My Spokane Froyo Tour

Posted on September 29, 2013 by brent

During my packed weekend in Spokane hanging out with my family and watching football I decided to squeeze another endeavor into my busy schedule. I toured froyo shops in the city. Yep, I sure did. Even though the weather was rainy, windy, and cold I decided to prolong my denial that summer is over and I indulged. On Saturday I visited one froyo location and today I visited two. After froyoing it up all weekend long, I learned one pretty important thing about these types of shops…

They are pretty much all the same.

I guess I had the fantasy that each location would have their own unique twist on the rapidly growing froyo self serve yogurt concept but I was disappointed. My thought that maybe each little shop nestled in random strip malls would have a different personality with different flavors and with different toppings was unfounded. After reviewing both froyo self-serve places in Missoula (YoWaffle and U-Swirl) I saw some unique traits in both and kind of assumed that all other locations would also have cool quirks about them too but after my three stop tour this weekend I know this not to be the case.

Not to say that all three places I frequented this weekend were exact replicas of each other. They all had something that kind of made them stand apart but not to the degree that one would think. For stepping foot into three different, local, and independent businesses I just expected to see more diversity among them. Rather, I saw the same prices, same flavors, same toppings, and same setup. Of course if each business is making bank why should they care that someone like me wants to see noticeable differences from place to place? They shouldn’t.

Here are some photos and a personal description of each froyo place I frequented this weekend (listed in the order I visited them):

FroYo Earth (829 Boone Avenue)

Myself at Froyo Earth

My first stop took me to the Gonzaga district to try out Froyo Earth. The place was very spacious and clean, although the spacious part probably had a lot to do with the fact that my mom and I were the only ones inside. Who knows though, maybe everyone else was upstairs because they did a second level with additional seating. I got a cup with peanut butter and cake batter yogurt. I put Cap’n Crunch and Reese’s candy on it and topped it with peanut butter sauce. The lighting was the worst here out of the three locations but the yogurt was pretty decent.

Did’s Pizza & Froyo (5406 N. Division Street)

Myself at Did’s Froyo and Pizza

Today I stopped at Did’s Pizza & Froyo right in the middle of Division Street where all of the Chinese restaurants are located. This place was made for all of us who like unhealthy, fun food. Besides froyo they also have pizza, shaved ice, teriyaki, smoothies, bubble tea, and beer! It is pretty cool inside with an island theme, televisions, and an arcade. I got a cup with three different flavors: candy bar smash, cupcake, and peanut butter. I topped it with peanut butter candy chips, Snickers pieces, and a piece of brownie. The yogurt at this location definitely stood out to me as the best. My brother tried a slice of the pizza and said it was okay. With different food, entertainment, and seating options, this is a good place to take a young family.

Go Froyo (6704 N. Nevada Street)

Myself at Go Froyo.

My froyo tour ended just a couple hours ago with a quick visit to Go Froyo on Nevada Street. This was the smallest shop I went to but it was brightly lit, they had cool red couches to sit on, and the girl working behind the counter was very friendly and cute. I got a cup and tried their cake batter and New York cheesecake flavors. I topped it with oreo cookies, Reese’s candy, and peanut butter sauce. My dad and I sat on one of the red couches and watched the end of the Denver-Philadelphia NFL game. Unfortunately, the best was not saved for last. Go Froyo probably had my least favorite tasting yogurt. My New York cheesecake tasted nothing like cheesecake…obviously flavors had somehow been mixed and the consistency was off. But that is probably what I deserve for deciding to eat frozen yogurt three times in less than 24 hours, right?

I will keep trying to think up silly, health destroying ideas to do during my coveted free weekends. I enjoyed making the rounds on Spokane’s froyo circuit and I thank my mom, brother, and dad for joining me at each of the stops and taking the embarrassing photos of me holding my froyo. I still think I prefer YoWaffle. Don’t Blink.

Sad To See July Go

Posted on July 31, 2013 by brent

Looking at my calendar right now and seeing that it says “July 31” I can’t help but feel a little sad that in a few more hours this month will pass. I have such an admiration for July. While I usually use June to go on trips, I spend the month of July taking it easy and truly enjoying summer life. When August comes around tomorrow it is our unofficial start of the fall sports season for us staffers in Grizzly Athletics and although I really do have a couple more weeks of summer fun left, the laid back-care free attitude of July is no longer.

This particular July for me was extremely nice. I didn’t do anything too special. I didn’t do anything crazy. I didn’t go to any big concerts. I didn’t go to Vegas or to Los Angeles as I have done the past couple of Julys. Except for a whirlwind day trip to a southwestern state, I didn’t even leave the ground. But this was all okay with me because I still managed to have a very enjoyable month. Let me explain a few reasons why.

My Fourth of July was one of the highlights of this great month.

The weather we had this month was out of this world. They say that Montana has two summer months, July and August. Even though they say that, July in Missoula still sometimes brings sketchy weather. Not this year. For pretty much all 31 days of July we got the weather pattern I absolutely love….hot and dry. We probably had at least 15 days where the temperature reached at least 90 degrees. For the other half of the days we were always comfortably in the 80’s. I was so appreciative of the sunny skies I saw each day along with the hot temperatures. This is what summer is all about and Mother Nature delivered.

While not the trailblazer that I usually am during the summer months I did get to spend a little bit of time outside of Missoula, something that is much needed considering the time that I am confined to the city during the sports season. I pretty much made a tour of the eastern half of Washington State. I traveled to Spokane a couple times, Walla Walla once, and Dayton once. All of the driving I did was on clear roads with beautiful scenery.

Golf was one activity that made this month great…playing with my dad and bro made it even better.

I also got to do plenty of summer activities during July! I got to swim, soak in the sun, go to a beach, BBQ, golf, eat ice cream, watch baseball, hang out at the pool, play lawn games, and enjoy a few cold ones. I definitely felt like a lazy summer all-star over the past four plus weeks. I became one with the outdoors and loved every minute.

But what made the great weather, the road trip travel, and the fun activities of July so memorable for me? It was that I got to spend it with the people I love most. I got to see my family twice during July and both times I had an absolute blast. I had the most fun over the extended Fourth of July weekend as I have had on that holiday in a very long time. July 5 will go down as probably the best day I had all summer and getting to spend the majority of it with my brother and dad was special. This month I had such an amazing time hanging with my family as we traveled, laughed, watched movies, BBQ’d, drank, and just enjoyed each other’s company.

I am ready for August but dang it, I am going to miss this month. Nothing beats summer. Don’t Blink.

Spokane Hoopfest 2013: Smoooooth

Posted on July 2, 2013 by brent

This past weekend I concluded my sixth year as a Spokane Hoopfest court monitor and I can say that it will go down in the books as one of my smoothest tournaments ever. I had zero major issues and for the most part, everyone kept it cool in my bracket. While Hoopfest 2013 will mostly be remembered as a successful and smooth tourney through my eyes, I will also remember it for a few other reasons. Here is my Hoopfest 2013 recap.

Even though I was assigned to the exact same court I monitored on last year at Washington and Spokane Falls Boulevard, I got a totally different assignment. For the first time ever, I was in charge of a family bracket. The teams that made up my bracket consisted of adult males between the ages of 18-60 who were all related to each other. Mostly I had teams with a dad and three sons or I had teams that had two older brothers each with one of their own sons. I also had teams where I had absolutely no idea how the family connection worked, even after a lot of my own analyzing.

As a court monitor this year at Hoopfest, I presided over a family bracket.

It was fun watching my bracket battle it out. There is a certain chemistry between families on an athletic court/field and it showed during Hoopfest. Most of the teams on my court utilized awesome teamwork throughout the weekend and motivated each other in a respectful and effective manner. The respect that the families showed one another on their own teams also extended to their opponents as well. Although arguments and tense moments definitely occurred between teams during play, good sportsmanship mostly always prevailed and always when the games concluded the opposing teams congratulated each other and left everything on the court. After last year, it was definitely refreshing to see.

My sixth year as a court monitor at Hoopfest went very smoothly.

I think only two controversial moments happened the whole weekend.

1. On one of the late Saturday games, one of the teams went a little crazy when they heard that their game was headed to overtime. They thought that with regulation over and with them holding to a 19-18 lead that the game was over. I explained that the game would continue in overtime until a team reached 20 points. Although angry and feeling like I was against them they finished the game, ultimately winning. Afterwards they apologized for their little freak out session, even before I put the exact rule that I correctly applied right in front of them.

2. A team was convinced that the score reflected on the red and blue scorecard was incorrect. I guess I shouldn’t even say “team”…it was a player on a team who was later joined by another one of his teammates in the mini dispute. They thought the scorekeeper (my dad) took away one of their points and gave it to the other team. After explaining the last few possessions with the players and reaching the score that we originally had reflected on the scorecard, they grudgingly gave up their fight.

I will definitely remember Hoopfest 2013 for the weather. All week long the forecast stated that both days of Hoopfest Weekend would be hot, with temperatures reaching the mid-nineties. While Sunday lived up to its billing, Saturday did not. I woke up at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning and looked out my window at the overcast, drizzly sky and asked myself “What’s going on here?” My mom assured me that it would blow over but it never did. For most of Saturday, the streets of downtown Spokane had dark clouds hovering above with several different periods of rain off and on. At one point, the whole tournament stopped for about 10 minutes for the sake of safety as it poured down rain.

A lot of my time on Saturday at Hoopfest was in the rain.

The intermittent rain had some unpleasant results. First off, I had never seen so many nasty slips and falls in any other year. The wet courts slowed down play but it still couldn’t stop players from sliding around. Probably every player had at least one experience where they found themselves sitting on the cold, unforgiving pavement. Also, majority of the courts were sent into disarray as the tape markings could not withstand the rain coupled with the warming of the courts when the rain would let up. This resulted in many court with no markings whatsoever. My court actually held up pretty well but there was still confusion and cheap blackboard chalk could only do so much. But once Sunday came along the clouds disappeared and the bright sun shined down on us for the whole day, bringing the type of weather that is typical, and preferred, for Hoopfest.

Come Sunday morning, real Hoopfest weather appeared.

I will also remember Hoopfest 2013 for having a little more downtime than usual. I only had 12 teams in my bracket as opposed to the standard 16 so my Saturday ended at 4 p.m. as opposed to 6:30 p.m. This allowed me to watch my brother’s Saturday night game but more on that tomorrow. Anyway, in 6 years I had never had the chance to watch a Hoopfest game as purely a spectator so that was a nice little treat.

Paige got to enjoy Hoopfest with me this year.

In the end, a team called Me and My Three Sons won my bracket. They went undefeated and blew out their opponent in the championship game. I can go into the Hoopfest offseason with a great taste in my mouth and great anticipation for Hoopfest 2014. Thank you Spokane for always putting on such a great event. Don’t Blink.

Same Date, Ten Different Years

Posted on June 26, 2013 by brent

I have said before that if my apartment ever got caught on fire the one thing I would go back in for would be my journals. Since the seventh grade I have kept a daily journal and since that time there is not one day of my life not documented. Thousands of pages and about 12 different journal books chronicle the better half of my life.

A few days ago I started thinking about ideas for blog posts and the concept of sharing a brief summary for a specific date of my life over a five year span popped into my head. I decided to run with it. I designated tonight as the evening that I wanted to write this post and a couple hours ago while I was researching through my journals I realized I have more here in my possession than I thought (I have several in storage at my parents’ house). In fact, I had double the amount of years available to me. So instead of five quick recounts of the various June 26th’s experienced by Brent Reser, you will get ten even quicker recounts of the various June 26th’s experienced by Brent Reser.

I probably should have waited a week or two to put this concept into action because the last weekend in June is Hoopfest weekend, something that I always participate in. If I could contain my excitement for this blog post a little longer I would have waited, but I couldn’t, so please don’t get too bored with the continuous Hoopfest mentions you will see throughout the years. Now if you will, please come on this journey with me as we go from a young teenager Brent at 17 years old in 2004 to the mid-twenties adult Brent in this present year of 2013.

I treasure my journals more than anything.

Saturday, June 26, 2004:

I was participating in the Washington State Football team camp in Pullman, Washington, during my senior year at Mead High School. I got up at 7 a.m. and got a bagel for breakfast and then got ready for the last day of football camp. For the final day, all teams played mini games against the other schools present. Because we had performed well the previous days, we played against the other dominant teams. We tied against a team made up of solely all-stars (athletes who were invited by WSU to the camp) and lost on the very last play to a team called Liberty. After camp awards we had a BBQ right outside the field house and then we took the bus back to Spokane. We got back to the school and I took my teammate and friend Erik Lowe back to his place and then I went home and slept.

Sunday, June 26, 2005:

It was the Sunday of Hoopfest and my team had made it to Sunday. I was on a team with my friends Corey Langill, Cole Steinbach, and Cody Lorenzen. Corey picked all of us up and we went downtown for our 8 a.m. elimination game. We played against one of the most bush league teams you will ever encounter and ended up losing in overtime in a defensive (foul fest) match, 12-10. After getting eliminated the four of us watched as a team that only had two players defeat a team that was at full strength. After that great athletic achievement I went home and made it in time for 11 a.m. mass at St. Thomas More. Our pastor at the time, Abbot Adrian Parcher, was saying his last mass at our parish. Later in the day I went to Lilac Lanes with Corey and Jordan Brink.

Monday, June 26, 2006:

I got up at 9 a.m. and went to Gold’s Gym where I got my arms workout in. A couple hours later my brother and I went to Taco John’s for lunch because I had a couple gift certificates there. Glen and I then came back home and played a couple games of “Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball” on Nintendo 64. Glen then got suited up in his real baseball uniform and I went and watched as his team (Mead) played Newport in summer ball. I left a little bit before the game was over and went to Northwood Middle School where I would always run during the summer. After my run I came home, showered, and then I went over to Michael Hoover’s house where I played in a $10 Texas Hold ‘em tournament with Hoov, Zach Nichols, Cody, Mike DeLaMatter, and others. In my entry I wrote that I got “sucked out” so obviously the outcome didn’t go too well for me.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

I got up at 6:55 a.m. and Cody and I went to the lobby of our hotel where we ate breakfast. We were in the Portland, Oregon, area doing road construction work for Cody’s dad’s company, Blackline. We picked up the equipment we needed in the Woodland area and then drove to Hillsboro where we worked the whole day grinding paint off the roads. It was such a hot day that we had more trouble than usual with the debris that we grinded up sticking to our shoes. For lunch we ate at an incredible little place called Aloha Teriyaki. We stayed at a hotel that night in Hillsboro called The Dunes and ate at an Italian restaurant called Amelia’s where I had spaghetti and meat balls. Cody and I then went back to the hotel and watched the Mariners-Red Sox game.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

I woke up at 8 a.m. and went to Gold’s Gym where I did squats and auxiliary lifts. I then went to downtown Spokane where I donated plasma at one of the dirtiest, sketchy centers you will ever come across. On this day it was a complete zoo as the ATM machine broke down and people were going nuts. I checked in, got processed, and by the time I donated the ATM machine was working and I had $40 in my pocket!! From there I picked up my gear for my inaugural year as a court monitor for Hoopfest. I then came home and watched as Derrick Rose was selected as the #1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. I then did my running at Northwood and came home where I did another money-making scheme I utilized that summer…working as an answer guide for the online service ChaCha.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Living fulltime in Missoula, Montana, I woke up at 6:45 a.m. and made it to work at Grizzly Athletics where I was working in an interim position. I left the office at 3:30 p.m., put some gas in my car, and headed off to Spokane for Hoopfest weekend to court monitor for the second straight year. I made it to my parents’ house and we went out to dinner at a fabulous Chinese restaurant called the Cathay Inn. I feasted on almond chicken, fried rice, chow mein, prawns, and chicken noodle soup. We then came home and sat out on the front deck and watched as a neighbor dog named Skittles continually barked at our cat, Nabisco. Shortly thereafter, my cousin Kelly and her three daughters (Taylor, Emily, and Katie) arrived at the house as they would be taking part in the Hoopfest festivities the next day as well.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

I woke up a little before 6 a.m. and my dad, Glen, my cousin Cole, and I all went downtown for the first day of Hoopfest. I was assigned a “50 and under”, 6-3 to 6-4 bracket. I monitored 20 games that day with majority of all the action going very smoothly. The day started out overcast and windy but by the afternoon it was sunny and warm. When the action on my court ended for the day after the 20th game, I still did not have enough basketball in my system so I watched a random game on another court that was still being contested. We then came back to my parents’ house and we had a big backyard BBQ of hamburgers and hot dogs. I then promptly passed out from pure exhaustion.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Wouldn’t you know it that I would be at Hoopfest again!? I woke up at 5:40 a.m., had a chocolate muffin for breakfast, and then went downtown for the Sunday of Hoopfest. As it was the second day of competition, the games got pretty competitive. The previous day I met a new friend, Carissa, who was assigned to my court to monitor as well. On this day it was her birthday and we had a fun time celebrating it with the players in our bracket. A team called Four Locos came out of the loser’s bracket to defeat a team called the MFI All-Stars to take the championship on our Hot 96.9 court. After all the action I came back to my parents’ house and blogged and ate nachos that my dad made. I then went to the Elk in Browne’s Addition where I met Carissa and her friend to further celebrate her birthday.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I got up at 6:45 a.m. and went to work at Grizzly Athletics. It was a Tuesday so I did a lot of the beginning of the week type things such as updating website features, drafting a web report, turning in travel reports for our mascots, etc. I went to the rec at noon and did arms and ran a mile. I came back to the office and ate my peanut butter sandwich for lunch, attended a meeting at the I.T. Center on campus, and worked until 5 p.m. I then went home, wrote a blog post, and then went to the Tamarack where I met my buddy Eric Fulton so we could do some stuff to my blog. It turned out that we could not access internet at the Tamarack so we moved to the Iron Horse where we ate dinner and created the current version of my blog. We got my site hosted by WordPress and I finally purchased my domain name, www.brentreser.com . Thanks so much to Mr. Fulton.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Finally we are to the present! Throughout the past 10 years of this date, I got up the earliest today. I got out of bed at 5 a.m., got ready, did my morning routine and made it to work by 7 a.m. I took care of some things I needed to take care of and had a productive morning. At noon I went to the rec center and did the exact same workout that I did a year ago…and then came back to the office and had the exact same lunch I had a year ago as well. The afternoon went great and I came straight home after work, cleaned up my apartment, and read Entertainment Weekly. I started this blog post about 90 minutes ago and am almost done. Once I publish this I am going to jump in the shower and wait for Paige to come over so we can hang out and drink a beer.

——————

Ten years of my life…wow! Depressing thing is that I didn’t do anything spectacular or noteworthy throughout any of those days. The uplifting news is that I have a memory of each of them and I had fun during them all too. I plan to do this again down the road, probably on a date where I had much more diverse activities going on over the ten years. But like June 26, please don’t expect anything spectacular or noteworthy. Don’t Blink.

How News Journalism Careers End

Posted on June 24, 2013 by brent

It recently happened again. Call me a softee but I can’t help but feel sorry for these people, many who are young professionals, who slip up and fall victim to the viral scrutiny and humiliation that follows. While many of these people who I am talking about previously aspired to have their work viewed on a national level, after the disaster happens almost all wish they had never made such a seemingly good-natured goal beforehand.

Yesterday the unfortunate event happened at a news station in my old hometown of Spokane. During a 10 p.m. newscast for FOX KAYU (a station that uses the resources and talent of the more well-known KHQ), a news reporter named Lindsay Nadrich plainly used two different versions of the F Bomb during a story. Lindsay was working on a piece about strawberry picking and stumbled through her words while speaking, causing her to utter the profanities.

The major point that anyone working in the news industry will immediately point out about this incident was that Lindsay’s mistake should never have reached airwaves. She shot the story early in the day and for whatever reason, the outtake made it on the newscast. Most people in the profession, including Keith Olbermann who Tweeted support Lindsay’s way, placed full blame on the editor of the story. But of course it didn’t matter that someone else let the profanity get on air or that Nadrich didn’t make the gaffe during a live newscast at the anchor desk. What mattered was that a ten second clip existed of a typical reporter doing a typical story in a typical city where the wholesome premise of the local news took a very unwholesome slant…viral gold.

The Lindsay Nadrich incident spread like wildfire through the digital world today. Jokes, condemnation, and sarcasm were unmercifully leveled at the poor reporter. Comparisons to the infamous A.J. Clemente meltdown surfaced. Debates on whether she should keep her job raged.

Here is why I always take the reporter’s side in these situations: First, they are held to a much higher standard than most other professions when it comes to language. While 99% of us could probably get away with accidently slipping up and saying a bad word once or twice, with news professionals it is the kiss of death. Many get terminated a couple days after. Mainly though, I just hate the aftermath of such a mistake. These people get their reputations and dignity pulled through the mud while the whole nation watches. Their name becomes synonymous with failure. A Google name search that once yielded lots of hits showing off the reporter’s work now just shows 100 different versions of that one clip. It is a tough way to go down, especially for someone so young.

I get it that news journalists are trained, counseled, and directed to never even think about uttering an obscenity while a camera is rolling. I know there are thousands of reporters out there who probably have perfect records and shake their heads when someone from their industry messes up in this way. I know that many people probably think the higher standard I spoke about above is absolutely warranted for the journalism industry. Maybe so. I just grimace when I see the nasty fall that people take after making such a mistake.

After the fall, there is the attempt to recover. Clemente went on Letterman, got some good exposure poking fun at himself. But again, the history and the YouTube clips stay with you long after the time in the spotlight is over. The type of work that these people chose because they loved it and had a talent for is sometimes no longer a possibility. I feel for Lindsay Nadrich tonight, along with all the other hard working reporters who have met similar fates. Don’t Blink.

The Ice Cream Man

Posted on June 18, 2013 by brent

This past Sunday as I was enjoying a day at the pool at my apartment complex I noticed some cheerful kid’s music playing. I looked up from my chair and past the gate that surrounded the pool area and out onto the street that runs right through the middle of the apartment complex. What I saw slowly moving by brought a smile to my face.

I guess before the smile crept on my face I had a mild sense of shock. I mean I had no idea that an ice cream truck would ever take the time to visit my apartment complex! But when I realized that there are a lot of children that live around me and that kids who live in apartments deserve ice cream just as much as kids who live in houses it made sense, and a feeling of happiness went through my body. In fact, I almost left my spot at the pool and dashed through the gate to flag down the truck and buy some ice cream. Actually that is a complete lie. These days I would never buy a popsicle from the ice cream man but that didn’t mean I didn’t think about back in the day when I couldn’t live unless I got a treat from him.

Back when I was seven years old, I proudly professed to my parents and my teacher at school that I wanted to be an ice cream man when I grew up. This was after my President of the United States dream and before my professional athlete aspirations. I am not kidding though, I legitimately wanted to be an ice cream man. I thought he had it made. He got to ride a cool little truck around, had an endless supply of ice cream in the back, and hauled in all those quarters and dollar bills from everyone! I thought he had to have been one of the richest dudes in the world.

Along with professional wrestling, the U.S. Presidents, and vampires, the ice cream truck/man was another thing I was fascinated about when I was really young. I would wait all year long for summer to come and once it did I would sit out on the front porch and wait for the ice cream man to come. Of course he probably only came 5% of the days during the summer but it didn’t stop me from wasting precious childhood moments hoping he would come all those other days. I would psych myself out believing that I heard the ice cream truck’s music when I really didn’t, listen to my sister when she would lie about seeing it, and convince myself on several occasions that he for sure would be coming that night when he never did.

The 5% of the time that the ice cream man did come during the summer I was either in two locations. The first was at the dinner table. My parents would cringe when we would all be eating a nice meal and then all of a sudden you could hear “The Entertainer” music shooting through our open windows and sending the three of us kids into a frenzy. The other time he would come was when I was in bed. My parents put us to sleep at notoriously early times…I am talking bush league times. On many occasions the ice cream truck would roll through our neighborhood a little past 8 p.m. and we would be in our bedrooms. Besides when Santa Claus would come through on a fire truck in the winters, this was our only other “Get out of bed” card. We would hear that music and my parents would just concede to us jumping out of bed and begging for money.

And that brings me to my next point. My parents maybe paid for ice cream about half the times he would come by. The other half of the times I was either counting out pennies or going without. Although completely enraged during the times I did not get ice cream, now as an adult I can look back and realize it was just part of my parents’ plan to instill discipline and self-control in us.

Just a little bit on my childhood ice cream truck and the products offered: The ice cream truck that serviced me throughout my younger years really wasn’t a truck at all. It was more like a golf cart that had a large freezer built in the back. Sounds pretty tacky but it did look presentable and was always freshly painted and in working order. Throughout the years I have seen some sketchy looking ice cream trucks so I feel fortunate that I ate ice cream from a vehicle that didn’t look like it was smuggling drugs. Our ice cream truck served (for heavily inflated prices) popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream bars, malt cups, and my favorite, sherbert on a stick. Whenever the truck would come by there would always be a special sherbert popsicle dessert in the form of some character. Sometimes it would be Mario, sometimes it would be a Ninja Turtle, sometimes it would be Tweety Bird. Whatever it was, it would always have bubble gum added in some way! Like Mario would have a bubble gum nose or the Ninja Turtle would have bubble gum eyes. Even though the bubble gum was hard as a rock and had absolutely no flavor I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

I don’t mind when something reminds me at my old age of something from my childhood. Not only does it send good feelings throughout my soul, it also gives me something to write about. Although I now buy my ice cream from a grocery store instead of a vehicle I appreciate what ice cream trucks do to highlight the joys of being a kid. Don’t Blink.

P.F. Chang’s

Posted on March 26, 2013 by brent

PF Chang’s recently put on a cool little promotion. For a little over a month, if you dined in a PF Chang’s restaurant they gave you a card with your check. The card was a red, glossy type pull tab. If you pulled the tab off, it would reveal some type of discount or free item. The catch was that you could only use it at a future visit within the promotional timeline. Additionally, the card was only good if it remained unopened until the server did the honors himself.

This past Saturday I was in Spokane for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Misti (co-worker), Shaun (friend who works for ABC/FOX), and myself decided to eat a late dinner at PF Chang’s after we watched the Gonzaga men get upset by Wichita State. When my mom got wind that we would be eating there, she insisted on driving all the way from the north side of the city to our downtown hotel where she gave us two of the PF Chang’s promotional cards. We got to our table and after we ordered our appetizer I finally remembered that I had the cards. I presented them to our server. He quickly and unceremoniously opened the first one revealing that we would get 10% off our meal. Big deal. Definitely a little disappointing. But then he opened up the second one, this time a little slower, and my eyes grew big for a split second as the winning message appeared……..20% off our meal. Okay, we were definitely hoping for that $75 gift card that was one of the available prizes but I guess 20% off is better than nothing, right? (And no, we could not add the two cards together to get 30% off).

Misti and I outside the Spokane P.F. Chang’s in front of the famous horse.

I bring this story up as a roundabout way of saying that I enjoy PF Chang’s. While I didn’t win big on their promotion, I still found it fun and thought it was a great idea. Besides good promotions, PF Chang’s just serves really good food. Their signature appetizer, the lettuce wraps, significantly blows any other competitor lettuce wraps out of the water. The freshness and crispiness of the lettuce combined with the warm, spicy chicken on top of the white rice noodles is a combination made in heaven.

The delicious lettuce wraps we had this past Saturday.

I have sampled many of the chicken, pork, and beef entrees on the PF Changs menu and I have to say that they are all fabulous. Each dish has its own distinctive flavor, chockfull of taste. The noodle dishes they serve are amazing. A family favorite of mine, the double pan fried beef noodles, make me so happy. Even the rice they serve stands out from rice at other places. They bring you out both white and brown rice and it compliments everything else so well. The rice at PF Changs just has a texture that is different and not to get too specific but it always sticks together just perfectly as well. Then of course the server always mixes a sauce to the liking of your table (mild, medium, hot) and that is always delicious as well.

The entrees and rice we got during a visit in February.

Whenever I go to a PF Changs, everyone in my party always orders a dish that they specifically like and then we eat family style. The times that I have gone with my family we always have a couple chicken dishes, a beef dish, a pork dish, and a noodle dish not to mention two big bowls of rice. I have fun making a bed of rice on my plate and then covering it with the noodles and meats and then topping it off with the special sauce. It makes for a yummy meal full of flavor and different textures. I have never once gone away from a PF Changs feeling like I did not eat fresh, quality food.

My family loving life at P.F. Chang’s in November of 2011.

Adding to my fondness of PF Changs are just the little things. Service is always great. The glassware and serving ware is eccentric and fun to drink/eat off of. The lighting and setup of the restaurant is relaxing. The distinct PF Changs smell is inviting. The whole China bistro concept the chain prides itself on makes for a fun dining experience.

PF Changs is a major chain restaurant that you should really try if you have never done so before. While you won’t get to do the pull tab promotion (it ended on March 24) you will get to eat some amazing Asian food in an efficient, classy restaurant. Check it out when you GOT the chance, you will enjoy the experience. Don’t Blink.

Lady Griz NCAA Tournament Experience

Posted on March 25, 2013 by brent

This past week I had to opportunity to attend the NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament while working on the Lady Griz travel party. Doing this allowed me to take in two new experiences. First off, I had never attended a women’s basketball NCAA tournament before this weekend. Secondly, I had never traveled with the Lady Griz. I can now check both those things off my bucket list.

One of my duties was to watch over the pep band and cheer squad. In fact, for this trip I was designated as the “coach” of the cheer squad…something that I can add to my resume. Anyway, all of us on the band and cheer squad departed campus via bus for Spokane on Thursday afternoon about an hour before the Lady Griz left. This gave us time to check-in to the hotel, the Red Lion at the Park, and then get set up to truly welcome the Lady Griz when its bus arrived. Positioning the cheer squad right outside the doors of the hotel and setting up the band right inside the hotel conference area lobby, the Lady Griz received a loud and spirited welcome that any team that made the NCAA tournament should receive.

The Lady Griz getting off the bus and getting welcomed by the Cheer Squad.

After the team arrived and got settled in, many of us went up to the Skyline Ballroom of the hotel and watched the Griz basketball team square off against Syracuse. Unfortunately, the Griz basketball team did not have a very good night. Fortunately, the Griz basketball team had a spectacular season so even with the loss we all felt great for what the team had accomplished. As we walked out of the viewing room and went down the elevator, the Lady Griz knew that the eyes of Montana were now focused solely on them.

The Lady Griz watching their male counterparts play.

The next day we had band and cheer rehearsal for the game in the back parking lot of the Red Lion. Under the early spring Spokane sun, it was very pleasant getting ready for the timeouts that the band and cheer squad would get to perform for during Saturday. It was amusing watching hotel guests open up the back doors and snap pictures at the very collegiate scene taking place in the parking lot. For the hotel guests who did not hurry down to ground level to see the practice, many had to have watched from their room windows as the sweet sound of “Up With Montana” was audible enough even on the eleventh floor.

The Cheer Squad and Pep Band rehearsing in the Red Lion parking lot.

After the rehearsal and a nice walk through downtown Spokane and Riverfront Park capped off by a tasty lunch at the Olive Garden, I drove to the McCarthey Center to cover Media Day. One thing about NCAA tournaments: the media rooms are always full and busy with activity. Moderated by an NCAA official, the Lady Griz press conference featured Robin Selvig, Katie Baker, and Kenzie De Boer. I enjoyed listening to them field questions from the media. As I tweeted out after the press conference, I admire how articulate and professional our Lady Griz athletes are when dealing with the media. It goes without saying that Robin Selvig is a true pro at the same thing.

Robin Selvig, Katie Baker, and Kenzie De Boer

When the press conference concluded I spent some time chatting with my friend Shaun from ABC/FOX and then I went out on the arena floor for the Lady Griz practice. Before the session started the players posed for a group shot that was well-documented by all the media types there, including myself. While they ran through a 90 minute practice I got some great pictures from many different angles of the facility and then just relaxed and watched from press row as Robin conducted the remainder of the practice.

The Lady Griz posed for a picture before practice began.

That Friday night I had the bus take the band and cheer squad out to the Spokane Valley Mall. While I had seen the place a thousand times, I got to enjoy a nice Mexican dinner at Azteca with Shaun and Misti, one of our main equipment room workers. After a couple hours and too much Mexican food, we returned to the hotel.

Saturday morning of game day came and I made sure to get our social channels primed and ready for the big match up with Georgia. The Lady Griz departed the hotel at 1:30 p.m. and once again we had the band and cheer squad sending them off the right way. This time both cheer and the band were staged outside, making it a very spirited walk for the Lady Griz from the exit of the hotel to the bus. Coach Selvig was the last one on the bus and he made sure to give us a salute, prompting cheers from everyone.

The Lady Griz walking to the bus while the band plays and the cheer squad cheers.

At 2 p.m., cheer and band made the bus ride to the McCarthey Center. After the Gonzaga crew checked all I.D.s, we went to the holding area where we joined Georgia’s spirit squad and band. In a nostalgic moment for me, the holding area was in the old Kennel of Martin Center where Gonzaga used to play its home games. For two years when I was in grade school, I served as a ball boy for Gonzaga in that very gym. After everyone got settled I went over to the “new Kennel” of McCarthey Center and watched the remainder of the first game, Gonzaga vs. Iowa State. Much to the disappointment of the home crowd, Iowa State defeated the Bulldogs, starting off a terrible day for the Gonzaga basketball programs. The game ended and teams, spirit squads, and bands were switched out and just like that we were thirty minutes away from Montana vs. Georgia.

In the staging area which was the Old Kennel.

I got a front row seat right in front of our cheer squad. Playing in front of a good crowd in a magnificent facility, I got that familiar NCAA tournament adrenaline rush circulating through my veins. The Lady Griz started off slow but then went back-and-forth with Georgia for the final fifteen minutes of the first half to only be down seven points at halftime. Then, in a display that had the whole gym believing and rallying around Montana, the Lady Griz started the second half hot and cut the Georgia lead to 38-36 early on. However, that was as close as they would get. A couple more rallies fell short and the energy exerted to make those comebacks proved costly as Montana ran out of gas towards the end. When the buzzer sounded, Georgia had defeated the Lady Griz, 70-50.

The Lady Griz played well and competed.

In no way was the final score indicative of how close the game actually was. The Lady Griz played great and honored the Montana tradition. Simply, Montana competed with Georgia. Playing as a #13 seed and playing against a power conference you can’t ask for much more.

The Cheer Squad relaxing at halftime of the game.

The travel party stayed the night in Spokane. Man, was that one sad city. After the Lady Griz game, many of us watched as the Gonzaga men’s basketball team went down to Wichita State. There were some pretty shocked and upset locals that night. Sunday morning we drove back to Missoula. Shaun and Misti kept saying how long the trip seemed, but not in a bad way. It was just one of those things were you thought to yourself, “Wow, it seems like I have been here for longer than sixty hours.” We pulled up to the campus on a sunny afternoon and went on with our days.

I took away a great experience from Spokane. I enjoyed getting to hang out and socialize with staff members who I normally don’t have the opportunity to talk to. I enjoyed watching over the cheer squad and getting to know the band better. I also enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing that I am very lucky to work for the Montana Grizzlies and that the way we run things both at our own venue and when traveling is top notch. Mostly though, I enjoyed watching the Lady Griz basketball team cap off a remarkable 2012-13 season. To all the coaches and players on this year’s team…thank you. Don’t Blink.

Off to the NCAA Women’s Tournament

Posted on March 21, 2013 by brent

In just a few minutes I will hop on a bus with the UM Cheer Squad and UM Marching Band and we will head west down I-90 en route to Spokane for the 2013 NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament. Leaving an hour before the Lady Griz and support bus leaves town, we will be able to give the team a proper welcome when they pull up to the Red Lion Downtown Hotel at about 7 p.m. local time this evening.

The Lady Griz received a #13 seed from the Selection Committee and will tip off against #4 seed Georgia on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. inside the McCarthey Center on the campus of Goznaga University. As with any Robin Selvig coached team, Montana will play with a lot of heart and focus and will have a great shot to be in the game at the end.

For me this will be a new experience. I have never attended a women’s NCAA tournament before so I am excited to take in the madness and see what it is like in the other mega March bracket. I am also pumped to see in person our Lady Griz team that has battled so hard all season long get the chance to square off in the most storied tournament at its level against an SEC team.

My duties on this special trip entail supervising the cheer squad and band while of course covering the Lady Griz experience through our new media channels. It will be at least a wonderful few days in Spokane but hopefully with a victory over Georgia it will extend to about five wonderful days in Spokane.

It is time for the madness to start! Good luck to the Griz basketball team tonight against Syracuse in San Jose and good luck to the Lady Griz on Saturday. What a thrill this basketball season has been for Montana. I am so proud to be a Griz. Don’t Blink.

Bad Eating

Posted on December 5, 2012 by brent

One of my major philosophies in life centers on my belief that we can do pretty much anything we want to do through positive self talk. More to the point, we can do whatever we want as long as our mind is telling us that we can. My whole life I have used my mind to continually reinforce to my body that I can accomplish any goal, workout regimen, test, or simple day-to-day task that I want to. Constantly I am running positive thoughts throughout my body from my brain, telling myself to stay on task and stick with my goals. However, sometimes in certain areas my mind lets my body slack off a little bit.

For the past three months, I have struggled with my eating habits. No, I have not struggled in a way that I am eating too little (I wish) but rather the opposite. My discipline has lowered quite a bit and my diet has taken a turn for the worst. Last year I have documented the onslaught of food that comes the way of myself and my co-workers once the fall sports season kicks off in late August. But this year there seems to be even more obstacles than just the typical availability of tasty and high caloric food around the office and in the press box. I think a combination of traveling with the football team on the road this season, going out to eat way too much, having a lot more food in my apartment available, and simply letting my self-discipline slip has contributed to a significant decline in my diet. But there is something more depressing than what I have let my body digest in the recent past. Brent, what could possibly be more depressing? Thanks for asking! What leaves me feeling less than optimistic are the opportunities to eat even worse over this next month.

Holiday dinners are one reason for why my eating habits are so bad during this time of the year.

I am a realistic person and I know I will not be kind to my body this month. With the holiday season upon us, I don’t have the necessary self-control to put a halt to the past few months of garbage eating. Throughout my life leading up through graduating from college I would practice good eating habits during the first 11 months of the year and then use December as my month to let loose and enjoy good food, drinks, and sweets. So obviously if I ate terrible in December back in the day when I would actually eat good majority of the time, I am for sure going to eat like a pig during this month when I have already been doing so for the past 100 days. Ay caramba!

I seriously need to stop eating hot dogs this big.

I leave for Las Vegas on Sunday. That whole week I will most likely fill up on greasy food, buffets, and early morning snacks. Making matters even worse, I won’t be working out during that time either. When I return from Vegas, it will be December 13 and the holiday season will be in full swing. Our department will have Christmas treats available for the taking, well-wishers will drop off tasty and heart-hating plates of candy and food, and yummy holiday spreads will doom me at Christmas parties. Once the actual Christmas week comes around, I will gorge myself on even more yuletide confections and of course I will go way over the top consuming my mom’s cooking. Then of course comes the last week of 2012 and along with it all the appetizers and junk food that accompanies New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

I want to say that I will turn the ship once 2013 starts. Although I have a trip to Orlando right in the middle of the month which will no doubt make any type of revamped diet of mine difficult to follow, I do have confidence that I can make some positive changes. I do feel awful pretty much conceding December as a lost cause. I feel bad that I am negating much of my hard work in the gym with the poor eating habits I have let take over my life. I feel worthless that I have not let the most powerful tool I have, my brain, clamp down on my needless eating. But you want to know the silver lining in all of this? I can blame myself for everything. No one is forcing food down my throat, no one is holding a gun to my head telling me to go eat out at a restaurant for the third time in a week. It all starts and ends with me. I have the power to make changes and get back to where I need and want to be. The ball is in my court and I like my chances….just after December is over of course. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser

Tag Archives: Spokane