring topsoil health, preserving forests, other wildernesses such a wetlands and, thus, wildlife, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I’m sure

, 50% ownership of electric cars.

. Dramatic increases in solar and tidal energy dramatically raking away air pollution, which resulted in the dramatic dip in pulmonary diseases, birth defects and countless other scourges.

Permanently snuffing out the claims that corporations are individuals, thus eliminating obscenities such as PACs.

. Putting an end to all the crafty financial dodges and grifts of the top one oercent.

. Eliminating all lobbies and political donations above $500 per indivual.

Ending the misbegotten Electoral College voting system (a ruling-class contrivance in the first place).

. As Western European democracies do, banning political-campaign advertising and limiting campaign periods to, say, three months. Plus, during the campaign period, requiring all PBS and news channels to carry civil debates between all candidates for public office.

. Outlawing the production and use of military assault weapons for civilian use.

. Muscling up internet regulations to prohibit deliberate falsehoods…with lawsuit and incarceration consequences.

. As in Western Euopean democracies and elsewhere, instituting full single payer universal healthcare.

In keeping with constitutional church/state separation, enacting full religious- organisation IRS levies, and eliminating government-fund subsidies to any and all private schools (especially schools teaching religious dogmas the rest of us don’t believe in).

, On the premise that anybody qualified for overseeing public education should themselves be well educated: Require all individuals applying for school-board membership to pass an education test that includes knowledge of math, science, language, grammar, history, cultural literacy, etc. (Betty DeVos need not bother applying for any such position.)

. Human gene-editing legally permitted for birth-defect eradication only. (No super-babies created, please.

. U.S. treaties to be honored, not just internationally, but with indigenous tribes as well.

. Infrastructure bills instituted in 200l continue in full force resulting in the world’s top-rated roads, bridges, power grids, etc.

. Voting rights, abortion rights, civil rights, human rights, same-gender marriage rights all upheld by SCOTUS.

.Transgender surgery insurance covered under the national healthcare bill

. Free college tuition for high-achievement low-to-modest family-income students. All student-aid loans covered by low-interest government insurance.

With the successes of national vaccination programs in the collective rear-view mirror, vaccination mandates to be set in motion for any transmissible lethal disease, bacterial or viral . Non-compliance will result in severe fine and denial of free-of-charge treatment by national healthcare system.

. With overpopulation the acknowledged root problem of most all threats to global sustainability, legislation enacted to financially discourage families from having more that two children.

. Marijuana federally legal, as well as grown and sold by the government, this assuring federal balanced budgets annually.

. Restrictions on overfishing and overhunting.

. No drilling on federal land.

. Plus a whole crowd of other upgrades I’ve no doubt overlooked.

All in all , the Gore legacy, I fervently believe, will mark the beginning of Making America Great, er, for the First Time.

p.s. Convicted for massive fraud, an unhinged crooked real-estate don named Don will be continuing his blatant bloviating and dissembling from a prison cell he has occupied for the past twelve years.

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Cole Mueller led Illinois State in rushing as a freshman a season ago. (photo courtesy goredbirds.com)

NORMAL—A season ago, freshman Cole Mueller emerged as the workhorse running back for Illinois State to the tune of nearly a 1,000-yard season. This fall’s offensive numbers may not approach that figure, yet it’s just fine with the sophomore.

“I would rather have won games,” Mueller said during ISU’s media day on the Hancock Stadium turf. “The yardage and recognition comes when you win . . . I’d rather have a 1,000-receiving yards as a team than 1,000 rushing if it meant we’d win more games.”

Yet, the reality remains that the hallmarks of a Brock Spack-coached team are a strong defense and a powerful running game.

Last week Mueller was named second team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference in a preseason vote. The 6-foot, 215-pounder is fresh off his breakout rookie season in which he ranked third in the MVFC in rushing yards (977), was fourth in rushing yards per game (88.8) and finished the season ranked in the Top 20 in the FCS in rush yards (No. 15) and yards per game (No. 20).

Mueller carried the ball 189 times in 2021, accounting for 47.8 percent of the team total.

A year later, Spack likes the depth he sees in the backfield.

“We’re deep for sure,” Spack said. “That’s a fact.”

The room where it happens

“It’s very deep,” Mueller said of the running back room. “Everybody could start any week and everybody can play. If someone goes down, we don’t have to worry about who goes in because he’s just as good as the guy in front of him.”

Joining Mueller is promising redshirt freshman Wenkers Wright along with veterans Pha’leak Brown, a sophomore, and Nigel White, a junior.

“I’m pleased with their development. Everybody is healthy coming back. Everybody brings a little bit something different to the table,” said Barrington native Sam Ojuri, second-year running backs coach.

“Cole Mueller is really intelligent. He’s tough. He’s faster than you think,” Ojuri said.

Ojuri noted that Brown is “one of our best well-rounded players as far as running, catching and pass pro (blocking)” while lauding White’s speed.

Saturday scrimmage

By this weekend, ISU will have completed seven practices. Mueller and Wright are listed as 1-2 respectively on the tailback depth chart heading into Saturday morning’s scrimmage.

Mueller, a native of Wentzville, Mo., noted that he and Wright have “pretty much have the same build, though his arms a little bit bigger. Same speed. Same moves. We’re pretty much identical.”

Of Mueller, Wright said, “I’m not going to lie. These past few weeks, Cole’s gotten a little shiftier than I remember him being. His vision is just crazy. It’s out of this world. Every move he makes is just right and he winds up finding himself in the end zone before he knows it.”

Ojuri mentioned the improvements he has seen in Wright, who was born in Haiti but prepped at Floyd Central High School in Indiana.

“Wenkers has done a good job. He came in with a lot of ability, we just had to hone it,” Ojuri said. “He’s got such a high ceiling.”

Vision quest

Mueller had medical procedures done on his nose and his Achilles tendon. He also had Lasik eye surgery.

“Seeing the ball sometimes (was difficult). I had an astigmatism, so sometimes the lights were blinding,” Mueller said. “I had the procedure done and it has made seeing the ball a lot easier.”

Ojuri said, “He’s seeing the ball en route better. We’ve been able to see such a drastic improvement in the way he’s catching the ball out of the air.”

Redbird news & notes

Five Illinois State players were voted onto the Missouri Valley Football Conference preseason team, which was released last week. Senior linebacker Zeke Vandenburgh was a first-team selection, while Mueller, offensive lineman Drew Bones, defensive lineman Braydon Deming and long snapper Joe Malinowski earned second-team honors . . . ISU was picked to finish eighth in the 11-team conference preseason poll conducted by league coaches, media, and sports information directors . . . Mueller has changed his uniform number from 21 to 4 . . . The Redbirds open the 2022 season on Saturday, Sept. 3, against the Wisconsin Badgers. Kickoff is 6 p.m. at Camp Randall Stadium.