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January 2007 - Posts
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When you get down to brass tacks, it can be really easy to keep things frugal. I never realized it until about a week ago when I decided that I wanted to try and see how I would fare spending as little money as possible. At the end of my little one week experiment, I was nearly blown out of the water when I looked at my checking account and saw how much money that I didn't spend. You see, the thing is that I very rarely carry cash along with me, because it ends up feeling like an inconvenience. I don't like to use my credit card when I don't have to, but I do use my debit card from my checking account for nearly every purchase that I make. I found that rather than thinking of having cash in my wallet as an inconvenience, it's better to think of it as a good check for how much I'm really spending throughout the week. Just say for example...just throwing a random number out there...that you allow yourself one hundred dollars for the week to do everything that you need to do. That means lunches, dinners, groceries, and whatever extras you might come across. If you know that you have a set spending limit, something in your mind takes an extra moment to say "wait up...let's pay attention to how fast this money is leaving the wallet." It really does work! You can train yourself to watch your spending habits by having a semi-constant reminder of how much you're spending. If you rely solely on using your credit card or debit card for all your purchases, the only reminder that you have of what you've actually spent (short of keeping all your receipts) is checking your online bank account maybe once a week, and then being shocked at how much the dollar amount has gone down. In truth, I really should challenge myself to do this more often, but every so often I get irritated about having cash in my wallet, and I end up using my debit card anyways. I also tend to end up with lots of change in my pocket at the end of each day since I forget that I have it at the time or I don't have quite enough to cover whatever it is, so I just end up using another dollar. It does tend to help out with having a few extra quarters around when it comes to the time to throw a few loads of laundry into the washing machine. So maybe that's a good challenge that I can send out to all of you. Try my little experiment for yourself and see what happens. I guarantee that you'll have strong results, and you'll probably end up being amazed at your success. The one thing that I will attempt to impress upon you the most if you are willing to test out my idea is that you need to figure out how much money you can survive on throughout the week. Be realistic, but don't be too overreaching in your estimate. The goal is to have just enough money to get by so that you're actively thinking about how much you're really spending. I wish you all every success in this experiment, and I look forward to hearing a lot of success stories a week from now!
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I'm pretty sure that when you read the title to this blog post, you thought to yourself...hmmm, something that can't be recycled. In actuality, you aren't far from the mark. We can all readily think of a lot of renewable resources, because they tend to be common items that we use everyday, and they are the ones that can be recycled. We know that plastics, glass, and paper are the most common renewable resources. Even oil, to some extent, can be considered renewable...although it's going to take millions of years to replenish the supply that we've used in just over one hundred years. Something that you might now know is that there are some resources, one that I can think of in particular, that is neither renewable or nonrenewable. The resource that I happen to be referring to is energy. Somewhere from back in physics class in high school, I remember learning about the fact that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It's a constant. That's a pretty neat fact for all of us, most of whom can always stand to have a little bit more energy as we go throughout the day. I personally tend to conk out around five o'clock in the afternoon, and I need a recharge if I'm going to get anything accomplished for the rest of the evening. But, now on to my main topic...a nonrenewable resource. Stepping away from things that we're actually taking from the Earth that can't be recycled, the nonrenewable resource that I'm talking about is time. Time is the one thing that we tend to waste but that we never can get back. I'm sure that this is why humans have been fascinated by the idea of traveling back in times for decades or even centuries. We always seem to be wanting to head back and correct or re-live the time that we've spent or wasted in the past. Sometimes, we just want more time. I mean seriously, would it really have been that difficult to make the day twenty-six hours long, rather than twenty-four. I surely would appreciate that, especially during weeks like this one. I know that it's only Monday, but I've already set my sights on the weekend ahead. There is just simply too much to do to be crammed into a single week. You might notice that my blog posts this week will be a little behind on account of this fact. It's mostly because I will be at school all day every day, or perhaps because when I finally do make it home, I'm just too exhausted to even use my brain for anything more than necessary. That will probably get me into a little trouble when it comes down to the inevitable homework that will rear it's ugly head during the week. I know that I won't personally be wasting very much time this week, mostly because I won't really have any of my own to waste. In a typical week though, I probably do my fair share of time wasting, but I'm pretty sure that I do a lot less of that than most people. You would think that after as many years as we've been alive and as many days worth of time that we waste each year, we might learn from our mistakes. Rather than learning, we continue to enjoy wasting time lounging around, watching television, or even staring into space. Forget those productive types of time wasting like reading a book or keeping a blog (wink wink!). We like to sit down with a can of soda and watch the latest America's Next Top Model Marathon or reruns of the Golden Girls on Lifetime for the fiftieth time. I'll admit it...I love that kind of wasting time, but with weeks like the one I'm already having, I'll be spending every moment engaged in one thing or another.
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I happened to read a pretty good article online not too long ago on one of the main news sites that I thought I should talk to all of you about. My particular focus and my intended audience for today's post is all you Christian women out there, because the article that I read was all about you and your finances...both now and in the future. The author of the article, a women herself, seems to have penned this particular piece of work in order to raise awareness about potential problems that women today could be facing in the not too distant future if they don't buck up and start taking a serious look at their personal finances. It's not that the author was saying that women are a frivolous lot who like to spend more than they make or more than they can afford to. Rather, she is hoping to focus married women on the possibilities of a future dealing with their finances on their own, for a variety of reasons. The first thing situation that she explores is the possibility of divorce. I know that it's not a pretty subject, and it's probably not something that any women currently in a happy and healthy relationship wants to think about, but in this day and age it really is necessary to consider. The latest statistics that I remember reading say that over fifty percent of marriages will end in divorce. If you just consider that, you can see why it's so important to be thinking ahead about your finances. Divorces can be messy, both emotionally and financially, and they can leave an unprepared woman nearless helpless. Consider having to live on your current salary and afford a home, your car, your insurance, other monthly home expenses, and perhaps even children. Preparing yourself financially for such a situation is a very necessary reality. The same can be said of all the gentlemen out there, but hey, today we're focusing on the ladies. So, the tragedy of divorce is only one possibility that would force an otherwise financially stable woman to fall into problems. Even worse than divorce perhaps is the possibility of being widowed. No one ever knows when disaster or misfortune will strike, so it's probably best that you and your spouse have a serious talk about potential scenarios should such a situation occur. Make sure you know about your home, your finances, all the banking, the bills, and anything else involving money. Perhaps the most important thing to learn about is insurance and any other joint accounts that you might hold together. It's a little known fact that many financial institutions will freeze accounts and insurance payments within a short time of learning that one of the co-owners has passed away. In the event of a tragedy, it's best to fight the tears as best as possible and get financial things squared away before they become a great hassle. So ladies what do you think? These two things that I've mentioned to you are just a couple of many situations that you should have in mind for your future. If you think about these things and find yourself anywhere less than one hundred percent satisfied that you would have everything under control in the event of a tragedy, you should really sit down and talk with your spouse, as well as with a professional financial advisor. Of course you don't have to take my word on things, but with what I do know about the financial world, I seriously urge you to take action in securing your finances sooner rather than later. I promise you'll thank me in the future.
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As I was writing my post from yesterday (and getting a little bit riled up), I started thinking a lot about the formation and perpetuation of certain Christian stereotypes. Sure, there are some great stereotypes that tend to be true when it comes to being a devout Christian. Having a reputation for being honest, caring, moral, and likeable are definitely things that we don't need to complain about. It's those other more negative stereotypes that we need to worry about. It makes me a little upset that we actually have to worry about such negative stereotyping of Christians, because I personally have plenty of other things to worry about besides how other are perceiving my religious convictions on account of the fact that I have some to begin with. I started to convince myself that it's those few Christians out there who are going above and beyond the calls of Christianity in their actions who are making the stereotypes negative for the rest of us. All around the world, people decry the fact that there are fundamentalists around us. There are people in this world who we worry about as being terrorists and other such horrible things. What many people don't realize is that there are fundamentalists in every religion, in every race, and in nearly every country around the world to some extent. It doesn't matter what cause they are fighting for, the fact is that they are fundamentalists who are forcing their views on others in an unsolicitied manner. Any action taken that makes some other individual uncomfortable is a form of abuse and should be stopped. Sure, I'm not saying that all fundamentalists are prone to taking radical and dangerous measures to forward their cause, but even non-violent actions of these people can cause other just as much distress. Take the situation that I spoke about yesterday. I'm not saying that the people who came to my door were necessarily religious fundamentalists, but what I am saying is that may be going a bit too far. They may be have been acting in a totally non-violent manner and have positive intentions, but by forcing their ideas on others, they are crossing that fine line between believer and religious fanatic. I'm sure that a lot of you out there reading this are "tsk tsk-ing" me right now, but just hear me out. No one in this country, or anywhere else around the world for that matter, deserves to be mistreated and/or harrassed by anyone else...period. Not by Christians, not by Jews, not by Muslims, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, any religions, any race, any cause. No one deserves to believe in or do anything that they don't want to do. It's plain and simple. For you Christians out there, you wouldn't like to have people from your local mosque or temple knocking on your door asking you to question your religious convictions and faith, right? So, you can imagine that people who are of another faith or who choose to align themselves with no particular religion would like the same. It all goes back to that famous golden rule that we were all taught in kindergarten on the first day...treat others who you would like to be treated.
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You all know that I'm a graduate student, and as such, I'm usually pretty busy doing something that has to do with school. If I'm not doing my actual homework, you will probably find me reading a book related to my field of interest or planning out ideas for future research. Therefore, the times that I actually do get to sleep in, nap, or just relax are few and far between and pretty precious. As it turns out, this past week although it's been bitterly cold in central Indiana, I've had the luck of receiving several Christian solicitors from a few churches in my neighborhood. Now, I am totally in support of fund raising drives and information pamphlets if that's what a church community decides to do, however the visits that I received had nothing to do with either of these things. I was woken up early this past Saturday morning, again during an afternoon nap, and I was interrupted while working on a paper for class, and in each case, the individuals from the churches who showed up at my door didn't really have anything to say. In the first case, the individuals...all grown men likely in their thirties...wanted to know if I happened to have anything or anyone that I wanted to them to pray about. I immediately learned what their technique was, since they were trying to start this type of religious conversation so they could get an invitation into my house and an open opportunity to say their piece. I did my best not to be rude, but I kindly explained that I was perfectly capable of praying for who and what I needed to on my own...and on my own time. It took a few tries at denying them something to pray for, but I think that I finally got my point across to them and they left. Apparently they made quite a lasting impression on my across the hall neighbors as well, since later that day I noticed a "No solicitors, Do Not Disturb" sign on their door as I left to run out for groceries. The two other instances that I mentioned above in which I was disturbed went much the same way. By the third time, I was pretty noticeably irritated as the gentleman who knocked on my door only had this to say..."Hi, I'm James from First Church of XXXXX, I was just wondering if you'd like to talk". I wanted to ask him if he was joking, because I thought to myself that if I needed someone to talk to I'd go to a friend, and if it was something religious, I'd probably head to my own church to talk to my own pastor. It was just pretty disturbing that these people thought that they needed to come to my door and just assume that I needed to talk to them. It's just not a great way of approaching the situation on their part. I began to wonder if, in however long that they decided to venture out in the sub-zero weather that day, how many people really responded to them in a positive way. Maybe they pray on the people who are either too nice or too dumb to actually let them in. I may be pretty nice and even a little dumb sometimes, but I knew better than to let them open up their can of worms. So, why is it that people go out and do these things? I've been involved actively in my church for years and years, and I never recall once wandering around neighborhoods and knocking on doors unsolicitedly asking "hey, do you wanna chat?"
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I came across a great resource for individuals interested in starting, expanded, or maintaining a successful Christian business the other day as I was surfing around the internet. I was searching for sites that were related to the topic of Christian business, and I happened to come across a site called Surf in the Spirit. I was amazed to find such a site so easily in my search, since I had previously been at a loss to locate very much material that related to Christian businesses. Not only was I amazed to just find the site, but I was also ecstaticlly surprised to see all of the fantastic resources that they have available to their site visitors. It was actually a little bit amusing when I read the description of the site in their introductory home page, because it talks a lot about ideas that I had about Christian business that I've expressed to all of you over the past few months. They talk a lot about ways to keep a Christian identity in the workplace, something that I actually posted about not too long ago. Looks like my thoughts are on the right track...or maybe it's the other way around. Surf in the Spirit has an extensive array of internal pages that appear to be a collection of articles, commentary, stories of experiences, and even poems that are all related to the world of Christian business. I found quite a few of them to be really inspiring and very educational. I actually learned quite a lot of new things about Christian businesses from the point of view of other individuals just from browsing around their site. One of the neatest parts about the website is that they have actually included a sort of modified classified ads page that has been devoted to the "top 10 Christian business jobs". This is a perfect resource for individuals all over the country who are looking into getting their foot in the door in a Christian business job. You can see where these business are and what they are all about. In addition to the more business-oriented material on the site, there is also a section that includes inspirational quotes and even some scripture for those of you who prefer to reference materials from the Bible. All I can say about all this is wow! Never did I expect to find such a thorough and motivating site this afternoon. It's comforting to me to know that there are other individuals out there who are interested in the same types of ideas as I am who are helping me to share the burden of spreading the word about the wonderful opportunities and possibilities out there for Christian businesses. I really encourage you to search for Surf in the Spirit on your own and experience all the amazing information that they have to offer. Happy reading!
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Did you happen to see that really interesting article that was circulating around most of the online news networks last week about how consumer happiness is at an all-time high as of the beginning of 2007? I didn't exactly understand what they were getting at or trying to say until I looked into the article a little bit deeper and tried to read in between the lines. Apparently, the powers that be survey the American public at the beginning of each year to try and wage their happiness about certain aspects of life, including healthcare, economics, and the like. It appears that life has started out pretty nicely in 2007 for a lot of American consumers owing to a few particular things that have happened recently. Number one on the list of things that have made consumers happy has been the decrease in the price of gasoline through the last several months of 2006. This has helped to ease up on the wallets of consumers all over the country, allowing for easier personal travel, better commutes, and even decreased airfare prices in some cases. For the many Americans who are forced to do the daily commute, I can imagine that they are pleased as punch as this current trend. I'll bet that even some of the automobile companies, particuarly those who specialize in larger vehicles and SUVs are loving the decrease in gasoline prices, so that Americans will once again have an increased interest in purchasing such vehicles. It also appears that Americans are generally pleased about the positive surges that have abounded in the various stock indices over the past several months. With these and other such positive economic indicators on the rise, American consumers have been more likely to invest their money since a positive return is becoming a strongly possibility more quickly. What do these investments do?...they just serve to kick stocks and economic indicators even higher into the positive. I, of course, don't really understand a lot of the ins and outs of the stock game and the US economy, but I'm sure that the successes that American stock indices are seeing in recent times is a lot more complicated than most of us can understand, so I'm not going to belabor the point...just be happy that things are working in favor of John and Jane Smith. Something else that has made the American consumer emerge with a smile on his face has been the rising value of the US dollar, something that we haven't seen in quite a long time. I remember back in the days when the US dollar was valued higher than the Euro on the international markets. By the time that I actually made it to Europe to travel last year, it had been a long time since the dollar had topped the Euro. Hopefully the dollar is well on its way to rebounding up to its former weight and value, which will make a lot of Americans at home and abroad beam with some increased national pride. So what about you all? As American consumers, do you feel happier this year as compared to years past? If so, why do you think that is? Sure, you can probably relate to several of the items that I've just talked about in my post, but are there other things more specific to your region, area, city, or town that have helped to build American consumer happiness? The that I ask is that I severely doubt that whoever these survey makers are are venturing out in "real" America to find out what the small town consumers are feeling. Ultimately, it's small town America that ends up having the power to swing the economy one way or the other. After all, farming and small businesses can a tremendous weight in the success of this country. So, if you have something that you think should be added to our list or even something that you'd like others to think about, feel free to leave me some comments and let me know. I've been so glad to see people starting to leave comments. If you prefer to be a little bit more private about your questions, you can always email me at chris@biblekeeper.com with questions or comments.
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The scariest part about walking into any financial situation, whether it is your own or someone else's, is realizing that poor records (or no records at all) have been kept. Usually when this is the case, something has probably gone terribly wrong, and you've decided to bite the bullet and step in, take over, and recover. Thank the good Lord above that I've never had to be faced with such a situation with my personal finances. It's not that I keep extremely good records in the form of a checkbook register or balance sheet, but I do always know how much money I have, and I surely never throw anything related to my finances away. I have had the misfortune on two occasions that I can remember of walking into situations where others have asked me to help them recover their finances from long periods of mismanagement and near disrepair. On the first occasion, things ended up being resolved fairly quickly, because I was able to devote my full attention to the problem, and I had the monetary resources to get things done correctly. More recently, I have come across another situation where I have been thrown into a situation of financial mismanagement and asked to make it all go away. The problem is though, in the first case I spoke of there were at least some records to work with (bank statements, check stubs, etc.), but in this new situation, there is absolutely nothing to work with. No one has kept track of money going into accounts, money going out of accounts, online payment accounts, or even materials leaving the building (not to mention whether or not they have actually been paid for). For all intents and purposes, I'm starting from an extremely negative position and just trying to break even. Add this to the fact that the person who had formerly been in charge of managing all these things is probably one of the most difficult person to get along with that I've ever met. Needless to say, I've got my work cut out for me. So in situations like this, when we're trying to just figure out which way is up, where do we possibly start? This is the question that I've been pondering now for a few days since this financial issue got plopped into my lap. Is it best to forget about what happened in the past, accept things for a loss, and move ahead? Maybe it's better to try and dig back a little bit and figure out what went wrong, in hopes of discovering the hows, whys, and why nots of the whole situation. Maybe it's best to shoot for the middle ground and just start picking up the pieces. I've been struggling with this task for a few days now, and I won't lie to you and tell you that it hasn't been difficult, because it's been really very tough. Had I know that things were this bad, I would not likely have committed myself to trying to make it better. Yeah, that's how bad it is. So, as with most things, I'm going to stick with what I know and take step number one on my list...organization. I need to figure out what I have to work with, what money is around, and what needs to be done with it. With a lack of records, this isn't going to be an easy task, but the beauty of the situation is that I get the opportunity to reinvent the system and set the precedent for the future of the group. Not exactly the way I wanted to leave my legacy among this group of people, but hey, I'll take whatever I can get at this point. So that's it at this point...organization. Lists, inventories, spreadsheets, databases,...all those lovely organizational tools that others tend to frown upon. I say bring them on, because the only way out of some situations alive is to get back to the basics and start from scratch. The others involved in this group have accepted my idea of heading back to square one, so at least I have a lot of support behind me from all angles. I know that I have the "know-how" to do this, but finding the time and the mental strength to push ahead is going to be a tough challenge. Hopefully, with God and some deep-seated determination on my side, I'll find the motivation and "oomph" that I need to get the job done right.
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I never realized how nice it was to have a regular paycheck rolling in every two weeks until I started back at graduate school and didn't have one. Sure, it's not that I'm exactly struggling, since my department takes care of me very well with my fellowship, but it's the fact that I always see the money in my bank account decreasing rather than increasing at a regular interval. I guess that I can't really complain all too much, since I do get those big big paydays about one week before each semester starts, but still, knowing that things are moving in a monetarily positive direction is good for the mind. And that's just it, it's all a mental thing. It's starts to grate on my mind when I check my checking account periodically throughout the month and start to think about how much I spent on each thing that I've purchased. Each visit to Starbucks for my daily venti iced vanilla latté, those evenings that I join the gang out for a drink after school and homework are done, and especially those days that I'm feeling too exhausted and lazy to stand in front of the stove and make myself something for dinner...those are the days where the amounts seem to add up, and the money starts to drain from the account. I hadn't thought much about how much I missed having my regular paycheck, something that I had grown so accustomed to receiving during the two years or so that I took off from school. Only recently when I started working in one of my professor's labs part time, and therefore getting a paycheck every couple of weeks, did I realize how nice it is to have one. It's not that my paycheck from working part time is all that much, but it's enough to eat for the week and put gasoline in my car for those limited trips I need to make around town. It surely eases the steady decrease in my checking account. My new little part time job has also been really good for me mentally, owing to what I mentioned a moment ago about seeing your money slowly decrease. I find myself thinking about how much I started with at the beginning of a given semester and then trying to figure out what I shouldn't have bought and teasing it away numerically from what I needed to actually spend for my month to month expenses. It always turns out that I don't ever really go crazy and spend way more than I had intended to, but being the slightly compulsive and anal retentive person I am, I always try to add up the expenses anyways and see what kind of percentages I'm working with. I think that that stems from my time spent as the cheif financial officer of a small business back when I lived in Florida. Numbers mean a totally different thing once you spend your entire day looking at them and getting paid to make sure they stay where they are supposed to be. What about all of you out there? Do you feel the same way I do about making sure that a steady paycheck is rolling in? I guess that this question mainly goes out to those of you out there on this lovely Christian network, Biblekeeper, are students like me. We are often the ones who only see the balance in our checking accounts move in a positive direction a few times a year. Do you get the same paranoid feeling about spending that I do? If so, you've got my apologies and my sympathies, but it's definitely not a fun feeling to have. Those of you who aren't students probably don't have to worry about such things. Sure, everyone has to watch their spending, and everyone dreads seeing their checking and savings accounts balances moving in the negative direction, but you end up with that rebound by some set amount every week or so. At least you have the satisfaction of seeing that your hard work is paying off by seeing the dollar amounts growing on a regular basis.
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OK, have any of you seen the recent news articles about O.J. Simpson? If so, you'll recognize where the title of this particular post comes from. It seems that all over the internet and the print news, the headlines have been popping up about how a judge has recently ordered the infamous former football player and accused criminal O.J. Simpson to stop spending money. For those of you who are not familiar with the recent Simpson-related scandal, O.J. was in the news not too long ago for promoting a book and a featured television movie that he wrote speaking about how he would have performed the criminal acts he had previously been accused of...had he actually committed them. When news of such a book hit the mainstream, the public outcry was instant. Many people thought that this was O.J.'s way of finally admitting what he had done since he can't actually be tried again owing to "double jeopardy". Apparently the judge involved in the fracas ordered that Simpson was not allowed to spend any of the money that he received in relation to the movie or the book. So, I know that it is a little bit off the topic of our Christian finance blog, but can you imagine what life would be like if we actually had judges telling us when we could and could not spend our money? I don't know if it would be a blessing in disguise or absolute chaos. Sometimes, it seems like it would be a great idea. We wouldn't have the ability (although we would surely have the urge) to go out and spend ridiculous sums of money on things that we either a) don't need or b) can't really afford. Thinking more realistically though, having a judicial order that kept us away from the money that we have earned would be just "slightly" against our rights as Americans, right? I'm not exactly one who really gets into legal things or really understand a lot of the legal mumbo jumbo and lawyerly happenings in the news, so I don't exactly see how this whole thing with O.J. Simpson is really working. I guess that anything is really possible these days, and I suppose that it's not unheard of that a judge orders someone's assets seized for one reason or another. But there it is, and I can admit it, I may understand a lot about business, finances, and Christianity, but I really don't get the judicial system that we find ourselves subject to in the United States. It's sad to admit, but the majority of what I know about the law, having never had to deal with any real legal proceedings myself, comes from watching shows like Law and Order, and the other various courtroom dramas that we seem to be able to find on our televisions at any hour of the day or night. I did try to help the situation years ago when I thought (due to pressure from my father) that I might "need" to be a lawyer. I did a mentoring project during my freshman year of high school where I shadowed a lawyer for several months. I knew within the first week though that I was not cut out to be involved in the legal profession. So back to the idea of a judicial order on your ability to spend money? What do you think? Is it a blessing or a curse? Personally, I think that it's a little bit of both. It would help us out somedays and harm us other days. I think it would be a great idea for some of those people who have severe spending problems that are ending up harming their families and their lives in general. I hardly think though that any legislator would bring such an idea for a law to court...it just would never work.
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Is it just me, or are the portions getting smaller in a lot of the chain restaurants where we used to be able to expect to get a decent amount of food for the money that we are paying? I think that the prices are going up too. Maybe it's both! Whatever is actually the real case here, I can imagine that it's going to start stinging in the wallets and pocketbooks of many Americans in the not-too-distant future. It's really becoming more of a common occurence that I head out by myself or with friends for a meal and I find myself leaving the restaurant after a relatively unsatisfying meal that ended up costing too much money...and then in an hour, I'm in the refridgerator or the cupboards looking for something to snack on. Since I'm not really one to ever eat fast food, with the exception of the occasional run to the local Taco Bell, I'm not really sure if this trend extends itself to the fast food businesses. I'm sure that the food from McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy's is of the same quality (ha!) and of the same portions that it has always been. I don't think that it's the usual sit-down family style places either that are raising costs and cutting portions. The culprits seem to be those "in between" restaurants that specialize in relatively quick sit down meals a la Applebee's, Steak & Shake,...you know the kind that I'm talking about. My concern about this stems from a rather unpleasant meal that I had just this evening for dinner. My roommate and I decided that we were both feeling a little bit too lazy to make up something for dinner, so we headed out and braved the Indiana tundra for a quick but inexpensive dinner. It was his turn to choose where we were going to eat, so he chose the Steak & Shake. Not my favorite establishment, but after tonight, I doubt that I'll ever go back. The service was lousy, the food was nasty, and the price for the portion was ridiculous. I'm personally a fan of the food looking like it does in the menu pictures, but the food this evening couldn't have been anything further away from that. I ordered the turkey club platter with fries and a side salad...about nine dollars worth of food. When the food came, the quality was so bad and the portions were so small that the amount of food that I actually ate was ridiculously small. Just a few bites of food for nine bucks. Being a graduate student operating on limited means, I have to say that I was pretty disappointed. I almost wanted to get in the car and head somewhere else to try dinner number two and hope for the best. Realizing that that was just unacceptable, I decided that I would come home and try to write and think about what the problem might be here. Why are the fast food and "decent" cuisine places able to keep the prices steady and the quality consistent, and then the middle guys just can't seem to do the same? What is it about the middle of the line economics in the restaurant business that is causing this low quality trend to increase? Surely there is no shortage of cooks to make the food in these restaurants. My brother, a trained chef, told me that cooks in these chains often fare better in the money area than line chefs and sous chefs at fancy restaurants. A lot of trained chefs end up working in these types of places, depending on the availability of other types of restaurant jobs in a given area. Is it the management? I suppose that the restaurant chain business can't be all that exciting, and it probably ends up being monotonous doing the exact same thing from day to day. Are they getting lazy and therefore causing their restaurants to become lazy? Aha!...I have the answer. We've got Christian businesses everywhere, right? Why not Christian restaurants?! I think it sounds like a fabulous idea. Christian restaurants will be run by moral and honest individuals and they will likely hire Christian workers who are happy to serve the customers. Christian restauranteers won't cheat you on portions or raise the prices without reason. Wow...I wonder if there are any Christian restaurants in my area. And wow...what if they serve the kinds of foods that we always get at the church supper nights? Chicken and biscuits, beef stew, and my oh my, those desserts from the bake sales. If I had the time and the means, I know that that would be a great thing to do...starting a Christian restaurant business. Yee haw!
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OK, don't get upset with me, but I feel that every so often I have to comment on what is going on in politics, because I think that it plays into all of our lives very closely. I don't necessarily mean that all of us will be partaking in supporting a candidate or even participating in the political process, but rather the ultimate truth that one of the candidates who is running will end up being chosen as the next president and that we all have to deal with that fact. I chose to bring this up now, because it seems like this week there has been a mad rush to announce political candidacy for the 2008 presidential race. I guess rightfully so since the elections will be about ten months from now. So how does this rush of presidentialy candidates affect the rest of us? Well, in my opinion, depending on how politically active we want to be, it can have a great effect on all of us. One of the main goals that candidates have during this period before the election (actually before the primaries) is to get seen and to get heard. We all know that this costs lots of money and time. Candidates are looking for donations and for volunteers to get their name out there to the whole country. Having worked on a few small political campaigns back when I was in high school, I am very familiar with the tiny things that committees will have volunteers do that end up making a big difference. For example, a friend and I ended up spending twenty hours one weekend just sealing envelopes to mail out to potential voters, and we weren't even close to being done...and that was for a single city! So, like I said, it's going to come down to money. There seem to be so many people who have just announced their candidacy and plenty of others who the general public has speculated will run for the office. Of course, this gives us plenty of people to choose from, whether we are liberal, conservative, or somewhere else on the political spectrum. But ultimately, some people will fall out of the running even before the primaries happen. Money will make or break a lot of the candidates. Less money means less professional staff, less television and radio commercials, less ability to travel on the campaign trail...less money does not a president make, for lack of a better way to say it. Having become newly interested in the political process over the past several years, I will be very interested to see how things end up between now and the primaries. I'll be very interested to find out how much of a factor money really ends up being in the whole process. I'm also interested to know in which ways the pile of candidates gets whittled down as New Hampshire and Iowa roll around. Now that I've said all of that, let's get down to the brass tacks...supporting a candidate. It's not exactly a Christian donation type of thing, but it is giving our money to someone, for potentially no return, right? If you do choose to pick a candidate to support with either your time or your money, as always, I urge you to do so wisely. Take a lot of the principles that I mentioned about donating to Christian charities and other organizations, and apply them to this situation as well. So many of the same ideas apply here. Make sure you know what a candidate stands for. Make sure you know where they've come from and to where they intend to lead the country. A really way to judge the character of a candidate is to look at his or her advertising materials. If they've resorted to mudslinging right off of the bat, rather than trying to play fair first, I'd go shopping for a new candidate sooner rather than later.
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