When I was a boy, Evel Knievel lived to see if he would crash and burn. And we watched him closely, a conflicted mixture of hope that he would make the jump or, perhaps even better, crash his motorcycle onto the last bus. There are moments in business when a business owner feels like Evel Knievel — if plans don’t work, the business could crash and burn.

And it’s really cool.

We just came through a crash and burn moment. Our largest contract just ended. If we didn’t win the new competition, Rosenberg Communications wasn’t continuing in its current form. Our entire strategy and bidding plan was very well conceptualized but, hanging over my head throughout the process, was the specter of business tragedy. And it was exhilarating. There’s something about knowing we are facing a crash and burn moment that makes me feel like Evel Knievel.

We won the big contract. In fact, we won two others as well.

I just hope clients don’t mind me coming to meetings dressed in a Stars and Stripes jumpsuit, like the one Evel used to wear.

Congress works on the economy yesterday and the markets tank.

Congress takes today off and the markets, at least as of 9:35 am, soar 200 points.

Maybe the bailout plan should be to disband Congress.

I’ve started to give this definition of effective communication to clients, workshop attendees, and media training participants: Did you understand what I just said?

Pretty radical, huh?

Here’s my new definition of terror: God made my daughter gorgeous. And He put boys at her high school.

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Even chauffeurs are allowed out of the car: When I pick up my twins from high school, where they are freshmen, I am not allowed to get out of the car. Perhaps if I bought a Lincoln town car and put on a blue suit and blue cap I would be allowed to appear.

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All partisanship aside, but when did Washington, DC become the Disney Channel? I read a revealing account of the White House meeting where the administration, Congressional leaders, and the two presidential candidates were supposed to have hammered out the bail-out plan. It read like an episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

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A friend of mine, in commenting about the bail-out plan, said that she thought the government was supposed to be “for the people.” I asked her where she had ever read such an odd concept.

This week’s recommended reading from your friends at Blogenberg…

• Two views on Microsoft’s new commercials. Church of the Customer believes they were successful. Seth Godin couldn’t disagree more.
• Apple has a history of being hard to work with when Steve Jobs has had the helm. Time Magazine asks whether Apple’s policies when it comes to the iPhone and the arrival of Google’s Android will lead to a repeat of past mistakes?
• Kristie Wells has put together this excellent list of “must-read” articles on social media.
• Guy Kawasaki suggests ways to captivate your audience.
• BNET’s Useful Commute Podcast discusses how to write more effectively.

Owning a business, I regularly have the chance to screw somebody over.

It could be something small, like forcing a vendor to pay for a mistake that I know is my fault. Or something big, like cutting a vendor out of a proposal when the budget is getting tight despite my earlier promises.

But I don’t. Call it ethical selfishness, or protective morals. I’ve been living long enough to see, very clearly, that what comes around goes around. For me, it’s religion. For others, it may be karma, or a general sense that the world balances itself out over time.

Doesn’t mean I’m not demanding, and aggressive. Doesn’t mean I’m not difficult, at times, to deal with. It means I try to do it right. Because I know that I get more business and make more money when I do things ethically. And that’s the reason I won’t screw you over.

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Here’s one other reason: occasionally, vendors make me want to be nice. We’re working with Jill Tanenbaum Graphic Design & Advertising on a project for a client. I made a mistake that set us back. They jumped all over getting it right. They never brought up charging more to clean it up. So I offered, because they made me want to be nice.

Ever since we were named number 241 on the Inc. 500 list, I’ve been getting calls from a new “class” of marketers.

The coolest by far is from a security consultant. Apparently, one should not be number 241 without thinking about security. So I’m thinking I want a bodyguard wearing a badge that says, of course, 241 and an armored Hummer with 241 painted on the side.

And I got a call from a company wanting me to invest in an oil well. “Oy vey” would be the official reaction from number 241.

This week’s recommended reading from your friends at Blogenberg:

• Successful small business owners are a lot like the Roomba.
• An analyst has shown that how people use the web has changed dramatically: from satisfying appetites (i.e. searches for porn) to actively participating in community.
• Ever wonder what Facebook would be like in “real life.” Check out this video.
• Here’s a cool list of social media tools for youth sports teams.
• Microsoft will announce today that they are dropping Jerry Seinfeld from its latest ad campaign.
• With the recent release of its browswer, Chrome, Google is continuing an aggressive play to compete with the likes of Microsoft by prioritizing what it views as the future of personal computing: web-based software services (or “cloud computing“) and gaming.
• The new “PR” is Personal Relationships (or, how new media is transforming the power of communications).
• And, since football season is in full swing, Blogenberg found this article from the Freakonomics blog an interesting look into the salary patterns of different positions.

I always assumed great business leaders were so supremely confident that they were practically full of themselves. And I always felt that wasn’t me. I was more modest, less sure of myself, I always thought. I was wrong.

We are putting together a proposal with two other businesses. We are the lead, though the other two are integral to the project. Our two partners pointed out, very nicely, that, in the last draft of the proposal I wrote, there was perhaps too much about me and my business. (I wanted to point out, of course, that we are number 241 on the Inc. 500 list, but I refrained.) One of our partners, nicely of course, noted that he did a word count and “Rosenberg Communications” or “Rosenberg” appeared in this 40-page document 85 times.

85 times! How great is that? It turns out I am full of myself.

Indeed, I am now so full of myself about being as full of myself as I always wanted to be full, that I feel very fulfilled.

Blogenberg slays himself.

Very close friends of ours, the wife just had a kidney transplant. Her husband e-mailed out an update telling everybody she is about to leave the hospital and that, most important, her kidney is making lots of urine.

I responded, “I never thought I’d be so excited to hear that another man’s wife is making urine!”

Blogenberg is so adorable it’s simply intolerable.