I Asked A Computer For Texas Gifts And The Results Were A Little Weird

My attempts to send "a little Texas" have been educational and fun so I thought I'd share them with you.

I have a mom in California and a brother in Hawaii, and both are extremely hard to shop for. The best I can do is try to send them items from Texas that are very hard to get. I once again reached out to our robot overlords for some advice.

I laid into ChatGPT for this one, and I found the results okay (the last results were dubious or flat-out wrong). The top answers were cowboy boots, barbeque sauce, Blue Bell Ice Cream, Dr. Pepper, Whataburger, Shiner Beer, Buc-ee's merchandise, bluebonnet seeds, western hats, and leather goods.

There were actually some compelling reasons for these things being on the list, but mostly it just didn't work for my needs. so let's rip it apart.

Cowboy boots and a good hat need to be fitted, and they may also mean Oklahoma or that you're a fan of the t.v. show "Yellowstone", so that's a bit off.

Onto some of the food items. It would be very tough to ship Blue Bell or Whataburger and Dr. Pepper is everywhere. A six-pack of Shiner might not be a horrible idea if it's packed well.

Buc-ees are in seven states, so it kind of fails the "Texas" test, and  "leather goods" don't seem to be highly specific to our region either.

Bluebonnet seeds seem like an okay, but maybe a little cheap idea. Then again, what grows here may not grow elsewhere, and they may even consider it an "invasive" plant at that location.

That leaves us with "barbeque sauce". We do have some strong Texas brands. ChatGPT recommended Stubb's (that was very cool to see), Rudy's, and Salt Lick brands.

So what did I end up sending to my brother in Hawaii? I went with "Big Wick's Jalapeno Glaze",  "Papa's Seasonings", and a shirt from a legendary Texas radio station. Nothing says Texas like that package.

For the record, I have also sent a taste of Texas from Raider Red Meats and Pedro's Tamales. I'm near 100% certain that my next package will be a bunch of Johnny G's Salsa and Skelly's Hot Sauces.  Yeah, I'm a sucker for food packages, because they are one size fits all.