Today's History Lesson

  My mom recently passed away, and while going through her files my sister found an old life insurance policy from 1939. It was originally purchase by my grandmother, and over the years eventually was changed to make me the beneficiary. To make a long story short, the policy isn’t the real story, but rather the company that originally sold the policy.

  A company called The Praetorians, which later became know as Praetorian Mutual Life Insurance Company originally sold the policy. The Praetorians were founded as a fraternal order called The Modern Order of Praetorians by C.B Gardner in 1898, in Dallas, Texas. The Praetorians did very well, and in 1905 they announced plans to build a fourteen-story building, which would become Dallas’s first skyscraper. Many took to calling the proposed building “Gardener’s Folly”, and thought that even if it were possible to build it, the first Texas-sized northerly would blow it down.

  In October 1906 groundbreaking ceremonies were held at the chosen site on the corner of Main and Stone streets, which was formerly a vacant lot that the circus would often set up on, and local school football games played at. Soon after the hole was dug for the basement, the rains came and it became known as “Gardener’s Swimming Pool” or “Lake Gardner”. Despite everyone’s lack of confidence, the $800,000 building was completed and opened to the public in 1908. During construction an extra floor was added for a total of 15 floors, making it not only the first skyscraper in Dallas, but also the first of it’s kind west of the Mississippi. For a nominal fee of 15 cents, patrons could ride the elevator to the top, and take in the sweeping view for 20 miles in all directions. The building has of course gone through some changes over the years, but still remains a Dallas landmark.

 

    The Praetorian Building as pictured in 1939.

So, thanks to a little research I’ve discovered another link I have to some pretty cool history, and I thought that I should share it with you!

Unity Tour 2010 Hits Paso Robles

  Unity Tour 2010 played the California Mid State Fair in Paso Robles last night, to an almost completely packed arena. Opening act Pepper, from Kona, Hawaii, opened the show with an inspired 20 minute set, and were even joined by the Offspring’s Noodles on guitar for a song in the spirit of “Unity”.

  Offspring followed with what was one of the best performances ever seen in San Luis Obispo County. Their energy and presence brought the crowd to life, and had every person in the arena on their feet and singing along with them. A definite highlight of their show was a rendition of “Gone Away” by front man Dexter Holland on piano, which was as heartfelt as it was refreshing. Of course, there were many crowd pleaser's during the show, and no lack of audience participation as the crowd was singing along to every song. All in all a four-star performance by the band, and one my son and I will remember forever.

  311 headlined the event, and did not disappoint a bit. Opening with the classic “Down” from their self-titled first album, they had the crowd’s attention from the start. A very energetic band, it quickly became apparent that members of the band had more than their fair share of talent. Drummer Chad Sexton excited the crowd with a great drum solo, only to be joined by the rest of the band who each had a smaller drum kit or percussion instrument. It was quite the drum circle, and guitarist Timothy J. Mahoney was even playing on what looked like brake drums off a car suspended from a stand, that had a quite unique sound. The drum circle was capped off though when each person threw their drumsticks to another member of the band, then continued playing without missing a beat. Bassist P. Nut did not disappoint either with one of the finest bass solos I myself have ever witnessed…and I’ve seen quite a few. The evening ended after one encore by the band, and I was left wanting more…which is how you’re supposed to leave an audience in my book.

  Thanks to Tristan (sorry I couldn’t find you a goat bro!), and the folks at New Rock 107.3 for the complimentary tickets, and as a bonus I even got to sit next to Carl Edge (a real gentleman, and nice guy), the “Fishmaster”! Altogether it was a fantastic evening, and one that I was grateful to be able to share with my son, Tyler. It was his first concert (on my shoulders for Steppenwolf/Savoy Brown at Pozo at age 2 doesn’t count), and I’m sure an evening he’ll remember forever.

Thank You Canada!

  Thank you Canada for the most awesome winter games I’ve ever seen. All the people involved certainly did a top-notch job, and all the athletes performed superbly. The camera work was stunning, and all the images memorable. I was even starting to think that if I came up, Michael J. Fox would make me breakfast! And then to see one of my idols, Neil Young, play “Long May You Run”…well, that was just icing on the cake!

  Probably the most memorable moment though was the hockey game between U.S. and Canada. It was beyond any doubt the best hockey game I’ve ever seen in my life. Both sides played very well, and it was obvious to me at least that they both deserved to be there competing for the gold. I really felt Ryan Miller’s disappointment when that puck sailed by him, but I could tell by his smile at the closing ceremony that he really ‘got it’, and was fully in the spirit of the games. All of them are surely blessed with wonderful memories.

  

Chrome Bliss!

  I was surfing a few different sites a couple of days ago, doing some research for one of my books, when everything froze-up and I got a message, “Internet Explorer has encountered a problem, and needs to shut down….” This was not the first time this has happened to me, but in a moment of inspired genius I decided that it was going to be the last! I have been watching my browser get steadily slower and crash more frequently, and like a lot of people, I just chalked it up to the fact that my computer is old (never mind the fact that it was ten years ahead of it’s time in 2005), and full of stuff that probably made it harder to do it’s job. I’m sure many of you are with me so far, and have experienced the same thing. Well guess what, there is a way out. It’s called Google Chrome, and after using it for a few days I’m sorely tempted to just remove Internet Explorer completely from my system.

  Chrome’s interface is user-friendly, and it has all the features that Internet Explorer has. The biggest difference is that it isn’t as vulnerable to hacking as I.E., and so far it seems to be crash-proof. I say this because I’ve literally tried to crash it, and it’s stood up to my worst browsing habits.

  I’ve also been extremely impressed by the quality of any video when using Chrome. Video seems to buffer a little quicker, but even better than that, the actual viewing area when viewing in full-screen mode is a little bigger. Bigger is better, trust me.

  So, the next time you get shut-down by Internet Explorer, maybe give Google Chrome a try and see for yourself how well it works. To be fair, I should also mention that Mozilla’s Firefox browser is pretty nifty too, but I think that Chrome is going to be the standard we hear a lot more good things about in the next decade. 

Tales of the Strange?

  Do you have something unexplained that you would like investigated? Are you seeing something in the night sky that you are unable to identify or explain? Or maybe your just experiencing phenomena of an extremely unusual nature, and you’d like some answers. If so, then join me on my quest for truth as I search out the answers to some of life’s great mysteries.
  If you have something of interest, be it stories, photos or videos, please email me at: bugb869@gmail.com for consideration in my upcoming book or my blog.
  I’ve noticed a conspicuous lack of paranormal/UFO activity on or around the Central Coast, and I credit it to a lack of anyplace credible to report such activity. So, you (the reader) may now consider Jeff’s Central Coast a repository for just such encounters. I promise that I will give everyone a fair un-biased platform to tell their story, and I will research to the best of my abilities all information submitted for verification.
  With any luck, I will have some interesting stories to share with all of you, and a new way for us all to look at life here on the Central Coast!

Test Results for MS Word as Webpage

  As I said yesterday, I was testing the usage of MS Word as a web page for my blog, “Jeff’s Central Coast.” Just so you, the reader, know and can benefit from my experience, it was a total failure. At least for this blog, other sites might be different. Here though, the phrase ‘make work’ seems appropriate.
  When I copied and pasted my blog into the proper form used by blogspot, none of the formatting used by MS Word was copied with it. In fact my nifty little picture of me playing at farmers market didn’t make the trip either! I ended up having to re-format the whole page and import the photo all over again, so it ended up being nothing more than a huge waste of time. I still recommend typing the original in MS Word because it’s just plain smart to keep track of your writing this way. It makes it a whole lot easier to find later, as long as you make each writing exercise a separate file. I’m also keeping separate files for all my images, again because it’s easier to find later that way.
  So, I hope this helps someone. If nothing else it will serve to remind me of the little hurdles I had to overcome on my way to the top!

  It has taken a while, but I’ve finally realized that there is no escaping my artistic roots. Although I have tried many vocations, none of them were as satisfying as when I was creating, be it music, writing, photography or graphics. Other jobs might have provided the money to pay the bills, but that was the end of their benevolence. I have received much more satisfaction from writing a song or performing than I ever have doing anything else. The question now is: How can I make it profitable?
 
  For those of you that have the talent, you might try posting your resume on TheLadders.com or follow this link: http://www.theladders.com/job-search. 
 
  The sad fact is, while many of us are blessed to have jobs that we (that’s you, not me) love doing, many of us are stuck in dead-end jobs that we hate. I have been there myself, hated every minute of it, and in some cases even became very ill as a result of bad hours and no sleep. Don’t get me wrong, I have had a couple of good experiences in retail, but they were so rare and short-lived that I couldn’t possibly think of building a life in those conditions. No, I’m afraid that my spirit cries for something far greater.
 
  Thank God for blogs. At least I can write now, feel like I did something, and maybe someone else will read my writing’s and get something out of them. That would sure be nice, but it isn’t why I write. I write because like every other form of art, I am compelled to, and it fills an inexplicable need to create something. I definitely get more out of writing this blog than I would working a cash register or swinging a hammer. It all comes down to where your heart is.
 
  So it should be no surprise to any of you that I am reaffirming here and now, my artistic integrity. I really have to admire the Nike slogan, “Just do it.” Those three words really say a lot, especially when applied to anything involving a creative process. I could sit and wish I was a writer, or wish I was a musician, or wish I was a photographer, but instead I think I’ll just keep on being those things and believe once again that I am truly doing what I love.