To fund the PingWi-Fi travel blog, I also do dirty gigs in the disaster recovery industry … with much less fanfare than the “Dirty Jobs” guy on TV — I might add. Each trip gives me some pretty good stories to blog from the road … cuts … bruises … etc. But, a recent trip was memorable for the return home and the driver who picked me up at the airport.

Unknowingly, the driver commented on my church as we passed. (It’s “walking distance” from my house.)

“Now why did they have to build such a big new church here?”

I think I responded kindly, mentioning that if he looked toward the end of the property, he would see a tiny, simple brick structure. It’s the original sanctuary that has been in the neighborhood for decades – the building our church bought from another congregation in our infancy. It was about 20 years later that we built the bigger, more aesthetic sanctuary that is now visible from Interstate 30.

“We didn’t really invade the neighborhood. We’ve been here a long time and finally built a new sanctuary to take care of all the people,” I said. The church has grown because people have been drawn to what is going on inside, and the structure was a necessity.

He nodded, with a new appreciation … I could tell.

I wonder what the good-natured old chauffeur would have thought of yesterday’s sermon and activities. The church sponsored its annual ArtReach Sunday, featuring a showing of the talented artists who just happen to attend the church. It was all about the visual expression of what really goes on inside and beyond the walls, for that matter — glorifying God.

The sermon, of course, was tied in with the artistic theme … a message about the ultimate in creativity — God giving us Jesus Christ in the flesh.

In the sermon, the pastor asked “When you think of creativity and diversity, (these days ) how often do you think of a church?” He quickly emphasized that ArtReach isn’t about bragging rights … But, that the approach is fairly unique.

I concur.

For the art history buffs out there, a key element of the sermon was when the pastor shared some of his research on Vincent Van Gogh who was at times misunderstood, even persecuted, for his faith. Van Gogh’s talents were displayed in vibrant photos as The Raising of Lazarus and Starry Night were shown on the big screens of the modern sanctuary.

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Years ago I read this funny quip. I think it was in Reader’s Digest … man I used to love me some R’s-D … what with things like “I Am Joe’s Pancreas” and stuff like that … I digress.

Anyway, some reader related a true story about a car swerving through traffic … prolly a Toyota (but that’s another story). The driver in the rear (not a “The Office” joke) accelerated to catch the swerving vehicle. As he approached, he was amused to read a bumper sticker on the wreckless car, stating “Hang Up And Drive!” … obviously an anti-cell phone voter.

As driver number two attempted to pass the whack, anti-talk driver, he was shocked. The flippant driver, who proclaimed to be so concerned about others’ safety, was shaving with a rechargeable razor as he drove.

Oh well … at least he wasn’t talking on a phone!

By now you may have guessed that I think total cell phone restriction … other than in school zones, where you are already supposed to slow your driving and talking to 20 m.p.h. — is just about the most myopic thing I have ever heard.

Trust me … the people who cannot multi-task well enough to talk and drive probably shouldn’t be behind the wheel in the first place. And chewing gum is out of the question!

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Who You Callin Broken?

Perhaps the most quoted bit of wisdom is the adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” (Yes there are more grammatically correct versions, but I just don’t think they have as much impact …)

You hear this in corporate offices, sitcoms, newsrooms, etc.

I think I learned the phrase from my football coach. Back in the day … very much an era of smashmouth football … “three-yards and a cloud of dust” … and all that. My coach would tell us to run the same play over … and over … and over .. until the other team stopped the play or died of old age … or went insane from the monotony … or whatever.

“If it ain’t broke …”

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I was flying on Southwest Airlines recently when I experienced one of those conundrums … or maybe a good news/bad news scenario.

Who don’t like sum good news first: The good news — there was an excellent Wi-Fi , wireless network available — boasting of speeds greater than 54.0 Mbps.

The bad news — film director, man of girth, Kevin Smith was on board — not only making the plane list slightly, but his shadow eclipsed the Wi-Fi router, blocking and bouncing the signal out of the plane and into space … making it virtually impossible for me to tweet about the phat Wi-Fi on the sweet ride.

“What could be worse?,” you might ask.

Well … I can only think of 10 Things worse than riding on a plane with bigbigboy Kevin Smith:

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Representin PingWi-Fi.com

It may surprise you that I don’t particularly like self promotion.

However, PingWi-Fi.com has two staffers … so you do the math.  Like it or not, I have to go out and tell people that I can be somewhat interesting … sometimes … when I am not totally boring which is probably most of the time.  (How’s that for over confidence?)

Conversely, I do actually enjoy media relations — when representing other people, brands or products.  In PR, I have pitched other clients to reporters on the business desks of ever newspaper, in every major city in The United States.  Network TV too. They used to have a PR joke about this …. the saying was, “I give good phone.”

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So … they say a blog MUST allow readers to chime in and post comments.  I think the attorneys came up with that idea, because of all the potential risk … billable hours and all that.

Well, it has taken me a year, but I have finally warmed up to the idea.  I wonder how it will work.  I have a great idea.  How about I type a couple of sentences, then the readers take over … be really pithy … make this a must see destination, and we all retire on our own island Down Under.

It could happen.  Your thoughts?

Oh … apparently WordPress doesn’t have a grandfather clause, so to speak.  So, if  you read something older — deeper in the blog — that warrants a comment, you’ll have to do it in the space here.

(NOTE:  Also, this may be self-explanatory, but just in case … click on the headline of the piece, then you will see the comment box.)

Knock yourself out.

Have you seen that show “American Pickers” on The History Channel?

By the way, the first of my three trips across America was as PR guy for the The History Channel sponsored “The Great Race.”

I digress …

Back on track … Pickers, right … Two guy travel the country in a huge foreign -looking monster of a panel van/truck looking for junk that could be someone else’s treasure. It’s sort of like the Antique Road Show on foodstamps … I so covet the rusty carnival ride they found and bought in a recent episode.

Pickers Site

American Pickers is so me! You see, I am single-handedly, slowly and surely pillaging all things of rust from the family farm, 400 miles away, and transporting them to my tiny office in Fort Worth. You can barely walk through the place … and yeth my balcony runneth over with non-chiming windchimes I have constructed of tractor fly wheels, windmill parts, drill bits, etc., etc.

I digress X2 …

Well anyway, if you like Pickers … then you will love the City Museum in St. Louis. It is hours of fun, made of recycled treasures — gargoyles galore from old homes … an empty bank vault … Coca Cola freezers … antique bottles … ivory pipes that I assume are opium in origin, etc., etc.
I walked through all this random stuff, singing in my inner head … “Picker’s Paradise, that’s all she was now …” to the tune of Bob Marley’s “Pimper’s Paradise.” I really did, nerd mon.

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PingWi-Fi man cannot live on rock shows alone. He muth have coffee … and Wi-Fi, so finally I did some hotspot exploring in St. Louis. First stop — Park Avenue Coffee.

When I finally found the coffee shop, it was very easy. It was in the last place I looked, as the old adage goes. But when I first set out, armed with Yahoo Maps instructions … ha … I ended up a few miles away, following their simple directions step by step. Go figure.

Talan, Zach ... Good Peeps

Anyway … at first glance, I thought about passing by Perk I mean Park Ave. There were no people inside, even though it was a cold, perfect coffee night. But, I recalled several nice reviews of the place on the Web. So, I decided to be that guy … the one who would break the ice and be the first to sit in an empty establishment.

That brings up the old retail adage … it takes butts in seats to put butts in seats … I am just full of adages …

So, not to worry. The place filled up as soon as one brave soul grabbed a chair. My butt did a community service, I suppose.

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Keller Killing It

I won’t lie. I was wearing a Mexican Baja hippie hoodie — in rastaman red-green-gold — before most of his fans were born … but it was all about the music at Keller Williams’ show at the intimate Pageant Theatre the other night in St. Louis.

I mean, who don’t love a Phish-ish, Grateful Dead-esque par-tay?

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