Helen Hunt was never sexy

FARGO, N.D. -- A bank is giving its full-time employees $1,000 each and part-time employees $500 each. There's one condition - use it for people in need.

State Bank & Trust Chief Operating Officer Michael Solberg said each full-time employee will receive $1,000 and each part-time employee will receive $500, as part of a $502,000 "Pay it Forward" initiative.

"We're going to really see some huge impact on our community," Solberg said.

Employees were told not to use the money for themselves, their families or families of other bank employees. The bank asked each employee to document the good deed with a video camera. The deadline is June 30.

The employees were told they may choose an individual cause, pool their money for a larger project or collaborate with donors outside the bank. The privately owned bank has more than 500 employees, he said.

The bank made the announcement over the weekend.

In previous years, the Fargo-based bank has taken 5 percent of the company earnings and divided it up at holiday time among employees.



Why are we so afraid to do anything creatively? Why is a bank doing this, and not a "christian" organization? I hate to use a buzzword, but its clear why no one thinks God is relevant. These are the things we need to start doing if we want to impact the world. And just stop it with your sarcasm, "oh, what if these people use the money on themselves?" We need to give more people more chances to do the right thing, they may surprise us. We need to create and follow initiatives and ideas that are outside the "norm." We need to stop indulging ourselves. Its a simple formula that none of us quite understand, the more we invest in ourselves, the less good comes out of it, the more we invest in others, the better world we create. God gave us minds to be creative, this is why music and the arts are so important, they tap into who God created us to be. Use your frickin' noggin and lets go out and make a difference

Oh Gravity

And this just in, Congress passed a bill that all incandescent light bulbs are going to start being phased out in 2012 and eliminated by 2014. What does this mean? Start Replacing them now with compact fluorescents. They last up to 7 years and save a lot of energy, and if you were to replace thirty bulbs in your house, over the bulbs life span it will save you $500 to $1500 on your energy bills. But you shouldn't just do it for you, it saves all kinds of energy and greenhouse gases and stuff.

We’re half way there

I watched "Clash of the Choirs" last evening and I have several observations and thoughts.



1. I should have had more than one glass of wine, especially when I realized Michael Bolton was going to play air guitar.

2. They will put anything on TV in an effort to sell an idea or concept. The whole premise of the show is a competition for charity, but it has a million sponsors and new release movies rely on the success of this piece of crap show.

3. Most famous musicians know little to nothing about music. Surely I am not suggesting that knowledge of music theory is necessary for being able to produce or feel music, but you definitely need someone who understands basic concepts to lead a group of people in reading and singing music. I understand this irritates me because I majored in music and that makes me snobbish, but seriously.

4. If Nick Lachey is the pride of Cincinnati, we truly cannot have ANYTHING in this city.

5. There are much better things I could be doing with my time. We all waste time. We make up excuse after excuse for why we don't have time to read the bible, or do a service project or visit our grandma, or . . . but the truth is, the only reason a show like this exists on TV is because idiots like you and me watch it (even if it is just to make fun of it) And before you go saying "I don't waste time on lame shows", I will spend time to argue with you over your 300 different clichéd crime dramas or your 500th house cleaning/life changing remodeling show or umpteenth reality show.

6. When did "Livin' on a Prayer" become a choral number? Most show choirs know this is stooping too low.

7. How old is Patti Labelle? Probably ninety, but kudos to her for extensive face lifts and for stickin' in there. Actually, I think she can still sing.

8. Will most of these comments be wasted, since I am betting most of you did not suffer through the show? I wouldn't have either, but I was being social and it gave me fodder for today.

9. Who was that country guy, and will anyone not currently living in Tennessee recognize him?



If you ever have anything to say, or want to sound off, please reply or hit me up. My job allows me a lot of free time and I can always use something to do

1776

I was watching the Democratic Presidential Debate on TV the other day (I DVRed both the Republican and Democratic debates hoping to ascertain some idea of what's going on), and a questions was asked that still has me stunned. Now let me preface this by saying, several years ago I would have considered myself a hard core Republican, but that was mostly because the "Church" taught me that's what Christians were – Oh how foolhardy – and we wonder why no one wants to be a Christian; We NEVER seem to think for ourselves. Anyways, I have more recently decided that I am going to try to vote for the person who I think will do the best for the most people and not just for me. (Unlike say Christians who vote their agenda, or to be fair, people who only vote pro-union to increase their own wage or . . . ) See, too often we have made politics about what I can get out of it as supposed to the "what's best" approach. But I digress.

The question was "Is human rights more important than national security?" Let me preface briefly by saying the question arose from discussions of who to handle the war and other issues of diplomacy and trades in other countries. Let that questions sink in for a minute. What is really being asked here? We are talking about human rights measured against National Security. What sorts of implications do you get from this? Maybe my interpretation is a little extreme, but are we actually saying is it ok to disregard the rights of a human (whether they be guilty or innocent (and how do we define guilty) in the eyes of America) in favor of protecting our nation (or in other words, whats ours, or rather, what we think we have earned?) In other words, is it cool if we screw everyone else to favor and protect ourselves?

Have we really earned anything? Or is everything truly a gift from God? How much of your life have you acquired and how much of it is birthright? Does the American lifestyle make you better, or just more socially unaware? Should I be thankful to America because it affords me the freedom to question it? Is our world the world?

Here is what was scary. Every candidate said national security was more important, but then again, whether I say it or not, I think my lifestyle tells people I feel the same way. For that I repent, and am sorry. But how do I change? As a follower of Jesus, I cannot theoretically ever favor my luxuries over basic human rights . . . but I do. And its awful.