Monthly Archives: June 2019

06/30/19

Dreams

As a kid, I never had ambitious dreams. I did what was offered to me by life, which turned out to be a lot, but I never really had ambitious dreams. I wish I’d been more ambitious.

People tell me I was and am ambitious, but I know I wasn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, I challenged myself and did a lot of hard things as a kid that enabled me to do harder things as a young man and as an adult until I got used to doing hard things as if they weren’t hard, but still I never had ambitious dreams.

I want you to dream better than I ever did.

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06/28/19

Beyond Meat — Show Me The Meat!

OK, maybe the title today should have been “Where’s the beef?” but you get it. What you will not be getting is any real beef.

Image result for beyond meat logo

A logo is fine — actually I think this logo is lame as Hell — but here’s the faux beef you really want to see.

Beyond Burger™

Please note the lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickles — vegetables on vegetables. Think about that.

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06/27/19

Judgment And Going To War

While I recognize that you are engaged in evaluating the debates and probably don’t have time for anything else, I want to slip in a few comments about judgment.

What brings this to the fore in my V8 is the matter of President Trump deciding not to strike Iran in retaliation for having downed a US Air Force drone.

Image result for images global hawk

Here is a picture of the drone, a RQ-4A Global Hawk that is flown by three remote pilots, has the wingspan of a 737, flies at 500 MPH, carries ooooodles of tech gear to listen to and look at our enemies, and typically operates at 65,000 feet altitude.

[Big question — WTF was the Global Hawk doing operating at 22,000 feet over the Straits of Hormuz? That is within the capabilities of Iranian SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) to reach while if they had been at 65,000 feet, the Iranians could not have reached that altitude. Why?] Continue reading →

06/27/19

Shopify — The Revolutionary

Image result for shopify logo

Huge fan of Shopify for a number of reasons:

 1. Shopify is a plug-and-play solution to getting you into the eCommerce business. Sign on with Shopify and you are in business as quickly as you can take pictures of your merchandise and put a price on it. Effortless. Streamlined.

 2. As a software product, Shopify fulfills the promise of the Internet as a means of creating “digital real estate” whereon a tech savvy digital business woman (see what your “woke” Big Red Car did there?) can reach the entire world without having to undertake a huge tech effort to get her store open.

This is a huge victory, a fulfillment of an enormous promise.

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06/26/19

Austin — the best place to live in the galaxy

It comes as no surprise to Austinites that US News & World Report has picked Austin By God Texas as the “best place in the galaxy to live” for the third year in a row.

Don’t take my word for it. Here it is.

US News & World Report — best cities report 

USNWR graded cities based on coolness, the handsomeness and beauty of its citizens, their wisdom and charm and just all around goodness. Austin won. Again. And again.

Meanwhile Austin is seeing low unemployment of the 2.2% variety. Jobs are plentiful, but the work force is stretched tight which means wages are headed upward.

Still, when you get down to it, Austin is just a typical college town with a level of live music and hipness that boggles the mind. Plus, we have Whole Foods.

Did I mention 66F Barton Springs? Yes, we have good swimming next to downtown. Cold water. Refreshing like a Big Gulp.

Image result for images barton springs austin

So, if you live in Chicago or New York or California — I’m leaving a welcome packet for you at the airport. Come on down.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car. 2.2% unemployment and Barton Springs — this is you, babe. Trust me.

06/26/19

Leadership And Leadership Training

Gloomy day in the ATX, but then I am in the ATX, so how gloomy can it really be?

So I have been reading a book — 40 pages in, an easy read — by Jerry Collonna called: Reboot – Leadership and the Art of Growing Up.

Jerry is one of those Internet presences one meets and grows fond of. There is wisdom in his writing and there is a good heart in his chest. He comes to the issue of leadership primarily from the perspective of CEO coaching and has a huge following.

He is an emotional, Zen, Buddhist type of guy who will cry at the drop of a hat. I don’t see him doing much hunting or skydiving, but he is a mensch.

I recommend the book as a body of work that one should read, but I am not a fan of the emotional style and desperate nature of how he tells his story.

It is HIS story. It is not my story. It is a good story and it should be in the institutional memory of anybody who is serious about the leadership gig.

Go read the book, but when you do, I want you to know a few other things at the same time.

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06/24/19

Blue Apron v Red Apron

The meal kit business has been frothy and nobody has had a tougher time swimming through the froth than Blue Apron.

Image result for blue apron logo

Blue Apron came public — raising $300MM — during the same week that Amazon announced the acquisition of Whole Foods. Bad timing, bad luck. That, however, was only the beginning.

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