Monthly Archives: May 2026

Closed Thursday Rundown

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Thursday always seems to come sooner when preceded by a Monday holiday. Tonight’s Thursday Rundown will be my last of the month so let’s send May out with a bang…

Fr. Jeff’s 15th Ordination Anniversary – Our family priest marked his 15th anniversary of his ordination this week. That’s right, Fr. Jeff Lewis has now been part of the priesthood for a decade and a half. We have enjoyed celebrating Fr. Jeff’s ordination anniversary (here and here) over the years and this latest one was bittersweet as he will leave St. Mary next month for an assignment in Walla Walla.

Fr. Jeff Lewis celebrated his 15th ordination anniversary on May 26. We celebrated the milestone with him at our young family group meeting.

Family Faith Night – Speaking of Fr. Jeff, he was in attendance with us last night at the final St. Mary Family Faith Night of the year. The theme centered on different Catholic religious orders, a topic that was of great interest to me. It is a gift from God that priests and others are able to live out their vocations under special spiritual missions. Once again, the evening was a complete masterpiece thanks to the organization, thought, and creativity of Marie Bricher.

Beau yells something at Fr. Jeff Lewis as we “try” to listen to Marie Bricher during the last Family Faith Night of the school year on May 27, 2026. The topic/theme centered on different Catholic religious orders.

Flight 509 – I felt for the Spokane business community when Flight 509 announced its closure on Tuesday night. The entertainment center is closing after just two years in business. Those owners poured a lot of money, time, and effort into making Flight 509 a clean and fun place with all the bells and whistles. It truly had everything from laser tag to a ropes course to bumper cars to bowling lanes to robots who delivered pizza. Even the adults felt at home with a swanky bar and large TVs. The kids did receive Flight 509 gift cards for Christmas so we will be making one final trip before the business closes its doors to the public on June 13.

Flight 509 was fun. Photos are from our first ever visit and from when we found free passes in a geocache. I thought Flight 509 did excellent community outreach. It is sad to see them close.

Hard Mt. Dew – Normally I wouldn’t purchase something like this, but I wanted to enjoy a fun beverage with my brother before we headed to the Ron White show this past Saturday. On my way to his house, I stopped at a convenient store and couldn’t help but reach into the cooler for two of the Hard Mt. Dew Baja Blasts. When I handed one of the cans to Glen with a mile-wide grin, he knew he had no choice but to indulge with me. It tasted pleasant and tropical but much to my dismay it contained no caffeine. That was a head scratcher to me. How could any Mt. Dew beverage—alcoholic or virgin—not have any caffeine? Anyway, it was definitely a change from the rare light beer I drink every now and then.

Cheers! Glen and I hold the Hard Mt. Dews we drank before the Ron White show.

National Hamburger Day – Today is a big day in Americana as it is National Hamburger Day. I wrote my ode to the burger two years ago on this date that I felt served as my mic drop when it comes to our nation’s favorite food. But if you are still hungry for more, I once wrote about my top five favorite hamburger toppings, the freshest hamburger I ever ate, and one of the most unique hamburgers I ever ordered. Hope you celebrate with a burger tonight!

I love a good burger. Happy National Hamburger Day!

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Hope everyone has a great weekend. June will be here on Monday as it will kickoff what promises to be a very busy and memorable month for Sid and me. Don’t Blink.

Comedians Got Talent

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Watching Ron White perform this past Saturday (as mentioned in my 2026 Memorial weekend blog post) was relaxing and pretty funny. It was also significant in that it had been a long time since I attended a show featuring a superstar of comedy. The last time I watched an a-list comedian in-person was more than 16 years ago when I attended a Gabriel Iglesias show in Missoula.

My dad and I inside Northern Quest shortly before hitting up the outdoor venue for the Ron White show.

Between those two shows I have seen scrappy comedians try to make a name for themselves on cruise ships, amusement parks, and other venues.

But whether I was watching a comedy titan or someone trying to breakthrough, one thought would enter my head: comedians are truly some of the best public speakers around.

When someone doing stand-up takes the stage, there is no lectern or buffer separating them from the audience. Instead, they are given a mic and told to go. From there they must engage and connect with the audience in a way that produces a very specific response—laughter. Talk about pressure!

Comedians talk for an extended period of time while telling countless jokes that are embedded within numerous stories. You see, that’s probably the top talent that any comedian must possess: an absolute gift for storytelling.

As I watched Ron White deliver his approximately hour-long set, I observed with complete respect how he could effortlessly tell one story and transition to the next one, all while having the audience in laughing fits. But perhaps what impressed me most was how he improvised when a car alarm went off in the nearby parking garage. As the sound of the blaring horn dragged on for about a minute (which seemed like an eternity), White was able to crack jokes about the nature of live comedy shows and bad timing.

A look from our seats at the Ron White show. It took place on Saturday, May 23, at Northern Quest.

He removed any doubt that his set was simply an automatic, memorized speech that couldn’t be altered or disturbed. White’s ability to tell a new story when something beyond his control interjected itself into his current story was fascinating. Although his vulgar sense of humor may not have resonated with me most of the night, his talent earned my respect.

Shoutout to all the comedians out there. If you have any secrets about how you do it, I would love to hear them. Don’t Blink.

Memorial Day Weekend 2026

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The 2026 Memorial Day Weekend blessed us with perfect weather and an empty calendar. When those two conditions exist, it usually opens up the opportunity for some spontaneous fun. And that is exactly what transpired for my family over the past few days. If you don’t mind, I would like to share with you how we spent the long weekend…

The Memorial Day weekend packed lots of fun for our family.

Friday – We kicked off the holiday weekend at the ballpark. We went to Avista Stadium for the Spokane Indians vs. Vancouver Canadians baseball game. Although we watched some seriously baaaad baseball (the Indians lost 15-0), we all know that nobody goes to a minor league ballgame for the on-field talent. Instead, we enjoyed ourselves by eating stadium food, taking photos with the Disney princesses, and running the bases after the game. It was our first Indians game of the summer but it definitely won’t be our last.

We had lots of fun attending our first Spokane Indians game of the season.

Saturday – Our marquee event of the day was going to LaserMaxx for a round of laser tag. The competition inside the maze wasn’t as stiff as usual because I actually finished in second place while Sloan finished fifth and Beau posted a 10th place finish (out of 21 players). Afterwards I took them to Dairy Queen for lunch where they are burgers and fries and used their “free cone” coupon they earned at the Indians game the night prior for running the bases.

Sloan and Beau ready to play some laser tag at LaserMaxx.

Later that night I went out to Northern Quest with my dad and brother for the Ron White comedy show. We started the evening at the casino by eating Asian food at East. We then found our seats in the outdoor venue and laughed our @$$es off as Ron White told jokes for about an hour. We then went back inside the casino and I managed to double my money playing Paigow.

My dad and I inside Northern Quest shortly before hitting up the outdoor venue for the Ron White show.

Sunday – We were at St. Mary bright and early for Pentecost Sunday mass. The kids brought the gifts down as we concluded the Easter season. Later that day we went over to my parents’ house for their annual Memorial Weekend cookout. A steak dinner was sandwiched between many outdoor activities as we played hard. Wiffle ball, hacky sack, and soccer were the main activities that allowed us all to exert plenty of energy as the bubble machine worked in overdrive to produce a very summery scene in my parents’ front yard.

Sloan, Beau, and their cousins (Mik and John) play wiffle ball in my parents’ front yard as part of our annual family Memorial Day weekend celebration.

Monday – On actual Memorial Day we had a picnic at Edgecliff Park with my parents, my siblings, and their families. The weather was once again beautiful as we all brought something to share for lunch. The different sports balls were flying through the air and zipping across the grass for the second straight day as we benefited from plenty of exercise. And because we had so much fun at the park together, we couldn’t just let things end there…

Hanging with everyone at Edgecliff Park for our Memorial Day picnic.

The kids and I wanted to have an encore round of laser tag but this time we brought everyone with us. Sidney, my sister, her kids, my brother, and my sister-in-law all joined us at LaserMaxx as the game we played had more competitors with “Reser” blood than not. It was a blast! After that, the four of us ran some errands before coming back to the house. Beau and I hit up the basketball court and played some pickle ball before joining the girls inside the house for the rest of the night.

Our gang at the end of our LaserMaxx round. We had a lot of fun!

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If the so-called “kickoff to summer” was any indication of what the next few months have in store, we better all buckle up. Hope everyone else had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend! Let the countdown to the end of the school year begin so the real fun can start. Don’t Blink.

Putting Me On Ice

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As I have mentioned before, we weren’t a soda and apps family growing up. However, on those blue moon occasions when my parents did allow me to order a soda at a restaurant, I usually made one request of our server…

No ice, please.

I would always order my soft drinks sans ice for a main overarching reason: it just got in the way. Ice would clink on my teeth if I didn’t have a straw and it would water down the soda. And of course that water wasn’t living rent free in the glass—prior to its liquid form, it was taking up space in the form of ice.

Even as a 9-year-old kid, I knew that more ice equaled less soda.

When I would make these requests as a kid, the server at the restaurant or the attendant at the theater concession stand had no issue accommodating it. Soda itself was inexpensive and refills were mostly free, so who cares if some boy was asking for an extra ounce of product by asking for no ice?

The same laissez faire attitude does not exist in present day coffee culture at stands in Spokane. Many coffee empires in the Inland Northwest, including the stand just a minute from our house, will charge extra for what it calls light ice.

Yep, ask the barista to give you less of something and they will make you pay more for it.

This lotus drink has a proper amount of ice. However, many stands now fill your cup more than halfway with ice.

The customer vs. coffee house conflict is obvious: Many coffee stands scoop so much ice into a 20 oz. cup that probably only 12 oz. of the actual beverage is poured. Most customers recognize this and reasonably try to maximize the amount of actual product they receive for their $7.49 drink by asking for light ice.

But that is going to ruffle the feathers of the barista because she is trained to scoop a specific amount of ice. Costs and expenses are closely monitored and the coffee stands know that if they slack on ice, the profit margin on that drink is going to decrease. The stands will begrudgingly grant your ice request if you pay an upcharge but don’t expect to upend their very efficient and scientific way of making drinks for free. At that point you are messing with their bottom line.

So I definitely see this dilemma from both perspectives. But since I am a customer and not a barista, you probably know which side I am on.

This drink simply has too much ice.

I could get technical and say if a drink is advertised at a specific price, the price per ounce value should be honored. Take my 20 oz. drink for $7.49 example. That equates to about 37 cents per ounce. A customer should theoretically be able to object if the true cost per ounce is actually 64 cents because half the cup (or more) is filled with ice.

But I prefer to just use a blunter point of reason: the quantity of ice added to drinks at coffee houses is starting to get out of control (don’t get my wife started). In my example above, cups filled with 50% ice is actually being generous. More often than not, they are packed with an even greater percentage of ice depending on which stand you visit.

My belief is that these businesses should just be upfront with how much ice they are giving you and how many fluid ounces of product you are actually being served. That would then provide the customer with a better frame of reference on whether the drink purchase is actually worth it in the first place, let alone if they dare pay extra for “light ice.”

Or perhaps coffee stands should just put less ice into drinks to begin with.

I love the coffee stand right by our house…the baristas are awesome and the drinks taste good. However, the ice issue is making me feel a bit cold. Don’t Blink.

Panwaffles Thursday Rundown

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I begin this Thursday Rundown with excitement because Memorial Day Weekend is just hours away. Who doesn’t love Memorial Day Weekend? Not only does it provide some extra time off but it also packs optimism. With it being the official kickoff of summer, you can’t help but think, “the good times are about to roll.” Let’s jump into this week’s Thursday Rundown…

Panwaffles – On Tuesday night, I allowed Sloan to make pancakes for dinner. However, when getting her started, I made a big mistake by telling her to add more water than what the recipe called for. This resulted in a very watery pancake batter that was basically unusable. But worst of all was that we had used all the pancake mix so we didn’t have the option to add more to even out the batter. As a last resort, I took a box of waffle mix we had in our pantry and told Sloan to pout it into the mixing bowl. The unconventional approach rectified the consistency problem of the batter and we were able to make delicious (and slightly sweeter) pancakes…or, according to Sloan, panwaffles.

Sloan makes “panwaffles” while Beau looks on.

Blog Anniversary Signs – Earlier this week I wrote about my 15th anniversary of blogging. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that I have found a corny tradition to mark it with each year. Over the past many anniversaries, Sid has made a “sign” commemorating whatever year (i.e. 9th, 10th, 11th, etc.) it happens to be. I then hold the sign for a photo with the kids. This year there was a twist…Sloan created the sign! Anyway, below you can see some of the photos/signs from previous years.

Some of the photos/signs from blogging anniversaries throughout the years.

Confirmed – Sloan received the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Eucharist last week. At the mass there was a professional photographer and we received the images she took of Sloan last night. I wanted to share the moment she was confirmed by Bishop Thomas Daly. I just think it is a great shot of him placing the sacred chrism oil on her forehead while Fidela, her Confirmation sponsor, looks on with her hand on Sloan’s shoulder.

The moment that Sloan was confirmed by Bishop Thomas Daly.

Driving the Car – Back when I was a boy around Beau’s age, I got behind the wheel of my parents’ car while it was in the garage and I pulled/pressed something that allowed the car to start slowly backing out. Thanks be to God, my mom saw the car moving out from our large living room window and was able to run outside and stop the vehicle before it crashed into anything. But you would have thought that experience would have scarred me from ever letting my son get behind the wheel of my car. I guess not.

Beau driving like a maniac! In all honesty, I wasn’t going to let him have an experience like I did when I was his age.

Spirit Week – Today concluded Spirit Week at St. Mary (no school for the kids tomorrow). Throughout the past four days they dressed up for Pajamas Day, Crazy Hair/Mismatched Outfit Day, Sports Day, and Hat-Tastic Day. In addition to today’s celebration of Hat-Tastic Day, it was also the St. Mary Talent Show that Sloan participated in.

Some photos of the kids all dressed up for St. Mary spirit week.

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As you can already surmise from my intro, I am pretty excited about Memorial Day Weekend. So, if you don’t mind, I am going to bounce. I hope everyone has a relaxing and safe holiday weekend. Don’t Blink.

Don’t Blink: Happy Quinceañera!

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Last week I celebrated the quinceañera of Don’t Blink. Don’t worry, I didn’t put on a fancy dress, but I did have a very low-key celebration with my kids. After all, they have had to put up with daddy’s blog their entire lives.

The kids and I take a moment to celebrate my 15th blogging anniversary.

And let’s not forget Sidney. Don’t Blink has been in existence for nearly half of her life. Do you realize the SEO my blog has generated for her name? Please check with her on whether that is a good thing or not. 😂

But alas, 15 years is a good chunk of time to do anything. And if you are doing something for that long you better hope it is worthwhile. Despite obvious bias, I believe Don’t Blink checks that box.

As I find myself at this 15th anniversary milestone, my output has surpassed 2,900 blog posts. The big 3,000th post will probably come in very early 2027—and yes, I plan to still be blogging by then.

At this point, I have a blog post written for pretty much every possible topic that can come up in a discussion. This proves advantageous for me because it is much easier to have an in-person conversation when it centers on something you have already written about. If time runs short, I have been known to follow up with the person I was chatting with by texting them a link to the blog post that corresponds to what we were just speaking about…my wife HATES it when I do that. However, when you have a vault of content that stretches back a decade and a half, you might as well dig into it every now and then.

Each year for my blogging anniversary, I pose with a sign that my wife usually creates declaring the achievement. This year, Sloan made the sign.

But it isn’t the breadth of topics I have covered that bring me the most joy when it comes to my blog. Nor is it the online searchability I have created for myself and the things I care about. Nor is it the established forum I have built to discuss developments and trends in my professional career.

Although those three items were definitely the motivating factors for starting my blog in 2011, they aren’t the reason why I keep blogging today. The reason I keep churning out post after post is because Don’t Blink has turned into my family’s time capsule. From every holiday celebrated to every vacation taken to every milestone achieved, a rich record of it exists within brentreser.com. Words, photos, and emotion combine to create detailed memories that my kids and their kids will be able to read for decades and decades to come.

After a readership dip from 2021-2024, more people read Don’t Blink in 2025 since 2020. And in 2026? Traffic has already exceeded 2025’s banner mark and we aren’t even halfway through the year. If the traffic keeps up, 2026 could de-throne 2015 as the best year in the history of Don’t Blink. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading my blog.

So with the momentum clearly trending in a positive direction, the blogging will continue. Sorry, Glen 😂. Thank you to my readers, and, most importantly, my wife and kids, for the support. Authoring Don’t Blink has been—and continues to be—a pleasure. Don’t Blink.

Crowded/Glorious Engaged Encounter Retreat

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This past weekend, Sidney and I presented at another Spokane Catholic Engaged Encounter retreat. It marked the fifth retreat that we have given since we joined the ministry in 2022 and the third since we were discerned as the community leaders in 2025.

The couples from the May 2026 Spokane Catholic Engaged Encounter retreat flash their certificates of completion.

This latest retreat was particularly noteworthy for a few reasons. First, we had 22 couples join us, a record for a post-COVID retreat. At the Immaculate Heart Retreat Center they had to change the seating configuration from a length-optimized setup to a width-optimized setup because of the sheer number of attending couples. We even had to speak into microphones because of the volume of people and the increased area of space we took up compared to an average retreat.

After mass on Saturday night, I ran up to the loft and took a photo of the 22 couples plus Sid, Fr. Jeff Lewis, and the Schroeders. The May 2026 Spokane Catholic Engaged Encounter retreat was memorable for the outstanding attendance we had.

Another unique aspect to this retreat was the addition of two other couples on top of the 22 who had already registered. In the Tri-Cities area of Washington State, the Catholic community down there is trying to bring its own Engaged Encounter ministry to fruition. Because of this, two couples from the group attempting to launch an EE presence came up to observe how we give retreats. It was fun to show them what we do and the teamwork needed to pull off a weekend. They were impressed.

We got to take the retreat outside on Saturday morning for a Spokane Catholic Engaged Encounter tradition known as the “Yes/No game.”

And most significantly, this retreat will forever stick out because it was the last one that Fr. Jeff Lewis presided over as the Spokane Catholic Engaged Encounter chaplain. For years he has been the lead priest on our ministry team but that all changed a couple weeks ago when Bishop Daly announced new priestly assignments. Fr. Jeff was impacted in the announcement as the bishop named him pastor of Assumption Parish and St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Walla Walla, WA. Because he will now be three hours away from Spokane, he had to step down from his role as EE chaplain. However, I think we sent him out on a high note with so many couples in attendance and a retreat that went as smoothly as you could hope.

Sid and I stand with Natalie Schroeder, Joe Schroeder, and Fr. Jeff Lewis. We served as the ministry team at the May 2026 Spokane Catholic Engaged Encounter weekend that took place at the Immaculate Heart Retreat Center.

Thanks be to God for another enriching Spokane Catholic Engaged Encounter retreat. Special gratitude to Joe and Natalie Schroeder for presenting with us again. What a blessing this ministry has been to Sid and me…we can’t wait to present again. Don’t Blink.

Past Engaged Encounter Blog Entries
Embracing Vulnerability at Engaged Encounter
A Marital Lesson I Recently Accepted
Still Making It Look Easy: Fr. Pat Kerst
Presenting With My Wife at Engaged Encounter

An Embarrassing Moment on Public Transit

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It has now been nearly 100 days since the embarrassing incident occurred so I think the humiliation has lessened just enough that I can tell the story…

I have mentioned before that I ride the Spokane Transit Authority (STA) bus system to work most days. I have also mentioned that I have a superpower for sleeping anywhere at any time…including sitting up while riding the bus.

My vantage point most mornings when I am on the STA bus. On a particular one of these mornings in early February 2026 I had a very embarrassing episode.

Okay, anyway, on Feb. 3 I was on the Route 6 bus like usual en route to Cheney. After we took the Four Lakes exit, I thought I would shut my eyes for 10 minutes before the bus pulled up to my stop on the EWU campus. I had done this countless times before and it had never failed: When the bus would stop at Cheney High School (usually the last stop before my own stop) I would usually automatically snap out of any state of unconsciousness I was in. My body and mind just simply knew it was time to open my eyes.

It must have been because of the routine 3 a.m. mornings and the recent late nights because I didn’t wake up when we reached Cheney High School. Rather, I woke up to the words, “Sir, sir” as the bus driver brought me to consciousness.

For the first several seconds, I was massively confused. I didn’t know where I was and who was talking to me. But then I realized I was on the bus and it was the driver who was looking at me. I scanned around. I was the only person besides the driver on board.

I was still confused where I was and asked the driver for clarification. He told me we were right off campus. I looked out the window and saw Roos Field so I immediately had a reference point. We were in some lot that the busses must use at the end of routes.

The driver and I started apologizing to each other at the same time. For whatever reason he felt at fault that he didn’t catch me snoozing away in my seat as he made the last campus stop. I apologized profusely knowing full well that a grown man shouldn’t need to be awakened like a toddler.

I jumped off the bus, still a tad bit disoriented, and made the long walk to my office. I thought about what the other passengers must have thought when they exited the bus and saw me in my seat sleeping. I thought about the moment the bus driver realized he had a rider on board after completing the route. I thought about how my reliable senses weren’t so reliable in this very rare instance. The longer-than-usual stroll didn’t cleanse the embarrassment I felt the rest of the day (nor for the next few months).

That incident was definitely a fluke. Over the past several weeks I have still taken a 10-minute power nap while on the homestretch to campus without any additional issues with oversleeping. However, I do close my eyes with a little more caution than I did prior to Feb. 3. Don’t Blink.

Rosa’s Thursday Rundown

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I hope the beginning of my latest Thursday Rundown finds you well. If you are new to Don’t Blink, each Thursday I write briefly (debatable) about five random topics. If this format sounds acceptable to you, please continue reading for your enjoyment and pleasure…

First Communion TBT – The night before Sloan’s First Communion, I went through my old photo album and showed my daughter some photos from my own First Communion. I also showed her the program from my First Communion mass. Instead of telling me I look “funky” as she seems to do every single day, she reacted to the photos by saying verbatim, “You were low-key kinda cute.”

This was me moments before we got in the car to attend my First Communion mass.

Fruity Pebbles Candy – I am always on the lookout for new and interesting treats so when I saw Fruity Pebbles Candy at Dollar Tree this past weekend, I couldn’t resist. The verdict? They tasted exactly like Fruity Pebbles (seriously)! However, the taste of nostalgia and fruitiness quickly dissipated and I was done with them after eating the contents of a quarter of the box. My kids couldn’t even eat much more than me.

This candy definitely tasted like Fruity Pebbles.

Bowling Fun – Each quarter, our University Relations team takes a break from the office to spend some quality time together doing something fun off-site. This past Friday we found ourselves at Rosa’s for pizza and bowling. Even though I have gone on record stating that I am not a huge fan of bowling, I had a great time with my colleagues. Perhaps part of it was that I actually bowled well. I don’t know how I managed it, but I posted scores in the 130s and 140s as I won all three games we played (to be fair, just three other University Relations staffers bowled with me 😂). Even though not everyone bowled, everyone had a great time. I am lucky to work with such awesome people!

I really enjoy my University Relations team at Eastern Washington University. This was some of us last week at Rosa’s Pizza in Cheney.

Bringing Hacky Back – There was a major article in the New York Times this week (along with other publications) about the comeback of hacky sack. Gen Z has become obsessed with the hobby and all of a sudden stores across the country that used to sell two hacky sacks a month are selling 30 in a day. Many of these media reports site that hacky sack was a fad and “The Thing” to do in the 1990s. I find that funny because I was a die-hard “hacky sacker” in the early 2000s when I was in middle school…no wonder why I wasn’t a cool kid 😂. But yes, I LOVED hacky sack for a certain period in my life and to this day I still maintain some of the coordination needed to play it. I even wrote about my obsession with the hobby in a blog post from three years ago. I am thrilled to see hacky sack make a comeback with a new generation.

That’s me, wearing my Gap t-shirt and jean shorts, playing some hack sack probably 25 years ago.

Carry That Banner – As part of my role as EWU’s marketing director, I oversee sponsorships. For the second year in a row, we were the title sponsor for the Jr. Lilac Parade. Because of our designation as the top sponsor, Eastern Washington University led off the parade. With President McMahan riding in the car as the grand marshal and the cheer squad/Swoop energizing the crowd, someone needed to carry the banner. I gladly stepped up to help but it was a two-person job so I enlisted some assistance 😉. What a joy it was to bring Sloan with me so she could get a small taste of what her daddy does. At the same time, she got to go behind the scenes of a parade and chat more with her new BFF…President McMahan.

Sloan and I carry the EWU title sponsor banner at the 2026 Jr. Lilac Parade. (Photo credit: Amy Bradberry)

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That will wrap things up for tonight. However, I am not done for the week. I will publish a blog post about an embarrassing moment tomorrow morning…so stay tuned. Don’t Blink.

2026 Homemade Mother’s Day Gifts

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Sidney celebrated her tenth Mother’s Day as an actual mom this past Sunday. And just like a good majority of the previous ones, she received some homemade (or should I say schoolmade?) gifts constructed in class at St. Mary Catholic School. As per my tradition, I want to spotlight what my little Picassos made for Sid…

Definitely not my best Mother’s Day gift presentation but it is what inside that counts, right?

The youngest always goes first. Beau gave his mom a hand-decorated flower pot. If that sounds familiar, it means you read way too much of my blog and you have a great memory…because he gave Sid something very similar last year. Although this year’s version contains fake plants and (thank goodness) no dirt. Instead, fake gems and rocks provide the “soil” for the artificial plants/flowers springing from the pot. Well done, Beau.

Beau holds the flower pot assortment he made.

Sloan also gave Sidney the same type of present she gifted her last year. My daughter once again took to the canvas and painted a masterpiece. Using her hands to mimic wings, she let her young creative juices flow and painted a butterfly flying in the sky. Sorry guys, not going to take any bids on this one (unless of course you actually do want to give me money for it).

Sloan holds her butterfly masterpiece.

And now for a break in tradition to bring you my very non-homemade gift. For the headlining item, I got my wife a gift card to the Plant Farm—her happy place during the spring/summer—because, after all, Beau’s fake plant wouldn’t provide the aesthetic Sidney is looking for in our back yard. In all seriousness, I can’t wait to see what she chooses to plant this year. This Mother’s Day I also went back on a personal vendetta I have against homemade coupons (I think they are lazy) and, yes, presented Sidney with a homemade coupon for a takeout meal of her choice. On the terms and conditions I specified that it needed to be redeemed on Mother’s Day. Lastly, I gave Sid some scratch offs, something that should resonate with readers who remember my post from January 2020.

A look at the Mother’s Day present I got for Sid.

Oh come on, did you think I wasn’t going to tell you what Sidney redeemed her coupon on? I hope you all like a Blooming Onion because I picked up Outback for the whole fam. It was the perfect way to end a nice Mother’s Day. Don’t Blink.