Adventures of a Texan

Christian Business

I have begun to find more and more folks who are becoming curious about faith and business coexisting. Here in Prague, you are believed to have surrendered all intelligence if you go to church, giving up logic in place of faith. I was really glad when I came across this posting on one of my business acquaintance's blogs. Alex Muse and I have been chatting about business for months now. Oddly enough, we both have done very similar things to this point. Enlisted in the USMC, went to The University of Texas at Austin, own our own businesses (Alex, me) and even graduated from James E. Taylor HS in Katy, TX. Then, after reading his blog posting, am glad to say that we are brothers in Christ, too.

Gone bowling

A late night on Saturday was inflicted upon me due to Czech Bowling. How is that different? We went to a bowling bar. I didn't know such a place existed. It was a normal Czech bar, but it had two...count them 2, bowling lanes. And, to top it off, all of the pins were on strings! After you knocked down the pins, instead of the sweeping bar coming out to clear the pins away the strings of all of the pins was pulled. Then the proper pins were placed back down on the lane. My guess is that there was a "pin monkey" in the back pulling the strings. But that is just me.

Drawing for fun and work

I got hip to the Brad Fitzpatrick blog just a few days ago. I never imagined that drawing and creating could happen so fast. Take a look for yourself. Who knows, maybe he will do a drawing of me one day?

Naked Conversations....Not in stereo

I am reading through the hot new seller Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. While I understand that it takes a couple of years to put a book together (at least) they didn't mention anything about audio or video blogs....just written ones. I am curious if audio blogs will be more or less effective than written. My guess, those who can do them with great quality and follow the other rules brought up by Robert and Shel will be very successful. By great quality I mean no droning voice, proper inflection in the voice, no stuttering, and keep it short. Nothing longer than 10 minutes (maybe 15 if you have something really interesting). Need an example, take a look here.

Habit forming

No TV, no motor-car, not a single....that's not exactly true. Prague is a 1000 luxuries. So, without the ability to get Czech TV (diff. color format...another discussion) we watch tons of movies and TV series on DVD. Our favorite so far is WEST WING. We just borrowed season 4 from our buddy Jeff and we are plowing away at it. So much for having a life...yet I gave that up when I started a business. :)

Budget, delivery gourmet

I have been looking for more than a pizza delivery place for ordering online food in Prague. So far all I have found is this place - Messenger Fastfood. Very limited, and rather pricey considering most of the places on the list are less than 10 blocks away.

One of my old roommates from Vienna, Eli, lives in Cairo. He said he found an online site that will deliver from almost any restaurant in the city to your doorstep with in an hour. I see a business opportunity for anyone who is willing to live abroad and set up an online-ordering and food delivery service. i know that i would use it. And, Prague, with about 40,000 expats, I am sure could handle the capacity of orders, too.

Thank you for NOT smoking

Not a smoker, per se, yet occasionally I will enjoy a stogie and a scotch. But, this bit of news was rather unique. There have been several restaurants and night clubs that have banned smoking, and have actually seen an increase in sales. Who would have thought that bowling alleys and pool halls would ever be smoke free...and doing well?

Take a look here for more from the Church of the Customer.

Memories of Japan

While I never did see a proper Geisha while I lived in Japan, I love movies with the scenery and culture of the Orient. Tonight, I saw Memoirs of a Geisha. Great movie. I remember the cultural conflict that many Japanese have expressed due to the casting of Chinese women playing in the lead roles of the Geisha.

Ken Watanabe, an actor that received an Oscar award from his role in the Last Samurai (another wonderful movie), was the lead male actor in Memoirs. A stunning performance by him, again. Michelle Yeoh, another superb actress, I remember from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Stunning in her acting as well as her beauty. Perfect casting throughout in my opinion.

All-in-all, a keeper.

Stack of cards

I have a huge stack of cards sitting on the table just looking at me. Not a deck of cards for poker (sometimes I wish), instead they are the cards that I collected at DEMO last week. I know that I need to respond to them all, but I am just dreading the time it will take. Oh, well. "Just remember, It is business, it isn't personal."

Great flick

Did you ever see the movie with Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington called "The Preacher's Wife" a few years ago? Well, this evening, I watched the original that it was based on. From 1947, I believe. Carry Grant movie called "The Bishop's Wife." I must say that the original is much better.

I will be on the look out for original movies from Hollywood. So far, this last year or two...remakes.