National Anthem Protests

By now, nearly everyone who has access to the outside world has heard of the athletes who are protesting the national anthem. Regardless of your opinion on the gesture it seems to be accomplishing the goal of opening the dialogue that those protesting claim that they are working towards. This week it came to my attention that Colin Kaepernick, the 2nd string quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, has been using his fame to reach out and open dialogues with several military members. One such member is Nate Boyer, who was in training camp with the Seattle Seahawks last season. Initially Boyer was against the gesture of sitting during the anthem, but has since talked to Kaepernick about how to accomplish his goals of bringing attention to racism in our country without disrespecting past and present military members. Since that conversation Kaepernick has donated more than $1 million to organizations to help their cause, and hes hardly the only one as a number of current NFL players partake in the protest in some way or another. Below are two links, one to the original story about Kaepernick and Boyer, and the other from ESPN that shows all the players who have participated in the protest this weekend

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/09/01/colin-kaepernick-met-with-former-green-beret-nate-boyer/

 http://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/217161/nfl-players-who-protested-during-the-national-anthem-in-week-5

Colin Kaepernick kneels during the National Anthem before a game 

Current Event

Pretty much everyone has a "chip card," or a credit card with a microchip in it that is now used to pay instead of the old "swiping method. These chip cards are also universally hated by both the users trying to pay, and by the cashier who is tasked with explaining how to use the chip reader to their customers (take it from a cashier- its a pain). One of the biggest complaints levied against chip cards is how long it takes for the transaction to process. While the old method of swiping your card took only a few seconds, the chip card processing can take upwards of 12 seconds. The good news is that the company Square, which is one of the suppliers of the chip technology has announced that they have been able to shave 25% off the average time to process the cards. This is good news for consumers and cashiers alike. Even better is that Square is hoping to continue to lower the time needed for transactions, aiming for the three second range, and I speak for everyone when I say that it is much needed.

Generic "chip card"

Good to Be Back

I must say, it feels good to be back. For the last month I have largely been resigned to doing nothing but working, going to class and sitting around. This is largely my fault due to the fact that I had an unfortunate trip down the stairs. Fun fact, it is still always better to lead with your feet rather than your face when going down a flight of stairs, but I digress. This weekend was the first that I've actually felt like I was back to being me, and I was able to get out of the house and move around. I was finally able to play a round of disc golf (I did not play well) for the first time since Welcome Weekend. This was aided in that I had my first back-to-back days off of work since the 4th of July. The only issue that arose was the fact that it was a rough day for Detroit sports.

Kan Jam, an excellent lawn game

Panama City Flashback

view of the Beach

Above is a photo from my trip to Panama City Beach during spring break 2015. The photo is one that I took from the balcony of my condo on our last night there. I chose this photo because I have always been a huge fan of the beach, and that week was one of the best weeks of my life. I was looking for a picture to post, (as there is absolutely nothing interesting to take a picture of around my house) and found the few pictures I had taken from that trip. That trip was nothing short of chaos, but it was well worth it and I would give anything to go back.

The purpose of this blog will largely be devoted to my experiences and musings over the course of the coming semester. It will include thoughts, opinions and other random things that I feel the need to share. In all likelihood most of them will be related to sports, specifically hockey and football as that is what tends to occupy most of my time when I'm not at work.