Thursday, June 23, 2011

One of those Neat Little Surprises

Yes, it is true, I continue to use a "pay as you go" cell phone. Yesterday I sat down and calculated what the cost of the phone would be under the different available plans. Presently, I pay $60.00 per month for unlimited talk and text.

Wouldn't you know, my calculations show that if I were using a different plan ($2.00 per day, but only charged for the fee on dates the phone is actually used) the totals worked out to be remarkably close.

So, I decided to call the carrier and change plans, reasoning that I might save $20.00 per month with better use. All the while I was thinking to myself, "why don't they just lower the price on the unlimited package to be more competitive with other carriers?".

When I spoke with "Hector" he immediately explained that starting today a new plan was being rolled out as $50.00 per month for unlimited talk, text, and internet use.

One of those neat surprises ... I changed to the new plan.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Opinion Piece On WWJC? [sic]

Retrieved from http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=1365610 on 6/12/11.

Keep Jesus out of your socialism (Part 1)
Dr. Michael Youssef 6/9/2011 9:35:00 AM

The headline of the full-page ad asks, "What Would Jesus Cut? -- A budget is a moral document." The text continues, "Our faith tells us that the moral test of a society is how it treats the poor."

The ad was produced by Sojourners, a self-described "evangelical" organization whose slogan is "Faith in Action for Social Justice." The ad was signed by Sojourners president Jim Wallis and more than two dozen Religious Left pastors, theologians, and activists. They urge our legislators to ask themselves, "What would Jesus cut?" from the federal budget.

How would you answer that question? My answer would be, "It's a nonsense question. Your premise is faulty. Your priorities are not His priorities."

Friday, June 3, 2011

A Pattern in Music When MP3s Shuffle

Growing up in Detroit there was a radio program on WJR entitled “Patterns in Music”. Each Sunday morning a theme would be gently explored through song. Out walking with an MP3 player in hand and “shuffle” mode in gear I noted something probably far less than a pattern, but all the same a good reflection among a pairing of songs. “Many times I’ve been alone, and many times I’ve cried … anyway, you’ll never know the many ways I’ve tried … you left me standing here a long, long time ago …”

My first impulse was a very selfish and, I’d like to think, a very human one. I thought of people to whom I might like to express this sentiment. Then, in an instant, my focus changed as I considered the possibility that there might be someone that I’ve hurt who could easily recite and apply this lyric from the Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road” to me. I wondered about people that I may have “left standing [t]here, a long, long time ago …” I thought about those to whom I may have been a cause of tears and disappointment. I thought about how hurt I have been by individuals that did not seem to appreciate or “know the many ways I’ve tried”, and then reflected on the discomforting likelihood that I, too, have unfairly discounted the many ways, unknown to me, that others have tried.

It was a good reflection for a walk on Memorial Day this 2011.

Then another lyric began “There are people in your life who've come and gone, they let you down and hurt your pride … better put it all behind you; life goes on, [if] you keep carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside … I think it's about forgiveness …”