paul.eident.me

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The Sandy Hook shooting is my fault

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First off, my prayers go out to all those who have lost someone they loved in the Sandy Hook shootings. I cannot imagine the pain the families, friends and the entire community is experiencing.  There is nothing that can be said that would be adequate to ease the pain.

When horrible things happen we all like to play the blame game.  Who is responsible for this?  I place blame on myself.

It is a lot of pain, more than I can imagine, that causes someone to think the only relief is to kill other people and themselves.  Why couldn’t we help Adam Lanza with his pain?  Maybe I couldn’t help Adam Lanza directly, but I can do better in my role as a father, husband, friend, and citizen to prevent a tragedy within my circle of influence.

As a father I need to better love my children.  I need to be involved in their lives.  I need to know when they are hurting, guide them, and provide discipline.  I need to protect what my children see and what they hear.  They need  to know that I care for them and that they are safe.

As a husband I need to better love my wife and let her know that she is safe with me.  Let my children know that I will not leave their mother no matter what happens.

I need to better support and encourage my friends to love their spouses and children.  To stay married to their spouses and not leave their families.  To watch for signs that my friends are in pain and do my best to support them in recovery.

I need to better participate in my community, on all levels, to encourage people to love their families and to stay together.  To provide ways for people cope with their pain and recover to health.

It’s a tall order to prevent another tragedy like Sandy Hook, or Aurora, CO., or Virginia Tech, or Clackamas, or the many other tragedies both big and small.  It’s task where we all need to take part.

The problem isn’t with our country’s laws, but an issue with the heart.  We need more leaders to lead our communities, both great and small, to deal with our heart issues.

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,.”

– Ephesians 5:25

“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

– Mark 12:31

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.”

-Ephesians 6:4

“I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

– Malachi 2:16

Got rear ended. Now the insurance company saga.

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I was stopped in traffic on I-55 minding my own business when BAM!  A young lady ran into the back of my car with her car.  After shaking off the shock, I got out of the car to assess the damage.  The bumper is bashed in and a large dent in the trunk.

The young lady says to me, “Is it bad?”.

I said, “We’ll there is damage.” as I reached for my phone.

She says, “Please don’t call the police.  I don’t have a driver’s license. I’ll give you my insurance information.”

Hmmm. No. “I’m sorry you hit me and that you don’t have a driver’s license.  However, I don’t know you nor do I know your insurance company.  There was an accident that caused damage on a public highway.  We need to call the police.”

I called the police and they arrived 30 minutes later.  The trooper took the report and sent me on my way.

The next day, I look at the information exchange form that the trooper gave me.  The young lady doesn’t own the vehicle.  However, the vehicle is insured by the “Unique Insurance Company” here is Illinois outside of Chicago.  After a quick search on Google I find that they have many many complaints and an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau.  On the web, I find horror story after horror story about this company.  I contact my Allstate insurance agent who suggests I file the claim through Allstate.  Within a couple of days, I saw a claims adjuster who estimated the damage and wrote my a check, minus the $600 collision deductible.  However, they will try to recover the loss from Unique Insurance Company and send me a check from my deductible.  Way to go Allstate.

Now, I’m waiting for Unique Insurance Company to pay Allstate so I can recover the deductible.  The Allstate claim agent called me today to that Unique Insurance Company made an offer to settle, but it was way too low of an amount.

So far, I’m very happy with Allstate.  I switched to them a little over a year ago and have had a really good experience.  My agent, Nathan Dean in Northlake IL, has been great.  If you need insurance, please give him a call.

Sebestin – Dean Agency – Allstate

The bottoms of my feet are sore

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A year ago I purchased a pair of Vibram Five Finger shoes/slipper/glove things, http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/ .  Over the year I have tried to slowly train my feet and calves to run without cushioning and support.  Last week I ran a total 22 miles in the five finger shoes.

Today I was invited to run trails with a friend.  However, the trails were covered in loose gravel.  Ouch.  My feet are tender.  However, I’m hoping my feet will toughen to the point where gravel won’t bother me.

Overall, I really enjoy the Vibram Five Finger shoes.  They cause me to run the way my body was designed to run.  Shoes allow me to lengthen my stride to land on my heals.  However, this causes my knees and quad leg muscles to absorb the impact.  Each landing causes my legs to absorb more impact that should be partially absorbed by the structure of my feet.  Regular running shoes restrict the feet from doing their job.  Therefore, we run with an un-natural gate.  Running barefoot of with minimalistic shoes force us to run with a gate for which we were designed.  This natural gate prevents injury and causes me to run more efficiently.

My goal this Summer is to only run with the Vibram Five Finger shoes.  So far, I’m off to a good start.

Should Osama bin Laden death photos be released?

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White House holds off on releasing Osama bin Laden death photos – chicagotribune.com.

No way.  Why?

  • It may inspire bin Laden supporters to lash out even more.
  • The photos will be on the cover of every newspaper and TV news program. I don’t want my children to accidentally see the photos of someone shot in the head.
  • If the Obama administration is lying(I don’t think they are), they have the ability to create some very realistic fake images of a dead Osama bin Laden. A photo is not not good proof that he is dead.

The Obama administration is smart enough to know that if they are not 100% Osama bin Laden is dead, and then he appears alive, it would be very damaging to Obama’s presidency and the United States.  I believe Osama bin Laden is dead and I don’t need a photo for proof.

Dumping bin Laden’s body in the ocean was a good idea.  It meant that bin Laden’s supporters cannot use his body or location of burial as a shrine and it closes the door on any further investigation on what happened.  Further assurance that Osama bin Laden will be unable to continue his terrorism from the grave.  The less Osama bin Laden in this World the better.