A one year project to become a better man in America's south
Day 226 – South Carolina’s history is plagued with racism as our state was built on the backs’ of African slaves. In that history we find a deep culture passed down through generations. For example, earlier this week I tweeted “stepping is a great African American art” while watching a step show during a middle school cultural awareness pageant.
Anthony Bourdain described it best when visiting South Carolina’s coast:
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 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 150 – 150 days of blogging. BOO YAH!!
What a day. It’s like the holidays won’t end. The entire Donehue Direct team was finally back in the office for the first time in nearly 3 weeks and we were forced to take another half-day off. And by forced, I mean the University of South Carolina Gamecocks played in their biggest bowl game ever.
Day 149 – I hate money. I really really hate it. A lot of people are driven by money, especially entrepreneurs. Perhaps I shouldn’t make this confession as I’m currently seeking investors in different web ventures. But it’s the truth. Money just doesn’t motivate me. Now building something cool like a winning campaign or a big business, that motivates me, but having a lot of green stored away just doesn’t float my boat.
Today is the first day of 2012. I’m pumped to see what this year can bring. The truth is that last year was the best year of my life. Sure, it had a good many downs, but I lived life to its fullest with my soulmate. **Is it just me or has Mark Sanford completely ruined that word?**
Day 147 – I love Asheville. I’m a conservative who loves Austin, Key West and San Francisco too. Asheville is a southern mountain version of those liberal bastions.
I just stumbled across an amazing fact that has me pumped. Asheville, NC has been rated “Beer City, USA” the last two years because of the large number of microbreweries within the city. From what I hear, those microbreweries are cranking out some seriously amazing beer.
Day 140 – Everything changed when I turned 30. I realized that my life could be half over and that it was time to pick up the pace.
I traveled a little bit, but I had not seen so many parts of the world.
I was working hard, but building someone else’s company. They traveled the country and made a name for themselves while I stayed locked up as the workhorse.
I sacked away half my paycheck for a retirement I may never see.
Why all the doom and gloom and talk of an early death?
Day 139 – Any day in Charleston, South Carolina is going to be a good day, even if its just for a few hours.
After spending some time in the office, recording Congressman Wilson, getting taped by Nancy Mace (more on that sometime later) and meeting with David Asiamah about his Columbia Blogger Series, I hit the road with Elizabeth for our Christmas break in Charleston. Tonight we spent time with some of our best friends, Kristin and Jason Fry, to exchange gifts.
Day 138 – I’m a firm believer that the best Christmas presents are drank or eaten. The memory of enjoying an Omaha Steak and a good glass of wine is far better than the new Dust Devil sitting under the Christmas tree. When I can shake a wrapped gift and clearly hear liquid sloshing around, I get pretty excited. Unless of course I open it up and it’s a bottle of pine-sol to complement the new Dust Devil. Fun Christmas.
As I get older, the gifts I need start to get more mundane and less exciting, so eating and drinking the holidays away is always a perfect time to experiment with new culinary fascinations.
Day 134 – One thing I left out yesterday about the value of an oyster roast is the perfection known as the oyster shooter. It’s as American as apple pie. Or maybe more Charlestonian perhaps. I don’t really know either way.
Day 133 – We’re having an exciting year over here at Donehue Direct. As we grow, it seems that sometimes I have to take a step back and realize why I got into the consulting and politics business in the first place. Work is work, but there’s also the human need to unwind- as the workload increases and campaign season starts, I know I definitely have to cool off and have a few laughs or else we’re going to go crazy with polls and twitter updates.
Day 121 – Whew…I’m beat.
I woke up at 4:00 AM to hop a flight back from DC to Columbia. I was in town less than twenty-four hours for a quick meeting. Now I’m heading back to Columbia where I will immediately hook up with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann for a book tour stop.
Day 112 – Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
It was a very special day for us. We hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner at our home. We picked up my grandmother and Elizabeth’s grandmother from their respective homes. Elizabeth’s brother and my sister, brother-in-law and niece drove up from Charleston.
By now you know that I’m teaching a Sunday School class on Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. Today we got into Book 3 – Christian Behavior. It’s always fun when you get to talk about sex and alcohol in Sunday School.
And by “fun,” I mean totally awkward.
As I was leaving church today, I thought more about this issue of temperance. I talked about it before in my post Christianity and My Vodka Tonic and today I started thinking about how screwed up our society has become.
Our world today is full of people who do things to the extreme or don’t do them at all. Just look at the college kids right here at the University of South Carolina. They have do-gooders telling them not to drink at all. And they have frat brothers forcing liquor down their throats through funnels.
What they don’t have is someone saying “dude, drink three or four beers, chill and have some good conversation.”
People just expect you to fall in one of the two extremes. No one expects you to be in the middle.
The sad thing is that there are people out there that do live a temperate life style with regards to alcohol. You may even be one of them.
However, they typically are the ones that aren’t vocal about it. Alcohol to them isn’t something to be feared or worshipped. They just enjoy it with their friends, enjoying its properties while holding it with a healthy respect.
Drinking less than I do or drinking more than I would be able to handle could also be forms of temperance. This really is a personal issue and deciding for yourself what would be best.
Even not drinking at all can be a form of temperance if you are someone who knows that they cannot handle even the smallest bit of alcohol.
The problem comes when people start judging others for not doing exactly as they are doing. Therefore the teetotalers as well as the binge drinkers who look down on you are both in the wrong.
Be honest with yourself. You know what you can and cannot handle. Don’t let anyone else force you to either extreme.
Day 86 – Are you adventurous? When you go to a new bar, do you get your “go to” drink or do constantly look to try something new?
More importantly, are you a fan of spiced rum? If you know me, you know that I enjoy a good rum and Coke. In fact, it’s probably one of my favorite drinks out there.
Day 39 – I’m in DC today meeting with a ton of folks. 18 meetings in 3 days. DANG!
So, I don’t have a whole lot of time to write today, so I’ll be brief by recommending an amazing spot in Columbia, SC.
On Monday my buddy Brett Floyd turned the big 30. We celebrated with a cooking party at Let’s Cook on Assembly Street. Yes, a cooking party. And it was amazing. [Read more...]
