Author Archives: brent

The $25,000 Man

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Who says good things never happen to good people?

 

If you have ever met my brother, Glen, you know he is a great guy. It does not take long to like him once you meet him. Easy going, funny, and charming, I am never embarrassed to introduce him to anyone. Amazing with numbers, he is very smart. As an all-conference third baseman for Central Washington University, he is very athletic.  Judging by the girls he introduces me to and what others say about him, he is, putting it nicely, a ladies man. Yes, Glen has a lot going for him and has many good qualities.

 

However, Glen is not perfect. If you push his buttons just the right way (believe me, I have) he can blow up. He sleeps in too much. He doesn’t always apply himself to the best of his ability. He doesn’t always respect authority as well as he should. Rational decision-making is a struggle for him. He drinks way too much…

 

Okay, I am getting off track. The only vice I really needed to convey about Glen for the purpose of the incredible story I am about to tell about him is that he is awful with money. Any type of currency burns holes in his pockets. I have seen Glen throw so much of his money away on useless crap/gimmicks/thrills that I could write a book about his terrible decisions. Because of the way he handles money combined with the fact that he is a college athlete with little time to work between school and baseball, Glen never really had much money on him. In his twenty-one years of life, he never really knew what it was like to be able to do what you wanted when you wanted.
 

 

Ten months ago, Glen was sitting in a bowling alley casino in Spokane, Washington, called Lilac Lanes. He was playing a favorite table game of his called Paigow. Now I don’t want to get into too many specifics about this game and confuse/bore a bunch of you but here is the basic premise: You get seven cards. You have to make a two card poker hand and a five card poker hand. Your five card hand has to beat your two card hand. You play against the dealer.  In order to win the hand you must beat both the two card hand and the five card hand of the dealer. The game is very slow so to liven it up they have a couple of bonus bet options that you can partake in.

 

This night my brother was with a couple of his baseball buddies and one of the baseball buddies’ girlfriend. The three of them were watching Glen play as he sat at a table with some of the regulars, you know, the people who have no lives. Dealing at the table was a cute girl named Jenna, a single mom about twenty-five years old…my brother would always hit on her.

 

Glen had five dollars on the bet, one dollar on the bonus bet, and one dollar on the progressive jackpot. Again, I am not going to get into mindless details because for non-paigow players they are boring and make little sense. But again, here is the gist of what happened: My brother was dealt a royal flush. He was given an Ace-King-Queen-Jack-Ten of hearts. Because a royal flush pays 2,000 to 1 in paigow my brother had instantly just won $2,000 because he had one dollar on the bonus bet. People at the table and my brother’s friends immediately became excited. Jenna immediately called the casino floor over to verify his amazing hand. When floor came over, they quickly realized that Glen was due a lot more. Remember how I told you that paigow is a seven card game? Well, the other two cards that Glen held in his hand were a King-Queen of spades. This gave him a royal match. What Glen really had been dealt was a royal flush-royal match.

 

As I mentioned above, Glen had a dollar on the progressive jackpot. For the progressive jackpot, the minimum/maximum qualifying bet is one dollar. People at paigow play this bet like it is going out of style and of course it rockets the jackpot up like crazy. Glen’s royal flush-royal match was a progressive jackpot qualifier to the tune of 50%. What was the jackpot?….. Over $46,000. Yes, over $46,000. In addition to the $2,000 Glen had already secured because of his royal flush, he had just won $23,000.

 

Lilac Lanes started to become a circus. News spread throughout the place in a matter of seconds that some twenty-one year old kid had just won $25,000. Glory hounds started to crowd around my brother, poker games split up to watch the commotion, people filtered in from the bowling alley to witness the madness. The floor did their best to restore order. Nothing could be touched or moved. They had placed a call to the owner of the casino. At 12:30am the owner had to drive from his house to the casino to verify the hand.

 

To the owner’s credit, he treated my brother with decency and respect. I have no idea how big of a punch to the stomach that must be for your business to pay out $25,000…to a twenty-one year old semi-drunk kid…on a cold winter night….after you had fallen soundly asleep. Anyway, upon looking at the hand and reviewing surveillance tape, the owner declared it a valid hand.

 

The owner and the manager ushered my brother over to the cage and with the owner on my brother’s left and the manager on my brother’s right, the cage person went to work. They first calculated taxes right on the spot and took it out of his winnings. That is Uncle Sam at work but at least Glen never saw that taxed out money in the first place. They took 28% (he would later get a $3,000 refund check). Next, they started to actually pay my bro. They first cut him a check for the amount of $12,500. They then paid him out $5,000 in cold hard cash. The cage person counted out 50 one hundred dollar bills to my brother. Next, they gave him $1,500 in chips.

 

It was time for the outrageousness to start.

 

My brother gave the cage guy $100 for his labor of counting out all of that cash. Next, my brother went over to Jenna, the dealer who dealt him the infamous hand. Like it was no big deal, my brother gave her the $1,500 in chips PLUS five hundred dollars in cash. That’s right, he had just tipped Jenna TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS. She practically had a breakdown as she thanked my brother over and over saying how much she needed the money and how she could now complete her Christmas shopping. She also communicated the fact that she was going to buy a big screen tv.

 

My brother then took sympathy on the seven other dealers working that night who did not have the fortune of dealing Glen that hand. As an act of holiday spirit and good will, he gave each of those seven dealers $100 apiece.

 

Of course since my brother had just turned twenty-one and because he had just hit the biggest jackpot ever in that casino, he needed to  celebrate it by ordering shots for him and his friends. The waitress came back with the shots and the total was $9…my brother only had $100 bills on him so he paid the waitress with one of them….and told her to keep the change.

 

My brother then took care of his friends. He gave $100 each to the three people he was with. He tried to tip the owner and manager but they said they could not accept it. When my brother had finished lavishing randos with money and decided to leave, they had a security guard escort my brother to his car. He slipped the security guard $20. The security guard looked around awkwardly knowing he probably shouldn’t take it but then stuffed it in his pocket.

 

With about 30 minutes left in bar time, my brother and his friends went to a popular place in North Spokane called Fizzie Mulligans. Word had already spread to the bar by that time. For thirty glorious minutes, my brother partied like a rock star. The kid who had never had money in his life was living like a king.

 

At 2:30am my brother arrived at my parent’s house. He woke them up and made it rain in their bedroom with his $100 bills…I am not making this up.

 

The next morning my mom made one of the best decisions that she could have possibly have made. She took about 65% of my brother’s winnings and put it into a secure account that only she could access. They agreed that when Glen needed money, he would notify her and she would transfer funds to my brother’s personal account. I know if you are reading this that might sound unfair but if you know my brother then you know that it was for his own good. My brother did not argue with my mom’s plan.

 

That day I came to Spokane from Missoula with the reason being that the next morning we were taking a family vacation to Las Vegas. Again, I am not making this stuff up. Right off the bat my brother gave me $300 saying it was the least he could do for all the stuff I had bought him when we had hung out and traveled together over the past couple of years since I got my job. We had an amazing time in Vegas. We bought stuff we didn’t need to, we got VIP at a couple clubs, and Glen went on $600 swings at the Caesars Palace blackjack tables.

 

To this day, people still talk about “the hand”  from the casino personnel to kids my brother went to high school with. What they focus on though is not really the large amount of money my brother won but rather the ridiculous generosity he displayed with his winnings. At Lilac Casino, my brother is a hero.

 

Yes, my brother gives back a little bit of his fortune to the various casinos of Washington state on a weekly basis. He still loves frequenting those joints for the cheap booze and the thrill of unknown cards in the palm of his hands. Despite my efforts of telling him to give it up and get out while you are ahead, I must remember that old habits die hard.

 

As I have gone on my life adventures, I have met some of the stingiest, greediest people you will ever encounter. Although financially able, they won’t donate a cent of their income to a disaster relief cause or participate in a fundraiser for a neighbor kid. They won’t chip in with the rest of the office to buy a gift for the boss or won’t ever remember someone on their birthday. To these cheapskates I would like them to look at my brother. Even with a lot of his winnings washed up now (he still has some!), he still is always helping out his friends monetarily so they can have a drink, go to a movie, or go to the Mariners game. I will still say it, my brother is a complete idiot when it comes to money in many ways. However, he has a heart of gold and he would always refrain from blowing his money on junk if he could help out a friend first. And no, it did not take a $25,000 hand to make him this way. Don’t Blink.

Dramatic Facebook Changes

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If you are someone who gets rattled when Facebook makes a site change, you might as well delete your account right now.
Supposedly, sometime this week the brand new Facebook will debut. Last week, thanks to a friend, I got tipped off on a way to make the new version reflect on my profile. I am currently under the new Facebook and let me tell you…it is different! But I definitely mean “different” in a good way.
The upcoming new changes to Facebook have probably been one of the worst kept secrets.  Then again, I really don’t know if it really was a secret to begin with, as the f8 conference in September (a yearly conference held by Facebook to discuss the company) detailed the new timeline format that would debut soon.
When these new changes go into effect for the general public, people are going to flip. Believe me, it is not one of the typical Facebook version changes where something might be moved to a different place or the newsfeed is tweaked. We are talking total makeover, wholesale type changes. It is going to generate a lot of  discussion across the nation and I know a lot of people are going to be pissed. But after they take the time to look over the new format and see what it has to offer, I hope they see that it is much better (click here to see what I wrote about the previous Facebook changes).
Facebook is now going to offer a timeline profile. Now you will have the option to go back in time to any period when you had Facebook and see all of the posts, status updates, and pictures from that era. I guess you could kind of do that with the current version but you would have to click “older posts” about 500 different times and it would take you probably three hours to get what you were looking for. With the new version, if you wanted to see what you were doing in the Facebook world on, let’s say, March 19, 2008, you would just have to click once or twice and you would be there. Right when I got the new timeline version I decided to go back to early 2007 when I first got Facebook. I could not believe how young and immature I sounded! I had stuff from a former girlfriend written on my wall that I would never let fly these days. It really did bring back a lot of memories, much in the same way that my journals do when I decide to go back and read past entries. Also with the timeline profile, you will be able to add pictures and information from the days before Facebook. Starting with when you were born, you can tell your life story through pictures and words.
With the new Facebook, you now also have the ability to “feature” certain posts. Let’s say you just got engaged, you can “feature” that and it will make the news the focal point of your profile. I can’t wait to do this for all of my blog posts.  It really just makes everything so much more customizable. No longer do you have different pages lined up vertically on your profile. Your info, friends, likes, pictures, etc. are all shown horizontally across the top of your page. Your actual profile with all of your posts from friends, added pictures, status updates, recent activities, etc. is organized in a double column format that fits the timeline theme. It confused me a little bit at first on where previous posts would be placed after a new one was added but I now understand it much better.
The feature that I absolutely love about the new Facebook is the ability to make “covers”. Your cover is a large 840×310 pixel space at the very top of your profile that you can design to fit your personal brand. People’s creative juices are going to be flowing as they make their various covers. Graphic designers are going to have a complete hay day as companies are going to look to them to make the slickest, flashiest one possible. That is how prominent Facebook covers are on profiles. I designed my cover to have my Twitter name and my blog URL on it. Of course, my life motto is also centrally placed on my cover.
This is my cover that I created for my profile.

                            

This week at work I will be spending a lot of time designing covers for the various Facebook pages I run for Grizzly Athletics. Once these Facebook changes take effect, I am going to be ready for it. I said that a lot of regular Facebook users are going to get a little crazy when they wake up to find Facebook dramatically transformed but I also predict the exact same type of reaction from the corporate world. Facebook as we know it is going to change and I am going to be very interested in seeing how various businesses, companies, and government/educational institutions adapt to it. One thing is for sure, Grizzly Athletics will be in with the new the second the changes take effect.
I would say that I am a little surprised that Facebook introduced new changes just a month ago considering they are rolling out the major redesign this week. I guess it is kind of tough to see the point of doing so but I also can kind of see Mark Zuckerberg smiling at driving the world that is so dependent on his creation absolutely crazy. 
So here is my warning to all of you. Get ready for change and get ready to embrace it. The new Facebook will give you the opportunity to further your own personal brand and tell the story of “you” much more effectively. While other people take the time to complain about it, you should take that time to learn everything there is to know about the new Facebook and become very proficient at it. This new version is here to stay and it is going to rock the social media world. Be ready. Don’t Blink.

Miranda Lambert Concert Review and Meeting Justin Moore

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Last night I had the opportunity to go watch Miranda Lambert live in concert for her “Revolution Continues” tour. The tour stopped in Missoula at my place of work, the Adams Center.  To say I was anything less than excited to see this show would have been a complete lie. Miranda Lambert over the past couple years has really transformed herself into a country superstar. Along with the rest of the nation,  I was also swept up in the “Miranda Storm” that picked up countless people and threw them on her bandwagon. Opening for Miranda Lambert last night was the Randy Rogers Band and Justin Moore.
Before I get into the actual concert, I do want to tell about a unique opportunity that Fawn (my concert guest) and I got to partake in beforehand. Because I work in a department that has people in it with many connections that stretch nationwide, special perks sometimes come up. It just so happened that one of my co-workers is really good friends with Justin Moore’s travel manager. Because this certain co-worker happens to be a complete sweetheart, she pulled strings that allowed Fawn and I to participate in the Justin Moore Meet and Greet session. Now you have to realize that these meet and greets are artificial, staged, quick affairs where you are basically ushered into an area that is curtained off and you are pushed towards the star and after the hired photographer takes a quick snap shot, you are shooed out of the area. Well, when we met Justin, we made it count. We talked to him about the elk he shot that day and what he thought about Missoula. He told us that he loves it and that he told his wife earlier that they should move here. Justin Moore is incredibly short! Pretty much shockingly short when you see him. He is very soft spoken and his thick southern accent is 100% genuine. Of course he was wearing his cowboy hat and had his trademark chest hair popping out of his unbuttoned collar.  The photographer took our picture and we thanked him for his time and he thanked us for coming to his show. I became a lifelong fan in that very short minute.

                                       Justin Moore was so nice to us!
After getting another round of drinks, we made our way to our seats. No big deal, but we were front row on the main floor. Around the stage there was an area called “the pit” that was reserved for about fifty Miranda Lambert diehard fan club members. The stage had a catwalk extending out that allowed the pit members to gather around. The front row started exactly where the catwalk ended. There is nothing like going to a sporting event or a concert and feeling the adrenaline rush right when you get to your seats and you realize that you very well could have the best seats in the house and that your favorite performers are right in front of you. I got this kick immediately upon locating our seats.
The first opening act was the Randy Rogers Band. To be honest, I knew very little about them going in. What I knew about them really stemmed from one of my co-workers who happens to be from Texas and basically worships the ground these guys walk on. The only song I really knew that they sang was “Kiss Me in the Dark.” It  was a typical opening  act. Half of the crowd was really not paying attention, their stage setup was pretty weak, and I never really felt too much of a connection with the band. Oh well, it was not like I had too high of expectations for them coming in. It was still cool to see them so up close and to really just get a feel for how the night was going to shape out.

                                         Randy Rogers himself!

After the Randy Rogers Band set, we managed to be the most bush league people ever as we stormed past the line to enter the beer garden and once we cut off all the people waiting to get in we cut off even more people who were in the actual beer lines themselves as we zoomed right to the front, figuring we would blend in with the crowd. We got what we needed and then made our way back to our seats where we arrived just in time for Justin Moore.
This guy brought energy  to the stage. I do think part of the reason why I was feeling him right from the beginning was because he had been so nice to us but a lot of it had to do with just how he was killing it out there. Justin Moore was great with the crowd. He was funny, candid, and playful. He was very animated up on stage, something I would not have guessed during our quick one minute meet and greet. I love his hit “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away,” and he performed it perfectly up on stage. His new music was not too boring. He had the crowd going nuts when he sang “Small Town U.S.A.” Everything he did just worked. Now the only thing he needs are a few more hits, but I am sure they will come.

                                            Justin Moore = Lots of Passion

Sometimes it seems as if the period of time between the ending of the opening act and the starting of the headlining act takes forever. A lot of times I notice this long delay even with the good buzz I have going on and the carefree attitude that develops in a lot of people at concerts. However, the delay did not seem that long this time. Before you knew it, the hottest woman in country music stormed the stage to rock Missoula.
First thing is first: The Miranda Lambert physique from five years ago is not the Miranda Lambert physique of today. Yes, I was surprised at Miranda’s size when she came out. I would say she has probably gained thirty to forty pounds since her “Kerosene” video. But coming from someone who is not a string bean himself, I should probably shut up.  One thing that has not changed about Miranda is her voice. Unfortunately, I will not be making too many comparisons of Miranda with artists such as Reba and Toby but one thing she does share with those two is a distinctive voice. It fits her personality so well and it was definitely on display at the Adams Center last night. Besides her appearance, the voice was the next thing that I noticed.

                                        Body different, voice the same

The whole production was decent. The lighting was good, the giant video boards were nice for the people sitting high up, they used a lot of smoke. Other than that, the stage was pretty basic and any type of special effects you see a lot of headliners using up on stage these days were absent. No pyros, no confetti, no flying elements. 

                                                     The stage

Miranda opened her set well as she sang popular, sing-along type songs such as “Only Prettier” and “Kerosene.” She then got into her new stuff. Some of it was quite good, some of it I didn’t really pay much attention to. The worst part of her set in my opinion came when she brought out her new band The Pistol Annies. The Pistol Annies are composed of Lambert and two other chicks. Lambert is not even the lead vocalist…the band is basically a project she started earlier in the year. They performed for about thirty minutes out on the stage and it just seemed out of place to me. Not only that, it was pretty boring too. I really had no interest in seeing some side project being inserted right into the middle of a show but I guess she is really into this new experiment. Anyways, I really do think the Pistol Annies killed some of the momentum that Miranda had built up throughout the show.
Once the Pistol Annies left the stage and the show started to head towards the finish line, Miranda started dropping her hits. She sang “Heart Like Mine” and then did an awesome rendition of “The House That Built Me.” That song means a lot to me and you could legitimately tell that she sang it with so much emotion and passion. It definitely brought a tear to my eye.
 Before you knew it, Fawn and I had gained access to the pit area and were in touching distance of Miranda Lambert. When she sang “White Liar” she pointed at me (during the song I was jumping up and down going nuts so I kind of stuck out). That was definitely the highlight of the Miranda set for me. She then hit us with “Gun Powder and Led” which of course fired everyone up. Then, for her encore, she did something a little different. Instead of saving one of her mega hits for the last song of the night, she sang a song that was about Montana totally unplugged. Now of course she probably does this for every state on her tour but nonetheless it was really cool and  the story she used to lead into it was awesome. She then had the Randy Rogers Band, Justin Moore, and the Pistol Annies come up on stage and everyone sang “King of the Road.” The encore was definitely different from most other concerts but I liked it. I give her bonus points for trying something new.

                                         Miranda gets props from me

I would give the whole Miranda Lambert show probably a 7 out of 10. She played for a long time, was good to the crowd, put forth a strong effort, and sang all her hits. I think I just docked points for the dull middle part of the set and the decision to not really implement any of the cool modern technology  into the stage.
So what would I say my favorite part of last night was? Would it be meeting Justin Moore? Our great seats? Getting pointed at by Miranda Lambert? Actually, the answer is “no” to all three of these. My favorite part was probably the opportunity I had to really enjoy the night with a lot of my co-workers. I know I did not mention this earlier in my post, but a lot of people from the Montana athletic department attended the concert. During the busiest time of the year for us it was so refreshing to be able to hang out with one another in a fun setting. Making it kind of ironic was the fact that we were literally having  a ball in the facility where we are pretty much locked into for ungodly hours during these very busy months. It definitely did not seem like a prison last night. Even though we were not all sitting together, we went out before the concert,  hung out in between sets during the show, and went out afterwards. It was very cool.  I also got to show Fawn that us Grizzlies really are not that bad (she is a Montana State Bobcat).

                                       Showed this Bobcat that Grizzlies aren’t all that bad

Chalk up another concert for this guy! What a fun Tuesday night it was. As of right now I do not have a next concert on the schedule. However, I bet something will present itself soon and you can be sure that I will be there. Thanks everyone for all the fun last night. Don’t Blink.

A Little Bit of NBA, NFL, and MLB

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Tonight, all three major American professional sports leagues are very relevant for vastly different reasons. The National Basketball Association (NBA) just announced they are canceling the first two weeks of their regular season, the National Football League (NFL) is prospering as usual in the first quarter of the season, and Major League Baseball (MLB) is in the midst of their league championship series.
For tonight’s post I want to take some time to briefly talk about all three leagues.
NBA: First Two Weeks of the Regular Season Canceled
I am not a huge fan of the NBA. The playoffs do entertain me and I love the storylines and rivalries that develop but as for the regular season I could care less. An eighty-two game season is way too long. With so many teams making the playoffs and with the way so many of the league’s players take it easy for the first three quarters of the season, there is just little reason to watch. I even get bored with Sportscenter highlights of the games. Honestly, show me the sickest dunks of the night and that is all I need.
You listen to sports talk radio or watch any of the shows on ESPN and a lot of the on-air talent will say that a shortened season for the NBA is a good thing. They will say that a fifty game season would be the perfect situation because each game will mean more, the players will compete harder, and the boredom and tired routine of an NBA season that lasts from October until June will lessen.
Well here is the thing. Even though I said I am bored by the regular season and even though many sports personalities feel a shortened season is what the league needs, I would still wish that the NBA would get their full eighty-two game schedule in. Any team that wins a championship with a shortened season is always going to have an asterisk by its name. Luckily for the Spurs, they went on to win more championships after they won the NBA shortened title during the 1998-1999 season, because to this day that championship is still a joke. No one takes it seriously.  Whenever you talk about what the Spurs have done in the past thirteen years you basically say they have won three NBA Championships and a lockout shortened championship in 1998-1999. Announcers always note it. We are not speaking metaphorically here, there is an actual asterisk after the Spurs name during the 1998-1999 season in the record book. It sucks. No matter how you slice it, winning a championship based on a fifty game season is much different than winning one off of an eighty-two game season. I hate it when records/achievements/ are tainted, even when the player/team can do absolutely nothing about it.
NFL: Let’s Start Tebow!!
Speaking strictly as a fan, I want to see Tim Tebow start the rest of the season for the Broncos, or at least for the next several games. I will admit it, I think pretty highly of Tebow. I think he is a great athlete and role model who has an incredibly exciting style of play. From the pure marketing aspect of things, he is a dream for the Denver Broncos. Even if Josh McDaniel made one of the worst talent selections in NFL history by bringing Tebow aboard, I think he has already paid off immensely for that organization in terms of jersey sales and in making the Denver organization relevant in the league on a weekly basis. If leveraged strategically by the team throughout the rest of his stay in Denver, I really think drafting him will pay off in the long run even if he is a total bust player wise.
Tim Tebow energized that team yesterday. Yes, I get it, San Diego did not gameplan for Tebow, they were ready for Orton. If Tebow was named the starter, you sure as hell could bet that the geniuses (aka NFL Defensive Coordinators) would implement a scheme that would drop him dead in his tracks. But what is wrong with making sure that this is 100% the case? Let’s end this debate that continues every single day through the sports media, among fans, and inside every locker room in the NFL: Is Tim Tebow an NFL quarterback?  Let it unfold right in front of us all. What gripping sports television that would be!  John Fox has a tough decision to make. Out of all the idiots who chime in on whether they feel Tebow is ready or not to start at quarterback for the Denver Broncos, Coach Fox knows best. He has seen his quarterback contingent take every snap from training camp until now. He knows who will be the most successful. For my own selfish desires and for the chance to settle this debate for good, I just want to see Tebow under center come October 23rd.
MLB: My Wish for the World Series
The playoffs started off for me on kind of a sour note. Although I am not a Boston Red Sox fan, I wanted to see them beat out the Tampa Bay Rays and get into the post season. The playoffs are just better with both Boston and New York in it. Well, that did not happen. Once the post season matchups were set, I was crossing my fingers for a Yankees-Phillies World Series. Again, I was disappointed. Although disappointed, I can’t say I was not pleased with the competitiveness and excitement of all the division series. Baseball has had a great couple of weeks with how the regular season ended and how the division series went and I hope it continues until the final out of the Fall Classic.
With that said, I want to see the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals battle it out in the World Series. I got to see Detroit play a couple of games in Pittsburgh this summer and I guess I kind of want  to say I saw the MLB World Champions play in person from the front row. I shouldn’t hold my breath as they are in an 0-2 hole to Texas but you never know what can happen. The series shifts back to Detroit and if the Tigers protect their home field it will be a whole new ballgame.
I could actually care less about who wins the National League Championship, I just don’t know if I am completely ready to see Milwaukee in the World Series. With St. Louis you got a hall of fame manager (Tony LaRussa) and a hall of fame player (Albert Pujols) carrying the banner of that team. I want to see those people on baseball’s biggest stage, it just seems right. With that series now tied at 1-1, I like the Cardinals’ chances.
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The drama, the parallels to life, and the competitive spirit of sports will always have me hooked. You never know what is going to happen next. Don’t Blink.

Turning 25 Years Old

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At around 5:30am this morning, I officially turned twenty-five years old. I have never really been that big of a birthday guy. Sure, the numerous Facebook posts are kind of nice and I am not going to lie, I love the cash that my mom sends me each year but other than that I just don’t get too excited for my birthday. More than anything, I get embarrassed. I feel uneasy when co-workers and friends feel obligated to wish me a happy birthday and then follow it up with the usual questions of how old I am  and what my plans for the night are. The only way I will go out to dinner on my birthday is if everyone in my party swears to me that they will not alert any of the wait staff about the occasion.  I can’t think of anything I dislike more than wearing some stupid hat while restaurant staff members put on a fake face and act like they are happy to sing and dance some birthday routine that makes them look just as ridiculous as me. This year more than ever is one of those birthdays where I would like to fly under the radar. To say I am a little self-conscious about my new age is an understatement.

It is hard for me to come to grips with the fact that I am now twenty-five. There are no euphemisms for twenty-five, instead you can replace it with unflattering substitutes such as “halfway to 50,” “quarter of a century old,” or “on the fast track to thirty.” I am now legitimately in my mid-twenties. Yikes.

One of the tough things to face is that I have graduated from the 18-24 age demographic. Truly, this has to be the sign that you are no longer young and hip. Social scientists, politicians, and magazines no longer look to me as an indicator of what is fresh and cool in society. Along with getting kicked out of the age group I would like to forever be in, I also feel like I am being forced to move on from routines  that have been commonplace for me before I entered this new age bracket: Am I too old now to go out to the bars and party until closing? Should I stop listening to mainstream top 40 and turn my dial to some 2000’s soft hits format? Should “Jersey Shore” be off limits to me? Am I going to have to stop wearing polos and jeans? Should I keep my hair shorter?

To be completely honest, I have mentally been preparing myself for the psychological change of turning twenty-five. For at least the past four months I have been telling myself that I was twenty-five, just to lessen the shock of when it actually became official this morning. When people asked me my age, I actually told many of them accidently that I was twenty-five. So, it is kind of weird, but it seems like I have not been twenty-four for a long time. Also, another way I have been coping with my age change is to tell myself, “You know Brent, being twenty-five is so much better than being twenty-six.” This has helped me some! Twenty-five does sound way better than twenty-six. If you are ever having a tough time dealing with your new age, I recommend you try this trick.

Of course, because of the type of person I am, I had to evaluate myself on where I am at the age of twenty-five. On the positive side, I have a great job and I can afford the type of lifestyle I want to live. I have great friends, great co-workers, and great contacts. I have no debt, no skeletons in my closet, no criminal record. I have really nothing holding me back. On the side where I need to work on, it would have been nice to have a graduate degree by this time in my life. I am going to be busy my whole life so I can’t keep using that as an excuse. I also need to work on owning a place of my own. Right now I live with three great people in a very nice house in one of Missoula’s nicest areas but it is not mine. I don’t plan to live in Missoula forever so I am hesitant to pull the trigger but even if I was, it is not like I would be set up right away financially to do so. To say that I have made the most perfect choices with my money since I got my first real job would be a complete lie. I should probably start working on that. I am also single!! While I love the single life, one of my goals is definitely to get married and have kids so I am going to need to start focusing a little harder on finding that special someone. Again though, the same dilemma of not knowing how long you are going to be in a certain place and the dedication I have to my career muddies the water a little bit when it comes to settling down with someone. Overall, I feel I am in decent shape at the twenty-five year mark.

So how am I going to spend my birthday today? Well, I am just about to walk out the door and head to Pocatello, Idaho, as our football team will be taking on Idaho State this afternoon at 4pm. I am driving the Griz Cheer Squad down as they get to travel to this game. We will get to Pocatello, eat lunch, go to the arena (yes, Idaho State plays football in an arena), and then spend the night at the Red Lion. It is going to be a great time and is actually probably the thing I would most want to do on my birthday.

Thank you so much to my mom for giving birth to me 25 years ago today! I was a nine pound baby and she popped me out with no pain medication. I might not like my new age but I need to realize that there is nothing I can do to stop time. I need to reflect on the countless blessings I have received in my twenty-five years on this earth and focus on how I can maximize those blessings over the next twenty-five years. I have a great life, and today I am going to celebrate it. Don’t Blink.

Sports and Scapegoats

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Tonight I watched “Catching Hell,” one of ESPN’s documentaries in its 30 For 30 series. If you have not watched any of the 30 For 30 documentary films, you are missing out. You don’t have to be a sports fan to appreciate how well these films are done and how gripping the stories are. I highly recommend you watch as many as possible. The one I saw  tonight, “Catching Hell” (it originally debuted on September 27th), told the story of the infamous Chicago Cubs fan, Steve Bartman. With one out in game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series, Bartman interfered with a foul ball that many believe Moises Alou would have caught if Bartman had not interfered on the play. Immediately after the boom-boom play happened, Alou cursed in disgust and gestured at Bartman. Fox showed the replay over and over during the live broadcast and the guy’s fate was pretty much sealed.
Here is where Bartman went wrong: He interfered with the play. Despite the fact if the ball was in fair or foul territory, he should have basically fallen back in his chair and let Alou go for the ball. When you sit at a baseball game in the front row down a foul line, you have to mentally prepare yourself for the possibility of a ball coming your way and a player trying to make a play on that ball. In your head, you have to have a plan to get out of the way or make yourself a nonfactor. Sure it may be the natural reaction of a fan to reach out for a ball that is coming to their way but you have to have the discipline to fight against that natural reaction.  Bartman did make a mistake by reaching out for the ball.
Here is where the city of Chicago went wrong: They crucified Bartman for being the guy who lost the 2003 NLCS for the Cubs and who continued on the curse. They designated him as the ultimate scapegoat of a struggling franchise. At the heart of the situation, I am not convinced that Alou would have caught that ball if Bartman had not reached his hands out to try and catch it. There is just no way of knowing. After that play, the wheels fell off for the Cubs. They simply could not get another out. After a walk, a wild pitch, and a couple hits, Alex Gonzalez committed an error on an easy double play ball. This part of the inning has forever been overshadowed by Bartman. The Marlins would go on to score eight runs that inning.
Bartman deserved to have a few fans who were sitting close by to put him in check and tell him that he should not interfere with a playable ball. Then again, they had no room to talk because those fans sitting close to him also reached for the ball, they just happened to be fortunate enough not to touch it. If there was any sensible fan in that whole cluster of seats who did not reach for the ball, he/she had full right to tell Bartman and everyone else not to do anything else stupid if another ball came over their way….that would have been acceptable. What was not acceptable was what really happened. Thanks to people watching the game on TV outside of the stadium and around the Chicago area,  they were able to call friends inside the stadium and let them know that the dude in the Cubs hat, green turtle neck, and earphones was the person who had “screwed” the Cubs out of a potential trip to the World Series. As word spread, the whole stadium unleashed their fury on Bartman. As a chant of “ASSHOLE” started, people started to throw beer, hot dogs, pizza, and really anything else you could imagine at the guy. Death threats started to surround him as he sat slumped in his seat. Finally, security appeared and escorted him into their dispatch office for his own safety. It would only be the beginning.
Of course the Cubs never overcame the 8 spot that the Marlins put up in the eighth inning and they lost game 6. The next night, they dropped game 7. The curse was solidified and Bartman became Public Enemy #1 in Chicago.
Steve Bartman faced threat upon threat during the aftermath of the Cubs exit from the playoffs.  He was forced to go into hiding. There was nothing but pure venom spit out on talk radio shows, public officials in the Chicago area denounced him.   The documentary mentioned that Bartman can no longer even use a credit card because then his identity will be known.
I feel the most amazing thing in this whole story is the classy way that Steve Bartman has held himself over the past eight years. The guy has had numerous offers for six-figure pay days for ten minute interviews, car show appearances, commercial ad requests, casino promotions, etc. but he has denied every single one. For all the misery he has suffered, you would think he would be entitled to cash in a little bit. How ironic is it that the guy who ended up getting the foul ball that Bartman and Alou went for sold it for $100,000? Kind of sad that a guy profited off of another guy’s life crushing experience. Steve even issued a statement shortly after game 6 detailing how sorry he was for the role he played in the Cubs not making it to the World Series. He apologized to the team, the fans, and pretty much every significant player that ever put on a Cubs uniform. Other than that, he has been silent. To this day, he has not said one word to the media.
Fans take sports way too seriously. I love sports and I make a living in sports but I do not see it as the bane of my existence. I do not need to contribute to the shattering of someone else’s life simply because they could have played a small role in a series of events that eventually led to a team losing a game. I genuinely feel very sad for Steve Bartman. This saga is still going on as I type this. People in Chicago hate him. How funny is it that all of the players on that Cubs team, the people who had the most stock invested in that 2003 team, have moved on while a bunch of low-lifes who wear jerseys and keep baseball card collections hold grudges so big against Steve Bartman that they throw darts at his picture each day? Talk about pathetic.
Our favorite teams are going to lose. Sure, it is natural to get frustrated but you have to remain rational as well. We live in a sporting society where people want to always pin a loss on one factor. It could be an owner, it could be a coach, it could be a player, and in some terrible cases, it could be a fellow fan. Get real, people. Just like a victory, a loss is shared by everyone. Quit finding a scapegoat to explain why your team lost and take a more holistic view. Steve Bartman, you are a man who has endured way more than anyone should. As the documentary said in its closing, you don’t owe the city of Chicago an apology, the city of Chicago owes you can apology. Don’t Blink.

Texting With the iPhone and Texting in General

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If you have followed my Twitter lately, you might have seen some really bizarre tweets that have popped up, some that seem really out of place. Well believe me, it is not your imagination. You see, ever since I have gotten my iPhone I have more than once sent out tweets that should have been sent as text messages to actual people. It does not stop there. I have also sent texts to people that were meant to be sent to other people, tweets to people which were meant to be sent to Twitter, and direct Twitter messages to people that were meant to be direct messages to other people. With the iPhone it is so easy to look at your device and feel confident that you are sending your message to your intended person or your intended social networking service. Of course that is until you get a message of six question marks in a row sent back your way or someone texts you to ask you what the hell you just posted to your Twitter account.
Although every misguided text or tweet I have sent out over the past few weeks since I got my iPhone has been embarrassing, I have not screwed up royally yet. You know, I have not sent any texts containing private information to someone who was not supposed to see it. I have not sent out a profanity laced tweet to my 300+ Twitter followers that was meant to be a direct message to someone who just messed up big time. I have not texted my mom with content that was supposed to go to a girl. But I really feel it is just a matter of time. iPhones are very tricky, I swear that I was sending a message to its intended recipient and then somehow the people from Apple pulled the rug from underneath me, hacked my message, and sent it to someone else.
I guess I should not complain too much because I have not had one of those big autocorrect mistakes…yet.  It seems like all of my friends with iPhones have at least one good story with one of their texts getting completely skewed by autocorrect. I get forwarded those e-mails all the time of epic autocorrect disasters. You know the ones where some person is trying to ask his boss for a day off and his text comes across the lines of him asking her if she will jack him off? Well I believe some of the ones I get but some of them are so far-fetched I don’t take them seriously for two seconds. But that is beside the point. While obviously I have had problems with my iPhone in sending my messages to the correct person or service, I feel I am very good at always double checking the actual content of my texts to make sure all spelling and grammar are correct. That is important to me. Someday I will get into how much the people who text using a language that is even more primitive than what a cavemen would use bothers me.
Before I got an iPhone I still made terrible texting mistakes that I wish I could have taken back. When you send out 6,000 texts a month, it is just going to happen. I don’t think anyone who is reading this right now who texts regularly can say they have never made the humiliating blunder of sending a text to someone who you were saying something not so very flattering about. Yes, it has happened to me and it is probably the worst result of texting that there is. Your text was meant to go to the friend you were talking about this other person with but since you had this other person on your mind so much, you send it to him/her. In my case when it happened, I chose to be straight up with the person and apologize to him/her and then respectfully take up the issue I had  that I initially did not have the guts to take up with him/her.
I have also sent text messages to people that I regretted immediately after I pressed the send button. Texts are the exact same things as e-mails…they stay around forever. As I have gotten older, I have tried to be better at not sending out texts that contain anger or raw emotion. The rule that we use in the office when  someone pisses us off is  the exact same rule I use in my social life: Write/text out what you are feeling at the moment but do not send. Wait a couple hours for your emotions to cool, and if you feel the same way, then go ahead and send the message. In my experiences, most of the time I do not end up sending the message.  If I am dating a girl and we are fighting, I am calling her up and talking to her. If I get a random angry text from someone out of left field, you are not even going to get a response from me…through text or by call. First off, I am not going to entertain your bullshit and secondly I am going to use that text you sent me as leverage in the future if need be. I am not going to supply you with any ammunition.
Another mistake that I have probably made more than any other in my texting career is just not being clear enough. Texting, more than any other form of communication, can be very ambiguous and taken out of context. I don’t know how many girls I have upset with texts that were never meant to cause any form of rivet or hurt feelings. I am convinced that a simple “Okay, have a good night” can be taken the wrong way. I have finally realized that what makes sense to me as I type it out on my phone is not always going to make sense the way I want it to when the other person sees it displayed on their phone. Tones of voice, the stressing of syllables, and emotion just can’t be detected  through texting. It is important to remember that.
So as I move on with my iPhone I am going to be very mindful of the quirks that go with texting on this very sophisticated device. However, I am also going to do my best to adhere to basic principles of texting in general that I have learned throughout the years. Texting is going nowhere, it is important to become the best communicator possible while using this special medium, no matter what type of cellular device you have. Don’t Blink.

Disaster at the Iron Horse

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One of my favorite places in Missoula is a restaurant called the Iron Horse. By Missoula standards, it is a classy, yet casual, place to go.  The restaurant has two different levels and then it has patio seating in three different locations around the building. The long main bar on the ground level is marble, seating is spacious, and service is great. The place serves as a popular meeting spot for people taking a break from work during the day and once night hits it becomes one of Missoula’s busiest hot spots for the college and young adult crowd. Yesterday, the Iron Horse faced a horrific situation.

                                    Me with Fawn at one of my favortie places, the Iron Horse

Whenever The University of Montana hosts a Griz Football game, the whole community of Missoula directly benefits. Businesses that deal with lodging, shopping, and food receive great boosts during six different Saturdays in the autumn. Yesterday, with it being Homecoming, the community very well could have had its most profitable day. Definitely, it was crucial to have everything working and for everyone to be on their “A” game.
Of course, the Iron Horse was slammed yesterday. The place was overrun with happy Griz fans wanting to celebrate the football team’s 55-28 dismantling of Northern Colorado. People were in the mood to commemorate the Homecoming win by buying lots of food and drinks. Suddenly, during the peak time, the restaurant’s bill software crashed and disaster rolled in.
When the software crashed, the Iron Horse servers no longer had access to the computers that enables them to keep the running tabs of their various tables. Worse yet, their ability to make credit/debit  card transactions was totally wiped out. My friend who is a waitress at the Iron Horse told me the incident that happened was something she has nightmares about. Yesterday, she got to live that nightmare out in front of one of the Iron Horse’s largest crowds of the year.
With the software down, all of the current tabs in the restaurant vanished from the computers. The servers were forced to piece back what everyone had ordered at their respective tables from memory. Once they did their best to remember every single drink that was ordered and every single miniscule menu item or extra side that was placed, they had to manually add up the total, constantly cross referencing the menu to make sure they had the right price. After they had hand written the receipt out they had to copy it TWICE more so they had documentation for the restaurant patrons, the register, and the kitchen.  Obviously, doing a task like this that takes a lot of memory and a lot of math takes time…time that is not available when you are serving to an anxious full house on a Saturday evening. People started to get impatient. Patrons who wanted another drink right away were not satisfied. People who expected their server to check in with them every two minutes felt snubbed. The numerous grumps who needed their check right away were fuming. Top notch, prompt service was simply not available due to the circumstances.
Believe it or not, the night got rougher for the poor wait staff at the Iron Horse. Remember how I mentioned that credit card payment was now unavailable? This completely infuriated many of the people dining in at the restaurant last night. Many of them took the low road and berated their server, giving them an earful about the inconvenience and the terrible experience they were undergoing. Some people took an even lower road and simply walked out of the restaurant. Yes, I am not kidding here. Some people decided to “Seacrest Out” and abandon their tabs altogether. With the chaos that was going on in the restaurant with the wait staff doing a thousand different things at once and the deep level of fury that was being generated by the customers, the Iron Horse could unfortunately do very little to stop the jerks who felt that a problem beyond anyone’s control entitled them to a free meal.
It kept getting worse for the servers. When they clocked out of their shifts, they had no idea how much they owed the restaurant and how much they were owed from their tips (they keep their own banks during their shifts). All that they had were numerous handmade receipts and random cash. Not wanting to risk anything, my friend gave back way more than her fair share to the restaurant. In what should have been one of the most profitable days for her turned out to be one of the worst.
For me personally, I could not help but feel infuriated by so many of these customers who acted like spoiled babies during the whole Iron Horse ordeal yesterday.  Because something went wrong that understandably made service a little slower and that made an alternative form of payment necessary, many found it acceptable to make a tough situation even tougher. What was wrong with maybe cutting these young servers a little bit of slack and maybe make their nightmare shift just a little more tolerable? Was getting your third rum and coke at record speed really that pressing of an issue when obviously the whole staff was under incredible pressure? I have never worked in the restaurant business before but that does not stop me from respecting the people who wait on me each time I go out to eat. By the way some of these scumbags treated the Iron Horse staff last night I really wonder what deep personal issues they must really have. Unleashing your wrath on a waiter or waitress who is trying to do all he/she can to serve you the best way possible under extenuating circumstances is sad and pathetic.
To the people who walked out on their tabs last night, you are flat out selfish thieves. I know the situation was not ideal but be a decent person and use the ATM that the Iron Horse has in their restaurant to get cash and close out your tab. You have to be one cheap low life to feel that when a credit card machine goes down it gives you the right to not pay a cent of your $200 tab. How can you justify going into a place, eating tons of food, consuming numerous drinks, and benefiting from good service and then just walk out and leave?
When an unfortunate situation occurs that you are directly involved in or indirectly involved in, you can do one of two things: You can let the bad situation consume you and make the situation worse or you can step it up and be positive and help remedy the situation. The people who bitched at the staff last night and who walked out on their tabs have probably never faced true adversity in their lives. They were probably spoiled growing up and had everything given to them. Someday, karma will catch up to these people.
Always treat people who are serving you in any area (restaurant, taxi, car dealer, espresso stand, haircut place, etc.) with respect and patience. Not only does it make for a much better experience for the server, but it also says a lot about you as a person. Do the right thing. Don’t Blink.

Reaching My 7,000th Tweet

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Tonight I reached a personal milestone as I sent out my 7,000th tweet. Over the past two and a half years I have turned to my cell phone to record my thoughts, opinions, observations, favorite quotes, favorite sayings, musical lyrics, and random crap that no one really cares about. It has been a lot of fun.
I became part of Twitter Nation in February of 2009. At the time I was a wide eyed intern at Grizzly Athletics just loving life. Our athletic director got back from one of his national conferences and at the center of this particular conference was this weird thing called Twitter. Well Jim O’Day came back from this convention and he shared the news with our marketing department  and told the that he wanted it implemented within Grizzly Athletics. My boss and my predecessor both got their personal Twitter accounts and because I wanted to be like them, I did too! The rest is history.
If you follow my Twitter account, @BrentR7 , you know my basic style. I tweet about pop culture and about what I am doing. I start each day with a quote that I take right off of my “Life’s Little Instructions” page-a-day calendar and I end each day with a my life motto, “Don’t Blink.” Very rarely do I say anything personal, emotional, or negative. Over time, Twitter has become much more of a conversation tool between users and I feel like I have adapted along with it. It is a lot of fun responding to the opinions and questions of Twitter users and having all day running conversations.  The use of hash tags is another one of my favorite parts of Twitter. I have rolled over laughing at some of the hash tags people I follow have dropped in their tweets and I try to bring a smile to the faces of my followers with some of mine as well.
When it comes to my Twitter account, I don’t use it as a platform to say whatever outrageous thought comes into my head. I have my place of employment and my family to represent. I will never include profanity in my tweets nor will I send anything out when I have been drinking. I will never, never use Twitter to get back at a girl or to call her out. I am not in junior high. As is our department rule, I can’t tweet past 11pm MT.  I honor this and at around 10:57pm – 11pm, you will always get my “Don’t Blink” tweet, signaling that I am signing off for the night.
Enough about my personal Twitter account though, let’s talk very briefly about how revolutionary this amazing social media tool is. Twitter has transcended the way we get information. Instantly we can get updated on everything that is happening around the world. We have unprecedented access to politicians, sports stars, and celebrities.  No longer do influential people have to go through news media or publiscists to get their message out, they can just piece together 140 characters, press a button, and send it out to millions of people.
Thanks to Twitter, people have the ability now to follow along in real time as events thousands of miles away take place. If you want to follow a sporting event, a protest, a rescue operation, a court case,  or many other events that take place over a period of time you can track it all on Twitter. When breaking news occurs, you are going to hear about it first through Twitter. I remember watching the whole Michael Jackson death saga play out over a string of tweets. I was two steps ahead of all the people in my office who were watching the television. I really do credit that event as really bringing the power of Twitter’s reach to the forefront of society. People really started to take notice.
The way that Twitter connects the world via trending topics is beyond cool. Over 3,000 tweets per second were sent when President Obama delivered the new of Osama Bin Laden’s death.  Just a couple months later, 7,000 tweets per second were sent during the Women’s World Cup championship match. Then, just a month and a half later, 9,000 tweets per second were sent when Beyonce revealed that she was pregnant on the VMAs.  Not only is Twitter delivering the news to the world, it is providing a forum for people to react to it at the very second that the story is unfolding.
A couple years ago, Twitter had a lot of skeptics.  So called experts thought it was a fad, a type of new media with no substance. Boy, were they wrong. Twitter still has its skeptics today. Among them are the many people who just don’t want to give it a chance or who feel it is beneath them. They will purposely mispronounce the name and criticize people who use it. I got news for these people: Twitter is not going anywhere. Educate yourself on it, embrace it, and use it.
Twitter has done a lot of good things for me. It has allowed me to win numerous prizes, receive assistance from major companies when I did not want to deal with phones or long lines,  accelerate my career,  cash in on many exclusive deals and promotions, and make me a more knowledgeable person. It has also helped me further my own personal brand and has introduced me to many contacts. I have also made genuine friends off of Twitter, a couple who are very close to me. Another good thing that Twitter has done for me is pave the way for me to start this blog! One of the main reasons why I started “Don’t Blink” was so it could serve as an extension of my Twitter account. I felt the need to expand on some of my 140 character thoughts.
Reaching my 7,000th tweet today really made me reflect on the above and realize how big of a part Twitter is for me and how crucial it is in society as a whole. So what are you waiting for?! If you already have a Twitter account, start tweeting! If you don’t, sign up for one right now. But most importantly, be sure to follow me!! Send a follow request to @BrentR7 ASAP! Don’t Blink.

The Superstars of the Gym

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Ever since I started this blog, I have wanted to do a post on the gym. I typically make it to our campus recreation center about five times a week so it is definitely a big part of my life…not that you can tell by looking at me. Of course, I have wanted to write on the people who go to the gym. I thought long and hard about making this an insult grenade filled post directed at the people who I can’t stand who go to the gym and  the people who have absolutely no business setting foot in a gym in the first place but I have decided to refrain. Let’s face it, that type of post has been done so much. Who has not read about ten different times the typical rant about “the creatures of the gym?” Who has not read the various categorical summaries of workout slackers? Who has not read the judgment of a workout king inflicted upon the inferior peons who try to take over his workout session?
It is just a tired subject.
So in my quest to try to offer something unique in this blog and to stick to my pledge to make a better effort to offer more positive posts, I want to recognize the gym all-stars who I see each and every day who inspire me to pick up my game and work harder.
 
The String Bean Work-A-Holic Wonder:
Gender: Male
Age Demographic: 18-24
The String Bean Work-A-Holic Wonder (SBWAHW) is the kid who I see at the gym who does not have the million dollar body, not even a thousand dollar body, but doesn’t really even care in the first place. He is a scrawny fellow who wears race t-shirts from 1996 and shorts that are pulled up a little too much. Many of these kids have shaved heads. He is there simply to push himself day in and day out because he likes the challenge and realizes the benefits of a tough workout regimen. From my observation, this is the type of kid who ran cross country and track but also wrestled as a lightweight while in high school. Basically, the SBWAHW is a tough kid who has a clear idea on how far one’s body can be pushed. He works out alone and does a lot of body resistance exercises. He is constantly on the pull up bar and he lives on the mats doing push ups and crunches. He works out with circuit type weights, doing a lot of high rep-low weight sets. Yes, he is awkward if you ever got into a conversation with him but he stays out of everyone’s way and is always very respectful.
 
 
The Rock Solid Hottie With A Body:
Gender: Female
Age Demographic: 18-26
The Rock Solid Hottie With A Body (RSHWAB) is the drop dead gorgeous girl who even the most dedicated, focused gym dude can’t help but look at when she walks into the gym. She wears a bright tight tank top and figure flattering pants that highlight her assets but she has every right in the world to come dressed to the gym like that. She knows that every guy is looking at her when she walks into the facility and she might make one or two unnecessary trips up and down the gym floor but other than that she is all business. The RSHWAB will get on the elliptical for a tough thirty minutes and then do a quick spinning session and then work her abs for twenty minutes. Next, she will get in her anaerobic workout while working a lot with dumb bells and the various cable weight machines. She will do dips with added weight resistance. She will work the calf machine. She will then get on the treadmill, then run the track, and then do another session of abs. The RSHWAB will put in a 2 ½ to 3 hour workout every day. She will be there when I show up and she will still be going hard when I leave. This girl knows she’s got it going on and she is not going to give that up anytime soon. The thought of gaining two or three pounds scares the living daylights out of her.
 
The Ripped Obsessive Body Builder:
Gender: Male
Age Demographic: 18-26
The Ripped Obsessive Body Builder (ROBB) is that guy at the gym who every guy wishes he could look like. The ROBB is 100% lean with amazing biceps, 8-pack chiseled stomach, defined legs, and a powerful chest. He is on at least seven supplements and he is probably on roids  but he works his ass off to make sure all of that unnatural shit he is putting in his body is going to work for him. This guy comes into the gym focused solely on making his body his temple. He puts up incredible amounts of heavy weight and in between his grueling sets he is doing something aerobic such as jumping rope or running laps around the track. Even though he is focused and easily the most imposing person in the gym, he is a nice guy with good gym etiquette. He politely answers the people who wonder up to him and ask what type of program he is on. He does not find it beneath him to spot someone who is putting up 200 pounds on the bench press. This guy will stop the whole gym with the amount of weight he puts up. It is hard to miss this guy because he will come into the gym about three different times a day.
 
 
The Body Conscious Noble Professional:
Gender: Male/Female
Age Demographic: 40-58
The Body Conscious Noble Professional (BCNP) is the man or woman who has worked out his or her whole life and is not about to stop now. These people are successful in the real world and they understand that their effectiveness in business corresponds with their looks/physical physique. I saw many BCNPs when I worked out at Gold’s Gym and I see my fair share now at my campus gym (most of these people are professors). Usually, these people put themselves through a tough grind of aerobic and anaerobic exercises. They have a time of the day that they go to the gym and they stick to it. Many of these people work out early in the morning so they can go right to their job after their workout and then back to their family after work. BCNPs bring the work ethic that enabled them to have professional success into the gym with them. They are not slouches. Many of them run marathons or participate in triathlons. These people are always very nice, have perfect gym etiquette, and will treat the younger people in the gym very well. They serve as great examples for people like me.
 
 
The Golden Aged You Can’t Ever Stop Me Old Timer :
Gender: Male/Female
Age Demographic: 70 and up
The Golden Aged You Can’t Ever Stop Me Old Timer (GAYCESMOT) is the elderly man or woman who hits the gym because he/she is not going to sit around in a house all day as their body goes downhill. These people are a little slow and you might have to have a little bit of extra patience as you navigate around them at the gym but then you realize “Hey, this person is 80 and he is still making the effort to get some exercise in, that’s pretty cool.” Some of these GAYCESMOTs are still putting forth amazing efforts and are in great shape while some are not as impressive. For a lot of these people, pride is a huge factor in them hitting the gym. GAYCESMOTs might not have the best gym etiquette just because they simply do not know basic guidelines but they are so overjoyed and thankful to see young people that they will treat you like gold and make your day. Not bad in my book.
 
 
Any gym will have its fair share of losers but there are also the people who work extremely hard who I would love to have in my corner in a variety of different situations, inside the gym and outside the gym. I feel the gym crowd is really a microcosm of society as a whole.  The next time you are in the middle of a workout and you become depressed at some of the dead wood around you, just try to ignore them. Instead, look at some of the shining stars around you and challenge yourself to work harder than that person. Don’t Blink.