Daily Dose of BS October 31

Halloween goes against everything we teach our kids, don’t talk to strangers.  Don’t beg for stuff.  Don’t take candy from strangers.  We for some reason let our guard down on October 31^st.  Weird… how Halloween has gotten to be such a huge holiday.  I remember when I was a kid I was always either a bum or a ghost, and they were always homemade costumes.  My mom cut holes in an old white bed sheet for the ghost costume and I wore my grandpas hat and some of my Dads old clothes to be a bum.  What happened to the good old simple days of homemade costumes?  Nowadays there are stores dedicated to only Halloween to isles at the box stores all devoted to spooking it up.  You are even seeing more and more homes putting up lights and decorations in their yards…in fact there are many homes that go way overboard on the macabre.  One last thought on Halloween…when I was a kid and went trick or treating, my Dad always checked all the Snickers Bars, for some reason they were the only candy bar that he ever checked…I now know that Snickers were his favorite, but as a kid…I always wondered.

Daily Dose of BS October 27

I own a small business with a few dozen clients, I really love doing my business I also love doing radio as well.  I am disgusted however with the amount of clients, business people who expect to be paid by their clients who are bad at paying their own bills.  I have talked to other small business owners and they have the same problems with some of their clients also.  I would think if money is important to said clients that paying a bill would be important to them...apparently it isn’t true.  I have billed some of these clients of mine 3 or 4 times for services rendered (I have already done the work).  I wonder what the excuse for non payment is (these people avoid talking to you)?  I see people going in to these businesses, spending money…but still no payment to my business.  I can say I have been late by a few days a couple of times in my umpteen years of being an adult and paying bills, but have never not paid a bill.  If you owe someone some money please take this as a gentle push to pay whomever it is that you owe so that way they can sleep a little better tonight knowing that they will have the money on hand after you pay them so that they can pay their bills and maybe you can sleep better too.

Daily Dose of BS October 26

I hate to paint, do dishes, and wash windows.  I have hired out painting in the past, got kids for the dishes, but windows, that is another story the last time that they needed cleaning, I replaced them with more energy efficient windows… well it has been many years.  I have just let the windows go…until the other day…I finally broke down and got my windows cleaned.    Jim Browning and his crew from Spotless Window Cleaning showed up in their truck with ladders in tow, they strapped on service belts and got to work…they scrapped and scrubbed the windows, the frames and the screens.  I didn’t realize that my windows were so dirty.  The house felt warmer cause the sun was able to peek in the windows now, if there had been any moonlight the last few nights, I could have gone without lights…what a big difference some soap water and elbow grease can do.  I suggest if you want a brighter day at your house, wash your windows.

Daily Dose of BS October 24

I remember hearing when I was a kid that early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.  I have been living the early to bed and early to rise part of the saying for most of my adult life....I am just waiting for the rest of the saying to come to fruition...Otherwise I have been going to bed early for no good reason, and getting up at 4am is for the birds...really, it is...you know the saying the early bird gets the worm.  The thing is I am not a fish so I am not too keen on worms.

Daily Dose of BS October 20

Yesterday I posted on fb about the fistbump and had someone ask about manners. That is a good question, what has happened to manners? When I was growing up I was taught to look people in the eye when talking to them, to hold a door for a stranger, to say good morning, to say please and thank you, to ask someone if they needed help and then actually help them. I watch too many people walking or skating through life not caring about anyone from their neighbor to their family. It has become too much of a me first society. When did that become the norm? I mean even at many stores, you walk in buy your stuff and check out without someone even saying something to you. In fact there have been times that the only words that someone has said to me in a store is 24.99 or what ever the total bill was…nothing else. Not did you find everything or thank you for shopping here…We need to step back and re-evaluate.

Daily Dose of BS October 19

I am old school when it comes to many things, including the good old fashioned handshake. I was taught by my father to have a firm handshake and that you should look people in the eye when you talk to them. I will occasionally give a high five or fist bump to a really good buddy or to one of my kids. I would never give a fist bump to a business person, or so I thought…yesterday when I stopped for lunch I ran into a prominent business man from LaCrosse and said Hello, and offered my hand…and was surprised when was greeted with a fist. I thought about this for a while, and it bugged me, so I did a little research on the good old fist bump. Lots of people credit germaphobic Howie Mandel as the originator of it; others say it was from the 70’s on the basketball court, still others say it was from the “Wonder Twins” cartoon from the 70’s. No matter where it came from, it is used by the masses, but to me still uncomfortable with it with someone not in the inner circle. Could you imagine giving the fist bump at church during the sign of peace? To me …give me the good old handshake.

Daily Dose of BS October 18

I am holding out, I have not turned on the heat yet for the fall. This morning I was contemplating it…but took a hot shower to warm up instead. When is the right time to turn the heat on? In the Trib this morning they had a couple of stories about tuning up your furnace, they also wrote about the importance of changing your filters and also the cost savings of using a programmable thermostat. I have been using one of these for a few years now and I do see the difference. We reinsulated our house when we did a remodel about 10 years ago. We added about 50% size to our house, added a new furnace, insulated a lot and our bills were less than they were prior to the remodel. I also keep my heat low only 64 most of the time, I figure if you want to be warm, wear your slippers and a blanket.

Daily Dose of BS October 11

Today is national face your fear day. At work today I got the flu shot. I was wondering if anyone I work with has the fear of shots…so far doesn’t seem like it. I got mine bright and early and as always no pain. Unfortunately this year they didn’t bring fun cool band aids, but they did say they have cool snoopy ones for the kids. I have always been intrigued when getting a shot, whether getting a shot or giving blood I always watch as the shot giver or phlebotomist poked my arm. I have asked a few others about this and about half said they like to watch too. The nurses who gave the shot suggest that we all get protected from influenza with the shot, she also said the CDC suggests that everyone over 6 months get the shot that protects you from 3 strains of the influenza virus. And kids under 18 get theirs for free to find out more about getting your flu shot give the county heath department a call at 608-785-9723 or friend them on facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/La-Crosse-County-Government-Public-Health-Nursing/203689379691493 you won’t be sorry.

Daily Dose of BS October 10

I wasn’t raised in a family that hunts and fishes, my friends have helped me to discover the joys of that.  That being said this past weekend in Wisconsin was Youth Hunt…no its not open season on kids.  The DNR opened last weekend up for hunters between 10-15 get a jump on the old timers.  I sat in the woods with my middle son Zak, we saw two deer sneaking through the woods on Saturday afternoon, we waited and didn’t see them again until we had unloaded, and were headed to the truck to pack up our gear to head back to the Byington farm.  There in the middle of the road about 20 yards from the truck was a good sized doe standing broadside.  My son was bummed; I just laughed and used it as a life lesson.  If you are not into hunting or fishing, I would suggest you learn so that you can spend some quality time with your kids….and your friends.

Daily Dose of BS October 7

Last night my son Zak and I went to the Dierks Bentley show at the La Crosse center, the seats we had were awesome.  It was his first concert.  I remember my first concert when I was 8^th grade I saw Montly Crue and Ozzy Osborne.  This show was a far cry of a rock show from the 80’s but was a good show with great showmanship.  I was truly impressed with the stage presence of Dierks Bentley.  He really rocked the stage and the audience I think was pleased with the show.  I used to be the guy at a show who would go the front of the speakers and try to be right in the line of sound ….lots of loud music at many decibels times 25 plus years caused a hearing loss for me but thanks to Beltone, I can now hear again.  Last night at the show I wore surefire sonic defender ear plugs, these are no ordinary ear plugs they fit into your ear and allow you to take in and enjoy the show without blasting out your ear drums, no ringing in my ears today thanks to the surefire earpro ear plugs….not that Dierks Bentley didn’t try. 

Daily Dose of BS October 6

I am getting a little irritated by people who don’t read signs, for example when a sign at a park says no dogs…leave your dog at home.  Don’t get me wrong I love my dog Spark.  The sign is there for a reason, first of all for the safety of the other park go-ers, the second is some people are afraid of dogs, the barking bugs people, your dog is distracting to others around you trying to watch the football, baseball, soccer etc game, they draw kids and they get in the way of the people trying to watch said game, and if they bite a kid….your in trouble.  Read the sign if it says no dogs….then leave your dog at home.

Daily Dose of BS October 4

I think that bathroom doors in public places should swing out.  Here is the reason why.  How often have you been in the bathroom and the person in the stall next to you flushed opened the door and left the bathroom without washing their hands?  I find this sickening…this is also the reason I don’t eat popcorn at bars.  I know this is just another look into the weirdness that is me.  Have a great day and don’t forget to do as the sign says in most public restrooms employees must wash hands before returning to work.