This week, I lost my fishing buddy.

Lake Wisconsin lost a man whose very presence will surely be missed by the natural order itself when early spring buds blossom and autumn’s palette is sprinkled over the woods and sky and he is not there.

So many friends and loved ones lost a man who brought great humor, a true raconteur’s storytelling sense, and a depth of character and solid connection to an old-school moral code to the world that few people ever achieve.

Rich Lobojko was a genuine hero to me since the late 70’s – a man’s man, certainly, but also a father figure in some ways  — perhaps more like a favorite uncle who might slip you a beer, pull your hat down over your eyes, and let out a deep, hearty, resonant laugh that let you know that he cared about you. That you were in on the joke.

It emanated from him, and you felt it.

A hard worker all his life, Rich was able to enjoy some nice years hanging out and traveling with his lovely wife Verna, his children and grandchildren, and the myriad fellas who joined him up at Lake Wisconsin once or twice a year. I only missed one trip since 1997, and that was because I was in Tennessee.

“Not a great excuse,” Rich would say, and then the deep laugh would come out.

Rich was clearly in his element at the lake. He had been coming to these cabins for forty-plus years, seeing new resort owners come and go, developing lasting friendships with them, and taking a kind of ownership of the grounds and water, really, that they could not quite manage.

To me, he came to embody the place. “The fishing trip” was sacred.

And Rich was clearly the host, whipping up batches of Spam and eggs, cooked to order, with a dash of garlic salt on the yolks, venison sausages courtesy of a successful November hunt by his son Mike, and stacks of toast. There Rich would be, spatula in hand, telling stories of working with his crew years ago in the cold Chicago winters, giving it all an immediacy that you could feel – all of it fresh in his mind, painting a picture.

He created a gaming table the year after one of the fisherman dice players complained of having to walk up to the board. It was a thing of beauty, with its smooth, felt nap and the way it effortlessly glided over small ball bearings in the base. Upon seeing it, the complaining dice player expressed his gratitude to Rich, who just said, “I made it so you’d stop spilling the whiskey.” And the laugh would come out again.

That laugh. That look on his face.

He loved it there. We loved having him there.

And we loved him.

Are you thinking about starting a small business but aren’t quite sure what might be successful in your area? Whether you need to start with little to no money or you’re able to invest a bit more, some businesses do well in nearly any economy and are easy to start without specialized training.

What Business Can I Start Quickly?

The United States Small Business Administration estimated around 1.04 million businesses opened while 928,000 closed in 2021. The success rate of companies varies based on industry, but businesses that take a long time to start don’t seem to do any better than those formed on the fly.

What are some small business ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs that don’t cost a lot to start and don’t require a degree?

1. Animal Care

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, animal care and service work pays an average of $28,730 per year and only requires a high school diploma. Animal care is an excellent option if you love animals and want to set your own schedule.

You can start your own pet sitting business, for example. Other options include grooming animals or training them. You will need to know some basics to do either, so you’ll want to take online courses and practice on the pets of family and friends before grooming and trimming someone else’s animal.

2. Pawn Shop

People will always have items they want to pawn for money and others will buy those things to save a buck or two. In a nutshell, you’ll trade cash for an item and hold it for a certain amount of time. If the person comes to collect the piece, they pay you interest on what was basically a loan. If they don’t return, you sell the item to someone else and profit from the difference.

You don’t have to spend a fortune to get your pawn shop up and running. Rent a small storefront and have enough cash on hand to purchase items. You do need some knowledge of what things sell for and what people will buy, since you don’t want to pay more than you can profit and you don’t want to sit on inventory too long. Things such as jewelry, musical instruments and electronics should sell fast.

3. Marketing

Marketing is a growing industry with a lot of opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs. According to PR Newswire, the marketing industry is a $460 billion one continuing to grow. You don’t have to start a big, fancy marketing agency to jump into the market, though.

Some things you can try include writing content for existing agencies and businesses. Offer your services for some social media marketing — learn how ads work on a few platforms and sell your services to local companies. You could also work on contracts with companies and marketing firms to fill in when they don’t have enough people to complete tasks.

4. Mobile Carwash

Another business idea for young entrepreneurs is to start a mobile luxury car wash business. You’ll need to provide a better experience than running a car through the local automated wash for a few bucks to attract customers.

The beauty of this business is you can start it with only cleaning supplies and your time. Don’t just wash the outside of their vehicle, but shine up the wheels and tires. Clean and sanitize the interior. A full-service wash is more like detailing and you can make customers’ lives easy by taking your work to where they live.

5. Food Truck

Do you love to cook? If you have a little money to invest, you can buy a small food truck. Start creating a business plan and get the permits required by your city and state, then figure out where other trucks set up and find similar places.

Some towns have rotating food truck centers where people can try many different options. Talk to the city trustees in your area and find out if there are any such areas. Contact large companies and see if they’d like you to park in front of the building for lunch once a week as workers leave for their lunch breaks.

A food truck can be quite profitable if you’re good with the hustle and can cook delicious food. Some food truck entrepreneurs also offer catering services on the side or turn to meal prep offers to ramp up their profits.

Do What You Love

Becoming an aspiring entrepreneur is a way to find financial and work freedom. Figure out what you’re passionate about and center your business idea around what you already love. With a little effort, you’ll not only have a profitable business, but you’ll have a better work and life balance. 

A long time ago, someone (I’m sure it was a man), decided that women are the weaker sex. What a bunch of hooey.

Think about all the sh*t and pain that women have to put up with that men don’t. Periods. Cramps. GIVING BIRTH!!! (Try pushing a 6 pound something out of one of your tiny orifice, guys.).

And if that’s not enough, there’s menopause, which comes with hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, vajayjay dryness, hair loss and urinary problems.

Still, there’s something we ladies endure that’s in a category by itself: getting a mammogram. A mammogram is an x-ray of the breast tissue, which doesn’t sound so bad, right? True, it’s an important tool doctors use to screen for breast cancer. But trust me. It’s also a torture device.

In case you don’t know–and you’re a male, you probably don’t–here’s how the process goes: a technician jams your boob onto a horizontal glass plate while forcefully arranging your arms, legs and shoulders into an awkward position that would not be described as looking like you were doing a happy dance.

We ladies have to remain in that position–frozen and not breathing–during every image they take, but that’s hardly the worst part. Another plate comes down from above, squishing your breast between the two glass plates, compressing your tata as flat as a tortilla. Well, not exactly a tortilla, a fluffy pancake maybe, but you get the picture.

Needless to say, it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes it hurts like hell. And once they’ve tormented you on one breast, the do it all over again on the other one.

If you’re small-breasted (guilty as charged), the tech pulls and pushes and stretches your breast tissue like it’s Domino’s pizza dough. If you’re big-busted, they have to smoosh more of your breast down, down down, squeezing it between the two glass plates. 

I’m not usually one to complain when getting a test or vaccine, but during my last mammogram (which I’m thrilled to report, showed no indication of malignancy), I was in so much agony I squealed like a pig, shrieking like the devil had come for me, which he did in the form of this device.

Look, I don’t mean to underplay or demean the significance of mammography as an important health care tool, and we women are lucky to have it.

All I’m saying is if they can figure out how to put a man on the moon, which Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin they first did back in 1969, why can’t they make a contraption to screen for breast cancer which doesn’t inflict so much pain at the same time?

If this kind of suffering was happening to a sensitive part of the male anatomy, say a guy’s testicles had to be mashed like a potato for a health screening, I’m pretty sure the problem would be fixed lickity-split.

Are you thinking about starting a small business but aren’t quite sure what might be successful in your area? Whether you need to start with little to no money or you’re able to invest a bit more, some businesses do well in nearly any economy and are easy to start without specialized training.

What Business Can I Start Quickly?

The United States Small Business Administration estimated around 1.04 million businesses opened while 928,000 closed in 2021. The success rate of companies varies based on industry, but businesses that take a long time to start don’t seem to do any better than those formed on the fly.

What are some small business ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs that don’t cost a lot to start and don’t require a degree?

1. Animal Care

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, animal care and service work pays an average of $28,730 per year and only requires a high school diploma. Animal care is an excellent option if you love animals and want to set your own schedule.

You can start your own pet sitting business, for example. Other options include grooming animals or training them. You will need to know some basics to do either, so you’ll want to take online courses and practice on the pets of family and friends before grooming and trimming someone else’s animal.

2. Pawn Shop

People will always have items they want to pawn for money and others will buy those things to save a buck or two. In a nutshell, you’ll trade cash for an item and hold it for a certain amount of time. If the person comes to collect the piece, they pay you interest on what was basically a loan. If they don’t return, you sell the item to someone else and profit from the difference.

You don’t have to spend a fortune to get your pawn shop up and running. Rent a small storefront and have enough cash on hand to purchase items. You do need some knowledge of what things sell for and what people will buy, since you don’t want to pay more than you can profit and you don’t want to sit on inventory too long. Things such as jewelry, musical instruments and electronics should sell fast.

3. Marketing

Marketing is a growing industry with a lot of opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs. According to PR Newswire, the marketing industry is a $460 billion one continuing to grow. You don’t have to start a big, fancy marketing agency to jump into the market, though.

Some things you can try include writing content for existing agencies and businesses. Offer your services for some social media marketing — learn how ads work on a few platforms and sell your services to local companies. You could also work on contracts with companies and marketing firms to fill in when they don’t have enough people to complete tasks.

4. Mobile Carwash

Another business idea for young entrepreneurs is to start a mobile luxury car wash business. You’ll need to provide a better experience than running a car through the local automated wash for a few bucks to attract customers.

The beauty of this business is you can start it with only cleaning supplies and your time. Don’t just wash the outside of their vehicle, but shine up the wheels and tires. Clean and sanitize the interior. A full-service wash is more like detailing and you can make customers’ lives easy by taking your work to where they live.

5. Food Truck

Do you love to cook? If you have a little money to invest, you can buy a small food truck. Start creating a business plan and get the permits required by your city and state, then figure out where other trucks set up and find similar places.

Some towns have rotating food truck centers where people can try many different options. Talk to the city trustees in your area and find out if there are any such areas. Contact large companies and see if they’d like you to park in front of the building for lunch once a week as workers leave for their lunch breaks.

A food truck can be quite profitable if you’re good with the hustle and can cook delicious food. Some food truck entrepreneurs also offer catering services on the side or turn to meal prep offers to ramp up their profits.

Do What You Love

Becoming an aspiring entrepreneur is a way to find financial and work freedom. Figure out what you’re passionate about and center your business idea around what you already love. With a little effort, you’ll not only have a profitable business, but you’ll have a better work and life balance. 

Are you thinking about starting a small business but aren’t quite sure what might be successful in your area? Whether you need to start with little to no money or you’re able to invest a bit more, some businesses do well in nearly any economy and are easy to start without specialized training.

What Business Can I Start Quickly?

The United States Small Business Administration estimated around 1.04 million businesses opened while 928,000 closed in 2021. The success rate of companies varies based on industry, but businesses that take a long time to start don’t seem to do any better than those formed on the fly.

What are some small business ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs that don’t cost a lot to start and don’t require a degree?

1. Animal Care

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, animal care and service work pays an average of $28,730 per year and only requires a high school diploma. Animal care is an excellent option if you love animals and want to set your own schedule.

You can start your own pet sitting business, for example. Other options include grooming animals or training them. You will need to know some basics to do either, so you’ll want to take online courses and practice on the pets of family and friends before grooming and trimming someone else’s animal.

2. Pawn Shop

People will always have items they want to pawn for money and others will buy those things to save a buck or two. In a nutshell, you’ll trade cash for an item and hold it for a certain amount of time. If the person comes to collect the piece, they pay you interest on what was basically a loan. If they don’t return, you sell the item to someone else and profit from the difference.

You don’t have to spend a fortune to get your pawn shop up and running. Rent a small storefront and have enough cash on hand to purchase items. You do need some knowledge of what things sell for and what people will buy, since you don’t want to pay more than you can profit and you don’t want to sit on inventory too long. Things such as jewelry, musical instruments and electronics should sell fast.

3. Marketing

Marketing is a growing industry with a lot of opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs. According to PR Newswire, the marketing industry is a $460 billion one continuing to grow. You don’t have to start a big, fancy marketing agency to jump into the market, though.

Some things you can try include writing content for existing agencies and businesses. Offer your services for some social media marketing — learn how ads work on a few platforms and sell your services to local companies. You could also work on contracts with companies and marketing firms to fill in when they don’t have enough people to complete tasks.

4. Mobile Carwash

Another business idea for young entrepreneurs is to start a mobile luxury car wash business. You’ll need to provide a better experience than running a car through the local automated wash for a few bucks to attract customers.

The beauty of this business is you can start it with only cleaning supplies and your time. Don’t just wash the outside of their vehicle, but shine up the wheels and tires. Clean and sanitize the interior. A full-service wash is more like detailing and you can make customers’ lives easy by taking your work to where they live.

5. Food Truck

Do you love to cook? If you have a little money to invest, you can buy a small food truck. Start creating a business plan and get the permits required by your city and state, then figure out where other trucks set up and find similar places.

Some towns have rotating food truck centers where people can try many different options. Talk to the city trustees in your area and find out if there are any such areas. Contact large companies and see if they’d like you to park in front of the building for lunch once a week as workers leave for their lunch breaks.

A food truck can be quite profitable if you’re good with the hustle and can cook delicious food. Some food truck entrepreneurs also offer catering services on the side or turn to meal prep offers to ramp up their profits.

Do What You Love

Becoming an aspiring entrepreneur is a way to find financial and work freedom. Figure out what you’re passionate about and center your business idea around what you already love. With a little effort, you’ll not only have a profitable business, but you’ll have a better work and life balance. 

The Tequila Diet: Exploring Mexican Food & Drink with the World’s Greatest SpiritChef Dave Martin

Given my relative lack of experience with tequila, I decided to begin my review at the beginning with a definition of tequila and then proceed to the next question, which focuses on the the reason why the rim of a glass used for a margarita is first moistened-typically with juice from a lime wedge- and then dipped in salt.

From the beginning: Tequila is a distilled beverage made with the blue agave plant. The area that produces the most tequila surrounds the town of Tequila, which is about 40 miles northwest of Guadalajara. The regional connection is reminiscent of the regionality of French wines. Think Champagne.

Next: Moistening the rim of the glass with lime juice and then dipping the rim in salt (typically coarse salt), tempers the bitterness of the tequila. One source said that while salt is commonly used, you could use sugar or cocoa, a mix of herbs or even chili powder. The source also suggested coating the rim of other cocktails.

Another interesting tidbit: Mexicans tend to drink tequila straight (“neat”).

El Baston del Rey Tequila, which sponsored the book, produces four different tequilas-Silver, Reposado, Anejo, Extra Anejo. The second, third and fourth varieties are aged in oak for varying amounts of time, the second in Canadian oak, the third in American oak, and the fourth in French oak. Each of the recipes uses a specific tequila.

In the introduction, Chef Dave Martin explains how he lost the weight he’d gained on an extended tour of Italy by limiting his alcoholic intake to tequila and, in addition, using it in cooking. One of the points he stresses is that tequila is a stimulant, as opposed to a depressant, adding that it also increases your metabolism, which can be a positive factor in weight loss.

Whatever the plusses, taste and ease of preparation are always important factors when it comes to choosing recipes. Seasonality is also important, especially in the summer when cooking and eating outdoors is at the top of everyone’s list.

The meat in the following recipe should marinate for no more than 2-3 hours, given the high level of acidity in the marinade.

Citrus & Tequila Marinade

4 pounds skirt, flank or flap steak2 cups fresh orange juice1/2 cup fresh lemon juice1/2 cup el Baston del Rey Reposado Tequila1 tablespoon garlic powder1 tablespoon onion powder1 tablespoon pioncillo or brown sugar1 teaspoon ground cumin1 cup corn or neutral oil 2 tablespoons agave nectar1 1/2 kosher salt and black pepper blend, for grilling

Make the marinade by combining all of the ingredients. Place in a resealable plastic bag. Add the meat, press out the excess air, reseal the bag and then allow the meat to marinate for the specified time. Remove the meat from the bag.Cook the meat on the grill, stove top or in the oven.