last night our small group bible study from ccv went out to cracker barrel for dinner. we decided earlier that we would randomly pay for a strangers dinner. we bought two families dinners and gave a small christmas gift to our waitress. it was fun seeing their expressions when the waiter told them their meal was already paid for. :)

this morning I was outside and found an envelop stuffed under my door mat. inside was a hg4x4 card and a generous cash gift

pretty cool how God worked those two things out

I love that concept for the dinner.
I did a simple one once for the driver behind me at Taco Bell who motioned for me to go in front of them at the line beginning. I like to sneak out before they realize it.

Very cool idea! God is good. no doubt.

That is very cool. Every Veteran's Day, I go out and and have a meal. If I see a uniformed person, I buy them their meal. Back in 2000, I was in Bridgeport CT and stopped into a McDonald's. As I picked up my meal about 25 Navy Reserve personnel from New Haven came rolling in. Needless to say that was an expensive lunch for me, but well worth it. Probably the most fun I've had blowing $175 bucks (second only to Full-Auto Day at the shooting range).

Awesome Jimmy.

I think maybe today I should wear a sign that says "Free Christmas Hugs" as this year's kindness act

Skatchkins wrote:Awesome Jimmy.

I think maybe today I should wear a sign that says "Free Christmas Hugs" as this year's kindness act

that actually works really, really well... right up until the point where you forget you're wearing it, go to pick up your kid from school, then have to explain it all to the officers and your wife from jail.

Just sayin'...

I bought myself a coke from the cafeteria today. I appreciated it.

Paying for random people's food sounds fun.

It really is, V. I like to do the thing Mike does and pickup the tab for the vehicle behind me in a drive through... especially if I can tell it's a family.

Ok, I started off with baby steps. One of the security guards got in line behind me at the cafeteria with an empty coffee cup. (Yes, they charge 25 cents for cups and 10 cents for plastic forks/spoons.) When it was my turn, I paid for him.

Last weekend, I was referred to a guy who needed help with a PC. I usually charge a flat $50 diagnostic fee, which is applied to my $60/hr fee for actual labor. This guy had a "hand-me-down" computer that came from a law office. It was admin locked and lots of features were locked. It's about 5 years old and was full of junk and viruses. I asked him why he would waste $180 for me to just "clean up" an old desktop, when you can buy one that was 6x more powerful and feature filled for under $400? He said, "quite frankly, I can afford your $180, I can't afford the $400." It kinda set me back a bit. I saw a Lexus SUV in the driveway, and thought.. oh well, Sucker got shafted in the housing crisis like a lot of people.

Three hours go by. I worked my magic and bypassed all the admin passwords, removed all the viruses, imaged the drive, and restored the drive. As I went to the kitchen to give them the good news, I saw him sitting at the dinner table with his two teen boys. They were eating hot dogs with plain bread as makeshift buns. The boys had milk, and he had water. That's it.

In the hallway saw a picture of a girl sitting inside the Lexus SUV. I can only guess that it was his wife, which doesn't seem to be around. Images bounced in my head and swirled around different tragic scenarios, trying to put a read on the situation. Like an idiot, I was working myself up.

With a smile, I told him that I was finished and gave him some pointers for keeping the PC clean and threat-free. He pulled out and counted the $180. I told him that I needed to go to my vehicle and get him a receipt. I returned and handed him a sealed envelope, stating that the receipt should be placed in a safe place as I offered a 90 day service warranty. Be sure to read it after dinner.

I left.

As you may have guessed, inside the envelope, there was no receipt. Just a note on a Post-It that read, "Pay It Forward" and his $180.

Man, I hope I didn't misread the situation!

Pulled up to a gentleman yesterday afternoon with a very flat tire on the 101/202 freeway. He was sitting at the tire trying to figure out how to get the lug nuts off with a broken ratchet adapter in His hand. He had been there for over an hour trying to get lug nuts off. Ten minutes later the tire was changed and He was on His way....

Cecil wrote:Pulled up to a gentleman yesterday afternoon with a very flat tire on the 101/202 freeway. He was sitting at the tire trying to figure out how to get the lug nuts off with a broken ratchet adapter in His hand. He had been there for over an hour trying to get lug nuts off. Ten minutes later the tire was changed and He was on His way....

Extra super cool bonus points to you Cecil. Great job brother.

Cool story 2ndChance:) Thanks for sharing!

coming back from butcher jones i happened upon a lady who just got a flat. pulled over and offered to fix it for her. she said she called roadside service but would be over an hour out. gave her the option of me doing in ten minutes or waiting for rs to come out. she choose me and i had it done for her in a jiffy. it was nice to change a tire that is no bigger then my rims and that you can pick up with a couple of fingers.
she asked if i knew if there was a tire shop in fountain hills and i told her there was a big o and i would follow her there to make sure she makes it ok on the doughnut.
this was also why i was late to the bbq today.
a feel good moment!!

On my way home today, I saw a lifted suburban broke down on the road. There was a lady and her two kids. I offered to give here a jump start or my cellphone for her to call for assistance, as I'm not a mechanic. She said help was already on the way, but it's been 30mins already. She insisted on waiting for her "boyfriend".

I had my little ice chest from my weekend shooting event, and it still had 5 bottles of water inside. I gave it to them and said, "I hope he shows up soon".