For those under the clouds
Staring up in awesome wonder
As tears come slowly down
Reaching up a needful hand… ~Jars of Clay
There are many of them in the Indy area —needful hands of every race, religion, and background. There are more of them this year than ever. So many, it seems overwhelming. I’ve been working for the Salvation Army for over 8 years. I’ve never had so many people come to me directly for help. People that were volunteers or donors a year ago, are out of work, wondering where the next …

It’s good to be an American today. We have this wonderful tradition called Thanksgiving. It’s a day of family and food and football and more food. It’s a day of remembering our blessings. So, I thought I would provide this little public service as a way of saying thanks to all the Citizens who read my blog. I wanted to give you the real history of this holiday —not the well researched stuff you get on History Channel. I wanted to give you the Jeff version of history. It’s much …

Are you looking for a unique gift this Christmas? Are you intimidated by the Black Friday lines and the early start times?  Well I have a shopping tip for you. There are hundreds of bargains to be found at my house! That’s right, I’m putting most of my junk -I mean highly valuable and sought after items on sale! And, you don’t have to be up at 4am to get the deals. In fact, if you show up at 4am, you won’t even get in. I’m thinking this sale will …

I’ve been moved by how many of my Twitter followers are looking for a job. So many people are out of work and I’m just not grateful enough for being employed right now. So, I thought I would do a little something to help.
If you are Citizen (follower) on Twitter, email me a photo, a resume, and a short bio (being funny is a plus) and I will post it on my blog. Be creative. Be remarkable.
I don’t want anything in return, just throw some change in one of the …

Some people drive really fast because they are perpetually late. Some people drive really fast because they lead stressed out lives —filled with more to-do’s than time.  I drive really fast because I drive like my Grandma.
That may seem a little odd to you. Don’t grandma’s drive really slow? Not my late Grandma. Before Danica Patrick, before Sarah Fisher, before Janet Guthrie, there was Roxy. Roxy never got to drive in the Indy 500. She lived and died long before women could compete in auto racing. But if you talk …

One of the people I follow on Twitter, Harrison Painter, asked an intriguing question today: What is the number 1 reason people give up on their dreams? It got me thinking about a lot of things, not the least of which being my own dreams.
Some of the top reasons I could find in no particular order:

Running out of energy or motivation.
Inability to get through the walls that will eventually come up. Seth Godin refers to it as The Dip.
Criticism
Fear
A sense of adult responsibility.

“Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think.” ~Alanis Morissette 1995
“Yeah, pretty much.” ~Jeff Stanger 2010
The owner of Segway was found dead at the bottom of a cliff today, his personal segway by his side. What are the odds? Will segway sales plummet? Will Oliver Stone make a conspiracy movie out of the story? Will Alanis be relevant again?
I thought about probing these tough questions, but then decided it would be more fun to look for other forms of irony. Such as the recent poll that found that atheists knew more about …

…according to me.
Often people ask me, “Jeff, if you had been successful in your bid to become Emperor, how would you have spent the stimulus money.” And, I answer, “Are you kidding? There wouldn’t have been a need for a stimulus! I would be Emperor!”
But, let’s just suppose for a second, I was President of the United States and let’s suppose there was a stimulus during my administration. How would I have handled it differently? First, you would know exactly how I was going to spend it. No vague promises. …

Recently, the NCAA punished Georgia’s A.J. Green for selling his Independence Bowl jersey for a whopping $1,000!  Although pro sports player’s do this all the time, it is in fact a rule violation. I’m not sure what they are more offended by -the fact that an amatuer player sold his jersey or the fact that a guy who has never played in the NFL got more money than a Jerry Rice signed jersey.
Anyway, that got me thinking… (ominous music here) … there is no NCAA for blogging. There is no …

Dear Citizens,
It has recently come to my attention that there are millions of out of work Citizens in America. And due to the clever leadership offered by Democrats and Republicans in Washington, this situation does not appear to be changing anytime soon. If fact, it we may never see leadership out of Democrats and Republicans. But, the job situation is about to change. Sort of.