I have always loved football. For most of my life, the form of the sport I liked most was the college level. Before having kids, I would watch it non-stop and would attend as many games as possible—and work them too.

However, college football has changed a lot over the past few years. I still like to watch it, but it isn’t my favorite level of the game anymore. Instead, that is reserved for the high school ranks. Football at the prep level is still pure and student-athletes play for the love of the game.

Yeah, these days I prefer Friday nights over Saturdays.

I have enjoyed taking Sloan and Beau to high school football games over this past month. This photo is of Beau and I at the Battle of the Bell football game played between Mead and Mt. Spokane on Sept. 26.

Need evidence? During this month, I have taken the kids to three different high school football games at three different high schools. We have loved every minute of it.

Over the course of three Fridays in September, we went to three high school football games. We visited University High School, Gonzaga Prep (Bullpup Stadium), and Union Stadium (off-campus home of Mead High School and Mt. Spokane High School).

As I already mentioned, I enjoy these games because the athletes seem to play for more. And when I say more, I don’t mean money or endorsement deals—I mean pride.

I love that the passion at high school football games is top notch. Beau and Sloan watched the Battle of the Bell football game with their cousins this past Friday.

But besides the greater passion I perceive at the high school level, I think I like it just because I resonate with it. As someone who played high school football (but not well 😂), I believe I have an idea of how the players we watched throughout September feel. Even though I am now 21 years past playing my last football game, I imagine the thrills, pressures, and anxieties I experienced are still there for this new generation of players.

I was the starting center on the 2004 Mead High School football team.

Also, this might sound weird, but I enjoy the high school setting of these games. As I have attended the competitions over September, I have found myself enjoying the nostalgia that has swept over me. From the marching band performing to the cheerleaders stunting to the student sections chanting, it has brought me back to a simpler time. After a long week of work and the grind of adulting, it really is nice to catch a high school football game and reflect.

A Gonzaga Prep student adds some blue to Beau’s hair on Sept. 19. I love the environment that high school football takes place in.

No doubt, there will be more games we attend this season. After all, we do live within walking distance of University High School. As long as I don’t become too invested and start wearing my old letterman jacket to games, I think a high school football game is a great release for me and a nice treat for Sloan and Beau. Don’t Blink.

I would like to wish a happy 76th birthday to Bruce Springsteen. This legend was born on Sept. 23, 1949, and would proceed to rock the U.S. musical landscape.

At 76 years old, Bruce Springsteen is still rocking.

On my list of favorite musicians, Springsteen is right up there. To me, even though he has been relevant for decades, Springsteen is synonymous with 1980s musical excellence. Hits like “Born in the U.S.A” and “Glory Days” both came from that decade. And even though I really like both of those songs, it was another track right around that era that I consider one of my favorite songs of all-time.

Can you guess it? Well, it has something to do with an activity that I can’t do whether the lights are turned on or not.

Yep, “Dancing in the Dark” is a song I have Alexa play quite frequently when I wash the dishes. The track is pure gold and supplies me with continuous energy whenever I listen to it.

“Dancing in the Dark” is one of my all-time favorite songs.

But again, Springsteen didn’t just rock the 80s. One of my other favorite songs he recorded, “Born to Run,” was released in the 1970s. And his 2009 Super Bowl halftime show? If only artists today could reach that level!

Despite his musical genius and good looks, there is something I envy more than both those things…

His nickname.

I think all of us would love to be called “The Boss.” It pretty much just cuts right to the chase, right? Nothing cute, complex, or ambiguous about it. To be “The Boss” is to be the top dog. It conveys authority, respect, and prestige.

Although Bruce Springsteen is “The Boss”, I would like to recognize someone else who is a boss. That someone else is no other than my brother, Glen Reser. He can’t hold a musical tune and his dancing skills are on par with mine, but he is an incredible husband, devoted dad, and a pretty decent younger sibling.

Two bosses. Both both on September 23.

He is also frustratingly good (to an envious older brother) at almost everything he does—as long as it isn’t singing or dancing. Definitely sounds like “boss” material to me.

Hanging out at Dodger Stadium with Glen in the early 2010s. He was a boss back then, too.

You want to know what else is “boss” material? His birthday. He was born TODAY—the same day as Bruce. Although Glen came 40 years after the superstar, there must be something to be said about September 23.

A photo of us in another MLB ballpark “a few” years later. Glen is still a boss. 

Happy 36th birthday, Glen! Love you. Don’t Blink.

Throughout 2025, I have pointed out different “mile marker” dates of the year. For example, I commemorated the halfway milestone on June 30. I want to offer one more date for your consideration…

Today is the 265th day of the year (AKA Sept. 22) and when the sun rises tomorrow there will just be 100 days left in 2025. That means by Wednesday the remaining days left in 2025 will be in double digits.

And we all know the next 100 sleeps will fly by. Pretty soon it will be October and HalloweenGivingMas season will be in full swing. Once that three-month homestretch of festivities, craziness, and fun kicks off, you need to hold on tight.

Get ready to see a lot of pumpkins for a greater bulk of the rest of the year. This photo is of Beau at the 2025 ValleyFest held over the weekend.

So that is why these remaining days of September provide great opportunity. I think we can use this next week to reflect on the past nine months of the year while charging up for the literal and figurative final quarter of 2025 that starts Oct. 1.

Hopefully you have some victories from the past 265 days to celebrate. If not, that’s okay, because a truly fun time is almost here. But don’t overlook these next 7-8 days—make them count. Don’t Blink.

A couple years ago, if my cell phone rang, I would pull it out of my pocket with urgency/concern and immediately answer, “Hello?!”

Back in those days, aside from my wife and parents, I simply didn’t receive a lot of phone calls. Most of the communication on my cell transpired via text message. If a call came through with an unknown number, semi-panic would hit as I assumed it must be the kids’ school calling or some other emergency-type situation.

These days, my phone seems to ring off the hook. Unfortunately—and annoyingly—it isn’t because I am a popular person or I have won a large cash prize. Instead, spammers and salespeople are blowing up my phone.

Getting a phone call from a solicitor is the worst.

Ever since buying a house and later re-financing it, I receive calls seemingly non-stop from mortgage folks and real estate gurus wanting me to “make a big move.” My phone is also going off constantly thanks to my profession. Marketing salespeople have my personal number and don’t hesitate to call it at all hours of the day. Then of course I also receive a heavy dose of hang-ups and spam/prank calls.

These people use all the tactics. They call 2-3 times in succession. They call from a 509 (Spokane) or 843 (Myrtle Beach) area code. They call from numbers that closely mirror my loved ones.

Thanks to my phone’s feature of mostly identifying bothersome calls as spam and my own common sense, I have trained myself not to pick up when appropriate. However, one of the unfortunate consequences of being much more selective is that sometimes I ignore legitimate calls. And that sucks.

I am not really asking for help because I know the advice I will receive: tell the person on the other end to remove my number from their call list (just like my parents would tell telemarketers 25 years ago when they called our landline during dinner). So I guess I am just airing my frustrations and wishing I didn’t hear my ringtone as much as I do.

Have you ever turned a bothersome call into something great or missed a really important call because you thought it was garbage? Let me know! Don’t Blink.

On Saturday, I came across the below Blondie comic while reading the paper…

This “Blondie” comic touches on something that is very prevalent in American society today.

It stood out to me because I was shamed recently at a McDonald’s drive-thru for not rounding up for whatever good cause they were pushing at the time. Lucky for me, the shame didn’t come from the cars behind me (could you imagine the honking and jeers?) but just from the McDonald’s employee who was taking the drive-thru orders. To be fair, this particular employee was being trained and probably didn’t know that hassling customers to round up beyond the standard initial solicitation isn’t a best practice.

But perhaps I deserved it? After all, literally giving cents would seem like the absolute least a person could do to give back. However, and this probably isn’t a good excuse, but I feel like I am experiencing “round up” fatigue. From every transaction we make at the grocery store to every Domino’s pizza we purchase and absolutely everything else in-between we get asked to round up to the nearest dollar.

Then again, I might need to get over this “fatigue.” Because as I think about the round up practice—which has become just as common as every person in America asking for a 20% gratuity—I have to admit that it is probably the quickest, least invasive, and non-cost prohibitive way of raising money for charities and worthy initiatives. How hard is it to round up a $19.43 bill to $20?

Obviously for me it is a conundrum and that should probably be a wake up call that I need to be more generous. But I think that wake up call needs to come from my own personal conscience and not at the urging/shame of another person.

Do you have thoughts, practices, or philosophies when it comes to rounding up your bill? Don’t Blink.