by Phil Houseal | Aug 6, 2025 | All Articles, Philosophy
Aug 6, 2025–How much do you let ritual and habit rule your life? What if you stopped all rituals? First, let’s define rituals. Familiar ones might include touching the sign for luck while running out of a football locker room, saying your prayers before a meal, or...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 30, 2025 | All Articles, Philosophy
July 30, 2025–In your career have you played “The Game?” I define The Game as a set of unwritten rules that control every institution. The institution can include anything from marriage to politics, but for purposes of this post let’s limit it to the workplace. What...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 23, 2025 | All Articles, Food, Philosophy
July 23, 2025–I am experiencing a food deja vue. I have rediscovered the magic that is Velveeta. We all remember the velvety golden smoothness of American pasteurized process cheese product from our childhoods. Its ooey goodness made everything taste better–macaroni...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 16, 2025 | All Articles, Events, People of the Hill Country
July 16, 2025 “It’s a lot of emotions happening all at once, and your adrenaline is pumping. You feel grief and the shock of destruction contrasted with gratitude for the community support and pride to be in a position to help. Only after you get back home do you feel...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 11, 2025 | All Articles, Education, Food, History, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
July 9, 2025–What if Texas was a country (some say it is) and each of the other 49 states represented a foreign culture (some say they do)? How would you describe new arrivals in the frame of all the other “hyphen-Americans?” Here’s how that might sound from my...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 2, 2025 | All Articles, Philosophy
July 2, 2025–Here’s a stock tip: Invest in tubs. We are currently in the process of taming a tsunami of “stuff.” This is not the dreaded “purging” that happens in every family as kids leave home and parents downsize. This is “sorting,” as grandkids take over the kids’...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 25, 2025 | All Articles, Events, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
June 25, 2025–You know you’re not in Kansas anymore when you look into a box full of bags labeled “Fiona’s Noses.” You would be in Shrek’s Swamp. And yes, I know I mixed metaphors, but the magic of Fredericksburg Theater Company’s production of Shrek rivals the Land...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 18, 2025 | All Articles, Education, Music, Philosophy
June 18, 2025 Ovid: If the art is concealed, it succeeds. I’ve been contemplating where this statement manifests in our world. For me, it is music. My go-to example of “less is more” is drums. Whenever I listen to a group I’ve not heard before, I notice if I notice...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 11, 2025 | All Articles, Education, Food, History, Philosophy
June 11, 2025–Maybe the solution to all our so-called modern problems is this: Live like your great grandparents lived. Not literally, but metaphorically. Recently our power went off and it got me to thinking again about how our ancestors coped. Let’s just go back 150...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 4, 2025 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
June 4, 2025–I’ll probably get teased for saying this, but manly men love our leather bags. My addiction began in 7th grade when I received a briefcase for Christmas. It was a black plastic briefcase that snapped open to reveal pockets under the lid for pens, slide...
