PBSKids hired a spammer named Kerri Roberts at Boldmouth.com, a viral marketing company, to oh-so-innocently comment on the blogs of parents and families and casually add that she can get us free Maya and Miguel stuff and proceeded to advertise for Maya and Miguel events and DVDs. [edit to say that it looks like she is hired by Scholastic books, not PBS directly].

I complained to PBS and was promised that the rep would “look into the matter further”.

Once I provided the information, PBSKids stopped answering my emails. It’s been five weeks since the contact at PBS asked me for the content that was posted on this blog and promised to look into the matter. I’ve heard nothing. I’ve sent two more follow-up emails asking for information. No response.

I think perhaps Hannah at PBS E-Help started poking around into the seedy world of blog-spamming and found out more than she bargained for. Maybe her shadowy cigarette-smoking, fedora-wearing bosses hired someone in a parking garage at dusk to have her removed from the picture because she knew too much.

Hannah, if you’re out there somewhere, don’t worry! I’m sure help is on the way. We’ll get through this thing, we just have to stick together, remain calm, and let B.A. build an incredibly complex defense mechanism from the junk piled in my basement. We’ll hold off Kerri’s goons for a while, Face-man will punch a few bad guys into piles of oil-drums and we’ll all stand in the setting sun with the wind in our hair watching the van ride off into the distance.

Then we’ll go watch TV. Unless Maya and Miguel is on.

I think I could do this with all of the old and broken PCs that are piled around my office in the basement.

The recent heavy rains prompted me to get up and clean out the eavestroughing. There is a 60 foot poplar tree right beside the house, and it drops seed pods and leaves that don’t break down very easily. Looks like they were due for a clean.

And I thought I didn’t have a green thumb. Look at that magnificent garden, and I wasn’t even trying.

If you are interested in starting your own blog, for instance to post some great deep thoughts for WonderfulWorship, here is a great set of short web videos on how to get started.

Knowledgeable, patient folks from blogger and wordpress talk you through the process of getting your very own place on the web.

I used to be addicted to amphetamines.

I’d use amphetamines in the morning and before lunch, just to get through the day. I’d take some in the evening to keep me awake because I stayed up so late the night before because of the big hit I took in the evening. I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, I’d get crushing headaches, I’d get the shakes, I’d be cranky and angry until I had my next hit. Avoiding withdrawal became an important goal.

I woke up one morning and realized that my addiction was controlling my life. I couldn’t wake up without my drugs. I couldn’t function at my job without my drugs. I just couldn’t cope without it.

It was getting expensive. A sizable portion of my expendable cash went to dealers.

The problem was that everyone in my circle of friends used amphetamines. My revelation didn’t seem too important to them. Some folks laughed about staying constantly high to avoid the crash. Most of the folks only took another shot once or twice a day as a “pick-me-up”, so they didn’t see themselves as having any sort of problem at all.

No one seemed to realize that addictions, even mild ones, place something else before God. If you can’t function without your drugs, God is second place. Even if you need a little kick to get you through the rough spots, you’ve replaced God with a pharmaceutical.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.
–Habakkuk 3:19

I still get cravings, years later. Every time I see a Starbucks, my mouth waters.

Oh, I’m sorry. Did I say amphetamines? I meant caffeine.

Coffee. The elephant in the Christian living room.

Skip it for two weeks. 14 days in a row. I dare you.