About WDFloyd

Dave Floyd is an attorney, real estate broker, and trivia host in Austin, Texas. He works with the Foskitt Law Office and is an owner of Floyd Real Estate. He was a candidate for Austin City Council in 2014 and lives in the Zilker Neighborhood.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Mobile: Be Careful with You ZAGGFolio

A few weeks ago, I put up a post about my new ZAGGFolio keyboard case for my iPad2.  So far, I've found the case to be fairly useful.  It the keyboard came in quite handy for taking notes at the AGRIP Conference in Colorado Springs and work working remotely in the Denver Airport.  My one warning, however, would be to not drop the case.  Earlier today mine fell from desktop height and the result was several keys popping off of the keyboard.  I was able to get most of them back on, but one of the direction keys seems like it is just itching to pop back off.


  • The take-away: my ZAGGFolio didn't fall very far for a mobile device, but turned out to be surprisingly fragile.  Be careful if you have one.  I still recommend it, though, as being handy for note taking and remote work involving a lot of typing on the iPad.


Food: Bert's BBQ Returns to Campus Area

T-Man at Bert's BBQ
Back in the 1970's, some sensitive people put out an album called Free to be You and Me.  On this album was a track labeled "It's Alright to Cry," which was sung by former NFL defensive tackle Rosey Grier. [I know what you're thinking: professional football players singing songs about crying.... I can't explain it as I don't get the 70's either.]  But, I do know that if you want an acceptible reason to cry, being informed that your favorite BBQ joint has burned down would be on the list.

The campus location of Bert's BBQ burned down about five years ago.  It was a dark day for Austin.  However, Bert's BBQ is back with a new campus area location.  Having taken over the space of the Wing Stop on 24th, it's convent to those in the downtown area.  More importantly, though, it's nice to see Bert's bounce back and have a second store open after the loss of the original location on MLK.

I enjoy the three meat (brisket, sausage, ribs) plate.  However, my favorite item at Bert's has traditionally been the T-Man (a mixture, of beans, sausage, cubed brisket, and BBQ sauce).   What I haven't tried yet (for reasons I can't explain) is the Turbo, a bowl containing the T-Man in addition to the ingredients for a Frito Pie.  I plan to remedy this oversight at some point next week.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Texas Co-op Power Magazine - Texas Stories: Water Is Life - An Online Community for Members of Texas Electric Cooperatives

Texas Co-op Power Magazine - Texas Stories: Water Is Life - An Online Community for Members of Texas Electric Cooperatives

The Affordable Care Act: what employers should know - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

The Affordable Care Act: what employers should know - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Web-based accessibility under the ADA after recent Netflix decision - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Web-based accessibility under the ADA after recent Netflix decision - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

About those new social media privacy law developments... - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

About those new social media privacy law developments... - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Getting out from a rock and a hard place: how to avoid liability under the new EEOC guidelines governing the use of criminal background information - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Getting out from a rock and a hard place: how to avoid liability under the new EEOC guidelines governing the use of criminal background information - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

When will employers learn the law regarding religious dress? - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

When will employers learn the law regarding religious dress? - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Stolen flash drive leads to another HIPAA data breach - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Stolen flash drive leads to another HIPAA data breach - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Monday, August 13, 2012

Food: Taos Cow Ice Cream

Sign for Taos Cow

In my experience, all sorts of outdoor activities can make one hungry for ice cream.  Fortunately, if you're in the vicinity of Taos, New Mexico,  you can take care of this craving with some locally made, all natural, and hormone free ice cream at Taos Cow.  Located on NM Highway 150, you can't miss the sign as you slow down to drive through Arroyo Seco (between Taos and Taos Ski Valley).  We stopped in after a trip up to Taos Ski Valley for lunch.  I had the cookie's 'n cream, which was less creamy than Amy's but still quite delicious.

In addition to ice cream, the Taos Cow website says they offer the following:


  • Locally roasted organic fair-trade coffee
  • Fresh espresso drinks
  • Fresh, homemade salads and soups
  • Boar's Head deli products
  • Fresh-baked pastries
  • Odwalla juices
  • Daily breakfast and lunch specials 


  • A wide range of products, and certainly a good place to stop on your way to/from Taos Ski Valley.

    Travel: Colorado

    Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs
    [Photos by Dave Floyd]


    It's good to be back in Austin after an excellent trip to Colorado.

    For the past three years, I've gone up to Colorado for vacation.  In 2009, I hiked to the top of Mt. Elbert with my mountain climbing buddy.  In 2010 and 2011, I went to Denver, Boulder, and Estes Park with friends.  Both of these trips included a lot of fly fishing, hiking, and road tripping around the mountains.

    This year, my trip to Colorado was more business oriented as it was center around the 2012 Association of Government Risk Pools ("AGRIP") Institute for Management and Leadership conference.  The conference was held at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs.  I hadn't been to that part of Colorado in a long time, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.   Furthermore, the conference was full of very informative seminars.   I have been a regular at AGRIP's Fall and Spring conferences since 2007, but this was the first summer Management & Leadership session I'd attended.  I walked away with some very valuable information, as well as quite a few ideas for tweaking things at Prism Risk Management.  I also left with ideas for the Texas Schools Property & Casualty Cooperative and Oklahoma Schools Property & Casualty Cooperative programs.  I'll get into some of these concepts in detail on the Prism Risk Management blog over the next few weeks.


    Mt. Elbet and Mt. Massive in Colorado


    Owing to the business nature of my Colorado trip, I had compressed time to travel around the mountains for fun.  I did take a day to drive the following route:
    • Glenwood Springs to Aspen
    • Aspen to Twin Lakes (via Independence Pass)
    • Twin Lakes to Leadville (in the shadow of Mt. Elbert and Mt. Massive)
    • Leadville to Frisco
    • Frisco to Grand Lakes
    • Grand Lakes to Estes Park (via the Trial Ridge Road in Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park)
    • Estes Park to Ft. Collins
    This route took me about 9 hours, but there were significant breaks in driving for photography.  The Twin Lakes to Estes Park portion of the contained several portions of a by-way called "Top of the Rockies."  If you have a short time frame and want to see some spectacular mountain scenery in the vicinity of Denver, I highly recommend the route listed in the bullet points above.  



    Prism Risk Management Blog

    Check out the new post on the Prism Risk Management Blog: Water Scarcity Means Risks for the Enterprise and Public Sectors.  If you're interested in recent actions of the LCRA or the Texas Water Development Board, this is a good post to read.