One month from today I will be celebrating my 30th wedding anniversary.
In an age when we see articles like this from old friend John Hawkins talk about how marriage is a bad deal this is a rare thing.
My standard line is to credit this success to my good luck and my wife’s failing eyesight but the reality is that like anything else the success of my marriage is not accidental and comes from decisions both past and current.
So over the next 30 days I’m going to give you 30 tips in no particular order of importance 30 tips on making your current or upcoming or future marriage last 30 thirty years.
Today’s Tip: Choose Wisely
Eddie Kagle [as Judge Parker]We want to get married.
Minister:Why? [confused looks] Too many people get married today without asking why?
Angel on my Shoulder 1946
This is such an obvious statement that it seems ridiculous to mention it but many people both get married and choose a mate in haste or without considering the most important things to consider.
Is this the person that I want raising my children? Teaching them right and wrong, protecting them?
Will this person contribute to our mutual partnership, if not financially, in terms of morale, in terms of action, or spiritually?
Is this person compatible with me in the morals and beliefs that I wish to pass onto our children?
Can I see myself waking up next to this person in 30 years and being glad that I did?
Today’s culture ignores these questions, encourages people to make rash decisions based on transitory emotions, but without these important practical questions, asked and answered up front, you are going to find that the seeds of failure will be planted right at the start.
A long time ago I was dubbed, I forget by who, “the hardest working blogger at CPAC”.
I have always been proud of that title and every year at CPAC I have done my utmost to continue to earn this title I was given. This was not only for the sake of said title but for the sake of DaWife who was home working and unable to take a week to go to Washington. Thus it has been a very rare thing to see me at a CPAC party, my nights are usually spent uploading video, scheduling posts for said video or recording my DaTechGuy’s Midnight Court segments till late in the morning. And, as oldtime bloggers will attest when I’ve been seen at parties in the past I have had my laptop with me and been seen sitting on the floor with a can of soda and a plate of food next to me as I continue to work.
The Axis of Fedora
This year had a different dynamic for two reasons, the first being that the Gaylord National Harbor forbade me from doing the midnight court in the lobby as I had done the year before (apparently a guest complained) and since DaMidnight court was predicated on grabbing interviews with people returning from events late, setting up on radio row would not do, so I dropped it.
Secondly for the first time ever at CPAC I had company.
Oh not the normal company of other bloggers sharing a room or hanging out. This year I had family.
When I first secured my hotel room thanks the generosity of my readers and the sudden reversal of my working fortunes I asked my wife if she wanted to accompany me, she declined citing February in DC, however my two sons jumped at the chance to go to DC.
It was a big win for them, they had a base to operate from while seeing Washington, the use of the rental to hit DC and because they came as my assistants they were credentialed press giving them access to the press area which gave them not only an excellent view of the President’s speech but a chance to see the MSM up close as they reacted to it (more on that later).
For me the plan was pretty much the same, shoot interviews, upload videos and use my questions to establish the parameters of the President’s support and the chances for the GOP in November. CPAC would be what it always was, 12-15 hour days or more with a few minutes taken to eat here and there.
The presence of these young men however changed this a bit and each in his own way.
Bob and Edith’s Alexandra VA
My oldest is the analytical one. He pointed out things I was missing in interviews in terms of lighting, angels and poses particularly when I was in front of the camera rather than behind it. It’s a constant struggle to see what’s in front of you, that fresh set of eyes made a big difference. He also suggested directions of inquiry and took notes as he observed the media during the Trump speech, the results of which you will see as a guest post in the near future.
My youngest one, while more into the political scene than the older made it a point to introduce me to the joys of the surrounding area. It was he that suggested the trip to VUK that allowed me to discover Lea, the key interview of the trip. He also suggested the trip to Bob and Edith’s Diner taken at 1 AM Saturday morning resulting in a good breakfast, interesting conversation and this short interview with the overnight line cook
In other words, he make sure that I was OUTSIDE the activist/msm/news/blogger bubble for at least a few hours. This not only decreased my tension level immensely but it provided me the chance to speak to actual Marylanders and Virginians who were not there specifically to serve me as a CPAC convention goer and thus more free to be themselves and give their own opinions in conversation.
Furthermore on the final day my sons and I joined Nice Deb, Stacy McCain and others for the final day of the Unsustainable Bartab party put on by the Four Tier Strategies people. In the past I might put a pro-forma appearance at something like this but this time I stayed, introducing my sons around, speaking to friends and sharing a song or two with Stacy & CO as the sober songbird of the bunch (I’m sure there is video of that on the net somewhere) or put simply I relaxed and I’m sure my body which is almost a decade older than when I attended my first CPAC is the better for it.
There was a cost to this of course. I didn’t take my laptop with me to the diner, or to VUK or to the party so I wasn’t uploading and editing. This is why I find myself on my day off from work scheduling posts that a year ago would have already been done by now.
It will be for you, dear reader to decide if I have still earned my old title based on the volume of work and there will be a month’s worth of posts to back up that old claim.
But looking back at it a week later from my own bed I’m very pleased these young men decided to come with me, not only because I’m always pleased to spend time with my sons, but because on reflect I can say with certainty that both in terms of labor and in psyche I had a better CPAC this year because of them.
DaTechGuy at CPAC 2018 The story (blogged) so far:
If you don’t want to wait or my blog posts to see my interviews my youtube channel is here.
Full CPAC 2017 list (for those who feel nostalgic) is here
A reminder I have copies of my Book Hail Mary the perfect Protestant (and Catholic) Prayer available at CPAC with me, price $7 and I will happily sign them for you.
Yesterday I highlighted my short walking interview with Senator Ted Cruz before his speech, today as I wake up just before 9 AM after a very good 1:30 AM breakfast at Bob and Edith’s Diner in Arlington VA I want to tell you a story about what, in my opinion is the most telling and important interview I have done so far in the 60 videos I’ve shot since hitting CPAC.
I’ve covered Pinball events and will be doing a big one in MA in about 4 months so it was a good fit but I filed it in the back of my mind too busy doing what I do here to consider it. Thursday I was with Deb Heine (PJ Media, more from here later) when John Hawkins and Sierra Marly swung by mentioning a road trip to a Brazilian
restaurant with a group. The boys were still on the road and I gave them a call when they reminded me of our planned dinner at VUK which I had completely forgotten.
So, with some regret I declined and when my young men pulled up I joined them in the car and as my oldest had been driving a bit, took the wheel to head for Bethesda. After about an hour in traffic we arrived.
If you are a pinball person let me highly recommend VUK as a place to go. It is right across from a local multi story garage so parking isn’t an issue. The Pizza is NY style, sold by the slice from 18-20″ pies that are available. They are not only delicious but priced very reasonably,(particularly when compared to the restaurants at National Harbor). The machine selection was excellent including classics like Creature From the Black Lagoon and two Jersey Jack machines, the Hobbit and Dialed IN and all the games are only 50 cents.
The Hobbit and Creature from the black Lagoon at VUK
The drink selection is limited to bottled beers, honest teas and some craft sodas, but again they are offered at reasonable prices and complement the experience. There is seating for just under 30 but they also have a function room upstairs which I think might make an interesting CPAC event (Media vs the bloggers pinball next year?). If you want to kick back with some Pizza, Pinball and beer, VUK (which stands for Vertical Up Kicker for those who are unfamiliar with pinball) is the place to do it.
Within a few minutes of hitting the machines I realized what a good idea this had been. All of the tension of being on the go and constant work disappeared after a just a few minutes of playing the silver ball, but the real game changer of the night came completely by accident.
Still got the touch
When my sons picked me up I was still in my suit, wearing my press credential with one camera around my neck and a second on my monopod. It was that along with my grey beard, rather than my fedora and scarf, that made me stand out like a sore thumb and peaked the interest of a party of five sitting the window two tables away who asked who I was. I explained I was down to cover CPAC, talked about my previous pinball coverage and struck up a conversation with these rather pleasant folks.
It stuck me at the time it would be a good story to contrast their answers to the questions I’ve been asking everyone at CPAC so I asked if any of them would consent to an interview. Of the five one agreed. Meet Lea
She is right about the quality of both the pizza and the pinball (and I played that total nuclear annihilation machine she talked about. I’d not seen it before, it’s a unique layout and a fun game) and if you do essential oils I’d give her online business a look but the real story of the night was her answers to my CPAC questions that I’ve been asking everyone here.
Now a person like my self who has covered angry mobs last year, and is constantly bathed in the political fight, not to mention the media narrative of absolute Trump / GOP hatred and constantly in the company of activists both at home and at CPAC, might expect a Democrat woman of color living in a blue state to give answers fitting the us vs them narrative, particularly if filmed and in the presence of her friends.
She did not.
She gave the President mixed marks, complemented him on keeping campaign promises that he made to his people, noted that as a Democrat she’d like to see some more moderate moves. Her answers had none of the rancor or the division that the media has pushed on us for the year or that I’ve seen from angry activists. They were completely reasonable answers that would not have been out of place several decades ago in a saner time when I remembered people could disagree and get along. In other words they reflected who she is, a normal American trying to get by whose primary focus is real life instead of manufactured outrage.
This told me two things that are vital to understanding election 2018 and 2020.
Despite what our media friends are trying to sell us, Regular Democrats, even democrats in a blue place like Maryland are not wedded to the Peloxi/CNN/MSNBC line and are seeing this president for what he is rather than what they are being told he is.
People like Lea are winnable and the media narrative is all about convincing us she is not.
Now you might think I’m making too much of this one interview, but remember, she is a young person, with young friends (I would place the age range of the group from low to mid 20’s to one outlier in the mid 30’s) living in an Twitter/facebook , internet social media age. Furthermore the MSM has been telling me that a young woman of color like her has nothing but disdain for conservatives in general and Donald Trump in particular.
If you believe them she shouldn’t exist but there she is and if there is one Lea in a county of 300+ million there are likely hundreds of thousands of others out there not wedded to the MSM narrative of doom and gloom.
It’s a story that isn’t being found, but it can be, all you have to do is go outside the media bubble and see what is there, if one is willing to look.
If you don’t want to wait or my blog posts to see my interviews my youtube channel is here.
Full CPAC 2017 list (for those who feel nostalgic) is here
A reminder I have copies of my Book Hail Mary the perfect Protestant (and Catholic) Prayer available at CPAC with me, price $7 and I will happily sign them for you.
Or you can just order it on Amazon
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During a visit last year to Vietnam, I made the trek to Khe Sanh, one of the key battles during the Tet Offensive, which happed 50 years ago.
For most of the journey, I bristled at the Vietnamese guide and propagandist, who maintained Tet was a major victory for the Communist forces. I finally had enough and offered some facts to the other tourists on the bus.
Simply put, the coverage of the 1968 North Vietnamese attack is a startling example of how the U.S. media got it wrong. The media presented Tet as a major loss for the Americans when it actually was a massive defeat for North Vietnam.
The North Vietnamese government launched the offensive during Tet, the celebration of the Vietnamese New Year. The attacks began on January 30 on targets in Saigon and other Vietnamese cities, and ended a little more than a month later when Marines crushed the last pockets of resistance in the northern city of Hue.
As The Washington Post’s Saigon bureau chief Peter Braestrup documented in his book The Big Story, reporters systematically used Tet to turn the reality of a U.S. victory into an image of American and South Vietnamese defeat.
For example, journalists reported that that Vietcong had overrun five floors of the U.S. embassy when the VC never got inside the building. Newsweek’s coverage of the siege of Khe Sanh showed 18 photos out of a total of 29 of dead or wounded Marines or Marines huddling under cover, never mentioning that the Marines inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy.
That campaign of misrepresentation culminated in Walter Cronkite’s half-hour TV special on February 27, 1968, when he told his viewers that Tet had proved that America was “mired in a stalemate.”
Here are some important facts that got lost in the journalistic shuffle. The North Vietnamese Army lost 20 percent of its forces in the South and suffered 33,000 men killed in action for no military gain.
As The New Republic put it recently: “The American public knew none of this, however. The misrepresentation by America’s most respected newsman and most trusted media outlets of what had actually happened during Tet stunned the American public and the body politic. Popular support for the war took a heavy hit, as the war’s critics now grabbed center stage….
“After Tet, American media had assumed a new mission for itself: to shape the nation’s politics by crafting a single coherent narrative, even if it meant omitting certain relevant facts and promoting other false or misleading ones. standing — just as they had convinced them a year earlier that America’s major victory was actually a major defeat.”
Yesterday I highlighted my short walking interview with Senator Ted Cruz before his speech, today as I wake up just before 9 AM after a very good 1:30 AM breakfast at Bob and Edith’s Diner in Arlington VA I want to tell you a story about what, in my opinion is the most telling and important interview I have done so far in the 60 videos I’ve shot since hitting CPAC.
Consider subscribing. 7 more subscribers at $20 a month will pay the monthly price for the new host/server.
