Netflix Uproar

My friend Mari sent me a link this afternoon to an article about Netflix raising their monthly rates and splitting their streaming and DVD subscriptions. You can still get both but you have to now pay more. Another article I read said that Netflix customers are filled with outrage and are striking back at Netflix. The article said that customers fought back through Facebook encouraging Netflix customers to switch to Redbox or Hulu to send a strong message to Netflix.
The article also stated that customers were expressing their displeasure on the official Netflix blog. I decided to check out the Netflix blog and I was overwhelmed by the response. In fact, there's a note that states that the blog can take no more comments on today's post. It has reached 5,000 and that is the maximum number of comments.
Here's a sample of some of my favorite comments:

• How exactly is this the "lowest prices ever"? According to the article, a 1 DVD plan with unlimited streaming will now cost just about as much as I'm currently paying for my 3 DVD plan with streaming. Not only are you slapping existing customers in the face with a fairly significant price increase, but you're outright lying about it too.
• Peace out. You're streaming selection is horrible anyway.
• What overpaid exec thought this brilliant plan up? Do you think people will just take any amount of garbage to keep your service? The WHOLE catalog should have been offered for streaming - DUH.
• You guys are ruining one of the greatest services that has ever existed. I hope you enjoy the decrease in subscribers.
• Thanks for making us look good. Love, Comcast
• What a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. The least you could do for your customers is be honest: you need to make more money.
• that was easy. drop netflix, keep hulu (which is way better streaming)and put difference towards redbox. Now that is real savings. sorry netflix it was fun while it lasted.
• Hope all the blurays I receive between now and the day I cancel my subscription aren't lost in the mail.
• A big sarcastic "Congratulations!" to the idiots at Netflix who are continuing to flush service, value and functionality down the toilet. This goes hand in hand with the poorly received website redesign, which alone was puke-inducing. I'll be switching to BLOCKBUSTER, which will be cheaper, and I can rent games too!
• Goodbye Netflix.

If you'd like to read more comments from angry Netflix customers, you can check out the Netflix blog at: http://blog.netflix.com/
I haven't decided what I am going to do regarding my Netflix subscription. I am definitely not happy about this increase in pricing. I don't want to give up getting DVDs through the mail because they don't have every movie available through streaming. I am interested to see how Netflix will respond to the uproar. It could get interesting.
Thanks for being a part of my journey!

Goods News . . . from the IRS

I couldn't blog last night. I tried to log on and got a message saying that Blogger was experiencing some kind of problems with their system.
Anyway, if I would have been able to blog, I was going to share with you that I got some good news from a surprising source: the IRS. You may remember that I wrote some weeks ago that the IRS sent me a letter stating that I owned the government money. After sitting on hold for a long time, I finally go in touch with two different people who told me that they didn't understand why I received the letter. They had to investigate it and then get back to me in a month.
Well, the first month went by and I received a letter from the IRS stating that they still hadn't resolved the issue. They needed more time. The letter said that they would communicate with me in another month. Then I received a letter this week stating that I no longer own the government any money and they consider the matter resolved.
I do wonder how much money it cost the government for them to mail me three letters, have IRS employees talk to me on the phone, and have people research why they made an error in the first place. I'm sure I will end up paying for it in the end in some way.
I am looking forward to a nice quiet weekend of rest and Netflix. I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for being a part of my journey!

Taking a Break

I'm taking a short break from the Habitat Conference I'm attending in Atlanta to check email and so I thought I would also do a quick blog post. Things are going well. I am meeting some great people. I continue to be amazed by the work and ministry that Habitat affiliates are accomplishing across the country. There some amazing things happening as people come together to work to eliminate poverty housing. While it feels overwhelming at times, I am also filled with hope by the stories I hear. I hope to be able to use some of the things I'm learning at the conference to impact more families in the TriState region. I'm grateful that I was able to attend this event. It is truly a blessing.
Well, back to work. Thanks for being a part of my journey!

Live from the Mall Food Court!

I'm blogging this evening at Peachtree Center Mall Food Court in Atlanta, Georgia. The mall it attached to the hotel that is hosting the Habitat for Humanity conference that I am attending. I am blogging from the mall food court because when we arrived at the hotel and inquired about Internet service, they told us there was a $14.99 Internet connection fee per 24 hours that you have to charge to your room. They said they would discount Habitat Conference participants and we would only have to pay $6.99 per 24 hours. I thought this was both outrageous and stupid. They are charging way too much money to sleep in their hotel and then they want to charge for Internet. I think it's price gouging at it's finest.
I called my supervisor and told her about it. She told me to go ahead and pay the fee so that I could have Internet access. Before I did, I wanted to check out my surroundings. So, I went hunting for the fitness center so that I could walk tomorrow morning. I found out that next to the fitness center entrance is the entrance to the mall food court. I wandered around and found the sign that said "free hot spot". I went and got my sister's laptop and here I am blogging away.
I do have to listen to annoying mall musack but I am grateful that they have a Dairy Queen in the food court. The mall closes at six but they don't lock things up until around 10:30 PM. I found this out from the maintenance guy. I was hoping to watch Netflix in my room on the laptop but that's okay. I have cable in my room and as far as I can tell they're not charging me additional money for that.
We had a good trip down here to Atlanta. I am looking forward the conference. I was here less than a half hour and already ran into someone I know. He is one of my former church members. He works for Habitat for Humanity in Los Angeles. I look forward to catching up with him later in the week.
We'll they are mopping the floor at the mall food court and need me to move to another table. I guess this is a good time to wrap it up for today. Thanks for being a part of my journey!

Youth Sunday

Today was Youth Sunday at my church. The members of the youth group led the service. The youth choir sang. Four youth spoke. Some of the youth ushered. Others read Scripture and one boy played the piano. It was probably one of the best youth services I have ever attended. It was well organized and the youth all did a wonderful job. I was particularly touched by the four speakers. They gave brief testimonies and talked about how the church and the youth group had made a difference in their lives.
I was never very good at youth leadership when I was in the local church. I tried but it was not where my gifts really are. I was better one-on-one with youth. I think this is one of the reasons why I was so impressed with the service this morning. While none of the youth leaders of the church said a single word or were even sitting up front with the youth, I know all of those youth are participating because there are people in the church who are passionate about youth ministry. I know that God is moving in some huge ways in my church through the youth ministry.
It's a blessing for me to be a part of a church that takes youth ministry seriously. It's obvious that youth are experiencing the love of Christ through the church.
I'm off to Atlanta tomorrow morning.  I will be there all week for the national Habitat for Humanity conference. I am really looking forward to the week. I am hoping to learn new ideas and ways to serve families better.
Thanks to my sister Stacey, I will be able to keep up with my blogging. Stacey loaned me her old laptop computer for the week. Cameron has been using it to play games. The keyboard was a little sticky, but I got that cleaned up.
I hope you have a great week. Thanks for being a part of my journey!

New Year, New Start

I believe in a God Who offers us to the chance to begin again at any time in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. We can repent and turn around from our current path and go in a new direction. So, while I don't think there is anything magical or necessarily special about changing the calendar from 2010 to 2011, for me it is another point along the journey of my life at which I can pause and think about where I've been, where I am, and where I'm going.
So, I thought I would share with you some of the things I'm hoping that will take place in my heart and life in the new year.

• I want to take better care of myself physically. I need to lose weight and be a better steward of the body with which God has blessed me. One thing that is going to help me in this endeavor is that I have signed up to walk in a half marathon in Cincinnati in May. My sister Stacey walked in the half-marathon, called the Flying Pig, last year and invited me to join her this year. I have never walked 13.1 miles all at once. I have a training schedule that will help me achieve this goal. I'd ask for your prayers as I begin preparing for this event. I'm anxious about it but I know that I will feel a great sense of accomplishment if I finish the walk.
• I want to be a better steward of my money. I have been focusing on paying down debt over the past few years. 2011 is going to be key for my debt reduction plan. I will be able to pay off some of my debts and then hope to be completely debt free in another year. Of course, there's a lot of life to live in the next year. My car will turn 10 years old in 2011. It's held up so far but I worry about having to put a lot of money into it to keep it running. I also know that there will be other unexpected expenses. I pray that I will make wise use of the resources with which God has blessed me.
• I want to continue to develop my passion for writing. I will continue writing on this blog. I also want to take the next two creative writing courses as a follow-up to the class I took this fall. I also have an idea for a longer piece that I've started to work on. I don't know exactly where it's headed but I'm really enjoying it. Writing really feeds my soul.
• I want to reach out to more families living in need through my work with Habitat for Humanity. We are getting ready to launch some new programs. I am also going to attend some training regarding these programs. I also want to work harder at recruiting new families with whom to partner. I know that there are many families living in poverty housing who may not even realize that Habitat can help them achieve their dreams of home ownership.
• I want to become more involved in my church. I want to get to know more people and offer my gifts as a way of advancing the mission and ministry of the church. I am really looking forward to seeing where God leads as I move forward in ministry and faith.

There are a lot of other things in my life on which I should probably focus, but this is where I plan to start. I know there will be times when I fail. I am notorious for procrastinating and not following through on things. I don't know if this year will be any different. However, the one thing that I can always count on is that God will be with me no matter what. Even if I don't end up accomplishing any of these goals, God will continue to love me and call me and fill my life with grace.
I hope that you have a wonderful new year full of blessings. Thanks for being a part of my journey!

2010 Blessings

As 2010 winds down, I've been thinking a lot about the past year. I have much for which to be thankful in this past year. It has been one that has been filled with many blessings. I thought I would share a few of those blessings with you.

• Work: I continue to be blessed by my work at TriState Habitat for Humanity. I work with an extremely gifted group of people who are all committed to the goal of eliminating poverty housing from the face of the earth. I wake up every day grateful that God has led me to this place at this time.
• Friends: I have some of the most wonderful friends. They laugh with me, listen to me, sometimes feed and house me, encourage me, and push me to be a better person and more faithful Christian.
• Family: My family continues to be a source of stability in my life. I'm so proud of my nephews and grateful for the blessings they bring to my life. I am thankful for the love that my parents and sisters show me.
• Church: I am just getting to really know my church and becoming familiar with its ministries. I am grateful for the hard work of the staff who give their very best to serve and honor God. I am grateful for the worship services that challenge me and give me the opportunity to praise my Creator. I am anxious to become more involved in the church's ministries in 2011.
• Faith: I continue to be grateful for God's presence and power in my life. My faith defines who I am and Whose I am. As I study the Bible, serve those in need, and connect to other Christians, I continue to discover new things about God and God's amazing love made real in Jesus Christ.
• Writing: I rediscovered how much I enjoy writing this past year. I have had the chance to express myself through the written word through this blog; however, I have been able to expand this creative spirit within me by taking a creative writing class. While sometimes it was really hard, I also found myself feeling more alive than I have in a very long time as I spent long periods writing and creating a short story for my class. I am looking forward to enrolling in the next two sessions of this creative writing class series. I know God is up to something good in all of this.

These are just a few of the blessings in my life. God has been and continues to be so good to me. As 2010 comes to a close, I am grateful for the opportunity to look back and see all of the many ways in which God has blessed me. I look forward to the new challenges and opportunities that are before me in 2011.
Thank you for being a part of my journey!

Writing Class Wrap-Up

Well, I finished up my creative writing class last night. It was a great evening. Each participant got to go around and read the first page of his or her short story then the class continued to finish the story silently.
I got to go first. It was a bit intimidating but I was grateful for the opportunity to begin our time together by reading the first page of my story. I have been working on this particular story for about a month now and reading it to the class out loud was like meeting an old friend for lunch. I knew the story but saying the words out loud brought it to life in a new way for me.
I received good feedback from the instructor and my classmates. I sometimes wish my classmates would have given me more feedback than they did. I think we were all afraid to be critical. I tried to be open and honest with my opinions about my fellow writers' work but I suppose I did hold back some. I am a very slow reader and I don't always have very good comprehension on the first read. I think I let this get in the way of making comments that might have been helpful to my classmates.
I shared my short story with my friend Mari over the weekend and with the Executive Director at work today. I got some positive feedback from both of them and that felt good. I still feel a bit vulnerable when I share my writing with others. I guess this is part of the process though. If you're interested, I would be glad to have you read my story and get your feedback. Just send me an email and I will send it to you.
I am seriously thinking of taking the second class in this series. It would start later in January so I still have some time to think about it. I think that it is what I need to keep moving forward with my writing. The class keeps me disciplined. It's good for me to have deadlines.
I have already started on another story. I'm not sure if it will develop into a short story or a longer form. Writing a novel overwhelms me when I think about it. There's some comfort in the short story format but I want to be open to wherever my ideas and creativity take me.
I am ever grateful to God for allowing me to take this first writing class. It was the right step at the right time for me. I feel alive in new ways when I am expressing myself through the written word. It helps me to process and reflect up my life. It helps me to share what's on my mind and engage the world through the written world. I guess that's also why I write this blog.
Thanks for being a part of my journey!

An Evening of Writing

It's after 11:00 PM and I am jazzed. I think I am going to have a hard time getting to sleep tonight. I just finished the first draft of my short story for my creative writing class. I wrote for about four hours and I feel like I've just had a large espresso. I am filled with adrenaline and really excited about how my short story took shape. It's not what I expected at all. When I first sat down to write this short story, I wanted to go in a whole different direction. However, my vision of the story is not where the characters wanted the story to go. As we are learning in our creative writing course, it's important to follow the characters rather than make the characters follow the writer's agenda or preconceived plot.
In the book On Writing that we are using as our primary text for the class, Stephen King says that he never lets plot drive his novels. Instead, he takes a journey with his characters and often times he is surprised where they lead him. Now, I'm not suggesting that I am anywhere near as gifted a writer as Stephen King. I've read some of his books and watched many movies based on his books. He has a creativity and passion for writing that I don't know that I will ever experience. However, I feel like tonight I tasted a little bit of what King is talking about in his own writing process. I could not put my pencil down. I kept writing and writing until I got it all down. It just kept flowing and I am surprised about the path on which it flowed. It was totally unexpected.
Now I've got to do the hard work of editing my work. Tonight was the completion of one of the primary steps. This weekend, I've got to get my scribblings down in a form that I can present to my class on Monday night. This is going to be a bit tedious. I know that what I've written is extremely raw and lacks substantive form. It will definitely take me most of the weekend to get my story to a place at which I can share it with others.
What tonight's writing experience reminded me of is that I love to write. I don't know that I write well, but I love to put things down into words. I love to follow characters. I love to discover unique ways of telling a story. I love to express myself and what's on my mind by writing. It is a creative drive within me that helps me to share my heart and views of life with the world.
I will let you know how it goes as I edit and then present my short story to the class. I'm a little anxious about it. I feel vulnerable sharing it but I know that receiving feedback is what can help me to become a better writer.
I appreciate you taking the time read what I write on this blog. I know it's always not the most exciting or intellectually stimulating blog on the Internet. However, it is my way of connecting with others through the power of the written word. For you to spend even one minute of your valuable time reading my blog is a great honor to me.
Thanks for being a part of my journey!

On the Road Tomorrow

Tomorrow I hit the road for St. Louis. I am spending the rest of the week with my friends Ian and Sheri. I am really looking forward to the trip. We plan to play a lot of Sequence, eat turkey, and enjoy the week together. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends who will house me, feed me, and listen to me whine when I lose at board games.
I don't know what my blogging schedule will be like. I will try to get to the computer every day but that may interfere my rigorous schedule of napping and game playing.
I hope you have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving week. I would appreciate your prayers for a safe journey. Thanks for being a part of my journey!

The Gift of Clean Water

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

- Isaiah 41:17, NRSV

Today is Blog Action Day coordinated by Blogger which are the folks who provide the template and all of resources necessary for me to be able to write this blog. Each year they pick a topic and ask bloggers around the world to blog about the topic as a way to raise awareness about issues facing our world. This year's topic is the need for clean water in the world.
When I found out what the topic was, I did what any good and faithful United Methodist does, I went to the United Methodist Church's Board of Global Ministries website to see what United Methodists are doing to help people around the world gain access to clean, drinkable water in their communities. As always, I was overwhelmed by the current statistics regarding the lack of access to clean water that so many people have. Here are some examples:

•Less than 1% of the world’s fresh water (or about .007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use. (World Health Organization [WHO])

•At any one time, more than half of the poor in the developing world are ill from causes related to hygiene, sanitation, and water supply. (Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council [WSSCC], 2008)

•3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease. (WHO, 2008)

•43% of water-related deaths are due to diarrhea. (WHO, 2008)

•88% of cases of diarrhea worldwide are attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, or insufficient hygiene. (WSSCC, 2008)

•98% of water-related deaths occur in the developing world. (WHO, 2008)

I also found myself feeling deeply grateful by the amount of work that UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) is doing to help in this area. UMCOR's work focuses on providing people access to water filtration units, the rehabilitation or construction of community wells, and appropriate sanitation facilities. You can learn more about what the United Methodist Church is doing to help bring clean, safe water to people at this link: http://www.10-fold.org/projects/75/Day-8--Clean-Water-and-Sanitation  There's even a link on this page that will allow you to donate to United Methodist clean water projects.
I hope you will join me in praying for those who struggle from day to day to obtain what most Americans take for granted: clean water. I hope that the next time you turn on your kitchen faucet or take a hot shower or use a drinking fountain, you will join me in giving thanks to God for the gift of clean water.

Extreme Blog Makeover

Blogger finally has updated their software and add a ton more options for templates for blogs. Before the choices of templates were pretty limited. If you wanted to really personalize your blog you had to download a skin from another site or know what you were doing with html. I looked at templates on other websites but decided to use what was available through Blogger.
The new choices are a bit overwhelming. While there is still some limit, the combinations are nearly endless. If I wanted to change the look of my blog every day it would take me several months before I ran out of options. I will resist this urge to change the look of my blog a lot. However, I liked this background. It matches the photo I've been using of a rushing river with rocks in it. I like the way the water looks white as it streams over and around the rocks. I also like the cool darker look of this blog template. I like the contrast of the text and the background. I think there is just enough visual interest without being too busy.
It's been a long week and I am really tired. It's Friday night and I'd like to stay up later and watch a movie but I think I am headed to bed in a short while. It's going to take me a while to adjust to these ten hour work days again. Just about the time I adjust, the summer will be over and I'll go back to my regular schedule. Oh well, the three day weekends are pretty nice.
I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for taking the time to look at my new blog layout and for being a part of my journey!