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Archive for October, 2008

Here are excerpts from a real American businessman’s letter to Obama. He is Corey Miller, a 54 year old high school graduate who started a water well drilling company when he was 29. There are millions of other entrepreneurs out there who can identify with Corey; two of them are in my family.

Entrepreneurship is the heartbeat of our economy. Liberal, conservative, or whatever - Obama’s policies amount to just plain bad economics.

You see, Mr. Obama, I’m the guy you intend to raise taxes on. I’m the guy who has spent 25 years toiling and sweating, fretting and fighting, stressing and risking, to build a business and get ahead. I’m the guy who has been on the very edge of bankruptcy more than a dozen times over the last 25 years, and all the while creating more and more jobs for East Texans who didn’t want to take a risk, and would not demand from themselves what I have demanded from myself. I’m the guy you characterize as “the Americans who can afford it the most” that you believe should be taxed more to provide income redistribution “to spread the wealth” to those who have never toiled, sweated, fretted, fought, stressed, or risked anything.
(more…)

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I’ve never been one to really go “all out” on Halloween and, most of the time, I end up just dressing up as a witch, if anything. Despite my less than overwhelming enthusiasm for Halloween, I’ve got to hand it to the creative folks that came up with these wacky costumes:

LEGO people. Simple, yet brilliant.

A MySpace page costume. A sign of the times

This Toy Soldier costume must have taken a lot of effort. I found this photo on Flickr and in the description, it said that the guy would approach a house, ring the doorbell, and before anyone answered, he would throw down the wooden base and assume his position on the sidewalk. Sweet.

Tetris blocks. Retro.

If Tetris blocks aren’t 80′s enough for you, how about this Transformers costume.

Forget about those cutesie costumes for dogs, this one is incredible!

This one is just cruel! Poor kid.

Happy Halloween!

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“As I have traveled across the country, I have been astounded just how many of our fellow citizens feel strongly about their constitutional rights but have no idea what they are, or for that matter, what the Constitution says. I am not suggesting that they become Constitutional scholars — whatever that means. I am suggesting, however, that if one feels strongly about his or her rights, it does make sense to know generally what the Constitution says about them. It is at least as easy to understand as a cell phone contract — and vastly more important.”

From Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s lecture to the Manhattan Institute last Thursday.

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We all deal with a little B.S. every once and a while – at work, from friends and family, and even from everyday “Joe the Plumber’s” that we run into at the store or on the subway. Well, the next time someone tries to push you around, take advantage of you, or stands in your way, think of the Little Pig That Could. This little fellah possesses a number of valuable qualities – persistence, determination and a special “can do” attitude. An inspiring tale…

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They’re 3-2, playing very inconsistent football, and Buffalo seems to be a factor in the division. But after five games it’s time to get off the fence and make your prediction.

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I frequently attend industry conferences for work and there are always two consistent elements at any conference: A) schwag (i.e. free stuff handed out by the exhibitors and sponsors) and B) schwag hags (i.e. people – some slightly resembling trolls such as the fluorescent haired creatures to the right – that roam the show floor with bags full of free crap). I am usually on the “giving” end of things, handing out free t-shirts and such for my clients, and avoid gathering lots of schwag. Its a hassle to squeeze all of those extras into your carry-on luggage and most of it is just junk anyways.

This past weekend, however, I spent my Saturday at the BlogHer Boston Conference and I took full advantage of the giveaways. 360PR was an exhibitor as well as LeapFrog, Playtex, Hooked on Phonics and others (an appropriate mix of exhibitors, given that it was an event for women bloggers).

There were only about a dozen exhibitors, which is nothing compared to behemoth conferences like the Consumer Electronics Show and Comic-Con. I didn’t hit up every table, but I couldn’t have fit anything else in my back-pack even if I tried. And, after all, its the quality of the schwag that counts, not the quantity.

In the end, I walked away with a handful of goodies for my young niece and a pair of Yahoo Shine slippers for myself – a happy camper, I am.

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The Club for Growth notes that over the last six months, Budweiser’s stock is up nearly 30% while the S&P 500 has dropped by about 30%. Hmmm…maybe there is a way out of this mess (click to see the way out): 

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Parents are outraged by this freaky looking doll that utters pro-Islam and satanic messages. People insist they can hear Fisher-Price’s “Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo” saying “Islam is the light” and “Satan is king.”

…don’t try pulling out the batteries….you’ll just makes it angrier

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In addition to our experience at the ACL festival last week, we also had lots of time to just enjoy the city of Austin while in Texas. We did A LOT of walking in the city, visited the State Capitol grounds and the Texas State History Museum, ate some great food, and window-shopped (for the most part – I did splurge on some sweet cowboy boots, though. Seriously…they’re bad ass.)

For one of the non-festival days we rented a car…well, it was actually a pick-up truck (we wanted to fit in)…and it was probably my favorite day of the whole trip. We took a long drive out to the Texas countryside. Honestly, it was so awesome to see wide open space for the first time in a few years. Just dirt and grass, trees, maybe a couple cacti and a bale of hay here and there. There were acres and acres of ranches covering miles of Texas Hill Country, each of which were marked on the main road by a gate. Some of them were simple and others elaborate – perhaps a sign of status and a good indicator of how many cows, chickens and things could be found behind them.

Our first stop outside Austin was the small city of Fredericksburg. I could have spent days in this town with all of the unique shops and restaurants. They had some of the coolest furniture! We may not have purchased a couch or a kitchen table, but we did pick up a Christmas ornament – a wagon wheel with Christmas lights wrapped around the spokes. At the time of purchase, I didn’t notice that it was actually Made in China. How authentic.

So, after grabbing lunch at the local brewery, we headed out to the Enchanted Rock National Park. The park has tons of trails, but we focused on taking a quick trip up to the top of the HUGE chunk of granite rock. There were some awesome views. We didn’t stay too long because, as we were applying sunscreen in the parking lot, the song “Luckenbach Texas” by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson came on the radio. Luckenbach, made famous by Willie and Waylon’s song, was the next and final stop on our trip outside of Austin. We took the song playing on the radio as a sign – there were great things waiting for us in Luckenbach. We hurried through the hike, hopped in the car and were on our way.

Visiting this tiny Texas town was an experience we’ll never forget. With a downtown that consists of a post office from the 1800′s (now converted into a gift shop and a small bar), a bathroom shack, dance hall, outdoor stage and a storage building, I think there were a higher population of chickens and roosters in this town than actual people.

Both the people and the chickens were great company.

Initially, we planned on being there for an hour or so, but ended up staying for 3 or 4, sitting around a wooden wheel chatting with some locals and Lukenbach bar regulars, listening to some guitar strumming, and, of course, to throw back a few beers.

It was pretty much pitch black once we got back on the road and, surprisingly, we found our way back to Austin after an hour and a half of driving through unlit roads in the middle of Texas. Good times. Good times.

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It can be difficult to come up with a steady stream of blog post topics, but there is nothing like a week of great experiences (and a week off from work and blogging) to renew your creativity and inspire a number of new ideas. I could probably come up with about a dozen posts or more just based on trip to Texas – we spent three days taking in the sights and sounds at the Austin City Limits music festival and another three days exploring Austin and the Texas Hill Country - but I think 2 or 3 posts might do the trick :-)

The festival was great – it reminded me of our last “festival” experience (Woodstock ’99) except much much better. The ACL festival was extremely well organized. They had free water and, most of the time, there was no line at all at the water stations. They also set up mister stations to keep you cool in the 90+ degree weather. There were plenty of porta-potties too, which were usually stocked with toilet paper (a wonderful thing for the ladies). Not to mention, the music was awesome – a few highlights for us were Joe Bonamassa, Beck, David Byrne, Shooter Jennings, and Jamie Lidell, among others.

  

The only negative was the dust – after thousands and thousands of people trampled over the already dry grass in Zilker Park, by the last day, we had to walk around with bandannas and medical masks over our faces so as not to breathe in all of the dirt flying around. It was pretty gross.

Many of the experienced ACL-goers (the festival has been held for the past 7 years) brought tall sticks with a little bit of everything hanging off the top to mark their territory and make it easy for friends to spot them in a crowd. We saw Texas and American flags, witch hats on the end of sticks, Spongebob balloons, bungee jumping baby dolls, t-shirt flags, and a number of other crazy markers. I often found myself with an eye to the sky to check out these cool creations.

Besides the music, the ACL attendees alone were a source of entertainment. I’ve always been a fan of people-watching and this festival attracted a mix of characters. There were parents with kids, young teenagers, old hippies, and rocker-dudes covered from head to toe (seriously, there were tons of people in jeans and long sleeve shirts, which baffled me given that I was sweating my butt off in shorts and a tank top). There were lots and lots of cowboy hats and I caught myself thinking to myself multiple times that Dan and I might just be the only ones without tattoos!

One night as we were leaving the park, we even saw a couple of old guys with a mega-phone preaching to the exiting crowds about our need to be “saved.” Just as these god-loving fellahs were about to hoist up a big sign, one determined young lady battled the old men in protest. The crowds gathered to cheer her on as she wrestled the sign to the ground. It was crazy.

In addition to the music, people, flags, and dust, there were, I’m guessing, over 20 food stands from local businesses (including Stubb’s BBQ). None of the food was that great – I didn’t have high expectations given that the food was sitting outside on a hot day and not cooked-to-order – but it did the job. Then, of course, there was beer and plenty of Texas Tea. But, after the first day, water became my beverage of choice. It was a key to our survival – and survive we did!

Stay tuned…I also plan to post about our adventures outside of Austin!

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