Coffee in the hole

Time for a big announcement. But first, some preface. 

For years now, I've been a huge proponent of Scars & Stripes Coffee. I joined the company just months after it went live. The mission being a huge part of the why. A Veteran owned and run company, to help Veterans reintegrate into their communities. Also, to build a business. If you go to the website at the time of this writing, you'll find the SSC still says, "We empower Veterans to build their own business using our e-commerce platform and through direct-to-consumer sales via events." As all of us in the company have recently learned, the company is no longer Veteran owned. And as an email sent out by the CEO informed us this week, the company will soon no longer be Veteran owned. 

The company to this point has been built on a military structure, and ranking system that's familiar to all Veterans. An easy platform for any Vet to build from. As our now sole CEO stated in his most recent email, we've been, "building a company that looks much like the military." That was the goal. Veterans have been struggling and hurting. So, we put them in a structured environment that's familiar to them and help them build out and back into their communities. Veterans holding each other accountable and teaching each other along the way. It's been successful for many of us. Then he continues on to state, "why would the company look just like the military." As a statement, not a question. You can imagine, seeing that statement was a direct attack on the vision we've had from the start. And it hurt. The company's vision and direction is changing, and no longer going to be focused on helping Veterans. A very unfortunate turn. 

This brings me back to the, "build their own business" part. For years now, many have known that a personal goal of mine has been to start my own coffee business. To no longer be the middleman or an affiliate, but to build something where I can support my family and be my own boss, with a product I believe in beyond my other ventures. 

With that said, Burton's Scars & Stripes is now going to transition towards that dream. Over the next few weeks my FB page will transition over to my own brand. My own company. I have two coffee roasters that will be taking care of my coffee as orders come in. So, it will still be roasted to ship. Freshness guaranteed still. And as I've been asked so many times, when will I get flavored coffee. Well, that is happening now too. Several flavors are ready to go, including seasonal favorites. For the time being it will be coffee only. In the future the plan is to bring in mugs, tumblers, stickers, apparel and such. Small steps forward, and building. Will SSC continue to be on the menu? I honestly don't know. Probably not. But for now, it is. 

So please continue to support and empower me by getting your coffee at: www.ss.coffee/rominger 

And keep an eye out for more announcements and the transition on my FB page: 

www.facebook.com/scarsandstripesROMINGER 

We're going to poke the bear, and help it wake up! You'll see very soon. 

Family, Milage, and Experiences

The past couple weeks have worn me down a bit. And put a lot of milage on my car! Last weekend, the family and I loaded up and drove up to Farmington, NM. Family, and church. We actually ended up going a bit further north, with a stop in Durango, CO. That was very nice. And finished off with a run out to Navajo Lake State Park. 

I hadn't been that way in a long time. In Durango, it was also my first time at the Bar D Chuckwagon. Now I was already familiar with them and had heard some of their music from CD's that other friends and family had in the past. My son has been up there before with his grandparents. So it was indeed a treat. If you're not familiar with them, let me share a bit about it. The Bar D is an experience. You drive up into the mountains, park, and then you make your way up the hill and it suddenly opens into this little ranch with shops, a playground for the kids, a train ride, and then some. When dinner time comes, the signal for everyone to come to the dining area, which is outside. They do have a canopy that can be closed for inclement weather. Then they have everyone get in line by table and send you through the food line. Beef or chicken, with beans, and basically a ranch/cowboy affair. The food is really good. Afterwards, the Bar D Wranglers go up, and entertain you. And I mean entertain. They play music first and foremost, but they also joke, tell stories, call out people's birthdays, family reunions, and whatever else they're aware of. It's a really good time. Afterwards the shops are open a little longer, and you can meet and greet the band. So truly a highlight of the trip. 

Of course, I love checking Veteran Memorials. Imagine that. So, we headed over to the All Veterans Memorial Plaza in Farmington. It's a great park, I've been to several times. However, it was high on my to-do list this time because I missed out on a huge event there last year. The Woody Williams Foundation added a wonderful piece to it honoring the sacrifice of not only fallen warriors, but their families as well. It truly honors the loss while bringing home the fact that their families have to deal with the struggle as well. My mom got a little misty eyed out there. 

While at church on Sunday, it was a nice surprise to run into a friend working there I hadn't seen since Covid started as well. We had gone to seminary together. He's working at that church now! It was good to see him and catch-up face to face. 

There were other things, however I'm not sharing about them here. We came home, and it was brief for me. As I then turned around to head back on the road for Las Cruces and Mesilla, NM. Now, while it's been a short time since I was last in the Farmington and Four Corners area, it's been YEARS since I was last in Las Cruces and Mesilla. Just driving past the university was incredible to see how much has changed since I was last there. I must say, construction aside, it looks good. Plus sharing in fellowship with fellow Veterans and talking about God is always a good thing in my book. Smiles all around. I was gifted with a new challenge coin for my collection as well. That was a nice treat from the Marine Corps League Detachment that hosted the event for us. Now, I get to stay home for a couple days before I go back to work on Wednesday to start gearing up for the new school year. 

Caught Up

Going through and seeing how many blogs had missing pictures was annoying to say the least. Being the type of person that prefers to have a plan B, the grey matter was put to work. So, I made a copy of the entire blog. Every single post. Just in case. 

I used Opera's blog for a long time. I loved it! All these years later I still miss it. Granted at that point, blogging in this format was really at its apex. Before video took over everything. One of my regrets was not copying everything before they took it down. That won't happen again. 

After all this is on a Google owned site. And we all know we can't trust them not to just trash it at a moment's notice. Or worse, try to revamp it. Look what happened to Google Music. A wonderful service that was absolutely trashed when it was forced into YouTube Music. Years later, and still not at the same level. Or the more recent sale of Domains to another service. At least it wasn't to GoDaddy, but I have my doubts as to how well that service will work for my needs as well.

I've been a pro-google guy for a long time. However, I'm finding that in question more and more these days. It may be time for a change. A new season of life is coming. 

Archive what?

 As I'm know many others have gotten the same, I received that email about Google Album Archive being shuttered. I was like, "ok, so what?" I don't recall ever using it. But just in case, I took a look just to make sure. You know what was there? Every photo posted to this blog! And only the photo's I've used in it!

That's right, every single one of them looking me square in the eye! So I took a look at the blog and found that going back to my oldest posts that the pictures don't load! Now there could be a number of reasons. But it's a bit alarming. Does this mean that when that service gets shuttered next month that all of the pics in the blog will go away too? I don't believe in coincidence. 

On the bright side, it's not the only place I have them. Those are just copies. Have you looked to see what's in yours?

They almost had me

Sitting down to write, I'm in a dilemma. I've had a personal, and other blogs running on Blogger since January 2013. Prior to that I was utilizing Opera, which unfortunately shut down. Now, don't get me wrong, Blogger has been a good tool. However, I've noticed that views have dropped dramatically since Google+ was shuttered. And has continued to decline ever since. I'm also realize that people are turning to things like YouTube and Rumble more and more.

Now, when you try to research online, everything is saying that blogging is still relevant. I find myself questioning this though. Could it be Blogger and of course the algorithm that chases the almighty dollar. Another possibility. If so, then another reason to stop using the google owned platform.

Then there's the comfort factor. It's been my writing outlet for over a decade! So, if blogging is relevant, and the platform is still a good one then the questions need to be changed. What happened that caused high viewership to drop? And how do I find new people that would be interested in what I write? A change is needed somewhere.

I do feel that the second question is the most important of the two either way. A lot of what you come across pushes hard on sharing on social media. Here's the reality of it though. Nobody there cares. They may be well meaning, but just like trying to run a business, let's be honest. People are there for memes and videos. Anything else is a waste of their time. The blogging and writer groups, and there is a plethora of them, have become a joke as well. Many just littered with clickbait. The rest all trying to sell something. The vast majority blanket anything of value, anything worth reading, so deep you can't find it. 

So I looked at WordPress. I have to admit that they offer quite a bit. However, after looking through it, I'm not overly impressed. It's well laid out, and in such a way that it makes their marketing so tempting to sign up with. However, most of what they offer paying customers isn't being used. No, don't lie, those of you who are there only use certain things every time and with few exceptions what is being paid for versus used is an over payment by a large margin. It actually reminds me of Planet Fitness. Sure, you pay a certain amount, it looks really good, but it's set in a way that makes you not want to bother with it. Just subscribe and forget is how it feels. 

Am I wrong? Should I give them a second go? 

A Second Blog!

    Let me start by saying, don't worry, this blog isn't going anywhere. However, in the interest of keeping topics separate I have started a new blog! My ministerial blog can be found at: Pastor Burton's Blog and the first post is up! Exciting times for me. Yay! Now of course, I also have the podcast: Healing Scars with Pastor Burton | RSS.com and it's updated weekly! So to start the blog content is different from the podcast post. Specifically what's there isn't recorded anywhere else, or in any other format. For now. I am thinking about also transcribing the podcast and posting it there as well. 

    Decisions, decisions. If I did do that, it would be bonus content of sorts. The messages I've already recorded, plus the blog posts that haven't been recorded. Hmm? Thoughts? Anyone? So much on my mind to reach out to the world. Anyways, short and sweet. 

Thanks, 

~B

Puppy Love

 Puppy Love

    Well, a few months ago our beloved Mary passed away. At the gentle age of 12, she lived a good dog's life. Man, I miss her. 

    Then a few weeks ago a friend contacted me with a dilemma, her girlfriend from nursing school had the place she'd been renting for years sold out from under her and the new owner was forcing her to leave! Insane right?! Well, fortunately she found a place for her and her kids to move into with one caveat. She could only have one dog. They had two. To make matters worse, they've had both since they were pups! What's a family to do? 

    Well, being a dogless house we were already fixing to adopt a new fur baby. So the timing was perfect! Thank the Lord! And I offered to take in their oldest. A 12-year-old, sweet dog named Rosie! You couldn't have asked for a more perfect connection! Everyone's in love with her! She loves to travel. And being an older dog, she's not a runner and doesn't need really long walks! Which is great since we live in a desert and it's heating up!  

    I didn't want to leave her original family in total heartbreak. My eyeballs almost started sweating when we had the turnover. It was rough, no pun intended. Okay, a little intended. So, my wife and I agreed that they could see Rosie at any time. And we send them pictures regularly. Our family has gotten a little bigger. And we're glad we can spoil this old pup for whatever time we have with her!