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.
by Peter Boyles | Sep 25, 2015 | Blasting with Boyles
As a boy in Western Pennsylvania, my father would tell me when we would see “hobos,” that the only difference between them and the Mellon family (Pennsylvania’s answer to the Coors family) was money. One of the many things the old man never understood was the term “homeless.” The concept made him nuts. Plus, he also never understood how Nixon became President.
Somewhere along the line since my father died, homelessness has become a noble cause. We are now teaching our children that homelessness is the fault of our society. I’ve spent many dead trees writing about political correctness; homelessness is yet another politically correct noble cause. In 2005, John Hickenlooper, then mayor now governor, launched the “Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness.” This was for Hickenlooper the equivalent of the old Soviet’s 10 year plans for the glorious people or Mao’s “Great Leap Forward.”
Under the Hickenlooper administration the glorious people of Denver were going to build glorious shelters, and the glorious homeless were going to be given priority and all would be well. Homelessness would end and there will be once again peace in the valley. But, in the words of Gomer Pyle, “Shazaam!” All you have to do is drive down Speer Blvd. to see John Hickenlooper’s own Great Leap Forward in action. If there ever was a bigger con, I guess it was RTD’s light rail, and all kinds of jive attempts to move the Stock Show.
When the Denver Commission to End Homelessness launched its efforts, most Denverites were really sure there would be no homelessness in 10 years. Now here’s where the rubber meets the road.
Enter “The Dragon,” Denver auditor, Dennis Gallagher. He figured 63 million dollars has been spent ending homelessness in the last 10 years. The auditor figured there were an estimated 3,200 homeless people in Denver. Okay, as I’ve stated before, I can neither do math nor marriage, but we’ve got 63 million dollars spent to end homelessness in 10 years — you would think we would have something to show for it. Instead we appear to have even more homelessness.
If you feed bears, squirrels or birds, what you get are just more bears, squirrels and birds. Auditor Gallagher’s review of Denver’s Road Home, found, and I quote, “they’ve done a poor job of tracking numbers and demonstrating progress.” The auditor went on to say the 10 year goal to end homelessness remains unclear. “We’ve spent all of this money but we don’t know if anything is actually getting better.”
Dennis the Menace is being kind. The Commission to End Homelessness was made up of cronies of Mayor Hickenlooper, paid significant salaries, and given titles such as “Homelessness Advocate,” but they were little more than foxes guarding the hen house.
I gained my sobriety 29 years ago, I spent 25 of those years as a volunteer and board member for the late Bob Coté’s Step 13. As opposed to The Road Home, Bob Coté’s motto was “work works, and sobriety works.” And to my surprise the one guy in the city who understood how to end homelessness, was never once invited to any of John Hickenlooper’s summits on ending homelessness. Or, for that matter, anything that Mayor Hancock does along the same lines.
One of the things that I’ve urged Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey to do, (from my mouth to Mitch’s ear) is to launch a grand jury investigation into Denver’s shameless waste of money regarding homelessness. It’s a fraud, this is a con, this is a grift perpetrated by J.H. and supported by big media. One of the lines from a Denver Post article was how the Commission is still committed to ending homelessness. These are the moments that I always want to say, “Hey Dick Tracy where’d you park your squad car?”
Speaking out against the homelessness con job is another politically correct crime. John Hickenlooper created Denver’s Road Home, people gave the money and things are worse. Where I came from, that’s a con. You paid the man to fix the hole in your roof, to pave your driveway, to fix the television, and still nothing works. But, of course, these guys keep their jobs and they are still promising that they’re going to end homelessness. Drive down Speer Blvd., every street corner, everybody’s got a sign everybody’s got a mooch going. Most of them have cell phones and they’ve got a cigarette in their mouth and they don’t look like they missed a meal. The phony 10 year plan worked well for them.
Happy Halloween. Trick or Treat, you got tricked!
— Peter
by Peter Boyles | Aug 31, 2015 | Blasting with Boyles
As we have passed the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender I am fascinated by the actions of current Japanese Emperor Akihito as well as watching current Japanese Minister Shinzo Abe who seemingly fell short of apologizing or continues to attend shrines who honor the war criminals and the war dead instead of doing what we in the West call “doing the right thing.”
Abe went so far as to speak to the war dead thanking them for the sacrifice which he said helped created Japan’s present peace and prosperity.
That’s fascinating, I remember them doing their level best to destroy a third of all of Asia. To congratulate themselves on how those wartime actions, religious insanity and imperial motives are the reason why they are prosperous today is truly amazing.
So all you uninitiated forget about the Bataan Death March, the rape of Nanking and untold thousands of murdered Chinese and Korean people. So amidst politicians dredging up the past in a manner that suits them, pops up the devil himself, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
After spending a week unable to absolve his brother President George W. Bush of blame concerning the Iraq invasion and he started blaming the problems in today’s Middle East on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, I see a little of the Japanese emperor and the prime minister shining through. Some wag recently took Jeb on when Jeb said that his brother “W” didn’t get everything right in Iraq. Juan Cole tweeted that such a statement was like saying Custer didn’t get everything right at the Little Big Horn. Dubya’s Iraq invasion is simply the largest foreign policy screwup in American history. As Juan Cole also noted Dubya didn’t get everything right indeed. Now, in true fashion, Jeb is foisting the next great lie that his brother’s “surge was working.”
History tells us always pay close attention to what politicians are actually claiming. In 2006 the U.S. installed the Islamic Mission Party in control in Iraq. That Shiite dominated party was hated by both the Kurds and the Sunni as well as several other key groups in Iraq. The new prime minister was the universally despised Nouri al-Maliki. Al- Maliki was involved in a number of religious and political fronts since being driven out of Iraq by Saddam Hussein. Al-Maliki was very close to Dubya, when things got bad through 2006. When Dubya’s advisors, like James Baker, counseled him to just get out of Iraq, he got a second opinion from another man, General David Petraeus. Petraeus said that America simply needed to have more soldiers to fully control the country. And those who know history, know that General William Westmoreland did the same thing in Vietnam telling Lyndon Johnson all we needed was more troops.
Time out on the field. See kids, this is why I urge people to read history as it is ever so repetitive whether it’s the French, the British, the Spaniards or even the Soviets, the game always begins the same and ends the same.
Iraq fell into a civil war, and the American military under Dubya began to withdraw. Jeb Bush, aka Jebya!, has recently made a claim at the Reagan library that Obama and Hillary Clinton are to blame for the rise of ISIS. This is the guy who is the brother of the guy who used 9/11 as an excuse to invade Iraq and now says overthrowing Saddam Hussein “turned out to be a pretty good deal.” I ask you, pretty good deal for whom? The numbers speak for themselves — a minimum 100,000 dead Iraqis, half a million widows and orphans, 4,500 young dead Americans. 3,500 wounded warriors, a trillion dollars sunk into a country ravaged and a Mideast nation awash in war and blood. Again, who was it a pretty good deal for exactly?
This same brother in 2008 signed what’s been called an agreement between us and a representative of Iraq for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq by Christmas Eve 2011. The throwaway line apparently comes from 2009 when we closed our biggest POW camp, Camp Bucca. One of the prisoners released was future ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who told his former guards: “I’ll see you guys in New York.”
From time to time I spend a large part of my broadcast day talking about Barack Obama and the creation of his life. I assure you only a handful of people know the true story of Barack Obama’s life. He’s a fabrication, a will-o’-the-wisp, a ghost. But all the insanity we are witnessing in the Mideast, none of this is Obama’s creation. Why any rational person can continue to believe anything any Bush says about the tragic wars the U.S. has gotten itself involved in because of the Bushes is beyond me. Peter Paul and Mary sang “When will they ever learn?” and “Where have all the flowers gone?” When will the Republican Party learn, when will the American people learn, when will you learn? Whatever you do for the love of heaven don’t let any of those Bushes back in control of this country.
Sayonara.
Peter
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.
