Dua Lipa In The Christmas Spirit, Eagles Fan Uses Tongue To Operate Phone & The Tebows Have Started Their Christmas Festivities
Made a visit to the StadiumMapArt HQ on Tuesday -- *this isn't an advertisement!
If you still have a Facebook account, there's a very good chance you've seen ads for a company called Stadium Map Art floating through your timeline over the last few years. The company uses laser engraving to *print* maps of stadiums in your favorite cities.
About a year ago, I learned that the company was based here in Toledo, but I wasn't ready to make a purchase. Fast-forward to 2021 and my wife has a Notre Dame fan in a family Christmas gift exchange. You know the drill: take $30 and buy something for that family member. This year we pulled the trigger on a Notre Dame Stadium magnet purchase from the father-son duo at Stadium Map Art and Tuesday my son and I head over to their shop -- Map Art just purchased the building in November -- and met the father, Dave, who insisted on showing us the laser-printing technique used to make these gifts.
This isn't some business where part of the operation is done out of China. These guys handle the entire process that produces this. Those stadiums are three dimensional:
Dave explained how he and his son came up with this business back in 2008 and now it's so busy that Dave, who is responsible for production and tracing the detailed maps that are then read by the laser printers, is working 16-hour days to keep up with the demand that's coming in around the world for these maps with 3D stadiums attached. He also explained how stadium drink coasters sold in the "thousands" during the holidays.
Put it this way -- business is booming and it was incredibly inspiring to hear of their success after the company began its early years selling engraved products to Air Force museums for their gift shops. Dave says you can still find their gift shop work at the
National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola and at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton.
My 9-year-old son and I got in the car, and I immediately explained to him that is what the American Dream is all about: Working your tail off, building something from the ground up that you own, and doing something that you really enjoy, like how Dave is living, is when work isn't work.
This is now my second experience in 2-3 months where I've come across an American small business that should inspire our kids. You might remember the story of how I needed 1/2" acrylic sheets cut to size for my basement and how crazy that visit became and how I learned how busy the acrylic business is right now.
Never lose faith in the American Experience, no matter what the scumbag network news outlets tell you. Saturday I was at a Christmas party that included a guy who operates his very own food truck full-time, restaurant owners, nurses, a teacher, guys who operate their family-owned machinery business and a bunch of other people who have busted their asses to be productive Americans.
Now, onto the next interaction with small-business U.S.A. Who's next?
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• Johnny R. knew exactly the type of photo that would make my week:
Good Morning Joe! Enjoyed screencaps this morning! The dogs in bars talk reminded me of a picture I took a few months back at our local dive bar called the Mercury Lounge in Tulsa, OK. Enjoy!
• Mark W. in Franklin, TN writes:
While my dog, Gibbs, is not in a bar, he does understand proper hydration.
Thanks for all the interesting items you put in to Screencaps. It is essential morning reading.
• Mark in Frisco, TX writes:
Come on down to Texas if you don’t like snow on Christmas. The projected high on Christmas Day is 81, but they say there’s a chance we might reach 90! I have 3 tee times scheduled over the next 7 days.
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Sounds amazing, especially when it's been sunny maybe once this month. Tuesday, I took my son to Golf Galaxy to hit some balls on the simulator and it wasn't the best idea because now all I can think about are February rounds with my dad down in Marco Island. I need to make that happen.
• Bill H. in Illinois emailed a Christmas card:
This was going around with some of my colleagues today and I thought your readers would appreciate it as well.
• It's always good to hear from Beau in Toledo because he's not just about mowing. This guy is versatile and understands he has to show off that versatility this time of year:
First and foremost, Merry Christmas to everyone in the #TNML, ScreenCap Nation, everyone that writes for OutKick. and especially You and Your Family, Joe.
Thanks to You Sir, as well as all of the MVPs of The League and The Nation, for reminding us of what was, and still can be, The Norm in American Life... Doing Hard Things, drinking beer, cooking meat over a flame, checking out, um, "Scenery", and all while Loving Our Families and enjoying a Freedom that only America has.
In case you all needed a distraction during the Christmas Weekend, here ya go (sorry, Gmail doesn't offer the sarcasm font):
The James Webb is NASA's NextGen Space Telescope. 17 years and 100 million work hours to build. $10 billion dollars. A mere 2 Oz of gold coating the beryllium mirrors (a coating that's nanometers thick, smaller than the 'Rona virus, that gets thru KN95's but not women's thong underwear masks; trust me, I took a few science classes in high school) that, all together, are 3 times the diameter of Hubble's 7-foot mirror, a space telescope that has given us some of the most stunning images of the Universe humans have ever seen.
• And with that, it's time to pump out another edition of Screencaps. Keep the Christmas week emails rolling. I'm hearing from new voices, which is awesome, and the old guard who built this column by passing it around their offices and through their text groups. Just like Dave and his son engraving stadiums, this beast continues to evolve in its own way because people around the country have bought into this concept that we can have a space to enjoy the lighter side of life on the Internet.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com