Book Review: Radical

I recently was givn the opportunity to read and review the book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream  I was skeptical at first because I had heard so many good things about this book, but I have to say it is one of the best books I've read in a long time!

A plethora of books have been written on living out your faith, however, David Platt takes “Radical” to another level. Like the title implies, what he suggests in his book is anything but living the normal American life. Why should we take the Gospel to people who have never heard? The average American church member probably thinks God gives special grace to those who have never heard the name of Jesus, but Platt explains why he believes this idea is not at all acceptable in light of what the Bible teaches. We can spend thousands of dollars a year on frivolous stuff all the while there are people dying because they don't have clean water. Why is the church looking the other way on this? Missions. How many people never get involved in fulfilling the Great Commission? They will attend when a missionary comes for a missions conference once a year, but the thought of them ever doing anything to reach out either in a local neighborhood or overseas is unthinkable. While this book is a hard read, it is not judgmental. It lays it on the line but even the author admits he doesn't believe he can live up to the radical lifestyle he believes God is calling us to lead. Rather than being a judgment, it's a call to living what Jesus taught his followers.

I received a book from the publisher in exchange for my review.  It in no way influenced my review of this book.

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Contacting companies through social media

Social media (facebook, twitter, blogs) is a HUGE part of the Internet.

How many of you last summer saw the mold that someone found in their Capri-Sun?   Do you realize the power of social media when you're not getting something solved otherwise?  Not all companies monitor their Facebook and Twitter accounts regularly, but for the ones who do, it's a huge boost to the consumer who isn't getting treated fairly and has exhausted all other forms of communication.

However, last summer I had an employee get upset with me for posting about a problem on Facebook.  I won a trip to Vegas from HSN.  They told me all the fun events I was going to get to attend, until they realized that Pittsburgh is a more expensive airport than, say flying from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.  They started hemming and hawing, and eventually told me that I couldn't go to half the events and that I would be spending 27 hours in travel to be in Vegas 23 because of the flights they wanted to put me on.

I said that was unacceptable, that I wanted to go to all the events as promised to winners.  I made multiple phone calls, e-mails, etc.

Finally, I posted on the HSN facebook page and said I was a winner wasnt' getting my full prize and had they come up with a solution yet.  Within an hour acceptable flights were booked.  (However, an employee, and posibly she was a contractor started yelling at me in Vegas for "not being patient".   I expect she is the one who should have done something to solve this weeks prior, but didn't.  I think two weeks of phone calls and e-mails was very patient before pulling the Facebook trump card.)

Again, before I went to Vegas I "fanned" the hotel on Facebook.  We had a broken window blind in our room, and I called the front desk.  They told me I needed another department.  I called them.  They said I needed another department.  (By this time I needed to be leaving to go somewhere.)  So I just posted on their Facebook page that "The blind in Room ---  needs fixed."

When I returned to the room, it was fixed.

That said, I would only use Social Media for big complaints I've tried to solve other ways, but when you can't get any satisfaction any other way, this does sometimes work.  Remember the whole Capri-Sun incident last summer?  That was a mommy blogger who garnered so much attention
by posting about the problem on her blog and it gained national attention.

Consumerist Article about the Capri Sun

And, yes, I must say, in the end my flight problems to Vegas were solved and I had a fantastic trip thanks to HSN!

Book Review: Walls

I recently had the opportunity to read the book Walls: Why Everybodys Stuck (and Nobody Has to Be) in exchange for a review.  I was provided an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for this review.

The Berlin Wall. The author likens the walls in our lives to that fortress that separated two sections of a city for so many years. But how do we change? How do we overcome the obstacles that surround us? In this book, Ryan Rush shows us how, or at least attempts to. To me it felt more like a book of encouragement with lots of Scripture and some great stories than a how-to book on overcoming whatever it is that you're facing. Rush is the father to a special needs child and her medical complications allowed me to not feel like he was some preacher who had no idea what real life can be like, but that he knows the hurts and pain that can come with life. While I can't say this book gave me any practical advice on how to knock down the walls in my life, it was inspiring and I very much enjoyed the stories of others, and I would say it's worth reading this book just for those.

And the cleanout begins. . .

I wrote a blog post last week about how I am quitting selling on eBay.  I contacted someone who sells and he is going to sell some of the stuff I have left.  Much of it will be going in a garage sale as some of it was bought back when stuff sold better.  For instance, I found a cake pan that used to sell for about $15 a few years ago, now it doesn't even get a $3 bid.  So, that's in the garage sale pile.

I am using the stopwatch function on my new iPod to see how long it takes me to get this room cleaned out.  I've worked on it only about 3 1/2 hours so far, and have gotten so much out it's unreal.  There were three bags of trash (each a 30 gallon bag), and a 30 gallon trash bag full of recycled packing materials I'll take to the man who is going to sell for me. 

I've found interesting stuff both to sell and of my own.  I found a winter hat I wondered what happened to it.  I found my handheld GPS for geocaching I've been looking for it for a while. 

I decided I need to get rid of a lot of stuff, and recently we had company and I had to get a bedroom "guest worthy".  Cleaning that room out took a long time because I was emotionally attached to so many of the objects in that room.   But with my eBay room, most everything was brought in for resell, so there is no sentimentality on the objects.

I'll be glad to reclaim this room.  Seems like over the last few years the entire upstairs became a "junk room" and I'm out to change that.  I didn't do an work in this room today because we had to much trash because of my three bags out of that room and Christmas I thought it would be pushing our luck to set out so many trash bags!

Book Review: Divanomics

Normally I don't post book reviews on my blog unless I've been given a book free to read and review.  Another new one came in the mail today, so soon you'll be seeing a review for Walls: Why Everybodys Stuck (and Nobody Has to Be) but today the book I'm going to review is Divanomics: How to Still Be Fabulous When You're Broke because I feel because many of my posts have to do with saving money, it's appropriate to review.

I thought of Divanomics as a "money saving guide for the other half", and I'm certianly not the other half!  I realize that the word DIVA is in the title, and I realize that some people probably have never shopped 'lower end retail', but there was a whole chapter devoted to shopping at Walmart and Target and the bargains that can be found there!  There was also a short bit on how she gets stuff with coupons and rewards points at Neiman Marcus.  Now, I think that's the first time I've ever even WRITTEN Neiman Marcus and I've certainly never been to one!    I will have to say that I was impressed that even though it was a Christian book she didn't seem to think that Dave Ramsey is god of financial advice.  (I've encountered some Christians with that attitude, almost to the point they seems to think if you are not listening to him exclusively you're in sin even if you're debt free!)  She mentions Dave Ramsey, but also mentions Suze Orman.  She did give a nod to coupons.com but most of the coupon talk was dealing with coupons you can use at higher end department stores.  She also gave some suggestions like instead of going out to dinner you can have a fun night at home with friends playing games.  (Wow!  Who knew?)  Overall I give this three stars.  It kept my interest because of how to "save money" on designer fashions, etc. but for people who didn't already live that kind of lifestyle, I'm not sure how helpful this book would be.

Book Review: LITTLE STAR

Little Star is a children's book which would be perfect for a bedtime story around Christmas. The illustrations are beautiful. It's a charming story about the star that led the shepherds to where Jesus was born. However, I was a bit bothered by the fact that the star shone so brightly he burned out, and with an illustration of a gray, wilted looking star in the book. Some children, including myself as a child, would find this disturbing. I would have rather the star never shine brightly again and remain a “Little Star”. Although the story ends on a happy note, it still was a bit unsettling to see an illustration of a 'worn out' star. Overall this is a wonderful book for young and old. I highly expect it to become a Christmas classic! 

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

A Good Name is Better than Great Riches

When I was a child I had a bookmark with my name on it.  It also said "A good name is better than great riches."  I spent hours looking at that bookmark thinking how I disliked my name, but over the years I came to realize it didn't mean a good GIVEN name, but the name we earn for ourselves.  That verse in the New Living Translation reads:

Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold.

I've been an eBay seller for eleven years now.  I quit my job yesterday.  I've had one too many people call me a liar.  It's interesting how I have a good, honest reputation in this area, but on eBay people are quick to call me a cheat when I've done nothing wrong.

In fact, my grandfather's name was so strong in this area that I needed to get gas about 4 years ago and didn't have any cash on me.  Even though my grandfather has been dead since before I was born, I told the elderly man working at the gas station who my grandfather was, and that was as good as any ID I could have shown.

I've been taught you are honest, and being called a theif, liar, cheat, etc. is something I can't tolerate, so I decided to quit eBay.

I was writing in my journal last night musing over the fact of WHO quits their job four days before Christmas without other ideas in mind?

One of my hopes yesterday was to find what eBay calls a "Trading Assistant".  That is someone who sells stuff for you on eBay and takes part of the profit.

I contacted one yesterday, and we talked for about an hour today.  It sounds like not only is he willing to sell the stuff I have collected from yardsales and auction that is in my current possession, but he may be willing to sell stuff that I collect in the future, so I have a new job title as of today.  I'm now a picker.

This feels like the second best Christmas gift I could have received.  (I was baptized earlier this month, and that was by far the best Christmas gift I could have received.)  What being a picker means for me is I will still get to do the part of eBay that I LOVE -- the going out and hunting for stuff to sell.  But it also means I can give up the parts I hate -- the taking photos, writing descriptions, dealing with customers, some of whom are unreasonable, and the packing.

So I will still be using the knowledge I have gleaned from 11 years of eBay selling, but now I will be able to pass the work that I hate on to someone else.

Obviously I haven't taken any items to this man yet, so it's still not set in stone this business relationship will work out but I feel very good about this.  And if this one doesn't work, I'm going to try to find someone else who is interested in doing the same thing.