Red Box Genius.

I made my first Red Box rental last week. I am a "late adopter" to the big, red video-rental boxes, now seen and used everywhere. I liked it. I never was a Blockbuster guy, and can't say that I'm sorry that with NetFlix, and now Redbox, their time has passed.

What is interesting to me is that this Redbox idea is so un-high tech.

It reminds me of the "paperless office" of 1980, which didn't really get started until a couple years ago. It took a while for vision and reality to meet. Redbox figures that the "little while" for ubiquitous streaming video is long enough for them to rent a bunch of videos.

They are betting that on demand voice/data/video, in the house, phone, and car, is not YET economical and convenient enough. And that people will still be wanting to pick up a DVD and return it -- if the price is right. They are certain enough to invest in and distribute over 20,000 boxes nationwide, each filled with a couple hundred DVD's. My guess is that their guess is right for at least another five years, though it may not matter since they passed 100 million video rentals a couple years ago.

So here's to the guys who saw an opportunity to use inexpensive technology and a well organized plan to make a couple of bucks. One dollar, one day, what an idea.

I like the Red theme, too.

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P.S. -- Nothing is perfect. My first Red Box rental netted me an empty disk holder, that is, no DVD, which I dd not notice until I tried to watch the video. But their customer service was perfect.  I was quickly refunded my dollar and offered a free video next time I rented. All by email. In less than 24 hours.  God, I love this country.

Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, 2010.

I did not grow up in Fort Worth, but of my friends that did, most of them have a favorite Fort Worth Stock Show story. I like to hear them, if you have one.

This is my third post in three years on the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, one of Fort Worth's premier events, if not the premier event. When I moved to Fort Worth in 1982, it was called the Fat Stock Show. Now, it's just the Stock Show and there have been over 100 of them. The Stock Show has all the amenities of a county fair and a serious competitive element of show animals and live-stock selling. And, of course, the highly rated rodeo.

One year my wife and I we were exploring different parts of the Show and stumbled across the sheep dog trials. She is from the part of England where sheep dog competitions were an annual event and taken very seriously. Needless to say, we stayed for the whole competition. To me, that is half the fun of the Show, finding things you didn't necessarily expect to see, or haven't seen before.

Children love the small animals, rabbits, chickens, and you name it, it's judged; older folks like the dog shows and horse shows, and everybody loves the rodeo.

It's all worth the inexpensive admission. Once you have paid the small admission fee there are dozens of free events including music, animal shows, milking parlors, etc.

January 15 - February 7, 2010

Look for the calendar of events on their website:
http://www.fwssr.com/

Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

TODAY -- the new Fort Worth Museum of Science and History got rave reviews from my daughter, her husband, and their children. "On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a 10 . . ."

From the museum "fact sheet":

 . . . located in the heart of Fort Worth’s Cultural District. The world-class, 166,000 square-foot facility features a collection of new, interactive exhibits and programs developed by the Museum’s staff and a team of nationally recognized designers in support of the Museum’s dedication to informal, discovery-based learning for all.

I can't wait to go. Has anyone else been since it has re-opened? They say the new planetarium is amazing.

http://www.fwmuseum.org/

Artisan Bakery. Aduro Bean Coffee.

Is there a better food/beverage combination than fresh baked goods and fresh coffee? (okay besides a cold beer and a bratwurst).

I have finally had a chance to visit Artisan Bakery and to try Aduro Bean coffee and am happy I did. My wife and I visited Artisan Bakery for the first time two days before Christmas and bought two loaves of sourdough bread for the family Christmas dinner. It was excellent. The next day we toasted some for breakfast and it was even better. In case you haven't been to Artisan, owner, Gwin Grogan Grimes took an old Dairy Queen and converted it into a bakery and store. Artisan is west of downtown a few miles on White Settlement road and worth frequenting often.

We bought a one pound bag of Aduro Bean coffee while we were there and tried it for over the holidays, as well. I have to say that I think the Aduro Bean coffee is as good as my favorite brand, La Colombe.  

The best part is that Aduro Bean and Artisan Bakery are based right here in good old Fort Worth. Websites and additional information:

http://www.artisan-baking-company.com/about.html

http://www.adurobean.com/

Feckless, for no particular reason.

The suffix, "less" is used in English to help us understand a thing or an idea in its absence. Hope/hopeless, care/careless, teeth/toothless, etc.  Sometimes the "less" suffix adds a more sinister connotation, as in, "my husband is a hopeless drunk," meaning the husband has not only lost hope but is an s.o.b. as well.

I got thinking about this because I came across the word "feckless," which means, without value, but I had to research it a little to find that "feck" is an obsolete word, meaning valuable. So the word with the suffix stayed even though we lost the original root word.

Makes your day, doesn't it?