by Phil Houseal | Nov 8, 2023 | All Articles, Events, Food, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
Nov 8, 2023–For the semi-pro party planners that lurk among us, the holidays are their Olympics, Super Bowl, and Academy Awards, wrapped in a bow with a Christmas carol soundtrack. No group is more motivated to create a memorable event from scraps of paper and...
by Phil Houseal | Nov 3, 2023 | All Articles, Education, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
Nov 1, 2023–If you’d told me I would get emotional while picking up a tire, I’d have punctured your sidewall. Believe it or not, I visited a Discount Tire for the first time this summer. It’s like the Buc-cees of tire chain stores. My first clue it was a special place...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 25, 2023 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
Oct 25, 2023–The next time I sneeze, don’t bless me. That universal reaction to what is essentially an involuntary intimate act disturbs me. Those two simple words–Bless You–while a loving benediction in other contexts, when used after a snot-spraying convulsion...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 18, 2023 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
Oct 18, 2023–You are not who you think you are. You are who everyone else thinks you are. Like every fictional character, Bart Simpson does not exist. He is simply the aggregation of traits thought up by a committee of writers and artists. They have produced 750+...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 13, 2023 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy, PR Tips
Oct 11, 2023–Anyone who writes does so in dread of editors. Rearrange my words that I have so expertly placed on paper? How dare you! However, I have come to realize that ruthless editing–in all aspects of life–is what makes it, if not more interesting, at least more...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 4, 2023 | All Articles, Events, History, Music, People of the Hill Country
Oct 4, 2023–Every time it seems the modern music scene is abandoning “veteran” music-makers on the bandstands of history, a young artist comes along that rediscovers a classic genre, makes it her own, and shares it with a whole new generation. Meet Miss Georgia...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 27, 2023 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
Sept 27, 2023–While completing yet another task that you never seem stop needing to do, it struck me how little time we spend actually doing the task, versus preparing to do said task. If it were a pie chart, the part spent doing the task would be the size of the...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 20, 2023 | All Articles, History, Music, People of the Hill Country
Sept 20, 2023–My recent column about my One-Hit-Wonder song Rocky Mountain Oysters caused an unexpected and un-merited surge in interest about my songwriting career. While attending a recent dance hall night, several fans requested that I sing The Fredericksburg Phone...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 13, 2023 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
Sept 13, 2023–The world is a giant maze and we are all rats. I came to this conclusion while sitting in my car watching people navigate. We are very predictable in our behavior. Opening Doors People entering buildings with double doors do three things every time: 1)...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 6, 2023 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
Sept 6, 2023–As is my wont, I was browsing through another yellow-paged, broken-spined, remaindered paperback–1,500 Literary References Everyone Should Know–when it became evident that, well, we don’t. Too many of us communicate via memes and giphys and LOLs. If I see...
