Eating supper together as a family is the best way to prevent descructive behaviours

From Breakpoint with Chuck Colson on November 22, 2005:

Weinstein tells us that when the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse studied ways to keep kids from destructive behaviors, family dinners were "more important than church attendance, more important even than grades at school." The Center has repeated that study several times since then, "and every year, eating supper together regularly as a family tops the list of variables that are within our control."

http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint1&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=17369

What is important to you?

What is important to you? How you spend your free time and money is a pretty good indicator of what is important to you.
Is protecting the life of the innocent important to you? Do you spend time and money on it?
Is helping the poor important to you?
Is your freedom important to you?
Is your community important to you?
Is saving the lost important to you?
Is a strong marriage important to you?
Is a strong family important to you?
Is your relationship with God important to you?
This list could go on and on.

Where is most of your free time and money spent? Clothes, movies, eating out, vacations? Right-to-life organizations/candidates, ministries that minister to the poor, protecting our rights, community activities, marriage communication, family time, prayer, Bible study, attending church?

If what you say is important to you doesn't match what takes most of your free time/money then please consider if that is really important to you and if you want to change your priorities?
Please comment on what is important to you and what you do that shows that. I would love to hear about your favorite causes.

On a related note it really bugs me when people complain about something but don't do much to improve it. This especially happens in politics. If you don't vote (at an absolute minimum) then you don't have a right to complain about the government. If you don't like the choices at least write in a name. Cast your ballot or don't complain. If you think our government has significant issues to handle then you should get involved even more. Join your local party (if there is one that is close to what you believe), support a candidate, give to an organization. If something bugs you then do something about it!

Interstate Batteries are "Charged for Life"

From http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038352.cfm:

Interstate Batteries sponsored a car in last weekend's NASCAR race in Martinsville, Va., that had more than just racing as a goal. It was used to kick off the "Charged for Life" campaign, a national fundraiser in which the battery company is giving half the proceeds from selected sales to pregnancy resource centers.

Only the cement left

On the 27th of September the house was torn down to the cement slab. They will start rebuilding sometime this month.

Church services online

Our church services are now online at http://cavaryag.libsyn.com/ as podcasts. I am interested to hear any feedback, especially about the quality.

Rebuilding house schedule

I heard that the insurance company chose the contractor(Forest Construction) and the plan apparently is:
Tear down to cement in the next few weeks.
Start building in October.
Finish in January.
(Then we would have to do our part.)

We are very relieved that they are going to tear down to the cement. Hallelujah!

Fire Photo Finally

I finally have a photo of the fire. I added 4 new photos to http://www.flickr.com/photos/66232176@N00/

Phone minutes

A few weeks ago the new month on our phone started so we aren't cramped for minutes anymore.

Fire Pictures

I finally have pictures of the fire online. They were taken by my Aunt Jen on the morning of the fire.

Moved and family car

Last Tuesday we bought a new family car. I still need to get a commuter car but that will be a car that my Dad has. Last Wednesday we spent our first night in our apartment.
Two more steps toward settling down again. :-)

Most of our stuff moved

On Saturday Eluid and Elizabeth Tirado helped us move most of our stuff to are new apartment so we don't have much left to move (mostly just clothes). I plan to take a day off this week to clean the cabinets so that they can be moved to the apartment also.

Apartment

We were just approved to rent a house. It is a 3BR house with a den, family room, and 2 car garage. The address is 1465 Pheasant Run in New Richmond. Our new phone number is 715-246-2806. We are going to start moving things this Saturday.

Stripping the house

On Saturday we removed the cabinets, plumping fixtures, light fixtures, shelves, and anything else that will be our responsibility to replace and is still in good condition. There is now a bunch of stuff that we don't want in our house so if you want to go to a free garage sale just let us know. Most of the stuff is in good condition but may be a bit smokey.

Contacting us

Our cell phone only has 42 minutes remaining until our month ends (8 weekdays left) so we have been making most of our calls at 9:00 PM when we have free minutes and trying to limit ourselves to 5 minutes/day during normal hours. If you want to contact me at work my number is 612-435-9428.

Cabinets

The homeowners association is responsible for everything up to the sheetrock and mechanical systems so we are responsible for things like plumbing fixtures and light fixtures, trim, cabinets, paint etc. We still aren't sure who is responsible for floor covering. Of those things that are our responsibility, the things that can be saved for the rebuild are cabinets and fixtures. So we plan to remove them this Saturday so that they can be saved.

What is the purpose of insurance

What is the purpose of insurance? Is it to completely replace everything that is replaceable? Is it to replace enough so that the loss doesn't hurt too much? The first option pays more money for less risk. The second option pays less money for somewhat more risk. Which option is the best stewardship of God's resources?

The Dig

Yesterday 5 fire investigators dug out the trash in our garage to try to find the cause and origin of the fire. They started at 9:30 and left about 3:00. Right in the morning they showed a picture that the fire department took when they arrived and I want to get a copy of that. I am glad that I didn't have to do their work on such a hot day! This is what I think they found based on what I overheard. The fire started in the front half of the garage (nearest the garage door). Therefore it probably wasn't caused by an electrical problem or by the Volvo. The two suspects that they had were the Mercedes (which was parked outside right next to the door) and a car jump starter powered by a battery pack. They took the jump starter, an electrical outlet, the garage door opener and the shop lights for further study. They will be taking the Mercedes also for study.

Driver's License

Annette lost her drivers license in the fire and she will hopefully get a replacement today. (Thanks to Sarah's help.)

Mold and smoke

As the homeowners association president and insurance adjuster have both said, the biggest concern during the rebuild is that mold and smoke are correctly handled so that the mold and smoke smell are completely gone and won't return.

Things to replace: Watch for deals

We have made a list of things that we need to replace so if you see any good deals on those items please let us know.

Back to work

Today is my first day back to work after the fire. I guess that means things are starting to get back to normal. I usually chat with Annette during the day over IM but since we don't have internet access (or even phone) at home I can't do that. :-(

We still have a lot left to clean but it feels like we have done more than we have left to do. We still have some of the harder stuff left to do -- upholstered furniture will probably take the most time/money and we haven't determined exactly what we will do.

Last night we looked in the paper for rentals. I found about 6 ads for 3 BRs in New Richmond. I left a few messages and talked to one person that would rent for shorter terms (3-6 months). We drove by that house and it looked good from the outside. So now we at least know there we should be able to find something to rent.

The dig of the garage by the insurance fire investigators has been rescheduled to the 13th. I am anxious to find out the cause.

Temporary Housing

Right now we are living at Peter's house but we plan to find a place to rent soon.

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning

We are still in the midst of cleaning everything (If anyone wants to burn up some spare energy...). The insurance people plan to dig out the garage to find the cause next Wed (7/13) so that should be interesting and I hope they find out the cause.

Right now the only easy way to contact us is by our cell phone (612-802-2907) but we are using a ton of minutes so we can't talk long.

Email addresses

We canceled our phone service so all of our email addresses that end in @frontiernet.com won't work anymore. You can get my address at http://geocities.com/stauffer_james/

Where do we go

We have a few choices for where we will temporarily live: Hotel, find rental, Peter's house, live with parents, etc. Please pray that we will have wisdom to do the best thing. Are first 3 nights were at Super 8 (compliments of the Red Cross) but were aren't sure where we will head next.

Schedule for Thursday

On Thursday we plan to wash all of our clothes and see what comes out clean. I heard that some ladies from church will be coming to wash all of our dishes also.

On Wed we separated clothes into junk and possibly cleanable clothes.

Everyone is involved

There are at least four insurance companies involved. The homeowners' association insures the structure. I have personal property insurance for our belongings. I have a separate company for our cars. The neighbor has her own personal property insurance. Each insurance company has an agent, and an adjuster (determines the cost of the damages), and an investigator (determines the cause and origin of the fire).

Add to that the police investigator, fire chief, homeowners association president, the people bidding to fix/rebuild, and the homeowners and that adds up to a lot of people involved!

The fire

Shortly after midnight Tuesday morning, we discovered that our house was fire. We all quickly excaped without injury. We notified 911 and the neighbor in the ajoining unit and she escaped also. She had two cats that are still at the vet but she is fine. The fire department arrived quickly and put it out quickly. Everything in our garage is toast now. The Volvo was in the garage but the Mercedes was just out of the garage and even the Mercedes had the front have toasted. Everything in our house now smells so much likes smoke that the adjuster told us to throw almost all of it out. The fire spread to the neighbor's have of the building and caused great damage to her unit also. After a very long night the Red Cross put us up in the local Super 8 and gave us a meal voucher at a local resturant.


We now have a ton of junk but that can be replaced. Praise the LORD, we are all fine!

House fire, everyone safe. Praise the Lord!

Last night just after midnight our house started on fire. We are all fine. Praise the LORD!


More later.

These images will affect you!

Look at http://www.onamercyship.com/ to see photographs from a Mercy Ship. All that I can say is that they will affect you! The story of the photographer is at http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/1330975.html

Is secure music possible?

Is it possible for music to be secured from unauthorized copying? I posted one idea at
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Secure_20music_20with_20public_2fprivate_20keys but after thinking a while a problem with that was found. Cory Doctorow gave a speech to Microsoft explaining why it isn't possible.

Even if digital copies were somehow prohibited it would be near impossible to prevent analog copies. Just put a microphone in front the speaker and record.

So the question is: Since it won't work is it worth the effort to try it when it also makes it hard for users to do legitimate things?

There are no red or blue states!

There are no states that are red or blue! If 51% of the vote went to the red side that doesn't mean the state is a red state -- it just means that it a little (only 4%) more red than blue. It is a bit extreme to call that state a "red state".

Joseph Pictures

There are pictures of Joseph at http://www.frontiernet.net/~JosephJames/. We will probaby add to what is there.

Joseph James

Joseph James Stauffer was born at 10:25 PM on April 29th. He weighed 7
lbs. 15 oz. and was 20 inches long. Both baby and mother are doing well! Pictures are at http://www.frontiernet.net/~JosephJames/

Running Shoe design

This idea for running shoes is a bit complex but if it would work it would be neat.

Make shoes that use hydraulics and valves to store up energy when the shoe hits the ground and then release it when the shoe is leaving the ground.

First the shoe would have to have an extension on the bottom (assume about 6") that is hydraulically controlled. It would add 6" of height like a platform shoe and the extra 6" could be reduced to 1" by the hydraulics.

When running and a foot hits the ground, the hydraulic fluid is compressed in a small tank in the shoe, which reduces stresses on the body and stores the energy. When it is compressed as much as it will be (maybe a chip to help figure this out), a value closes off the tank so that there isn't much upward force. Then when the runner starts to push off with that foot (I assume the chip could figure this out), the value is opened which releases the energy giving a very useful extra push.

It would also be nice if the chip would flatten the shoe when it was lifted into the air so that the runner wouldn't have to lift his foot much to bring it forward. From talking to runners, short strides are better than long strides because long strides require lifting the foot higher which uses different muscles that get tired sooner. This would reduce that problem and might allow longer strides with less foot raising.

Rule by the minority

One branch of our federal government has decided that they are above the other two branches and above even the consitution. How long can this continue before we are completely, effectively ruled by that branch? Another branch of government could reign in their power if they have the guts to do it.

DVD scripting for clean movies

I have heard of companies that edit movies to make them clean and sell the edited movies as "family friendly." What if someone were to make a DVD player that took "script" files that told it where to skip and when to beep or mute. It could probably also pixelate/block a part of the screen when needed. Then when you want to watch a DVD you would download the script file and watch a clean version of the film.

The DVD player would probably have to start out only working on computers. This could also work well for other uses. If you made a DVD of your child's soccer game you could make a script that is a 5-minute overview of the game but still keep the whole game.

Does this exist? Would it work? Are there licensing/copyright issues with the DVD format owners?

Google Maps suggests scenic route

I really like Google Maps especially because I can make the size of the map quite big and the ease of zooming and panning but sometimes computers come up with interesting routes. If the link below works it shows going through Kansas City and taking an extra 35 mile detour.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=from%3A%20Roberts%2C%20WI%20to%3A%20Miami%2C%20OK&ll=39.132324%2C-94.675984&spn=0.475098%2C0.789730&hl=en

The oldest twin was born after the youngest

Daylight savings time could create some interesting situations. Think about a set of twins born on the day that daylight savings time ends (last Sunday in October?). The first twin could be born at 2:50 AM DST and the 2nd twin could be born at 2:10 AM standard time so then it would look like the older twin was born after the younger twin. I understand that the purpose of DST is to move "daylight" toward the end of the day where it is "more useful" but is it really very useful? If people want more daylight at the end of the day they can just get up earlier (and go to bed earlier). What do you think? Is DST useful?

No more pain

On Saturday a patriarch from our church died. Marvin Burton is now with God and has no more pain. He left 115 descendants.

Peter moving to CA

This morning my brother Peter is leaving for California. May God keep him and his family safe and bring them back soon!

del.icio.us Bookmarks

I have added many bookmarks to http://del.icio.us/Stauffer

Short term needs vs. eternity investment

When you die you don't get to take any of your "things" with you so they won't matter at all. What you invest in things of eternal value is all that will matter than, but you still need to meet your short term needs right now. So how much of your time, money, and energy should go to short term needs vs. eternal investment? And what really are needs? I easily have my needs meet and I invest time, money, and energy in my wants to some degree. When I look back from eternity what will I say was the best mix of short term vs. eternity?

Protecting the helpless

A sad day indeed when a helpless, innocent woman is starved to death (very painful) for convenience! If we continue down this path of devaluing humans where will we end up?