Around the Blogosphere

July 31, 2003 @ 1:00 pm by The Boss

Pressed might be back home today but when he does come in, I’m sure he is going to be too tired to post anything. As my last post in his absence (and only my second) let’s take a look around Pressed’s blogging neighborhood.

- Bleeding Brain is looking at an article that claims to explain what cause conservatism in people. Oh, no! Look I’ve caught conservatism. Eek!

- bloggedy blog is celebrating the victory of UMR’s Solar Car Team!

- Citizen of the State is evidently taken one of his famous nap and hasn’t woke back up in some time. In his last entry, Le Renard mourns the deaths of Uday and Qusai Hussein.

- Clarity Admist Chaos had a blog blackout but is back. Don’t miss the You Know You’re From a Small Town If… list (7.29.2003). Quite fun.

- I was thinking… shares a testimony.

- IdeaJoy has a funny pair of penguins. Also seen at Bene Diction Blogs On.

- Joanne Jacobs highlight an article on the sad, sad, sad, sad state of our public school system. Evidently charter schools are our only hope! Whoops I didn’t mean to roll my eyes. My apologies.

- JunoirHighPastor shares the future of his blog, and the future is… TypePad!

- Kevin Pierpont shares three articles on ways to improve your church’s worship service. I would recommend reading these articles, they offer some wonderful suggestions.

- Time to Believe finally got his computer fixed.

- I’m blogging about which of my new logo ideas is the best (the majority feels idea 4 is), guilty pleasures, and which Saved By the Bell character you are.

Class dismissed!

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Prepare Ye (Repost from WIT?!?!?)

July 27, 2003 @ 4:57 pm by The Boss

Originally posted here.

Last Wednesday, “the gang” (we need to come up with a better name than that) went to the Muny in St. Louis to see Godspell. We were all still a little gun shy from our last Muny experience, but I was determined to see the show because I was in it my senior year in high school.

Godspell is basically the gospel according to Matthew. It came about around 1971 and its populatity grew along with the “Jesus movement.” The first act shows many of the parables and then an explanation from Jesus of the parable. The second continues with the teachings of Jesus and end with the death of Jesus on the cross. Godspell is often associated with hippies (mostly because of the movie based off the stage show), however, the Muny’s production updated the look and feel of the show using a modern day look and using a myriad pop culture (references from The Matrix, Bring it On, and music from Nelly, just to name a few) references throughout the show. The changes were good ones and made the show more interesting for younger theater goers. The cast even did a rap about the free seats in the Muny, quite funny. What impressed me the most was the cast seemed like they were having the time of their life. That energy gave the show a feeling of spontinaty and freshness which helped connect the audience to what was happening on stage. The man who played Jesus seemed to have occasional problems with his lines, which for me was distracting but it didn’t seem to bother anyone else. The other problem that I had was the ending. The show ended with Jesus’ body being carried off the stage and that was it. I of course was waiting for the return of Jesus to the stage but that was not to be except during the the bows. I guess adding a little more postmodern idology to the show, what ever you think happened to Jesus is what you make it. The whole thing made the show end on a sour note for me.

While watching the show and how the parables were presented and then watching the young children that happened to be sitting in the same area made me realize that sometimes, Christians can make the Gospell kinda boring. Last week was also bible school. While taking video of each class, there were some classes in which the kids would have a glazed over look in their eyes that seemed to say, “I’ve been through this a thousand times.” In contrast, at Godspell, I saw the kids around me trying to get in a better postion to see what was going on on stage. When the kids first sat down, I was a little worried that they would be a distraction, but they weren’t. They sat there eagerly soaking in the parables and teachings of Jesus and they were more than a little disappointed when it was over. One child I over heard wanted to come back and see the show again. It was exciting to see kids who were excited about these stories and I was sad to think that not all the kids in Bible school shared the same excitement.

Of course my thoughts were focused on how children reacted to it but Pressed, brought another point of view that I found interesting. He likened Jesus and his followers on stage to that of a youth group. The youth leader trying to teach the youth something all they while the youth were not always paying attention, playing around, sometimes getting it right and at other times getting it wrong. I thought it was interesting anology.

Our new youth miniter also went with us and he commented on how so many of the worship styles that were seen in the 70’s could be found and even originated from the show. Another interesting perspective.

After the show, we were all happy to see that our automobile was still out in the parking lot after the show. Whew.

Class dismissed!

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I am outta here once again

July 25, 2003 @ 8:36 pm by Pressed

I am leaving to go on vacation tonight and I will not be back until next Thursday or Friday. I have asked Mr. Wright to look after the ole blog for me while I am out running around in Atlanga, GA. This is the last big trip that I am taking for the summer so after this one I should finally be home for an extended period of time. That will give me more time to post, since I have had a difficult time of it this summer.

On another note, after 4 and a half weeks the insurance company has finally approved the work on my car. I was informed today that it will be another 3 and a half weeks before it is finished and ready for me to come get. *sigh* That is a total of 8 weeks that I have been without a vehicle because the horrible antics of the insurance company. Think twice before getting insurance from Farmers Insurance Group!

Pressed

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Jumping Through The Hoops

July 21, 2003 @ 9:02 pm by Pressed

Just a small word of advice for all of you people out there who were planning on getting your car stolen, DON’T! It has been four weeks now since my car was stolen from the Muny parking lot in St. Louis while I was watching a show and I am still trying to jump through the many hoops of the insurance company just to get authorization to start the repair work on it.

CRAIG’S COMPREHENSIVE TOP 10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT GET YOUR CAR STOLEN

1. The first reason you should never get your car stolen is because of the horrible feeling you have when you walk out to where you know you parked your car and you realize that it isn’t there. Thinking about all of the personal stuff that you have left in it and thinking about the dirty thief who is out violating your brand new vehicle by taking a little joy ride just makes you sick. If you didn’t have anyone else there with you who drove you would be up a creek without a paddle… or a boat.

2. The second reason you should never get your car stolen is the current state of our police departments. A simple fact is that the police could care less about your car or the thief who stole it. It is such a common crime in the cities that the police officers just pass it off as ‘nothing new under the sun’ and they really do nothing about it. Then they like to charge you $5.00 and make you wait 15 days in order for you to even get a police report. Unfortunately the insurance company needs the police report to file the claim!

3. A third reason is the anxiety it places upon your one nervous friend. Everyone in the world has a friend who is just a nervous wreck to begin with, and mine just happens to be Michael who was there with us when this all happened. I truely believe that he was more worked up than I was, and that was after he walked a good 3 miles around the parking lot looking for the car. All of us were kind of in a dazed state of shock but I think Michael experienced the weight of all the emotion that goes along with this sort of thing… but I do appreciate it Michael anyway, even though it probably gave you 3 new ulcers.

4. A fourth reason is the number of times that you have to re-tell the whole story. You don’t realize how many people you actually know and interact with daily until you have to tell them all why you are driving an old, purple, minivan. I have repeated the story so many times that if I have to repeat it again I may go ahead and spew.

5. A fifth reason is the amount of time that you have to spend on the phone. I was not prepared for the flood of phone calls to and from the police, the insurance company, the body shop, 3 different adjusters, and the plurality of other people that I have had to talk to. I spent hours talking on the phone with people trying to get things worked out.

6. A sixth reason is the paperwork and recorded verbal statements that the insurance companies make you participate in. I have had to fill out forms, and then they lost some and I had to fill them out again. I have had to give a recorded statment on what happened, names of everyone who was with me, kind of car they drive, what was in the car, etc. I have had to recount the story to three adjusters and my insurance agent, plus I had to write it all out as well.

7. A seventh reason to never get your car stolen is the fact that everything that is inside the vehicle is not covered by your automobile insurance. The only thing that covers your personal possessions that are located inside the car is your homeowners insurance. If you do not have a home and you have no renters insurance then you have officially just lost everything in your car with no compensation for it. You could have had the crown jewels in your back seat and if you didn’t have homeowners or renters insurance then too bad for you! Although that would explain why your car was stolen in the first place…

8. An eighth reason is insurance adjustor number 1. This is the insurance adjustor who is lazy and wants you to do all of their work. He won’t find out the police report number for you so that you have to contact the police department and police officers to try and find a report number for yourself. He won’t process anything or get your car fixed without the number, but he sure doesn’t want to work to get it. This is also the same adjustor who wants to get a recorded statement from you but the only time he can do it is 6:30 a.m. in the morning. It is the only time he claims he is in the office and so it is the only time he can get a recorded statement from you.

9. The ninth reason is insurance adjustor number 2. This is the man who has the police report numbers and is ready to get things rolling and then screws up two checks that were supposed to go to the police station but didn’t make it. He wastes 15 days and then finally gets the thing ordered only to have to wait another week to get the police reports. Of course he can’t process the claim without the police report so this only draws out the whole process.

10. The tenth reason is insurance adjustor number 3. This is an adjustor who’s only job is to investigate the claim. He has to get information from you, from all your friends, and from all your financial records as well. The only problem is that the insurance company has lost one of the papers that you have already filled out. Of course he needs that paper and cannot process the claim without it so you have to fill it out once more and mail it to them. Just so happens that when you do get the paper and you can fax it back to him he decides to take a four day vacation.

Now the one thing that you should know out of all of this is that you are not treated like the victim. Instead you will be treated like a criminal. The insurance company does not want to shell out the cash for your claim so they will do all the investigating they can and try to build a case against you so that they don’t have to pay it. That is why they have to know everything, have all of this notarized paperwork that you have filled out, and that is why they want all your financial records. To them, you are committing insurance fraud and they want to make you as miserable as possible in hopes to not have to pay a dime. Yes that is right folks! Right now you are paying high premiums every month to an insurance company who does not want to pay for anything when something happens to your vehicle. They would much rather accept all of your money and never have to pay anything out and so you are a piece of crud criminal to them who is not worth their time and effort and so you wait for over four weeks without a vehicle while they play their little games. Or maybe it is the fact that our world is filled with pathetic scum who want free money and so they do what they can to cheat the insurance companies, deplete any trust whatsoever, and force us to pay higher insurance bills because of it. If you are one of those bloody criminals out there who likes to do this type of stuff, and you would rather cheat, steal, and plunder, than get off your own duff and work for a living then I would like to take this opportunity while I am a bit on the angry side to say, SCREW YOU! Oh, I am sorry that wasn’t very Christian like. May God curse you and may your days on earth be miserable.

__________________

Speaking of being miserable, did you know that there is a form of brautwurst out there in the world that is in patty form and looks just like a hamburger? In fact it can have BBQ sauce plopped all over it and you will not even know that it is a brautwurst… until you take your first big bite. I was heating up the leftover hamburgers and as I was talking to my mother and chompin’ down on one my mom informed me that it was a braut and not a hamburger… to which I said, WHHHHAAAATTTTTTT BLAHHHH pttttttt blah coooggggguuuu………… to which my mom said, oh their good, to which I replied, uuhhhhhhh bbbllaahhhh uuuckkkkkk iicckkkkkk ptttttt… The only thing worse than intentionaly eating a braut is not knowing that you are actually eating a braut.

Pressed

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Kansas City - A Wretched Place

July 15, 2003 @ 2:16 pm by Pressed

I am here in Kansas City again taking a week long class at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The last time I came down here I concluded that Kansas City was a big nasty pit, but now that I have visited a second time I am concluding once more that this place is simply wretched. For some odd reason MoDot decided to start working on every major intersection in the entire city and so there are fifteen different detours you have to take in order to get to the road you actually want to be on, not to mention the termoil you go through when you realize the road you want is the road that you’re on, even though it isn’t the name of the road you are supposed to be on it is still the same road. Apparently certain parts of the city decided to change the names of sections of the road out of the pure evil that is potruding from their blackened hearts. Of course not all of Kansas City is bad, just the northern part where the school is located. I did end up in a wal-mart that was about the size of Arkansas and I walked around amazed at the enormous size of such a building and they do have a 24 AMC theater that rocks, and of course best of all there is a Cabela’s here.

When I arrived here on Sunday I realized that they didn’t have me coming in until Monday so I did not have a room for that night. In fact the room that is mine now was occupied by a large family of four who had already been there for an entire week. With no where else to go I proceeded upstairs to the dorm area where all the students stay and I found an empty room to hide in and sleep for the night, so I actually got away with a free nights lodging… I am glad to have a room to myself though, I have my fridge all stocked with peanut butter and jelly, turkey sadwiches, hot pockets, potato chips, water, and mountain dew… Sounds healthy huh?

We have class everyday from 9:00 in the morning to 3:50 in the afternoon which isn’t bad at all compared to the 9-5 I did last time I came down here. In fact the professor let us out at 12:30 today and so I have the rest of the afternoon off to study and read and develop my theological precepts at which I am going to drive down to Cabela’s instead.

______________________

On another note I called my insurance adjuster about my car again today. He said that he is still waiting on the police report, (3 weeks ago to this day my car was stolen) because the first two electronic checks he tried to issue didn’t go through so it extended the time about 15 to 20 days. He finally issued a hand written check last week when I called and now he is waiting on a police report that he should have already recieved. Then he has to turn it over to another guy who has to do more investigation on the whole thing because apparently the ignition in my car was not busted or wired in anyway. The thief broke into my car, but didn’t hot wire it and so they have to do extra investigating before they will let the place start repair work on my car. So my car is setting at some body shop, where it has been for 3 weeks now, and it will continue to set there while the insurance company plays around and then when they finally decide to start the work on it (my guess is next week) it will take another 2 to 3 weeks before my car is actually fixed and ready for me to get it. The only thing I can think of now is, I AM THE VICTIM! Come on people lets get a system that actually works!

Well now that I am all worked up I better go to Cabela’s and cool down before I say something nasty.

Pressed

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