The National Insurance Crime Bureau has released its 2006 statistics. The results? Five of the top ten metro areas for car theft are right here in the Valley (the Central Valley in California- see my Long Live Swiffer post for map =), and Visalia/Porterville is #3 on the list! http://money.aol.com/cnnmoney/insurance/canvas3/_a/insurance-coverageclaim-disputes/20070424110309990001
I know a guy here who puts a wheel lock, a steering wheel lock, and a brake lock on his Jeep every time he parks it, even if he's just grabbing coffee at a convenience store. (He admits he's a bit paranoid.) If I had a vehicle that I didn't the think my insurance company would give me full value for, I might be a little more concerned, but right now my Blue Book value's still pretty high, and if Fiona went AWOL I'd just have an excuse to upgrade.
The article says that one of the latest anti-theft methods that law enforcement is utilizing is the use of "bait cars," vehicles which are purposely left vulnerable, and are equipped with satellite tracking devices. And once one of these bait cars is stolen, the police can not only track it- get this- they can remotely turn off the engine and lock the perps inside! How cool is that?! My tax dollars are finally doing something worthwhile. The only improvement I can see is if they could slap some giant "CAR THIEF" stickers on the side and remotely parade the vehicle and its occupants around town for a day or two before driving to the jail.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Heaven
“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” –C.S. Lewis
Last night I picked up a book I've been meaning to finish for probably over a year: The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God, by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge. I wouldn't say that the book changed my life per se, but there were a few things that stood out to me from what I read last night. The chapter was titled, "Coming Home," and was on the subject of hope and heaven. Here are a few excerpts that caught my attention:
"A story is only as good as its ending. Without a happy ending that draws us on in eager anticipation, our journey becomes a nightmare of endless struggle. Is this all there is? Is this as good as it gets?"
"If for all practical purposes we believe that this life is our best shot at happiness..., we will live as desperate, demanding, and eventually despairing men and women. We will place on this world a burden it was never intended to bear."
"Our images [of heaven] aren't much better. We speak so seldom of heaven and when we do, the images are sickly: fat babies fluttering around with tiny wings, bored saints lazing on shapeless clouds, strumming harps and wondering what's happening back on earth where the real action is.
“The fact that most Christians have a gut sense that earth is more exciting than heaven points to the deceptive powers of the enemy and our own failure of imagination.”
“Married people can be the loneliest on earth, not for some failure of the marriage, but because they have tasted the best there is of human relationships, and know it is not all it was meant to be.”
“The crisis of hope that afflicts the church today is a crisis of imagination. Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft writes:
Medieval imagery (which is almost totally biblical imagery) of light, jewels, stars candles, trumpets, and angels no longer fits our ranch-style, supermarket world. Pathetic modern substitutes of fluffy clouds, sexless cherubs, harps and metal halos (not halos of light) presided over by a stuffy divine Chairman of the Bored are a joke, not a glory, Even more modern, more up-to-date substitutes- Heaven as a comfortable feeling of peace and kindness, sweetness and light, and God as a vague grandfatherly benevolence, a senile philanthropist- are even more insipid. Our pictures of Heaven simply do not move us; they are not moving pictures. It is this aesthetic failure rather than intellectual or moral failures in our pictures of Heaven and of God that threatens faith most potently today. Our pictures of Heaven are dull, platitudinous and syrupy; therefore, so is our faith, our hope, and our love of Heaven…. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a dull lie or a dull truth. Dullness, not doubt, is the strongest enemy of faith, just as indifference, not hate, is the strongest enemy of love. (Everything You Wanted to Know About Heaven)”
Last night I picked up a book I've been meaning to finish for probably over a year: The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God, by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge. I wouldn't say that the book changed my life per se, but there were a few things that stood out to me from what I read last night. The chapter was titled, "Coming Home," and was on the subject of hope and heaven. Here are a few excerpts that caught my attention:
"A story is only as good as its ending. Without a happy ending that draws us on in eager anticipation, our journey becomes a nightmare of endless struggle. Is this all there is? Is this as good as it gets?"
"If for all practical purposes we believe that this life is our best shot at happiness..., we will live as desperate, demanding, and eventually despairing men and women. We will place on this world a burden it was never intended to bear."
"Our images [of heaven] aren't much better. We speak so seldom of heaven and when we do, the images are sickly: fat babies fluttering around with tiny wings, bored saints lazing on shapeless clouds, strumming harps and wondering what's happening back on earth where the real action is.
“The fact that most Christians have a gut sense that earth is more exciting than heaven points to the deceptive powers of the enemy and our own failure of imagination.”
“Married people can be the loneliest on earth, not for some failure of the marriage, but because they have tasted the best there is of human relationships, and know it is not all it was meant to be.”
“The crisis of hope that afflicts the church today is a crisis of imagination. Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft writes:
Medieval imagery (which is almost totally biblical imagery) of light, jewels, stars candles, trumpets, and angels no longer fits our ranch-style, supermarket world. Pathetic modern substitutes of fluffy clouds, sexless cherubs, harps and metal halos (not halos of light) presided over by a stuffy divine Chairman of the Bored are a joke, not a glory, Even more modern, more up-to-date substitutes- Heaven as a comfortable feeling of peace and kindness, sweetness and light, and God as a vague grandfatherly benevolence, a senile philanthropist- are even more insipid. Our pictures of Heaven simply do not move us; they are not moving pictures. It is this aesthetic failure rather than intellectual or moral failures in our pictures of Heaven and of God that threatens faith most potently today. Our pictures of Heaven are dull, platitudinous and syrupy; therefore, so is our faith, our hope, and our love of Heaven…. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a dull lie or a dull truth. Dullness, not doubt, is the strongest enemy of faith, just as indifference, not hate, is the strongest enemy of love. (Everything You Wanted to Know About Heaven)”
Friday, April 13, 2007
blog status update
okay folks,
Here's the deal: When I started this blog last year, I was in the middle of a bunch of exciting new things-cross country move, new city and state, new job, etc. I had things to blog about. Interesting things.
I've been here six months now and frankly, I don't think my current happenings are all that exciting to write about. If you really want to hear about the most recent SMR training event, or the last estate plan I drew up, or what church was like on Sunday, please by all means pick up your phone and call me. I have free evenings and weekends. Or send an e-mail my way. I love hearing from family and friends.
I'm going to continue to update here when I think I have something that's worth writing about, but I'm not going to scrape the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, in an attempt to provide once or twice a week posts. See, I think I've figured it out- just about all my family and friends who blog have young kids, and their blogs pretty much chronicle the funny and cute things their kids do and say. It's always fresh and interesting because babies and kids are always developing and doing/saying funny and cute things. Unfortunately I don't have any babies, and what I've been up to lately is pretty much more of the same things I've been blogging about since I got out here: SMR, work, going to church or the gym. That's about it.
I certainly don't want to assume that people are interested in anything I have to say anyway. I just don't want to disappoint my mother, who seems to want regular updates, and one or two others who indicate that they check my blog once in a while. so I'm hoping to change my official blog status from "regular" to "occasional," like maybe once a month or so. Fair enough?
Here's the deal: When I started this blog last year, I was in the middle of a bunch of exciting new things-cross country move, new city and state, new job, etc. I had things to blog about. Interesting things.
I've been here six months now and frankly, I don't think my current happenings are all that exciting to write about. If you really want to hear about the most recent SMR training event, or the last estate plan I drew up, or what church was like on Sunday, please by all means pick up your phone and call me. I have free evenings and weekends. Or send an e-mail my way. I love hearing from family and friends.
I'm going to continue to update here when I think I have something that's worth writing about, but I'm not going to scrape the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, in an attempt to provide once or twice a week posts. See, I think I've figured it out- just about all my family and friends who blog have young kids, and their blogs pretty much chronicle the funny and cute things their kids do and say. It's always fresh and interesting because babies and kids are always developing and doing/saying funny and cute things. Unfortunately I don't have any babies, and what I've been up to lately is pretty much more of the same things I've been blogging about since I got out here: SMR, work, going to church or the gym. That's about it.
I certainly don't want to assume that people are interested in anything I have to say anyway. I just don't want to disappoint my mother, who seems to want regular updates, and one or two others who indicate that they check my blog once in a while. so I'm hoping to change my official blog status from "regular" to "occasional," like maybe once a month or so. Fair enough?
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