I used to do these every year and I just realized I haven't done it in several years. So here is a look back at the deaths of 2011 (at least the one's notable to me).
John Barry - Jan 30 - This guy used to write the soundtracks to the James Bond films.
Gary Moore - Feb 6 - An underrated rock and blues guitar player/singer.
Jane Russell - Feb 28 - Old time hotty/actress. Starred in about 20 movies, one of them along side Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Nate Dogg - March 15 - Rapper associated with Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre.
Michael Gough - March 17 - Played the part of Alfred in the Keaton/Kilmer/Clooney Batman films.
Elizabeth Taylor - March 23 - Another Old time hotty/actress in too many movies to count.
Osama bin Laden - May 2 - You know, that terrorist guy.
Jackie Cooper - May 3 - Overshadowed by the news of OBL's death. He is a former child actor known for Our Gang (aka The Little Rascals). He later appeared in many movies and TV shows.
Randy Savage - May 20 - AKA "The Macho Man" Randy Savage. Former WWE wrestler and spokesman for SlimJims. Little known fact: he was married in real life to his "in ring manager" Miss Elizabeth. They divorced in 1992 and she died in 2003 (drug od) while living with wrestler Lex Lugar.
Peter Falk - June 23 - Most famous for his role as Lieutenant Columbo. He also appeared in many other TV shows and movies.
Betty Ford - July 8 - Former first lady.
Amy Winehouse - July 23 - I wasn't going to even mention her, but they made a pretty big deal about it in the news.
Bubba Smith - August 3 - Former football player, but I knew him better as Hightower in the Police Academy films.
Steve Jobs - October 5 - Again, another name that was in all the news outlets. Founder of Apple Computers in case you don't know.
Dennis Ritchie - To me this is a much bigger loss than Steve Jobs. Passing on Oct 8, he developed the C programming language and co-wrote the UNIX operating system. MacOS X, or iOS on the iPhone, was originally called NeXTSTEP which is a derivative of UNIX. The Andriod runs Linux which is based on UNIX and mostly written in C. Microsoft Windows' base OS and many applications are written in C. I learned UNIX and C while in college and that was my main influence in getting into computers. So I owe a lot to this man. On Facebook recently, Purdue University's College of Technology posted a link to the following article that talks about Dennis Ritchie and how the UNIX OS was developed: The Strange Birth and Long Life of Unix
Muammar Gaddafi - October 20 - Former Libyan leader.
Andy Rooney - November 4 - Most notable for his "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney," on 60 Minutes.
Joe Frazier - November 7 - Former boxer.
Harry Mogan - Dec 7 - Col. Potter on M*A*S*H and Det. Bill Gannon on Dragnet.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Getting the tornado damage repaired
Previously I had written about the tornado that came through on February 28, 2011. We've gotten all the damage repaired now, so I thought I would tell about it in chronological form.
February 28 - Tornado went through in the early AM, see story. I realize I didn't actually finish that blog post, so I will continue here. After the power came back on, I went up to Bicknell to get Emma. Later Beth and Evan took a shower at Mom and Dad's because the hot water heater wasn't on yet and we got supper from McDonald's, just because.
March 4 - I took the day off of work. Me and Emma went to visit my insurance agent, he was not there.
March 7 - I went to see my insurance agent again after work to start my claim.
March 21 - The Insurance adjuster came out and looked at the house. He was pretty busy since there was a lot of damage in the area, that's why it took two weeks for him to get there. He wrote me (and the bank) a check and gave me a writeup of the damages. Right after he left, he called me to tell me to tear up the check that he gave me because he miscalculated something and gave me too much money. So then I had to wait a week or more for the revised check to show up.
I decided that I would take a stab at doing the repairs myself. So I took the check to the bank to deposit it. Nope, bank wouldn't do it. They said if I have a mortgage, and the amount on the check is more than $10,000, they have to put the money into an escrow account and write checks out of it. I asked why and I was told "We have to protect our investment." (emphasis mine) What also made me mad about the whole thing is that I have almost twice the amount of the insurance check paid off on the mortgage. If they are worried that someone would take the insurance money and walk away from the house I could understand. The check wasn't large enough to be worth it and the damage wasn't that extensive AND the bank would not have lost that much even if I had. Their rules need to be reconsidered. So let that be a lesson to everyone out there. Ask your insurance provider to give you multiple checks of amounts less than about $9500 to avoid this scenario. They gave me some instructions and paperwork to fill out and send in to the bank's insurance department. At the bank they told me I could do the work myself if I wanted to. Good. So I called the bank's insurance department and I told them I could save a lot of money if they would let me do it myself. Again they said no because the check was above $15,000 and therefore I would have to use a contractor. I was not happy. So I went looking for a contractor and a friend of mine referred me to one.
April 5 - Jerry Davis of Jerry Davis Construction came over to take a look at what repairs were needed. I was going to follow what the insurance adjuster had written down, but Jerry gave better advice, so I followed his. The roofs that were damaged were either shingled, rolled-roofed, or metal. Jerry suggested we go all metal since it's almost the same price and will hold up better and longer. Not to mention that the existing metal roof on my house was the only one that held up during the tornado.
April 8 - I started tearing down the car port. This took me a while because I carefully took all the nails out of it so that I wouldn't get one in a tire in the future. Some of the metal was still usable.
Somewhere in here I had to take Mom and Dad's tractor and trailer out into the neighbor's field to pick up all the wood and crumbled up pieces of sheet metal from the barn. Mom and Dad's trailer is pretty good size and I (with the help of my sister and brother-in-law) filled the trailer up twice. The debris was scattered all over the field and it took a while to drive around and pick it up. The piece farthest away from the house I measured to be over a half-mile away. It took me a while to get it all picked up because, well, it kept raining. The field was too muddy to take the tractor and trailer out in it without cutting ruts in the field. I was also up against the clock because the farmer wanted to plant crops. Luckily I got it all done just in time for the farmer to start. I also noticed a seat cushion off of one of our deck chairs was missing. This chair was under our back porch. I dreaded having to find a replacement. One day I was walking through the neighbor's field and managed to find it in a ditch about a quarter-mile away from the house. I also had a tree leaning on the house being propped up with a clothes line pole. I had considered trying to save the tree by digging around it and putting an anchor in the ground next to it. Keep in mind it was a pretty good size tree. In the end I just gave up and cut the tree down. I hated to do it since most of the trees in our yard are now gone due to tornadoes.
April 19 - Yet another nasty storm came through. Tornadoes hit Haubstat and Princeton. We weren't sure how things were going to go, so we took cover in the hallway of our house this time. The kids were already in bed. I got the cushions off of the big couch and put them on the floor so we had something soft to lay on (or something to get under to protect us if we had to). We left Emma in her bed asleep since we were right outside her door. If we had to go get here she was only a couple inches away. I remembered the story my Dad told about my Grandma and the tornado of 1925. They survived because they huddled down behind a couch and the wall fell over against the couch leaving a triangular shaped area behind the couch that protected them. Turns out the power was out in Princeton pretty bad, so they actually canceled work. Luckily the power was still on at our house.
April 21 - Got the quote from Jerry Davis. I immediately mailed it off to the bank. As expected, it took a while but they finally contacted me and told me that nobody had signed the quote. So I had to sign it and then hunt Jerry down again and have him sign it and mail it off again. Then I waited and waited. Finally, the first check came in for the first $10,000.
Late June through mid-August - Jerry and the guys did all the repair work. They did a great job by the way. I gave Jerry the check after he got started. Then I had to call the bank for the "halfway" point inspection. By the time the bank sent someone over, they only had the carport to go. The carport took less than a week and the inspector said that he would be back in the area later that week if I could get the bank to send him out again. I called and sent email (as they requested) to get them to send him back over for final inspection. As you might have guessed, it didn't happen. They did send the second check and I gave it to Jerry. Another week and I think the final inspector came over. The inspection didn't take long and it was a lady this time and she had no idea why she was there. I could have just made something up I guess, but I told her what the bank wanted to know and she took pictures and filled out a report.
September 6 - The final check for Jerry arrived. Since Jerry's quote was below the amount the insurance company originally gave me, the bank sent me a check for the remaining balance. I'm amazed that they even allowed it given all the other hoops I had to jump through. I figured they would insist that I spend all of the money for repairs. At the very least I expected them to take the remaining balance and put it against the principle of my mortgage.
September 12 - Now here's where is gets weird. The bank sent me an interest check? (Queue the the Twilight Zone music and by Twilight I mean the old TV show, not the new series of movies/books about vampires) Yes, that's right, the account that they put the insurance money in actually earned interest and they actually sent me a check for it! I thought for sure the bank would pocket that money themselves and maybe they did keep some of it, I'll never know for sure. They did charge me for the two inspections.
Right now the only thing I have left to do is contact my insurance company and let them know I got everything fixed. The first check they gave me was for the depreciated value of the roof and building. After they inspect it again, they will pay for the actual repair work I spent up to what they think it should have cost.
February 28 - Tornado went through in the early AM, see story. I realize I didn't actually finish that blog post, so I will continue here. After the power came back on, I went up to Bicknell to get Emma. Later Beth and Evan took a shower at Mom and Dad's because the hot water heater wasn't on yet and we got supper from McDonald's, just because.
March 4 - I took the day off of work. Me and Emma went to visit my insurance agent, he was not there.
March 7 - I went to see my insurance agent again after work to start my claim.
March 21 - The Insurance adjuster came out and looked at the house. He was pretty busy since there was a lot of damage in the area, that's why it took two weeks for him to get there. He wrote me (and the bank) a check and gave me a writeup of the damages. Right after he left, he called me to tell me to tear up the check that he gave me because he miscalculated something and gave me too much money. So then I had to wait a week or more for the revised check to show up.
I decided that I would take a stab at doing the repairs myself. So I took the check to the bank to deposit it. Nope, bank wouldn't do it. They said if I have a mortgage, and the amount on the check is more than $10,000, they have to put the money into an escrow account and write checks out of it. I asked why and I was told "We have to protect our investment." (emphasis mine) What also made me mad about the whole thing is that I have almost twice the amount of the insurance check paid off on the mortgage. If they are worried that someone would take the insurance money and walk away from the house I could understand. The check wasn't large enough to be worth it and the damage wasn't that extensive AND the bank would not have lost that much even if I had. Their rules need to be reconsidered. So let that be a lesson to everyone out there. Ask your insurance provider to give you multiple checks of amounts less than about $9500 to avoid this scenario. They gave me some instructions and paperwork to fill out and send in to the bank's insurance department. At the bank they told me I could do the work myself if I wanted to. Good. So I called the bank's insurance department and I told them I could save a lot of money if they would let me do it myself. Again they said no because the check was above $15,000 and therefore I would have to use a contractor. I was not happy. So I went looking for a contractor and a friend of mine referred me to one.
April 5 - Jerry Davis of Jerry Davis Construction came over to take a look at what repairs were needed. I was going to follow what the insurance adjuster had written down, but Jerry gave better advice, so I followed his. The roofs that were damaged were either shingled, rolled-roofed, or metal. Jerry suggested we go all metal since it's almost the same price and will hold up better and longer. Not to mention that the existing metal roof on my house was the only one that held up during the tornado.
April 8 - I started tearing down the car port. This took me a while because I carefully took all the nails out of it so that I wouldn't get one in a tire in the future. Some of the metal was still usable.
Somewhere in here I had to take Mom and Dad's tractor and trailer out into the neighbor's field to pick up all the wood and crumbled up pieces of sheet metal from the barn. Mom and Dad's trailer is pretty good size and I (with the help of my sister and brother-in-law) filled the trailer up twice. The debris was scattered all over the field and it took a while to drive around and pick it up. The piece farthest away from the house I measured to be over a half-mile away. It took me a while to get it all picked up because, well, it kept raining. The field was too muddy to take the tractor and trailer out in it without cutting ruts in the field. I was also up against the clock because the farmer wanted to plant crops. Luckily I got it all done just in time for the farmer to start. I also noticed a seat cushion off of one of our deck chairs was missing. This chair was under our back porch. I dreaded having to find a replacement. One day I was walking through the neighbor's field and managed to find it in a ditch about a quarter-mile away from the house. I also had a tree leaning on the house being propped up with a clothes line pole. I had considered trying to save the tree by digging around it and putting an anchor in the ground next to it. Keep in mind it was a pretty good size tree. In the end I just gave up and cut the tree down. I hated to do it since most of the trees in our yard are now gone due to tornadoes.
April 19 - Yet another nasty storm came through. Tornadoes hit Haubstat and Princeton. We weren't sure how things were going to go, so we took cover in the hallway of our house this time. The kids were already in bed. I got the cushions off of the big couch and put them on the floor so we had something soft to lay on (or something to get under to protect us if we had to). We left Emma in her bed asleep since we were right outside her door. If we had to go get here she was only a couple inches away. I remembered the story my Dad told about my Grandma and the tornado of 1925. They survived because they huddled down behind a couch and the wall fell over against the couch leaving a triangular shaped area behind the couch that protected them. Turns out the power was out in Princeton pretty bad, so they actually canceled work. Luckily the power was still on at our house.
April 21 - Got the quote from Jerry Davis. I immediately mailed it off to the bank. As expected, it took a while but they finally contacted me and told me that nobody had signed the quote. So I had to sign it and then hunt Jerry down again and have him sign it and mail it off again. Then I waited and waited. Finally, the first check came in for the first $10,000.
Late June through mid-August - Jerry and the guys did all the repair work. They did a great job by the way. I gave Jerry the check after he got started. Then I had to call the bank for the "halfway" point inspection. By the time the bank sent someone over, they only had the carport to go. The carport took less than a week and the inspector said that he would be back in the area later that week if I could get the bank to send him out again. I called and sent email (as they requested) to get them to send him back over for final inspection. As you might have guessed, it didn't happen. They did send the second check and I gave it to Jerry. Another week and I think the final inspector came over. The inspection didn't take long and it was a lady this time and she had no idea why she was there. I could have just made something up I guess, but I told her what the bank wanted to know and she took pictures and filled out a report.
September 6 - The final check for Jerry arrived. Since Jerry's quote was below the amount the insurance company originally gave me, the bank sent me a check for the remaining balance. I'm amazed that they even allowed it given all the other hoops I had to jump through. I figured they would insist that I spend all of the money for repairs. At the very least I expected them to take the remaining balance and put it against the principle of my mortgage.
September 12 - Now here's where is gets weird. The bank sent me an interest check? (Queue the the Twilight Zone music and by Twilight I mean the old TV show, not the new series of movies/books about vampires) Yes, that's right, the account that they put the insurance money in actually earned interest and they actually sent me a check for it! I thought for sure the bank would pocket that money themselves and maybe they did keep some of it, I'll never know for sure. They did charge me for the two inspections.
Right now the only thing I have left to do is contact my insurance company and let them know I got everything fixed. The first check they gave me was for the depreciated value of the roof and building. After they inspect it again, they will pay for the actual repair work I spent up to what they think it should have cost.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Updates 11/30/2011
I was going to make some comment about how it's been a while since my last posting, but I realize that I say that a lot. So I won't. I will say that I have many posts started, but I'm not sure when they will get posted. Got a few more stories from college and I have finally written about my Grandpa and will post that soon.
I got to go to the Bob Seger concert at the new Ford Center in Evansville on November the 9th. Beth got me tickets as a birthday/anniversary present. I went with Johnny Spells, who's ticket was also a birthday present from his wife. We had supper at Turoni's on Main street (along with everyone else going to the concert it seemed like). While Bob is gettin' up there in age, he still rocks on. I noticed that he did songs in a strategic order. He would do a really rockin' song where he was standing and then he would do either one where he would sit at the piano, or play the accoustic guitar. And when he played the guitar, he sat on a bench front and center. At one point he took a "7 minute" break and during one song he mysteriously disappeared from stage while the band played on. At the end of the concert, he did the infamous double encore. I was disappointed that he did not play "Like a Rock" but I'm wondering if Chevy owns the right to that song or something. I did some Google searching on it and found no proof. So maybe he didn't play it simply because he had to draw the line somewhere. After the concert I stopped by McDonald's for a quick bite and didn't get home until after midnight. There's more to this that I will post later.
So now it's after Thanksgiving and the radio stations have started to play Christmas music. I'm fine with that, but I have one problem. The radio station at work seems to think that there are "heavy rotation" lists for Christmas music. Wrong. Last Monday I heard Andy Williams' "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" three times. I've harped on Christmas songs before.
Those who know me well know that I really enjoy silent films, especially those from the 1920s. I was thrilled to learn about a movie that came out on November 25 that is set in the 1920s about a fictional silent film star. It's called "The Artist" and in addition to being about a silent film star, the movie itself is actually in black and white and is (you guessed it) silent. The main characters, George Valentin (almost certainly a nod to Rudolph Valentino) and Peppy Miller, are played by two French film stars I am not familiar with, but it also stars John Goodman and James Cromwell. It got a lot of attention at the Cannes Film Festival and they expect it to win an Oscar or two (the first silent film to do so in 83 years!). I find it amusing that it's entry at the IMDB under "Technical Specs" and "Sound Mix" says "Silent | Dolby Digital". I realize that it has music, it just seems odd to see that for a B&W silent. I was greatly disappointed to learn that on November 25 it was only showing in 4 theaters in the US, two in California and two in New York. However, I have just learned that it will be in many more theaters on December 25. I haven't heard if it will be in Evansville though. You can see a trailer for the movie at www.theartistmovie.net
On a side note about movies, if you haven't see the 2009 movie "Sherlock Holmes" with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, it's pretty good. A sequel, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows", which you may have seen commercials for, will come out December 16.
Believe it or not, as of November 24th, it has been 20 years since the death of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury. I remember on November 25, 1992 I was on the bus heading for school. The radio station we listened to played Paul Harvey's News and Comments and that is were I learned of his death. If you haven't noticed lately, there have been many Queen songs being performed by various artists. Queen themselves appeared on MTV EMA's not long ago. Dartmouth Aires sang a medley of Queen songs on "The Sing-Off". The surviving members of Queen are also putting together a tour called the "Queen Extravaganza". It will feature musicians selected by the band to play their music for them. If you haven't seen Marc Martel's "Somebody To Love" audition video, you will not believe it. It is on YouTube.
Speaking of YouTube, I posted "McDonald's Pizza Commercial ca 1989" a long time ago. Recently it was featured on the website memoryglands.com (never heard of it). Anyway, as of the time of this writing, it has been viewed almost 42,000 times!
For those who don't know, when I was in junior high and high school, I was a swimmer. I swam for Tecumseh Swim Club for age group swimming and additionally I swam for Gibson Southern for high school swimming. I retired from swimming in February 1994 after my high school sectional finals meet in Mt. Vernon. Recently I got a call from the Tecumseh Swim Club inviting me to an "alumni swim meet" in January. I am excited at the opportunity, however, I have to get back in shape. Some time ago I talked about my diet and how I lost a bunch of weight. Well, I fell off the wagon on that one and pretty much gained all my weight back. As soon as I got the call, I immediately went back to working out and eating better. I have already lost ten pounds as of the time of this writing. The difference this time is that I'm being more aggressive about not just losing weight, but strength training as well. I'll post more about this later as well.
I got to go to the Bob Seger concert at the new Ford Center in Evansville on November the 9th. Beth got me tickets as a birthday/anniversary present. I went with Johnny Spells, who's ticket was also a birthday present from his wife. We had supper at Turoni's on Main street (along with everyone else going to the concert it seemed like). While Bob is gettin' up there in age, he still rocks on. I noticed that he did songs in a strategic order. He would do a really rockin' song where he was standing and then he would do either one where he would sit at the piano, or play the accoustic guitar. And when he played the guitar, he sat on a bench front and center. At one point he took a "7 minute" break and during one song he mysteriously disappeared from stage while the band played on. At the end of the concert, he did the infamous double encore. I was disappointed that he did not play "Like a Rock" but I'm wondering if Chevy owns the right to that song or something. I did some Google searching on it and found no proof. So maybe he didn't play it simply because he had to draw the line somewhere. After the concert I stopped by McDonald's for a quick bite and didn't get home until after midnight. There's more to this that I will post later.
So now it's after Thanksgiving and the radio stations have started to play Christmas music. I'm fine with that, but I have one problem. The radio station at work seems to think that there are "heavy rotation" lists for Christmas music. Wrong. Last Monday I heard Andy Williams' "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" three times. I've harped on Christmas songs before.
Those who know me well know that I really enjoy silent films, especially those from the 1920s. I was thrilled to learn about a movie that came out on November 25 that is set in the 1920s about a fictional silent film star. It's called "The Artist" and in addition to being about a silent film star, the movie itself is actually in black and white and is (you guessed it) silent. The main characters, George Valentin (almost certainly a nod to Rudolph Valentino) and Peppy Miller, are played by two French film stars I am not familiar with, but it also stars John Goodman and James Cromwell. It got a lot of attention at the Cannes Film Festival and they expect it to win an Oscar or two (the first silent film to do so in 83 years!). I find it amusing that it's entry at the IMDB under "Technical Specs" and "Sound Mix" says "Silent | Dolby Digital". I realize that it has music, it just seems odd to see that for a B&W silent. I was greatly disappointed to learn that on November 25 it was only showing in 4 theaters in the US, two in California and two in New York. However, I have just learned that it will be in many more theaters on December 25. I haven't heard if it will be in Evansville though. You can see a trailer for the movie at www.theartistmovie.net
On a side note about movies, if you haven't see the 2009 movie "Sherlock Holmes" with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, it's pretty good. A sequel, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows", which you may have seen commercials for, will come out December 16.
Believe it or not, as of November 24th, it has been 20 years since the death of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury. I remember on November 25, 1992 I was on the bus heading for school. The radio station we listened to played Paul Harvey's News and Comments and that is were I learned of his death. If you haven't noticed lately, there have been many Queen songs being performed by various artists. Queen themselves appeared on MTV EMA's not long ago. Dartmouth Aires sang a medley of Queen songs on "The Sing-Off". The surviving members of Queen are also putting together a tour called the "Queen Extravaganza". It will feature musicians selected by the band to play their music for them. If you haven't seen Marc Martel's "Somebody To Love" audition video, you will not believe it. It is on YouTube.
Speaking of YouTube, I posted "McDonald's Pizza Commercial ca 1989" a long time ago. Recently it was featured on the website memoryglands.com (never heard of it). Anyway, as of the time of this writing, it has been viewed almost 42,000 times!
For those who don't know, when I was in junior high and high school, I was a swimmer. I swam for Tecumseh Swim Club for age group swimming and additionally I swam for Gibson Southern for high school swimming. I retired from swimming in February 1994 after my high school sectional finals meet in Mt. Vernon. Recently I got a call from the Tecumseh Swim Club inviting me to an "alumni swim meet" in January. I am excited at the opportunity, however, I have to get back in shape. Some time ago I talked about my diet and how I lost a bunch of weight. Well, I fell off the wagon on that one and pretty much gained all my weight back. As soon as I got the call, I immediately went back to working out and eating better. I have already lost ten pounds as of the time of this writing. The difference this time is that I'm being more aggressive about not just losing weight, but strength training as well. I'll post more about this later as well.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Why I left my church, a F.A.Q.
If you've heard the rumor about me leaving the church, it is true. But let me take this time to clear up any possible misinformation.
So why are you leaving?
I do not feel like I am an effective member of the church any longer. The answers to the other questions will expand on this further. I have no problem admitting that I am not a "contemporary" and never will be. I am much more of a traditionalist. That won't shock people who truly know me, but it might shock everyone else. We should not worship out of duty, we should worship because we want to. And I feel that I am no longer truly worshiping. Last weekend I took the kids to my Grandmother's church to visit with her. We sang from a hymnal, the kids came up during service to sing (they say they do it every week), had responsive reading, someone played special music, heard testimonials, and took prayer requests. The pastor made a few announcements before his sermon. He said they were having a baptism out at someone's lake at 4pm and everyone was invited. I wish I could have gone because I have never seen a baptism at a lake. Seen pictures but not in person. The pastor read from the King James Bible (that one actually caught me off guard). The pastor raised his voice during his sermon and at the end... an alter call. It was great. If the church's new approach reaches people for Christ, then good. But I cannot help reach people if my heart is not in it.
What's your problem with the changes over the years?
Did I say that? Imagine if you will an engineer at a company that makes cathode ray TVs. As we all know, I don't think you can get cathode ray TVs much anymore, they are all flat panels now. So the company wants the engineer to start designing LCD TVs, but he has no experience at it. At this point, if he didn't already work there, if he were to apply for his own job, would he get the job? So look at it like this: if I just moved to the area and I was looking for a new church, and I visited the GBC, would I want to start attending there? The answer would be no. That's not to say that other's wouldn't or shouldn't, it's just that *I* wouldn't. The church changed over the past 10 years or so, but I did not change along with it. I'm still the person I was 10-15-20 years ago. More mature perhaps, but still the same person. It's not a matter of personal choice, it's who I am.
So is the church not fulfilling your needs?
It's not about *my* needs, it's about the church's needs. I come to church and I sit there. Being an usher every other week or so really isn't service to the church. The church has gone a down a path that I did not follow despite what people might think. Therefore, I would be a hindrance to it's growth.
But where is your faith? or [insert obligatory question that uses the word "faith" in it]?
Really? You want to ask me about my faith? My mother tells me that I have been attending this church since I was born. Next month I will be 36. That means I've been going there for 36 years. I was baptized there, married there, and my kids were dedicated there. Leaving the only church I've really known of 36 years is the biggest step of faith I've ever made. I don't know where this is going to lead me, but we’ll just have to see.
Are you mad at/having a problem with someone?
No. In my 36 years there, I have had only one conflict with someone. My attitude was that if that
person didn't want to be around me *they* would have to leave. Eventually they did. But it was a long time later and I really think it was for other reasons. Leaving a church because you are mad at
someone is just an excuse. If both of you are truly adults, you can work out your problems/differences and stay focused on the real reason you are there: to bring people to Christ and help them grow in their relationship with him.
What about your wife and kids?
My wife and I have talked about it and she feels the same way and fully supports my decision and that is very important to me. Given her work schedule, she trusts my judgment on where we go. My little girl is too little to know the difference. She's happy as long as other kids are around. My son has been called a "social butterfly". We attended another church not long ago. To my great surprise, when we left he said "can we come back here next week?" He didn't know a single person at that church, but he wanted to come back. He'll do just fine wherever we go.
Why did you write this up and post it on a blog so publicly?
Because I don't like to have to repeat myself. And if I were to have to repeat all of this to everyone who asks, I'd probably leave something out every time. I have no problem making my feelings public, I have nothing to hide. So I would like to request that no one try to talk me out this because I have already made up my mind. It wasn't an easy decision. Life changing decisions like this never are. I guess I am also considered a relatively young lifetime member of the church, so it may come as shock to some people's systems that I am leaving. This way, anyone who wants to know can read this and not feel uncomfortable asking me in person. I've prayed on this for a long time. Years actually. Finally I decided to listen to what God was telling me recently and to step out of my comfort zone.
So why are you leaving?
I do not feel like I am an effective member of the church any longer. The answers to the other questions will expand on this further. I have no problem admitting that I am not a "contemporary" and never will be. I am much more of a traditionalist. That won't shock people who truly know me, but it might shock everyone else. We should not worship out of duty, we should worship because we want to. And I feel that I am no longer truly worshiping. Last weekend I took the kids to my Grandmother's church to visit with her. We sang from a hymnal, the kids came up during service to sing (they say they do it every week), had responsive reading, someone played special music, heard testimonials, and took prayer requests. The pastor made a few announcements before his sermon. He said they were having a baptism out at someone's lake at 4pm and everyone was invited. I wish I could have gone because I have never seen a baptism at a lake. Seen pictures but not in person. The pastor read from the King James Bible (that one actually caught me off guard). The pastor raised his voice during his sermon and at the end... an alter call. It was great. If the church's new approach reaches people for Christ, then good. But I cannot help reach people if my heart is not in it.
What's your problem with the changes over the years?
Did I say that? Imagine if you will an engineer at a company that makes cathode ray TVs. As we all know, I don't think you can get cathode ray TVs much anymore, they are all flat panels now. So the company wants the engineer to start designing LCD TVs, but he has no experience at it. At this point, if he didn't already work there, if he were to apply for his own job, would he get the job? So look at it like this: if I just moved to the area and I was looking for a new church, and I visited the GBC, would I want to start attending there? The answer would be no. That's not to say that other's wouldn't or shouldn't, it's just that *I* wouldn't. The church changed over the past 10 years or so, but I did not change along with it. I'm still the person I was 10-15-20 years ago. More mature perhaps, but still the same person. It's not a matter of personal choice, it's who I am.
So is the church not fulfilling your needs?
It's not about *my* needs, it's about the church's needs. I come to church and I sit there. Being an usher every other week or so really isn't service to the church. The church has gone a down a path that I did not follow despite what people might think. Therefore, I would be a hindrance to it's growth.
But where is your faith? or [insert obligatory question that uses the word "faith" in it]?
Really? You want to ask me about my faith? My mother tells me that I have been attending this church since I was born. Next month I will be 36. That means I've been going there for 36 years. I was baptized there, married there, and my kids were dedicated there. Leaving the only church I've really known of 36 years is the biggest step of faith I've ever made. I don't know where this is going to lead me, but we’ll just have to see.
Are you mad at/having a problem with someone?
No. In my 36 years there, I have had only one conflict with someone. My attitude was that if that
person didn't want to be around me *they* would have to leave. Eventually they did. But it was a long time later and I really think it was for other reasons. Leaving a church because you are mad at
someone is just an excuse. If both of you are truly adults, you can work out your problems/differences and stay focused on the real reason you are there: to bring people to Christ and help them grow in their relationship with him.
What about your wife and kids?
My wife and I have talked about it and she feels the same way and fully supports my decision and that is very important to me. Given her work schedule, she trusts my judgment on where we go. My little girl is too little to know the difference. She's happy as long as other kids are around. My son has been called a "social butterfly". We attended another church not long ago. To my great surprise, when we left he said "can we come back here next week?" He didn't know a single person at that church, but he wanted to come back. He'll do just fine wherever we go.
Why did you write this up and post it on a blog so publicly?
Because I don't like to have to repeat myself. And if I were to have to repeat all of this to everyone who asks, I'd probably leave something out every time. I have no problem making my feelings public, I have nothing to hide. So I would like to request that no one try to talk me out this because I have already made up my mind. It wasn't an easy decision. Life changing decisions like this never are. I guess I am also considered a relatively young lifetime member of the church, so it may come as shock to some people's systems that I am leaving. This way, anyone who wants to know can read this and not feel uncomfortable asking me in person. I've prayed on this for a long time. Years actually. Finally I decided to listen to what God was telling me recently and to step out of my comfort zone.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Choice
This past Sunday I attended Bethabara General Baptist Church in Folsomville, Indiana. It is the church that my lone surviving grandparent attends and I hadn't seen her in a couple months. Technically she's my step-grandmother, but I've known her a lot longer than my biological grandmother who died when I was young. Sunday was Grandparent's day, but I didn't realize that until Pastor Scott mentioned it during service. Afterwards we went out to eat for lunch.
Pastor Scott's message on Sunday was about happiness. He started his sermon asking "are you happy?" As I listened I remembered that I had an idea for a blog post but never sat down to write it. So I have decided to do it today.
I thought I could use the line from the movie "The Matrix Reloaded" where Neo says "Choice, the problem is choice." as some kind of lead in to this, but it's just not working. Choice can be a problem and a solution. Duh, right? But allow me to explain what I mean.
We make choices everyday, no doubt about that. But there are things that we *could* make a choice over but don't. "What the heck are you talking about???" Keep reading.
Back to Pastor Scott's message about happiness, I believe that happiness is a choice. That's right, you can choose to be happy or you can choose not to be happy. Another way of putting this is you have a choice whether you want to see the blessings in your life or not. It's kind of like the difference between a pessimist and an optimist. You can choose to see the bad or you can choose to see the good. I'm not saying you should ignore the bad things and pretend they aren't happening. I'm just saying that if you focus on the bad (and negative) you'll never be happy.
This goes right along with anger. Things happen all the time that make us angry. But like happiness, anger is a choice too. If you don't choose, the anger will make the choice for you. You have a choice to be "proactive" or passive, hence a problem or a solution. Again, I'm not saying ignore the bad and let people walk all over you. I'm just saying that we all have a choice as to how we react to things. Anger is a natural reation, but how you handle that anger is your choice. You can choose to dwell on it and when you do, it just makes you more angry. Then you start taking it out on others. Anger is contagious. I just wish happiness was half as contagious.
To answer Pastor Scott's question, yes, I am happy, because I choose to be. I choose to see the blessings in my life and let them outweigh the negative things.
Pastor Scott's message on Sunday was about happiness. He started his sermon asking "are you happy?" As I listened I remembered that I had an idea for a blog post but never sat down to write it. So I have decided to do it today.
I thought I could use the line from the movie "The Matrix Reloaded" where Neo says "Choice, the problem is choice." as some kind of lead in to this, but it's just not working. Choice can be a problem and a solution. Duh, right? But allow me to explain what I mean.
We make choices everyday, no doubt about that. But there are things that we *could* make a choice over but don't. "What the heck are you talking about???" Keep reading.
Back to Pastor Scott's message about happiness, I believe that happiness is a choice. That's right, you can choose to be happy or you can choose not to be happy. Another way of putting this is you have a choice whether you want to see the blessings in your life or not. It's kind of like the difference between a pessimist and an optimist. You can choose to see the bad or you can choose to see the good. I'm not saying you should ignore the bad things and pretend they aren't happening. I'm just saying that if you focus on the bad (and negative) you'll never be happy.
This goes right along with anger. Things happen all the time that make us angry. But like happiness, anger is a choice too. If you don't choose, the anger will make the choice for you. You have a choice to be "proactive" or passive, hence a problem or a solution. Again, I'm not saying ignore the bad and let people walk all over you. I'm just saying that we all have a choice as to how we react to things. Anger is a natural reation, but how you handle that anger is your choice. You can choose to dwell on it and when you do, it just makes you more angry. Then you start taking it out on others. Anger is contagious. I just wish happiness was half as contagious.
To answer Pastor Scott's question, yes, I am happy, because I choose to be. I choose to see the blessings in my life and let them outweigh the negative things.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Review: Weird Al - Alpocalypse (pt 2)
I had some time to re-listen to the song "Ringtone" to see how it is a style parody of Queen. I then listened through several Queen songs and decided that it is most similar to the song "Killer Queen" from the album "Sheer Heart Attack".
However, it also has elements of the following songs:
"Now I'm Here" also from "Sheer Heart Attack"
"Seven Seas of Rhye" from "Queen II"
"Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" from the album "A Day at the Races" and
"Don't Stop Me Now" from the album "Jazz"
The very end of the song sounds like the end of "Killer Queen", however it also sounds like the end of the song "The Show Must Go On" from the album "Innuendo".
I also gave "Perform This Way" another listen. I have decided that Al has met his match. No matter how bizarre he tried to make that song, Lady GaGa will still come up with something even more outragous than what he came up with. Probably Lady GaGa's only problem with the song was that she had already come up with some of Al's ideas but now she can't use them or else she'll be accused of copying him.
However, it also has elements of the following songs:
"Now I'm Here" also from "Sheer Heart Attack"
"Seven Seas of Rhye" from "Queen II"
"Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" from the album "A Day at the Races" and
"Don't Stop Me Now" from the album "Jazz"
The very end of the song sounds like the end of "Killer Queen", however it also sounds like the end of the song "The Show Must Go On" from the album "Innuendo".
I also gave "Perform This Way" another listen. I have decided that Al has met his match. No matter how bizarre he tried to make that song, Lady GaGa will still come up with something even more outragous than what he came up with. Probably Lady GaGa's only problem with the song was that she had already come up with some of Al's ideas but now she can't use them or else she'll be accused of copying him.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Review: Weird Al - Alpocalypse
Sadly, I become more and more disconnected from Weird Al, at least when it comes to his new music. The reason? I don't keep up with new music myself. His last album, Straight Outta Lynwood, I'm not sure I knew any of the songs that he does a parody of. Al's new album "Alpocalypse" is no exception. But I have to say that I do enjoy the album much more than "Straight Outta Lynwood" because I at least know a few of the songs. Just like in his album "Poodle Hat" where he did a song about eBay, Al continues to do songs about things in pop culture such as TMZ, Craigslist, Ringtone, and Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me.
Al starts out the album poking fun at the artist that seems to get the most attention these days, Lady GaGa with the song "Perform This Way". If you haven't seen the video to it, go watch it on YouTube.
Some of the songs on this album were available long ago on the Internet. The song "CNR" was one of them and I think there was even a video on YouTube of it also. If you haven't heard about this song, it's basically a bunch of Chuck Norris-type jokes about Charles Nelson Reilly. And if you don't know who he is, go look up "Match Game 76" (I know that he is known for more than that, but that's how I know him).
It's one thing to take someone else's song and put different lyrics to it. That doesn't take a lot of talent, just creative thinking if you make the song something completely different from what the original was. What takes real talent is when you take the style of an artist and write a completely original song in it. Al has done this many times, here are a few examples with the artist being parodied:
Dare to be Stupid - Devo
Dog Eat Dog - Talking Heads
Velvet Elvis - The Police
Twister - Beastie Boys
Trigger Happy - The Beach Boys
Germs - Nine Inch Nails
The greatest of all, in my opinion is the song "Genius in France" in the style of Frank Zappa from the "Poodle Hat" album. Al gives us a grand total of six style parodies this time with "Craigslist" in the style of The Doors which you have to hear to believe. Ray Manzarek, a former member of the Doors actually plays keyboard for the song. "Skipper Dan" in the style of Weezer. The song "Ringtone", as I understand it, is supposed to be in the style of Queen. My problem with that is that Queen doesn't have any one style to really duplicate. The song "CNR" is supposed to be in the style of The White Stripes. "If That Isn't Love" is in the style of Hanson. And finally "Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me" sounds like it was written by Jim Steinman (the guy who wrote most all of Meatloaf's hits). You've probably already figured out that it is a song about stupid emails people send and is probably the funniest song on the album. Some lines from the song:
"No I don't want a bowl of Chicken Soup for the Soul"
"And by the way your quotes from George Carlin aren't really George Carlin, Mr. Rogers never fought the Viet Cong, And Bill Gates is never gonna give me something for nothing, And I really doubt some dead girl is gonna kill me if I don't pass her letter along"
"And your two million loser friends All have my address because you never figured out the way to BCC"
At one point he mentions hoaxes and Snopes.com.
Overall I have to give the album my full recommendation.
Al starts out the album poking fun at the artist that seems to get the most attention these days, Lady GaGa with the song "Perform This Way". If you haven't seen the video to it, go watch it on YouTube.
Some of the songs on this album were available long ago on the Internet. The song "CNR" was one of them and I think there was even a video on YouTube of it also. If you haven't heard about this song, it's basically a bunch of Chuck Norris-type jokes about Charles Nelson Reilly. And if you don't know who he is, go look up "Match Game 76" (I know that he is known for more than that, but that's how I know him).
It's one thing to take someone else's song and put different lyrics to it. That doesn't take a lot of talent, just creative thinking if you make the song something completely different from what the original was. What takes real talent is when you take the style of an artist and write a completely original song in it. Al has done this many times, here are a few examples with the artist being parodied:
Dare to be Stupid - Devo
Dog Eat Dog - Talking Heads
Velvet Elvis - The Police
Twister - Beastie Boys
Trigger Happy - The Beach Boys
Germs - Nine Inch Nails
The greatest of all, in my opinion is the song "Genius in France" in the style of Frank Zappa from the "Poodle Hat" album. Al gives us a grand total of six style parodies this time with "Craigslist" in the style of The Doors which you have to hear to believe. Ray Manzarek, a former member of the Doors actually plays keyboard for the song. "Skipper Dan" in the style of Weezer. The song "Ringtone", as I understand it, is supposed to be in the style of Queen. My problem with that is that Queen doesn't have any one style to really duplicate. The song "CNR" is supposed to be in the style of The White Stripes. "If That Isn't Love" is in the style of Hanson. And finally "Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me" sounds like it was written by Jim Steinman (the guy who wrote most all of Meatloaf's hits). You've probably already figured out that it is a song about stupid emails people send and is probably the funniest song on the album. Some lines from the song:
"No I don't want a bowl of Chicken Soup for the Soul"
"And by the way your quotes from George Carlin aren't really George Carlin, Mr. Rogers never fought the Viet Cong, And Bill Gates is never gonna give me something for nothing, And I really doubt some dead girl is gonna kill me if I don't pass her letter along"
"And your two million loser friends All have my address because you never figured out the way to BCC"
At one point he mentions hoaxes and Snopes.com.
Overall I have to give the album my full recommendation.
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