by Phil Houseal | Feb 13, 2019 | All Articles, Philosophy
Feb 13, 2019–My mom died last week. It was the final separation, but what intrigues me is that it’s a separation that has been underway my entire life. This is just the last step. It begins at the aftermath of birth, really. In a painful and precise moment, we are all...
by Phil Houseal | Feb 8, 2019 | All Articles, Philosophy
Feb 6, 2019–The worst business to be in is the one that when you do it well, no one notices. Because then the only time you hear from a customer is when they are unhappy. Take, for example, any internet service provider. How unsettling it must be, to go into work...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 31, 2019 | All Articles, Philosophy
Jan 31, 2019–I remember that time I shipped my body across the country. I was traveling to a work conference in California. As I shuttled from plane to plane, from tram to moving walkway, to airport limo and finally to rental car, I pretended I was cargo. I tried to...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 23, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Food, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Jan 23, 2018–Over the next couple of weekends, legions of adventurous spirits will arrive in the Hill Country to interact as knights, jesters, maidens, and other denizens of Middle Age European villages at the Kerrville Renaissance Festival. What makes our neighbors...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 19, 2019 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
Jan 17, 2019–Over the holidays I sat down to read stories to my 3-year-old granddaughter. Unable to bear another round of Goodnight, Moon, I grabbed a volume of my Childcraft books from the 1950s. It fell open to Jack and The Beanstalk, so we started reading. Oh my!...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 10, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
January 9, 2019– What would you be doing if you didn’t have to make a living? For Linda Morgan, the answer is easy. “Whether anyone was listening or not, I would be singing in a field looking at what God created. I would be singing for that connection.” Fortunately,...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 3, 2019 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy, PR Tips
Jan 2, 2019–My current reading throne book is called Poking a Dead Frog. Now what do you imagine that is about? I’ll wait. Ok, wrong. It’s subtitled “Conversations With Today’s Top Comedy Writers.” Author Mike Sacks conducted in-depth and freewheeling interviews with...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 28, 2018 | All Articles, Events, People of the Hill Country
Dec 26, 2018–I have a theory that life is a yearning for mobility. It begins in infancy, when we first swivel our heads, opening up our world 180 degrees. Then on to crawling, walking, and running. Finally, emulating humankind, we discover the wheel. It might...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 20, 2018 | All Articles, History, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Dec 19, 2018–I know it’s Christmas. But here’s a tale of Easter. My wife and daughter have opened a shop that happens to be housed in a historic Fredericksburg home known as Easter Haus. I was curious about the provenance of the white building on Auguste Street. So I...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 13, 2018 | All Articles, History, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Dec 13, 2018 “Go outside and get the stink blown off of you.” This is the greatest piece of advice I’ve ever gotten. And it came from my mom. There is a rich vein of ore to be mined in this one simple sentence. At the basic level it means “get out from underfoot.” Mom...
