It’s been a while, so I’m bringing back an old favorite: rants and raves.

RAVE: IBC’s Back to School event. One of the main reasons I love my church (and keep going despite the fairly long drive) is its relentless focus on helping people in need both abroad and here in DFW. On Saturday, IBC plans to invite single parent families to get free backpacks, haircuts, medical and dental care, clothing, and ice cream sundaes.

RANT: Corn. OK, not corn in general, but the little bits of kernel that get stuck in your teeth when you’re nowhere near a toothbrush or floss, leaving you tortured by a splinter-like irritation with no good way to remove it.

RAVE: Blog category clouds. Check out the sidebar under Topics. I just added a plugin that lists the categories for my posts in different sizes based on their frequency. The most common topics are biggest. Sure, I’m a nerd, but I thought it added a nice touch.

RANT: “Voice-recognition” phone systems. They save the company money by annoying the heck out of their helpless customers. You know the ones I’m talking about:

Phone: “Are you calling about auto insurance or homeowner’s insurance?”
Me: “Auto”
Phone: “I heard you say, ‘Homeowner’s’. If this is correct, say ‘Yes’.”
Me: “I HATE YOU!!!!”
Phone: “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand. Are you calling about auto insurance or homeowner’s insurance?”

RAVE: The secondhand market. I can think of few better ways to save money and save the earth than the secondhand market, which includes garage sales, Craigslist, Goodwill, Kid to Kid, and GameStop. Much of the stuff we use only benefits us for a limited time. Kids’ clothing and equipment, video games, exercise equipment, computers, furniture, and other items are often quite expensive to buy new but readily available and much cheaper to buy used. We found a fantastic swingset for the boys on Craigslist for perhaps a quarter of its retail cost. Mad Bomber just gave us a treadmill they no longer used. We’re about to sell Jonathan’s outgrown car seat. It’s fantastic!