For the last few years of my life, I have seen the immense integration of technology into our day to day lives. Everyday I see people walking on the street while frantically scrolling or typing into their smartphones. Our day to day lives have been immensely changed by our use of technology – most specifically by cell phones.
Our use of cell phones have greatly changed the way we communicate with one another. Long gone are the days of in-person meetings. Often they are replaced by phone calls, virtual meetings and even memos. While these means of communication can be efficient and cut down on travel time for those whom need to travel long distances, it has some major downsides.
So many of us have sedentary desk jobs and this has decreased the amount of exercise that each of us are receiving. In my experience, many of the meetings that I have in the workplace also involve sitting. The days of having a “walk and talk” seem to be of the past. By leaving our “walk and talks” in the past, we are leaving out a whole other form of innovation. I strive to create more “walk and talk” types of meetings with individuals. When we are walking, they are less inclined to reach for the phones. When we are all sitting down at a table, it becomes all too easy for someone to scroll through something on their phone. There are so many different reasons for having a “walk and talk,” but getting up and onto your feet is one of the most important ones for our health.
So the next time you’re sitting at your desk typing an email to a co-worker or a friend, consider taking the time to schedule a “walk and talk” meeting. This type of meeting will allow for you to not only exchange your thoughts, but also take a moment to step away from technology and observe the physical environment around you.
November 26th, 2004 will always be a day that I will forever remember! That was the day I got my first puppy Frank Hadley. Now I am the youngest out of seven kids and our house was pretty full and hectic back then. It was a challenge trying to convince my parents to let us get a pet of any kind. After weeks of trying to convince my mother and it working. My Dad eventually gave in as well! So on this Black Friday back in 04′ my family loaded into the minivan and headed off to New Hampshire to look at puppies.
Once we got the breeder my brothers and sisters began picking out the right puppy. My Dad kept saying “We are only looking and not buying!” Until the breeder said he had a Miniature Dachshund in the barn out in the back., that a family decided they didn’t want anymore. Just then the smallest, cutest puppy I have ever seen walked through the door! That was how Fenway Frank became a Hadley!
Fenway Frank lived a great 12 years, full of tail wags, naps, treats, trips to Boston and Maine and great memories! However, around 11 years old he became sick and we knew our time with him was limited. Sadly on December 5th 2015 he passed away during hos favorite passed time sleeping. That was for sure the toughest day of my life so far. Fenway was not just a pet but my Puppy Brother and my best friend! I will never forget the memories and I am truly greatful for all the days I had with him!
Most pro wrestling fans have been marks (wrestling slang for “fans”) since they were kids. Especially if they are kids. But my wife and I took a different path to fandom.
Three years ago, on the day of WrestleMania 31, my wife and I were driving home from an award ceremony at her grad school when we noticed all the LA comedy podcasts we listen to were talking about WrestleMania. It was held in San Diego that year, and a lot of podcasters were going for a laugh. We couldn’t escape it on social media. My wife suddenly asked the immortal question: “how do we watch WrestleMania?”
We signed up for a free trial of the WWE Network and promised each other that we’d cancel after WrestleMania…unless we ended up watching every month. And wow, do we watch every month.
The moment we became fans for life.
That first WrestleMania created an obsession that hasn’t faded. It wasn’t long before we watched Monday Night Raw each week and went to live shows. As we found a community of other fans online, we learned about independent wrestling and discovered New England has an awesome local wrestling scene.
I only watched a little wrestling when I was a kid, and my wife never watched. Because of this, everything we learned watching wrestling, we learned together. It became a collaborative obsession and an unique bond in our relationship. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon became #relationshipgoals.
It helped that we got into wrestling just in time to see the “women’s revolution” unfold. A new generation of talented female wrestlers were hitting the ring, and neither they nor the fans would stand for two minute “bathroom break” matches. We watched women like Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and the Bella Twins break the glass ceiling on TV every week. At indie shows with companies like Beyond Wrestling and Chikara, we watched wrestlers like Kimber Lee and Heidi Lovelace go even further as they took the fight to the men in mixed gender matches.
Aside: I really want to watch GLOW, Netflix’s new show about female wrestling that released today, but it would be a real heel move (wrestling slang for being a bad guy) if I watched it before she got home from work.
We also learned that wrestling had a little something for each of us. I got into wrestling video games, digging through bargain bins to find the legendary N64 game WWF No Mercy. She binged the Total Divas reality show. But it’s the live events that became our favorite part of pro wrestling because we enjoy that together.
I always tell people that going to a wrestling show is like a cross between a sporting event, a rock concert, and live theater. A wrestling show has unbelievable athletic feats, pyrotechnic spectacle, and compelling characters and drama. Every time my wife and I go to a show, we see something that we’ve never seen before. We’ve seen things we never thought possible. The way a match blends reality and fiction evoke emotions unlike any other forms of storytelling.
Every show is a different experience. Sometimes it feels like an arena concert and sometimes it has the air of a punk rock show. We’ve watched wrestling in the legendary Boston Garden, baseball fields, bars, and elementary school gymnasiums. We’ve sat in the nosebleed section, we’ve watched matches with our hands on the ring apron, and we’ve had to abandon our ringside seats as a 300 pound man dove towards his opponent cowering in the crowd.
Selfie party with wrestler Heidi Lovelace (now WWE’s Ruby Riot) at a Chikara show.
My wife and I have been together since high school, and I love that even after 15 years we can find new hobbies and fandoms to share. Discovering wrestling in our 30s is even more fun because it was unexpected.
But there is nothing as unexpected than watching an undead bride bite the ref, escape the ring, and pour drinks at the bar while the heroine tries to protect the crowd. That’s a thing that happened. We saw that live. And we saw it together.
Rachael Ellering faces off with the evil corpse bride, Su Yung.
The Planet D is a travel blog based around an adventurous couple’s lives, Dave and Deb. Both Dave and Deb contribute to this blog and they fill it with their own travel tales, tips they have for travelers, or ways to inspire people who want to become travelers. The couple’s motto is “adventure is for everyone”. Their travel lifestyle began in 2008 and Dave and Deb have been very successful with their adventures and blogging ever since.
Analysis
Layout
The opening layout of this blog is very welcoming and has the two bloggers as the very fist thing a viewers sees. There is a lot of photography used throughout the layouts which is eye grabbing. The photos are amazing and colorful. There is not a lot of words thrown on the layout, the majority is pictures and/or videos.
The Planet D: Home Page
The header includes a photo of Dave and Deb along with their shortened back story and motto. The header also allows the viewer to watch some of their travel videos or “Get Started Now” to begin reading categorized travel blogs.
Above the header there are multiple pages the viewer can click on. Some of these pages include an “About Us”, “Travel Tips”, or “Destinations”. Each of these pages are filled with information, photos, and blog posts.
Below the header there are four options: “Discover”, “Top Posts”, “Imagine”, and “Explore”. Each of these options have pictures and/or videos below them. The pictures/videos are links to different posts.
At the bottom of this blog is an organized footer. The footer has multiple options for the audience. These options include links to follow the blog on multiple social media accounts, a search bar, an option to subscribe, and an option for viewers to partner up with Dave and Deb and advertise/sponsor the blog. Following these options the same pages above the header are also listed below the footer.
Content
There is a countless amount of posts in this blog that are based around multiple different topics. Each blog post includes multiple photos with a caption underneath each one. A lot of the blog posts also include links to other websites that have more information on a specific site or destination. Also within the a lot of the posts there are links to other posts. For example: Read: 19 Photos That Will Make You Want to Visit South Dakota
Another noticeable feature that is included in the majority of the blog posts is advertising. There are advertisements for hotels or plane tickets.
The “About Us” page features an interview youtube video of Dave and Deb that is about 5 minutes long. Along with this heartwarming video Dave and Deb go into detail about their relationship and marriage. This couple reveals how they felt stuck and bored with life and eventually discovered their passion for traveling. Dave and Deb have created an amazing and exciting life full of adventures and this page goes into talking about how they have created their blog to inspire anyone who wants to create an adventurous life for themselves. Their backstory is truly inspiring and they are both extremely passionate and caring for this blog.
Dave and Deb’s blog has 188,116 just on Facebook, 130,000 followers on Twitter, and 190,000 followers on Instagram. This blog is extremely popular and followers are always anxious to see where the couple goes next.
The most significant part to each blog post are the photos. Each post has a featured image and multiple photos that give a viewer an inside look. At the end of each blog post there are some advertisements, other posts a viewer might enjoy, and more ways to stay connected to Dave and Deb’s blog through social media.
End of post on The Planet D
Conclusion
The Planet D is an exciting, visually pleasing, and inspiring blog. There are countless topics that each blog post is written about. Dave and Deb’s blog offers amazing travel advice, hidden destinations, and interesting travel stories.
The layout of this blog is extremely pleasing to the eye. A lot of well taken photography is used to feature each blog post. There are a lot of colors used throughout the layout, needless to say nothing is bland about this blog. Dave and Deb’s beliefs and motto really show through the layout and design. Regarding the navigation it is fairly easy to move throughout this blog, but there is definitely a lot to choose from. One downside to this blog is the advertising throughout the pages or posts. Sometimes advertising takes up too much room or turns off a reader. The layout is uniquely designed and proves to viewers how much Dave and Deb truly love traveling.
The content of this blog is extremely helpful, interesting, and exciting. Every single blog post has some advice or beneficial information to offer regarding traveling. The titles to each post are interesting and sometimes ask questions which grabs a readers attention. Dave and Deb have become pro travelers and have a lot of secrets, stories, and tips to share so this blog can please multiple types of readers. The Planet D is a popular and fast growing blog that is very fascinating.
My family has been driven by healthy/organic food for around 6 years now. This life change occurred right around the time my sister, Rebecca, graduated college and moved back home. She had taken a few classes that focused on nutrition and what “normal” foods contain versus organic foods. After my sister labeled herself as an expert she began to change my family for good and our grocery list permanently.
There are definitely both pros and cons of only eating organic food.
Some of the pros include:
No harmful ingredients
Having a healthier diet
Straying away from GMOs
While some of the cons include:
A more expensive grocery trip
Not being able to find tasty organic food
One of the main cons I have personally struggled with has been not being able to find yummy organic foods. My mother, Pamela, is a wizard. She finds the organic version to anything. I love Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but my mother shrieked at the ingredients so she now buys an organic version of this cereal. Although she finally found a similar organic cereal I have to say the taste is definitely not that great. I was a little disappointed throughout this change until my sister introduced the family to a restaurant called Flatbreads.
Flatbreads is located in Bedford, MA. There is a lot to say about this restaurant. The food, the waiters, and the environment is extremely authentic. Everything is rustic looking from the glazed wooden tables and chairs to the multiple gigantic rock beams posted into the ground. The ceiling contains over a dozen hand crafted glass blown sculptures as chandeliers. Regarding the waiters and waitresses, everyone is unique, genuine, and friendly. Even Flatbread’s menus are authentic and designed by customers!
All of the food is all organic and/or locally produced. The menu includes a variety of salads and pizzas including the special pizzas that change weekly, and of course there is a lovely dessert menu. To see Flatbread’s authentic environment up close click on the link!
My family goes every Friday to Flatbread’s and our original favorite pizzas are the Jay’s Heart and the Punctuated Equilibrium. The Jay’s Heart pizza is a yummy cheese pizza with herbs, and the Punctuated Equilibrium includes goat cheese, peppers, and olives. They are both delicious. In the picture shown below the Punctuated Equilibrium is up top and a weekly special buffalo chicken pizza is underneath. Any restaurant I got to I’m always interested in the dessert, and Flatbread’s never disappoints me. The dessert menu is definitely simple with not too many options, but around the holidays or special events the menu gets altered or new dishes are added. I usually get the whoopee pie and it comes with ice cream, whip cream, and hot fudge. At one point there was a maple syrup whoopee pie and it was the most amazing dessert I have ever had. Maple syrup was served on the side of this dish and it was definitely extra sweet, but I was obsessed and repeatedly ordered it until it was taken off of the menu!
Flatbread’s is known for a welcoming feel and amazing food. I love going here, and I’m excited each time. My family and I are now weekly visitors so we have even developed relationships with some of the waiters and we feel at home! I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of eating organic with Flatbread’s around!
es and I am truly greatful for all the days I had with him!
Any restaurant I got to I’m always interested in the dessert, and Flatbread’s never disappoints me. The dessert menu is definitely simple with not too many options, but around the holidays or special events the menu gets altered or new dishes are added. I usually get the whoopee pie and it comes with ice cream, whip cream, and hot fudge. At one point there was a maple syrup whoopee pie and it was the most amazing dessert I have ever had. Maple syrup was served on the side of this dish and it was definitely extra sweet, but I was obsessed and repeatedly ordered it until it was taken off of the menu!