Leadership, Sports, and Reading Goals: A Midweek Update

Another busy weekend with a quick trip to Kansas City. We went to celebrate November birthdays for Erin and Eddie. Joan and Eddie arranged a vacation rental and treated us to a wonderful weekend of fun. We even squeezed in some game time Saturday afternoon before getting ready for dinner. Unfortunately, no pictures from the fun weekend.

When we got back to Topeka Sunday afternoon, I wasn’t feeling well—so much so that I took Monday off work. I simply needed a day to recover and get back to feeling better. Going to bed at 8 p.m. on Sunday cut into my writing for the week. I think this was the first time I haven’t written something in over two years. So tonight is about catching up on my weekly post. As it turns out, this is more of a meandering post on different topics since I’m starting it on a Wednesday night.

A few months ago, I was nominated to participate in Leadership Greater Topeka. I’m happy to report that I was accepted, and class starts in January. We have our orientation session this Thursday. I’m looking forward to the process and appreciate the opportunity to serve with fellow Shawnee County participants. I’ll be interested to see what we accomplish when the program ends in May 2026. I think it will be fun and a great way to make connections with fellow residents.

Sunday was the last chance the Kansas City Chiefs had to make the playoffs, and it did not go well. After several years of making the postseason, we’re eliminated. I know fan bases for other teams are happy that it finally came to an end. I’m hopeful we can still finish out the season without completely imploding.

Washburn sports is going strong. The basketball team is still doing great, sitting at 13-0 on the season. Carrie and I have missed the last couple of home games since we were out of town. We don’t play at home again until January 3, so we have a bit of a wait. The team just finished a tournament in Texas, where they handled the games without any problem. Related to that, you might recall that two weeks ago we went to St. Louis to watch the Washburn soccer team play—and we won. I’m sad to say that we played in the Final Four last week and lost after being ahead for most of the game. A great season, but tough to see us lose.

My reading journey continues as we have just a few short weeks left to finish out the year for the reading challenge. I had set a goal of twenty books for the year, and right now it looks like I’m going to come up short once again. No, I’m not giving up, but I think it’s going to be tough to meet my twenty-book goal for 2025.

That’s about all I have for tonight. Posting midweek instead of over the weekend, but I’ll get back on track this weekend. Have a great week!

Weekend Musings: Sports, Running, and Reading

Seems like another day to post about nothing. Whatever comes to mind as I type away on this Saturday afternoon. March Madness is coming to an end, baseball has started, and golf is happening. It is a good time to be a sports fan and watching everything that is happening in the world of sports.

Speaking of sports, the Washburn Ichabods had a great season! We had so much fun following them this year and attending the home games. I watched them play in the Final Four of the NCAA D2 tournament on Thursday night. We ran into a buzz saw of a team from Nova Southeastern University. NSU was really good and we did not get a good start to the game. It was a sad way to end the season, but what a wonderful season it was, going 30-4 for the season.

I did my first run this morning after not having run in the past year. I have been doing bike rides, but I have not been running. I enjoyed the run, but my legs are hurting this afternoon. I made the mistake of not stretching or warming up very much before the run, so my legs are a little tight. I am planning to run again tomorrow although for not as long, so we will see how I am doing tomorrow morning when I try to run again.

To continue my writing on nothing, I am trying to finish my third book of the year. I hope to finish a book this week as I will spend some time reading. I only need about three hours to finish the book, so I think I can make that happen. We will see and if I am really good, I might be able to finish two books... One at a time though.

Short update for this week, that’s all at this time. I will plan to do a longer post next week. Have a great rest of your weekend and a wonderful week.

Looking for Updates in Email on New Posts... Use Follow.it to Subscribe

I enjoy posting weekly updates and I appreciate the feedback I receive on my regular posts. I have been doing this for the past two years posting every weekend. Typically posted Saturday night or first thing on Sunday. Posts range from cooking, camping, sports, or just general thoughts on something. Yes, my posts also help to serve as history on trips Carrie and I take or things happening with us or our dog, Oliver. I enjoy the process and and thinking through what to write each week.

Did you know that you can subscribe to receive updates via email when new posts are submitted? I realize that many of my visitors visit only when they see my posts on social media. I also realized that many on mobile devices visiting my site might not realize that there is a subscription option on the page, so I wanted to include information in a post on how you can subscribe and manage your subscription.

I utilize follow.it site to allow for subscribing via email for notices when new posts are made. Below is a form you can use to subscribe to my site or a link where you can see more information and subscribe through the follow.it site.

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A Year of Regular Posts to My Web Site and Planning to Keep Posting Another Year... Thanks for Visiting and Following!

Back in November 2020 right before Thanksgiving that year, I started to blog on a regular basis. I planned out to do a blog at least once a week ranging on a variety of topics. Sometimes just me updating what I did the previous week, but trying to post on a regular schedule. Prior to this planned weekly posting, I would do very infrequent and sometimes not post for a few months. 

I have been able to keep my commitment to post on a weekly basis. My day to post is Sunday each week. At times I do one post and other weeks I will do multiple. It all depends on what happened that week or what I want to share for the week. I do also try and post an update on holidays and have those post on the day of the holiday (i.e. Thursday). 

This has been a fun process. Only a few times did I struggle with what to post or trying to get it written and done before the day was over on a Sunday. Often times, I write whatever I plan to post early in the week and schedule the posting to publish early in the morning on Sunday morning. 

My plan is to continue posting at least once a week for another year. I enjoy it and while some have wondered why, I enjoy the process and thinking through what to post. Typically I post what we did on a vacation along with pictures, but I usually do not post where we are going ahead of time or that we will be gone... only the summary of the trip and pictures after we are back.

I appreciate my regular followers and those that comment on posts. Of course my other goal is to have regular visitors to my site (https://www.haverty.net/) and doing a regular post each week drives traffic to the site. I have had the web site https://www.haverty.net for a long time and it is good to say I average approximately 2,500 visitors each month to my site. I would like to see that increase and the only way to increase traffic is to post more each week.

There is an option on the page to subscribe to posts so that you can get the updates in your email. This can be found on the right side of the page in a section called follow.it. Simply enter your email address and click Subscribe. It is an easy way to get updates each week that I post to the site. 

So, I appreciate your visiting my site, or subscribing through follow.it. Watch for my updates for another year and know that I truly enjoy doing these weekly posts. Thank you for visiting and following.

SCOTUS Blog, Podcasts, Information, and Understanding the Supreme Court of the United States with Tools to Hear and Read Cases

I have a new found interest in the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). After the nomination and appointment of Amy Coney Barrett, I realized that I really do not know or stay up-to-date on cases that go to the Supreme Court. So, I started checking on what information was available to keep me updated on court opinions and came across SCOTUSblog that sends a daily news letter with cases that were reviewed as well as a weekly podcast (SCOTUSTALK) on typical discussion.

I signed up for the newsletter through the SCOTUSblog site and read over, or skim, the daily email notices. They typically arrive middle to late in the afternoon. Sometimes I skim over the summaries and other times I read in detail. I enjoy the articles that are submitted from various sources which they include that discuss news articles talking about the Supreme Court. It is interesting to be able to tie in the coverage I am reading with the articles from NPR, Reuters, etc. I feel like I am getting a better idea of what SCOTUS reviews and rules on each and every day.

Having been subscribed to the SCOTUSblog for a few weeks, I feel like it is helping me to better understand SCOTUS. There is a wealth of information on the SCOTUSblog site, but I have also found I am interested in going to the SCOTUS web site (https://www.supremecourt.gov/) as it is possible to listen to oral arguments or even tread through transcripts going back previous. Granted, some of it is rather boring, and not being a lawyer, probably is well above my head, but I find it interesting to read through the arguments and ultimately the decision by the Justices on a case.

I would imagine I will likely write more on this in future posts. My interest was certainly peaked at the most recent nomination and appointment to the Supreme Court which sent me down this path to understand more about their cases and the Justices that serve on our High Court. I am reminded of a trip I went on when I was younger with my parents and sister, I remember looking into the chamber for the Supreme Court although they were not in session when we went through the tour, I have always had an interest in the process and cases.