RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Composer Philip Glass is 82. Blues singer musician Charlie Musselwhite is 75. Canned Heat. Often identified as the “white bluesman.” Singer Justin Timberlake is 38. Folk-rock singer musician Marcus Mumford is 32. Mumford and Sons. Actress Blythe Danner is 76. Actor Thomas Calabro is 60. Melrose Place. Human rights activist Amal Clooney is 41. Comedian Tom Smothers is 82.
Actor Bo Hopkins is 75. Rock musician Ross Valory is 70. Journey. Model Christie Brinkley is 65. Actor Russ Tamblyn is 84. He was 27 years old when he played Riff, the knife-wielding, rocket-tempered gang leader of the streetwise Jets in the musical film West Side Story in 1961. TV personality Meredith Vieira is 65. NBA player LeBron James is 34. Rock singer musician Dave Grohl is 50. Foo Fighters.
A 37-year-old Plano man has been found guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child and sentenced to 60-years in prison after impregnating an 11-year-old girl. Hmmm. Remember Lorena Bobbitt?
Rep. Richard Raymond has introduced legislation that would toss out the old “blue law” and allow liquor stores to be open seven days a week. Beer, wine and liquor would not be available before noon on Sunday, but the bill would increase the legal hours of operation for liquor stores to 9am to 10 pm. The Texas blue law was passed in 1961.
For part of my children’s Christmas, I ordered tickets to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in concert with the Houston Symphony. If you read the books in order, this is number 4. I just can’t explain how wonderful it is to see these movies with the magic of a live orchestra. Afterwards, the four of us visited Katz’s Deli and Bar in Montrose to experience their 24-hour menu. We were seated immediately, then started with a smoked salmon sandwich on rye with cream cheese, capers, lettuce, thin sliced red onion and tomatoes. It was fabulous. We tried Matzo Ball soup, Rueben sandwiches, sweet potato fries and ended our meal with two rice puddings with strawberry sauce and a mountain of whipped cream that we shared. It was a five-star evening.
On February 2, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Phil, the weather groundhog emerged from his burrow and didn’t see his shadow. That means early spring.
Pay attention: Call, come by or pick up a blank Valentine card from our office and we will tell your Valentine(s) how special they are on February 14. FREE and we can’t wait to publish your sweet thoughts, goofy thoughts or secret thoughts. We are just hoping that you don’t let this moment pass you by and you get in trouble. It’s so easy. 979-285-9200 or come by 223 Parking Way, LJ.
Dear Valentine: Let’s take our relationship to the next level. I‘m going to add you to my Costco membership and get you your own card.
Chinese New Year began on February 5th and is now celebrated by a quarter of the world’s population. Each year in the Chinese calendar is represented by one of twelve animals in the Chinese Zodiac. 2019 is the year of the Earth Pig. The Pig is a symbol of diligence, compassion, and generosity in China. Traditional foods eaten during the Spring are fish (the Chinese word for ‘fish’ sounds like the word for ‘surplus,’ so the eating of fish is supposed to bring a surplus of money and good luck); Chinese dumplings (as their shape is said to be like that of silver ingots, which were used as money in ancient Chinese); spring rolls; rice cakes and rice balls. Like our black-eyed peas and cabbage.
“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” I really love this…
Twenty Years Ago: January 18th, 1999. I had just found out that a local Shopper newspaper had locked their doors but failed to tell their employees not to show up for work that morning. I loved The Bargains and always picked up a copy at a local Chinese restaurant when I stopped to get fried rice for dinner. Well, heck. I told myself, “Someone needs to continue a newspaper and I can do that.” How naïve I was.
Two days and very little sleep later, there were three (3) employees (Linda, Helen and Bobby) hired, office equipment ordered, desks donated to the cause (Denice) and less than three weeks later,The Source Weekly was born. Our first baby was printed and published on February 4th, 1999.That’s it! That was the business plan. Stupidity, foolish, crazy, irresponsible – all these words come to mind now – but there was no lack of confidence, positiveness, and faith that it wouldn’t all work out.
We couldn’t buy the existing newspaper because of ‘legal matters’ so a new and improved newspaper was created. I was 43 years old, had a 2-year-old son and did I happen to mention…I was three months pregnant at the time. I had a friend (Beth) in the printing business and when I told her what was going on, she said, “You can’t do this.” Too late, everything is already in motion.
When everyone was called together three months later so I could announce that I was pregnant, they all thought that we were shutting the place down. At six months down the road, I was sure tempted to close it down, but there was too much debt to walk away. I was so lucky that my uncle Lynn had left me some money a few months earlier.
There were several times that some of us napped under the tables in order to work through the night in order to get the paper out on time. Our first office was on Dixie Drive and we all knew exactly what time Shipley’s donut shop opened and when the morning paper was delivered.
It was a rough start – no paycheck for almost 2 years, BUT the employees and the bills were always paid on time. I know that ‘money going out’ met ‘money coming in’ on more than one occasion, but I never embarrassed myself.
At six months along, The Source Weekly found space in the Cox Professional building in old downtown Lake Jackson. We moved one day, and Anne-Elisabeth was born the next day. I have been so lucky to be able to raise my children at my office. There were days that I should have and could have been more efficient and made more money but instead I played Legos, Polly Pockets or read books. To be able to raise your children and have a successful business is every woman’s dream. But, the reason I ‘had it all’ because of the village of wonderful people that helped me raise my children over the years. They never minded that we had baby beds, changing tables, rocking chairs, potty chairs and toys that morphed into computer desks, a piano, hamsters, pet mice (that escaped from the cage on several occasions) and drum sets (which were played after everyone went home for the day.) I always told applicants that if they didn’t like children, then they were applying at the wrong place. I also told a few people that long after they are gone, my kids will still be there so ‘get with the program.’
On the day that I walked across the street to shop for a bike for my son’s Christmas, I discovered that McDowell’s Bike Shop was available for purchase. Today, The Source Weekly is situated in a very old but wonderful office building in the middle of downtown Lake Jackson. Years ago, we told everyone that we were in the ‘old vacuum cleaner shop’ and ‘bicycle shop’ – right down the street from where Younglandia’s was located and automatically anyone over the age of 20 knew exactly where to find us Today we tell them to look next door to Franklin State Farm and PCCare. Evolution.
Sometimes it wasn’t easy. One guy pulled up porn all day long. It took quite a while of ‘never finishing on time’ but now we have our computers always facing where everyone can be held accountable for their work – or lack of. A shoplifter was employed for a very short time. That was interesting. She sure did dress nice. 😊 Then there was the girl that was wearing maternity clothes within days of being hired, stating that she had just discovered that she was pregnant…little did she know that her being pregnant would not have made the difference between me hiring her or not, but you can quickly lose the honesty factor in a relationship.There were people that just didn’t show up for the next day and then ghosted us when we tried to find out what happened. You name it, it has happened.
But then there were others that played such an intrical part of our growth over the years…Twynette, Dawn, Mischa, Tim, Sarah, Michelle, Dena, Barbara, Paula, Chelsea, Nicole, Tommy, Deborah, Cathy, Angela, Sharron, Dan, Thomas, Cindy and others. Troy came, was the worst speller, helped me stain the floors, cleaned the office and studied here at night through college.
The most important individuals are those that came, stayed and became such a huge part of our office family. Helen (19 years),Tom came in just to help for a few days in 1999 and didn’t leave until retirement at the end of 2018, Lucinda (15 years), Kay(14 years), Bobby Payne was our in-house magician and worked with us from ‘day one’ until health didn’t allow for more.He taught us so much.
Tina is still here and has been part of this family since the beginning in 1999, Laura 2006, Connie 2007, and Ashley came in 2010. Pam, Janice, Patricia, Hailey, and Rachelle have joined us over the past few years and help make up our current office. I thank them all from the bottom of my heart for coming, for staying and being such a huge gigantic part of this family. Then I can’t forget that you wouldn’t have received your papers each week if it hadn’t been for Alfred and Novellia who have been with me since 1999. Losha has been here forever, now along with Nestor, Hailey, Patricia and Brandi always making sure that no matter the time or the weather, you get your paper,and hopefully it’s dry.
It hasn’t always been easy. Several life challenges happened over 20 years. We experienced illness in our staff and their families, divorce, and breast cancer. My office staff held tight to me while I fought the battle with chemotherapy and won. Every day that I walked in our front door with my little bald head, was a good day to spend with my family.
AM I HAPPY THAT I DID THIS? Yes, I love what I do.WAS I CRAZY? Absolutely –no real business plan. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. It was strictly luck, good work ethic, grit and prayer that helped it succeed.WAS IT THE RIGHT TIME? Without a doubt! You mature with age. Owning a business is not for sissies. You deal with government, employees, rules, lack of money, people asking for your money, people that want to tell you what to do and how to do it – the list is endless. I don’t believe that I would have had the courage or the strength any earlier in my life and I certainly know that I would never consider doing it all over again today. I’m too old.
OK – so when you hear FREE paper – does it sound cheap – NO, just affordable and it happens to be effective as well. Our job has been to provide a community minded, affordable addition or alternative to your present advertising…that works! I have only gone up on my rates 3 times in 20-years and I can assure you that expenses have gone up many times above that. Our job has been to sell what you love,promote what you have,and help make your business a cut above the rest for the least amount of money. We love what we do and want to help you promote your business.
My job today is to say THANK YOU for always taking the time to read The Source Weekly for the past (OMG)20 years. We are here because of you. So, Thank You. We couldn’t have done it without YOU. Oh, and please Sell Something Today…so we can stay in business for another few years. 😊. Lisa Baker
