Caris Shelton Is A Rising Star, Jags Break Huddle To 'Grind,' & Vols Are Going 'Dark Mode'
Recently let go by ESPN, Katie Nolan clearly needs advice from Indy Daryl of 'Do Hard Things' fame & the rest of the Screencaps community
Let's be clear: this isn't a 'bash Katie Nolan' post to get the day rolling. That's for OutKick's Bobby Burack. The media watchdog and the former ESPN darling Nolan like to battle it out, but that's not what we're here to do this morning.
I was struck by Nolan's question to her followers about how they're balancing work, life and, from what I can tell in her follow-up tweets, happiness. "My problem is when I'm not working I feel dead," she wrote. "My spark feels like it goes out. I think I made my life my job and now I can't tell them apart."
Someone told her she needs a passion project outside of work that will keep her busy. "The depression active passion difficult but I’m working on it," she replied.
And I instantly thought of the Indy Daryls of the Screencaps world. I think of the TNML crew that finds its passion in mowing. I think of the Traeger vs. Blackstone debate that still rages on around here. I think of the reader in Utah who drove to Louisiana to help out those in his hometown who needed help after Hurricane Ida.
I think of the readers who are on cross-country journeys, like Mike T. in Idaho (see below), to see the United States and all its glory. I think of the people who specialize in tailgating. Those who have transformed their basements into sports shrines.
Or those who get joy out of the 'Do Hard Things' project that Indy Daryl has set in motion. This guy is out there hiking mountains and then joining fellow runners to cover like 100 miles along the eastern coast of Lake Michigan.
While Screencaps readers aren't perfect and we all have our issues to iron out, I have to say that this just might be the perfect place to learn about finding a work/life balance.
Back in August, I presented the questions: What makes you happy? Where do you find happiness?
And I received messages from readers like Stephen S. who told me about restoring a 1976 Datsun 280z that his father gave to him two weeks before he died over 13 years ago. "I have poured a lot of blood, sweat, and tears this summer, but any time work or the toddler gets to me I just think about driving it or look out the back window into the garage and it brings me so much joy," Stephen wrote.
Katie Nolan works in a hollow field filled with phony people who are completely consumed by ratings, clicks, salary, and how many fellow coworkers like them. Your intuition that TV people are hollow is completely legitimate. Shallow, hollow, fake, attention whores. Pick one.
And then when the rug is pulled out from under them like in Katie's situation, they're fully exposed. They have to find meaning in life outside of their phony jobs and away from their phony coworkers and it hits them.
You know what Katie needs? Several garage beer nights with music and real people. Plumbers. Home inspectors. Cops. Secretaries. Small business owners. No TV. No sports. I don't care if it's a Saturday night in late October. A raging fire pit. Zero social media. Have a conversation about life with people who aren't looking to shiv someone in the back like at ESPN.
Katie has lost contact with the real world. She doesn't need a hobby outside of work - yet. She needs to be reprogrammed by real people living in the real world.
• Speaking of the whole 'What brings you happiness?' thing, let's start that up again. Help the Katie Nolans of the world. Share with them where you're finding happiness. She's not alone in this search for joy.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
• Speaking of connecting with the real world, retiree Mike T. in Idaho is checking in from the road.
We are on a road trip across the USA, drove from Boise to Missoula Montana yesterday. This is in Riggins, Idaho. This is the world famous Hells Canyon and the mighty Snake River!
Headed across the USA to New Haven Connecticut, than blasting home on the interstate. 3 1/2 weeks in total.
• Chris B. would like to clear the air in a beef with Mike T. that turns out not to be a beef at all.
Hey, Joe — I may have been misquoted in my note to you (cf: Charles Barkley’s autobiography).
Mike T. is absolutely right about those spectacular lakes. Idaho is a beautiful place. We go there often and will go there again next year. I was just commenting on Sweitzer Mountain, and the Journal article specifically, in regard to being a good summer getaway. It’s just that Sweitzer only has a couple of places to eat and drink, and what I saw of the condo situation three years ago didn’t offer a lot of big views for your deckside leisure.
CDA is fantastic, McCall is even more so in the summer. Sandpoint is a neat little town; just bring your earplugs for sleeping. Hell, even the southern part where Boise/Nampa is being overrun is okay, if you like heat and traffic and very dry air.
No beef here, my friend. And I suspect Mike T. believes they need a wall on eastbound I-90 at the Washington border the way we need one on southbound I-95 at the VA/NC line.
• David B. is a new emailer who perked up when Beau in Toledo told us about tracking satellites with his father.
David B. writes:
Like others, I really enjoy your OKTC site. I'm from Alabama but always have enjoyed the Rocky Mountains. Worked at Yellowstone a couple of times out of high school, and visited several times through the years. I am 64.
Anyway, there are scores of fire towers in the Rockies, that are used for campsites, since fire watching has basically been switched to satellites. I'm sure there are a lot of people that don't know they have an opportunity to rent these high elevation, with a view, sites.
Thanks for your time. David.
• Gerard W. wanted in on this whole satellite discussion. I have to be honest, I didn't expect Beau in Toledo's father-son story to trigger a bunch of discussion, but the email inbox absolutely lit up Wednesday on this subject. Hope you're reading this, Katie Nolan. These people are into all sorts of stuff. This is the real world.
Gerard writes:
Joe,
Not a satellite guy but I saw Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites a year ago and they are freaky. They are all in a line and haul ass overhead. They hit the horizon very quickly and then you lose sight of them. Didn’t know if Beau mentioned them or not. I haven’t seen the since and heard maybe he turned the lights down on them because he was pissing off the star gazers?
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites.html
• Steve (no last name initial) has a suggestion for Beau. This subject of lifeforms in outer space seems like it could go the way of Blackstone vs. Traeger and get very, very hot around here.
Hey Joe,
I was reading your post this morning, and your conversation with Beau in Toledo regarding life elsewhere in the universe was interesting to me. Here’s my (unsolicited) $.02.
I have spent many years studying that type of stuff, and my suggestion to Beau would be to look into what is called the anthropic principle, also known as fine tuning. In other words, the universe appears designed for human life here on Earth. The short version is that there are literally hundreds of characteristics in the universe that must exist in order for life as we know it to even exist, ranging from out in space to here on earth. These characteristics are incredibly fine tuned to the extent that if any one were to vary in the tiniest amount, life simply could not exist. One of the first examples to be determined back in the 1960s was the ratio of the gravitational force constant to the electromagnetic force constant. It cannot differ from its value by any more than one part in 10^40 (10 to the 40th power, one part in ten thousand trillion trillion trillion) without eliminating the possibility for life.
It’s interesting that he’s “part of the God started the Big Bang crowd”, because so am I, but it's interesting that he doesn’t follow that science to its logical conclusion.
I can go on and on and provide lots of evidence, but I thought it would be something interesting to add to your conversation with Beau.
I read screencaps every day. Keep up the good work.
• And finally this morning, Ben H. checks in from Texas where the 'F Biden' campaign is taking off - fast!
After seeing what Chris B. in Houston sent you, I had to follow up from Mansfield, TX.
• Get those emails in. Tag on social media (@joekinseyexp). Put my email into your phone. Help fuel Screencaps with what you're seeing out in the world. I'll be on the road today with my father into northern Michigan. I haven't been on the road alone with him in over two years so it should be interesting where the conversation goes today over a four-hour drive.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com