The discovery began as I was sorting through an initial batch of emails to which I was included on from the client. These emails contained links to articles, press releases, blog posts, etc. There were even links to re-tweets on Twitter (it irks me that Twitter is now in our vocabulary).

After a few moments I was grazing through some of the Twitter conversations and came across one from a blog called Pajamas and Coffee where the author gets in to how she got shit-faced the night before and cheated on her boyfriend (seems trashy I know but it’s not, keep reading).

Her boyfriend in this case was Jack Daniels the liquor. She cheated on Jack by drinking another liquor, thus the post title I cheated on Jack. She regretted it in the morning with a major hangover. What blew me away though is what her husband told her the next morning when she woke up…

(Remember a moment ago I said this isn’t trashy? Well, I lied. It is. It’s profane and distasteful and this is your last chance to escape the vulgarity to which you are about to be exposed.)

Her husband’s first words in the morning were, “I knew it was time to take you home when you started fucking the icicle.”

So here I am fishing through conversations amongst moms and then WHAM! I have this in front of me. Suddenly I began feeling like a pretty simple guy.

As I look closer I see other “mommy” bloggers and Twitterers commenting on this and sharing a laugh (and re-tweets too). I knew that women, like men, have their raunchy side, but I didn’t consider their public conversations about it when I took this job. It just never crossed my mind that I would be susceptible to this kind of dialog.

Considering this is only my first day on the job in this arena, it makes you wonder what else I am destined to see considering that after nearly 4 years blogging in the auto industry I have seen nothing remotely close to this.

Building a business from the ground up has proven to be a gruesome challenge, especially for BHAGs like me that tend to seek out rainbows. Aside from the time and money required you also are faced with tremendous mental, emotional, and spiritual hurdles for which few can afford comfort. Even with all these fascinating social networking sites, building, managing, and driving your startup business is no easier today than in the past.

Fortunately there are still winds of encouragement and motivation that often reveal themselves when you are still and listen. Things like, “persistence pays” and “believe in your dreams” are spoken to us through family, friends, books, movies, television, you name it. When I look back in life it’s like there is a clear and hollow tunnel that resounds these soft spoken moments of inspiration. It’s one of the things that keeps me going.

One of the more important books I ever read was The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. This book helped me to keep a good operational perspective on being a business owner. Something I gained from Gerber’s message that was probably not intended is that you shouldn’t try too hard on your business. The male gender is prone to obsessing with his own work, but it is not necessary. It actually destroys. I have witnessed it. This doesn’t mean not to work hard. But to work smarter than harder.

The The 4-Hour work Week is another book with a similar message but with an entirely unique context. This book is about delegating, exercising your network connections, and living in a bubble. Great strategy.

Highly polarized social issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and terrorism perpetuate anger and confusion while real economic situations such as declining real estate values, limited credit, and widespread corruption restrict the people, and soon our own governments.

A Morality Issue

The United States is clearly on the brink of moral insensitivity. This would be grim for us. It never works out for civilizations. Liberals blame conservatism and the Bush Administration for global chaos while keen citizens and individuals have forewarned us about these circumstance for the past 20-plus years.

For instance, In 1989 Charles Colson suggested in his book Against the Night that government policy was “mortgaging our future”. Seems obvious now, right? Of course. But not so then.

Another example is this citizen in Ann Arbor Michigan who in 1999 calls out the Clinton administration for urging sub-prime lending on its banks like Fannie Mae. Sub-prime as we know descended upon multiple industries including automotive.

Automotive Economics

With credit now less available for automobiles, legislation is in the works to put money into consumer wallets for the purpose of buying automobiles. Consider this Maryland Tax Bill referenced on DealerRefresh.com and ADM. This is a good idea, but why don’t we also sever our economy from the source of the problem while we have the chance – UNIONS.

Re-vitalize our Unions

Eliminating unions is not a populist choice and I realize that, but clearly something needs to be done about our worker unions. They hold us back. Giving money directly to consumers is good medicine but unless we address the source of the problem we will just re-visit this situation again.

Now, as Emeril Lagasse would say, let’s “kick it up a notch” and re-purpose automotive unions altogether. We should be able to lower production costs and make American automobiles more valuable. This also would free up workers for use in areas more in tune with our future such as Energy.

Shift Workers to Domestic Energy

By freeing up the unions workers could be applied towards a variety of other job types and industries, particularly in Energy Supply. The economic possibilities of this would restore value in the U.S. dollar making our own goods and services more affordable. Bring provision back to the Home Land.

These things could happen but it may be a rough road. With social integrity on the brink of collapse we risk being continued targets to global hatred indefinitely. We must establish our own beacons of light to weather through this period that could concievably last beyond your own lifetime.

It’s funny how press and people are jumping all over this with beef, outrage, and concern. You can not get more publicity than this for a Jazz singer. As annoying, ludicrous, and ignorant as this might seem, this should serve the Rena Marie brand well.

I am curious to see the results of a poll that would show the racial divide this is going to stir. Race can not be ignored here. We are a proud people today. Proud of our country. Proud of our religion. Proud of our color. Proud of our gender. You name it, and we should be too. That doesn’t mean we need to be polarized about it, but we can’t suppress the fact that race matters.

The singer created the race issue in this case. She did not have to express herself in this setting. That wasn’t the invitation. She can do that in her own clubs and shows, but not at a civic gathering like this. That is just selfish and ignorant I don’t care what color you are.

Not to be a Monday night quarter back here but I seriously think I would have interrupted her. I am surprised no one approached her, took the mic and asked her to step down. She would have deserved it.

Actually, if you watch the video there does not appear to be much of a fuss at all. Maybe the fuss is only the Media and Bloggers. There was not a thunderous standing ovation after she sang but there was a bit of clapping going on.

Naturally when your power goes out at night you have 2 options for lighting – candles and/or flashlights. We went with both.

The interesting thing was the timing of this loss in electricity. Earlier that day I had retrieved a small but powerful halogen flashlight from my car to replace its batteries. As it turns out, the flashlight we keep in the kitchen for occasional use was on its lest leg and so was completely useless for us when we lost power. Fortunately for having intuitively brought my car’s flashlight up that day, my son and I were not stranded in the dark.

Little things like this really impress me. I think it shows how significant a role intuition plays in our lives. Not just for life-changing decisions and events but also for small little conveniences like this. Just wanted to share.

We had a nice walk alongside the creek. There were people jogging, biking, and walking intimately with a spouse or sibling, some dogs too, not much different from any other day at that park. There was no pressure to say “Merry Christmas” to everyone, which I thought was nice. Just warm friendly smiles and occasional hello. Very natural, very peaceful. A needed sensation for this time of year.

Os Hillman provided a nice note today too in his TGIF devotional if you are interested in reading it you can visit my RM blog. It’s about the day that Christ Jesus quietly came in to this world and was born into a manger because the Inn was full. He calls it a “missed opportunity” for the Inn keeper. I felt it was a nice compliment to my stroll today in the park because it reflects the quiet subtle meekness that can sometimes be hidden in the chaos of Christmas today in America.

If you did not receive the web2ologies Holiday Card please let me know so I can make sure you are on our list.

Merry Christmas to you and your families and thank you for being a part of the AC Experience.

A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would be a witness of his faith. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy-white to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church and the firmness of God’s promises.

The candy maker made the candy in the form of a “J” to represent the name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior. It could also be thought to represent the staff of the Good Shepherd with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.

Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candy maker stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received, and by which we are healed. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.

The candy became known as the candy cane-a decoration seen at Christmas time. But the meaning is still there.

During Christmas, do you reflect on the real meaning of the season? It is one season we can use like no other to bring the focus on Christ. Ask God to give you opportunities to share Christ with someone this Christmas.

Courtesy of TGIF by MarketplaceLeaders.org.