Just finished reading it myself.  My wife gave me her copy of the book, which she had borrowed from her mom.  Reading the book made me aware of just how many OTHER people are reading it–I’ve noticed several people reading it on the light rail, just in the past couple days.  I flew down to San Antonio last weekend, brought it with me to read on the plane.  The flight attendant said SHE was reading it, as she handed me my complimentary beverage.  As I got off the plane, I was met by my sister–first things she noticed was my book, and she said “are YOU reading “The Shack, too?”  Yes, she had just read it herself.

Incidentally–with so many people reading the book, I wonder why it doesn’t get more “pop culture” mentions in the media?  You’d think Oprah, “The View” and Jay Leno would be all over this, and that the “current events” shows would be delving into this.  Guess they’re more interested in Jennifer Anniston’s nude photos…

Anyway, I have never read a more moving book than “The Shack.”  As a believer myself–and as a father with young daughters–this book struck a chord DEEP within me.  I found myself at several places not being able to keep the tears from welling up in my eyes.   I know that some have found fault with the book from a theological standpoint, and I think that’s probably a viable concern.  I had to keep reminding myself as I was reading that this is FICTION.  Because the author clearly has a keen grasp of Biblical concepts, it’s easy to begin to find yourself equating “The Shack” with the Bible itself.  I’m certain that’s not what the author intended. 

It’s amazing that this book can simultaneously be so heart-breaking and heart-warming.  It’s a rare literary emotional whirlwind that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before.  I found myself at times RACING through passages, barely able to restrain myself from wanting to find out what was going to happen next.  Other times, I would read and re-read passages, savoring the depicted moment or emotion.  It’s THAT kind of book.

Most people feel like ”The Shack” clears up some confusion for them about who God is and why He operates the way He does.  Specifically, why does God not intervene to prevent bad things from happening?  Especially, why does God not step in to keep bad things from happening to good people?  This is territory that I had already covered and settled in previous encounters with God through His word, and other books.  However, it did help me with the incorrect image of God that I have always struggled with, that of a harsh “task-master,” waiting to “zap” me whenever I step out of line.  Some people think of God as being a warm, grandfatherly-type figure with twinkling eyes, flowing gray hair and a long beard–kind of like Santa Claus, except wearing white instead of red.  Me?  I have always had an image of an ANGRY God, holy and unapproachable.  This book really helped erase some of those images, or, at least, replace them with alternate images for balance.

“The Shack”–HIGHLY recommended!

Colorado legislators KILLED an anti-ticket-scalping bill that would have made it illegal to ask for more than 125% of the original ticket price.  So, it didn’t make scalping illegal, just put limits on it.  So, as I think about it, probably it was good that this bill died.  Either allow scalping, or DON’T allow it.  Putting limits on it is silly.  Even BANNING it is probably silly, because people will find ways around it.  Like the people who were selling Barack Obama bumper stickers for $2000–and if you bought the bumper sticker, you got two tickets to the inauguration tossed in for “free.”  Mmmmm-HM!  We just have to face the fact that our society has come to accept as normal this “lottery” mentality where if someone come across something of value, they should be able to extort people for whatever dollars can be wrung out of it.  It’s pure capitalism, the free market at work.

There was a big job fair in Denver Monday for women, and a lot of women were frustrated.  Specifically, a lot of people–not just women–are getting sick of chasing the dangling carrot of a possible job opening, following the rules, submitting the resume as requested and then hearing NOTHING.  No rejection letter, no acknowledgement of reciept of materials, not even an empty promise of “keeping your resume on file, should a  position become available that your qualifications are suited for.”  This seems to be another unattractive trend, representing “the way things are done now.”  Employers USED to feel obligated to extend the courtesy of a reply to any job applicant who honored them with a query.  Then they drew back to apply that courtesy only to people who whose applications they had actually solicited.  NOW it appears that the courtesy has been withdrawn completely, except perhaps for the final few contenders for the position who might have to be called upon if they can’t come to terms with the chosen applicant.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  And employers wonder why employees are less loyal?

There’s a new ZOGBY poll out that asks what department store you would choose to shop at exclusively for the rest of your life, if you could only pick ONE.  26% of respondents chose Wal-Mart.  22% chose Target.  I would choose “Wal-Mart or Target, whichever was closer.”

…I love that slogan, for whatever reason! Maybe it’s because of all the easy laughs it gets whenever I use it, in or out of context, in normal conversation.   I was down in San Antonio over the weekend, helping close down my Mom’s shop, threw it in the conversation with my two sisters, got the usual laughs.  Something about it is just funny.  Try it yourself sometime.  If it doesn’t generate a smile, I’ll be surprised.

So it was no surprise–and yet it WAS a surprise, a nice one–when I got home from work last night to celebrate my birthday with my family, that, when I asked what we were having for dinner, my wife said, “I’m thinkin’ Arby’s!”  So that’s what we did! 

Now, I happen to LOVE Arby’s–to me, it’s a truly under-rated GEM amongst the vast array of mostly burger-fueled fast food places!  Just gimme a regular Arby’s roast beef, with plenty of “horsey sauce,” and I’m a happy guy!  Curly fries?  You bet!  However, we rarely eat there.  I think the kids would always rather eat somewhere else.  Maybe THAT’s why they laugh every time I mention Arby’s.

So we got to Arby’s around 7:30 last night–the one on Quebec, over by Sam’s Club, that’s the closest one to where we live in Hughlands Ranch.  Which, BTW, kind of surprsised me, you would’ve thought that there might be one a little closer, but no.  I guess I tend to “McDonald-ize” all fast food places, and expect that there’s gonna be one on every corner. 

Anyway, we get there, and the place is EMPTY!  Well–there was one woman sitting in a booth, talking on her cell phone, but I don’t think she had ordered anything.   Again, this surprised me–could business be THAT bad?  I would think that fast food would be fairly recession-proof, as the people who decided NOT to eat fast food in order to save money would be replaced by those who HAD to eat out, but wanted to save money on eating at a restaurant.

Me and the wife and kids took our time ordering, we hadn’t eaten at an Arby’s in literally YEARS.  Love their five-for-five-ninety-five deal–any five items from a selection of about ten, for $5.95.  You could get three sandwiches and two drinks, whatever you want.  The point is, despite all the flack I’ve taken for “thinkin’ Arby’s,” we had a great meal together, at a very reasonable price. 

Just thought I’d share.  As far as today’s blog entry goes…”I’m thinkin’ Arby’s!”  And no, I didn’t get any free roast beef sandwiches or anything for posting this.  Not that I wouldn’t enjoy one!

You ever heard this word?  It’s a combination of the words “chill” and “relax,” I was reading in the paper the other day, a high school football player who just committed to the University of Colorado was quoted using this word.  “I’m just going to ‘chillax.”  Made me wonder–is this word in the common vernacular?  I’m thinking it MUST be, or the newspaper wouldn’t have used it in the headline!  So I decided to put it to the test in my own home… (more…)

My kids DID get to watch the inauguration at school yesterday, we had a nice discussion about it around the dinner table. 

My son said he was miffed that watching the inauguration cut into his lunch break.  That’s the thing about history–it’s a wonderful thing, UNTIL it starts to intrude into our PERSONAL space.   He was saying that he should have worn a McCain-Palin button to school.  I don’t think he has any particular allegience to McCain or the Republicans.   I guess he’s like me, in that he likes to “stir things up,” just for the fun of watching other people react.   Maybe I should encourage him toward a career in radio.

My daughters said they enjoyed the coverage.  Their teacher is an Obama “enthusiast.”  There are two kinds of people: those who LIKE President Obama, and those who are just GIDDY about him.  Their teacher is in the “giddy” category.  She even wore her Obama t-shirt to school yesterday.  (Is that appropriate, by the way?  For a teacher to be partisan with politics?)(Oh well–I know she MEANT well.) 

Much is being made of the slip-up on the oath of office.  Come on people!   “Whose fault is it?”  That was one of the links on one of the morning websites, yahoo I think.  I’ve said it before, WHY do we have to assign BLAME for everything?

Speaking of blame–let me switch gears, awkward as it may be to make a screeching left turn to a new topic. (But, that’s the beauty of blogs, right?  ANYTHING goes!)

I remember reading that the people on that Continental Airlines flight that crashed on the runway around Christmas time would each be entitled to significant damages, minumum $100,000 each, accoridng to one authority.  Indeed, the first lawsuits have already been filed.  Many of these people simply got off the plane, and walked to safety–these would be the ones entitled to the minimum six figure award, right?  

Well, I was thinking about that as I sat on the RTD shuttle bus last night, waiting interminably for the driver to get me to Mineral Station.  The last three stations of the South West Light Rail are inaccessible due to that freight train wreck over the weekend tha spilled molten sulfur on the light rail tracks.  As a result of the carelessness of the freight train driver and the resulting accident, I now have to take a shuttle bus from Mineral Station to Engelwood, and THEN take light rail from downtown.  This adds an additional 20 to 40 minutes to my commute EACH WAY.   Now my question is this: why am I not entitled to an “award” of some kind?  I had to pay $128 for my monthly pass, and RTD isn’t even making any kind of allowance for THAT.  I paid full price, and I’m getting third-rate service, thanks to someone else’s recklessness.  

I’m not saying that my inconvenience is on par with an airline crash.  What I AM saying is that if an airline passenger should collect money as a result of inconvenience–talking about those who walked off the plane–why shouldn’t I get SOMETHING for MY inconvenience?  Or…

…maybe what I’m REALLY saying is, “Life Happens.”  We’d all be a lot better off if there wasn’t this “entitlement mentality” that’s continually seeking to BLAME something or someone whenever something bad happens.

Tomorrow’s the big day–a lot different than the last two inaugurations, huh?  In 2001, we had protests about a “stolen” election, and the TV news eagerly stoked the fires.  In 2005, we had another round of “conspiracy” protests, and dark reports on the TV news of public discontent at “another four years.”  This time around, though, the TV talking heads can barely contain their exhuberance.  They’re GORGING themselves on coverage of the inauguration, with a lot of sentimentalism, generous helpings of MLK imagery, and not a little congratulatory back-patting.  They even interrupted the half-time report of the football game with an “inuaguration update.”  Hmmm–don’t think I remember seeing that with “W.”  

But let’s not forget that the media never has been, and never will be un-biased.  People who argue for “fair, balanced” presentation of factual news reports just aren’t seeing the landscape for what it is.  Study after psychological study has shown that people are nowhere near as open-minded as we would like to think we are.  Most of us tend to gravitate toward articulated opinions that reinforce what we already believe.  The people that run the TV news are no different. 

Quite a bit of star-power at the weekend inugural blow-out in Washington DC, VERY impressive!  Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Stevie Wonder, U2…wait, U-2?  What was Bono doing there?  Last time I checked, he was Irish!  Then, as if it weren’t enough for Bono to be a participant, he felt compelled to make comments on behalf of the Palestinians–uh, HELLO!?  I was a little put-off by that.  After all, the inauguration is an American thing, isn’t it?  To me, that’s kind of like a guy bringing his MLM “home based business opportunity” materials to a Super Bowl TV watching party.

Tom Hanks and Samuel L. Jackson were among the celebrities making speeches at the Lincoln Memorial this weekend.  Where was Martin Sheen?  Didn’t he used to be president?  He sure seemed to ACT like he thought he was a real president, up until “The West Wing” got cancelled.  Maybe that was “old” politics, though.  THIS is NEW!

They’re estimating over a million people will crowd the mall for Obama’s inauguration speech.  I couldn’t help but wonder about the bathroom situation.  How do you deal with that?  How could they possibly have enough porta-potties set up?  I would think there’d be huge lines.  Better go easy on the beverages, I guess.

Finally, a new national survey shows almost two-thirds of us feel that President Obama will get things fixed and have the USA back on the right track in his first term.  That seems pretty optimistic to me.  However, isn’t that one of the GREAT things about our country?  It doesn’t matter what our politics are, we’re optimistic people who pull together when it counts.  Although Barack Obama only got about 55% of the votes, I think it’s pretty safe to say that 95% of Americans [there's always a few...!] 95% of Americans are sincerely pulling for the new President to be a HUGE success!! 

Here’s hoping that Barack Obama becomes one of the GREATEST presidents this country has ever had!  I’m talking “Mount Rushmore” greatness here!  President Obama,  we’re behind you all the way!

Here’s a couple of “bonus” thoughts, stuff I didn’t get to on today’s show…

Some advertising expert–talking in reference to Barack Obama’s incessant Blackberry usage amounting to invaluable “product placement”–suggests that if the President of the United States were allowed to endorse prodcuts, it would be the most valuable endorsement deal in the enitre world, worth an estimated $100 million a year.  My question is, why don’t they LET the president endorse stuff, and apply the proceeds to the budget deficit?  I know some will say it “demeans” the office of the presidency, but I say, “so what?”  Save the dignity for better times–every dollar counts these days.

The Colorado 14ers basketball team–from the NBA’s Developmental League–will be part of a landmark sports event: the first (that I know of) end-of-game “re-do.”  The league has ordered that the last 25 seconds of the 14ers game against Utah be re-played, because of an officiating error.   One of the Utah players was ruled to have fouled out, even though he only had five fouls instead of six.  What kind of precedent does this set?  Imagine if, on the Monday following the Ravens playoff win over the Titans, the NFL ordered the last 2:30 of the game re-played because of the officials missing the expiration of the play clock on the play that kept the Ravens game-winning drive alive.   One of the “sanctities” of sports is that once the game is over, it’s OVER.   Reviews DURING a game are one thing.  But do we REALLY want to have pro sports reviewing and re-reviewing things, with the idea that game results could actually be overturned after the fact?  I don’t think so…

The City of Denver will roll out it’s new “loaner bike” program this spring, with 500 bikes available for use at any one of a couple dozen kiosks around town.  It will NOT be free–the city says there will be a “nominal” charge for borrowing a bike, with the money used to pay for upkeep of the bikes and kiosks and adminstration costs of the program.  I have no problem with that, but–is it really a “loaner bike” program?  Shouldn’t it be called the city’s bike RENTAL program?  Maybe I’m “splitting hairs,” but seems like “loaning” and “renting” are two different things.  At least it is when I’m talking about, for example, borrowing tools.  My next-door neighbor Chris LOANS, Home Depot RENTS…

…on the MOVIE screen!  The Northfield 18 Theaters in Stapleton are among just 27 theaters in the whole country that will be showing Barack Obama’s inauguration on the big screen!   How cool is THAT!?  So many people have wanted to go to Washington DC to be part of this historic event, but obviously it’s impossible/impractical for most of us.  Personally, I think this event is a nice alternative for someone who feels like just watching it on TV isn’t enough to really “capture the moment.”

It’s a four hour program, from 9a to 1p, and tickets are FREE!  However–you DO have to HAVE ticket, you can print it online at www.msnbcevents.com.  LIMITED numbers of tickets, so don’t dilly-dally.

Wonder if people will try to scalp these, like they’re doing with the Inauguration tickets themselves? 

…Maybe the city of Denver should follow the lead of Colorado Springs.  The city is looking at a shortfall of collected sales taxes, because of the dramatic decrease in consumer spending.  That means they’ll either have to raise taxes or cut services.  But the city of Colorado Springs has an interesting idea: they’re considering selling naming rights to various public facilities!  I think this is a GREAT idea!

Number one, it generates money from nothing.  There’s no cost, it’s pure revenue.  Second, the “stigma” for naming rights has eased off a LOT in recent years.  Remember how offensive it was when sports stadiums first started tacking on corporate names?  Now it’s just part of the landscape. 

Here are some ideas that the City of Denver could use…

Honda Civic Center Park

The 16th Street Mall, Presented By Choxie (or, Hulu.com…or, well, ANYBODY!)

Washington Mutual Park

I’m sure you can come up with some others…

…NOT money!  That’s according to a comprehensive new study on happiness conducted by the University of California at Santa Barbara.  (And where is happiness more of a concern than in California, right?)  According to economic bahaviorist James Fowler, an extra $5000 in income only increases the liklihood of being happy by a mere TWO per cent.  How they quanitfied this, I have NO idea, but isn’t it great that we can calculate happiness like that? 

If it’s not money that makes us happy–and, let’s face it, time and time again we hear stuff like that, that “money CAN’T buy happiness”–if it’s not money that makes us happy, what DOES?  Well, according to this study… (more…)