Category Archives: Uncategorized

Another One Rides The Bus

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Every university I have worked at has offered a special perk to its employees. At the University of Montana we received free football tickets, at Coastal Carolina University we enjoyed early release on summer Fridays, and at WSU I benefitted from a very liberal work-from-home schedule.

My favorite perk at Eastern Washington University? A bus pass.

I ride the 661 to the EWU campus a lot. I board the bus at the Jefferson Park and Ride in downtown Spokane.

My new employer provides faculty, staff, and students with a Spokane Transit Authority bus pass. With so many people living in Spokane and with EWU boasting a Spokane campus, it just makes sense for the university to encourage ridership on the STA routes that provide service to/from Cheney.

My vantage point most mornings when I am on the STA bus.

I have seized the opportunity. I try to take the bus 2-3 times per week as I capitalize on the dependability, sustainability, and, for the most part—comfort—that is offered. It serves as a happy arrangement in multiple respects…

First, it saves my vehicle from wear and tear. It is 27 miles from my home to my office. The bus stop where I board is 12 miles away at a park-and-ride in downtown Spokane. Thus, a normal 54-mile roundtrip for my Ford Escape is reduced to a 24-mile roundtrip. Sparing my car 30 miles per day adds up. It means less mileage, less gas, and less chance for an accident. It also eliminates driving for an extended time on I-90, my least favorite part of the commute.

Next, there is the convenience aspect. If you know anything about parking on a college campus, it can be scarce and expensive. Taking the bus has allowed me to bypass both those issues. When I use STA, I am dropped off at Eagle Station, the EWU-branded main campus bus plaza that is a convenient two-minute stroll to the building I work in. There is no stress, no driving around in circles, and no time drain.

The Eagle Station is the top bus stop on campus. It is a 2-minute walk to my office.

I also really appreciate the time I am given back that would otherwise be spent behind the wheel. A one-way trip from the park and ride to campus is 20 minutes. That means I have 40 minutes at my disposal on any given day I ride the bus. I use it to catch up on text messages, read the newspaper, check email, and format blog posts.

Finally, taking the bus just connects me better to EWU. Whether I am waiting at the stop or riding in my seat, I am surrounded by Eastern staff, faculty, and students. It has been a great way to solidify/build connections while reminding myself of the diverse EWU community.

It is hard not to smile when you are on the bus.

Thank you to Eastern Washington University for offering this option to all Eagles. Also, hats off to the bus drivers who are always so pleasant! Don’t Blink.

Big Brother 26: Good Stuff

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Although we watched the Big Brother 26 finale a few nights after it aired live, it wasn’t because Sid and I were so ho-hum with the season that we didn’t care. Rather, a packed schedule was to blame for our short delay. But no matter if we watched it live or caught ourselves up a few days after the fact, we thoroughly enjoyed watching our 14th season together.

Sidney and I enjoyed watching Big Brother 26…it was the 14th season we watched together.

Well, to be fair, when it comes to #BB26, there was one thing I didn’t particularly enjoy: the theme. Although the AI twist was extremely timely and something that resonated with me as a marketer, the execution of the theme was finicky at best. Ainsley didn’t do it for me and all the deep fake applications with the houseguests came off as hokey.

But aside from a theme that had good intentions but didn’t deliver, I think the season was pretty solid. And that comes from a blogger who had his favorite houseguest voted out pre-jury. I was a BIG Tucker fan and was truly bummed when he was evicted. I admired how he played with reckless abandonment and the uncanny sense of humor he brought to the house. His move to use the Power of Veto on Angela instead of HIMSELF was unprecedented and ballsy, something that was so audacious that I actually respected it.

Oh wait, did I just mention Angela? Let me just address her now. Commonly referred to as a production “plant” by my wife and popular Big Brother blogs, it was interesting that a former “Dr. Phil” guest and “Price Is Right” contestant was thrown into the house. Her antics did entertain me but I would be lying if I said I never questioned her merits for being part of the cast.

On the other side of the coin, the two finalists, Chelsie and Makensy, certainly deserved to be in that house. They played such well-rounded games and earned their way to the final two. However, despite playing such a masterful game, Makensy made two painfully terrible decisions in the final week. My jaw dropped when she chose to bring Cam to finale night over Rubina. Next, she made the even worst decision of evicting Cam so she could have a jury showdown with Chelsie. WTF.

The Big Brother 26 champion was undoubtedly decided at that point. But even with Makensy sealing her fate with that boneheaded move, Chelsie still managed to impress. I expected that the jury would vote 5-2 in Chelsie’s favor, but her answers to the jury and closing statement were so persuasive and well-put together that I think she flipped Andrea and Leah to her side, effectively securing a 7-0 unanimous decision.

Congrats to Chelsie for playing an incredible game.

A few final random notes…

– I was relieved that the season was played with no controversy in terms of what people said in one-off conversations and that no one was kicked off the show for non-gameplay reasons.

– Watching Jerry O’Connell guest host an episode was kind of fun. I think he did a good job except for the eviction interview he gave to Quinn.

– Speaking of Quinn, he was probably my least favorite houseguest but he was a good player.

– Congrats to Tucker winning America’s Favorite Houseguest…he had my vote!

– The reaction when Julie Chen told the houseguests that Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden in the Presidential Election was priceless. It really put into perspective how long the jury/final two houseguests had been in the house.

Thank you CBS for another season of Big Brother and the opportunity for my wife and I to bond in this annual special way. Don’t Blink.

B-Roll Thursday Rundown

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How is your spooky season going? Well, if your fright-o-meter is already at capacity, you might want to skip this rundown because my writing is really scary! Here are tonight’s five topics…

More Face Painting – Back in August, I devoted a whole blog post to face painting and how my kids are infatuated with the art. Sloan and Beau couldn’t pass up the opportunity once again this past weekend. At Saturday’s Autumn On the Ave event in the Union district and at the Brick West Pumpkin Fest on Sunday, the kids took advantage of the free face painting stations. Both artists were really talented as the faces of Sloan and Beau became canvases for Spider-Man, a unicorn, and a turtle.

The kids naturally gravitated toward the face painting stations while we were out in the community last weekend.

In the EWU Classroom – A project I have spearheaded at work is the updating of our photo and b-roll libraries. On Tuesday and today, I worked with crews to gather student affairs-based content and academic-based content. Today was all about academics as we visited seven different classrooms/labs on both the Cheney campus and Spokane campus. From ceramics to robotics to biology to photography (and so much more), we captured a lot! It was really cool to see the students so focused and to observe the professors engaging with them. Can’t wait to put all this incredible content to use in our marketing materials.

It was a packed day as we visited seven different Eastern Washington University classrooms/labs.

National Pasta Day – Today is National Pasta Day and I actually wrote an entire post to commemorate this special date last year. I celebrated by listing my top 5 favorite pasta noodles (I am sure you are so surprised, right?). You can tap the link for my entire list but I will throw you a bone—or a pasta noodle—by revealing my #1 noodle: it’s angel hair! I appreciate how I can effortlessly twirl this angelic type of pasta on my fork and it seems like all sauces naturally pair well with it.

I like nothing more than bowl of pasta and a glass of milk.

Flavored Cotton Candy – On Friday night, Sloan and I enjoyed a daddy-daughter high school football date night. We went to nearby University High School to watch the Titans defeat Ferris High School. Sloan most likely won’t remember the final score nor the homecoming halftime show, but I do think she will remember the cotton candy stand. Besides the giant servings, this stand was particularly memorable because of the different flavors you could order. Whether you wanted green apple, POG, or even bacon-flavored cotton candy, it was like you were in a Baskin-Robbins with the variety. Sloan opted for watermelon.

Sloan and I pose for a photo with her watermelon cotton candy at the 10/11/24 football game at University High School where the host Titans defeated Ferris High School.

The Office That Ages – As Donald Trump and Kamala Harris battle for the White House, they know that if they win the presidency, unimaginable stress will be waiting for them. And, as we have seen throughout history, that stress will definitely show physically. Make no mistake about it, being President of the United States will age you and Abraham Lincoln is perhaps the most popular example. This photo shows him in 1860 compared to 1865. In my honors humanities class as a junior in high school, my end-of-year project was a study on the aging effects of the presidency. My two group members and I constructed a White House replica and filled it with before and after photos of past U.S. Presidents. We supported our thesis that presidents age more rapidly than an average American with literature, mathematics equations, and death rate data (of course if we did this study today, Jimmy Carter would have skewed our results).

Abraham Lincoln in 1860 (left) vs. Abraham Lincoln in 1865 (right).

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I hope you will be doing the monster mash all weekend long. Thanks for reading and we will catch up on Monday. Don’t Blink.

Three Weeks To Go

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Once upon a time, a notable figure in politics said the following: “When they go low, we go high.”

As Kamala Harris and Donald Trump battle it out for the White House, one thing is clear: Neither of their parties are taking the high road.

This person made this quip as a suggestion that their major political party was somehow superior to the rival major political party in terms of tact, class, and temperament. Their party was about campaigning positively; the other party was about campaigning negatively.

Although I can appreciate the optimism and political savvy of trying to advance such a noble narrative, this non-partisan blogger has one thing to about that position: It’s B.S.

When it comes to the 2024 Presidential Election (and the ones previous to it), there is no such thing as positive campaigning. Both parties have resorted to rhetoric, “gotcha” moments, insults, and lies. It is a complete mess.

And for a lot of Americans, it takes a heavy toll. After months of constant ads, he said/she said drama, angry talking heads, daily polls, and non-stop social media posts, a lot of people have had enough.

With this bitter political marathon now just three weeks away from the finish line (assuming a winner is declared on Nov. 5), hopefully there is a small source of comfort for those who are over it. Although these next 21 days will probably be the most intense and extreme of them all, at least there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

To be honest, I am an election junkie and I do enjoy following the day-to-day developments. But even for a presidential nerd like myself, I can admit that things are out of control. Trust me, this is a big departure from eight years ago when I thought election anxiety was overblown. I can only imagine how excruciating the constant noise must be for those who prefer that potential leaders and campaigns maintain some shred of integrity.

With all that said, let’s pray for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. May they stay safe and set good examples for their campaigns and the American people. Don’t Blink.

2024 Birthday Gifts

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I always like to share the birthday, Christmas, and Father’s Day gifts I receive from my wife and kids. They never fail to give useful and sentimental presents that fit my tastes to a T. Here is what I received for my birthday last week…

Sloan – My all-time favorite candy is Twizzler Bites and/or Nibs. For me, they are really enjoyable to snack on whether I am at a game or watching Netflix. But not only did she give me licorice but she also gave me a candy bar that I didn’t even know Reese’s was still making. I loved Fast Breaks when they hit the market in 2001 but haven’t had too many opportunities to indulge the last many years. Making both these candy gifts even sweeter was that I was on a “cleanse” for six weeks that didn’t allow sweets. She also added a box of tissues as I fill my pockets with them every day. Last but not least, Sloan sentimentally gave me a mini Jenga set. When we were in Leavenworth this summer, we played many rounds of giant Jenga. We made so many great memories that she wanted to remind me of them by gifting me the mini version.

These are the gifts that Sloan gave me.

Beau – Well, Beau took Sloan’s lead…or did Sloan take Beau’s lead? Whatever the case might be, Sidney told me our children went back and forth on who was going to give me the candy/tissues. So, in the end, they both decided to get me the same goods (which was totally fine by me!). But they did branch out with the games they gifted me. While Sloan opted for Jenga, Beau gave me a version of “Would You Rather…?”.

These are the gifts that Beau got me for my birthday.

Sidney – My wife simply nailed it. I have started to build my EWU wardrobe but it consists mostly of polos. Sid helped me diversify my closet by giving me a couple selections that are more casual. On my birthday, she gave me my first EWU pullover, something that is very timely as it is now autumn in the northwest. She also hit it out of the park with another EWU “first” for me—a ball cap! Not only is it a style I like, but it actually fits on my head in a manner that doesn’t make me look like a doofus. Don’t know what it is, but many hats just don’t look good on me. Can’t wait to wear it on Saturdays!

These are the birthday gifts that Sid got me for my birthday.

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Much thanks to Sid, Sloan, and Beau. Not only do these three humans “get me,” but they are also generous and thoughtful. Love you! Don’t Blink.

Still Doing Thursday Rundowns At 38

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Dang, this 38-year-old stuff is hard. I feel so old I don’t even know if I can get these ancient fingers to type this blog post. Just kidding! Even if these fingers couldn’t keep up any longer, I would ask Sloan to type for me. Let’s get going with my first rundown at 38…

Cake Photo – This was my birthday cake this year and no matter how delicious it might appear, looks can be deceiving. I screwed up. Sidney wanted to bake me a birthday cake but since my special day fell on a Tuesday, I told her not to worry about. So I picked up this red velvet cake from WinCo. The grocery store didn’t even make it (made from some national brand and shipped in) and you sure could tell when we dug in on Tuesday night. It was crumbly and extremely dry. My birthday falls on a week day again next year but I think I will take my wife up on her offer to bake me a cake that actually tastes good.

This was my birthday cake. It wasn’t as good as it looks.

Halloween X-SPO – I love everything-spooky and fortunately my kids do too. I couldn’t resist taking them to the Halloween X-SPO event in downtown Spokane this past weekend. Put on by Lilac City Comicon, we had a blast posing in the photo backdrops, marveling at crazy costumes, and browsing the creepy merchandise sold by the vendors. We will circle it on our calendar again for next year.

We had a lot of fun at the Halloween X-SPO.

Best Birthday Party – I celebrated my birthday on Tuesday and enjoyed every moment with my wife, kids, and parents. As an adult, any birthday you can spend with your family is the best one. However, when I look back on my childhood, I always bring up my “limousine birthday” as the best party I ever had (as a kid). About 10 years ago I wrote about the experience, but the memory from my 8th birthday party limo cruise was ordering our driver, Leonardo, to drive us to McDonald’s. With Sloan turning 8 in March, I hope she doesn’t get any ideas.

Hanging with my limo driver, Leonardo.

2010s Archive – I have written many blog posts on Oct. 10, so many that it would be too cumbersome to mention them all. So how about I just pull some from the mid-to-late-2010s? On this date 10 years ago, I wrote about my first visit to a Southern BBQ buffet (spoiler: I left stuffed). On Oct. 10, 2016, I offered my top 10 reasons why “Forrest Gump” is one of my favorite movies. In 2017, I used my Oct. 10 blog post to sound off on the eccentric Jeopardy champion at the time, Austin Rogers. In 2018 I wrote about an awesome birthday gift I received that is still paying dividends to this day. And finally, on Oct. 10, 2019, I wrote a Thursday Rundown that included a plethora of noteworthy topics, including Sid’s top pregnancy craving at the time.

Hanging with a couple of CCU co-workers who also celebrated October birthdays when we went to a Southern BBQ buffet in Conway, SC.

Cheese Mouth – Did this deserve its own spot on the rundown? Probably not. However, I thought I would offer it as a Don’t Blink exclusive as I have not posted it on social media. I make a sack lunch for Beau to eat at each of Sloan’s soccer matches. Last Saturday he took his cheese wedges, placed them in his mouth, and took this photo. He totally takes after Sid! 😂

I have one silly boy.

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This Thursday Rundown was fun! It truly is such a cool time of the year. Enjoy your autumn October weekend, my ghosts and goblins! Don’t Blink.

Friendship and Donuts

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I wanted to devote an entire blog post—not just Thursday Rundown treatment—to a man who has treated me and my family so well over the past nine years.

Read on for more details, but this is me holding my box of birthday donuts from Retro Donuts owner/friend Jon Fine.

Jon Fine came on my radar in 2015. That spring I shed light on a parent-led mutiny effort (it failed) to remove the football coach I played for at Mead High School. Jon, whose son had played in the football program, also opposed the parent steamroll and followed my posts. He provided me positive feedback and a friendship was born.

A year later, Jon would open Retro Donuts in north Spokane. I swear I could smell those delicacies all the way from South Carolina. About nine months after he opened the doors, Sidney and I visited the shop during a summer trip out west. Not only was it the first time we visited Retro Donuts but it was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting Jon face-to-face. He came right up to the counter, greeted us, and added some complimentary donuts to our order. Jon was even nicer in-person.

In future trips to Spokane, we would make it a tradition to stop at Retro. We wouldn’t tell Jon we were coming in, but the moment we walked through the doors it was as if he was expecting us. He would come right up to the counter, warmly welcome us, and catch up. We always left with some extra donuts in our box.

My kids with a box of Retro Donuts.

But my interaction with Jon wasn’t limited to our in-store vacation visits. After the Coach Carty saga, he continued to follow my blog, becoming a loyal reader. I could always depend on Jon for insightful and positive comments. In fact, perhaps nothing was more enlightening than when Mr. Fine cleared up the “donut vs. doughnut” debate I passionately wrote about. In an eloquent way that only a true donut-maker could convey, he explained that most donuts don’t contain “dough”—clearly leaving no doubt that the “donut” spelling is correct.

I mean, how do you argue with this response?

In 2020, Retro Donuts was no longer 3,000 miles away but rather 30 miles away. We moved from South Carolina to Spokane Valley and the world’s best donuts were now just a car ride away. Jon welcomed us “home” and our friendship continued. Although we don’t visit Retro as much as we would like, Jon has brought Retro to us…

A couple years ago when I returned to Hoopfest as a player, Jon sent me a box of donuts for the team. Although my teammates and I didn’t necessarily indulge right before our first game, we certainly had the happiest donut-fed young fans cheering us on.

My kids, niece, and nephew eating Retro Donuts at Hoopfest.

Then, just yesterday, my mom surprised me when she texted me a Retro Donuts box with a “happy birthday” message on it. Later that night, she brought the delicious gems out to me. The box was packed with 13 beautiful donuts, including four of my personal favorites – fritters! What an incredibly nice gesture by a really nice man.

What a generous (and delicious) birthday present. Thanks Jon Fine for the Retro Donuts!

I highly encourage my Spokane-area readers to try Retro Donuts. The donuts baked within those walls are creative, fresh, and delectable. Best in the region by far! But keep in mind you won’t just be making a great donut/breakfast decision, you will also be supporting an incredibly kind human. Thanks for everything, Jon. Don’t Blink.

Feeling Great At 38

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I am feeling great at 38!

Opening up gifts at my birthday dinner. I am feeling great at 38!

And obviously feeling pretty corny with a slogan like that. Please forgive me, in order to cope with another candle on my birthday cake, I have named/branded the last several years as I have climbed into my late thirties. I won’t recap the past monikers here, but you can view them by tapping on previous birthday posts below.

But don’t think my reasoning for naming each year means I am depressed over here in the corner. Quite the contrary, I do seriously feel great—both from a physical and life stage perspective. The mental piece? Well, I think I am pretty set there, too, but you would have to confirm with my wife.

All joking aside, I feel very blessed to turn 38. Each day I pay attention to the obituaries and read about many people who don’t make it to the age I am celebrating today. For this blessing, all I can say is thanks be to God.

I won’t reflect on the past year as a 37-year-old because I will save all that for my 2024 recap in December, but I will say this: It was fruitful. And because of a superb previous year, I am bringing plenty of momentum forward to this next trip around the sun.

It is my hope that this momentum will help me love life even more. I want to be more appreciative of my wife, more patient with my kids, and more intentional with my faith. Basically, I want to be a better person. Not a bad (if not very general) goal for a birthday year, right?

After the past three years of celebrating my birthday on a weekend day, it landed on a Tuesday this year. But I actually feel fortunate—the leap year spared me of a Monday birthday. Then again, when you get to be my age, you can’t really be choosey of when your birthday falls on the calendar.

Sorry, before I went on that tangent, my point was that I worked today. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t a fulfilling birthday. My boss treated me to lunch, my parents took my family out to dinner, we ate cake, and then we capped everything off by watching “Hubie Halloween.” Not a bad day 😌.

Enjoying cake with Sloan and Beau. What a day!

I fully intend to “Feel Great at 38” not just today or even through the week or the month—I want to feel great at this age all the way through the eve of my 39th birthday. Will it happen? Well, you will have to check back a year from now to find out. Thanks to everyone for making my birthday special. Don’t Blink.

Past Birthday Posts
Turning 37
Turning 36
Turning 35
Turning 34
Turning 33
Turning 32
Turning 31
Turning 30

Dang, Where’s Waldo Got Hard

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A half decade ago, I learned something about my wife that really shocked me. We were at one of those restaurants that offers customers fun things to do while waiting at the table for their food. I looked past the trivia cards and peg games to a book from my childhood. I grabbed it and asked Sid, “Remember this?”

This was the Where’s Waldo book that was at our table back in 2019 when Sidney looked through it for the first time.

Well, she didn’t.

I had in my hands the red-book version of the “Where’s Waldo” series. Sidney had never looked through one of the pop culture-significant books before. Surprised out of mind, I told her that today was as good as any to delve into the world of Waldo. Apparently she was given a heavy dose of beginner’s luck because she smoked me on numerous pages as we raced to see who could find Waldo first.

In the same way that you only notice how many makes/models of a specific car are on the road once you own the vehicle yourself, I think the popularity of Waldo started to take hold on Sid after that dinner. She started to notice the extremely popular Waldo Halloween costume, the references to “finding Waldo” in crowded situations, and even the children’s animated series that Sloan started watching shortly thereafter. There is no doubt about it, Waldo is a bona fide celebrity superstar.

Anyway, I say all this to bring up the fact that I checked out a “Where’s Waldo” book from the library the other day. I knew when I brought it home that Sidney wouldn’t give me a blank look on what it was. I figured we could open it up with the kids and see who could find Waldo first like we had done many times over the past five years. For me, it was kind of cool to find a “Where’s Waldo” book that I had never laid eyes on before after 30+ years of searching the classic yellow/blue/red books.

Latching onto “The Wonder Book” after finding it on one of the shelves in the library.

The excitement faded to frustration as finding Waldo in this new book proved to be incredibly elusive. After trying in vain to find Waldo in most of the scenes, I looked up “Where’s Waldo” on Wikipedia to see if there was something I missing. I learned that after the classic books came out, the ensuing Waldo books were purposely harder. Increasing in difficulty with each new release, the illustrator made the scenes more crowded and Waldo smaller. No wonder I felt so miffed!

Needless to say, “The Wonder Book” was a little more than we could handle. If I couldn’t even find the guy in red and white stripes, you can probably imagine how “fun” it was for the kids. Oh, well.
Just a few brief additional things about Waldo…

Sloan and Beau holding “The Wonder Book.”

– As a kid, I learned to draw from celebrity artist Mark Kistler. He recommended to look at “Where’s Waldo” books for drawing inspiration.

– Illustrator Martin Hanford says it takes him about eight weeks to draw a single “Where’s Waldo” scene.

– While looking through “The Wonder Book” I learned that other characters are also now included in each scene. There is his evil alter-ego Odlaw, a red and white-striped female counterpart named Wenda, a wizard, and more.

– In Britain, Waldo is know as Wally.

– I used to wear a red and white striped shirt that my friends would mock me for and call it my “Waldo” shirt.

An actual photo of me in my “Waldo” shirt with my mom from 2012. I wore this all the time over the course of many years.

Do you have any “Where’s Waldo” stories? Do you incorporate them into anything you do with your kids? Let me know. Don’t Blink.

Angel Thursday Rundown

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If you read one of my blog posts from earlier this week, you know how much I love October! So far, just three days into the month, it is living up to its billing. Hopefully this latest Thursday Rundown will live up to its billing as well. Here we go…

Angels – Once a month, our parish hosts Family Faith Night. These events revolve around a single topic and include lessons, food, games, and fellowship. This past Saturday, our Director of Religious Education Marie Bricher presented “Angel Flight Academy,” an evening all about angels. It was so enlightening to learn about these spiritual beings and how they help and protect us every single day. Although the content was superb, Beau’s favorite part was decorating the homemade angel food cake that was cut into—you guessed it—angels.

Beau and Sloan having a great time at St. Mary’s angel-themed Family Faith Night.

Mr. McMahon – Even for someone who doesn’t typically binge shows like myself, it took me very little time to rip through the six episodes in the Netflix documentary series “Mr. McMahon.” The episodes resonated with me because throughout my childhood I was a big professional wrestling fan so it packed a lot of nostalgia. Besides learning about some of the truly despicable things done by Vince McMahon, I was also surprised by how obsessed he was with success and the lengths he would go to “win.” It was really interesting hearing insight from Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Dwayne Johnson, The Undertaker, and more. Also, all of the footage incorporated into the documentary will have you traveling down memory lane. If you are/were a pro wrestling fan or if business interests you, I recommend “Mr. McMahon.”

Vince McMahon is a complex and win-at-all-costs person.

Friday Night Lights – This past Friday I had the thrill of attending my first high school football game of the fall. And it wasn’t just any football game, it was the Battle of the Bell rivalry game between the two high schools in the Mead School District—Mead High School and Mt. Spokane High School. As an alumnus of both Mead High School and its football program, I naturally cheered for my Panthers. In front of 6,000+ people on a beautiful evening, Mead defeated Mt. Spokane, 27-7. The victory nudged Mead ahead in the overall head-to-head record as the Panthers now lead the Wildcats 14-13 in the rivalry.

It was a beautiful scene at Union Stadium as Mead High School defeated Mt. Spokane High School in the 2024 Battle of the Bell.

Social Circle – One thing I miss from earlier in my career was the chance to work on a campus television show. This month marks 10 years since we launched Coastal Now, the revamped campus show at Coastal Carolina University. When we debuted the fresh version a decade ago, it was a breath of fresh air as we used a digital-first blueprint that was popular in pop culture at the time. The launch of Coastal Now included a segment that was written and delivered by me. Called the Social Circle, I was able to highlight the cool stuff our social media program was doing. To see that first Social Circle segment, tap here.

Me on set of Coastal Now.

Reading Rainbow – It is always ideal when I can end with something fun and wholesome. My niece, Olivia, was born last May. Not even six months yet, she is already starting to follow in the footsteps of her niece when it comes to reading prowess. Last Sunday when everyone was over at my parents’ house for Sunday dinner, I had the pleasure of reading “Five Little Pumpkins” to her. She was engaged the entire time and my brother (Olivia’s dad) managed to take this special candid shot.

I read a book to Olivia while her Aunt Sidney holds her and cousin John looks on.

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Thanks for taking time to read Don’t Blink. Hope your enjoy your first October weekend. Don’t Blink.