insurance

Insurance companies have taken a beating over the past couple of decades.  You can't throw a John Grisham book on the ground without it opening to some reference of the evil agencies.  It seems like they've become the bad guys in lots of movies, tv shows and conversations.
 
Here's what I know.  My dealing with almost every insurance agency have been fair.  Twice they've paid me more than I expected for claims I've made on my house and my car.  Maybe I'm the exception, but I've never really had any problems.
 
Having said that - I talked with three roofing companies after Hurricane Stuart came through and all three offered to help me commit insurance fraud.  "It's ok, because these companies are huge"

I was watching espn today and saw that the Stringer family was suing Riddel because they didn't warn Korey that helmets and shoulder pads make things warmer when you're playing football in the sun.
 
Some guy making $8 an hour is now going to have to spend more money to pay for his kid's equipment because an nfl player's family wanted a little more money.  My insurance rates cost more because - why not stick it to the insurance companies?  They're rich, right?  So that makes it ok...did we learn nothing from Kevin Costner's portrayal of Robin Hood?

Stealing from big companies ultimately hurts the single mom making minimum wage more than it hurts Wall Street.  Rates go up -because they have to - the cost of products, resources or services cost more... and the poor get poorer...

Where would we be without it?

Whatever that magic box outside my house does to condition the air, I love it.
 
Three greatest inventions of all time?
1. - you've gotta love fire.  I'm going old school and leading off with the flame.  It's the best.  If we learned anything from Survivor, it's that.  You can't have a delicious flame broiled sanwich without fire, and you also can't encourage Foghat while they're bringing down the house without it.
 
2. - Tivo.  Don't argue with me on this one.  I used to be on your side before, but I was an idiot and I've learned my lesson.  Don't start yelling about a DVR...it's the same thing...you know what I mean.  Stop it.  Now you just want to argue.  What's that all about anyway?
 
3. - Air Conditioning.  We all saw this one coming.  I led off with this one.  I just wanted to bookend this amazing weblog post with my ode to central cooling.

He shoots, he scores

Conversation from 30 minutess ago:
 

Me:  I'm going to work Coop

 
Cooper:  Bye

 
Me:  Bye, love you.

 
Cooper:  I love you too

 
Me:  I love you more

 
Cooper (without missing a beat):  I ninja love you

and he wins again...

I'm just not sure

If you think the government is more efficient with your money than you are...
...or less likely to misuse it
...or better equipped to make decisions that alter your life
Fine.  I know the kids at MTV agree with you...and what do I know anyways?

I just think there's probably one area where we can all join hands and agree.  We probably don't need the government's involvement in professional or amateur sports.  We're ok there.  I don't really want to see my Senator on tv trying to figure out if Mark Lemke took steroids.  I don't need the President deciding on a college football playoff system.  That'll work itself out.  It's just a bunch of boys and girls playing games.  Let's go ahead and leave that one to the guys that live for watching Sports Center.

I get that they want to talk about it so they can be on tv and take popular stances, but is that really leadership?  Let's put our time and money into stuff that is important and that the free market would never support on it's own...like highways, national defense,  public television and public radio.  How would those ever survive without government help?

travel day

I'm headed out of state (Indiana - I think?) today.  It's not a good day for travel.  We're starting up a new Alpha tomorrow at a center for folks with special needs.
 
I have no idea what that really means.  I've been there.  It seems like they do great work.  They seem nice.  I just feel more comfortable with the home court advantage and I'm curious about taking Alpha on the road.
 
I should mention that I've been pushing to have Alpha play an away game for three years now.  So the fact that I'm starting to have buyer's remorse should tell you how double minded I am.
 
Either way - I've got a silly amount of work to do, and I'm off to meet one of my favorite authors.  In the long run, I'm guessing this trip will stand out more than prepping a bunch of notebooks and flyers...

Robbie

I get to meet with someone tomorrow who I've admired from a great distance for well over a decade.  It's kind of sad, but I met his brother about a year ago and didn't have the guts to ask if he was still alive (very confusing...wasn't sure how to write that last sentence...I met Lyman and didn't have the guts to ask if Robert was still with us)

Anyhow, I'm going to Indiana tomorrow to visit with Robert E. Coleman.  If I had a top ten books list, he'd have my number three book of all time.  I'm saying three because I'm legally obligated to put the Bible at #1 (and it's actually a pretty solid read if you get a chance) and I'm guessing there is probably a second book in there too - before The Master Plan of Evangelism.
 
I know that Evangelism isn't a fun topic for most, and we have given up on the word and the concept long ago.  It's just easier that way, right?  The bottom line is this book should more honestly be named The Master Plan of Discipleship (except he wrote that one too...and it's not nearly as good...but what do I know?).
 
Anyhow, all Robert did was detail how Jesus lived his life among people.  He had his people and they had their people, and so on and so on... and there were apparently a lot of people involved.  All his chapters end with "..ion" like chapter 4 - Impartation...or 5 - Demonstration...but no "desecration"...
and how can you not like a book with a chapter rhythm?
 
If you get a chance, give it a read...it's really a great one.  And I'll tell him you say hi...

searching for ideas...and tickets...

I told our three kids that I was going to take them each out for a special day in the next few weeks.  Then I asked them what they would want to do if they could do anything in the world.

Cooper, what would you want to do if you could do anything at all?

Cooper:  Have breakfast

Me:  Well...sure...but if you could do anything at all today, what would it be? 

Cooper:  Put that pillow on the couch.
 
I didn't want to really squash his dreams, so I made him a pop tart and let him put the pillow on the couch.  Bottom line?   I'm a world class dad.
 

Later he told me he'd like to go to a Dayton Dragons game....so if anybody has ticket connections - why don't you hook a brother up?

Griffin wants to go to COSI or the Children's museum...or the driving range...or a movie...or putt putt...

Parker just runs around the house yelling, "Yeah, what's up!?!?"  It's a little like living with Flava Flav...

3 Day Weekend

Lots of people have today off apparently.  We've decided as a country that Independence day should be celebrated...so why should you have to work on this great day? 

 

We've decided that you shouldn't.  It's too important to go unnoticed.  You can't work and celebrate independence...that's just silly.  Luckily this year we don't have to miss work to celebrate, because it's on a weekend.

 
So we've decided that normally you can celebrate on July 4th, but since that's on the weekend...this year you should also celebrate our freedom from those oppresive Brits for two days. 
 
And you can't work while you're celebrating your freedom - we've already covered that.
 
So it's a three or four day weekend, depending on if you decided to take the 2nd off to really get your uncle Sam spirit going. 
 
Sadly, I'll be working a bit this weekend...so I don't get a three day weekend.  And it's because of this that I'm going to take a three day weekend from weblogging.  I won't post anything today and I'll enjoy three days without blogging.
 
I'll see you on Monday...

Pardcast

I'm stepping into the early 2000's and signing up for some podcasts. Young Annie gave me an itouch for my birthing day and I've been adding a thing or two to my little electronic friend.

I've almost signed up for Jimmy Pardo's podcast - Never Not Funny - a bunch of times in the past year or so, but actually took the step this week and paid for it.  Keep in mind that $20 is more than I paid for gas this week for two cars....I just love Jimmy's wordplay.

I also rediscovered The Phil Hendrie show and still love it.  He has a free show and it brings back the memories of Annie and I boring our friends trying to recreate his show to our friends.  The entire premise of his show is he'll have a "guest" that takes the wrong stance on some controversial subject and he'll talk to them until people call up outraged.  What the callers don't know (typically I assume) is that Phil is playing the guest and interviewing himself...does that even make sense?  Sometimes he'll even be the caller.  The bottom line is that people get really mad while Phil makes awful comments that are really funny.

 
So I have a ton of funny...now I'm looking for more to load up my little pocket sound machine (coincedentally, Fuller's street name).  If you know of a great, and hopefully free, podcast out there...I'm ready to give them a shot.  Just let me know...

What's the deal with paying 9/10ths?

We just bought a tank full of gasoline (petrol for those of you in Ireland) and it costs us 38 cents.
 
Not per gallon, that would be a rip off.  Oh no, we paid 1.9 cents per gallon X 20 gallons...which we all know comes out to $.38
 
Not long ago I posted a receipt that was roughly $12 for about $122 worth of groceries.  Turns out that store has bonuses that are paid in the form of gasoline discounts.  We had amassed $2.55 & 9/10ths per gallon in discounts, and gasoline was $2.53 yesterday. 
  
Unfortunately they only gave us credit for $2.54!!!
  
And that's why we had to shell out a quarter, dime and three pennies to fill up the miniature van.  It's ok.  I'm not going to call and complain about the screw up with our card.  I'm willing to overlook the .0019 screwup.  I'm even willing to eat that cost to avoid embarassing the grocery mart. 
 
It's time we tighten up our belts and just move on. 
 
God bless America
& Oprah...that just goes without saying...but I had to at least write it...