Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Let’s be honest here.

You’re shopping for a new product online.

There are 100 reviews of the product.

90% of those are 3-5 star reviews.

10% are 1 or 2 stars.

Which reviews do you read first?

THAT’S RIGHT! You want to know about that 10%, sucka!

Here is why I won’t purchase another product from the Scottevest company:

They don’t even POST the 10%!

I have been fighting for over a month now to get my 2-star review posted on their website.

That’s right online shopper… you’ve been punked! You will find no lackluster reviews on the Scottevest site because it is their policy to challenge and refuse any review lower than 3 stars!

No review goes live until they say it does… and if you’re not spewing love for their product, it never will.

I simply can’t support a company that censors public opinion as a general course.

When I submitted my review to their site, I was a customer who didn’t like a single product, but was willing to try others.

Now I am a former customer who will never buy another product and will actively dissuade others from buying their products as well.

Since they won’t post it on their site, I guess I’ll post it on mine:

My review of the Ultimate Hoodie Microfleece sold by Scottevest.com:

Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Sizing : Feels true to size
Sleeve Length : Feels true to length
Pros : Attractive Design, Versatile, Great fit, Great Color
Cons : No earbud baskets, Neck irritation, high cost for the value
Best Uses : Daily Use
Describe Yourself : Casual Dresser
Was this a gift? : No

This is an everyday product that I wear for my daily Seattle
commute (hour each way). It makes me want to try other Scotte
products, but is lacking some attention to detail.

It’s comfortable and has a lot of cargo space.
This is my first scotte product and I love having my headphones within
easy reach and love having lots of pockets.

Seems like a good everyday for the fall/spring… I wear this in 30-60
degree weather in dry to light rain and it keeps me warm without being
too warm.

There are some issues that will keep me from purchasing this again:

- No earbud baskets. Super annoying, since my earbuds are smacking me
in the face, dipping in my soup, disappearing into my armpits, etc. Their other products have them, why not this one?

- Itchy neck. The flaps that secure the headphone cables at the neck
are pretty scratchy… often painfully so.

- Zipper on the media player pocket is pretty iffy. It regularly
catches. Probably not as big of an issue if your media player isn’t
also your phone… and I find the touch sensitive fabric is nearly
useless with my iphone unless the brightness is cranked WAY up…
easier to pull the phone out rather than crane my neck to try and look
through that pocket and wrestle with the headphone cord that often
gets in the way.

- Stitching that holds pocket closure magnets in place is lame… magnets coming loose after only having this a couple months… unexpected in a $70 product.

Democrats have their own side of the story
Which I won’t share here because it’s too gory

I’d say I’m “political” but then I’d be lying
It’s too hard to see through the mud that is flying

The president called to tell me how to vote
The party lines seem to be more like a moat

And truth is held prisoner high in a tower
While the commoners struggle to grasp their own power

Oh I’m sure there are heroes, but how would I know it?
The magazines hide it and the news doesn’t show it

It’s one person’s words against those of another
Lies stand with truth like sister and brother

And here I sit with my ballot half cast
Do I vote for change, or stick with the past?

They say the pen is mightier than the sword
But what beast do I conquer and who gets the reward?

It wasn’t Vietnam. It was a suburb of Seattle. And it wasn’t a standard issue army helmet. It was a faded white football helmet, far too large for a child’s head, with a facemask that rattled as I walked.

I wasn’t a guerilla and it wasn’t the jungle, though vines were found in plenty and a thick evergreen canopy cast all in shadow.

Our foe: geriatric commandos of doom, hell bent on keeping whippersnappers like us off their property.

Our company:
Karen, the girl I loved to hate and hated that I loved. Marcus, the pastor’s son. Me, the tag along.

Our goal:
A statue of the virgin mother. Pristine. Pretty. Perfect. And protected.

There’s nothing like the sound of pellet fire raining down on an oversized football helmet. Nor the hissing gritted teeth of the old codger firing from the hip like he’s el bandito out for revenge. Every wrinkle, hard etched and quivering with fury.

If you added the ages of my company together, you might reach 25 if you were lucky. Not even a dent in the crusty husk of life currently trying to fill us full of lead. But where he had firepower, we had the shadows, and feet swift like ninjas.

With our ears filled with the swish swish swish of rushing leaves and our enemy’s bellows, we rushed our target.

“Git off that hill you bitches!” growled the old prune. I could hear the tick tick tick of pellets hitting leaves and occassionally the hollow “tock” of a pellet careening off my helmet.

The three of us rushed on. I took up the rear. Not because I was the youngest or slowest, mind you. My job was to draw fire with my helmet to protect me. That, and it kept flopping down over my eyes and I needed to see my compatriots’ feet to keep my bearings.

And before we knew it, 3 sets of hands touched the holy prize and three hearts filled with elation. And with that, we faded back into the bushes, the warbled howls of our frusterated enemy sending us off.

Mission accomplished.

Image courtesy of stace.d

Seeing Kyle Steed’s post this morning, I realized I never transferred this post over from my old blog. I wrote this quite awhile ago, but it never amazes me how much God can teach me through that blockheaded dog.

…

Upon waking this morning, my sore throat and congested nose revealed an opportunity to me—the opportunity to stay home and recover from this cold, as well as the opportunity to take seriously my recent conviction to remove the “noise” in my life so that I might hear God’s voice … if even for just one day.

As I showered, I thanked God for my job and the sick days the company provides. And then I laid out my simple plan: today was to be a day of prayer and Bible study. Today I would commune with God, most holy and powerful, in the quiet retreat of my home. Everything I was to do today, would be done with thanks and reverence to the One who makes all things possible.

I quickly gave thanks for my breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios and enjoyed them thoroughly as the warmth of the sun filtered into the kitchen through the sliding glass doors. I then gathered my Bible and a notepad and a Bible commentary and placed them on the kitchen table before heading into the living room to pray.

I bowed my head in prayer, thanking God once again for this day. I asked Him to draw near to me as I would draw near to Him through the study of His Word. I’m pretty sure I prayed for some other things, but I can’t remember because I found myself suddenly distracted by the slobbery jowls of a particular black Labrador named Sadie.

I lovingly rebuked the dog, telling her that I would play with her later but that right now I needed to put God first. And with that, I went back to the kitchen and began to seek God in the pages of Revelation.

It couldn’t have been more than about 20 minutes when I finally just gave up. It was pretty obvious to me that while I had done my duty to crack open the Bible, God just wasn’t holding up His end of the bargain—no insight, no conviction, nothing. It was like reading a history book. Nothing is more boring to me than a history book.

It was then that I heard a strange noise coming from the living room; one that I could only describe as a “squishy squeak.” See, I had left the door open for Sadie to go in and out of the house as she pleased. And she saw that as an invitation to bring her “outside” ball, inside.

If you have a dog, you know the ball I mean. What once was a bright yellow tennis ball is now completely full of mud and covered with potato bugs. As she chews on it, the combination of mud and air that dribbles out past her lips is making the squishy squeak noise.

That very instant God chose to speak. Put down the book. If you love me, throw the ball.

He then began to show me a revelation of Himself through the slobbery, intense attention of my dog upon that ball, the dog’s “work” if you will.

Now, my dog doesn’t need my help to have fun. She loves to chase her tail; she loves to chew on a ball. She loves to throw the ball on her own and chase it. She is 100 percent Sadie and 100 percent dog, regardless of anything I do. But if you want to see this dog in her full glory, you’ll have to join in the play with her. You have to value what she values. You have to look at that putrescent lump of a ball and instead of saying “Ewwww,” you have to say “Bring it!” Not because you “should” or because you want to, but because she wants to.

And once you do, you better be in for the long haul. This dog will chase the ball as long as you’ll throw it. She will run until she collapses. Literally. And when you think she can’t even lift a paw? Toss the ball, and she’s off again. She knows what she loves, and even though it brings her to her knees, may even kill her, she never stops loving it. Never stops chasing.

As I shake mud and potato bugs off my hand, I can’t help but realize how much more must God’s love be for me.

God, teach me to value what you value. Teach me to see past the mud and grime of this life and recognize the precious objects of Your love. Meet with me, both in the quiet cleanliness of the prayer closet and the dirty, hands-on world You have created.

photo courtesy of mouton.rebelle

As I get ready to wrap up month 4 of this newly focused blog, one thing becomes clear to me: I simply do not have it in me to maintain this at the level I had hoped I would. At least not right now at this point in my life.

I believe I have some insights that can contribute to others’ lives, but not necessarily once a week or more. Not often enough to devote a whole blog to those insights.

Niche?

I started (re-started?) this blog because I felt my old site was too scattered… blogging, poetry, 3d art… all mostly unrelated to one another. So I thought I would separate them. Plus, I wanted people to read what I had to say! And all the blogging wisdom out there says you have to focus to draw readers.

Well, the truth is, I’m not a “niche” kind of person. While I have the ability to focus on one thing at a time, anyone who knows me would NOT describe me as a focused person.

I have been blogging out of character.

Back to the drawing board

I will re-integrate my poetry and 3d images. I will aim to maintain what I think is higher quality in my posts, but they won’t all be about “the journey”. Some might be about 3d stuff or a gadget I like, or a video game.

I want to thank everyone who has encourage me the past few months. I have had far more readers and subscribers than any previous version of this blog. Thank you for taking the time. Thank you for your comments.

Please, stick around. I have more to say… about my faith and about things that have nothing to do with faith.