A one year project to become a better man in America's south
Day 179 – The times they are a’changing.
Today I had the opportunity to speak to Charle Bierbauer’s class at the University of South Carolina. It was an honor for me. Charles Bierbauer is someone anyone could admire for his career accomplishments and his expertise. For years, he was CNN’s senior Washington correspondent. He’s a regular on Cspan, CNN, and all sorts of other mainstream media. Coming to his class and being able to share what I’ve learned was awesome.
Day 178 – I think if you’re going to be successful, you’ve got to make ground rules. Ground rules are the key to stability, and when people depend on you (be it your wife, employees, clients, whoever) you have to show the level of dependability that they expect from you.
So, it’s natural that I’ve got some ground rules. Some of them are more concrete than others, some aren’t. Some are one’s that I struggle with to maintain, and of course others I take just as seriously as my marriage.
But, one of those ground rules I want to tell you about is television. I don’t watch TV. It’s just who I am. When I was younger, I wasted so much time just veggin out in front of the TV to the point that my productivity tanked. I’m pretty sure I wasted my childhood watching Yo MTV Raps. As my career developed, I had to make sacrifices- maybe this isn’t a huge sacrifice, if a sacrifice at all. But it’s a step to increased productivity.
Day 177 – Spiritual life is a very important aspect of my being. It instills a sense of humility that’s sometimes easy to lose sight of- but devoting time to praise reminds us that there’s something greater, something we can never be. It’s humbling.
Sharing that feeling with my friends and family is amazing.
Tonight, I attended a very meaningful ceremony for my friend Richie Hayward. Richie was ordained as a Deacon of First Baptist Church of Columbia. The meaning and the substance behind this really hit me hard as I watched the FBC Deacons lay hands on Richie and the other inductees.
Day 176 – So, I’m taking a risk and I have every indication that it’s the right move. I am on a flight back from San Francisco, and I’m out of the bubble so I can actually reflect on what I did these past few days.
Every time I leave San Francisco, I feel as if I’ve learned something new. It’s a place where as uncomfortable as I feel some times out there, I can always learn. The town has a learning culture, which sometimes I feel isn’t as embraced in Columbia.
Day 175 – It’s my last day in San Francisco for this work trip. I have to wake up around 5 am to catch an early flight back home. I just got back from another exploration and boy am I happy I feel better than I did yesterday.
Anthony Bourdain said that The Mission’s Zeitgeist bar was a hidden San Francisco gym. He was exactly right. I love this bar as much as I love Comstock, but for completely different reasons. If there was ever a bar the complete opposite of Comstock, its Zeitgeist.
Day 174 – Last night I predicted that today I would feel like butt. I underestimated just how bad I would feel. It’s 5 pm and I still feel like hell. This is not good.
This morning my buddy Tom texted me “Tonga! Tonga! Tonga!” Exactly! Take my advice here – visit The Tonga Room. And then leave after two drinks.
Day 173 – My fascination with San Francisco didn’t start with my first Apple product. It started in the mid-eighties when my grandfather introduced me to Star Trek at the Walterboro Drive-In Theatre. My introduction to the final frontier was with Star Trek: The Voyage Home. While most Trek fans rate it as the worst, or one of the worst, Trek flicks, I fell in love. As a young child, the time travel, Spock riding a city bus and of course, the humpback whales, immediately grabbed my obsession. I became an eight-year-old Trekkie. I watched The Voyage Home at every opportunity. I still do. And I still get giddy watching that Bird of Prey crashing into the Bay, just barely missing the Golden Gate Bridge.
As I dove deeper into my Trek obsession, I found glimpses into Star Fleet Academy fascinating and I wondered “Why San Francisco?”
Day 172 – After a second great day working in San Francisco and pouring through email and donation statistics, I hit the road to continue my Anthony Bourdain inspired journey. Alone, walking down Market Street, I realize how much I enjoy getting out on my own. Its not very often that I get alone time. I love being with my wife and my Donehue Direct team, but very seldom do I get time to just explore. Explore my thoughts. Explore my creativity. Explore life. Every man needs time alone and this week I’m going out of my way to not invite people to join me on my exploration.
Day 171 – If you haven’t watched No Reservations or The Layover starting Anthony Bourdain, you’re missing out big time. Bourdain is one of my favorites. He was just a New York City cook until he skyrocketed to popularity after publishing Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. After writing a couple more books he started a show on the Food Network and then blew up with his Travel Channel show No Reservations.
Day 170 – If so, this picture is worth the thousands words I would have written today.
Wesley Donehue
PS – Dream big. Work bigger.
Day 169 – Whew…I’m tired, yet cannot sleep. I just got back from a drinking session with some reporter friends. I leave for San Francisco in just a few hours to lay out the first cornerstones for our new office there. I’m so excited. It is the heart of technology, a new side of politics, and generally it’s a world away from Columbia. I’m gonna bring the two together and make big things happen.
I’m leaving Columbia on an extremely sour note. Election day…well, it sucked. I was expected to be in 20 different places at 0 different times, and little aggravating factors just made it generally something I don’t care to repeat. All of this was done with a pool of water in my car, by the way. If you haven’t seen it, check out how I was scammed by some thieves for a faulty window job. It wasn’t pleasant to deal with, and I will be keeping updates on that issue. Those guys suck and I can’t say it enough.
Yeah, check out the ongoing damage being done to my car. Those…ah, not even gonna say it…with so much drama in the CAE…It’s kinda hard:
Day Whatever – This will be the first post of this Man Project that I publish out of order. I have posts written for nearly every day over the past 10 days, but honestly, this has been the busiest two weeks of my career. The presidential circus came to town the same day the SC legislature reconvened. We had a debate in Myrtle Beach last weekend and another one in Charleston last night. I’ve had interview after interview and more lunches and drinks with reporters than I can count. I also made a quick trip up to DC yesterday. Today I’m running on fumes.
Day 167 – Another short blog. We are in Charleston today for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference and presidential debate. The city is buzzing with reporters and political action. There ain’t a whole lot better than Charleston and politics. We are having a blast.
My buddy and chief competitor Vincent Harris is in town, and Jonathan and I are crashing with our new employee Patrick, who I will announce you to later next week.
Day 166 – This week’s conservation episode was really refreshing. Phil is a good friend of mine, and he’s pretty much the closest thing to a Republican you can find in a Democratic operative (sorry Phil).
He hunts, he fishes, he likes good beer and country. He’s a rather conservative fellow, as are many Democrats in this state. So having a discussion about true conservative values is always needed.
Those type of guys on both sides of the aisle make South Carolina a very conservation minded state. We don’t always show it, but go to NYC and tell me how the fishing is there. If you can breathe.
Day 165 – This week has been busy for me. Either doing interviews, or traveling for clients had me bogged down. It was madness. One day, I got over 100 emails in an hour. Getting to Charleston for the debate was like heaven.
Looking back at this week, I’ve gotten a lot done. Either being quoted in the Examiner, Businessweek or being interviewed on CNN, or going live on MSNBC, CBS News, Fox…eh, the list goes on.
Day 164 – Have ever surfed the web, come across something badass that you want to remember, but had nowhere to store it? The solution used to be bookmarks, but no one ever goes back to those things. Pinterest is the solution.
Pinterest is a new website and app that I’ve been enjoying lately. And by “lately,” I mean every single day. In fact, its one of the first websites/apps I use every day because it helps me get dressed in the morning.
Day 163- I’m sitting in a hotel bar, watching important people walk by and waiting for the Myrtle Beach presidential debate to begin. My homies and I are sitting here drinking various alcoholic beverages. Michael Rentiers and I are enjoying a nice Guinness.
Unfortunately, they are from a bottle. They are good, but let’s all be real for a minute. There is nothing better than a properly poured draught Guinness. NOTHING!
Day 162 – What is that you want from life?
In the end, that is the ultimate question. I’m not talking about that crazy question “how do you want people to remember you after you die?” I’ll ask that one again later. I’m talking about this question: how do you want to live today?
I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately and for now, I have an answer. Here it is. Get ready… I want to be able to do whatever I want to do.
BOOM!
Day 161 – What a strange Pub Politics. While shooting a great episode with SC Senator Tom Davis, CNN reporter Peter Hamby and blogger Logan Smith, my face suddenly appeared on the TV screen above our heads. Pretty neat stuff.
Check out this episode, one of the bests we’ve ever done.
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Day 160 – Today provided a first for the Donehue Direct team.
You never know what’s going to happen when you wake up in the morning. I certainly didn’t expect our first big national TV hit.
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