by Phil Houseal | Oct 29, 2025 | All Articles, History, Music, Philosophy, Venue
Oct 29, 2025–Recently I had to embark on something I haven’t done, nor had the desire to do, for three decades: Travel. More specifically, I had to undertake a cross-country car trip. In my youth, traveling coast to coast and border to border was in my blood. In fact,...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 22, 2025 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
Oct 22, 2025–What single-purpose tools facilitate your daily living? That is, what is a tool that does only one thing, but does it extremely well. So well, that you couldn’t function without it. You probably don’t even notice them. But here are some examples I came up...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 15, 2025 | All Articles, Philosophy
Oct 15, 2025–After spending an hour on the phone with an unnamed governmental agency, I came to a conclusion: bureaucracy’s only purpose is to preserve itself. Our task this day was to let a certain state agency know that our retail business had closed years ago and...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 8, 2025 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
Oct 8, 2025–“The productivity of any office is inversely proportional to the number of hand-lettered signs on the walls.” I once was hired to lead a public education program. The first thing I noticed upon entering the building was the number of signs. There was a...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 1, 2025 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
Oct 1, 2025–The more I read, the more I struggle finding stuff I want to read. I’ve covered all the classics like Catcher in the Rye, assigned by earnest 11th-grade English teachers. I’ve consumed all the “flavor of the day” non-fiction, even almost making it through...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 24, 2025 | All Articles, Education, History
Sept 24, 2025–We are losing our history. Here’s a cautionary tale using a now-defunct non-profit organization. Case Study: I was part of an educational non-profit that existed from 1975-2015. I served roles from board president to cheerleader. Due to the changes in...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 17, 2025 | All Articles, Education, Food, History, Philosophy
Sept 17, 2025–When you make any transaction, what are you really paying for? Someone complained about paying $20 for a fast-food sandwich (future archivists–$20 is a LOT to pay for a basic sandwich in 2025–although that is changing daily). Another someone pointed...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 10, 2025 | All Articles, Events, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Sept 10, 2025–How does it feel to take center stage at The Grand Ole Opry? “Well, it was wonderful.” So saith Gary Nicholson, who as a Hall of Fame Songwriter and Grammy Winner, got his first solo spot under country music’s biggest spotlight at the age of 75. Not that...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 3, 2025 | All Articles, History, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Sept 3, 2025–How many connections to “important” people do you have because they were neighbors? I am curious about how connected we are to well-known/accomplished/famous/key people simply due to randomness. Many times, when I am looking for a favor or trying to find...
by Phil Houseal | Aug 30, 2025 | Uncategorized
I’m not really proud of it, but I wrote a song called the Fredericksburg Phone Book Polka
