The coolest thing in the world is waking up to my dog barking at the world outside my bedroom door at 6:20 AM - and discovering that her reason is one of my adult kids, unexpectedly arriving from St. Paul, Minnesota, to spend Thanksgiving with us.
It's great to see Nick' [...]
I'm here at the Making of America seminar with somewhere over 100 other folks. It's a day-long Constitutional history class. Pretty cool. (The picture is of people coming in to take their seat.)
To my left as I sit here is Casey Head and to my right is Iowa's' [...]
A little over a year ago, I left Wells Fargo. It was a no-brainer decision - despite a lot of initiatives and ideas that I proposed, Wells wouldn't move forward on any of it. So I could have remained as an expert thumb-twiddler, or I could have moved on. I' [...]
This artwork was hanging in a friend's office, so I took a picture of it. No clue who the artist is... but it's right on.
[...]While visiting many stores and gas stations on our excursion to the south, I was reminded of something I noticed while I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. Inconsistently - depending on the person - a southern accent can render a single-syllable word multi-syllabic.
My name, for example, can go from a [...]
I own a 2000 Dodge Caravan. I've had vans my whole life. My first vehicle was a 1970 VW Minibus.
The picture above is one of our dog, Mojo, resting on his big pillow in the void of the backseat. I removed two of the seats before our trip and' [...]
Over 15 years ago, I realized that the hardest thing in life is to see things as they really are. How we see ourselves, our work, our family, our life... seeing those truly - as they really are - is incredibly difficult to do without bias and wishful thinking.
One of [...]
One of my strategy/innovation heroes, Tom Wujec, gives a talk on how we get meaning from the world we sense around us.
"We make meaning by seeing... by an act of visual interrogation."
And then he gives three lessons for us to extrapolate from this.
What he says is deep, and it's' [...]
Casey does an excellent job at his blog, and his post on The Case Against Universal Health Care rocks. So I'm just gonna point to what he said and introduce you to his site, if you haven't been there before.
ETC: And to help his point along, the [...]
This is, like, the third time I've started this post. Tough subject, and something with which I'm really wrestling...
My whole family is abuzz about the soldiers killed at Ft. Hood, the murderer and the press' reaction to him, and the lack of government awareness of how close this guy was' [...]
I had the good fortune of being in Augusta, Georgia, when the Tea Party Express rolled through town. Here are some pictures I captured of these great Americans gathering and working to restore liberty to our country.
[...]Now that Nancy pushed her national healthcare plan through the House of Representatives yesterday, people need to understand: a vote for any Democrat to take seat in Congress is a vote for Nancy Pelosi driving forward with her socialist agenda.
So if you like the government being able to fine you [...]
Killing others in the name of any God or prophet or religion is wrong. It's a form of genocide, of ethnic cleansing. It's clear prejudice. It's not in self-defense. It's an open act of offense to purge the earth of people who suffer the great offense of believing differently than [...]
I like to remind people at times that the best way to help somebody might be to let them skin their knees.
Back during the summer, John McHugh - a little-known congressman from upstate New York - voted for the Democrat Cap and Trade bill. He was nominated and later [...]
Tamara and I woke up today and voted. It was a city council election. Only one candidate came to our house, a guy named Brian Rickert, who espouses lower property taxes.
I bought a book not too long ago - Get Out the Vote - and it listed all [...]
I read that Atlanta might elect a new mayor who describes herself as a "'purple' fiscal conservative."
I like that description. That describes me pretty well. I strongly support gay marriage, I am devoutly capitalist, I believe in individual freedom and limited government, and I'm definitely a fiscal conservative.
"Purple fiscal'" [...]
The latest Fannie Mae delinquency chart:
Each column is a year, and that last column is 2009.
Notice how stable it was for years. Mid-2007, it started to move upward in a serious way as all of those homes went under water for the super-risky products being offered.
When I worked [...]
A couple of years ago (or so), I became a lender on Prosper.com, and here's how my four loans I helped to fund are performing.
Two are paid in full, and the other two are current, as you can see.
The government, which shut it down to any participation outside [...]
Yesterday, Tamara and I had been married for 1,000 days. (And today is 1,001...)
If you follow this site, you know that I have this concept of the importance of each day - hence, the Days Alive calculator at the top-right corner of my site's home page. Interestingly, the Days Alive [...]
I am reminded yet again of a project axiom:"Projects are never completed; you only find a temporarily interesting place to pause."
- Tom WujecWise words.
I used to have the Twitter gizmo here on my home page. Not no more... too buggy and unreliable. It was showing up as a big black box more often than it was appearing normally, and in IE, it was prompting my debugger. Yuck.
I normally use Opera as my browser, [...]
One of the joys of being married to Tamara is knowing her children: Tyler, Tate, and Tess.
On November 6th, a play - The Farnsworth Invention - opens up at the local Des Moines Playhouse. In the picture below, on the right, is Tyler.
Tyler has always been involved in [...]
Liberal super genius tax policy at work:More than 1.5 million state residents left for other parts of the United States from 2000 to 2008, according to the report from the Empire Center for New York State Policy. It was the biggest out-of-state migration in the country.
The vast majority [...]
Brilliant:The second decade of this century will be an existential war for the American soul.
The political battlefront has shifted into the fatal terrain of essential liberties and economic freedom. This is the time for courage, conviction, and bold action... not whining about "big tents." A Republican party that embraces [...]
247Toolset is three people: Larry, Kay, and me. We have three salespeople, but Larry and I still do demos ourselves. We went on the road today, and had a great conversation with some really smart people.
I love those conversations.
...oh, and we'll know in a couple of weeks whether they'll purchase [...]
Obama tells fellow liberals "y'all [are] thinkin' for yourselves."
So, as a visual counterpoint to the Super Genius' assertion, I offer two pictures:
I ask you: which group looks like they're thinking for themselves? You know - independently of others?
[...]Why does anyone buy something? The perception of value. But let's break that down a bit further into four reasons:It appeals to my sense of style. I buy it because the experience or the fashion speak to me. Example: an iPod. Motivator: I like / love it.It will help me [...]
Only recently, the term "outsourcing" became hip. It got coined in the 80's, but finally elevated into the national consciousness in the last decade.
Outsourcing is when you subcontract a service to someone you deem to be better at it than you are. With that definition, the practice of outsourcing' [...]
Took a few hours last night to redesign the 247Toolset web site.
Sleep is not something I do a lot of these days.
[...]It's sad that Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm's butt-spanking that occurred on Fox News Sunday is reported on Drudge through... Rush Limbaugh's site. Not a newspaper, not a news magazine, but via a controversial right-wing talk show host's web site. God bless him for that. (As much as the left [...]
Just a couple of days ago, I wrote about John Maynard Keynes' premise that deficit spending equates to capitalist investment when determining national productivity.
This today comes in the Wall Street Journal:When the government spends more than its revenue, there is a budget deficit. These deficits are paid for' [...]
Five generations...
The baby in the photo is my mother, and the woman holding her is, of course, my grandmother. I come from a long line of hard-working Germans, who first came to this country in the 1800's.
I'll have more to post about this later, but hats off to their [...]
Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.Rather than recognizing concrete achievement, the 2009 prize appeared intended to support initiatives that have yet to bear fruit.That is the most retarded thing I have ever read. Two things come of this:The Nobel committee just completely negated any shred of legitimacy it [...]
In the next 12 hours, I'll give another presentation of 247. This demo is substantial in terms of its potential and it will be delivered to an audience familiar with the platform. I'll arrive at the demo with allies who know the audience very well. Two of their associates have [...]
The economics theory that drives some center-left thinking comes from John Maynard Keynes. His is called the "Keynesian Formula," which goes like this:C + I + G + X - M = Y(GDP)Decrypted, it translates as:Consumption + Investment + Government Spending + Exports - Imports = Gross Domestic ProductUnder his [...]
I sent what follows to my grassroots email distribution list earlier today:I just got off the phone with Sen. Chuck Grassley. We spoke for about 40 minutes.
If I can share one thing with you that was most evident to me in the phone call, it was this: he wants to [...]
There is only one area of life where you can wildly support a loser and be considered cool for it: sports. Being a sports fan gives you a pass to dress up and paint yourself and buy paraphernalia and get away with it - even if your team sucks eggs.
People [...]
I could talk about the killer Drudge headline, "The Ego Has Landed." But that says it all. 'Nuff said.
My van is on its last legs, unfortunately. Still runs fine, but it'll need to be replaced.
I browsed Ford's web site last night and talked to a guy at the dealership. Today, [...]
If you asked me my favorite part of being a dad, it's the opportunity to be so close to so many good people. With our eight kids, there's always drama of some sort. The great thing is that they all get along well and promote each other. In this big, [...]
As you know, I support Dave Funk for congress. He's running against Leonard Boswell, who pays more attention to Nancy Pelosi than to those of us here in Iowa.
What's it worth to fire Boswell?
Whether you live in Iowa or not, you can reduce Nancy Pelosi's influence, and here's how:
You can [...]
This is the map inside Nelsons, an ice cream store in Stillwater, Minnesota, with pins depicting "home" for its patrons. World travelers, they are. And the next picture is a 180° turn toward the sales counter.
[...]I mentioned the 247 demos that were done yesterday. Here's what took place:
Larry and I went to a corporate office, and gave the demo to three folks, one of which was the decision-maker. One of the people had seen the demo before, a couple of months ago.
30 minutes into the [...]
These videos of school kids singing/chanting songs in praise of Barack Obama... my god. We don't teach kids songs about other presidents or politicians. That's loony as hell. The teachers who endorsed this ought to be fired for extreme lack of judgment.
These videos are the best possible ads for homeschooling' [...]
Regarding the case of Roman Polanski, it's pretty clear: he was in his 40's and she was 13. He drugged her and liquored her up. I don't know of anyone who would defend such a cretin for this crime.
But of course, the Hollywood folks are coming to his aid,' [...]
247 is now out in the world, working its way through demos and discussions. No less than 4 people now have stepped forward in request to sell it on a pure commission basis. That has to say something about its viability in the market. (Or maybe it says something about [...]
Without question, the most beautiful person I know is my wife.
Inside and out, I adore her. She knows me, and she knew that with all of the work I'm putting in lately, I needed a break. So she planned a weekend getaway to parts north.
We stayed at a bed' [...]
What's the best lesson you can teach children?
In my opinion, it's whatever you can teach them that will help them achieve their goals in life. Since our goals that we pursue are accomplished by us and not handed to us, teaching children the value of a solid work ethic is [...]
It's a good thing I don't require a lot of sleep.
A few weeks back, at one of the Sunday brainstorming meetings, we were discussing a solution and while we were articulating the way in which it would work, I registered two domains. (Pictures from that meeting are on the web [...]
Back in early June, I said:"I'm convinced that [Obama] is using the office of the presidency to run for world leader."When sparring, everyone loves a weaker opponent.
ETC: Egotistical shocker of the day:For those who question the character and cause of my nation, I ask you to look' [...]
M. "Ruby" Schaeffer, a lib, stopped by the site recently and commented on a post. In the course of the comments, I mentioned the velocity of money, a concept where economy is measured by the speed with which transactions take place. This is actually the core concept of what has [...]
About to go to bed, but wanted to take a minute... I'm tired and what I'm about to say will be meaningful to those who know me personally. Sorry to be confusing to those of you who don't...
The purpose of 247Toolset is to help the seeker reveal more about those' [...]
Someone asked me recently why I lean in the political direction I do. The reason is that when I grew up, the following words were considered to be wonderful aspirations:freedomprofitindependencegrowthprosperstrengthwealthselfworksuccessI still aspire to these things, so my political leanings are just a natural expression of these aspirations.
Oh, and the word [...]
When Tamara was young, she did puzzles, and so now, maybe twice a year, we'll do a puzzle together. It's a refreshing break from all the other brain activity I do and it's time with her.
One of the things I noticed when working on this one with her was' [...]
Last week, on September 10th, I tweeted:"America feels different tonight. Might be me, but this is the week, I think, that the tide turned."This week:ObamaCare is more unpopular than ever.Cap-and-TradeTax, per Obama's own Treasury Department, will cost every family $1,761 annually.Even Jon Stewart is aghast that the [...]
I give you two some pictures. Judge for yourself the reliability of our nation's press corps.
The first picture is an aerial shot of Obama's inauguration, which had an estimated attendance of 1.5 million.
The second picture is an aerial shot of the 9/12 event, which had an estimated attendance of [...]
Today is 9/12, and will likely find most DC Democrats politicians hiding under their beds.
Here's why:
Not far from the White House...
These from a person there.
This from Libertas1776.
This from LadyImpactOhio.
And finally, from an attendee getting dressed to go out:
ETC: Brian' [...]
For years, I've noticed that Google doesn't create doodles for patriotic events in America, despite its tendency to celebrate just about any event under the sun.
Once again, on this anniversary of 9/11, Google pretends it didn't happen and says nothing. Others do pay tribute, such as Bing and Ask.
For' [...]
Eight years later, in spite of physical and cultural attacks from outside and inside, America remains America.
Eight years from now, it will remain America, because I believe mankind's innate craving for freedom will ultimately carry the day.
People, in America, have a right to conduct their business and their lives in [...]
Over the weekend, I've received a couple of forwards from people who know me tangentially through the tea party movement. In both instances, the content of the emails were preposterous at face value.
I wrote back to the people who included me on them and urged them to not be lazy.' [...]
Watching squirrels from my back deck, I notice that they show up whenever we refill the birdfeeder. They skitter across the yard, climb the tree, and then gingerly descend onto a low branch until they make a small leap to the wire cage of the feeder.
If there's food, they eat.
If [...]
What is it to be an entrepreneur?
Here's the recipe:Look for things that people don't want to do, or offer a way to do things more efficiently.Let people know that you're willing to do it at a price that attracts them to what you offer.It's not rocket science. Just takes a [...]
I don't like the label "conservative." I'm not a Republican. Those are easy labels.
This isn't Republican vs. Democrat.
This isn't conservative vs. liberal.
This is individual freedom vs. government control.
I'm rethinking my grassroots approach based on this line of thought.
I also believe that any political discussions I have going forward will ask' [...]
No brainstorming meeting this coming holiday weekend, few meetings on the calendar, and Tamara in California until late Thursday night. Full speed ahead on development...
We had a sales call earlier this week for 247. Recently, I'd made the decision to begin a re-write of the core of the technology, which' [...]
Eighteen people, fifty-two ideas, six categories, and one heart to restore liberty in America.
[...]A couple of days ago, Tamara and I went for a walk in our favorite cemetary. It has some significance for us because it was a few blocks from her house when we were dating, so we often took Dochas for a walk through it. Amidst lots of good conversation [...]
Among other things she is best at, I married the best cook in the world. Tamara grilled halibut with cajun seasoning and mango salsa tonight. She served it over a thin bed of grilled hatch peppers and grilled peaches.
Every man on the planet should be jealous of me. Hell, [...]
I've been saying for quite a while that Obama's policies will crush our children with the burden of its cost.
Investor's Business Daily makes this very point in its final paragraph:It won't be today's voters who will pay for this error. It will be their children and grandchildren.A local attorney' [...]
Recently, I took a screenshot of a Craigslist want ad that the left is using to entice people to join its pro-ObamaCare, "grassroots" movement.
You ought to check out Steven Crowder's shoe leather reporting on his job interview with the California leftist "grassroots."
Being self-employed, I get to work from home. My "office" is a make-shift construction every morning that sits in our family room off our kitchen. I take my artist's table, which is foldable (a gift from my very thoughtful wife), put it on top of the anti-static mat, bring out [...]
Coming soon to an economy near you, trouble:
Because Obama and crew don't understand how the economy works, delinquencies and foreclosures continue to rise. This, despite their best efforts.
Consider this:In the first seven months of this year, [Wells Fargo] completed 240,000 modifications for Wells Fargo and Wachovia' [...]
