Author: Rob Collins

and sucked me into the lifestyle..

It all started on March 15, 2013. My wife was in New York City, and she became a mugger. An international Mugger.

Since then some of the people involved in these muggings were:

Martin from New Castle, UK

Claudia from Frankfurt, Germany

Ryan from Maryland, USA

Matt from Sydney, Australia

Hiep Vu from Anaheim, USA

Detlef from Hanover, Germany

Fanis from Moschato, Greece

Malini from London, UK

Countless friends and family..

Ok, ok hear me out.. While she was in New York City my wife bought her first You Are Here collection mug from Starbucks.

The fun thing about these mugs is that there are roughly 500 mugs around the world representing cities and countries.

The only way to get these mugs are to go to that city and buy one, harass your friends and family who are visiting those places to bring them back for you, trade for them in the Starbucks Muggers Facebook group (like with all the people I mentioned above), or buy them on eBay.

As you just read you found out why I called her a mugger.

Just before my wife and I got married I was sorting through some stuff at her apartment and she has a very colorful rug. It has many colors that are on the insides of the mugs, which have rotating colors depending on the mug.

So I looked at the rug, looked at the mugs, and decided to make some art! I color matched the mugs and colors and took a picture. That picture is the reason why I am in this class right now.

On my Instagram page I threw out a little video of our mug cabinet and some mugs on it if you’d like to see it…

I posted that picture on Instagram and saw the others that were posting about them. I decided to make an Instagram page for our mugs! I posted a ton of them and it stated my interest in social media pages and how they worked.

Social Media

I find it funny that this is how I got into social media leading me into starting pages, managing pages, learning on my own, and now doing the certificate program. Sometimes things need to come together in a way that speaks to you. Sometimes things come together in a way that makes it FUN for you.

The mugger community page on Facebook is fun and we have made a lot of friends and connected and traded with a ton of people. Most notably with Martin from New Castle who agreed to trade with me even though I asked him if I could send 4 mugs by boat from Eastern Canada to him in the UK because it cost $60 less! He agreed and it took….13 weeks to get to him! What a fun story.

You’ve now learned about the strange and fun world of muggers! You never know what could be the thing to lead you into new passions. We need to keep an eye out even if it’s with a rug and a mug.

https://twitter.com/Robaire89/status/1645104907354259457?s=20

Kenn Adams has a theory. A spine theory!

I have made an info graphic explaining this theory in a few short steps which can be found below. In his blog post Kenn writes about ideas we can use to practice story ideas. Something that is so hard to do is practice creativity. Creativity isn’t something you always know what you are looking for. Unlike a sport or a recipe there are certain parameters to what you are practicing. Kenn gives us some parameters to how to practice creativity.

Kenn writes

The Story Spine is not the story, it’s the spine. It’s nothing but the bare-boned structure upon which the story is built. And, that’s what makes it such a powerful tool. It allows you, as a writer, to look at your story at its structural core and to ensure that the basic building blocks are all in the right place.

Kenn Adams – 2013 https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/06/05/back-to-the-story-spine/

His method of 3 main areas

-Spine
-Structure
-Function

All are used to serve each other and craft ideas. They are used to try and come up with story ideas in order to ultimately make an entire story. I think the idea is brilliant and as I shared earlier, I believe it gives us tools to make a great story.

March 10, 2023. The Boston Bruins sat with 49 wins and could have become the fastest team in NHL history to get 50 wins. Connor McDavid was looking to expand on a historic season of his own, trying to get 4 points to have the most points in a season since 1998. It’s only March 10. I was able to live tweet the game, and it didn’t disappoint.

• Twitter

I’ll be live tweeting tonight’s #oilers and #bruins game! The bruins look to clinch a playoff spot after just 63 games. Connor McDavid needs 4 points to become the player with the most points in a season since 1998. This will be a great game! #EXSM3989

— Rob (@Robaire89) March 10, 2023

The Oilers only play in Boston once during the regular season so it’s normally a special night but there were treated to many storylines

– Connor McDavid is just 4 points away from scoring the most points in a season since 1998. It’s only March 10.

– The Boston Bruins were looking to become the fastest team in NHL history to 50 wins

– The Boston Bruins only needed one more win to clinch a playoff spot.

-The Boston Bruins were on a 10 game winning streak.

These are massive story lines for March 10. These teams truly had special story lines heading into this game.

The Bruins jumped out to a 2 goal lead in the first period but it didn’t come without drama. You’ll have to click the Twitter links to find out what happened and how media helped the Oilers in this game!

The 2nd period is about the start. Here is a wrap up of the 1st! #oilers are definitely playing physical but find themselves down 2-0 #exsm3989 pic.twitter.com/RWlZG9Kh3W

— Rob (@Robaire89) March 10, 2023

The second period was when the Oilers were able to score 1 goal and come close to tying the game. Stuart Skinner rebounded with a solid period after letting in 2 in the first.

The #oilers have done it! They have stopped the leagues best teams 10 game winning streak! They win 3-2! Thank you so much for following along with my live tweets tonight! #exsm3989 pic.twitter.com/WWOIQ4OmAr

— Rob (@Robaire89) March 10, 2023

Although the Bruins were held to 49 wins(so far) and they didn’t clinch a playoff birth it was still a great game. Connor McDavid was held off the score sheet but Evan Bouchard, Ryan McLeod, and Darnell Nurse all scored for the Oilers.

It was a highly anticipated game and it didn’t disappoint. The Oilers came away with a 3-2 win, ended the Bruins 10 game winning streak, and end their road trip in Toronto on March 11.

Thanks for checking out this blog and be sure to check out any of the links above to read the live tweets from the game and to see what happened in the second period that saw the use of media to help the Oilers.

‘I believe in believe.’
-Ted Lasso

The kind, lovable man that left America where he coached football, goes to England to coach soccer.

Ted Lasso (Season 1 – Apple TV) is the story of a man named Ted. It starts with an English Premier league team called AFC Richmond that is in the middle of an ownership change. Rebecca who is the former wife of the owner, finds herself as the new owner and operator for the club after her divorce. She is hurt and she wants to burn the club to the ground. Rebecca she fires the coach and brings in Ted.

From the start of the story Ted finds himself in deep conflict. He takes a job on the other side of the world, and it is NOT received well from the fans, media, or team. His opening press conference goes very poorly, nobody likes, or believes in him, and the owner thinks he will help her tank the team.

The story starts to take shape when we get to know Ted and the way he does things. He conducts himself in a very disarming and kind way. He builds relationships with Rebecca, the team, and fans. It still isn’t easy as they don’t treat him with the same kindness.

This is where the emotion of the story starts to show itself. You feel for Ted as he is very misunderstood at the start. You see his intentions and you see how it’s met with people who have hard hearts towards him. 

But as the story unfolds and the team starts to soften to his methods you start to see a change. He asks everyone to submit anonymously any problems they have with the team. Only a few serious notes are received but he corrects them and some take notice.

This shift starts to shape the middle of the story as it’s the turning point. People start to begin to understand Ted. Rebecca set up a journalist, named Trent Crimm, that was fully against him taking the job to shadow him for the day, and Ted wins him over. Rebecca thought he would write a story about how terrible of a coach he was but instead shaped it that he was a thoughtful man, although in over his head, but is full of good and refreshing qualities.

The most memorable scene is when Ted and Rebecca are confronted in a pub with Rebeccas ex, Rupert. Rebecca is noticeably uncomfortable and Rupert challenges Ted to a game of Darts . He Ted wins, he has to stay away from the team. If Rupert wins then he gets to come to games and make coaching decisions. Ted wins and it absolutely created a shift in Rebecca, causing a weight to come off her and relief to flood into the room.

As the team starts to win and the culture changed, you see what Ted has been able to accomplish. The story is memorable because he overcomes his conflict. His resolution is in what he was able to accomplish. He changed the team and the people. He has a yellow sign that says Believe and he often says he ‘Believes in Believe’ because he believes there can be change and success.

There is a season 2 and 3 but for this blog I decided to stick to the story of the first season as it stands alone and can be expanded on.

No matter what was thrown at Ted he was able to overcome it and come out the other side. The characters are extremely well written and relatable, the atmosphere in London is amazing, and the parts of a beginning, middle, end, conflict, resolution are all very solid. It’s funny, sad, fun, and meaningful.