Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 31 resolve

Oh crap! It is the last day of 2013, did I do all that I set out to do this year? NO, I did not. I had one goal this year, it was to be able to run without stopping a mile and a half. I was on track to do it, I got my membership at Anytime Fitness, and was going a couple times a week hitting the treadmill and a month into 2013 I broke my leg, 8 weeks without going to the gym. I attempted to head back, did for awhile but ended up failing my goal. 2014 is a new year and the start of a new slate. I am going to do that mile and a half this year, I am going to start with baby steps and will build slowly to it this year. By end of year I will be successful in my quest. I often don’t make resolutions because I don’t like to do you make resolutions? If so what do you resolve to do in 2014?

Monday, December 30, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 30 vanilla

Baby its cold outside. I very much dislike being cold, which is funny since I wouldn’t give it up for anything. I like having the 4 seasons, I feel sorry for the people who have just one, two or three seasons. Being able to dress for the season is part of the fun, see if you can get it right, if you can properly wear the right amount of layers to not be too cold or too hot. I guess even though I like to try new things I kind of am vanilla. And as I just now came to realization it kind of bugs me that I am but as I look at the choices I have made I kind of am a vanilla person, but I do like sprinkles and other stuff mixed in.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 27 expecting

We are a society of people who expect. When I flush a toilet I expect it to do its job, when I flip on a light I like the light to go on and when you push the button on your remote you expect it to do what it was intended. I expect things like this to work because we took out the human element. It is funny when we turn on the light and it doesn’t work that we are the victims, ever had that happen to you? I was thinking about expecting when I heard the stories of the big delivery guys not getting all the Christmas gift delivered, how is it UPS or Fed Ex’s fault that you didn’t order your item quick enough or that whomever you ordered from didn’t get it out fast enough? Why are you not at least a little responsible for not buying that product locally? From what I heard about this over the past 24 hours that Christmas was ruined because a gift didn’t make it in time-Really? Your whole holiday is based on the arrival of a gift? As I started out saying we are a society of people who expect, and I expect that some will take this wrong and others will blame the President, me I just like when the toilet flushes, and the channels change.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 26 boxing day

They say that you are not supposed to fight when you get together with family yet if you over stay your welcome for Christmas, there it is on the calendar Boxing Day. I don’t know about you but where I grew up if there is a day named after fighting with my brothers I was going to take it and then claim innocence because it’s on the calendar. It would be funny if they renamed it MMA day. I noticed a few trees on the boulevard on the way to work this morning, weird that all the time, effort, energy and cost that goes into Christmas and it is over in moments. The unwrapping of the gifts at the Schmidt house lasted under a half an hour and that was drawing it out. As the whirlwind of activity was happening I was thinking of all that went in to the planning and wrapping. WOW. Besides the few trees I saw on the way to work that got the Christmas stuff put away, I wonder how many people will still have their tree up in March?

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 24 Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. Prior to last year I have always just said Merry Christmas and got upset by those that said anything different. During the past year I have had the chance to talk with many people about this, friends, foes and allies, as well as a few church leaders about the saying of Merry Christmas. Rabbi Saul Prombaum I think said it best, saying that we are all so politically correct these days, that we let the little things bug us, and I agree, we let the little things get under our skin, what one person says or doesn’t say isn’t going to make or break my day or my life and why should I let it. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greeting, and here are hopes for a great New Year to all my family, and friends both old and new. May you enjoy the best of days.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 23 prices

Oh goody, gas is up. I saw a 4 cent rise in the price of gas since Saturday. I know 4 cents isn’t going to break us but I was hoping that the drop in the price was going to be a trend. I was wrong. Sometimes admitting that is a tough thing, I am not sure how you are with the w word but admitting that you are wrong is freeing. I got a reminder email from my cell phone company that my bill is due in 5 days, so I logged onto their website to wonder why my auto pay didn’t work, they changed everything and I was behind in my bill. This stinks as I hate being late on any bill. When looking over my cell bill I wonder are there any great inexpensive cell phone services out there? I have been like everyone else where I have become addicted to data and texting, maybe if I were to down grade I could afford a cell service again. The bill I pay for 3 phones is close to 200 dollars per month. With gas up and cell phones up what else could go up, oh yea everything.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 20 tolerance

This is still America right? We have the rights to our opinions, right? Many before us and many after us will be fighting for just that right, the right that we have as Americans to think what we want and have the right to say what we want. With that being said, I think that we are way too politically correct these days, we cave too easily we think that if we don’t that we will tick someone off, we may lose a customer or someone will look down on us. What about the general public and what the general public thinks? Are you going to base your whole business model over one person and one person’s opinion? Isn’t it just that an opinion, I bet that each person coming into contact with my thoughts here today have a difference of opinion than others in your family, your friends, your peers, your political group. This is what is wrong with America we are trying to tell everyone how to think, how to celebrate, how to live. I think that this is BS. I think we all need to be more tolerant on both sides, all sides of each argument, in fact I have been smiling and saying thank you when wished “Happy Holidays”, I wish a Merry Christmas but am doing my part.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 19 what to give

Don’t you hate when you ask what is wanted for Christmas and you get the answer nothing or surprise me. I am going to admit something that everyone that knows me already knows; I am a horrible gift giver. I try to think outside the box and usually end up on the next block, I am a man and I need help. Each and every person I asked what would you like for Christmas, I got the same kind of responses, I don’t know, give me a card, just having you in my life is present enough. Like I believe this, if I as a man do not buy a gift and the right gift, I will be in the preverbal Schmidt house, and I even though I’m a Schmidt it isn’t always pleasant in that house. So I need your help for Christmas ideas, and I need them quick as Christmas is a few days away and the stores are getting busier. And to help my fellow man if asked what would you like for Christmas have at least an idea to share.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 18 santa

A kid sitting on Santa’s lap goes against everything that we teach our kids. The other day I got to help with North Pole duties and saw first-hand how some kids are afraid to go sit on the big guys lap, yet other kids are up and ready for the challenge. We are constantly telling our kids to stay away from strangers yet here we bring our kids to sit on the lap on a big loud man wearing red proclaiming Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas. The thing about being a fly on the wall at the North Pole was that the old school toys were the ones that kids wanted the most, don’t get me wrong there were lots of asks for Xbox 1 and Ipad, but legos and barbies were the most consistently asked for presents, the weirdest ask that I heard was for a pig, cause the kid loved bacon. It is also nice to see that kids still believe and they were there with a smile and I also noticed when Santa said Merry Christmas that kids and the parents smiled and said Merry Christmas back. If you have not been through the Rotary Lights yet this year, bundle up grab some canned goods, and take a stroll through the park to enjoy the sights, the sounds and the atmosphere of the Rotary Lights at Riverside Park- and don’t forget that Santa and the reindeer are there until December 23.


Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 17 germs

I am not a fan of germs. I have gotten better but I still don’t like to open the door handle of a public restroom without the help of a paper towel. I am a fan of the automatic turn on sink, the hand soap squirt, the auto flush, and the wave at the towel dispenser, dispenser of towels, I do however wish that they would give you a bit more than what most are set at. I have never figured out why public restrooms don’t have swing out push doors, because there are more and more people who like me don’t like to touch the door handle. Which brings me to the antibacterial hand lotion/soap that is out on the market, the stuff that claims to kill 99.9% of all germs, how does it do it by getting the germs drunk? There is so much alcohol in some of those, I get a contact buzz from using them, and don’t get me started on the dried up hands. And now the government is saying that another chemical in the wash is harmful to us. Have you ever thought if the government never told us what was bad for us or not that maybe just maybe we would be a happier people?

Monday, December 16, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 16 security

Last week, World leaders including the President of the United States, and many former Presidents came together for the funeral of Nelson Mandela. By weeks end we heard that the sign language interpreter that was on stage to sign what the speakers had to say was a phony. I have had the chance to meet President Bill Clinton when he was the sitting president and the security around that event was amazing, there were secret service all over, anywhere you looked you saw them from roof tops to in the crowd to the men who were by his side. In fact when I waiting to talk to Mr Clinton I put my hands behind my back and two secret service men moved in behind me closer, I wonder how in the heck a fake interpreter was able to share the stage with so many leaders. Thankfully everything else went off without a hitch, and that no one got hurt.

Friday, December 13, 2013

SEXIEST MEN OF 2013


A new ranking by UK Glamour magazine
5. Fifth Estate actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
4. Thor villain Tom Hiddleston.
3. Hunger Games actor and Miley Cyrus’ ex, Liam Hemsworth.
2. Former Twilight star Robert Pattinson, after a 4-year run at #1.
1. Man of Steel actor Henry Cavill.

Daily Dose of BS Dec 13 do we read

Is social media relevant in your life? Do your posts make you who you are? I often wonder if the stuff that I write on fb is actually read to the end or just to the natural break facebook puts in there for the longer posts? I often wonder why some of the stupid cat pictures get shared so many times and the pictures and stories that have meaning often do not. Are we as a society addicted to wanting to know what is going on now and what our neighbors are up to? You may be answering yes in your head that this is the case, but if it was don’t you think that if we really wanted to know what was going on right now in our own backyard, that we would be looking to the local sources? That we wouldn’t be plopping down in front of a monitor either computer or tv but instead would be looking to local radio or local newspaper, or local tv news? I am just wondering if you read this to the end?

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 11 snow

Overnight about a half an inch of snow fell. I shovel my walk when we get any amount of snow but I was wondering when other people shovel. There are plenty of sidewalks around that still haven’t been shoveled, and there were businesses that were having their parking lots plowed this morning. When is the right time to shovel the walk or plow the parking lot? I also wonder when the city decides to bring out the plows? There are days that I see plows running on the highways and main streets but in my neighborhood not so much.  

Daily Dose of BS Dec 12 sign here

What happened to taking someone at their word? I am not that old and I remember when a handshake was a deal, now a days it seems as though you need to sign over your first born, have a notary public and video proof that you agreed to something. I saw a national news story the other day where a mom, Roxanne Jones who is a founding editor of ESPN The Magazine and a former vice president at ESPN, told her son to get a text to have sex. Her quote was “Never have sex with a girl unless she’s sent you a text that proves that the sexual relationship is consensual beforehand.” Am I out of the loop, is this needed? Are we needing contracts for everything from hooking up to jobs to what’s next a signed contract to have dinner at a restaurant? What happened to assumed liability?

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Daily Dose of BS December 10 back from vacation

You have really got to love the first day back to work after vacation. I was up on vacation but not as early as I get up for work, and traveling…don’t get me started. It is always fun being a tourist, my youngest brother Brian turned 40 last week and he lives in Livermore California which is about an hour from San Francisco, we celebrated his birthday in true Schmidt fashion, we ate and drank. I have been out to Northern California a few times in the past and had the chance to mark a few of my bucket list items for there off. I have always wanted to go to Alcatraz, and to In and Out burger. Done and done. I also wanted to hang out with my brother also done. As we were enjoying a few hours of good quality time together we decided that this past weekend was about the only time in our lives that we can remember just the two of us hanging out together without our other brother or someone else tagging along. I am glad I had the chance to really get to know my brother before it is too late.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 3 kids

I think many think that kids have it easy now. I agree that in some ways they do, but in others I am glad I grew up when I did. I don’t think we were as micromanaged as our kids are now. I am as guilty as the next guy, I get my kids involved in things, and sometimes it seems like too many things. For example we have basketball two times a week for practice then weekend games, add CCD to that and school, band and homework, that is a busy kid, and that is only one of them, I have four. When we were kids we took off on our bikes without a helmet mind you played till dark. Rode our bikes behind the mosquito spraying truck, went sledding, wait for the tv dinner to be done by watching threw the glass door, getting up at 6:45 to make sure you had breakfast in you when you set yourself up to watch good cartoons on any given Saturday morning. What memories do you miss from your childhood?

Monday, December 2, 2013

Daily Dose of BS Dec 2 lights

Friday not only brought out the shoppers it also brought out the lights. I am guessing that my house isn’t the only house that decorated for Christmas over the weekend. After watching the lighting of the Rotary Lights the Schmidt house started in the Christmas spirit with getting the tree set up and lights strung. We also got the village set up in the dining room. This year we tried something that we hadn’t done in a while, we strung lights around the back deck and hung lighted wreaths and a brought out the lighted snowman. With the expected snow the next couple days, it will be feeling like Christmas in no time.