Mark Smiley, Author at Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle

I Forgot My Phone

by Mark Smiley | Sep 25, 2015 | Feature Story Middle Left

by Brian Zabroski

Keys? Check. Wallet? Check. Phone? Hmmm. I know I had it earlier. Just then, a bit of panic consumed me. Where did I leave it? Is someone stealing my identity? Is Mrs. App wondering why I haven’t responded to her text in a timely manner? It hit me. It was lost. What to do.

I retraced my steps. First, I checked the raffle ticket table to make sure I didn’t leave it there. Nope. Just a couple of college students laughing at me as I walked away. I’m sure they were thinking, “Seriously, how could anyone put down a phone long enough to forget where they left it?” Then again, I’m not sure either of them picked up their head from their own phones to really care. I didn’t win the 50/50 raffle, in case you were wondering.

So Toddler App and I walked back to the truck. There it was on the front seat. I looked at my son, then the phone and shut the door. I was at Toddler App’s first hockey game. We walked back to the arena without the phone. We talked to the people sitting near us. Hung out at the retail store. Shared Dippin’ Dots, which were delicious and terrible at the same time. I wasn’t concerned about checking my fantasy football score, text messages or capturing the moment on my phone. Instead, Toddler App and I enjoyed an afternoon of hockey.

We’re in the final stretches of the year. Time shrinks this time of year. With the approaching holidays and kids back at school, think about putting down that phone in October. What? Am I crazy? You don’t use your phone that often? Think twice. A Kaiser Family Foundation study found kids aged 8-18 are plugged into media 7.5 hours per day. Holy cow! That’s a work day, except it is every day not just Monday through Friday. An adult spends just over 8.5 hours per day on their phone. I’m not a math genius, but these numbers bookend the average recommended amount of daily sleep, 8 hours. Studies have shown that excessive amounts of mobile phone usage are affecting our sleeping patterns. Baby App affects my sleeping pattern enough!

So, what can you do? Try something new, hard and challenging for October. Put down the phone an hour before bed. Do not check the phone during the night. Place the phone on do not disturb. Get some rest for the love of Pete! Curious as to the amount of your usage? Try using Moment. This app tracks your phone usage. You can set up daily limits, notifications for high usage, as well as tracking your family’s phone time. The concept is simple. Put down the phone and pick up your head to enjoy others.

The goal of my “being more present” topic isn’t to drive the usage to zero, rather drive from 8.5 hours to 7. It is doable. There are times when using technology can be helpful. Take the fussy baby that is soothed by the interaction of a show on a tablet. The challenge with this is the baby, or Toddler, hitting the home button, pausing the video or opening an app they shouldn’t be in (i.e. suddenly they’re responding to your email!). Instead of the tablet entertaining, you’re restarting the video every two minutes. You’re not alone!

Try locking the iPad. Under Settings, turn on Guided Access and create a four digit password. Once you’re in the application of choice, say Netflix, press the home button three times. This locks the iPad from leaving this application, leaves the movie/ show playing and you’re not restarting it every two minutes. This is a great way to share your iPad with others without worrying they’ll mistakenly delete something important. It can be a business tool for training employees.

For those venturing out to trick or treat on Halloween, check out Nextdoor’s Treat Map. Nextdoor, a neighborhood app, shares the best places for trick or treating, and planning your route or haunted houses in your area. Glad Fall is here! Don’t be a phone monster. Put it down and get up!

Do you have a favorite educational app you’d like to share? Contact Brian at brian @brianzabroski.com, on Twitter @BrianZab or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/ brianzab.

Brian, a Corporate Account Executive with NetSuite, has spent nearly 20 years in the telecommunications and software industry. Businesses use NetSuite software to run and manage all of their business applications. It’s web-based, so businesses can access their information from anywhere; It’s flexible, which allows the software to be customized for their business; and, it is built on a single platform, which businesses appreciate since they can often eliminate multiple software solutions. Trending companies, such as Box, GoPro, FitBit and Dropbox use NetSuite software to run their business. Reach out to Brian to learn how your business can benefit with NetSuite.

Glendale Raptors Women Defend Championship Title In Style

by Mark Smiley | Aug 31, 2015 | General Featured

by Brent New

Writer for and on behalf of the City of Glendale

This fall the reigning champions of the Women’s Premier League will play inside the multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art Infinity Park stadium. Looking to defend the title, the Glendale Raptors Women will play all four of their home games inside the stadium, on soft, luscious grass. Home games against the San Diego Surfers (September 12), the Oregon Rugby Sports Union (October 10), Berkeley All Blues (October 24) and Beantown RFC (November 7) will begin at 3 p.m, and will include full stadium production and will be webcast on the RugbyTown USA website.

“The team is very excited to play in the stadium,” said Taryn Brennan, the team’s co-captain. “We always enjoy having the opportunity to use the facilities at Glendale. It gives us a chance to get the community excited about women’s rugby and fill seats in the stadium.”

Where the Raptors play, however, should be only part of their increased popularity this fall — winning should be a reason too.

If you haven’t been tuned in, the Raptors’ WPL team haven’t lost a match in more than 10 months, a streak that could be extended this fall.

“I don’t know how much we focus on it, but it has been a good ride,” Rachel Ryan said. “We are proud of what we’ve accomplished but not satisfied.”

When Ryan, Brennan and their teammates look back on this accomplishment, a win streak that started with a WPL championship, and continued through an undefeated developmental season in the spring, it’s impossible to forget how it started: A controversial 13-7 semifinals loss to the Atlanta Harlequins.

A defeat that would never hold up.

In reality, the Raptors didn’t play well enough to win that day, yet the Harlequins were forced to forfeit for using an ineligible player and the Raptors moved on anyway.

Then-coach Michael Fealey said he didn’t know how to feel about it at the time.

“It feels strange,” he said.

Either way, it had the Raptors, perhaps the biggest beneficiaries in recent WPL history, moving on and winning the championship over the Twin Cities Amazons a day later.

There, of course, is still controversy surrounding it to this day.

“It’s something that fuels us. We didn’t choose for it to happen like that but we want to prove ourselves,” Ryan said.

Years from now, when looking back on the loss that never was, some of the critics will fade and some will not.

What’s undeniable, though, is that the second chance also served as the springboard moment to maybe the best year in Glendale women’s rugby history.

“Some people said we didn’t deserve it. It was frustrating. There were people hiding behind computers, telling us we didn’t deserve it,” Raptors veteran Jeanna Beard said. “We know we deserved it. We know the fight it took, we know we’re champions.”

New women’s coach Mark Bullock, meanwhile, says it is time to move on.

When asked about it in the offseason, the rugby expert downplayed the importance of the streak and said it was not what his team was focused on going forward.

“Every team is different,” Bullock said. “We’re different than the team that won last year. And we’re different than the team from the spring. From our standpoint, there is no pressure to repeat or be undefeated, or whatever. We want to get better and play at our highest potential.”

He’s right, in that the 2015 team will look far different than the team that won in 2014.

Fealey, for one, has since been replaced by Bullock, who took over after Fealey resigned last January. Jenna Anderson, Jen Montoya and Jamie Burke have since retired. And Mary Pezzulo has been moved off the active roster after she injured her ACL on the first day of fall practice.

“A lot of veterans will not be on this squad,” Bullock said. “We’ll need some players to step up in leadership roles and some already have.”

The Raptors do return Ryan, Joanna Kitlinski, Laura Miller and Sarah Chobot — who were named to the USA Eagles roster over the summer, as well as Hannah Stolba who returns to the team after she missed the spring season hiking the Appalachian Trail.

And from the spring season, they bring back breakout stars Denali Graham and Fatima Chavez, who should help the team’s overall speed in Bullock’s up-tempo pace.

“I’m super excited for the players we have,” Bullock said. “We have high expectations of how we perform.”

When asked for goal-oriented expectations, Bullock went just short of mentioning another championship.

“I guess the goal would be to get to the semifinals,” he said. “If you do that, you have a chance.”

The Raptors should know that better than anyone.