Learning to Drive Online and In-Person with Drivers Ed

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drivers ed cones
Reading Time | 4 Minutes

Learning to drive is likely one of the most memorable moments in life for both parents and child, and for many different reasons — the good, the bad, and ugly.

While teens are pumped to no longer have to request the services of the parental taxi, parents are certainly apprehensive — to say the least — when it comes to allowing their “baby” to operate machinery tonnage in the great big outdoors.

Dating myself, I remember having attended driver’s education school in the mid 90’s. Comprised of a number of classroom hours — reading and studying, watching VHS videos, and taking test by hand — and hands-on instruction in a dated clunker, today’s driver’s education school has drastically changed.

I was recently reminded of this change while out on a walk enjoying a nice warm day in between 40 degree shifts in the Texas’ sporadic weather pattern.

As I walked by the Mini of Austin dealership, parked in the service area was a Mini Cooper with a wrap advertising the student driver services of DriversEd.com.

Why Use Questionable New Domain Extensions

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Reading Time | 4 Minutes

Five years after global fanfare, and not many new domain extensions could be considered a profitable success, if successful at all.

There is no shortage of companies and persons shouting to the mountain top that all the good .com domains are taken. While there is a kernel of truth about a decent percentage of .com domains no longer available, this isn’t the complete truth or story.

Drive Like Your Kids Live Here Making It Safe For All

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Slow Down Kids Playing
Reading Time | 3 Minutes

Having lived in the same neighborhood for a little over a decade, I’ve had the pleasure of watching a developed neighborhood of original or second homeowners age transfer ownership to newly married couples or early-stage families of little ones.

When my wife and I moved in, we were the only young couple for about 3 years until others started making their way into one of the hottest areas and real estate markets in Northwest Austin.

While I never paid much attention to the traffic patterns when we first moved in, that all changed when we brought home our oldest child, and certainly changed when he was a bit more mobile and could play in the front yard.

As with many things in life, you likely don’t notice certain things in life until it becomes apart of your journey. I never paid attention to how fast cars would make their way through the neighborhood.

But with three kiddos under the age of 6, what I once never considered is now a critical thought pattern of my life to protect not only my kids, but our village of children now spread across 10 households.

I was reminded of this as familiar red and white signage pops up in yards covering a 1-mile radius of where we live.

Keeping Cool with Austin Sun Shades

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Sunshades Window Tinting in Austin, Texas
Reading Time | 4 Minutes

Well, it’s been one of those kind of weeks for the House of Brown. Everything is good, yet the journey to arrive a good a bit challenging and rewarding in the same breath.

Austin has certainly has its fair share of rain this week, seeing the Texas Highland Lakes all reach or surpass flood stage.

I can stand the rain, I’m not much of a fan for it being cold and wet. Temperatures dropped earlier this week to mid 40’s, and I know this because my daily driver — 1977 Caprice Classic — let me know by not starting.

While I love her and drive her daily, I had to seriously consider the value in having a reliable vehicle that’ll start rain, sun, sleet or snow.

Austin Startup Community in Full Force Next Week

Alvin BrownLeave a comment
Reading Time | < 1 Minute

A few hours ago, I received the “last call” email for what is sure to be a jam-packed week of events showing the Austin Startup Community: AustinStartupWeek.com.

Going into its 8th year, Austin is rolling out its red carpet to locals and visitors interested in its booming startup scene.

Camel-Case Domains, Comic Con, and UT Football

Alvin BrownLeave a comment
Reading Time | 4 Minutes

This past weekend was a busy weekend for the House of Brown, and as always, the City of Austin.

As I do every other Saturday, I met with a group of gents from the Executive Leadership Council at Rudy’s.

Unfortunately, due to the down pour of rain at 6am, the meeting consisted of myself and another close friend.

This was good because he and I really needed to catch up with life, work, church and everything else over a few breakfast tacos.

As our time came to a close, knowing I must rush home to post the daily expired domain auction listings, I discovered the Austin Convention Center was hosting the annual Coming Con as read the poster via Rudy’s Bulletin Board.

My latest customer visit to San Diego

Alvin BrownLeave a comment
Reading Time | 2 Minutes

I’m coming in hot off a business trip to San Diego today, having arrived in San Diego a little after noon Sunday.

Visit SanDiego.org | San Diego, California

While it was a much needed break from the brutal Texas heat, I didn’t get to do much sightseeing as I would have liked.

It was airport to hotel, hotel to customer site for all day meetings and back to hotel, and from hotel to airport.

In addition, I didn’t rent a car, so about the only domains I captured were thanks to “ubering” to and fro.

Save Time and Pre-Order Back-to-School Supplies Online.

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back to school supplies
Reading Time | 4 Minutes

It’s hard to believe summer is coming to an end. Like a blink of an eye, what was once the end of a school year is now another school year fast approaching, only weeks away.

The upcoming new school year approaching was finally made real for me as we prepared for our oldest son to begin his academic journey into Kindergarten.

With only one week before school begins, my wife and I attended a number of school-specific playdates scheduled throughout Northwest Austin this summer, as well as parent/student orientation and screenings at his soon-to-be school at the end of last year.

New Domain Extensions Debuting Across Theater Screens

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.film and .movie domain extensions
Reading Time | 4 Minutes

Last week’s date night found my wife and I venturing off to the movies sans kids to view ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor’ — a movie that examines the life and legacy of Fred Rogers, the beloved host of the popular children’s TV show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

Seeing we don’t watch much TV around the House of Brown, I didn’t realize ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor’ was a movie until my wife mentioned it to me after we stumbled upon a Behind-The-Scenes Special chronicling the journey of Rogers.

A few weeks passed and up popped an date night invite to the movies. As we waited for ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor’ to begin, a number of movie trailers played one after the next.

As they played, I noticed it had been years since I had been in a movie theater. It was interesting to discover how movies of today are being advertised in their use of #hashtags and social media usage — advertising Twitter, Instagram and Facebook handles.

Of course, there were a number of movies advertising matching or near matching .com domains that included movie title and the word “movie” in it.

Being I love and am held captive by domains more than the average person, two distinct movies stood out to many out of likely 10-15 or so that rolled this night: ‘The King’ and ‘Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot’.