Tag Archives: Travis Overton

My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2025

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Let’s make it a dozen. Today marks the 12th time I have scrutinized my blogging from the past year to recognize my top posts. A tradition I started in 2014, I affectionately refer to this entry as “The Big Blog Post.”

With an unofficial title like that, I always try to bring my “A” game for this post. When crafting this countdown, I take great care to select posts that matter to me. Entries that required extra effort, mixed in creativity, recognized special people, or adequately documented major milestones will always appear before posts that only stand out because of high views or social media popularity. Quality over vanity.

For the fifth straight year, I increased my blogging output by penning 188 posts in 2025 (2020: 172 posts, 2021: 173 posts, 2022: 180 posts, 2023: 185 posts, 2024: 187 posts). Faced with my highest number of published posts since 2019, I had the challenging task of identifying the top 5% of my work for this prestigious recognition. I think I did okay…

10. Soda and App Family (March 19) – Sid and I are aware of our different familial upbringings and we usually see the humor in it. One such instance occurred this year when we watched a TikTok video about “Soda and App” families and “Only Water” families. In my blog post I highlighted that dining out with the Mathis family usually meant fun/colorful drinks and a couple appetizers for the table. In my family, we stuck to water and if we ate anything prior to the main course it was either free bread or free chips that the restaurant provided. Our different ordering preferences growing up established the way we order as our own family of four. This entry makes the list because it is humorous but it also conveys how traditions from our families of origin can be fused together to make new ones.

Our family eating at Prospector’s, a delicious restaurant in North Spokane. Portions were so huge at this restaurant that there was never a need to order appetizers.

9. The Fun of Taste Tests (September 17) – My my my, we are starting strong with food-related blog posts, huh? Well, losing weight wasn’t one of my goals for 2025. In an attempt to offer my readers a fun idea to do with their families on a rainy day, I suggested unofficial taste tests conducted right in the living room. I demonstrated how easy it is to conduct such a test by re-hashing some of the ones my family conducted in the past. From jalapeno chips to cookie dough ice cream to lemon lime soda, I offered not just examples but tips as well. This post was entertaining to write and I hope I sparked some inspiration among my readers.

Sloan received the opportunity of a 5-year-old’s lifetime when I told her she would get to sample three lemon lime sodas.

8. Wishing Your Spouse “Happy Birthday” On Social Media – This post made the countdown because it did spark some debate and because I had a strong opinion about it. A smug influencer made a cringy video in which he declared that spouses who wish each other “happy birthday” on social media are insecure. Hmmmm. Although I conceded that I might be subconsciously insecure, I made it clear that I consciously wish Sidney a “happy birthday” on social media for other reasons. In the post I fleshed them out, including the desire to notify others that it my wife’s birthday, the creativity that social media allows for birthday wishes, and the documentation/historical aspect that digital communication offers. If the happy birthday/insecure arguments becomes “trendy” in the future, I won’t hesitate to point to this blog post.

I always wish my wife a “happy birthday” on all my social platforms.

7. Falling Down the Stairs (August 19) – Although short and rather insignificant, I knew when I wrote it that this post would make my yearly rundown. This entry takes the reader through my traumatic experience of falling down the stairs and the toll it took on my old body. But what seemed to really make this post shine was my daughter’s response when I told her my fall was caused by tripping on one of her toys. I still don’t appreciate what she said.

A look at the stairs I fell down in our house.

6. One Year An Eag (August 1) – I had multiple work-related posts I considered including but I decided to go with the most significant and all-encompassing option. I celebrated my one-year anniversary at Eastern Washington University by looking back at the main themes from my first 365 days while including a pretty spiffy Dr. Pepper motif. In the post I highlighted the meaningful work I embraced, the powerful work relationships I made, and the growth I experienced. I also questioned whether people telling me “It seems like you have been here much longer than a year” was a good thing or not.

Members of my team and I take a photo during a video shoot at Turnbull National Refuge. My first year at EWU was full of growth and adventure.

5. Our Father/Daughter Dance Tradition (February 11) – Earlier this year, I attended the St. Mary Catholic School Father/Daughter Dance with Sloan for the third consecutive year. Over those three evenings from 2023-25, some special traditions have been established. This blog post shared those traditions and included photos from each dance. I am grateful for this post because I think it will help Sloan and me uphold traditions at future dances and also serve as something to look back on years after my daughter has finished her time at St. Mary.

This post touched on the traditions we have established at the Father/Daughter Dance and showcased photos from all three years.

4. Why We Went to Disney World (May 5) – In 2025, we had the privilege of going on two major vacations: a cruise and a trip to Disney World. However, the blog posts that covered those adventures didn’t make “The Big Blog Post.” Rather, the post I wrote about why we went to visit Mickey did. You see, the only reason why we had the opportunity was because of my wife’s incredible work with her company, Traveler’s Insurance. Sidney won a prestigious award and was granted an all-expenses paid trip to Orlando. This post dove more in-depth about why she received the honor and how she was celebrated once we arrived at Disney World. Yep, the post is brimming with pride but it was the least an awestruck husband could do to properly say CONGRATS to his wife.

Thanks to Sidney’s work performance with Traveler’s Insurance, we were given an all-expenses paid visit to Disney World. This is us at the beach welcome party on Thursday, May 1.

3. Fr. David Gaines Dispensing Healing and Forgiveness (February 7) – Earlier this year, a priest I know was suddenly thrust on the national news outlets after being attacked at Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral. Fr. David Gaines was participating in a prayer service from the cathedral’s sanctuary when a mentally ill individual sprinted from the pews and ambushed him. In the post, I expressed how touched I was by the way Fr. Gaines conducted himself both during and after the attack. While the attacker was throwing punches, Fr. Gaines did his best to calm him down. Afterwards, when Fr. Gaines was sought by organizations ranging from TMZ to NBC News (and everything in-between), his message was the same: forgiveness. How inspiring! The post allowed me to convey that I am proud to be Catholic, proud to be part of the Diocese of Spokane, and proud to know Fr. Gaines.

My brother and I receive a blessing from Fr. David Gaines right outside of Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral during Bloomsday 2024. About nine months later he would be attacked inside that very same church.

2. Travis Overton: A Kind and Selfless Leader (January 1) – 2024 ended on a sad note when I learned on New Year’s Eve that Travis Overton had passed away unexpectedly. I worked with Travis during my time at Coastal Carolina University and was shocked to learn of his death. I wrote the entire next morning about our history together, his ascension up the career ladder, and how I respected him. I then told a story I had never shared publicly about Travis coming to my rescue during a very vulnerable moment. By far, the post was my most-read entry in 2025 but like I said before—I don’t strongly consider views when building this countdown. Rather, this blog post earned such an esteemed spot because it was a raw tribute to a friend and mentor.

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.

1. Godparents to Neteyam (July 15) – This past summer, Sidney and I received the incredible blessing of becoming godparents again. That’s justification enough to earn the top spot on this countdown! However, the post I wrote regarding our godson receiving the holy sacrament went beyond just Neteyam getting baptized. It also delved into what set us up to become his godparents: our friendship with his mom and dad.

My top blog post of the year chronicles the mass in which Fr. Jeff Lewis baptized Neteyam Perry but it also speaks to our relationship with his parents, Dylan and Fidela. In just about four years we have gone from not knowing them to serving in one of the most important roles one couple can bestow upon another. The post fills in the blanks of those four years and reveals the glue that keeps us so united. It also gives glory to God for the gift of baptism. A post of the year for sure.

Me, Sidney, Fr. Jeff Lewis, Fidela, Neteyam, and Dylan pose for a photo in the St. Mary sanctuary after the baptism on July 6, 2025. Thanks be to God! (Photo courtesy of Dylan/Fidela/Family).

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And that will do it for my top posts of 2025. Thank you for your readership throughout this year and for any feedback you might have about my selections. The plan is to continue to write in 2026 so I hope you will continue to read Don’t Blink as we enter the new year. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s annual year-in-review. Don’t Blink.

Past Annual Top Blog Post Entries
My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2024
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

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.

#CCU Yik Yak Takeover

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One month ago I questioned aloud on this blog how I could utilize Yik Yak effectively in our Coastal Carolina University social media strategy. At the time I didn’t have a concrete game plan. Well, after thinking about it a lot and reading about how other universities are handling this hot social media app, I realized two things: 1. I wanted to do something about Yik Yak. 2. I didn’t want to do what the other universities were doing.

This Thursday, October 30, #CCUSocialMedia will host a #CCU Yik Yak Takeover. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the whole campus community within the 1.5 mile set radius is encouraged to send out positive yaks throughout the day. While many universities are attempting to block it, Coastal Carolina University is taking a big step to embrace it. This is a completely original idea, one that will catapult Coastal Carolina into the discussion of universities who came up with a plan to maximize the possibilities of Yik Yak as opposed to those who wanted nothing to do with it.

The #CCU Yik Yak Takeover will take place this Thursday, October 30.

The #CCU Yik Yak Takeover will take place this Thursday, October 30.

The #CCU Yik Tak Takeover is the brainchild of our “Social Media Dream Team” on campus. I have the privilege of working with a group of six other fellow staff members* who in addition to their university jobs are also social media leaders on campus. We have meetings and we talk often. At last week’s meeting we all committed to taking this on. Come Thursday, we will do what we can to generate positive yaks. Students will have the opportunity to find us on Prince Lawn (our campus gathering place) and send out an inspirational yak in our presence. If they do, they will receive a Coastal prize.

But make no mistake about it, the #CCU Yik Yak Takeover is not about, nor dependent on, the seven of us staffers. It is entirely a deal that will be driven and executed by our students. We could “Yak” until our thumbs turn blue but we would still be outnumbered 10,000 to 7. If our students buy-in, this will be one of the most successful social media feats seen on a college campus. So will they?

The #CCU Yik Yak Takeover caused a lot of buzz on Yik Yak today. As you can see, some of it was positive and some of it was in a mocking nature. The portions of text that are blocked out contained bad language.

The #CCU Yik Yak Takeover caused a lot of buzz on Yik Yak today. As you can see, some of it was positive and some of it was in a mocking nature. The portions of text that are blocked out contained bad language.

I bet they will.

When we announced our Takeover at 4 p.m. today, we had a lot of excited students. Many voiced on social media how much they love their school for doing something like this. Don’t get me wrong though, we also have some students who are going to oppose it as well. Just minutes after the announcement, the Coastal Yik Yak stream was buzzing about October 30. Lots of users voiced support, while other completely mocked the idea. Going in we knew that we would have people who would fight what we are trying to do. However, our plan come Thursday is simple…overwhelm the negative with the positive.

Some of the positive response we received on our #CCU Yik Yak Takeover.

Some of the positive response we received on our #CCU Yik Yak Takeover.

Wait one second though and throw strategy out the window. Sure we plan to outnumber bad yaks with good yaks. However, one thing is forever on our side: Pride. The students here at Coastal Carolina University are passionate and protective of their school. They know a big opportunity exists on Thursday to let that passion shine through for the social media world to see. The majority of students that make this campus great will show up on the day before Halloween and make the #CCU Yik Yak Takeover an epic success. Trust me, those of you outside of the CCU radius will want to “peak” on our community beacause we are about to do something pretty cool. Don’t Blink.

 

* Thanks to the Social Media Dream Team of April Betsch, Erika Pomerantz, Jeff Stone, Jennifer Sellers, Kevin Olivett, and Travis Overton for making the #CCU Yik Yak Takeover possible. Thanks to the #CCU student body in advance for making it successful.