Tweed Texas

Keep checking back often. I have several things I'll be posting soon. It's going to come fast and furious so I will update you through FB & Twitter

Announcing Texas Cool Wear

  I am really excited to tell you about my new endeavor, Texas Cool Wear because it is something you can really use and I’m betting you’re gonna like it but before I tell you all about that; if you will just allow me two minutes of your time there’s something you need to know.

  If you know me, you know I am passionate about Texas, my book, Texas in Her Own Words and especially my speaking business. There is nothing better than knowing you’ve made a difference in another person’s life. It’s not about my ego but helping others to realize they really do have it in them to achieve great things and live their dream. I am passionate about helping people live their dream. I will continue to pursue my speaking business with my inherent passion. So if you need me to speak for your group, don’t hesitate; call me.

   Now let’s talk Texas Cool. I have been introduced to a product by some friends—one of whom I’ve known almost my entire life. I trust them. I first heard about over a year ago and thought, “Wow that sounds kind of cool.” My friend asked me recently if I’d be interested in handling the product on an exclusive basis for Texas. I asked lots of questions. I tried and tested the samples myself. I instantly became a fan and realized how value laden this product was for anyone in Texas who walks out of their house in the summer. I became passionate about these products and I want to share them with you.  You know me and I wouldn’t be involved with anything that sounds or smells the least bit shady. This is the real deal. That’s why I’m involved and asking you to try this revolutionary product. Will it fix dinner for you? No. Will it cure cancer? No. Will it provide some relief from the searing Texas heat…Now we’re talking.

  Large areas of Texas posted triple digit temperatures again today. You want relief. You want…no you need something to help you cope with the heat. I have something that will cool you down and keep you cool for hours. How do spell relief? TEXAS COOL.  What’s more, it is very affordable and the product is reusable for years. Every now and then, toss it in the washer and you’re good to go. Once you try it, you won’t want to leave the house with out it.

    Before I tell you about it you need to know this product is designed for anyone who works or plays outdoors in the heat. I mean anyone. The applications are endless, runners, riders, construction workers, farmers, marathon runners, delivery people, gym rats, gardeners, ranchers, roofers, highway workers, people who work indoors in hot spaces, motorcyclist; virtually anyone who has to deal with our Texas heat.

   This new amazing technology can take you from hot to cool in seconds and what is it? A piece of cloth. That’s right I am talking about a piece of light weight cloth about the size of a sports towel, or head band or even a bandana. How does it work? You simply take it out of the package, wet it with water, wring out the excess water, grab it at each end and pop it or snap it a couple of times and then pull it over your shoulders or neck or your head.  You will immediately notice how the cloth will drop in temperature. It will cool from whatever the water temperature was that you used to wet the cloth (you can use hot water to show the dramatic change in temperature) to about 58-60 degrees and stay there for up to a couple of hours or more.  The moment you walk outside into that 90+ heat, you WILL notice the difference. This product must have been designed with Texas in mind.

   It truly is amazing. This is a newly patented product and I have been chosen as the exclusive wholesale distributor in the state of Texas. I am the only place in the lone star state where you can get this unbelievable heat relieving product. The product is a green product; there are no chemicals anywhere to be found. The secret is in the stitching which sets up a network of cooling threads. That’s what makes it work. It is simply an attractive piece of cloth that can be personalized or branded with your logo or artwork. Essentially the way it works, once you get it wet and snap it into action the towel will regulate the rate the water evaporates  and as a result, as long as the fabric stays moist either from water or your perspiration it will continue to stay cool. After awhile if you think the cloth is beginning to lose some of its coolness, just take it off snap it a couple of times and the cooling action is reactivated.

    If you are a company or fundraising organization, your logo or artwork can easily be added to make a unique and attractive gift or profit center for your organization.

    So now you want to know what it cost, right? Of course you do. Our top 3 sellers are the Sports Headband which sells for $14.95 retail.  The 10” X 36” Sports Towel or Bandana retails for $19.95. You can use these products for years.

  Right now I am offering some attractive introductory wholesale rates. If you own a company or retail outlet or know someone who owns or runs one that has employees exposed to the heat everyday, this product can help their people deal with the heat and therefore help them be more productive. I’m talking about landscapers, contractors, builders, road construction, utility companies, city employees…you get the idea.

  If you want more information, call or email me and let’s discuss the possibilities.  These products are not only affordable, they work and will be in great demand and do offer a nice profit center for you as well. Let’s talk. My contact information is Tweed@TweedScott.com or (832) 260-6100. I’d love to start a conversation with you.

It’s hot and it’s not going to get any better until the middle of October. No reason to suffer.  Contact me for some relief.

      

  

Patriotism

Happy 4th of July.  I love the patriotic feeling of everyone on this day. I just wish it was an emotion we as a people would display passionately everyday of the year. After the last piece of barbeque, fried chicken, hot dog or apple pie is gone and the last wisp of smoke from the fireworks has wafted away so often does the emotion of what made us us--that thing inside us that makes us proud to be an American. You know of my love of Texas but I share a deep rooted love of America too. It is the land of my birth.

  I grew up in Norman Rockwell’s America…I grew up knowing those people in his portraits…not personally but people they represented. It was a time of optimism based on family values and spiritual stability. We knew who we were. This was a great country. My little piece was Laconia, New Hampshire.  My little town always held its Memorial Day parade ON Memorial Day regardless what day of the week the holiday fell. Patriotism was deeply rooted in our hearts. The 4^th of July was always my favorite…The whole uplifting ‘proud to be an American’ feeling permeated the air--the fireworks at ‘the Weirs’ or Opeechee Park.

  I think the 4^th of July was a favorite because I understood why the day was special. I had heard the stories you see. I knew about Paul Revere, Lexington & Concord, George Washington and the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence.

  How remarkable it all was to me. The whole affair seemed so improbable. How was it that those particular 56 men came together to write such a piercing yet monumental document? I have always been in awe of those 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence. I was so taken that I wrote a term paper about it in high school. I wrote about what personal price those men paid for signing that document. I have always believed GOD had to have a hand in this. How these 56 came together from various backgrounds and circumstances and yet, found the courage to stand up to a king and persevere to create a country. The events leading up to the signing of that document 233 years ago stand as a unique moment in time that changed the world. It was a time when one’s word and honor stood for something. It was the right time for such momentous ideas--Liberty, freedom, pursuit of happiness for every man. It had never been done before—such a grand experiment that became a way of life.

  I’m not one to live in the past; however, I long to live where passion to be free to pursue my ambitions and dreams still thrives. I don’t get the sense anymore that we as a people are as enthusiastic about our national roots and the source of our American pride. Yes, it is still there but somehow muted. Remember how united we were in the days following 9/11? We all felt violated and attacked. We came together. The flag was displayed everywhere you looked.  We banded together in our dark moment of common hurt and anger. Overtime, even that seems to have faded.

As Americans we have been blessed more than any land or people have ever been. I do believe the very existence of our nation was guided by the hand of GOD. Those 56 men entrusted their lives and honor to each other. The result was the birth of a nation.  I pray we still understand and hold in our hearts the source of our patriotism and practice the values that make us uniquely American. Happy 4^th of July.

More Changes

This will be a rather short post but I need to bring you up to date on a couple of things. First and probably more important for my speaking business is that I just changed my phone number and I want to share that with you and potential clients. I moved to Cypress, a suburb of Houston, last October. For the longest I have held onto my Austin area phone number because that is the number my friends and clients were used to finding me. However, having lived in Houston now for coming on a year, my day to day activities clearly revolve more around the Houston area now. It makes sense to make the change. So I made the change. My new number is (832) 281-6100. If you think you might have the occasion to call me, pleas put that number in your phone or at the very least, write it down where you can find it.
  I do want to thank the members of the Dover Club in Houston for their kind invitation to come out and speak to them recently. This is a top of he line networking and referral group. I also got to conduct a workshop in Johnson City, TX at the LBJ Settlement National Park in conjunction with the national park, the Johnson City Public Library and the Writers' League of Texas. My workshop focused on Memoir writing. I had a bout 17 eager and interesting people in my group. Believe me, I had a great time. 
  While I was in the area, I restocked he Nimitz Gift Shop with more copies of Texas In Her Own Words and opened a new outlet at the Berkman Bookstore in Fredericksburg. I also made a swing by Luckenbach. I need to restock the General Store there. I AM bummed that I didn't get to hang for awhile and down a Shiner Bock but I was on a pretty tight schedule. That's what I've been up to. There is more to tell you but that will wait for another post but let me tease you a bit. The Johnson City Public Library chose my book as the book of the month for July-August. So I get to go back in August to conduct two book discussions with the library patrons. I'm excited already.
   Don't forget to note my new phone number. (832) 260-6100 The old one doesn't work anymore.  In the meantime, take care of your precious selves.

The 'Which Way Tree'

  Anyone who knows me knows of my passion for Texas. One of my favorite things to do is explore Texas.  I have been in a love affair with my adopted state since I was barely 18 years old when the US Navy saw fit to send me to Kingsville from New Hampshire.  I have crisscrossed this state at least a dozen times and I never tire of it. I am continually amazed by its geography, flora and fauna and her people.  And as for its history…well…my friend Scott Rylander said it better than anyone has ever said it. He said, “Texas doesn’t so much have a history--it tells a great story.” He’s right. The history of Texas is a great story.

  The story of the Texas Revolution is an interesting story on so many levels. I see it as a tapestry of colorful people, places and improbable events. These were very real people in every sense of the word. They were just as human as you or me. They were afraid of what the future held in store. They knew what it was like to be hungry, to bleed and to take a stand. History is full of little weird anomalies that make you wonder about what was going through this person or that person’s head at a critical moment in time. Those same thoughts struck me recently as I stood under a solitary gigantic oak tree in the now defunct Texas settlement of New Kentucky.

  There is nothing left of this community. Unless you know of its history and location you’d never know it ever existed. Just a few miles west of present day Tomball, TX on FM 2920 there is a tiny park tucked in just off the road. You need to be looking for it if you want to find it. It is New Kentucky Park. What is historically significant about this place is that it is the site of the ‘Which Way Tree’ and a well.

  I pride myself on knowing a good bit about Texas. I’m a voracious reader of Texas books and materials but I can honestly say I was surprised that I had never heard the story before or if I had, I’d mysteriously forgotten it. I’d like to share the story with you now. It’s really not a long story…just a quirk in history but for me fascinating.

  As for the 'Which Way Tree'... During the TX revolution after the Alamo fell, the government and the army fled to the east as part of what we know as the 'Runaway Scrape.' Sam Houston was trying to keep his army together and one step ahead of Santa Ana. The road from Washington-on-the-Brazos forked at the settlement of New Kentucky. Sam Houston's army stopped there around midday April 16, 1836. One road led east to the Trinity and the Sabine rivers. The other road led to Harrisburg (you know it as Houston today). On that site was a gigantic oak tree with limbs pointing to each of the 2 roads. Houston and his men camped under the tree enjoying the protection from the elements offered by its expansive canopy. As Houston pondered his options and strategy, at some point, Sam supposedly looked at the tree and decided to go in the direction of the limb pointing toward Harrisburg. That road led the ragtag little army five days later to victory at San Jacinto and the Republic of Texas was born. The gigantic oak still stands there today in that tiny park. There is also a well that Sam and his men supposedly drew their water.

  As I stood there under that tree, I couldn't help but be moved knowing that Sam Houston stood in that same spot just over 173 yrs ago. I could easily visualize him standing there weighing his options and struggling with a making a decision. As I said those folks were just as human as the rest of us. That unmarked tree is the 'Which Way Tree. It helped Sam Houston determine which way to go. Maybe a minor quirk in our history but something fun to ponder. I can't speak for you but some days I wish I had a 'Which Way Tree' to help me make up my mind.

  The only more significant tree in Texas is ‘Treaty Oak’ in Austin. Someday I’ll tell you about that tree too.  I was there when that loon tried to kill it by poisoning it back in the 80’s. I could easily see the tree from my KVET control room window overlooking Lamar Boulevard. I watched it die slowly every day until heroic efforts were made to save what they could of it. Thanks for sharing your time with me.

Catchin' Up

For some reason I don't totally understand I have been asked several times lately about how my book, Texas In Her Own Words is doing. Well here's what I can tell you.   It's a good time to talk about where Texas In Her Own Words is today. This has proven to be the 'little book that could.' Who knew. We had a wonderful start selling 125 copies at the book release party at Hill's Cafe in Austin, TX. This book has proven to be special even from the git go. The Alamo called a month after it came out and wanted to sell it in the gift shop. They asked me how long it would take to get the books delivered to them. It is exactly 64 minutes from my house to the gift shop...but who's counting?
  After that, doors blew open everywhere. It was like instant validity and credibility for this book. I cannot thank them enough for being such great partners. The market continued to grow for my little labor of love and before long we found the book being sold in such wonderful places as The Bob Bullock State of Texas History Museum, both of the State Capitol building gift shops in Austin, the San Jacinto Monument and Battlefield, the Sam Houston Statue on I-45 in Huntsville just to name a few.
  This has been a remarkable journey for both me and the book. I knew before the book was ever printed how I was going to market this book. I would do the bulk of my marketing through speaking, giving presentations and speeches and then sell in he  back of the room. That has been the key to any success we've had. Understand I truly appreciate any sales from Amazon or Barnes & Nobles for that matter but my passion is speaking...speaking about Texas specifically.
   I started off by speaking to civic groups like Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions clubs and selling the back of the room. Before long people started to come up and ask me how much I would charge to speak to another one of their groups. That completely changed my business model. Instantly I went from being a writer who speaks to a speaker who writes. There is a big difference. I tell people who want to write a book to remember that as an author you will spend 6% of your time writing your book. You'll spend 94% of your time marketing your book. I have been doing this for just over 3 years now and that statistic is dead on. That is the reality.
  Fortunately, I love what I do and plan on continuing with the journey. I am still actively opening new outlets for the book. When I wrote this little jewel, I wrote it for both Texans and non-Texas alike. I also wrote it to be an evergreen. There is no dated material in it. The concepts that went into the making of this book where  170 years in the making. 
  I'll close for now saying that we have been blessed by this book and all the friends and acquaintances we've made a long the way. I thank each of you who have bought Texas In Her Own Words or have invited me to speak for your group. Thank you for your many kindnesses. They have not gone unnoticed. Where do we go from here? Well who really knows. People ask me all the time, 'How are you doin'?" My answer is always the same. "I'm just living the dream." I have you to thank for that.
  I am a speaker and I would love to speak for your group or organization. Contact me through my website...http://www.TweedScott.com  Talk to you soon.

Road Trips

 

This will be short post but I do want to thank my hosts for a couple speaking engagements. I spoke in Caldwell, TX for the Burleson County Chamber of Commerce. That was a fun audience and they made me feel like some kind of rock star. I hope they had half he fun I had.
  Then the following Tuesday, I drove to Lawton-Ft. Sill, OK to speak for the American Society of Military Comptrollers. If has anything to with moving Money or manpower for he Army, these are the folks who do it. I created a whole new program just for them. I called it 'All Stressed Up and No Place to Go! These folks are under a lot of pressure to get stuff done and right.  They are under a lot of stress. The presentation focused on humor and embracing change.
  It is interesting, I booked an event today and the meeting planner suggested that I use that title for her group. So I am back to the creating stage of my next presentation. I have also applied for another speaking opportunity in Wichita Falls in June. So the journey continues. I'll be back soon to update you. In the meantime, take care of your precious selves.

Terrible Tuesday Revisted

   I couldn't let this day go by without mentioning that today is a dubious anniversary. It's not a day I celebrate but simply remember with a profound humbleness and some sadness too. It is hard for me to believe this is the 30th anniversary of the Lawton-Wichita Falls tornadoes. If you were there you understand. It was a day I will never forget. I have run into several survivors over the years and the one thing we all have in common is that we all remember the most minute details of portions of that day.
  My friend Dane Daniel reminded me of that this morning on Facebook about the impact that day had on all of us. He was there too. He understands.
   As for me, I had just taken over the Operations Manager duties of KLAW radio. The station had changed formats from Rock/Disco/Whatever it was to country music less than ten days prior. When the management changed format, the entire staff walked out...quit...vanished. I got hired to clean up the mess. I inherited a radio operation with one full time DJ and several part time high school kids. That was my air staff. Fortunately, I brought a trusted friend and co-worker, Al Smith with me from my previous operation at KSEY in Seymour, TX. He was a rock. We worked well together for many years.
  We both settled into our new duties and began to make changes to the operation that would enable our success in the months and years to come. One of the things that needed addressing was the station van. With the format change,it was obvious the van needed a whole new paint scheme. So one of the first things we did was take it to a paint & body shop to get a new design. I went by the shop on the morning of April 10th, '79 with plans of picking up the van.  After inspecting the new paint job we debated about leaving the van there for another couple of days because if you looked very very closely, there were a couple of tell tail signs of the previous paint scheme under the new one. We almost left the van there but finally decided that it really wasn't worth the hassle. I drove the van back to the radio station and parked it.
  That whole day the weather was cloudy, very very humid and at times there was almost a fog during the day and visibility was diminished.  It was after 3pm when we got our first indications of the trouble to come. Richard Adkins at the Civil Defense Unit which happened to be right across the street from  the radio station notified everyone in the media via a hot line installed at all the media outlets. Our first indication of bad weather was him telling us about a tornado that had just torn up Vernon, TX; killing 11 or 12 people. What I remember about that was that one of the fatalities was child who was supposedly a decendent of the famous indian Quanah Parker. Vernon is about 85 miles to our SW.
  From that moment on, Adkins did a wonderful job of keeping us informed and up to date about the progress of the storm. Understand weather technology such as radar was still just coming on the media scene and was not widely available. I'm sure most of the information we got that day came from the fabulous network of mobile storm spotters stationed throughout the area.
  After the second or third phone call on the hot line, I had enough information to begin to make some informed decisions about what we needed to be doing to begin to prepare for what was coming our way. I walked into our closet sized newsroom on the third floor of the Security Bank Building. On the wall was a map of OK. It showed enough of Texas that I could draw a straight line from Vernon to Lawton. Doing a little 4th grade math I figured that if the storm continued on the present course and the current rate, I determined we would get hit by the storm at or about 4:50 or 5 o'clock.
  It was just before straight up 5 o'clock when Richard Adkins made his final phone call to tell us that the tornado was going to come into the SW area of the city and exit out the east side of town. I walked over to Al Smith who was on the air at the time and I tapped him on the shoulder and said, "This is it."
He faded the song down and he cracked the microphone open for me and I spoke.
  I began, "Ladies & gentlemen, we have just been informed by Richard Adkins at Civil Defense & Preparedness that we have a tornado on the ground and it will enter the city within 10 minutes. You need to go to a place of safety. This is not a drill. Do not panic but you do need to take some positive action right now. If you are in a mobile home, you need to get to a more secure location. If you have a storm cellar, now is the time to get to it...." There was more but you get the picture.
  I moved the office staff and some others into the stairwell between floors. Al & I stayed in or near the control room. I do recall us moving around the office some. In fact at one point I remember leaning out of the window looking for the tornado. Yes, that was totally stupid. Fact is, if we had looked out of the General Manager's office window, we would have seen it as it passed not 6 blocks from us. It passed just south of Central Mall which was being built at the time. If I recall some of the roof collapsed where JC Penny was being built.
   The tornado hit us at about 5:05. At that very moment, unknown to us another tornado was just getting cranked up in Seymour, TX about 52 miles SW of Wichita Falls. This storm would build and work it's way up Highway 277/82 and would explode over Wichita Falls as a killing monster. This tornado would expand to a half mile wide and would destroy everything in its path for at least 6 miles. 20,000 people became instantly homeless in ten minutes...some 20% off the city of roughly 100,000.
  I believe the Lawton tornado made the national news at 6pm. Nobody talked about Lawton after that. What happened in Lawton was dwarfed by everything that happened in Wichita Falls. For me it was a physical experience to see what happened in both places. Tornadoes have a way of taking life out of context. You see things tossed together that your mind finds almost impossible to put together. I actually saw blades of straw driven into a fence post at 90 degree angles. The WF storm finally played itself out near Waurika, OK as I recall. The paint & body shop where I picked up the van not 7 hours earlier was gone...nothing left but a bathroom and a cement slab. The 3 men who survived in the bathroom recounted how they heard us on the radio telling them to take cover. They we saved their lives. When I read their story in the Lawton Constitution the next day, the hair came up on my arms. We made a difference. it mattered that I was there.
  I could go on for several hours about that day. I still think of the people who lost their lives that day in Vernon, Lawton and Wichita Falls. Those of us who were there remember. I remember parts of that day as if it was yesterday. Thank you for letting me ramble on this 30th anniversary of an important day in my life. That one day had the biggest and most profound impact on my professional career--more than any other day of my 31 years in the business. That one day made me realize that what I did for a living really mattered. That single day colored the way I did my job and approached my career from that day forward.  If you were there, I'd love to hear from you.

 

Texanomics !

I would like you to be the first hear about my newest presentation

TEXANOMICS!...Why the national economic recovery starts HERE!

Texas already holds within its borders everything it needs to lead the nation back on the road to economic recovery. It also has a 'secret weapon' that the rest of the country recognizes but doesn't understand...the Texas Spirit and Can-Do mindset. Texans will not accept NO as an outcome. By the close of my presentation you will understand why the turn around will begin in Texas. It's a great presentation for Chambers of Commerce or any business or organization invested in successful outcomes.

  If you have seen my signature presentation lately, you know how I always work in some the many special attributes Texas and Texans possess. This is truly a special place. Not only is it an awe inspiring place to live and work. It is a hotbed of entrepreneurial energy and ingenuity. It has been that way from the git go and has never stopped. This is a place where dreams are invented not just dreamed.

  I have to tell you. I saw a video this week that inspired me even more than I normally am about Texas. In fact, many of the facts I present in my presentation were quoted in the video. I bet you have done the same thing in your life as I have regarding inspirational moments. How may times in your life have you heard a song and said, "I could have written that." or "I wish I had written that"? I had that very same feeling the first time I saw "Texas--The Big Picture" on the IMAX at the Bob Bullock Museum. (In fact I made that statement to Tim McClure while interviewing him for my book that I could have written that script. He mentioned to me that HE in fact wrote the script for the movie...{ever see the Southwest Airlines commercial where they say..."Wanna get away?"}  OOOPS. By the way have you ever noticed that OOOPS and Oh-Oh are never associated with anything positive?)

  Well back to the main thought...I had that feeling while watching the video and I bet you do too. Before I share the link with you. Let me tell you something else. I thought about what I had seen and what I have been telling various Chambers of Commerce around the state lately. I talked about it in a previous post. The recovery will be from the bottom up---NOT top down. It IS true. Texas has every asset it needs to come out of this economic down turn better than any where else in the country. And do it more quickly too. We are blessed to live here but we also have a responsibility to live as Texans. Be should always be undaunted and find  better ways to improve this place we call home. We need to buy local and from each other and our neighbors. We need to share ideas with each other. Texans have always thought outside the box...hell there never was a box. It's too big for a box. It's Texas...No is NOT an Option.  Here's the weblink: http://texaplex.co  It was put together by someone I don't even know but want to. It is geared toward Texas Real Estate but it works for the big picture that is Texas. If you enjoy the video and if you own a real estate companyy and need a speaker to inspire your troops...call me. In the meantime, take care of your precious selves.

Remember the Alamo

  Today is the 173rd anniversary of the fall of the Alamo in San Antonio. I believe that this place is so special and meaningful to Texans everywhere. When I was interviewing people for my book, Texas In Her Own Words, I found people speak of the Alamo with reverence. They speak of it as if holds a special meaning for them. I'm convinced that somehow, some way the people of Texas are somehow spiritually connected to those men who gave up their lives.
  What happened at the Alamo is not unique. Groups of people have stood up and fought to the death for something they have believed in in virtually every generation since history was recorded by man. What is unique about the Alamo is that a country was forged out of that process. These men died for an idea. To this day Texans admire people who will stand up for what they believe in--even in the face of insurmountable odds. Texans admire courage, standing up for what you believe in and the perseverance of mind. That is an inseparable part of the Texan character. The events at the Alamo have been internalized so completely by Texans that it has become a part of who they are.
  I congratulate all Texans and join them in celebration and solemn gratitude on this special day--Alamo Day. Texas was forged out that and other events 173 years ago. There should always be time to "Remember the Alamo!"