From the Observation Deck

Hope is a hot topic of conversation around this time of year. For many, it’s lacking. For some this time of year brings about sad memories—losing a loved one; dealing with sickness or lack of employment; not having the comforts of life like heat, clothing, and food; or just feeling depressed from stress or other downers that life throws at us.

This weekend at church the pastor mentioned a quote from Christopher Reeves (the Superman actor who became paralyzed as a result of an accident). He said, “When you choose hope, anything is possible.” Wow, that really struck me hard. The word “choose” it what really stood out. It’s like faith. For me, when I chose to accept Christ’s gift, I was given hope and with that everything that really mattered. Don’t get me wrong—I get upset and stressed and down over lots of things with constant regularity. But when things get bleak I know that I’ve got the support and love of Jesus.

This season is full of gift giving (which I love), decorating, and celebrating (which I also love). It’s also full of people trying to satisfy needs and wants. We can get inundated with presents and they can provide some fun in our lives. But we will always be left wanting more. It’s in our nature. Only the gift that Jesus gave us can quench my thirst. I still want the iTunes gift cards but I know that the most joyous songs come from the heart and from Him.

Please excuse my pretense of preaching. I’m not trying to sell you on anything. I just know the joy and comfort I get when I think of how absolutely stunningly beautiful the birth of Christ was and is. He came quietly, humbly, with no demands on us. He came from love and to give love. He had his family and some admirers around him—both at his birth and his death.

Family and friends are gifts to me. I have been blessed with the best of both. To those of you who are struggling with current challenges or memories of loss, I send you my love and wishes that you will—even in the midst of tears—find and hold on to hope.

I am blessed with lots of things beyond friends and family. I am also saddened by so many around the world and right at home who are in serious need. It’s funny that we have these white elephant parties—this need to give someone else our crap because we don’t want or need it. So maybe instead of getting someone (or receiving something from someone that is) “crap,” we could instead give a gift in someone’s name to another who is in desperate need. Some of the charities below could use our spirit of generosity this holiday season.

Heifer International (I’ve always wanted to give someone a cow—awesome.)

Aone: eight (This is a catalog of sorts where you can buy essentials for people living all over the world—including Haiti where the needs of so many are still critical)

Share Our Strength (Nothing worse than a hungry child. No excuse for any in the U.S. to be hungry.)

Do you have a favorite charity—an organization, a family in need, anything? Please share it here.

And if you are curious, looking for some hope, don’t know where to start but are interested in learning, or just plain ready to get right with God, there are numerous services being held around the country—I’m sure right in your neighborhood. Don’t worry, we don’t make you do things you don’t want to do, there’s no animal sacrifices (well Turkey at home but that’s another matter), and lots of love. Join me if you want at Fairfax Community Church on December 24^th.

God Bless and Merry Christmas.

I really should stop reading articles from news sources. Or maybe everyone else should start reading them—and take collective action. But alas, it seems impossible to get our government to perform at any level of efficiency or with any common sense. I would say that in general I’m an optimist and I believe our way of life is better than most places on earth. Having said that, I get more and more disgusted by our behemoth money-wasting black hole of a government every day.

The latest act of brilliance was discovered through an article on CBS Money Watch.com (http://t.co/d9SVQCN).

If you don’t want to read through the article just now, then you can read my take on the situation. Now we all love to hate the IRS for obvious reasons. I think I can express my own feelings via the awesome scene from the movie Stanger than Fiction that you can view below. (It’s just 21 seconds, c’mon, do it.)

Anyhoo, our favorite government agency, the IRS (note sarcasm in my tone), has been getting bamboozled by criminals. Convicted criminals currently residing in our lovely prisons are filing tax returns and getting millions in tax refunds. These inmates are not only living off of us (taxpayers that is) but they aren’t working, and therefore have no income to be taxed in the first place. We are literally paying criminals to hang out in our jail systems!

OMG.

If you could see me right now you’d see I am shaking my head and rolling my eyes and okay, I may have spit a little, too. But criminy people! Is it too much to expect that the tax returns of incarcerated individuals be examined more carefully? Evidently instead of checking criminals for criminal behavior, they check to make sure that poor people aren’t getting more than they deserve. Because you know they are the very people who don’t have money to pay someone to help them with their returns and they have so much that, geez, if we gave them any more we’d go broke while they spend the money on ridiculous things like food and clothing. Things that would maybe even spur the economy and create jobs. (Again, note sarcasm.) But I digress.

The article says that “Legislation has repeatedly been proposed to give the IRS access to the data [that they could use to help solve this problem], but so far, no go. What has kept Congress from acting—especially now with legislators frothing at the mouth for government cutbacks—I can’t begin to imagine.”

I can tell you why Congress won’t act. Because their cousins are the ones in jail ripping us off and feeding them with funds to back their campaigns. Okay, that claim has no factual evidence to back it up but hey, if they arrest me for slander, I can make a decent nest egg by filing for some tax refunds!

Get your heads out of the bureaucratic clouds taxman!

I know I rant about various businesses and their lame attempts at customer service but if I don’t squeal then who will watch out for other consumers? My latest commerce disaster was with Sears. They have officially moved into the number one position on the “do not patron” list. Not only will I NEVER shop there again, I will go out of my way to tell whoever will listen how bad they are. I am what the experts call a “detractor.” I contribute to the lower overall net promoter score of this backward, lame company. If you think I’m overreacting, just know that when I Googled “Sears sucks” I got 477,000 results. Hmmm.

They are a perfect example of what is undeniably happening in our society—creative destruction—which in extreme layman’s terms is the crumbling of an economic system and the rebuilding of a new one. What happens is old behemoths like Sears get stuck in processes and policies and can’t adapt fast enough to the changing market. They spiral downward as entrepreneurs who can and do adapt, take market share away. Unfortunately this usually means job losses until the innovative entrepreneurs start hiring. So Sears—when a customer calls you and is at their last straw because of your incompetence, don’t tell them you can’t help because it’s been “processed.”

Here is some advice (free of charge this one and only time) for the senior management team of Sears. Get your entire staff to learn the concept of taking the initiative, teach them proper communications skills, train them on how to do their jobs with competence, and empower them to help your customers. Or, go by the way of the 8-track tape—dead and no one cares. So with that said, goodbye and good riddance Sears.

On a positive note, a friend I used to work with referred me to an excellent contractor who was an absolute joy to work with. He came on a Saturday (on time) to fix my roof and went above and beyond what I asked him to. He was kind, polite, and extremely competent. I would be happy to refer him to any of you if you have work on your house that needs to be done!

Consumers unite! Tell your stories, good and bad, so the good get our business and the bad don’t get rewarded.