Tonight I caught a short clip on CNN about how the government bureaucrats are trying to kill this poor woman's four month old baby. Intrigued, I listened in. Have yourself a quick viewing of the clip on the CNN website. Did you watch the clip? I believe it's pretty obvious that the government is not trying to kill the baby. Though, I should be clear in stating that their actions may result in a higher risk of death for the baby, ... Read More »
Ultra mobile: capable of living, socializing and working at nearly any short-term location without planning. The lifestyle is not for everyone, or even most people. The people who truly subscribe to an ultra mobile lifestyle though, are never bored. Whether it's deciding where to eat, where to sleep, where to hold a meeting, where to travel to or where to do laundry, every decision is an adventure. For the most part, I have my regular routine. For me, it's stable and ... Read More »
Every single United States citizen has the inalienable right to freedom of assembly. That will never change. However, there are still rules with that freedom in order to make it possible. One of those rules is that when you begin to threaten the police with your now non-peaceful assembly, your precious freedom goes out the window. UC Davis Pepper Spray - What Really Happened It's amazing how the 15 minutes before the "Pepper Spray Incident" can really change the view of why ... Read More »
I don't know a single person who hasn't been had a relative or friend somehow involved in war. Regardless of where you or I stand on the nature of war, I would like to think that we can all agree on the fact that our soldiers are making a significant sacrifice every time they put themselves in harms way for our freedom. In July of next year a few friends and I will be participating in a Tough Mudder event in southern California. ... Read More »
Thanksgiving is basically about three things: 1. eating until you pass out, 2. remembering how much cooler it was to sit at the kid's table and 3. giving thanks to those people who have enriched your life. I'm definitely going to eat until I pass out and I don't care how much wine is served at the adult table, eating at the kid's table will always be a favorite past-time. Yes, I still stick the black olives on my fingers ... Read More »
At least in the United States, we live to sign contracts. From our mobile phones to our mortgages to car and school payments, we are a society built on promises. Throughout my life I have never missed a payment of anything, ever. It's just not cool to break promises. I have, however, never once in my life finished out the terms of a single lease. For the most part, not finishing a lease has cost me. How much is debatable given ... Read More »
On Saturday March 31st, the first annual LA Beerathon was scheduled to take place in downtown Los Angeles. For those of you not already chomping at the bit to participate, it was basically a giant beer festival spanning 26 different local bars. You paid a flat ticket price and earned yourself 26 beers. Not a bad deal. Then the California government decided to stick its ugly head into the matter. According to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, because the ticket to the event was used as admission, they claim the beer being supplied is free. In reality, the money from the ticket admissions goes back to the bars to pay for the beer, but the Alcoholic Beverage Control refuses to see recognize that fact. Given that giving away free beer in California is illegal (not to mention how ridiculous that law is), the event has ... Read More »
Some good friends of mine recently attended CPAC and brought back with them some wonderful experiences. I know, all you lefties are grumbling at the moment about another political article. Take a deep breath. While this circles around politics, it's not the usual one side bashing the other or the ongoing rants about any specific politician. Grab a sandwich and cup of coffee and sit your butt down for 27 minutes to watch this video. I promise you, it's worth it, no matter which side of the political fence you fall on. You watched the entire thing, right? While it's true that Mr. Hannan is a conservative, keep in mind that their most conservative party is more liberal than our most liberal party. I'm not going to try and regurgitate his message. Mr. Hannan makes his entire point more effectively in 27 minutes than ... Read More »
It's day seven and I rolled into the BrandCulture office today to catch up with my favorite branding group. About an hour ago, Tasch asked me what this beer challenge was all about. Having been asked the same question many times before, I simply explained that I have switched the entire liquid portion of my diet to beer. No water, no soda, no vodka or whisky; just beer. KP looked up at me and rattled off a dozen potential side-effects of being dehydrated, all of which I was able to easily dismiss. Then she said kidney stones. I have never had a kidney stone and I would very much like to never be in a position to experience that little gem of a condition. Some kidney stones are jagged and can even get as large as a golf ball. Just think ... Read More »
It's day five of the beer challenge and I'm still going strong. It is worth admitting, people at the office do give me judgmental looks when I pull a cold bottle of beer out of the community refrigerator at 8:00 in the morning. To make myself feel better I just assume that they're jealous. To be candid, I'm really surprised that I'm not as dehydrated as I expected to be. Only one morning did I actually wake up with a headache and two aspirin (along with a beer) managed to take care of that. I have found that if I speed up my drinking, I actually feel better. When I started this project, five days ago, I was nursing the beers with the idea that it wouldn't have as much of an effect and I would end up retaining more of the water content. What I found ... Read More »
I'm from Milwaukee, which was for a number of years, the number one beer producing city in the world. While three of the four major breweries have since moved from Milwaukee (along with me), beer is still a product that brings me back down to earth. The first sip of a cold beer is synonymous with enjoying warm chicken noodle soup after you have come in from a day in the snow. It's pure bliss. Growing up, I actually hated the taste of beer. When Grandpa would babysit, my brothers and I knew that whichever of us was fast enough to fetch a fresh beer from the refrigerator would have the privilege of drinking the neck of the bottle and pretend like it was nothing happened. I'm convinced he knew about the beer, but he also knew it wasn't going to kill us and kept us all ... Read More »
The annual State of the Union address is scheduled for tonight. The White House has added an interesting forum to YouTube where users are able to post questions for President Obama to answer in a post State of the Union speech. Other YouTube users are able to vote on the questions and ideally promote the best questions to the top. Well that's the idea anyway. Have you read through some of those questions? Notice how half of them aren't even questions? How about the other 45% of entries that consist of (generally) U.S. Citizens holding out their hand asking for help with something or another in their lives. Whether it happens to be a job, asking President Obama to help the people or Iraq rebuild or requesting that he stonewall the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, these people are insane. I've gathered some ... Read More »
When I climb mountains, it's nice to have a reward for reaching the summit. I can't think of a better way to reward myself for such a task as to pop open an ice cold beer. It goes great with the view. Fortunately, most mountains worth climbing have snow at the top, so it makes a convenient place to keep beer cold. Around seven months ago, I headed to the Rocky Mountains to spend a few days climbing 14er's for my birthday. On that trip, I stashed a few beers into my pack that I didn't have the chance to consume. Wrapped in wool socks to avoid breakage, they were mailed along with my gear back to Milwaukee. Completely forgotten, my pack sat in Milwaukee until I drove it back down to Los Angeles where it was kept in my car. ... Read More »