Season's Greetings!

Friday, December 23, 2005

On Hiatus

Barring the unforeseen, I will take a much-needed week off from blogging. I plan to return by January 3, 2006. In the meantime, I wish my readers and friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Second Annual Blog Report

I was going to post this today, but I find that I haven't the time, so I will finish it later.

Blogroll Changes

These, too, will wait until I return. My blogrolling account is presently full, but I plan to substantially revise my blogroll in the near future and will be able to start adding easily again. Let me know via email if you've linked to my blog or are interested in exchanging links.

On that subject, my blogroll changes might thematically reflect on a possible name change for this blog, so I'm taking ....

An Informal Poll.

I am interested in knowing what my readers might think of the following possible changes for my blog name. I will not necessarily change the URL. I haven't done an exhaustive search yet, but none of these after the first seems to have been taken.

Gus Van Horn -- Leave it the same! Why tamper with perfection?

The Pub -- Reflecting my love of good beer, I'll give my blog a tavern theme, hearkening back to the colonial days of America, when taverns (and their owners) played such a pivotal role in the political discourse that ultimately led to the Revolution. One reason for the possible name change is that I am considering the idea of making this a team blog down the road. It seems like this would be a lot less confusing if Gus Van Horn were simply the "proprietor" rather than the blog itself. Also, I want to make visitors feel comfortable leaving comments.

The Sub-jectivist -- I used to serve on a submarine and I am an Objectivist. Take it from there. Cute play on words, but it might get old pretty fast, too. It is also not so conducive to the option of group-blogging later on. Except one other guy, I am the only submariner who is also an Objectivist that I know of....

Towards a Secular Right -- This would make the main theme of this blog more explicit and thus might cut down on cognitive dissonance for newcomers, or at least give them some idea of what to expect. Like The Pub, which is obviously my favorite, it is quite conducive to me making it a group blog later on.

Anyway, let me know what you think, including any clever names of your own.

And Once Again

Most importantly, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-- CAV

6 comments:

Myrhaf said...

The Pub.

Bubblehead said...

Who's the other objectivist submariner? Do we know him?

Alex Nunez said...

Merry Christmas, Gus!

I say keep the current name, btw.

Anonymous said...

None of the above.

Or, if it must be one of the above, keep it "Gus Van Horn."

"Sub-Jectivist" has possibilities you don't intend; but I was just talking to Raymund E. the other day...and, I'm sure he can tell you what I mean! ;)

How about, "The Gumboist" --?!

Unknown said...

Yo, Gus, I say keep the name. If you make it into a group blog, the name change should be obvious for a West Texas lawyer: Van Horn and Associates. Of course, you could combine West Texas and the beer nod with "The Watering Hole," though who knows, that might well be taken already.

Reminds me of a classic joke. (Yeah, I know, everything does. That's not the worst way to index your experience.) There was this big Houston lawyer who went hunting out in west Texas. He shot a duck, which fell into a pond on the other side of a fence. The lawyer looked around and didn't see anyone and climbed over the fence. Before he got to the pond, though, a rancher came galloping up and asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm getting my duck."

"That's my pond."

"It's my duck, I shot it."

"It landed in my pond on my land, so it's my duck."

"You don't know who you're dealing with. I'm the best trial lawyer in Houston. Let me get my duck or I'll sue you for everything you own."

The rancher looked him up and down and said, "Obviously you don't know how we settle disputes out here in west Texas. We go by the rule of three kicks."

"Rule of three kicks?"

"Yeah. You get to kick the other guy three times, then he gets to kick you three times, and so on till one of you gives up."

"Hmm...Well, okay, I'm willing."

So the rancher went up to the lawyer and kicked him hard in the crotch. The lawyer crumpled to his knees, and the rancher then kicked him in the teeth, knocking out about half a dozen. The lawyer screamed and curled up in the fetal position, and the rancher went around behind him and landed a solid kick in his kidneys. After about ten minutes the lawyer was able to stand again. He put himself in front of the rancher and got ready to deliver a massive kick when the rancher raised his hands and said, "Ah, that's okay, I give up. You can have the duck."

Gus Van Horn said...

Hey, guys!

Thanks for the Christmas greetings and the input and the link and the joke!

A couple of more specific replies are in order....

Bubblehead,

I doubt anyone else knows him as he hasn't surfaced here and no one has written me to ask, "Hey! You sound like so-and-so."

I didn't know him well even when I was in the Navy (over 10 years ago) and for all I know, he either isn't any longer an Objectivist or isn't keen on having that fact well-known for one reason or another. I'll err on the side of caution and assume the latter.

Curtis and Adrian (and those who voted),

Leave it to me to hold a poll only to get far better naming suggestions than I started out with! I particularly like Van Horn and Associates. Even though I am a fictional lawyer, I still feel like an idiot for not coming up with that one!

Gus