Author: Jonathan Blundell

It’s a couple days late – but this month’s WordIt is: majesty

Here’s my first go at it: Everest, Creation, Milky Way, Scripture, Enthroned, Velvet, Craftsman, Might, Power

The buzz continues, Wired magazine talked to developers at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference 2005 to get their opinion on today’s announcement.
Everyone seems to be supportive.
I hope that it means I can actually find quality support for my Mac computers.
Working in an all Mac office I end up being tech support anytime anything goes wrong with hardware or software.
There’s no real tech support for Macs, but maybe with a common processor and architecture, this will ease my worries and troubles.
My friend at Microsoft says he believes that this will help lower the price of Macs for sure.
And if that’s the case, I’m sure Mac users everywhere will be ecstatic.

USA Today has a feature Sports article on Erron Kinney today.

After rescuing a fellow firefighter from a building, Kenney said, “For everybody else looking in, they say it was life-threatening. But I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do. That is what you do. If you have a fireman go down, you have to get him out. It’s not like you have choices.” Then he shrugs and adds, “The funny thing is, the most I’ve ever done since then is rescue a cat.”
“You cannot be half of a firefighter,” Titans Head Coach Jeff Fisher said. “You either are, or you’re not. … Erron’s going to do everything he can to the best of his ability. If it requires him to make tough decisions in an effort to save somebody’s life, I’m sure he’ll make the right decision.”
So there are no concerns about Kinney’s other career?
Well, Fisher says, smiling knowingly, “Sometimes what’s difficult is when Erron will come in in the morning for a workout, smelling of smoke, and you know he’s been up all night.”

Here’s to all our public servants with a passion for helping others.

Scobleizer and many others have been blogging on this all day, but CNN just confirmed that Apple computers will make a major shift in their processors by 2007.
The company will start fitting all their machines with Intel processors instead of the IBM chips they have used for years.
No one really knows the implications of this decision yet, but for me its a big “I told you so,” to all my Apple-a-holics.
If Apple’s run so much better and work so much better than PC’s, why would they need to change to Intel processors that have been running PC’s for so many years.
Who knows what the future holds? But either way, it could be bad news for IBM.

Some of you may recall my rant Have it Your Way a few weeks back.
As an update, our paper just received word that the franchise is filing for bankruptcy.
I wonder how many other people were having trouble Having it Their Way?
There have been a number of businesses come and go in Belton as of late.
This particular burger stop has been open for 2 or 3 years. It’s in a prime location along I-35, yet the business apparently hasn’t done to well.
Another restaurant nearby has had troubles as of late as well.
Yet other businesses seem to strive.
Two tire shops closed down in Belton within the last 18 months.
Both blamed the local economy and a lack of support.
Yet, when talking with the owner of the store that moved into one location — he said he wouldn’t sell his property for double what he paid for it.
He said he couldn’t be happier with the business, location and response from the community.
It just goes to show how far customer service really goes.
I only shopped at the two former tire shops once. With the poor service I received I had no desire to go back.
Why waste my time and money when I can get better service and prices elsewhere.
Marketing and advertising have a lot to do with your business – but after that, its up to your customer service to keep the customers coming back.

I’m having a rough time hacking out my column this week. I’m not sure what’s up, but I’m experiencing some writers block.
So, I’ll post the couple angles I’ve started with and see if anyone has any ideas. I’ve been trying to write about my trip this weekend on the Guadalupe – but I keep coming to a stand still. So here it is – dry and boring.

This weekend my buddies and I took off on a real spontaneous American adventure.
Now granted, normally the things we do aren’t real adventures, but for some reason things always happen with our bad luck that make them adventures.
And something as simple as floating down a river in a tube can become an adventure for us.
We started the day off planning to leave between 8 and 8:30 a.m.
We left my house on time and headed to the local grocery store to buy provisions for the trip.
We called our “lost” companion and realized she had not woken up until 8 and was still lying in bed.
Strike 1.
After our trip to the grocer, we loaded up on our daily dose of breakfast burritos to satisfy our hunger through most of the trip.
We then filled our vehicle with gas and called our “lost” companion again. I think she was just getting into the shower – thirty-minutes or so after we called the first time.
Strike 2.
We returned to my house to wait for her arrival.
Around 9:30 a.m. our companion finally arrived.
Foul ball, down the third base line.
As we headed out of Belton we cranked up a homerun of a song – “Real American,” Hulk Hogan’s theme song.
Homerun to left field (hence the previous sentence).
As some of you, lucky enough to travel I-35 this weekend, you may have noticed the Harley Convention was going on in Austin this weekend.
While traveling I-35 can often be hazardous to one’s health, watching one of the state’s main arteries thicken with Harley Davidson’s is nothing but enjoyable to my friends and I.
Single to right field.
With AC/DC and a very odd mix of rock and metal booming over the car stereo the two hour trip to New Braunfels flew by.
Another single to right field.
Runners are now on first and second.

With Memorial Day just past, Flag Day coming next week and the 4th of July just around the corner, I was glad to spend my time Saturday partaking in a Great American Pastime.
Now I’m sure many are thinking baseball or softball on one of Belton’s great fields, but we actually headed south to New Braunfels for our adventure.
With a 2-hour drive south, we joined several thousand others as we braved the chilled waters of the Guadalupe in search of fun, sun and relaxation.
And I’m pretty sure we all found it.
It’s not often that you can find a large diverse group of people, age, race and creed – and everyone is so interested in a common goal that things normally divisive is ignored.
Now, granted it may have been the large amounts of hops and barley people were consuming that made people so care-free, but I was impressed to see everyone enjoying each other’s company and having a great time.
I saw seniors, baby-boomers, twentysomethings, highschoolers, pre-teens, pre-pre-teens and everyone in between helping each other down the river, laughing and having a great time.