Why I will be a repeat customer of CPR (Cell Phone Repair)

My phone had stopped charging and went dead even while plugged in. I took it to CPR mainly because they quoted the quickest turnaround time for the problem I described. I was prepared to pay for a new battery or charger port but after diagnosing it, they cleaned the charger port, straightened one of the contacts, AND CHARGED ME NOTHING! In return I bought the high quality charger cord they recommended and left happy. While I was there I also heard conversations with other customers and decided that this is a well run, honest company with employees who know how to treat people.

Driving during a tornado warning...

There has been a lot of discussion over the last few years about the hazards of trying to drive out of the path of a tornado, especially in a large city. We know early in the morning what our tornado risk will be for that day. If you don't feel your home is safe, make plans ahead of time and leave BEFORE warnings are issued. If you are still home when the sirens sound it's too late. Take cover immediately and use blankets, pillows, helmets, etc to protect yourself from debris. The innermost room should survive all but the strongest tornadoes but YOU WILL DIE in your car if hit by even a weak one.

I repeat,

YOU WILL DIE

if a tornado hits your car with you in it.

Don't use me as an example. Driving in severe weather is what I do. We have annual safety training which covers incidents from last season. Even with training we lost three professional chasers and two amateurs on May 31, 2013. Several others were injured. I keep my distance from danger and I have communication with trusted experts to keep me out of harm's way. You can't rely on the street by street radar analysis given on TV or radio. Those can be inaccurate because radar is seeing thousands of feet up in the air, not on the ground. Relying on a radar app on your phone isn't a good idea either for the same reason, plus it is probably several minutes old. Besides, thousands of extra cars on the road jeopardizes the lives of those who NEED to be out there.

If you are already in your car when a tornado warning comes out find a solid building to take shelter in. A hospital might be able to take you in or most big chain stores have emergency plans and a safe place to take cover. If you have nowhere else to go, the freezer in a convenience store is somewhat reinforced. Don't go to a school and cause security issues.

I will be repeating this message throughout the spring and am not apologizing for the duplication. This is lifesaving information that I want my friends and their friends and THEIR friends to see and think about.

What Would Jesus Do? I think that's the wrong question...

What DID Jesus Do? Well, he hung around sinners and TALKED with them. He didn't just preach from the pulpit about how evil they were. He didn't stone the woman caught in adultery. He didn't threaten the woman at the well and I'm pretty sure he wasn't lobbying Caesar to make certain sins or religions illegal. Can we claim a higher moral authority than Jesus? I don't think so.

More ghosts of the past...

Today would have been my brother Wayne's 58th birthday. I've written about him and his murder before and don't have any new revelations but while thinking about it this afternoon two other names popped into my head: Cinda Pallet and Charlotte Kinsey. These teenagers disappeared from the Oklahoma State Fair in 1981 and were never found. I feel a connection to this case because I volunteered for the safety & security watch the next year. We were patrolling every inch of the fairgrounds watching for ANYTHING suspicious and the heavy presence then and to date has probably prevented some bad things that might have otherwise occurred.

I think about Cinda and Charlotte every few years, usually around the time of the fair. I don't really mind them haunting my thoughts and only wish that the families could find their girls and get some closure. Royal Russell Long, the suspect charged but not convicted, said that he was the only one who would ever know what happened and he died in 1993.

You don't have to break habits you never start.

I'm no expert on addictions but I do know that you can't get addicted to something you've never tried. With that understanding how does anyone under 50 TRY that first cigarette with everything we've known about them YOUR WHOLE LIFE?