All He Does Is Win…But He Still Gets No Respect

Posted on January 9, 2012 by brent

Today, along with what seemed like the rest of the nation, I watched as the Denver Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round of the NFL Playoffs. Of course, the story of the game was Tim Tebow. With all of the insane hype and coverage that followed him during the entire regular season, it all seemed to reach the ultimate boiling point this afternoon as he played in a playoff game that many had christened as his “do or die game.” Well, in the middle of the spotlight during the last game of the Wild Card weekend Tebow shined.

I have said over this platform before, I am a Tim Tebow fan. I started to really root for him after his famous speech following the Ole Miss loss in 2008. After following him for the 2008 and 2009 college seasons I really hoped he would get a decent shot in the NFL. After he got selected in the draft and I watched “Tim Tebow: Everything In Between”, I knew I was going to hope for nothing but success when he started his NFL career. If you have never seen that documentary before, honestly youtube it, I rank it as one of the best sports documentaries I have ever seen. As he began his NFL career and I saw what he was up against from fellow players/coaches/front office people in the league along with the media, he had my support.

So as you can probably guess, I am relishing in TT’s success while also smiling at all the different people and entities who are hating it. I love it how all my friends who hate Tebow have to throw their hands in the air and wonder how he did it again. I love reading all of the posts on Twitter and Facebook from various users complaining that they are going to have to hear nothing but “Tim Tebow” for the next week. Most of all, I love it how various sports media personalities have to grudgingly cover him for six more days and continue to dissect his game. That is what this post is mainly for, to laugh at the media and ask if they can finally start to give TT a little bit of respect.

Pretty much ever since 2008 when there was talk about Tebow’s chances in the NFL, the sports media, and I am going to single out ESPN especially, has had an obsession about how he would impact the league. For the most part, it has all been negative. For the most part, it is still negative. Believe me, if Tebow never produced on the field then of course I would understand that there would be mostly unflattering coverage on him. It doesn’t matter if it is politics, music, writing, or sports…if you don’t perform you are not going to receive positive reviews. But Tebow has produced. I don’t think there is a single person who could take an oath and say they believe that he has been treated fairly by the media.

The season started and the media said he was a waste. The season started, Orton got hurt, and Tebow came in relief and showed great potential…the sports world said the Broncos needed to make a move and bring in a replacement quarterback, that Tebow could definitely not continue on in the season. TT then took the Broncos on a great ride, guiding them on a winning streak and to a top spot in the AFC West. The media discounted it as a fluke and as an unconventional style experiencing initial success that will soon taper off. Then the three game skid occurred and it started to rain down on Tebow. Fast forward to today and 300+ passing yards later and a playoff victory under his belt and I still really don’t anticipate much acclaim for #15 when the media reflects on everything tomorrow morning.

Now I know Tebow has Skip Bayless in his corner but other than that, he really has little support or respect from the media. My biggest issue with this is the lack of a chance that was ever given to Tebow and the ignorance that has followed it. I watch/listen/read to what people say about Tebow and I really can’t believe that they will not take a step back, recognize what Tebow has done, give the guy some credit, and then maybe admit that they were wrong. But I am competent enough to realize that media personalities have egos and they are not going to fess up to a mistake they have made. I think Tebow would probably have to win a couple of Super Bowls for that to happen.

I am hoping for great things on Saturday night as the Broncos take on the Patriots in New England. Denver is already a +13.5 underdog in the game but with Tim Tebow leading the way you never know. Don’t Blink.

Winter Vegas Recap

Posted on January 7, 2012 by brent

Yesterday marked the three week anniversary of when my brother, Glen, and I got on a 6am flight out of Spokane and flew to Las Vegas for a “Reser Brothers Vegas Getaway.” I wanted to write this post a short time after the actual trip but as I have chronicled in previous posts, things were just busy and I never got the chance to. But with the three week “cool down” period so to speak after our Vegas trip, I think it has given me a better perspective of our three days there. Here is a recap of the trip.

We were in Las Vegas from the early afternoon of Thursday, December 15 through the early morning of Sunday, December 18. One thing to note about Vegas in mid December: It is their slow time of the year. The city has a totally different vibe than during the summer or really any other time of the year. The place definitely still has that Vegas attitude but things are just a little more relaxed. The streets are less crowded, more shows and clubs are dark, girls are covered up more, solicitation is not as intense, gambling limits are a little lower, and check in lines are shorter. So as you can plainly see, there are both good and bad things about going to LV during their slow season.

All in all though, it was the perfect time for Glen and I to go. As I mentioned in my post the morning of our trip, our main reason for going was to just have a relaxing time of gambling, people watching, and sharing a few beers. I would like to say we pretty much stuck to that plan.

After going to bed at around 1:30am on Wednesday night (or more appropriately Thursday morning) I got up at 3:30am so I could get ready, do some last minute packing, and then be ready for our ride out to the airport. Glen’s friend (and my friend now too), Miss Caitlin, was kind enough to show up at our parents’ house at 4:30am and drive us out to Spokane International Airport. Everything went smoothly as we got on our initial plane that was going to take us to Salt Lake City. Glen had an aisle seat and I had a middle seat. My whole goal of the trip was just to get some sleep. However, as fate would have it, to my left at the window seat was a woman probably in her mid-fifties who talked my ear off the whole flight. Usually I am up for a little bit of “stranger airplane banter” if either it is past 10am or if my plane neighbor happens to be an attractive young female but both of these conditions were unmet. After the lady asked me twenty questions about my occupation she preceded to bash social media for the whole flight and talk about what she was going to buy her daughter for Christmas. Not the best couple of hours of my life.

After our layover in Utah we got on our plane to LV and all went well. When we landed in Vegas, my brother and I made the joint decision to take it easy for the first several hours we were in the city. We got on our shuttle and drove to our hotel, Harrah’s. With both of us clutching onto a cold Blue Moon, check in was a breeze. We got up to our room, threw our stuff down inside, and then hit the strip. Now, I said we made a choice to kind of go soft during the late afternoon/early evening part of that first day…that was thrown out probably the second we walked into Harrah’s. The Las Vegas attitude I mentioned above just kind of gets into you and it is hard to fight off. When we hit the strip we played at a variety of tables. We then went to O’Sheas, an Irish dumpy casino in the middle of the strip, where my brother and I played in a beer pong tournament. For $40 we got put in a bracket against other teams with the chance to win $300. Little did I know, but probably should have figured, the bracket was filled with locals who go to the tournament each Thursday to play the game they literally practice every single day. The first round, my brother and I were paired against one of these local teams. We got smoked. We were making cups, but we were not making every single cup. They beat us easily. Despite the loss, it was a lot of fun so we did the re-buy option for $20. Our next opponents were a couple of dudes from Chicago. In a close game we defeated them in overtime, it was pretty sweet. We then played another local team and they put us out of our misery.

Checking in at Harrah’s and my first beer!

After the tournament we went to Caesar’s where we watched the Thursday Night NFL game between Jacksonville and Atlanta. We had a great time as we watched the game in its entirety. After the game we went to Margaritaville and played at their tables which was actually a lot of fun. After eating at Nathan’s we hopped on a cab and we headed out to Downtown Vegas. The attractive thing about Downtown Vegas is that it is much less crowded than the strip and there are always tables open of all different kinds of games. It is also fun because the casinos and dealers are much more liberal and relaxed. On a side note, the whole atmosphere in downtown is a little quirkier than the strip, which makes it fun as well. This particular night though was not our night. We got our clocks cleaned at pretty much every table we sat down at. It was a good old fashioned annihilation. At around 2am, we took a cab back to the strip. One thing that I have learned in my old age is when to stop for the night…my brother has not. Once back at the strip we ended up at the Casino Royale where my brother preceded to lose more money on this gimmicky Black Jack Switch game. After watching him for a while I went elsewhere for a little bit. I made it back to the hotel by 5am while Glen came in at around 6:30am.

I love downtown Vegas!

I was up at 8am that Friday doing some stuff for work. As it was the day Montana was playing in the FCS Semi-final game, I had stuff to do on our website and social media. At around10:30am Glen was up and ready to go for the day. After the beating we took the night before we knew we had to regroup a little bit and get ready to win some of that money back. Before playing again, we walked around the strip some and then ate at the buffet at Planet Hollywood. By the time we finished eating we were ready to try our luck again. We entered in a poker tournament at Bill’s Gambling Hall. Poker tournaments are so much fun because the action is slow, the players are usually dumb because they are all tourists without a clue on what they are doing, and the drinks come often. In this tournament there were around twenty-five people. It was a lot of fun playing in that atmosphere. I went out one person short of the final table but my brother was kicking ass. He made the final table and one by one more players started to go out. Once it was down to just three players, my brother included, the finalists made a decision that is common in tournament poker: They decided to chop the pot. What this meant was that all three people took a pretty much equal portion of the tournament cash pool. My brother even got a few extra bucks because he was the chip leader at the time of the chop.

Once the tournament was over we hustled over to Harrah’s where we watched the Montana vs. Sam Houston FCS Playoff game. We made pretty much the whole viewing area Griz fans as we yelled and cheered our hearts out the whole game. Unfortunately, Montana came up three points short, 31-28, after a spectacular comeback.

By this time we had been joined by a couple of Glen’s friends, Brandon and Madison, who he met in Walla Walla during his junior college baseball days who now happened to live in Las Vegas. After the game we went back downtown. That night we had a wonderful time. We got the inspiration to Tebow with pretty much everyone we saw. Let me tell you, asking a girl if she would Tebow with you is probably one of the best pick up lines a guy can pull out. For whatever reason, every person we asked not just did it with us, they enthusiastically did it with us. Since it was a Friday night, it was busier than usual downtown but it was cool because it was pretty much a circus freak show. The people and things we saw. Our luck was also much better at the tables as well. We quickly established friendships with the cowgirl dealers at the Fremont Casino where we spent most of our time. Glen and I ended up taking a taxi back to the strip as his friends had long since left by that time. We stuck together that night and ended up going back to the hotel at around 4am.

Glen and some randos Tebowing

Saturday started off with us once again walking around the strip to clear our heads and get some much needed fresh air. When we were feeling decent we went and ate lunch at a restaurant called Blondies.It was a sports themed place where the waitresses are dressed in cheerleading uniforms. We had a good time and afterwards we went back to Bill’s Gambling Hall where we once again entered another Texas Hold’em tournament. Now you might be asking what the chances were that Glen could repeat his success from the day before. Most gaming theorists would tell you not very good. But defy the odds he did as he made it to the final table once again and cruised to another top three finish where the participants decided to chop the pot. I once again busted out right before the final table was set.

Once Glen had collected his winnings we went to Caesar’s where we watched the Dallas Cowboys vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. We had a good time watching the game and watching the people right in front of us who had much invested in the game. They treated every play like it was life or death. Once the game concluded we went to an open air Mexican restaurant perched on top of Planet Hollywood that overlooks the strip called Cabo Wabo. By this time we were starving and we went to town on our meals. Coincidently, we sat right next to two girls who had just graduated from Washington State. It did not take long for us to become friends as we chatted throughout the meal.

Glen enjoying Cabo Wabo

That night we spent majority of our time on the south side of the strip where we had previously not explored too much. We walked through and people watched at the top tier hotels such as the Wynn, Venetian, and Encore. Taking class down a bit, we eventually found ourselves at the Riviera where we played Blackjack in one of the party pits. It was a pretty good time…you can’t really go wrong when you have gorgeous girls dancing around you and gorgeous girls dealing to you. Also, it sweetens the deal just a little bit when you win as well (which I did). That is how most of the night went until we made it back to our hotel in the early morning.

Tebowing all trip long.

Sunday we got up (or were we already up to begin with), packed our bags, and took our shuttle to the airport. Nothing sucks more than checking in and going through security at the Vegas airport…nothing. We managed and after another stop in Salt Lake City, we made it back to Spokane where my parents picked us up at the airport and brought us back home.

It was definitely a successful Vegas trip with my brother. We came away with some great stories and memories that we will share forever. Now it is time to look ahead and plan our next Vegas trip. It will only be my seventh time going. Don’t Blink.

Had a great Vegas trip!

Addicted To Words With Friends

Posted on January 5, 2012 by brent

So if I wasn’t already addicted to my iPhone, over the Thanksgiving break my brother introduced me to the wildly popular application called Words With Friends. If you have never heard of Words before chances are you probably live under a rock and you probably don’t have a smart phone. Words With Friends is basically a one-on-one game of Scrabble played electronically. There are people all over the country who play it religiously, including Alec Baldwin who was kicked off his plane because he refused to turn his phone off while in the middle of a game.

I really like Words With Friends. I enjoy the competitive nature that comes with going heads up against someone in a battle of wits. The relaxation that also comes with Words is much appreciated also. There is just something about sitting down on the couch and watching football while at the same time making moves in Words. If, heaven forbid, there happens to be no football on and there is nothing else for me to do, Words is a time killer too. The game is a godsend during meetings at work…I am able to keep my sanity during those times when meetings go on forever by becoming immersed in my latest game. Have to go to the bathroom? Words is quickly replacing newspapers and magazines.

While the game is fun, it is also addicting. Once in a battle, you become engaged and find yourself going back and forth from what you are doing at the moment in your real life to what is unfolding on your phone. Now here is the kicker…multiply the craziness and competitive nature of that one game by twenty. Why twenty? Because you can have up to twenty games going at once. For people like me who love the game, we are always maxed out on the game limit. When you are playing that many games at once, you are guaranteed to always have action waiting for you on your phone when you go back to the application. Sometimes when I am in the middle of something at work or I do manage to get a couple hours of sleep, I will go a while without checking Words. When I finally check back on the app, I will usually have something like fourteen or fifteen moves to make. When this is the case, I always feel like the chess master who is going from chess board to chess board, making move after move. It is a lot of fun, but can also be overwhelming at the same time.

Words With Friends is not perfect. Some of the words that the application accepts make me so angry. I think the English version of the game should be based on the English language. I get incensed when people play the word “Qi.” This is a notoriously popular word in Words With Friends because it is an easy way to get rid of a Q Tile when you don’t have a lot of space to do much more or you don’t have a U Tile. But come on, it is a Chinese word. It Is also an incredibly lazy move. This would never fly as legit in my own family Scrabble game. Sometimes I feel skill is taken out of a lot of the Words games with certain opponents. What these opponents do is basically fish all day for words and/or use words that are nowhere near their vocabulary level but because they have played roughly 1,385,424 games of Words before, they know it is an acceptable word and they can get a good amount of points for it. Ask the person what the word they just played means and they will look at you with a blank stare.

In Words With Friends, as opposed to Scrabble, there is no time limit on how long you have to make a move (well, there is like a ten day period where you have to make a move or forfeit). There is also no penalty for putting down a word that is actually not a word. All what happens is the app tells you that the jibberish you put down is not an acceptable word and you get to try again…over and over. So basically what you can do, and many people do this, is take an hour to try every sketchy, potentially high point value word under the sun until the app finally accepts one. I much rather play you and lose to you because of your superior vocabulary rather than your ability to blindly string together some obscure word that took you fifteen minutes and thirty different submissions to come up with. If I was in charge of Words With Friends, I would implement a time limit and a word submission limit. Each time you tap into a game with a certain opponent, you would have two minutes to make a move. If you did not make a move in that two minutes, your turn would be passed. Likewise, there would be little tolerance for guesswork. The app would allow you ONE spell check. The first time you put down a word that is nowhere to be found in the dictionary you would get a notice telling you that it is not a word….the second time you put down a bogus word, your turn would be passed. I just think these changes would focus the game more on intelligence and wit rather than a challenge of who has the most time to use every combination of their letters to come up with some bizarre word that they will never utter in their life.

Words With Friends also rejects words that are in fact real words. I was in a close game with someone once and I attempted to play the word “June.” I had my “J” (J Tiles are worth 10 points) on a triple letter space and I was all set to seal up the game. However, once I submitted the word I was greeted with the “June is not an acceptable word message.” Hogwash. A calendar month is definitely a word. The game also accepts some cuss words and rejects others.

Despite Words With Friends having some flaws, it is what it is. It is definitely a game of strategy. I have perfected my own personal strategy and have had a great deal of success with it. However, there are some people who I have a tough time beating. My brother is the best player I know. I have only beat him once. My boss kicked my ass by a hundred points the other day (she actually broke a 14 game win streak I had put together). I have several friends who I play with who I know it will go down to the wire with each time. Games get so much fun and intense when each player is down to their last several tiles, the board is full, and the gap in points between the two players is in the single digits. SIDE NOTE: I said I have a tough time beating my brother and that is a testament to him. But please don’t do what he does. After a victory he will send the score and the board of the game to Facebook, plaster it on his page, tag his opponent in it, and give it some caption talking about how bad he just beat whoever. Don’t do that. Win with class and lose with class.

Words With Friends is also a social game too! There is a chat option and I use it a lot. I will talk good-natured shit to opponents, call them out if they play a bush league word, or send them a wake up call if they are taking way too long to make a move. I also use it just to chat too. I have reconnected with people and had game long conversations with friends and acquaintances who I haven’t talked to in a long time or really never talked to at all. If there is someone you have a crush on and they are on Words With Friends, send them an invite to play! It is a good way to get your foot in the door with the person. If played right you can go from chatting with her on Words With Friends to texting her on your phone to talking to her face-to-face on a date. It is definitely worth a try.

So believe it or not, I have not checked my Words With Friends since I started writing this. That means I have forty-five minutes worth of moves that I need to catch up on so it is best that I probably wrap this up. But if you are reading this and you have Words With Friends, challenge me!! Good luck. Don’t Blink.

Twitter: Someone Is Always Watching

Posted on January 4, 2012 by brent

Today the new head football coach of Ohio State, Urban Meyer, banned his players from using Twitter. Meyer is not the first coach to issue such a ban, as many other coaches both in football and out of football have done the same thing. The issue of both student-athletes and professional athletes utilizing Twitter accounts and the rights they should have is an enormous issue. Working in an intercollegiate athletic department, I see this issue unfold on a daily basis. Even though I could go on and on about Twitter in athletics, the fact of the matter is that this type of medium is really influencing all areas of life in all different kinds of professions and across many different age demographics. It is just easy to see it manifested in the athletic world because of the high pedestal that sports hold in society. Like it or not, Twitter is not the fad that some people forecasted it to be, rather it is a social media tool that is still rapidly gaining momentum and is not going to go away anytime soon. Because of this staying power, I don’t know if I completely support Coach Meyer’s decision to all-together ban Twitter (although I initially did when the announcement was made today). I would much rather see teams, offices, companies, etc. develop strict policies and protocols on how athletes/employees/administrators use it.

One thing that is plainly obvious is that Twitter is not the Twitter that it was three years ago. No longer is this a social medium used by a small minority of society that is reserved for updating where you are and what you are doing at the given moment. No, no, no, the landscape has changed drastically. Today’s Twitter is much more widespread and is focused intensely on interaction among fellow users, gut reactions and opinions to unfolding events, and wittiness. It is very common for Twitter users, especially younger users, to have full out conversations over the medium. I am talking about detailed interactions about plans for the night, relationship issues, or any other type of drama that might be going on. This is of course played out for the whole Twitter community to see. In the Twitter world, it really is about being clever and unique. You want to have content that is going to draw people to your account, content that other people are going to pick up on. Anyone who uses Twitter, myself included, will tell you that it is kind of like a badge of honor to be retweeted. Well, you aren’t going to get retweeted by saying something mundane or boring. This urges people to push the envelope, to say something a little edgy, to try to one up someone. Of course when the objective is to be as witty as possible, content goes onto your Twitter feed that employers/coaches/teachers will probably cringe at.

You probably are all looking at me thinking I am the biggest hypocrite ever. Well, you are pretty much right. I am a Twitter addict (@BrentR7) with over 9,000 tweets to my name. I love interacting over Twitter and I am usually not shy to send out to all my followers what I am thinking at the given moment. However, as of late my eyes have been opened a little more to the negative implications that Twitter can bring to both the individual and the organization that the individual represents. I have sent out some tweets that I wish I hadn’t. Combined with my personal experience and with all of the mind-blowing, bush league tweets I see others send out over a variety of different social groups and professions, I feel that work places, organizations, teams, etc. should not ban the usage of Twitter but rather monitor the usage of Twitter through company policies.

The one thing that I forget a lot, and I know others do too, is that more people are paying attention to what you post than what you think. Not only that, but people are also connecting you with the organization/team/work place that you are affiliated with. I feel this is the main point that all work place Twitter policies (actually all social media policies) should be based on and driven into the heads of employees/athletes/etc. In life, no matter what job you hold, your boss is always going to tell you that outside of the workplace you are still representing your place of work/your team and that you need to conduct yourself in a way that honors and reflects that position. Well, even though the Twitter realm might be out of the workplace, it is probably a good idea to hold yourself in a respectful way because even in the land of social media people are going to pinpoint you with whatever higher level you are associated with.

Once that this general rule is communicated, specifics relating to Twitter can be implemented. For my job, I already adhere to a couple of guidelines that I feel are very reasonable and necessary for everyone across the board. Each night I stop tweeting at a certain hour and I am to refrain from using profanity. These are no-brainers. If you are a high school teacher and you are sending tweets out at 3am in the morning, what are your students going to think when they see you just a few hours later? Or what if you are a real estate agent and some prospective clients see you dropping the F Bomb in several tweets right before they are going to see you about a property? I have had people from the community who I have helped or worked with immediately add me on Twitter right after I had met them. People are going to try to get an inside scoop on you before you even know they are following you so it is important to always keep your guard up.

Some other guidelines I believe anyone who is representing a workplace or team that is in the public view should adhere to are as follows:

1. Pay close attention to grammar and punctuation. Yes, it is fine to use shorthand and slang in your tweets within reason but don’t misspell words, don’t add a bunch of unnecessary punctuation marks or letters, don’t tweet in pig latin.

2. Never slam/criticize a competitor.

3. NEVER criticize a company that is affiliated/invested with your organization/company/team.

4. Be careful who you follow and who follows you. People will look at this and try to tie you to them.

5. Be very careful what you retweet and quote, whatever you send out will be construed as a direct reflection of you, even if someone else said it.

6. Know when to stop @ replying. Public conversations through Twitter are fun but some subjects are definitely more suited for direct messages, the phone, texting, or face-to-face.

7. Twitpic is a very useful and effective tool but make sure all images are appropriate.

8. Don’t get into arguments over Twitter with another user. These can be especially embarrassing as they are played out for everyone to see.

9. Keep your account information PRIVATE and always log out if you are on a computer or don’t let your phone get into the wrong hands. There is nothing worse than when someone poses as you on one of your social media outlets. Sometimes serious damage can occur.

10. When you are under the influence, don’t tweet.

Of course these rules and guidelines would be pointless if they are not enforced. The way teams/organizations/companies uphold the integrity of their Twitter policy is for them to decide. Some might opt to put pressure on an employee to delete their Twitter account entirely if they are in violation of the policy. Other organizations might implement harsher consequences and threaten employees/team members who are in violation of the policy with probation or termination or expulsion from the team.

Bottom line, I don’t feel banning Twitter completely is the way to go. While it does potentially eliminate the problem, I also feel it takes away rights from people and it also deprives them of a communication tool that is actually really cool. We are social animals and we should have the opportunity to express ourselves through a variety of different mediums. If we just tell ourselves to be smart and remind ourselves that someone is always watching, we should be fine. Tweet on! Don’t Blink.

A Day I Would Like to Forget

Posted on January 2, 2012 by brent

As I wrote about yesterday, I had a very good 2011. Unfortunately, a certain event happened to me early last week that could have ruined the year for me. While the event certainly did leave a blemish on the year I do understand that the outcome could have been much worse. Here is what happened.

I had a great Christmas with my family in Spokane. I got into Spokane the night of December 23, went to Walla Walla, Washington, for Christmas Eve, and then returned to Spokane on Christmas morning. Christmas fell on a Sunday this year so that meant that as a state employee I got Monday off. As it is custom for me to do, I decided to stay the whole day in Spokane on Monday and then return to Missoula early on Tuesday morning. I do this all the time…I will maximize the time with my family as much as possible and then leave for Missoula at around 5am the next morning so I get back to work by around 9am. I sometimes get a little drowsy on the trip back but it is usually nothing that really deters me that much.

Monday I had a wonderful day. My family went to “War Horse” which was pretty good and then we went to the mall together. After coming home for a little bit, I went to downtown Spokane and ate dinner with a friend I had met in Las Vegas who coincidently lives in Spokane. As it was our first time hanging out since we had seen each other in Vegas, drinks were ordered to help ease some of the nerves/awkwardness that comes with such a meeting. As we enjoyed each other’s company, more drinks were ordered. When we parted ways, my slight buzz gave me that feeling that I did not really want the night to end. So instead of going home and settling down for the night I decided to meet my brother at our local casino, Lilac Lanes. It did not take long for a friend of mine to show up along with a couple of my brother’s friends. We all were having a wonderful time. At around 1am I was still at the casino. I knew it was time to get home so despite the urges of everyone to stay I went back to my parents’ house. Once at home I got some of my stuff together and ate my leftover Mexican food from dinner. After catching up on Words With Friends, I crashed on the couch…it was just a little past 2am.

Now as I was scheduled to leave my parents’ house at 5am I had my alarm set for 4am so I would have enough time to get ready/pack. When my alarm sounded I looked out the window and noticed that it was still snowing in Spokane. Because I wanted to wait the snow out a little bit before I left and because I knew that two hours of sleep would probably not be sufficient for the drive, I slept another hour. I packed, got ready, and left my parents’ house at around 6:30am.

With the extra hour of sleep, I thought I was good to go. Most of you who know me well know that I usually get only 3-4 hours of sleep each night anyway. Well I hit the road and I was feeling pretty good and alert. I had my sports talk radio keeping me occupied and engaged along with a bunch of other thoughts that were swirling around my head that particular morning. Once I finally got out of Spokane though and hit the freeway, my eyes started to get heavy. At around 40 miles into the trip, I knew that I had to eventually pull over and rest my eyes for a minute and regroup. Kellogg, Idaho, was just 30 miles away so I buckled down and focused as much as I could until I got there. I made it to Kellogg and pulled into a random parking lot of some grocery store. I tried to sleep a little bit but with the snow still falling, a meeting at 11am, and the uneasy and seemingly ridiculous proposition of sleeping in a supermarket parking lot, I decided to continue my trek only after about five minutes.

After pulling out of the lot, I came to the intersection that would let me enter the freeway. It was a three way intersection and all I had to do was go straight and I would hit the onramp that would take me onto the freeway. I had a stop sign and made my complete stop. In front of me, traffic was moving both ways. In my tired state, I assumed that there were stop signs as well for that traffic. There wasn’t. I hit the gas and started to coast towards the freeway entrance. Out of the corner of my right eye I could see a tan Ford F-150 coming right at me.

No matter what I did, I was going to get hit.

The truck slammed into my white Mercury Sable on my rear passenger side. I spun about 180 degrees and my car came to a complete stop. My airbags did not deploy and I never got any feeling of disorientation or adrenaline. I got out of the car immediately and asked the driver of the truck if he was okay. Thankfully he was and his car was too. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about my car.

A Kellogg police officer came to the scene and wrote up the report, issued me a ticket for failing to yield, and helped me contact a towing company. The whole process lasted about an hour and by that time I knew my day was shot.

Soon thereafter a tow truck came to pick up my car and myself. Once my car was hooked up and I was in the truck, the driver talked my ear off about possible routes to go with fixing my car and how to handle my insurance issues. You see, this guy not only ran his own towing company but he also runs his own body shop. He wanted to get an “in’ with me as much as possible. We drove to his shop in a town called Osburn, Idaho. Once there I did all the necessary things I needed to do given the circumstances…filled out paperwork, filed a claim with my insurance, called my parents, notified my work, etc. It was a very lonely and sad time for me.

About four hours later, my parents were amazing enough to show up and give me a ride to St. Regis. It was at St. Regis where my good friend Rachel picked me up and brought me back to Missoula. Despite missing work, Rachel was kind enough to come out and get me. I owe her a lot. It would be the start of many extremely nice things my friends have done for me since my accident. At around 5:45pm, Rachel dropped me off at the Adams Center. I had missed the entire scheduled work day. I felt like the biggest loser in the world walking into that office to get my necessary work done. Lucky for me, most everyone had left for the day…the last thing I wanted to do was to talk to anyone about what had happened. But one of my co-workers was still in the office. As I was starting to get settled and get some work done this co-worker came into my office to check in on me and make sure I was okay. I tried to keep myself together but I couldn’t. All the feelings of failure, embarrassment, and sadness came out and I broke down. It was the first time anyone at work has ever seen me out of character.

Before I write about how things have gotten better, I just want to explain more on how badly I felt. This was my first car accident. Words can’t describe how shitty and inept you feel when you get into an accident that is your fault. I messed up big time and my mistake impacted far more people than just myself. The worst part of this whole thing is that I let my parents down. My mom continually tells me that I need to treat my body better and get more sleep. She pleads with me when I am at her house to go to bed early. The fact that I didn’t do this on Monday night kills me. My parents are also nice enough to have me on their insurance policy. The guy at the body shop said this shouldn’t hurt that much on their insurance but who knows. The fact that I am responsible for any amount of financial strain on my parents is perhaps the worst feeling in the world. I can’t thank my parents enough for how supportive they were when this incident occurred. My pride took a humongous hit last Tuesday and it is going to take quite a bit of time to build it back up again.

Things are going to work out for me. I woke up on Wednesday morning and I felt 10x better than I did the previous night. Each day since then has gotten better. Work this past week was very busy and a lot of fun so that also helped me keep my mind off of negative thoughts and kept me more focused on good things. My friends and co-workers have been nothing but supportive. They have been so generous in giving me rides to/from work. I will have a vehicle sooner than later and I look forward to that time so I will not be such a burden on everyone else.

The lesson in this whole snafu is obvious: I will never drive fatigued again. Going even further, I am going to try my best to start getting a little more sleep at night. I need to consider this a wake up call (no pun intended) and make better decisions from here on out. This has been a humbling experience and I never want to be in this situation again. Again, to my family, friends, and co-workers….THANK YOU. Don’t Blink.