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Snow Day Blues

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

IMG_1927Every Snow Day must end.

As kids (and sometimes as adults) we pray each winter for the conditions to be just right for a glorious interruption of our daily routine, even if only for a day.

Of course, if the wintry flakes of wonder could fall on the right day, that would be even better. The day of the big test, or the big presentation, or whatever day you may be dreading.

Then, every few years (if you’re lucky), the special day comes. The weather reports turn out right.  You wake up to the sight of snow on the ground and iced over roads and the best news anyone could ever get: school and work are cancelled.

But a Snow Day is not the solution to your problem. Continue reading →

You Can’t Lose

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

You’ve just won the Super Bowl. The confetti is raining down. Teammates, friends, and family members are rushing to the field. The sideline reporter puts her microphone to your face and asks how you’re feeling:

“Well, I know we just won the Super Bowl and all, but boy was our defense terrible out there. There was pretty much no protection from our offensive line either. I could not believe the plays our coaches were calling. Punting on 4th and 1, are you serious? And the officials, don’t get me started on the officials. Worst officiating I’ve ever seen in a big game.”

Yeah, no.

No one complains after they win the Super Bowl. A winner might complain after any other game. There is always room to improve before the next game, even if you won.

But no one complains after they win the Super Bowl.

That’s because they’ve won the ultimate victory. The complaints don’t matter any more. They have already won the ultimate prize.
So why should you complain? No, seriously, why? Because if you’re a Christian, you have already won. Continue reading →

Thrift Shop Gospel

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

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Who ever thought the thrift shop would be in style? With his ridiculous ode to secondhand shopping, Macklemore has the hottest song in the country, a horn-heavy homage to the greatness of Goodwill shopping.

Seems secondhand stores are bigger than ever. Besides general thrift stores like the Salvation Army, specialized consignment shops are popping up everywhere paying top dollar for used clothes, DVDs, cds, and books. Even big businesses like Best Buy and Toys R Us are now giving away cash instead of taking it, buying back old video games and Blu Rays.

Just the other day I put together a pile of movies and books cluttering up my shelves and headed to the local thread of thrift stores in Augusta. I rode into parking lots pumping Macklemore’s hit on my speakers, expecting to walk into the store with twenty dollars in my pocket and walk out with a secondhand swagger, or at least with twenty more bucks in my pocket.

I ended up just keeping most everything I brought in as I saw the trade-in value come up on the screen when each item was scanned: 75 cents, 15, cents, 10 cents, 5 cents, 1 cent. How could a DVD that cost $15 have a trade-in value of just a penny? The stores didn’t even want some of my movies, rejecting them out right.

And then I remembered this always happens. I build myself up with dreams of easy money from trading in my unwanted things. Instead I walk out feeling cheaper than ever, the collectibles I valued so much now deemed worthless. Continue reading →