Why I Love Mini Sodas

Posted on January 14, 2015 by brent

I want to recognize the major soft drink companies for rolling out the mini cans and mini bottles of product that you can find on shelves everywhere these days. Containing 7.5 ounces of soda in the can and only 12 ounces in the mini plastic bottles, these smaller drinks contain the perfect amount of beverage for many people. For someone like me who rarely drinks soda but who does like to splurge every now and then, I love the mini cans. Whenever I go back to my parents’ house they always have them stocked in the fridge and I will usually indulge. Not only is the volume of drink great, the mini can feels nice in my hand as well.

Today my local newspaper ran an AP article on the enormous popularity of these smaller sodas. Once just a novelty item when introduced a few years back, mini cans and bottles are now in high demand. To confirm this, all you need to do is go to your nearest grocery store and look at the soda aisle. It will become plainly visible that less is now more.

At Food Lion the mini sodas run across a whole shelf.

At Food Lion the mini sodas ran across a whole shelf.

The article was as blunt as could be when it noted why these re-packaged drinks are so popular (and it wasn’t one of my two reasons I gave above). The small soda mania can be summed up by one word: GUILT. Consumers purchase the smaller sodas because it makes them feel better about themselves. By drinking four ounces less per serving, they are practicing discipline and healthy habits.

This was the actual newspaper article that I read this morning.

Okay, time now for my confession: I actually opt to drink mini sodas because of guilt as well. It was just not until this morning when I read the article that I really came to grips with it. Heck, it took me three paragraphs in this blog post to admit to it in writing. Yes, I do choose the smaller sodas because they quench my thirst well enough and they do feel good to hold but mostly it is because of guilt. I have told myself for so long that soda is sewage for the body; how can I justify drinking a bigger can when I have the choice of a smaller one? For some erroneous reason I have told myself that if I choose the small can and save myself the two extra sips I would swallow with a bigger can, somehow I am saving myself from all the sugar, carbonation, and artificial flavorings. Silly thinking. Sadly, even if you are only taking four sips instead of six sips, you are still putting an awful mixture into your system.

Purchasing these smaller sodas saves me some guilt.

So while the article made me aware of something, it also just re-affirmed what I have known and practiced for a long time now in relation to spending habits. The journalist seemed a little astounded that consumers will pay more for less soda. The volume per dollar of a 7.5 ounce can is much more expensive than the volume per dollar of a 12 ounce can. Why pay more for less product? Once again, it is all about the guilt.

I will gladly pay a couple dollars more for a six-pack of 7.5 ounce cans as opposed to a six-pack of 12 ounce cans. It makes me feel like I am making a healthier and more disciplined decision. It makes me feel better about myself, a feeling that is well worth the extra $2. I have a story about this. I remember back when I wasn’t even a teenager yet. I would go to the deli of a grocery store to purchase a small sized fountain drink. The person at the register told me more than once to not buy the 12 ounce Mt. Dew paper cup drink for $1.09 and instead go out to the store entrance and buy the generic brand 20 ounce bottle for 75 cents. No sir, my mind doesn’t think like yours does. Most of all I want the smaller version for my own sanity but I also don’t want to go outside and risk losing my money in a vending machine, and I sure as hell don’t want to drink a knockoff brand of Mt. Dew. Yuck.

All I have to say is a mini sized can of soda is the real MVP. While I still sabotage my body by drinking it, I save myself some guilt, something I am not opposed to paying a little more for. You will never see me buying a Big Gulp. Don’t Blink.

The Creative Way I am Using Snapchat

Posted on January 13, 2015 by brent

Several months ago I wrote about how I made the decision to incorporate Snapchat into our social media strategy at Coastal Carolina University. Fast forward some 200 days later and I am now writing about how I have made the decision to incorporate Snapchat into my own personal branding strategy. To say that everyone supports this move of mine would be a little bit of a lie.

After experimenting with my own personal Snapchat account for quite some time, I finally solidified my plan on how to use it over the holiday break. No longer am I all about snapping random, low quality images like the other billion people on the service. No longer am I taking a photo and using my thumb to scribble a horrendously illegible word or two across it. No longer am I taking a video of the radio blaring in my car. Bottom line, my Snapchat account isn’t about random garbage anymore. Rather, it is about my brand and my blog.

I have changed my priorities when it comes to Snapchat. Now I am using my account to push my personal brand.

If you connect with me on Snapchat, and I highly recommend that you do (brentreser), you will notice something. About 90% of the snaps you receive from me will be strictly video messages of yours truly promoting brentreser.com. Hey now, stop making that disgusted face! I can assure you that while I am promoting my website, I am not shamelessly promoting my website. My objective is not to overwhelm and scare you with constant messages telling you to go read my blog. Instead, these snaps will only come each time I publish a blog post (so roughly 5-6 times a week). In the nightly aftermath of publishing my work, I will compose a video snap where I give a quick teaser on the topic for that particular night. I will send it to you personally and I will also post it to my story.

I write, post, and tweet about my blog often. However, very seldom do I get to talk about it. By going this avenue with Snapchat I have the luxury to explain in my own voice the latest happenings with Don’t Blink. I get to reach people who I might not normally reach through my other social media means. For the people who I do already reach and who will get hit again with my snaps it is my hope that this method might get through to them in a different way. If they weren’t reading before, maybe they will now. By composing these video messages I also hope to break up the monotony that Snapchat sometimes becomes. Perhaps people will appreciate a planned out video every once in a while as opposed to an in-your-face blurry selfie.

I already know that some don’t appreciate it, however. My brother and a friend have both voiced their displeasure over my latest tactic. They think it is self-promoting and spam-like in nature. Oh well, you can’t please everyone.

If you are on Snapchat, add me (brentreser). If you have other creative ways for how you utilize this service I would love to hear about it. Keep snapping my friends and always remember that no one is immune from a screenshot. Don’t Blink.

Not Responding to Fan Mail

Posted on January 12, 2015 by brent

Today Bleacher Report ran a story about a 12-year-old kid who did something pretty cool (and also really annoying). He sent a letter to all 32 NFL teams asking why he should be a fan of their organization. With all those letters sent across the country, he received only one response. The correspondence came from the Carolina Panthers and it wasn’t just from their marketing guy. Rather, the owner of the Panthers sent a handwritten note with some swag included. Bravo, Carolina.

But I am not here tonight to pat the Panthers on the back for what they did. Instead, I am here to defend the 31 other NFL teams that didn’t write back.

I am sure the “noble” fans of some of these teams will blast their organization for not responding to the kid but I find it hard to blame them. Until you work in sports marketing for a team with a decent fan base you really have no idea about the mail that rolls in.

When I worked at Grizzly Athletics I saw it all. You had the uninspired form letters that went out to 300 other colleges. You had the post cards from super weird collectors in obscure parts of the country wanting pocket schedules. You had people writing in that didn’t know the name of your mascot. You had people requesting swag from sports that didn’t even exist within the department. You also constantly had teachers asking for mementos for their whole classroom, usually not even caring about the shipping nightmare it is to send 30-odd trinkets hundreds (sometimes thousands) of miles. And of course, you have the letters such as the one from the boy who reached out to all 32 NFL teams.

Here is the thing: Many of the people who request these items are frauds. They don’t really care about your team, your college, or your organization. In reality, they just want free stuff. Some have weird obsessions with stockpiling random mementos in their cramped basement apartment. Some hassle teams to try and somehow turn a profit with what they get back. Teams don’t have unlimited swag, unlimited time, and unlimited employees to fill requests. Clearly, I will never get on a department/organization for exercising their best judgment and not responding to a piece of fan mail because they feel it is either a sham or a waste of time.

Now you might question how an organization couldn’t take the time to respond to a precious 12-year-old boy. There are two main reasons why I think the other 31 teams didn’t respond (besides the fact that possibly some of these teams have in fact sent correspondence to the boy, he just hasn’t received it yet). First off, the kid had obviously pitted all the NFL team against each other. He wanted to see which one would come through and send the biggest, coolest package. It is not worth it to engage in a silly battle like that. People like to exploit the competition between rivals for their own gain. Sometimes it is best just not to give in.

Secondly, perhaps, the request might have seemed illegitimate. Dirt bags pose as kids over the internet and through the mail all the time. They also say they have cancer or that they lost all their possessions in a fire. Sometimes if you look closely, red flags start to pop up. It is best not to reward these scam artists.

I sympathize with these sports teams. Even though at Montana we responded to pretty much every single request and letter we received, I know for some bigger entities it is not possible. You have to pick and choose. I am not calling out the kid, in fact, I used to be just like him. Rather, I am sticking up for the other organizations in the NFL who might come under fire for not sending Little Johnny a football helmet. Don’t Blink.

Why I Don’t Like Trivia Crack

Posted on January 11, 2015 by brent

Right around the start of December, one of our student workers told me to download a certain game on my smart phone. Alexandra advised me to get Trivia Crack, a quiz app that allows users to test their brains against the brains of friends and/or strangers in head-to-head matchups. I took her recommendation and downloaded the game.

This is the logo for Trivia Crack, a very popular app out right now.

At first I was only playing Alexandra. Then I went home to Spokane and introduced my brother to it and soon enough I was playing him. Then some other people joined in. Later, my girlfriend hopped in on the fun. More random Facebook friends started challenging me. Before I knew it, I had several Trivia Crack games going on at once. During the holiday break I attended to all of the various individual games like I was one of those chess masters going from board to board. But then my holiday break ended and I flew back to the South and work started again. At about this time, I stopped caring about Trivia Crack.

When I went from lots of free time to very little free time, it was a no-brainer to cut back dramatically on Trivia Crack. But even if my holiday break was extended and I got even more time to live like a worthless bum I probably would have still cut back. Why? Because Trivia Crack just isn’t a very good app.

My Trivia Crack profile.

If you can imagine a cross between Trivial Pursuit and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire smashed into a smart phone app, you got yourself Trivia Crack. The goal is to correctly answer a multiple choice question from six different categories across varying disciplines before your opponent does. To help along the way, based upon the amount of points you have, you are afforded the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire equivalent of lifelines where you can increase your chances of guessing the correct answer. You can chat with your opponent during the match and you can share pretty much every aspect of the game to your social media accounts.

Sounds fun, right? So what makes it not a very good app? Let me start with one word: Ads. Trivia Crack is overrun with long, annoying ads at every corner. Now I used to enjoy Kate Upton in her Game Of Thrones commercials but Trivia Crack pretty much killed that for me. I have been forced probably no less than 1,000 times to watch Kate yelling at the top of her lungs while riding her horse through the screen of my iPhone. It has lost its luster. But this is just one of the ads. Trivia Crack has way more ads than your normal app and these commercials get in the way of the game flow.

Trivia Crack also has the most annoying sound effects you can imagine. If you don’t have your phone on silent and you open up the app you will hit yourself in frustration. The theme music for Trivia Crack is brutal. The sounds produced for spinning the wheel, picking answers, choosing wrong answers, choosing right answers, losing games, and winning games will drive you crazy. Sometimes you can’t escape these annoying sounds because whereas you were considerate enough to silence your phone, your friend (or brother) sitting right next to you playing the game wasn’t.

Additionally, the game zaps the battery from your phone like no other. When I open the app or when I spin the wheel, I can just feel the percent of my charge going down. If you were on a 30 minute taxi ride, you would do your phone’s battery a big disservice by playing Trivia Crack non-stop the whole journey.

But the absolute worst part of Trivia Crack centers directly on what the game is all about…the questions. The word “consistency” is an absolute afterthought in this game. You can go from the most laughable easy question in the world to the most obscure, specific miniscule piece of knowledge that even a genius wouldn’t know. When I was in Spokane, my brother turned his iPhone in my direction to a Trivia Crack question that had a photo of the American flag with the text reading “What country does this flag represent?” At the other end of the spectrum, I have received a question asking me to identify the age at which some random composer started to play the cello with the options being 2, 3, 4, or 5 years. I have had questions asking me for such specific geographic information in some random country that it wouldn’t even make the Double Jeopardy $2,000 clue. I am not kidding you, the questions in Trivia Crack are absolutely all over the board. I honestly think the questions compromise the integrity of the game. I know there can’t be professionals writing them, but maybe the users who submit the questions should get certified in something.

An average question in Trivia Crack.

Trivia Crack was fun during the span where I had nothing to do for 14 days but it doesn’t deserve my time now that I am a functioning member of society again. If changes are made, I might give it 15 minutes of my time late at night while laying in bed but until then, no thanks. Don’t Blink.

Cheering on the Seahawks in Enemy Territory

Posted on January 10, 2015 by brent

Ever since last Sunday, I have been looking forward to this day. Making this Saturday special in the first place is that my Seattle Seahawks will open up their defense of the Lombardi Trophy by playing in a divisional playoff game this evening. Adding a little more luster to this game is the opponent they will be playing.

I am ready to root hard for the Seahawks tonight against the Carolina Panthers.

When the Seahawks kickoff against the Carolina Panthers at 8:15 p.m. ET I will be cheering on my team in enemy territory. Living in the Carolinas has exposed me to a different NFL team that also wears a shade of blue. Throughout this season I have read about the Panthers each day in the paper, watched glimpses of their games every Sunday on TV (thanks to regional coverage), and encountered scores of fans decked out in Cam Newton jerseys. With Carolina’s win in the wild card round last week, this fan base is on fire for its NFL team.

While in most circumstances I would embrace the local team in my area and root hard for the Panthers, this is definitely not the case today. My home state team, the organization that I have cheered on during its lowest and highest points, is colliding with Carolina in a high stakes playoff game and you better believe I am backing Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson, and the 12th Man. There is no straddling the fence on this one.

I will be watching the game tonight in a bar surrounded by Carolina Panthers fans with a Carolina Panthers bartender slinging my drinks. As the Seahawks are defending Super Bowl champs and the Panthers squeaked into the playoffs with a losing record I will “act like I have been there” and remain classy the whole time I am cheering on Seattle. It should be a fun evening with good-natured ribbing and a win for the team from the Pacific Northwest. Let’s go 12th Man, be loud tonight! Don’t Blink.

Southern Cold, National Championship, Legacy, Globetrotters, Quote

Posted on January 8, 2015 by brent

Greetings my friends! Tonight I get to present to you my first Thursday Rundown of 2015. A New Year’s resolution of mine was to make these weekly blog posts even shorter than they were in 2014.

Southern Cold – For the first time since I moved to Myrtle Beach, I was cold today. Arctic air managed to find its way down South and made temperatures plummet into the low twenties. Although these freezing temperatures lacked the crushing winds and inches of snow I became accustomed to out west, I definitely didn’t feel toasty walking outside this morning. Now you can imagine that if I thought it was cold the locals really found it arctic-challenging. Tips were distributed on how to bundle up, schools were delayed, and the local news stations reported exclusively on the frigid temperatures. My co-workers made every attempt to stay inside. Social media was flooded with people aghast at the conditions outside. However, I will take this cold over the cold back home in a heartbeat …even with the unusual temperatures the sun still shined brightly all day long.

It was cold today but the sun shined brightly the whole time.

Bring on the National Championship! – The College Football Playoff is the best thing ever. New Year’s Day was an incredible day of watching football. Even better, the result that came about from the two semi-final matchups justified the long, tough battle it took to bring about this playoff. By now it is well-documented; if we had another year of the BCS it would have been an undeserved, travesty of a contest between Alabama and Florida State. Instead, we get a true national championship game as Oregon and Ohio State will square off. Look for Oregon to roll as the Pac-12 asserts itself as the best football conference in the nation.

Leave Your Legacy – At many universities you can find certain walkways that are paved with personalized bricks commemorating alumni, donors, and fans. With all the brand new buildings going up around Coastal Carolina University, the opportunity to create such a spot on campus here was made possible. The “Alumni Walk” in front of our recently renovated Atheneum Hall Alumni Center will soon be paved with personalized bricks from the CCU community. A wonderful way to donate back to my place of employment while also leaving my mark, I purchased a brick yesterday. I may or may not have pushed my personal brand when I decided the text I wanted my brick to be engraved with. When the bricks are installed next month I will let you all know what I went forward with.

Pretty soon this walkway will be paved in bricks with one of them containing my special text.

Social Media Promo to End the Day – The Harlem Globetrotters will be on campus this Sunday. I requested and was granted some free passes from the group’s marketing director to give out over social media. For today’s Facebook contest I simply asked our audience to tell me why they wanted to go to the game. In two hours I received 60 responses from people pleading their case. Most of the pleas came from parents wanting to treat their son or daughter, thus making my job pretty hard. In the end though I chose a woman who recently had her father pass away as he left a Coastal football game. She stated that going to the event on Sunday afternoon will remind her of when her dad took her to the Globetrotters many years ago. Enjoy the game with your daughter, Mandy.

This was the post that I put up today for the chance to win Globetrotter tickets.

Ending Quote – I want to end the first rundown of the year by highlighting the advice that was given today in my Life’s Little Instruction calendar. Every now and then I need to remind myself that satisfying the minimum won’t enable me to achieve greater things in life. I need to do a better job of pushing myself more. In 2015 I want to make a conscious effort to overachieve in all situations.

This is some good advice for me to remember in 2015.

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Have a wonderful night, everyone. I am happy to report that this has been a good week. I didn’t know how it would go after having two weeks off for the holidays but I hopped right back into the swing of things. I will have a lot of energy to take on Friday tomorrow and I hope you do too. Don’t Blink.

The Gift of Giving

Posted on January 7, 2015 by brent

It really is a fascinating story. A church in Chicago received a large sum of money from a real estate sale. From the revenue received, the leaders took out 10% and distributed it among the 320 church members, resulting in a $500 check for each person. The pastor of the church then told the congregation to take that money and do good.

And do good they did. Church members bought winter coats for the cold, food for the hungry, and gifts for the needy. Some started non-profit groups and others empowered the elderly. Some simply just gave the money right back to the church. Most of the money given to the church members is now gone but the good that was started with it continues to snowball.

I came across this story in the newspaper on Sunday. By then, it was already old news. Christmas had passed and the church members had received the money all the way back in September. However, this interesting and philanthropic act had a familiar feel to me that went back much longer than just a few months ago.

It must had been six or seven years ago. Sadly, one of my mom’s uncles had passed away. In his generosity, he left behind gifts to his long line of relatives. My mom received a little bit of the money. A couple days before Christmas she directed the three of us kids to look inside our stockings. Usually a place to hold a pack of thank you notes for us to use after opening all of our gifts, this time each of the three stockings held a $100 bill. We each pulled out our bill and looked at mom for an explanation. She explained to us that the cash was for us to use on others. She didn’t give us a timeline or narrow down the vast ways in which we could spread holiday cheer with the money. Rather, my mom just let us know that it was our duty to be honest with the money and to utilize it for others.

Several Christmases before this past one, my mom gave my siblings and I a very unique gift.

When you receive a gift such as this you immediately feel two things. First, you feel admiration for the person so selfless enough to give a good chunk of her money to you to spend on others. Second, you feel responsibility. In your conscience there is a force that tells you that you better use every penny wisely to make a difference. I took my mom’s gift very seriously.

Although I had much respect for my mom’s special present to us, I can’t pinpoint exactly down to the very last detail how I spent the money. I do know three of the ways in which I passed it forward though: I donated a portion to the giant Christmas charity fund the local newspaper in Spokane, the Spokesman-Review, collects each year. I dropped a ¼ of the money into a Salvation Army bucket. The last thing I can remember doing with the money was giving $20 to a person at Wal-Mart who was panhandling. I know I made the money stretch for at least one more cause but I can’t think of it. I realize I didn’t do anything truly unique with the cash but I did make every effort to put it to good use.

One of these days when I have kids I hope to do something similar to what my mom did. I commend the church in Chicago for taking the idea and magnifying it. The best present is the gift of giving. Don’t Blink.

Two Grueling Trips

Posted on January 6, 2015 by brent

As someone who prides himself on keeping long hours and sleeping as little as possible, I think I may have bitten off even more than I could chew. A few months ago, I booked my two holiday vacations to visit my family in Washington state. In order to maximize the time I would have with my family, minimize the amount of work I would miss, and pay the lowest price possible, I opted to purchase red-eye Sunday night return flights to Myrtle Beach for both my Thanksgiving and Christmas trips. I learned that traveling like that was a little harder than I had thought.

On Sunday night, after a delay, I flew out of Spokane to Portland. After backtracking to the Rose City and playing on my phone through a two-hour layover I caught a plane that took me on a four and a half hour odyssey to Charlotte. Although still dark when I landed in Charlotte, the long plane ride and time zone change had turned the night to morning. From 6:15 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. I sat in the airport munching on my mom’s freshly baked banana bread until I boarded the aircraft that finally brought me home. At 8:45 a.m. I touched down in Myrtle Beach. My flight home from Thanksgiving was pretty much exactly the same except for instead of backtracking to Portland I reversed course to Seattle.

I snapped this photo as I boarded my plane in Spokane. I am still surprised we flew out on only a 30 minute delay.

Now this three-stop cross country all-night trip was a monster in and of itself but there was still an obstacle in front of me that would screw up my already messed up internal clock even more: work. After grabbing my lugguage my clutch girlfriend picked me up and rushed me home. After a quick 20 minutes of changing clothes and gathering myself I hopped in my car and made the 25 minute commute to Coastal Carolina University. For the next seven hours I did my best to block out my jet lag/fatigue and get things done. To break up my zombie-like status and to make up for my missed morning workout, I hit the gym during my lunch hour. The best thing about doing that was not the exercise but the shower I was able to take afterwards. Flying all night does little to make you feel clean.

Both last night and the evening after I returned from Thanksgiving break I was on autopilot as I walked to my car at the end of the day. You might ask why I didn’t sleep much on the plane ride. Well, I didn’t shut my eyes on the short trips to Portland and Seattle because I wanted to make sure I was sleep-deprived enough to enter into a deep slumber once I boarded my long flights to Charlotte. However, sitting in a middle seat with no room both times resulted in me getting maybe two hours of terrible, choppy sleep. On both of my flights from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach I elected not to sleep because I didn’t want to be groggy once I landed. A single hour of sleep can sometimes do more harm than good.

I fly a modest amount and these two trips definitely strained me the most. It also gave me even more respect for professional athletes and entertainers who do this type of travel routinely and then perform at very high levels. Although I said above that I thought I may have bitten off a little more than I could chew with my travel arrangements, I would still say it was worth it (if that makes sense). You see, it is important to me to spend every possible minute with my family while also making it back in time for the start of the work week. Yes, it was a little harder than what I thought but for me it was worth the sacrifice. On future trips don’t look it past me to book the red-eye again. Don’t Blink.

Stay With Me: Stuart Scott

Posted on January 4, 2015 by brent

This morning the sad news came out that longtime ESPN anchor/reporter Stuart Scott had passed away. It took three battles with cancer to claim the man’s 49-year life.

I was not a fan of Stuart Scott behind the Sportscenter anchor desk. Although almost 20 years ago as a young boy I did find him hip and cool with tag team anchor partner Rich Eisen, my enthusiasm for Scott waned as time went by. He became a little too over the top, a little too opinionated, a little too cocky for me. Most of America, however, didn’t share my sentiment as he had thousands of adoring fans.

While I wasn’t impressed with Scott’s work I was blown away with his perseverance and courage. Watching him do his job these last several years was nothing short of inspiring. You didn’t have to be a doctor to see the visibly sick man on the other side of the television screen. Most people, and rightfully so, take a back seat from the public eye once they are stricken with a nasty disease. Scott, working in an industry that is more public than any other, connected with millions of Americans on a nightly basis during the height of his sickness. Mind you again, he fought cancer THREE different times.

This past summer Stuart Scott was given a worthy tribute at the ESPYs as he was presented with the Jimmy V Perseverance Award. The story that chronicled his cancer treatments and his life as a broadcaster dealing with a deadly disease was painstakingly well done. His acceptance speech that followed is already legendary, one that now rests on the same pedestal as the one the man who the award is named for gave many years before him on the same stage. Whether you were a fan of Scott or not, if he didn’t have your respect moments before his ESPYs acceptance speech he surely did after.

During the story on Scott at the 2014 ESPYs the song “Stay With Me” by Sam Smith was used. Because of how powerful that feature was and the heart that was shown, whenever I heard the song afterwards I immediately thought of Stuart Scott. Now that he is gone, that melody will make me think even stronger of him when it is played. You don’t have to love how someone does their job but you should always admire the courage they show. RIP Stuart Scott. Don’t Blink.

Visiting a Trampoline Park

Posted on January 2, 2015 by brent

This past week we decided to select an entertainment venue other than a movie theater, bowling alley, or bar. Rather, we opted for a trampoline park. In Spokane, a couple of these attractions have popped up around town in the past couple years. A trampoline park is a large area that is devoted to trampolines (big surprise) and obstacles. It is an outlet to release energy and work up a sweat.

On Monday my brother, girlfriend, sister’s family, and I went to Get Air, a trampoline park located in an anchor space in Northtown Mall. We decided to purchase the one hour jump option. I paid for my brother and girlfriend and between the three of us the total was $45. This price is broken down by the $12 fee per hour per jumper plus the special socks we had to purchase to jump in the facility. With the transaction made and our wristbands snapped on, we changed out of our shoes and entered the park.

This is the entrance to the Get Air trampoline park in Northtown Mall in Spokane.

Get Air is designed in a really cool way with lots to do. When you first enter you are greeted by built-in floor level trampolines running all over the place. Back a bit and to the right you have two foam pits that you jump into. A little ways past the foam pits you have two basketball hoops elevated at different heights. The “courts” for the hoops are trampolines. Adjacent to the foam pits is an obstacle course. There is also an additional obstacle course with different challenges located directly behind the main level trampolines. Behind the second obstacle course is a dodge ball arena. You also have other stations around the facility such as a tight rope challenge and trampolines that extend on the walls.

We entered the facility and started to jump, jump, jump. After ten minutes we all looked around at one another and admitted that we were tired. That’s right, only 20% through our experience and we were already sucking air as young kids who had been in the facility for most likely hours jumped around us effortlessly. But after facing the fact that we were not in “trampoline shape” we got back to exploring the park and the fatigue actually gradually vanished from our systems or we just simply forgot about it.

I became pretty exhausted just after the first ten minutes.

Let me say this: Trampoline parks are not easy. Some might think that you don’t need to put forth any effort to jump high and fly around like a super human but that is not accurate (well, at least not for adults). In order to “get air” you have to exert quite a bit of force on the tramps to propel you. You don’t have as much control as you might think either. For someone my age, you have to work hard to pull off even the most elementary flip.

The attraction at the park I liked the most was the foam pit. You had an especially springy trampoline to jump on that would allow you to perform your stunt and then land in a cushy pool filled with foam blocks. Any fear of hurting yourself was quickly diminished after the first jump. Tumbling into the foam pit is as pleasant as falling down on a comfortable bed after an exhausting day. It really felt that good and it gave you the confidence to do whatever you wanted. However, getting out of the pit was another story. It was a genuine struggle to navigate out of the foam blocks, a workout in and of itself.

The foam pit made doing flips very comfortable.

The dodge ball arena was cool but it is basically a big free-for-all with little structure. I wasn’t athletic enough/tall enough to dunk on one of the basketball hoops but my brother was able to. I couldn’t take two steps on the tight rope without falling off. The obstacle course that was designed for racing provided a great challenge. You run over elevated mats, navigate over a net, and climb a wall. Although the falls don’t look too steep when you are watching people do it, once you are on top of the mats/walls you realize you have a big drop. I did the obstacle course and successfully finished although I did slightly injure my groin while climbing over the net.

Employees in referee shirts patrol the area. If you break a rule, you will get whistled at. Before we arrived we filled out the necessary waiver at home. We blindly signed the long document. There was also a video that you were supposed to watch but we bypassed that as well. Lockers and cubby-holes are available to use. A couple drinking fountains with good pressure and cold water are nearby. Inside the park there are a couple couches where you can take a load off and regain your energy.

The park closed at 9 p.m. which was perfect because it coincided with the end of our hour. I was drenched in sweat. We all had a good time and agreed that it was a great alternative to the more traditional entertainment options. If you want something different to do that will also get your heart rate up, consider visiting a trampoline park. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser