VMI – The Musings of the Big Red Car

Virginia Military Institute — the BEST Mentoring System in the World

Big Red Car — Fri, 12 May 2023 12:17:58 +0000

Mentoring is/was a fashionable topic amongst the venture capital and startup Illuminati for years. I have written about it for a long time. A good mentor can make a mediocre founder into a winner. Full disclosure: I run a CEO coaching/mentoring business called The Wisdom of the Campfire and have for a dozen years. I […]

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Big Red Car Virginia Military Institute — the BEST Mentoring System in the World The Musings of the Big Red Car %%BLODDESCLINK%%

In The Company Of Good Men — VMI Class of 1973, 50th Reunion

Big Red Car — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 16:04:47 +0000

The test of every relationship is this: Does it inject energy into your existence; or, does it hijack, kidnap energy from your life? This is true of personal friendships, marriages, business alliances, employees, mutually owned vacation homes, hunting leases, co-oped airplanes, and all situations in which we flawed humans engage with others of the species. […]

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Big Red Car In The Company Of Good Men — VMI Class of 1973, 50th Reunion The Musings of the Big Red Car %%BLODDESCLINK%%

Oddities in the Southern Muse

Big Red Car — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 15:42:05 +0000

So, a chap and I are comparing notes on relative college experiences. He went to some placed called Harvard, supposedly a school of some note, but I cannot personally vouch for it. I tell him I went to Virginia Military Institute, a place founded on 11 November 1839 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia — […]

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RIP Colonel Donald K Jamison

Big Red Car — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 05:57:19 +0000

I was blessed to have a wonderful father who shaped me and made me into a young man, but he then sent me to Virginia Military Institute to finish off the job. I was lucky. I was studying civil engineering and my faculty advisor was Colonel Donald K Jamison. Colonel Jamison was a civil engineering […]

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Big Red Car RIP Colonel Donald K Jamison The Musings of the Big Red Car %%BLODDESCLINK%%

Where Are We From?

Big Red Car — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 00:07:53 +0000

So, a pal of mine asked me, “What has shaped your life? Where are you from?” We were drinking coffee, I swear. He was also a trade school grad (what one calls a fellow military school graduate). So, I said, “I won the lottery on parents — both of my parents were World War II […]

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Real Men

Big Red Car — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 17:41:04 +0000

I have been fortunate in life. I have enjoyed the tutelage of extraordinary teachers and had the example of great men starting with my father. Leonard C Minch, 97, Rest in Peace One of those men was the boxing coach at my alma mater, Virginia Military Institute. Every cadet took Rat (freshman) boxing. I hate […]

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Big Red Car Real Men The Musings of the Big Red Car %%BLODDESCLINK%%

The Curious Case of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam

Big Red Car — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 17:12:30 +0000

Hello, dear readers. It is a gray, warm (70F) day in the ATX. Today, I speak to you of the curious case of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. If you don’t know who Governor Ralph Northam is, then you may stop reading right now, go to Sbux and contemplate the prospect of Howard Schultz as our […]

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The Battle of New Market

Big Red Car — Tue, 15 May 2018 17:48:30 +0000

Big Red Car here on the anniversary of the Battle of New Market on 15 May 1864. It is a touchstone of the Virginia Military Institute whose cadets stormed Yankee artillery batteries with bayonets across a muddy field which came to be known as the Field of Lost Shoes. The cadets lost 10 KIA and […]

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Big Red Car The Battle of New Market The Musings of the Big Red Car %%BLODDESCLINK%%

VMI — Inaugural Parade

Big Red Car — Sat, 21 Jan 2017 17:52:29 +0000

Big Red Car here on a sunny Saturday in the ATX still enjoying the Inauguration, the Inaugural Parade, the Inaugural Balls. Talking VMI. My favorite thing was the VMI (Virginia Military Institute) cadets, 1,500 strong, bringing up the rear of the parade. Saving the best for last in the their red caped overcoats with white […]

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Big Red Car VMI — Inaugural Parade The Musings of the Big Red Car %%BLODDESCLINK%%

Happy Veteran’s Day, Happy VMI Founder’s Day

Big Red Car — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 15:51:29 +0000

Big Red Car here on a grayish and muggy Veteran’s Day in the ATX. There are three things about 11 November that are important. First, it is Veteran’s Day. Second, Virginia Military Institute and Austin, Texas were both founded on 11 Novemberr 1839. That is the trifecta! The Boss is a veteran and his mother […]

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Big Red Car Happy Veteran’s Day, Happy VMI Founder’s Day The Musings of the Big Red Car %%BLODDESCLINK%%