Chats via Twitter and My Experience

I have been using Twitter since April 2009 when I first created my account. In the early years, I did not use it too much.  I created the account simply to see what all the cool kids were using.  In the past few years, I have been using Twitter on a regular basis.  I enjoy Twitter much more than FaceBook and typically use Twitter to interact with others about an event whether that is a sporting, television, or other major event being discussed.  Mostly I have used Twitter to discuss Royals, Chiefs, Washburn, or KU.

Recently I had heard about #TwitterChat. This was new to me, so I wanted to find a #TwitterChat I could participate.  The first few I found were not so much "chats", but rather random people posting web sites to check on the topic.  I checked a few others finding the same thing of not a lot of discussion back-and-forth with the Twitter accounts, but simply people posting web sites to check on the topic.

I found a couple of web sites that listed Twitter Chats that had been compiled by various people.  Again, a few of these were helpful and a few were not.  I would find a topic I wanted to discuss and search for that hashtag finding no discussion at all was taking place on the particular topic.

I did find a Twitter Chat schedule that seems good and each of the times I have checked the schedule, there are actually chats occurring at the scheduled times.  The one I found is hosted on Google as a document.  It is simply called Twitter Chats 2.  By way of this chat schedule, I participated in my first #TwitterChat last Sunday.  It was a great time and I connected with others on the topic.

The chat I participated in was simply about blogging with a hashtag search of #blogchat.  It was exactly what I expected from a chat where a topic was posted by the moderator and people began responding, connecting, and interacting on the topic.  The topic of #blogchat meets every Sunday at 8 pm CST and I plan to take part in it again tonight.

My goal is to post on a regular basis here on my blog.  It was a inspiration to take part in the #blogchat and get ideas, motivation, and see what others were doing with their blogs.  Obviously having a blog, I want people to read and participate in said blog.

One interaction I had during the #blogchat last week was that I do not get a lot of comments, but I can see that people are accessing and reading the posts.  My thought on why I do not get a lot of comments was primarily because I post so inconsistently.  I believe if I start posting on a regular basis that will result in regular followers that will begin to post comments.

The #blogchat is very fast paced.  A lot of posts and it is recommended that you use a client that can separate those discussions in a easy manner.  I use Tweetbot for Mac and iOS that does this for me.  Many people use TweetDeck or HootSuite for this purpose.  I see fast paced discussions when following sporting events, but unlike those, I do not try to read or respond to every post like I did with the #blogchat discussion.

Until next time, have a great week!

Remembering December 30, 2014 -- A Year Later -- My Dad's Passing

It has been well over a year since my last post.  The past year, I have not felt much like posting.  I have not done hardly any exercising since 2014.  Part of that has just been plain laziness... the other part is that as many of you  know my Dad, Alvin "Beebe" Haverty, passed on December 30, 2014.  It was a surprise to all of us as he had gone into the hospital for the flu.

It seems like just yesterday that Carrie and I were planning to leave early December 30, 2014 morning with Brenda to drive to see Javier and eventually Corrie on New Years Eve.  That all changed when I got a call shortly after I had awoken on the 30 of December.  The call came through about 6 am after I had just realized that we had no hot water in the house.  I am not sure why, but I still feel like it was a sign from my Dad that he had passed.

A year later and it still feels like I can pick up the phone to call home and talk to my Dad.  We miss him so much.  After his passing, I was able to go back and get a number of voice messages that he had left.  Usually they had to do with computer questions needing some help with something.  Not until after his death and the past year working with files he had updated did I realize he really did a good job with computers, Excel files, and browsing the Internet.  He had things very well organized and actually used Excel formulas.

A typical message I would receive from Dad (and Mom usually in the background) is the following...



I recall when I was in grade school when Dad and I attended a class on Apple programming.  It was not even at my school as we went to another school across town.  I remember learning and writing programming with my Dad in a coding class.  My first one ever and that was well before I knew I would be doing anything in computers.

So many great memories of Dad that they keep going through my head.  What to talk about and what to share from pictures to voice messages, that has been part of the struggle.  Finally, I decided to simply post a message in his honor.

I just remembered another voice message I wanted to share.  When we first got Oliver (our Japanese Chin pictures in the first picture above), we would put a camera on him so we could monitor him during the day while we were at work.  I shared that stream with my parents one time and they really enjoyed checking in on Oliver throughout the day.  They would be watching the video feed knowing that Carrie and I would be home soon and once they saw us come through, they would call my cell phone to tell me all about it.



Dad did well with Excel files, browsing the web, etc., but as he got older some things just baffled him.  The video camera being able to show our dog was one of those baffling things.  When we would be over and show a YouTube video or movie on their TV via the Internet, he would comment how he was not sure how that could happen.

I wanted to keep this short and it has managed to get lengthy.  I miss Dad a great deal that words cannot describe.  I am thankful to have my Mom in good health and a strong family to laugh, cry, and remember about our Dad and be there for one another.

Pictures to remember Dad are available on Flickr.  The recording of comments at his funeral can be found on my YouTube channel.

The funeral service from the January 10 (approximately 36 minutes) service is below. Thank you to Trinity Lutheran Church in Lawrence, KS and Audrey at Warren-McElwain Mortuary and Cremation Services for their help and support!



Until next time, have a Happy New Year and thank you for reading as I remember my Dad.

Fell Off the Exercise Wagon... Eating Better?

My last post on July 18 (Week Two Done... Prepping for Week Three... Jog On!) was my last post here.  So, obviously I have not posted or worked out in a very long time! Ok, so I worked out a few times after the semester started, but that ended about halfway through the semester. Officially, it ended on September 29 (Endomondo Workouts).

The start of October was difficult to get anything going consistently in terms of working out.  The bad eating and beer drinking was in full effect from the start.  The Blues Festival that second weekend of October and Royals baseball games all through the month helped to keep me out of the gym, off the road, or basically finding any excuse to do anything healthy.  I was not even eating well during that time finding myself weighing in the most I have ever in my life on November 16.  Really, that was the first time I had weighed myself since sometime last year.

Yes, that November 16 weigh-in was a wake up, but only to the point of starting to eat right.  Cut back on alcohol and that's been bout it.  I weighed myself about a week after that first weigh-in and found I had lost three pounds... so it is a start!

Many of you know that I love the spin class at Washburn Student Recreation Student Center, but I have not been to class since the last part of September.  I had plans to start going back in November, but now we are about to the end of November and not having the motivation to get to the gym at 6:30 in the morning.  So, I am going to try and start working out after work and do running instead of biking.  Previously when I was running I had races as targets so I could train, but I have not been to a race in over a year, so I am going to set small targets with running.  Focus on pace and distance instead of on a goal of running a race.

This next week is of course Thanksgiving, so not the best time to start.  So, I will target the Monday following Thanksgiving to start working out after work.  Try not to go crazy with eating during the holidays and try to get a start on getting back in shape before the new year starts.

Happy Holidays!  I hope to be posting soon with my progress in eating right, exercise, and meeting my running goals.

Week Two Done... Prepping for Week Three... Jog On!

Posting a update on my progression of getting back into jogging.  How out of shape do I get when not running at all?  It is bad!  I did not think I would be able to motivate myself to get out and run each three days a week.  So far, I have been able to do two days a week.  Hoping to start a three day week kicking it off on Sunday.  I have felt alright when running the past two weeks, but not great!

The first week was brutal.  As I mentioned, I have started up the Couch to 5K again.  The first day I could barely keep up with the routine.  I was breathing heavy and possibly wheezing, but I was able to get through it without too much trouble.  Keep in mind that day one of C25K is the following:

• Warmup 5 minutes
• Repeat 5 times
• Jog 45 seconds
• Walk 90 seconds
• Jog 45 seconds
• Walk 60 seconds
• Cooldown 5 minutes

Yes, I was about done at the end of the first day.  That night, my legs hurt, and the next day, it was difficult to go up or down stairs.  My legs were yelling at me for not running for so many weeks.... or months.

Moving on to the start of week two where I found that it did not hurt as bad, but still it was not great! The only good part with starting week two was that I was not completely sore that evening nor the next day.  The progression of C25K was doing the job and progressing me slowly toward week three. I ran the end of week two last night.  A week consists in C25K terms of three segments, or days, before it moves to the next week.  Still a long way to go in my training and I hope to be ready for the Washburn Alumni Association 5K in the Fall.

I still need to get motivated and back to spin class.  I love it so much, but I have been lazy.  That is the plain and simple about it that I have been lazy.  I enjoy sleeping until about 7 or 7:15, rolling out of bed, shower, and at work by 8.  It also does not help that work has been happening where I work out (SRWC) which I have been using as an excuse.  Granted, I could still be working out at the SRWC as they are still open, have showers, and classes are in session.  I am looking for excuses not to get up in the morning.  That has to end!

The only race I have planned for now is the Washburn Alumni Association Fun Run in the Fall.  That has not helped my motivation by not having a target race for training.  Now it is all mental and relying on my motivation to get out and run.  

Tonight though, I sit back, sip a cold beer, and cheer on the Kansas City Royals.  Everyone have a great week!

Exerice Again... Gave it up for a while... back now.

Yes it is true. I gave up running for a few months. I finally started running again last week. I ran two days last week. I had intended to run three days last week, but only got in two. The first day was Tuesday and it was rough. I started the couch to 5K again from the beginning. I was sore Wednesday and Thursday. I ran again Thursday night for day two week one and felt much better. Tomorrow night will be the end of the first week and hopefully get on a three time a week running routine this week.

I figured what better way to get back into running than to start blogging about it again. It helps to motivate me into exercise. I know I need to do something with my eating too. I have not been making the best selection of snacks or desserts. A few weeks ago with I had three nights where I had ice cream each of those three nights. It was great, but yeah, that needs to stop.

So, this is hopefully one of many updates that I am back to running. I am going to try and post progress over the next few weeks with my progress. Instead of posting tweets or FaceBook updates when I finish a week, I plan to post on here with how my progress is going and how my jogging is progressing. Right now, I know I could not run a 5K without stopping. Hoepfully in about eight weeks, I will be able to run a 5K without any problem and post about it too.

Happy jogging and have a great summer!

Enjoying My First MOOC from Duke University

A MOOC was recommended to me by a fellow Washburn Leadership alum and since I had not taken a MOOC, I decided to try it out.  After all, the class was free, and it was about higher education.  The name of the class is "History and Future of (Mostly) Higher Education".  We are more than halfway done with the course, but I am finding it very interesting.  We only have two weeks left of the class.

So far, I have done fairly well on the quizzes.  Along with quizzes we also are to watch videos from the instructor Cathy N. Davidson and I have enjoyed watching the videos.  The videos are split up into smaller videos so you can watch at your leisure, on your mobile device, etc when you have time. The course is put on by Duke University and they have done a very nice job with the delivery and class content.

The other interesting piece of the class is peer assessments.  For this assignment, which so far we have had two, we are assigned the task of writing 500 words about a topic.  We write up our comments or views on that topic and then we evaluate up to five other authors from the class.  Essentially, we are giving a grade based on our review of their writing.  This is done by at least five people for every essay that is written.  The average of the peer assessments is then used to assign the grade.  A interesting process to review the 1,000's of students taking the class where it would be impossible for a instructor to review all of the assignments.

The other important piece of this class is of course the discussions in the forums.  It took me a little bit to get into the forum posting on the site, but I have the hang of it now and I have been participating in the discussions.  The other area of interest is discussion outside of the course.  Using the #FutureEd Twitter hash tag, I have been discussing with others in the class about topics from the class.  For me, discussing using Twitter instead of the forums is easier as I am almost always on Twitter or have it close by most of the time.  I created a saved search for #FutureEd so I can jump into any discussion.

This course while being done through Duke University is presented on Coursera web site.  I have already started reviewing the Coursera site to find additional classes that I can take after this one is finished.

If you are interested in taking this class, watch their web site (https://www.coursera.org/course/highered) for future classes.

2014 Started and Snuck up on Me!

The previous year was a good year! It flew by, but it was a fun year. It does seem as though 2014 snuck up on me. It seems like only yesterday that we had just returned from our Washburn Alumni cruise (November 2012) and here we are headed into the start of the spring 2014 semester. Wow!

The end of 2013 turned into my not working out at all. Well, this started with my last spin class at the SRWC. I had great intentions of getting back to working out once January 1, 2014 rolled around, but the amount of cold and snow we have had thus far as taken away from my workout motivation. Spin class will be starting again as we get close to the start of the spring semester, so I plan to start getting up early and working out. As it proceeds into Spring and warmer weather, I plan to increase my workouts to at least fives days a week. My plan includes doing a five day workout through the summer. For me, if I put it on my calendar and plan on it, that is half the battle of getting to the gym.

I will be meeting with Ben at the SRWC during the month of January. This will be my health assessment and should give me solid goals to strive for through the rest of the semester and into the summer.

My iPhone woes continue. I have a little less than a year for my warranty on my iPhone 5. I am still not convinced that it is my battery that is failing which is causing my phone to die. Based on when it started and the "testing" that I have done, I believe it is a iOS 7.x.x problem. I read recently that 7.0.5 is supposed to be out later in January and then 7.1 is scheduled to be out in the next two - three months. Nothing confirmed, but I am hoping that either of these fixes will resolve my battery problems. If not, then I will be forced to get a new iPhone before my warranty expires. Crazy for my phone to die with 15-25% of the battery remaining and it happens on a regular basis. To the point where if my phone is under 50%, I do not feel it is reliable to use it until I get my charger. Frustrating!

I am sure there are other items I could comment about, but that is all for now. I just finished shoveling snow for the third of forth time this year. I am all warmed up and ready to relax. Have a great 2014 and I will post more later...