Offensive?

I meant to post on this long ago, but finally the topic popped back up. Is anyone else offended or put off by the Edge Gel shaving cream commercials that have scantilly clad women flying up into the guys nose with these mint odor machines. Or the one where the women are spraying on shaving cream?

I'm in my early 40's and I will not buy Edge now that I'm offended by dumb marketing.

TheMAN

Nice Change

After having reached 100 degrees for many of the days in July and the first week of August it sure has been nice lately to have plenty of rain and lower temps. Saturday at my retreat near Lake Texoma it was awesome only to have temps in the mid 80's. Last year's camp it was near 100 and we had outdoor ropes activities.

Both yesterday and today brought rain. My yard is soaked and maybe the grass will dominate the weeds finally. Tonight I played a little bit of whiffle ball with my son inbetween rain systems. I was squishing around in the yard.

Also another nice change took place today. It is my first day with my new electric company with rates nearly half of what I've had the past 2 months. We also just started with new auto insurance as of Sunday. SHOP AROUND!

Here comes the school year.

Breaking Up

Do you remember what it felt like when you realized that you no longer wanted to date someone that you had invested a lot of time in? Maybe you avoided phone calls or made excuses for not being able to get together. More than that I'm thinking about that actual feeling of when you began to wonder if this person was right for you or not. Kind of a feeling of confusion wondering if it is something that you were doing wrong, or just second guessing if you made the right decision in the first place. Or maybe this person what just the right person to get you through a certain period in your life before you moved on.

Well, today my friend Bobby and I were driving back from our retreat and I knew I had enough time to get home, freshen up, and then get to church in time for our worship service. As we were driving I was having these feelings about my church . I'm not sure I was looking for feedback, I just think I needed someone to express my thoughts and feelings to. When you are dating someone that you are really excited about you just can't wait to be with them and spend time together. I just wasn't experiencing those feelings about church today. I had every excuse to NOT go. I got 5 hours sleep the night before. My duties were covered. I could just show up late for our luncheon.

I decided to go and really went to be with my family.

End result: I'm not sure my feelings were addressed. I was validated by many of my friends who let me know that they missed me at bible class and a few told me they were glad that I was actually able to make it.

I'm really going to need to think this one through. Or maybe I should go to my knees in prayer. I need clarification if this is the right church for me and my family. We are very involved so uprooting would be a hard thing to do. In my 20+ years of going to church as an adult I've only left a church to find a new one just one time. Keep me and my family in your prayers.

Defending Public Schools

I went to public schools in big inner city for 8 years and spent 4 years at a major Catholic H.S. I am now a public school teacher. Within the last 2 years I feel like I am having to defend the fact that my kids go to public schools and often times have to defend the overall status of my job setting. A few years ago a real good friend made a comment while he was showing me his new home and where his wife was going to home school their kids, "There's no way I'm letting my kids go to a public school." His dad's career was as a teacher, coach and administrator AND he's telling this to a public school teacher. I was insulted and we talked about it.

Over the course of the last year or so I feel like I'm "on guard" again at my current church. There seems to be a heavy anti-public school bias and it has really made me extremely sensitive when blanket statements like, "what they teach at public schools" or "the unchurched who are in charge" and so on. I've been on the defensive enough to research on Google things like public school bashing, Christians and public schools and other words that might pull up articles I could read.

It seems like 3-4 years ago there was a call for all Christians to pull their kids from public schools. My wife said she found that this was in California. Let's abandon the mission field!

My feelings: The public school system is a huge mission field for me and my kids. My 7 year old has already expressed feelings about other kids and whether they go to church or not. I feel like many Christians have separated themselves from "the world"so much that they don't really know any non-Christians. Also, the system may be flawed, but I'm part of it so when you bash it, knowingly or not, I'm offended. I may be the closest thing to a Christ like example for many of these kids who come from broken homes or dysfunctional families. A high percentage of the people I have enjoyed bible study with over the past 10 years are involved in public education. The family that had the most impact on me as a Christian had both parents who worked for public schools.

Stop Calling Me

I got a phone call from my friend B the other day wanting to know why I keep calling him over and over. He would answer and here nothing but crackling noises. I then informed him that I can't find my cell phone. After doing a little detective work I've decided that it has to be in the house somewhere. My last phone call was to my mom Saturday about 1:25 pm. The whole family was in my daughter's room playing Webkinz Idol. I do recall leaving her room during the phone call and my mom reminded me that I was telling the kids to go to their rooms for some quiet time. This all about 1:30 on Saturday.

I did not leave the house Saturday nor did I take it to church on Sunday. It is nowhere to be found. We've torn apart my daughter's room, my son's room. Thoroughly checked both vehicles and I sorted thru the recycle bin and went dumpster diving. No luck. I've double checked couch cushions as well as both of our leather chairs. I've peered under my bed and even stripped the bedding for washing. All afternoon and evening Saturday I was in bed watching TV and playing computer games on the laptop.

During a power outage last night I repeated called my phone hoping to hear the vibration assuming it's not turned off all together. My friend B said after about 20 calls it finally quit calling him.

My only out at this time is to order a new phone since I am due for an upgrade.

Church Bulletins

About 15 years ago or so at the church I belonged to in Missouri a few of my friends and I would doctor up the church bulletins on Sunday during the service. We would severely alter the worship agenda by changing names of songs and people into funniers names or sayings. Ex. Our call to salvation song was Jesus Paid It All and we may change it to Jesus Played Guitar. We'd also turn in guest cards for David Letterman and P.W. Hermann to mention a few and they would often make the church newsletter. Well, this weekend I came across a few guest cards that I'd done up. I did the backs which had things to check for more information like: How to become a Christian, How to Join the Church, Youth Activities and such. The following is the list of items I added for checking: the theme was Texas week and I still lived in Missouri. My friend billyv and a few other church friends had moved to the Fort Worth area.

I'd like information about:

__ The country of Texas
__ How to become a Texan AND a Christian
__ Burning Texas Toast
__ Burning Texans
__ Open hunting season on Texans
__ Bomb Texas instead of Iraq, it's closer(my guess 1990s)
__ How to humble a Texan(can't be done)
__ Cowboy hats, horses, boots, big belt buckles
__ Y'all come Texas Choir
__ Building a fence around Texas(already being done)
__ I'd like someone to contact me and share information
about the church that has no Texans in it.
__ I'd like to talk like a Texan and our pastor.

I also would give a survey question on other requests at the bottom:

We should have a Texas Pride:
a. day
b. week
c. month
d. year
e. ALWAYS

The MAN Fan Club Explained

First off my initials are M.A.N. and the play on my initials is I'm The MAN. This isn't a "man" fan club, it's The M******* A. N*** Fan Club. Back on April 16, 1986 my friend Billyv and I put out our first MAN Fan Club newsletter. The following is most of what is on the original letter that we typed up.

Dear M.A.N. Fan(4 members strong):
Thank you for being very considerate and patient. Many impatient people wouldn't have been so considerate and would have cancelled their memberships, but you did not. It means you are very faithful, and YES, this is our first paper that we've attempted to publish, and I hope you are pleased.

More About Me:
I'm 20, born 2-18 to Fred and Margie and I have a brother Terry. I learned my first life lesson in kindergarten whe I stole a kid's hotwheel he got at our Christmas party because I didn't like the present I received. I was forced to return it. Since then I've mingled through life's measures and treasures. I graduated from (a Catholic H.S.) and am currently attending my 2nd year at UMSL. My brother got married and moved out 7 years ago. I've been attending MBC for 11 years and have been an active member at this church for 7 years. I guess it's home.

My Favorites:
Song: In the Name of Love-U2
Groups: Hooters, Bryan Adams, Cars, Sting
Pizza: Dominos Pepperoni
Color: Purple (Rain)
Cars: Cutlass Supreme, Porsche 911
Movie: The Dead Zone with Christopher Walken
Comedian: Steven Wright
T.V. Show: The Cosby Show
Lt Nt Show Host: David Letterman

Please Vote for Our Motto:
____ "But Officer I know M......A......N......"
____ "To Err is Human, to Forgive- M.......A......N....."
____ "I Only Wish M........A.......N.......was here."
____ "Who are We to Play M......A.....N......?"
____ "Liberty, Justice and M......A......N....for All!"

Notes from the Editor:
Hi, I'm BillyV, editor of the MAN Fan Club Newsletters. This is the first of what I hope to be many wonderful informative letters about the MAN. Look forward to your MANFC newsletters periodically, meaning, they will come out when he feels like it. We know you won't complain, you'd be more than happy just to fold his underwear. Centerfolds to begin in the next issue.

Groundhog Day

One of my favorite movie with tons of one liners is Groundhog Day. I think I lost interest in a girl I was dating when she said the movie was stupid. Anyway, it is beginning to feel like Groundhog Day here in North Texas. We had triple digit temps for 13 straight days and it has been dry. I checked and it has been 93 and over since July 1st.

Hurricane Eduoard came thru and gave us a somewhat nice day yesterday when the temps only hit the mid 90's. It is funny when you hear the meteorologist say a COLD front is coming and it "may" only get to about 96 on Friday with a chance of some rain. A cold front? Can't they say a cool front?

I start worrying about us having indoor recess for a month and a half. When the temps get over 90 we can only have outdoor recess for 10 minutes. I think when it hits 92 or the heat index is 92 we have to implement the indoor recess policy.

7 days before I have to report for duty!

Doing Nothing is Tough

All I've got to say is it is tough to sit around the house and do nothing. I've had the house to myself the last 3 weeks and for the most part I've had enough to stay busy. This week my running around partner "B" is on vacation and my things to do has run out. Both Monday and Tuesday I've managed to nap and lounge around after the family left until about 10am. I was extremely productive Monday, but today all I managed to do was fold close and load the dish washer.

Normally I'd run off to see movies, but there really isn't much to see and we're out of cash until we get paid on the 15th. I'm not even creative enough to blog about something interesting, sorry.

I Made The Switch

I opened up our auto insurance envelope last night and saw that our monthly rate was what I thought was ridiculously high. We've been with GMAC insurance for 4 years and supposedly have multiple discounts, but our monthly rate has gone up about $60 a month and we haven't had any claims. So last night I started searching for better rates. I visited Progressive and GEICO websites and it appeared I could do much better. I finally called GEICO and talked to someone who spoke english and believe it or not is from the Dallas area and I really enjoyed our conversation. No lie, in 15 minutes I saved about $700 for this incoming year, or 37%.

I guess since I am a teacher I am getting a "government" discount that is almost $60 a month less than what GMAC was going to give me. So if you teach in a public school system it may be worth checking out. Contact me and I'll give you a special "promo" code.

What I was impressed with was all of the great customer service I received from all parties: Al Boenker insurance agency(my broker), GMAC agencency, and GEICO.