Embrace Your Inner Don Draper

In the cross-promotion that is standard for Caskey Worldwide Enterprises™, you can find my blog post about men's haircuts over at FigColumbia.

Oysters This Weekend? Why Not?

I can see the weekend from here.

No blogging yesterday, I was dealing with a sick child. Nothing serious, just routine being sick. In any event, Happy Friday!

If you're looking for something fun to do this weekend, why not check out the City Roots 2nd Annual Oyster and Pig Throw Down? I wrote about oyster roasts in Fig awhile back. If you're interested in the throwdown, you can buy tickets here.

Here Comes 2015 - You Ready?

It's back to work and back to school for most everyone around the country, including yours truly. That also means a return to regular blogging. As you may have noticed, I took the holidays off from blogging, since I was on the road quite a bit. I'm looking forward to 2015, and I'm ready for takeoff. 

You'll see my same random thoughts here of course, possibly a bit more from me about local goings on around Columbia on Fig, and as always you can follow me on Farmer'sOnly.com.

We're Almost There!

Birds got to sing, bees got to buzz, Christmas lights got to tangle

Alright, y'all. It's the last day of the workweek for me. I've sent all my demand letters out, done my final real estate closing for the year, and tallied up the billable hours. There may be one or two more litigation e-mails, but I'm pretty much done here at the ol' law practice for the year. All in all, it's been a good year.

Judging by the gifts I've received from other lawyers and co-workers, everyone thinks I need alcohol and ammunition. (Y'all are totally right.)

If you're a regular reader, thanks for stopping by my little corner of the internet. We here at Permanent Press know that when you browse the internet, you have options. So thanks for making us a part of your day. If you've been here just a time or two, try to come back more often. And please always feel free to comment!

I'm going to put it on cruise control the rest of the way, but we'll continue to have some content all through the holidays.

Merry Christmas!

It's Monday; Don't Go Back to the Future

You made it through another Monday. Congratulations.

It may not have been the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, but you made it. Around these parts, I'm the only one in the household who isn't in sick bay or confined to quarters under quarantine. Something's going around. Don't worry, it's not ebola.

Other than that, not much news. I may do a bourbon post, or a Gear for Guys post later to break the political rhythm. Anyone have any cool gear they're looking at these days? I've been on a knife kick recently.

I'm Busy - Go Visit My Favorite Food/Beer/Grilling Blog

Had a full day of litigation and transactional work, but being busy is a good problem to have.

Lots of things going on, so the blog will be light today. Don't worry, there will be lots of content upcoming, as I have to do my traditional Gamecock Football Prediction Post. I also have a few posts in mind, but the real trick these days is finding the time to actually get them down.

Meanwhile, go over to one of my favorite food/beer/grilling blogs on the interwebz, and check out what Mike is doing.

Here's a teaser:

Can you tell why I like his blog so much? Mike's pretty much the go-to guy for grilling, beer, and photography. I'm pretty good on the grill, but I'm absolutely horrible behind the camera.

100k Pageviews

Just last night, this little rambling blog o' mine broke the 100,000 pageview barrier. I know that's not that much of an accomplishment for most blogs, but it's pretty big for a small-timer like me.

Therefore, I wanted to say thanks to everyone out there who stops by to read my musings from time to time. I started this blog on a lark,  (at the suggestion of my wife) and I've found that I've really enjoyed it.

In addition to helping me sharpen my thoughts about things, I've felt that I've had to be more involved with current events to stay up on blogging. I've certainly learned more than I've taught.

It has been wonderful to make some connections with other really talented and smart bloggers who I've had the opportunity to meet in person. I am looking forward to continuing to keep the blog rolling indefinitely. If there's anything you, as a reader, would like to see more (or less of) let me know. I'm always interested in improvement.

Rise and Grind - Obama's Personalized Golf Balls

Happy Monday. Rise and grind.

After the birth of our daughter, I took the rest of the week off from blogging. However, I can't stay on permanent vacation, so I'll be back to at least one post a day here. I'll start out with something simple and light, and we'll work up to some more meaty topics as time goes by.

Apparently, a guy fond one of President Obama's lost golf balls and put a picture up of it. It's cool that President Obama has some personalized golf balls [picture at link], but it isn't that surprising.

All the same, it makes me wonder if other Presidents did the same. I'd love to see a collection. Ike played a lot of golf. I wonder if he personalized his golf balls.

Federal Judge Continues Blogging

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

A Federal Judge refuses to quit blogging.

Good for him. We could use more men who aren't afraid to step into the light.

Gun Related Discussion at Brad's Bar and Grill

I've been pretty light on content here, but it's been a busy week. The billable hour is a harsh taskmaster. Anyway, there's a gun-related post over at Brad's place, so you should go there and discuss. It's about the knuckle-heads in Texas who decided open carrying AR-15s into coffee shops was going to win hearts and minds...or something. Anyway, the NRA kind of distanced themselves from it.

Is is smart to take this to a coffee shop? Probably not.

Tell him I sent you.

Best Parents in the World Open Thread

I've been busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kickin' contest, so no blog for you today. In the meantime, here's this:

Happy Tuesday.

Changing the Blog Look

If you've been a regular reader, you might have noticed that I've changed the blog look. It's kind of a "new paint job" to keep things fresh. I'm going for a little more modern, streamlined look, rather than the old green and wooden look.

Other than the paint job, everything else is all the same. All the links and inner-workings should be exactly like it used to be - it's basically just a new paint job.

Thoughts?

C.W. Cooke's Response to E.J. Dionne's Head Exploding

Does this make your head explode?

C.W. Cooke actually does a nice little fisking of E.J. Dionne's emotional temper tantrum, that I linked here yesterday.

This is all very entertaining, of course. But is it true? Has Georgia really adopted unusual, groundbreaking laws? Has it really opened up a new front in the campaign for gun rights? Has it really moved “out of the mainstream”? Well, not really, no. A quick review of the facts reveals that it has merely brought itself into line with much of the rest of the country. And about time, too.

Go read the whole thing.

Just Joined FaceBook

After years of holding out, I have finally been assimilated. I was tired of having to ask Mrs. Permanent Press about what was going on with our friends.

For the most part, I will probably keep to non-controversial stuff on FaceBook, and keep all the random rantings here. I'm going to avoid crossing the streams of this blog and Facebook as best I can.

So, I'll see how it goes. Any good tips for maximizing FaceBook use?

What Was Your First Tweet? Here's Mine

I joined Twitter in March of 2011, and since then I've generated 7,143 Tweets. To celebrate it's 8th birthday, Twitter has now com up with a site that allows you to see your very first Tweet. It's called First Tweet.

In the three years that I've been on Twitter, it has really grown on me. I love the fact that it's whatever you make of it. I honestly couldn't remember my first tweet, but here it is:

I think it holds up to the test of time quite well. A solid cheer for my favorite college team.

And the best part is that you aren't limited to finding just your own first tweet. You can type in anyone's username and find their first tweet. It's a neat little way to show you that the internet is forever.

What was your first tweet?

Garden and Gun Fried Chicken Recipe

Since the inception of this blog, one of the most viewed pages of all-time is my Top Five Places in Columbia for Fried Chicken. Hey, what can I say? People like fried chicken.

To carry on with the fried chicken theme, I thought I would share this recipe from Garden & Gun for fried chicken:

 

The first thing that caught my eye was that the recipe had sugar in it. My wife has told me that her great aunt always put a little bit of sugar in things that she pan-fried, and it was some of the best food she's ever had.

I might have to give this recipe a try, because that finished product looks delicious. Anyone else have a favorite homemade fried chicken recipe?

Winter Storm Watch Issued for Midlands

Once again, we play our dangerous game, a game of chess against our old adversary -- The Winter Snow. For forty years, your father and your older brothers before you played this game and played it well. But today the game is different. We have the advantage.

Yes, the winter weather is headed our way again. Looks like the storm will hit the midlands on Tuesday night and persist until Wednesday. As always, drive safely. 

One other note, unrelated to the weather: I'm fed up with The State website. They've cluttered it with drop-down ads, pop-up ads, and paywalls. Frankly, I've had enough, so I'm not going to be linking them anymore. There's never really a story on The State that isn't found elsewhere, so I'll go elsewhere. However, if I have to discuss something that is there and nowhere else, I'll be just generally discussing it without linking it. I know that The State isn't relying on me to send them traffic, but I'm just going to take a stand against bad websites that make it difficult to get to the content.

So yeah, mood status: Cranky

Rock N Roll Breakfast

Want to up your musical IQ? I have the perfect blog for you. One of my best friends (Mike Z.) from law school has jumped on the blog train with his own music-themed blog: Rock N Roll Breakfast.

The beginning of rock and roll.

Even back in law school, it was clear that Mike Z. was the cool "music guy" in our group, so it makes perfect sense that Mike would start a blog focusing on his family's musical journey through different genres of rock and roll.

My life seems to have come with a soundtrack, and I want to share it with my family.  The kids may not like every song we play (I’m not foolish enough to think that I will always be cool…or ever was), but hopefully, they’ll hear these songs someday and laugh and make fun of their Mom and Dad or find a way to smile on a hard day or find just the right song to celebrate a great moment.  These organized noises and words are more than just songs, they are part of the fabric of our family.  I want our kids to create their own soundtracks – with a few dedications to Mom and Dad and a shout out to us in the liner notes.

He's starting with 1950's rock for his first post. If you're a music lover, or just want to up your musical knowledge, this should be a great blog for you. He also links the songs on Spotify so it's easy to follow along. I highly recommend it.

Cheers!

I'll Be Blogging for Fig Columbia!

What's Fig Columbia, you ask? Fig Columbia is a local magazine and social media presence that is dedicated highlighting the great aspects of Columbia, South Carolina. It will be a great place for keeping up with social events, new restaurants, and all the goings-on around Columbia. It's kind of like Garden & Gun, but specifically tailored for Columbia.

About a month or so ago, I was asked to be a contributing blogger to Fig Columbia and provide a guy's perspective on certain things. Frankly, I was very flattered just to be asked, since I'm not the most stylish person. The Shop Tart will be running Fig Columbia's style side, so if you're familiar with her work, you already know that Fig will be very stylish and wonderfully done.

My pieces for Fig will be along the lines of my "Gear for Guys" posts that I've done and tied into Columbia. You can read my first piece for Fig Columbia here.

All of the content that I create for Fig Columbia will be over there first, but will ultimately be linked back here. I would encourage any of my Columbia readers to go check out Fig Columbia for all sorts of great stuff.

If you don't live in Columbia, don't worry. I'm still going to keep Permanent Press going with all my random rantings, football breakdowns, BBQ musings, political mockery, firearm photos, and all of the otherwise brilliant posts you've come to know and love here.

Healthcare.gov's Enrollment Numbers

Less than 27,000.

27,000. Let that sink in for a moment.

I know the White House is pushing a higher figure, that figure includes people who "picked a plan" but didn't actually enroll (you know, pay for it). An AP reporter is saying the actual number of people is less than 27,000.

What I really want to know is the breakdown of the number. How many of these less than 27,000 people have pre-existing conditions? How many are low-income and need significant subsidies? How many of the really important "young healthy" people are in this group? Does this include the number of people enrolled in Medicaid through the site?

My little blog here has more pageviews (since October of 2011) than people who have signed up for Obamacare through healthcare.gov. Let's see how long I can keep that streak going.

This is some epic failing that we're witnessing here. I cannot wait for Jay Carney's next press conference.