A New Record! Sloan Reads 600 Books

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Did you know the men and women who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier space their uniform medals at 1/64th of an inch? I didn’t either. Of course, I didn’t know a lot of things before reading 600 books with Sloan in 2024.

Sloan holds “Twenty-One Steps,” the 600th book she read in 2024. She read this book to Beau and me at the Spokane Public Library – Central.

On December 27, 2024, Sloan read her brother and me Twenty-One Steps at the Spokane Public Library – Central to reach her goal. The book, which explained the origin and significance of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, was the culminating story in a year dominated by reading.

Beau reads to Beau her 600th book at the Spokane Public Library – Central

After reading 500 books in 2022 and 500 books in 2023, Sloan became a little brazen at the beginning of 2024. Caught up in the excitement of New Year’s resolutions, Sloan wrote a goal at school to read 600 books during the year. Okay girl, I said, I am going to hold you to it.

And I did 😂.

Sloan made the New Year’s resolution to read 600 books early on in 2024.

What is just an additional 100 books in a year, you ask? Believe it or not, it does increase the nightly reading output more than you think. A few times throughout the course of the year, Sloan had bouts with reading fatigue but for the most part she was committed to reaching the big 6-0-0.

Sloan holds up a couple books she read at Spokane Valley County Library in February 2024.

The lofty goal helped cover her nightly reading homework, scored her Silverwood passes, and continued to improve her reading skills. It also taught her (and me) a lot. In 2024, we transitioned to books that fit her level better. Mature themes (death, divorce, disease, etc.), biographies, historical events, relationships, processes, nature, religion, and culture were all subject matter we consumed over the year. But don’t worry, we had Curious George and Pete the Cat thrown in there as well 😉.

Sloan points to a book she read at the Argonne County Library during the summer of 2024.

We managed the goal like we had in the past. Most of our reading material came from Spokane County Library locations where we would make bi-weekly visits to stock up. We read mostly at night during our infamous Books and Prayers period. We logged the books in the Notes app on my phone. At this point in Sloan’s reading odyssey, everything was pretty routine. However, despite the solid structure, the reading itself still needed to be done. And let me tell you in no uncertain terms: Sloan did the reading.

We logged our books in the Notes app of my phone.

However, things will change in 2025. Sloan and I won’t have a standing nightly date to read books shoulder-to-shoulder together anymore. Instead, she will be released to read independently on her own. She already does this but not with the consistency and structure that will guide the activity this year. My daughter enjoys chapter books—especially the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid series—and it is time to allow her to grow with more challenging literature.

The books Sloan is holding here in a photo from early 2024 at Spokane Valley County Library, are now being replaced with books that more accurately reflect Sloan’s reading level.

But don’t worry, ol’ dad won’t be shedding any tears as he is left on the couch without his daughter. Beau will be taking his sister’s spot. In fact, he already has. Well, not her physical spot, but he has joined us for books over the past couple years. However, his undivided attention will be emphasized a bit more this year. I am excited to see the same growth from him that Sloan exhibited during the early years of our reading program.

Keep reading in 2025, friends! If you ever have any book suggestions for Sloan or Beau, please don’t hesitate to send them my way. Don’t Blink.

Oops We Did It Again: Our 2024 #1SE Video

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CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE 2024 RESER FAMILY #1SE VIDEO

After you commit to something wholeheartedly on a daily basis over the course of a year, there is a tendency to step back the following year and take a break. After completing the 1 Second Everyday project in 2023, I debated with Sidney about whether I would embark on a second version in 2024.

However, the fruits from my inaugural #1SE year—especially the special moments of debuting the final project to friends and family on Dec. 31—proved too sweet to pass up in 2024. Thus, I made the decision to once again go all-in with #1SE.

It didn’t disappoint.

This is the thumbnail for our 2024 #1SE video.

With a year under my belt, my 2024 project was a little easier than my rookie year. I knew what I was doing, I had learned hacks within the app, and I didn’t put as much stress on myself as I did in 2023. By the time I did it for the second time, the whole process of capturing a one-second video each day seemed much more natural. Basically, it had been ingrained into my daily routine.

But could this second video ever compare to our first one? After all, I mentioned in my year-in-review blog post that my family didn’t do too much in 2024. We stayed in Washington pretty much the whole year. Did that make our #1SE video inferior and boring?

Well, perhaps to you. But for Sidney and me? Hardly.

I highly recommend creating a video using the I Second Everyday app.

The art of a #1SE video isn’t necessarily about exotic sunsets and selfies with Mickey Mouse. Our video turned out just fine with a Spokane rainbow and a Chuck E. Cheese high five 😂. But in all seriousness, #1SE videos can be successful simply if they are mundane yet authentic; basic yet reflective.

Birthdays. Ball games. Baptisms. Board games. Books.

Dances. Dentist visits. Dining out. Diving in the pool. Dressing up.

Family. Festivals. Fair. Faith. Friends.

These ordinary events and things are what filled up our 2024 #1SE. Like I said, nothing too spectacular; nothing too jaw dropping. But when strung together, they tell a story—the Reser family story. And to me, that’s beautiful (but perhaps I am biased).

Like last year, we debuted our video “on the big screen” to those closest to us. My parents watched our 2024 #1SE video on their television and Sidney’s parents got to watch it with Beau and Sloan on theirs. To see my mom and dad tear up for the second straight year as the days flew by on the screen is always touching.

My mom and dad watch the debut of our 2024 #1SE video.

Besides giving my children a piece of media they will always cherish, it is the emotional effect that these videos have on people that make me want to keep doing them. The final product is always just so pure, so genuine, so rewarding.

Which brings me to my last appeal of this post. Just like Jennifer inspired me to do my own #1SE, perhaps I can inspire you to do your own. If you are at all considering doing a 1-Second Everyday video…DO IT!! Trust me, you won’t regret it. Doing a project such as this helps you to appreciate the little things and it allows you to give a gift to your family at the end of the year that is priceless.

This is the ending “day” of our 2024 #1SE video. What a joy it was to make it. I encourage you to join me in making your own #1SE video in 2025.

If you need any extra motivation or have any questions before starting your own #1SE video, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. It is only January 3, you can easily jump on board today and be well on your way to creating something special. Thanks for your interest in the 2024 Reser Family #ISE video and I hope to include your face in our 2025 version. Don’t Blink.

Still Alive in 2025

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Okay guys, this 2025 business is hitting me hard. Yesterday marked a quarter century since I woke up in my bed and realized we all weren’t doomed. Although I had a pretty good idea that Y2K wasn’t going to be the end of us, all the propaganda surrounding the year 2000 proved a lot for an impressionable 13-year-old.

Perhaps an even bigger slap in the face is that if you do the math, 2025 is TWENTY YEARS after 2005 (aka my high school graduation year). It has now been two full decades since I walked across the Spokane Arena stage as a fresh Mead High School graduate.

Ready or not, 2025 is here!

News flash: While I am still very much a Mead High School graduate, I am most definitely not “fresh” anymore.

So, basically, the theme that is prevalent to me as a new year begins is that I am old.

But believe it or not, that is fine with me!

You see, I usually feel a lot of pressure at the beginning of the year. New Year’s resolutions, goals, and the desire to thrive all get into my head. However, as we begin 2025, I don’t seem to be balancing that weight on my shoulders this time around.

Perhaps I am just losing my ambition and drive. However, I like to think that the real reason is that I feel set up for success in 2025. I took a big leap in my career last year and I feel really good with where I am at. Our family is in a solid spot and some promising developments should hit early this month. A lot of opportunities for us to help others and ourselves from a faith-perspective await over the next 52 weeks. So, sorry not sorry, but I didn’t spend Tuesday night, a holiday I find depressing, wallowing in the dumps.

Of course by saying all this, I know I am setting myself up for a year that is anything but successful. Oh well, just trying to be honest. Even if 2025 falls short of my expectations and turns out to be the worst year ever, at least I am well-equipped to handle it. With a supportive wife, loyal friends, and Jesus walking by my side, I will handle surprises the best I can. And like what happened to a man I respected greatly at the end of 2024, terrible surprises do happen.

But again, I am optimistic and excited for 2025. For one, I didn’t spend yesterday vomiting into a toilet like I did on New Year’s Day in 2024. Even though I know that a year is a marathon, not a sprint—and, like last year, even a bad start to a year can’t sabotage the ensuing 364 days (and vice versa)—I am hopeful.

And I hope you are too. Have a blessed 2025. Don’t Blink.

Travis Overton: A Kind and Selfless Leader

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Last night while scrolling social media, a former co-worker of mine at Coastal Carolina University posted a photo of another former CCU colleague with the caption of “love you.” My lack of awareness got the best of me as I just thought it was a silly post commemorating a New Year’s Eve party they were both at. About 15 minutes later, I picked up my phone again and did another scroll. This time I saw photo after photo of this particular colleague from other former co-workers. The shock and sadness hit me hard that Travis Overton had died.

I arrived at Coastal Carolina University in May 2014 and it didn’t take long for me to meet Travis. In fact, we worked closely together. In his capacity as dean of students, he had mastered the microblogging trend of social media that was prevalent at the time. I had the privilege of collaborating with him and other CCU legends such as Jeff Stone and April Betsch as we formed a social media working group to better serve our students. It was a special time to be a Chant as the institution went through an incredible rise unlike one I have ever seen in higher education.

Travis Overton was a special person. This photo is a screenshot from the 2016 holiday video. I was pretty surprised that I didn’t have an actual photo with Travis but you can spot me in the background trying to do a “dance move” in the teal hoodie.

Travis went the same way as CCU during this time: UP. Although he always held a higher position than me from the moment I stepped on campus, Travis had a spectacular ascension into senior administration at Coastal during the middle of my tenure at the university. His talent, work ethic, and charisma were too much for university leaders to overlook. Rightfully, he kept climbing the ladder and served CCU in some very key administrative positions.

By the time I was ready to move on from CCU, Travis was many pay grades ahead of me. However, he never let that gap change the way he treated me. By the time I left Coastal at the beginning of 2020, he still engaged with me the same way he did when we were sitting side-by-side strategizing the Yik Yak takeover we organized in October 2014. There was no ego.

This blurry photo is taken from video (sorry!) so I apologize for the bad quality. But it shows one of our social media meetings from 2014 with Travis seated in the corner. Before Travis entered senior administration, I worked with him a lot.

Speaking of my departure from Coastal, it was at this time that Travis helped me in a way that I will never forget. This brief story I am about to relate is another classic example of what made Travis Overton so respected and beloved.

As happens occasionally in higher ed, bad hires are sometimes made. In 2019, a new vice president for marketing and communications arrived at CCU. Despite high hopes, this particular person made our jobs and lives difficult. When I submitted my resignation to go work for Washington State University, Travis, who oversaw our department, told me to come to him if our department leader gave me any additional grief in the few weeks I had remaining at CCU.

I made it a priority to not reach out to Travis. I didn’t want to bother him with any of my problems as he had much more important university matters to deal with. I held true to this personal pledge as long as I could until a life event occurred…

My wife gave birth prematurely in early February 2020. Beau was sent to the NICU. I was making trips back-and-forth to Florence from Myrtle Beach to be with him. It was one of the scariest and most stressful times of my life. During this period, I needed my department’s approval on something that would make a major difference in my transition from a CCU employee to a non-CCU employee (specific details not important for the story). This approval, which would also help me better communicate to my family out west about Beau’s condition, was withheld. I was basically being played with. 

Despondent and at my wits’ end, I reached out to Travis. He first responded with compassion and empathy. He wanted to know how we were all doing and told me not to worry about the CCU issue. Travis said he would take care of it.

By the time I arrived home to Myrtle Beach that night, I had an email in my inbox stating that I had received approval for my request. An awful ordeal that was causing mounting stress was instantly resolved. Travis’ quick action meant the world to me. I sent a text of appreciation to Travis and he responded in the most humble way.

This was the text Travis sent me after I thanked him for coming to my aid during a very vulnerable time.

My respect for Travis was already permanent, but the way he came to my aid during my most vulnerable time elevated him to a forever special spot in my heart. Even in death, that spot is still reserved for an incredible human being. Please pray for the repose of the soul of Travis Overton. Don’t Blink.

2024: Making Moves

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It was a questionable start. On January 1, I attended mass at St. Paschal Catholic Church. As Fr. Kevin Oiland chanted the Eucharistic prayer, a point in the mass that requires the faithful to be dialed in and reverent, I couldn’t take it anymore. Asking God for his forgiveness, I did the unthinkable and dashed out of the service.

I was sick.

The rest of my New Year’s Day was spent in bed or at the toilet throwing up. It was quite the miserable way to begin 2024 and I couldn’t shake what it might mean for the remaining 365 days (leap year) to follow. I wondered aloud to Sidney: Hopefully this isn’t an omen for the rest of the year…

Thankfully, it wasn’t.

2024 has been a blessed year for our family.

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I always say that even-numbered years bring about more change and surprises for my family than odd-numbered years. In 2024, this observation held true once again, at least from a professional standpoint. Duties, habits, commutes, and school drop-off routines were dramatically altered when I accepted the director of marketing position with Eastern Washington University.

But aside from that somewhat major development, the rest of our year was pretty low key. How low key? Consider that our family, at least up through yesterday, didn’t get on an airplane once nor did we visit any other state besides neighboring Idaho. Despite the lack of travel, we still managed to stay busy…

In January, Sloan figured a new way to generate revenue when she lost her first tooth. Speaking of my first-born, the next month Sloan asked me for the third-straight year to be her date at the St. Mary daddy-daughter dance. Also in February, Beau celebrated his fourth birthday with a Bluey-themed party and a few weeks later, Sid and I would present at our first Engaged Encounter retreat. Spring arrived and Beau played t-ball while Sloan hit the soccer field again. A Taylor Swift-themed birthday party for a certain 7-year-old was epically pulled off by Sidney. A new niece arrived in May when my brother and sister-in-law welcomed their first child, Olivia.

In January, Sloan lost her first tooth!

As is typically the case, things sped up during the second half of the year. A trip to Walla Walla to celebrate my aunt’s 60th birthday in June unofficially kicked off our summer. Wedding season also commenced this month as multiple couples Sid and I mentored entered into the sacrament of holy matrimony. Our family made memories volunteering at Hoopfest. In July, Sid’s parents visited from South Carolina and had their stay happily extended due to the CrowdStrike snafu. When the month ended, so did my employment with Washington State University. I would begin at EWU on August 1. After working my first week, we took a family vacation to Leavenworth. The fall was filled with festivals, galas, and birthday parties. Thanksgiving and Christmas were both celebrated with my family but the year is ending in South Carolina as the kids were given a surprise trip to visit “Gami and Dada” in South Carolina.

Sid’s parents visited us in July.

So that is the quick two-paragraph rundown of the events of 2024 but what about the themes? I am glad you asked. I can pinpoint two…

The first theme is emergence. Sid and I “put ourselves out there” by leading retreats and honing our public speaking skills. From a work perspective, taking a higher level job and overseeing more people also took a leap of faith. Sloan’s bravery increased as she became more comfortable in the water and fearless when it came to thrill rides. Beau shook off nerves and competed on his first sports team.

Sidney presenting at the March 1-3 Engaged Encounter weekend while Fr. Pat Kerst and Joe Schroeder look on.

We also faced disruption in 2024. As I mentioned earlier, our solid routines were turned upside down when I changed jobs. Sidney and I pretty much flip-flopped the household/kid duties we championed for the past couple years. It was tough at times but we managed and are now relatively comfortable with our roles. While we faced our own personal disruption, the nation was simultaneously facing its own. The presidential election was bitter and it polarized Americans. I followed the race extremely closely and was shocked when President-Elect Trump cruised to an 86-point Electoral College landslide victory over Kamala Harris.

Taking a job at Eastern Washington University caused some major adjustments to our daily routines and how we care for the kids.

In addition to those two unique themes of 2024, the same three values I highlight every year continued to be key for the Resers…

It all starts with family. With the four of us pretty much staying put this year, we had lots of time to spend together. Our house was a refuge as we spent lots of time reading, baking, and praying inside it. We cheered each other on at sporting events, volunteered together, and explored our Spokane community. A couple road trips resulted in precious bonding and our vacation to Leavenworth provided us with memories we will always hold dear. The Summer Olympics captivated our household and gave us hours of entertainment in which we learned about competition, the world, and pride for our country. Holidays, family dinners, and watch parties for my extended family became a tad more crowded this year. My niece, Olivia, was born in May but don’t worry—my parents had no issue finding extra room to accommodate the Reser family’s newest addition 😂. Sidney’s family also added a new face with nephew Patrick! I couldn’t be happier that Sid and the kids are spending time with him and everyone else in Myrtle Beach as this year comes to a close.

Sloan and Beau meet Olivia for the first time.

When it comes to our faith, it was another solid year. There might not be a greater blessing than sending our kids to the school that is connected to our parish. I’ll tell you what, Jesus was spot on when he lauded the purity of a child’s faith. It seems like each day that Sloan and Beau attend St. Mary School, they come home and teach me something about the bible or saints. Speaking of saints, Sloan was named a Future Saint of the Week in 2024. She also served as a lector, attended Catholic Summer Camp, and spoke of her faith development in the St. Mary promotional video. As a family we made a pilgrimage to the St. Francis of Assisi crèche in Spokane, attended every St. Mary Family Faith Night we could, and served as greeters at mass. Sid and I continued to grow with our Young Adult Catholic group, mentored more engaged couples for marriage, and presented at Engaged Encounter retreats. We celebrated the 13th ordination of Fr. Jeff Lewis, said goodbye to Fr. Kevin Oiland, and collaborated with Fr. Pat Kerst. Although I still continue to ask God every night to increase my faith, I feel I am making progress thanks in large part because of those I have around me.

My brother and I receive a blessing from Fr. David Gaines right outside of Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral during Bloomsday 2024.

Because of my supportive family and a strong faith, it allows Sid and me to pursue our careers with zeal. I couldn’t be prouder of the year my wife had with Traveler’s Insurance. She led multiple teams of international customer service employees, helped launch brand new software, participated in the company’s 24-hour Innovation Jam, and added so much to the daily workplace culture. I split my year between two great public Washington higher ed institutions. At WSU, my strategy to revamp our YouTube presence and the effort I led to recognize our system’s top graduating seniors earned award recognition from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). I was also proud of the #CougCounties social media campaign I introduced that spanned the state of Washington. At EWU I played a role in our brand evolution, assisted with the launch of our comprehensive fundraising campaign, and produced our holiday video. Over the past 12 months, the accomplishments at both universities were made possible by empowering bosses and talented team members.

Just like at WSU, when I started at EWU, I was connected with some awesome colleagues. This photo is of our film crew for the holiday video (L-R: Luke Kenneally, Sean Nelms, Me, Ginny Baxter).

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Wow, have I gone on long enough? I think so. But what do you expect? Like I said in my first blog post of the year, 2024 was an “every four years type of year.” As we lived our busy lives, a slate of 12 months highlighted by an extra day, the Summer Olympics, and a Presidential Election transpired in the background. It was a lot.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this year a great one for my family.

As 2024 comes to a close, I am thankful for the many fruits yielded over the past 365 days (with the 366th day coming tomorrow). I am also mindful of the sorrows. Sidney lost her Uncle Tony and although he was mostly out of my family’s picture for the past 23 years, my Uncle Cliff passed away earlier this month. With 2025 almost here, let’s pray for health and peace. Thank you to my readers for an awesome year and I will see you all on the other side of the ball dropping. Don’t Blink.

My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2024

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It is hard to believe that I am about to do this for the 11th time 😱. An idea I hatched in 2014 to highlight some of my favorite entries from the past 12 months eventually became an annual tradition I coin “The Big Blog Post.” At the end of December, I recognize 10 blog posts from the past year that I feel stand out.

But what “stands out”?

Good question! The posts I choose for inclusion in this prestigious list are entries that stand out to me. A spot on the countdown is not earned from analytics, reader comments, or social media reaction. Rather, I curate this list based on posts that exerted special effort in their production and/or ones that I wouldn’t mind reading again 10 years from now.

In 2024 I wrote 187 entries, an output that trumps my previous year’s yield for the fifth consecutive time (2019: 165 posts, 2020: 172 posts, 2021: 173 posts, 2022: 180 posts, 2023: 185 posts). With more blog posts to choose from since 2018, it was a challenging task to signal out just 10.

With that said, I still managed to do it. Here we go…

10. Back In The Office…Literally (October 2) – When you switch jobs, a lot of things change. What an understatement when it came to my most recent career move! Just transitioning from a strategist to a director position was a handful, but there was something else that really took adjusting. You see, I went from a primarily work from home arrangement to an in-person assignment. This blog post was a thoughtful look at what changed with the transition. From the commute to packing lunches to attending meetings, I had to re-acquaint myself with the face-to-face professional world. This post was fun because it resonated with other professionals who were going through the same transition as me and it also highlighted what didn’t change.

I returned to the office on a permanent basis in 2024.

9. Annoying My Front Seat Passenger (April 24) – Sidney and I have different approaches when it comes to operating a motor vehicle. When we are driving solo, to each their own! But when one of us is relegated to the passenger seat? Well, the one not behind the wheel can sometimes get a little annoyed. In this brief blog post, I mention a handful of things I do while driving that irks my #1 front seat passenger. From using the horn to blowing hot air at face level to turning all the appliances off upon reaching our destination, things can get a little tense between the two of us. This post made the countdown because I genuinely enjoyed writing it and mostly because I think other couples can relate. Speaking of driving, toward the end 2023 I received a speeding ticket. In 2024 I took a driver safety course to get the infraction removed from my driving record. During that class, I learned a lot. Buckle up everyone!

Sidney isn’t always smiling when she is driving with me. I explained why in one of my top posts from 2024.

8. Our Leavenworth Summer Vacation (August 11) – How can you deny a blog post filled with so much happiness a spot on this countdown? Well, you can’t. In August, my family traveled to Leavenworth for the first time to enjoy several sunny days in the Bavarian-themed town. The post covered 10 themes from the trip that ranged from big picture to mundane. But it is perhaps those “mundane” themes (i.e. family time in hotel room) I pinpoint that brought the most joy to a fabulous vacation.

We had an amazing time in Leavenworth.

7. Managing A Hall of Famer (September 23) – Earlier this year, Monte from the University of Montana was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame. This accomplishment was noteworthy to me because I managed the popular grizzly bear during my first job in higher education. More than 10 years after I left the UM Athletics Department, I was able to reflect on my time as Monte’s boss and share some of the behind-the-scenes triumphs and struggles from overseeing a highly touted mascot program. This post connected me with past Monte performers (both before and after my time at UM) who appreciated my perspective.

I wrote about what it entailed to manage a hall of fame mascot in one of my top posts of 2024.

6. Hoopfest 2024: All About Family (July 1) – How special is Hoopfest? My post related to the event in 2023 took the top spot in that year’s countdown and my 2022 post—surprise—ranked sixth…just like this one. There is just something special about the camaraderie that develops over a Hoopfest weekend and it was definitely evident again at this year’s tournament. For the first time since 2015, I was a court monitor. Just like that tourney nine years ago, Sidney was once again at my side to keep score. But I had some additional “helpers” this year. Sloan joined us for the whole weekend and Beau tagged along on Sunday. This post captured how special it was to have my entire family volunteering for an event that is dear to my heart. I sure was happy to document the relationships we made with the teams assigned to my court and the fun we had when I wasn’t monitoring the action.

Hoopfest 2024 was such an awesome weekend! My family and I volunteered together to make the event better.

5. Presenting With My Wife At Engaged Encounter (March 4) – In 2024, my wife and I completed a couples goal. After preparing for eight months, we worked together to deliver numerous presentations over the course of a weekend. We did this through Engaged Encounter, a Catholic ministry program for engaged couples that culminates in weekend retreats. As a “presenting couple,” Sid and I offered six presentations dealing with marital cornerstones to 13 engaged couples. This blog post addresses the preparation, teamwork, community, and faith that characterized our blessed experience. In fact, after reading this entry, it will probably come as no surprise that we ended up presenting at the May Engaged Encounter retreat as well.

Sidney presenting at the March 1-3 Engaged Encounter weekend while Fr. Pat Kerst and Joe Schroeder look on.

4. 2024 EWU Holiday Video: Leveraging the Brand (December 9) – At one point earlier this month, I mentioned to someone that I had served as marketing director at Eastern Washington University for 4.5 months. They responded by saying it must feel like 4.5 years! Indeed, I became an Eagle at a very busy time. Among other things, I helped with our brand evolution launch and the kickoff of the public phase of our fundraising campaign. But perhaps nothing was as fun (and taxing) as embracing producer responsibilities for our 2024 holiday video. In this post I detailed the pressure of creating a higher ed holiday video but also the joy of working with my team members on something that proved to be very popular. In the end, our strategy to use our holiday video to leverage our brand positioning turned out to be the perfect call.

A celebratory photo of our crew after filming wrapped on November 6 (L-R: Luke Kenneally, Sean Nelms, Me, Ginny Baxter).

3. Most Rewarding Video (January 2) – From a holiday video to a cherished personal video! In 2023, I set a goal to create a 1 Second Everyday video. After sitting on the sidelines for years and watching other people do it, I finally put in the effort myself and it was 100% worth it. In this blog post, I wrote about my inspiration for doing it. I was frank about the challenges and intricacies of undertaking such an ambitious project. I also addressed the beautiful result and how I shared it with my family and friends. At the same time, I also encouraged others to not take as long as I did to attempt #1SE. I truly believe this blog post is a great testament to the charm of #ISE and there is no doubt that my enthusiasm shines through. To watch my 2023 video, tap here.

Our Reser Family #1SE is a little over 6 minutes long and can be viewed on YouTube.

2. My Top 10 Favorite Moments Working For Washington State University (July 23) – When I left WSU in July of this year, I commemorated my time as a Coug extensively through this blog. I detailed the main theme during my employment at WSU (expect the unexpected) and I also gave a heartfelt thanks to all my colleagues who made my time on the Palouse such a pleasure. But my favorite “goodbye” piece was a list that counted down my top 10 WSU moments. Just like choosing my top 10 blog posts is difficult, identifying my top Coug moments was certainly a challenge. Even though I had done a similar exercise when I left the University of Montana and Coastal Carolina University, narrowing down those special moments never gets easier. With that said, once my list was finalized and published, I couldn’t have been more happy and proud of my time at WSU.

Working at WSU was a pleasure and the top 10 moments I enjoyed during my tenure as a Coug prove that.

1. Thirty Years of Fun (September 18) – Perhaps this wasn’t the #1 blog post you had on your bingo card, but like I mentioned, this list isn’t determined by most views. This particular post just meant a lot to me. In 1994, my family installed a basketball goal in our driveway and when the 30th anniversary rolled around this September, the hoop was still standing strong. By that time, a new generation had laid claim to the Reser family landmark— my kids and my sister’s kids. I can’t overstate the importance of the hoop to the street I grew up on nor can I even imagine how many baskets have went through the cylinder. This blog post traced the history, detailed the antics, and explained the competitive spirit that epitomized “Reser Court.” Throughout the entry, photos are featured that range from the hoop’s beginning to its heyday to its current peaceful existence as a refuge for young grand kids. In one photo, Beau is shown placing his hand in the hand print I made 30 years ago when the hoop was installed. I like to think the words and images collaborate to bring to life a blog post that will hold a special place not just in the hearts of my family but all people who know the magic that can happen on an ordinary driveway.

My family stands underneath the basketball hoop we installed in 1994. The entry I wrote to commemorate its 30th anniversary is my top post of 2024.

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That will do it for this year’s countdown. I humbly thank you for your interest in Don’t Blink and the results of this specific post. Although I make a big deal about the control I reserve over these rankings, I would still love feedback about whether your favorite post made the final cut. Once again, I appreciate your dedicated readership. Don’t Blink.

Past Annual Top Blog Post Entries
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2023
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2022
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2021
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2020
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2019
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2018
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2017
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2016
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2015
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2014

Magic At Old World Christmas

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Our family found a Christmas treasure this year. Tucked away off Sprague in an industrial part of East Central Spokane is a warehouse called Old World Christmas. As you can imagine, there is all kinds of magic inside.

There is a lot of Christmas goodness inside this warehouse.

It’s a pretty cool story. Old World Christmas is actually a company with a worldwide reach that produces glass ornaments and ships them to giddy customers on all corners of the globe. It also so happens that Old World Christmas is headquartered in Spokane. And when the company isn’t shipping ornaments thousands and thousands of miles away, they are offering their overstocked ornaments to locals at a heavily discounted price.

Sloan browses inside Old World Christmas in Spokane.

Twice per year, Old World Christmas opens its warehouse retail store to the general public. The schedule almost reminds me of Willy Wonka occasionally opening his chocolate factory 😂. You can go in the middle of summer for “Christmas in July” or you can go from mid-October through Dec. 23. When you walk through the doors, you enter a Christmas oasis with beautifully decorated trees and bin after bin of reduced-priced ornaments.

Beau browsing the Old World Christmas inventory.

We made our first trip to Old World Christmas during Thanksgiving weekend. In fact, many other families did too. Thanks to an in-depth feature in the Spokesman-Review, the hidden gem was made known to a larger audience of us living in Spokane.

At Old World Christmas, you can search in the bins for ornaments or you can just take them off the trees.

Overstocked, outdated, and chipped ornaments find their way to the Old World Christmas retail store. Many are priced at 70% off their original value. Most of them you can’t tell why they landed in the shop. The variety is insane: fruits, vegetables, beverages, household items, hand sanitizer, automobiles, animals, famous people, candy bars, and so much more are available in ornament-form at a cheap price.

A look at how Old World Christmas ornaments are priced. They are tons of $1 and $2 ornaments too!

My favorite section? The sports teams! Old World Christmas boasts bin after bin of MLB, NFL, NBA, and college ornaments. If you need a unique gift for the sports fan on your list, you know where to go!

They have all kinds of sports team ornaments at Old World Christmas.

During our first trip to Old World Christmas, I let both Sloan and Beau pick something out. Sloan chose a Taylor Swift-themed ornament while Beau opted for a mushroom. When we returned this past weekend, Sloan picked out a “World’s Best Teacher” ornament for Mrs. DeRuyter. I plan to make a Thanksgiving weekend pilgrimage to Old World Christmas an annual tradition for the kids where they can pick out an ornament. I can’t wait to see their collections grow over the years.

Sloan looks at a Snickers ornament found inside Old World Christmas.

If you are looking for a festive activity in the remaining days before we celebrate our Lord’s birth, venture over to Old World Christmas located at 4007 E. Main Ave. Don’t Blink.

Mary Thursday Rundown

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We are 12 days through December. Once the next 12 days pass, it will be Christmas Eve! On that happy note, let’s begin with the latest Thursday Rundown…

Mary – Netflix debuted “Mary” last Friday. The movie, which was released right at the start of Advent and just prior to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is a perfect way to prepare for Christmas. The film takes some liberties and throws in some extra action, but I was overall pleased and inspired. My prevailing thought is that “Mary” does a decent job of presenting the holiness of our Blessed Mother. When our Catholic Young Adult group became aware of the movie in early November, I think some of us were a little concerned at what direction the film would go. But as one of the wiser members of our group said, we should just be thankful that Netflix believed the story to be worth telling.

As you prepare for Christmas, make sure to watch “Mary” on Netflix.

Gift Wrapping Philosophies – One of my favorite holiday-themed blog posts I have ever written is from three years ago this month. In that entry, I contrasted the gift wrapping philosophies of Sid and I. We differ greatly when it comes to texture, design, and technique. Who has it right? Well, let’s just say it isn’t me who always gets complimented when someone observes their wrapping job.

If you can look past the baby gate we had up to keep Beau from ripping off all the ornaments on our tree, you can see presents wrapped entirely by Sid. (photo from December 2021).

Christmas Pop-Its – Throughout 2024, I have chronicled the different holiday-themed “snappers” distributed by TNT. Once reserved only for the Fourth of July, the company has made special Pop-Its for other special occasions like Valentine’s Day and Easter. Well, how could they pass on Christmas? Folks, let me introduce Exploding Reindeer Poop (as found at the Safeway right next to my house). If you buy some, just make sure not to throw them at Santa when he is coming down the chimney.

Safeway has stocked the different season TNT Pop-It’s throughout 2024. They currently have Christmas-themed “Reindeer Poop.”

SantaCon – Sloan and Beau have had a few encounters with Santa this season. It started with a Halloween meeting in October, a quick “hello” at the City of Spokane Tree Lighting at the end of November, and then a “meet and greet” at the Spokane Valley Breakfast With Santa event in early December. Which Santa pulled it off better?

The kids with a few different Santas.

DRONES – It has been a crazy week in the news with the apprehension of the UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect, the verdict in the Penny trial, and Bill Belichick accepting an offer to become North Carolina’s head football coach. But the story that rises to the top of pure craziness, at least in my opinion, is the drone sightings in New Jersey. Large drones have hovered over the Jersey sky since November and no one knows who they belong to or where they are coming from. Experts can’t pinpoint where they are taking off from nor where they are landing. Russia, China, Iran, U.S. Military, and even ordinary citizens have all been identified as possible backers of the drones. Although it is a fascinating mystery, I also find it a bit unnerving. I would like to know more.

These mysterious drones over Jersey are a little concerning.

——————-

I opened my rundown with the movie “Mary.” It is worth mentioning that today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego in 1531 and subsequently 10,000,000 people converted to Christianity. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us! Don’t Blink.

Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2024

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Turn up the volume, readers, because we are counting it down again. For the 11th time, I am back with my annual “Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of the Year.” I have made sure to open up my musically-illiterate ears over the past 11.5 months so I could compile a list of the hottest tracks in 2024.

As I say every year, and as I have already alluded to above, I really suck at music. I can’t carry a tune, I never played an instrument, and I can read music about as well as I can read Swahili. But that won’t stop me from giving my ill-informed opinions about the best mainstream songs from the past year. So, yeah, take my list with a grain of salt.

Before I present the countdown, my overall assessment of music in 2024 was average. I thought last year punched above its weight class while 2021 and 2022 were lackluster. To better explain my positioning, I can say this: I had a pretty good idea of my top 3 songs but had to undergo some discernment on the other two. In an above average year, I know all five songs immediately and usually have an honorable mention. In bad years, I struggle to even identify my #1 song.

Alright, enough of my babbling. Here are my top five songs of 2024…

For the 11th year, I highlight my top 5 favorite songs from the past 12 months.

5. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart – Taylor Swift

I live in a Swiftie house where Taylor’s music is played on a daily basis so what did you expect? For the third year in a row, Taylor Swift is on this countdown. I have said multiple times that I like Swift songs that are serious, echoey, and mysterious. While “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” doesn’t master this formula like “Is It Over Now” or “Blank Space,” it comes close enough. The intro is intriguing as I get “Baba O’Riley” vibes.

My favorite part of the song is when Swift sings All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting More (with that distinct emphasis on “more”). It just hits perfectly. More catchy lyrics follow with I was grinning like I’m winning, I was hitting my marks before concluding with the title of the song. Another superb track by Ms. Swift.

4. Put Some Miles On It – Marshmello and Kane Brown

Wait, this is just a song about a truck, right? I normally don’t choose a track that is such a shameless innuendo but when it energizes me like “Put Some Miles On It” I can make an exception.

In fact, a naïve and awkward blogger in his 30s can easily appreciate the song at surface level instead of entertaining the obvious double entendre. When I listen to it, I am totally following along with the story of a dude and his girlfriend breaking in a new vehicle. And because the lyrics at face value focus on a truck and the open road, it makes for the perfect driving song. Yep, cruising the mean streets of Spokane with this song made me feel like Superman as I listened to it mile after mile after mile.

3. Please Please Please – Sabrina Carpenter

Sandwiched between hits like “Espresso” and “Taste,” Sabrina Carpenter released a song that had me asking Alexa to please play. “Please Please Please” is a light, fun, and pleasant song that was kind of hard not to sing along to. With an almost dreamy-like melody, it is a song that releases stress and makes you happy. From the part where Sabrina sings I’m just kidding, but really…really…really to the big crescendo at the end, the song is just so dang catchy.

It is also really funny. Even after listening to “Please Please Please” a hundred times, I still find myself laughing out loud to different instances in the song, including when she calls her love interest a mother trucker (although Sid tells me that second word is a radio edit). Speaking of Sid, when Sabrina sings “the ceiling fan is so nice” it gives my wife ammunition to tell me how much we need to install our own ceiling fan. Thank you to “Please, Please, Please” for breaking up the serious and emotional tracks of satellite radio with something not so taxing—but really fun—on the mind/ears.

2. A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey

Call it a multi-genre phenomenon. What happens when you cram country, pop, and hip-hop together? In the case of “A Bar Song” the answer is complete gold. Nothing sounded more unique in 2024 than Shaboozey’s smash hit. The guitar playing, the “oh lords,” and the theme of shenanigans at a bar just make this song memorable and a blast.

Speaking of memorable, songs that make my annual list are usually personally memorable. My family’s summer started in earnest during a mid-June weekend trip to Walla Walla and this song seemed to come on over and over on both legs of the drive. We were hooked! Now, whenever I hear that distinctive Shaboozey intro, I am immediately transported back to that hot weekend where we celebrated my aunt’s birthday, went to the water park, and drank milkshakes from the town’s popular drive-in.

1. I Had Some Help – Post Malone (featuring Morgan Wallen)

Irony. That probably best describes my love for this song. But before I address that, let me just say this: “I Had Some Help” SLAYS! What an engaging, rocking song. The collaboration between Malone/Wallen, the distinctive riffs, and its easy-to-sing-along nature led this track to the top of my list. I can’t begin to tell you how “I Had Some Help” increased my dish washing productivity as I played it on Alexa over and over as I did kitchen chores.

Okay, back to the irony. Although “I Had Some Help” is a song where the artists remind us that the significant other also shoulders blame for a bad relationship, I don’t necessarily listen to it that way. When I consume the song, I interpret the title phrase from a positive angle, because let’s face it—we all need some help to do great things. And although the cliché teamwork makes the dream work line is meant to convey that “it takes two to tango,” I view it in the optimistic sense that the phrase was originally coined. Maybe if the melody was slower I would take the lyrics at face value but the song is just so intoxicating I can’t appreciate it for anything else than a positive 3-minute musical ride.

One last thing: although I don’t usually let the music videos influence my decisions on this countdown, the fact that Post Malone and Morgan Wallen looked to be having so much fun when they filmed theirs definitely didn’t hurt “I Had Some Help.”

Incredibly, this is Post Malone’s third time earning top honors for my annual list. He earned the #1 spot last year for “Enough Is Enough” and he also topped this chart in 2019 with “Sunflower.” What an artist!

———————

What will happen with music in 2025? Will Taylor still rule the world? Will Sabrina Carpenter continue on her upward trajectory? Will Shaboozy release anything half as catchy as this year’s massive hit? We will just have to wait…and listen. Don’t Blink.

Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2023
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2022
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2021
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2020
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2019
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2018
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2017
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2016
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2015
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2012

2024 EWU Holiday Video: Leveraging The Brand

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To watch the 2024 #EWU Holiday Video, tap here.

A Higher Ed Phenomenon

If you work in the marketing and communications side of higher education, it is inevitable: you will eventually help out with a holiday video. For years, colleges and universities have flexed their creative muscles to make unique and memorable productions that put their audiences in a festive spirit.

In my higher ed career, I have worked on many such videos for various institutions. Each one has been different. From celebratory to sentimental to audience choice to trendy, I have played roles in holiday videos that run the gamut when it comes to theme.

This year, I had the privilege of working on a holiday video that boasted a completely original/innovative approach while overseeing a large role in its production.

As I mentioned above, there are many different angles that higher ed institutions take with holiday videos. Usually, they aim to either make their audience laugh, cry, or feel inspired. Parodies, sing-a-longs, annual recaps, and presidential voice-overs are some of the common forms these videos take to elicit the desired reaction/emotion.

This is the story of how we leveraged our brand positioning through a holiday video that we titled internally as “Where Have All the Acorns Gone?”

A Strategic and Unique Direction

This year at Eastern Washington University, we went a totally different direction. Instead of creating a slapstick laugh fest or a sentimental tearjerker, we opted for a more strategic option. We decided to leverage our new brand positioning.

As I wrote about in September, EWU positioned itself as the region’s polytechnic. Although it took an immense amount of work to launch, that was just the beginning. Since President Shari McMahan kicked off our brand positioning effort 2.5 months ago when she premiered our brand anthem video, we have devoted tireless efforts to establishing ourselves as Washington’s leader in applied learning through strategic marketing. But while paid digital ads, radio spots, and student recruitment posters are just some of the traditional ways we have established our positioning, we have employed savvier methods too.

President McMahan has obliviously played an immense role in our entire brand positioning effort. But she also played a crucial role in our holiday video, too. This photo shows us working with President McMahan on her opening scene.

Where Have All the Acorns Gone?

Enter our 2024 holiday video. We used this highly anticipated piece of content to drive home Eastern Washington University’s standing as the region’s polytechnic. We teamed up with our creative agency, idfive, to make something that would prominently feature our students while telling a story that exemplifies how #EWUIsPolytech.

The gist of the script is this: Set to the cadence of The Nutcracker’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” a rumor circulates around EWU that there is an acorn shortage. Since the nut is a distinguishing feature of our campus, students from different academic backgrounds try to reverse the scarcity. Eleven different academic programs use hands-on techniques specific to their disciplines to solve the source of the shortage and return acorns to their normal abundance on campus. At the end of the video, the teamwork has paid off as a holiday celebration takes place in President McMahan’s office with a bowl of overflowing acorns.

The rumor is started when a student overhears President McMahan jokes about an acorn shortage but “can’t detect the sarcasm through the thick wooden door.”

Bringing the Vision to Life

Filming took place at the beginning of November. Our multimedia specialist Luke Kenneally handled filming, digital marketing supervisor Ginny Baxter provided incredible insight/hands-on magic as our art director, and I served as the producer. Sean Nelms from idfive joined us as the director.

It was such a satisfying experience working with these talented professionals for three (long) days. Our camaraderie was strong as we shared the same goal of creating the absolute best video possible. Over the course of those three days, we worked with 30+ student cast members as we crisscrossed the Cheney campus and filmed additional scenes in Spokane’s Catalyst and SIERR buildings. We also seized the opportunity to collaborate closely with President McMahan as she played crucial on-screen parts at the beginning and end of the video.

A celebratory photo of our crew after filming wrapped on November 6 (L-R: Luke Kenneally, Sean Nelms, Me, Ginny Baxter).

The Big Debut

Late last week, we debuted the 2024 EWU holiday video. My colleagues in higher ed know that there is much anxiety prior to such a release. No matter how hard a central marketing and communications office plans/works on a project like this, there is always the chance for biting criticism and mockery. After all, holiday videos are typically ultra-creative pieces and an out-of-the-box output doesn’t always resonate with all. In our case, would a holiday piece built upon a brand positioning strategy that was seen by some as controversial drive any of our loyal Eagles away?

Thankfully, my natural marketing director pessimistic concerns were unfounded. To this date, I have not seen a single negative comment on our digital channels nor heard sarcastic/WTF feedback from my internal EWU network. The roll out went smoothly and as of Monday evening, the video has garnered 30,000 views across our platforms.

Our EWU holiday video received an overwhelmingly positive response on social media and has already garnered more than 30,000 views across platforms.

Outcomes and Gratitude

The best outcome of all is that the positive reaction to the holiday video is in turn continued positive support for our brand evolution as the region’s polytechnic. People are embracing our applied learning platform and the reception of this major production proved to be a positive referendum on it. Our strategy worked.

Teamwork is imperative to produce a successful holiday video. To that end, I am grateful to so many. Our President’s Office was incredible. They helped with logistical support, allowed us to set up early in their offices, and provided full access to the star of the video—President McMahan. Idfive brought loads of creativity throughout the entire process and served as the perfect partner. The faculty, staff, and students I coordinated with from the academic departments were eager to help and so accommodating. Eric Limburg, our associate vice president for University Relations, guided the project with superb leadership. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my team members who stopped everything to devote three days to the shoot. Ginny Baxter and Luke Kenneally showed up each day with the best mix of positivity and motivation while Shelley Stickelmeyer worked behind the scenes to make sure our crew was taken care of and props were ordered.

When we finally settled on the script, it was rather daunting. There were just so many moving pieces and logistics. But with the commitment of so many at EWU, we pulled it off. As the video confidently and accurately states, there’s nothing on earth that can stop this polytechnic. Don’t Blink.