H-Town Run Tourist

Bored from being home alone? Start your own podcast or blog today

Bored from being home alone? Start your own podcast or blog today
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Jovan Abernathy is an international marathoner and owner of Houston Tourism Gym. Check out her new blog, HTown Run Tourist. Follow her on Twitter @jovanabernathy. Instagram @HTownRunTourist. Facebook @jovanabernathy

There will be a comeback for blogs and podcasts through the pandemic. Because we have to practice social distancing, many of us are bored, very bored and we miss each other. We miss human connection and we miss the variety of being with different people. One way to overcome this challenge and the challenge of going out of your mind is to start your own podcast or blog. Before you object, I'm going to give you my reasons why its a great idea.

You get to share your passion with others.

Once you know what that passion is, you will never run out of things to say. In fact, you can't talk about it. Also, you will find out that many people feel the same way that you do.

While you are sharing your passion, you get to connect with yourself.

When you have to share your thoughts, you have to present them like a tasty meal. Before you do that, you have to know exactly what you know on the topic and how you feel. It is a confidence booster. Because you have time to prepare, you really come off looking like the expert that you are.

You will have fun brainstorming, networking, and creating.

This is an understatement. I personally feel that humans are meant to be creative. When a person is in the state of learning and creation, they are usually at their best and most beautiful. When you have been through this process, you have an appreciation for creativity everywhere and are least likely to be critical of others.

Analyzing your analytics is addictive.

It is so exhilarating to see your page views jump from 0 to 100 to 200 to 1000 to 10,000 and more. It shows you what topics really matter and what people really care about. I also love seeing how well my campaigns are working.

Those are only a few reasons to start your blog or podcast. But, how do you get started? It is much easier than you think. Because we live in 2020, we have so many resources to create a quality blog or podcast that looks professional.

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Squarespace

In the past, if you wanted to create a blog or website, you would have to get a web hosting account and create your website on Wordpress, and write your own code. That was back then. Now, we have Squarespace.

You can create an amazing website for selling products, for membership websites, or showcasing your talents. Squarespace makes it super simple. It is as easy as cutting and pasting. You can add music and video. You can also choose stock photos directly from the Squarespace website. These websites are so simple to set up, you can also take payment on your website. Because of COVID19, you now have all the time in the world to set up your website. I created both of my websites on Squarespace. I did Houston Tourism Gym during Hurricane Harvey and H-Town Run Tourist during COVID19.

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Anchor

Podcasting sounds like it would be really difficult and really expensive. That is until Anchor came along. Because, I do not have a podcast, I asked my friend, Taylor Schepps, who recently started a podcast called Tizz Talk. Think, business and current events in a panel discussion for potheads who day trade. Taylor produces hour long episodes from his living room. He does solo shows where it is just him talking to his audience or he invites his friends to talk about current events. The cool thing about podcasts is that your voice connects you with your audience on a deeper level. You can add video of your shows so they can tell what you look like as well.

Anchor makes all of this easy and cost effective. When you create your podcast on Anchor, you can put it on the different platforms like iTunes or spotify with a click of a button. They will also help you find sponsors to monetize your podcast.

So, if you are bored, write down some things that you are interested in and start creating. We can't wait to see your work.

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Stefon Diggs faces his former team on Sunday. Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images.

Josh Allen has never said a bad word about Stefon Diggs. As the Buffalo Bills prepare to face their former star receiver in a visit to Houston on Sunday, he insists the two went their separate ways on good terms.

And the quarterback wasn’t changing his stance a week ago, not wanting to ruffle any feathers when asked about the early season success the Bills have enjoyed with their spread-the-ball motto on offense.

He later explained that he spoke out after reading comments on social media in which people were attempting to twist the “everybody eats” motto into something being directed at Diggs.

Allen understands why Buffalo facing Diggs for the first time since a blockbuster trade sent him to Houston this offseason is a big deal. He raved about his former teammate.

“I’ve got a lot of love for him. I still do,” Allen said. “The things that he did for me in my career, and the things that he did in a Buffalo Bill uniform won’t be forgotten anytime soon, especially from me … (but) going into Year 7, I understand the business, and the aspect of what this league is, and again, I’m just trying to focus on what we got going on in this building.”

Diggs, a four-time Pro Bowler, is second on the Texans with 25 receptions for 233 yards. He has two receiving touchdowns and had the first rushing score of his career last week against the Jaguars. He spent the last four seasons in Buffalo, where he had more than 1,100 yards receiving each year, highlighted by an NFL-leading and career-high 1,535 yards in 2020.

He didn’t address Allen directly this week when talking about his time in Buffalo. Diggs did say his tenure with the Bills was “amazing” but that he’s solely focused on his future now and not interested in rehashing the past.

“A lot of other people are going to feel a way or have a lot to say about X, Y, Z, and I’m not mad at it,” he said Wednesday. “Football is a very emotional sport. I go in there and wear my heart on my sleeve, and I won’t stop, but for me, I block out the noise.”

“Nobody is going to run the routes but me,” he continued. “Nobody is going to watch the tape but me. I try not to get back into the back and forth about the opinions or how people feel. I’ve got a job to do; I try to get it done.”

Diggs has helped the Texans to a 3-1 start and Allen hasn’t missed a beat without him. The Bills also are 3-1, though they’re looking to bounce back after a 35-10 loss to the Ravens last week.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans certainly knew how talented Diggs was when he arrived in Houston but said he has been pleasantly surprised to see his passion for the game.

“He loves football … you see it in the way he practices, the way he plays the game,” Ryans said. “He loves ball, he plays with effort and that is all you want.”

The blame game

Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady was still kicking himself for calling a trick play that backfired, squelching any chance of a Buffalo rally in the loss to Baltimore.

After opening the second half with a TD to cut the deficit to 21-10, the Bills faced second-and-7 at the Baltimore 44, when receiver Curtis Samuel took a direct snap and pitched the ball to Allen. The Ravens weren’t fooled and forced a fumble, which led to a TD six plays later.

“I probably can’t say it on Zoom,” Brady said when asked to sum up the call in one word. “There’s no excuses. I can give the justification of why it was on the call sheet, but at the end of the day, the timing was not what it should’ve been and it was costly.”

Nico’s start

While much of the focus this week has been on Diggs facing his former team, the star of Houston’s offense so far this season has been another receiver. Nico Collins had a career-high 12 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown against the Jaguars for his third 100-yard game this season. He leads the NFL with 489 yards receiving and is the first player in franchise history with more than 450 yards receiving though the first four games.

“He’s a strong, physical, fast, and big receiver,” Ryans said. “That’s an easy target for C.J. (Stroud) and Nico has showed up every time that we needed him.”

Feeding Samuel

In the Bills’ “everybody eats” motto on offense, Samuel has had difficulty finding a regular place at the table. The eighth-year player who enjoyed his best season in Carolina under Brady as the Panthers coordinator in 2020 has been limited to eight catches for 48 yards. More curious is Samuel has been on the field for only 68 of a total of 230 offensive snaps.

“We’d love to get him going and whether or not Khalil is in or out this week,” Allen said, referring to receiver Khalil Shakir, who is nursing a right ankle injury. “So we’re going to be calling on his number, and he is going to have to step up, make some plays, which we’ve got no doubt in his ability.”

Update: Shakir has been ruled out (ankle) for Sunday's game.

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