Daily Dose of BS Oct 31 Halloween

Funny to think about it but 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 31st.  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.  Something else to think about with today being Halloween and many will be wearing masks, but maybe today we are really showing who we really are. Happy Halloween

Daily Dose of BS Oct 28 La Crosse

Let me start by saying I love La Crosse, Wisconsin.  I love that we have base of people who are ready, willing and able to lend a hand with just about anything.  I love that we have revitalized our downtown, we have beautified our parks, worked to bring new businesses in, have a mix of old and new architecture and that we are close to the rivers, the bluffs and the interstate.  In my eyes we are a rock solid community.  I do however question all the new downtown apartments and storefronts that are being built.  Like I said I love La Crosse but question whether we can fill all the new spots that are being built.  It seems like we see a small possibility of growth then everyone jumps on that same train of thought.  Look at the 87% more hotel rooms that we will have once the last local hotel gets built.  I am happy to see all this growth, and hope I am wrong in thinking that there may be lots of empty apartments and store fronts once all the new work is finished. 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 27 Military

Last night I was hanging out with a few buddies of mine that were in the military in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s and found out that because of the time when he served in the military that some weren’t able to be a part of certain military groups because of dates of service, that because there were no conflicts at that time he wouldn’t be allowed to join.  Excuse me, but didn’t the men and women who were ready to go to battle for our country at a moment’s notice be allowed to join a group?  I questioned a couple of other friends about this practice and they said that the United States Congress sets these dates.  This to me is an outrage and that I believe that people who served and were honorably discharged should be able to join the group.  Speaking of the military I also think that it is wrong that all these solders from California have to repay the signing bonus that they were given because of some unscrupulous recruiters.  

Daily Dose of BS Oct 26 obamacare

Rumors are that next year Obamacare will be anything but affordable.  With reports saying the average cost will rise 25% how much more will our pocketbooks take?  One candidate says he is going to repeal it the other days she is going to fix it, what is the real answer?  I popped over to healthcare.gov to see if that site is even still up and running, guess what it is.  Looks like it may be the only thing working with the affordable care act.  It was supposed to be affordable right?  Have you found it affordable?  I have heard from many who said that what they have now is a catastrophe plan, meaning high deductible and low payout.  Wasn’t the whole reason behind the roll out of the mess healthcare.gov to make that different, to offer good quality health care at an affordable price?  I have yet to hear from anyone who got that.  What have you heard?  Or, are you using it? 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 25 smoking

I was a smoker on and off for much of my teen years and into my 20’s and 30’s, sure I heard that it was bad to smoke and blah, blah, blah.  I enjoyed it, but I tell you what I am glad I quit.  Recently I was at a buddy’s house where they smoke inside and it reminded me that I made the right choice in quitting.  I read earlier this morning that one in four cancers deaths are caused by smoking.  Like I said I am glad I quit.  Don’t get me wrong, there are days that I sometimes think of a cigarette but thankfully haven’t had one in over 9 years.  Which brings me to another smokers issue, when I see someone toss their cigarette butt out the window it makes me angry.  I watched a woman the other day waiting in the grocery store parking lot with the windows rolled up smoking, only to roll down her window to toss her butt out the window.  Doesn’t your car have an ash tray?  Or some receptacle that you can toss your stinky burn butt into?  If you smoke remember that the world is not your ashtray.  The littered butts present a threat to wildlife. Cigarette filters have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales and other marine creatures who mistake them for food ... don’t be an ass pick up your butt. 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 24 tie

Could you imagine the outcry if on November 8^th the election was a tie?  How many recounts do you think that they would do?  I bet that they would keep counting until there was a winner.  What about if the Super Bowl ended with a tie, or any other football game.  Wait that happened just last night.  I do not understand why the NFL doesn’t have the rule that the game can not end in a tie.  No one likes to see a tie in professional sports, no one!  The Seahawks-Cardinals Sunday night game last night played out to a 6-6 tie.  In that situation why not have sudden death?  These players and the fans deserve to have a clear winner, and we deserve to have a clear winner come November 8^th.  Please get registered to vote and lets not vote this election to a tie.  

Daily Dose of BS Oct 21 water

Most of the water we drink from a bottle is tap water.   Kind of makes you think a second on why are we paying a premium for something that we could get for basically free by turning on any tap.  I just watched a video on how most of the water is done at plants that take the water in and bottle it up.  Some of it has something added to it or filtered but for the most part guess what it is the same thing we get when the tap is on.  I guess I am a bit shocked on this as some is way more expensive than others.  I guess when I buy cases of water in the summer while the kids play baseball or softball I do it for convenience.  I am a big drinker of water about a gallon a day.  I like to not be dry I guess.  The reason I bring this up is that we need to drink about 2 liters of water a day or about a half-gallon, are you getting that much? 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 20 debate

For some reason the word wrong echoed in my head though the night.  Thank goodness that we saw the last of the 3 debates last night.  I thought beforehand that we would see World War 3 then when it started it seemed to have a calmer demeanor than the previous 2, I held hope that the debate would end up as a strictly informational debate on what the candidates believed.  I was wrong.  It seemed like Chris Wallace had a handle on the event when all of a sudden there were 2 and sometimes 3 people talking at once.  I am hard of hearing and I have a hard time hearing one voice at times, two is even more difficult and 3 – don’t get me started.  My parents always told me it was wrong to interrupt when someone else is talking, I don’t think that Trump or Clinton was around for that lesson.  And what was it with the interruption of the word wrong so many times?  I guess the best thing about the debate is that there isn’t any more of them.  Only 19 days and counting till election. 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 19 Spam

Someone asked the other day do you eat spam fried, I replied no way.  Yuck.  I like my Spam raw either on a sandwich or chopped up in my mac and cheese.  I don’t eat Spam very often at best maybe one time a year, but when I was a kid it was a staple at the Schmidt house, my Mom would dice it up and put in mac and cheese with some peas and bam we had a dinner.  Fast forward 30 years and sure I have it in the cupboard but I really don’t remember the last time I had the pressed ham product.  I guess it was when one of my wife’s co-worker made some Spam sushi.  It was actually really good.  Do you eat Spam, if so when was the last time and are you a raw or fried kind of Spam eater? 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 18 voting

I have always honored my privilege to vote, in fact I have voted in every general election I have been able to vote in and in the past 20 years I have voted in the primaries as well.  You often hear of people saying I only vote in the presidential election.  Guess what because so few people vote in the primary we are stuck with the two most unpopular candidates we have ever had, we are going to eventually have either Clinton or Trump leading our country for the next 4 years.  Have you thought about that?  4 years of what?  Anyway this is the reason that we need to take our privilege to vote more seriously because the lack of interest put us in this situation.  Every voting cycle I look forward to what I feel is a civic duty and I look forward to the dog and pony show of going to stand in line to cast my vote, lately there has been an uptick in the amount of early voters in fact it opened yesterday in Wisconsin, and I noticed quite a few of my friends have voted already, I am glad that they voted, early voting isn’t for me.  Here is something to think about just because you voted it doesn’t mean that you are going to get any less robo-calls or people ringing your doorbell.  They will still bug you until November 8^th.  

Daily Dose of BS Oct 17 Packers

I find it funny to read for the calling of the heads of McCarthy, Rogers and Thompson.  After the conclusion of yesterday’s Packer game against the Cowboys people took to social media demanding for a regime change. ??? I don’t get it.  I get that they look lost at times, but, to call for the heads of the team that put together the team that we love to watch, I just don’t get.  If the Packers all of a sudden turn it around next week and end up with a flawless last 10 games will the outcry change.  You bet it will.  Am I upset that they have lost a couple of games this season, sure, am I going to ask for the resignation of the brass?  No way.  I look at it this way, they have a public job and people see their flaws, if we could peer into your day at the job, would we see yours?  I bet we would.  Give the Packers a break. 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 14 do you return the change

I read a post on Facebook this morning that asked the simple question “When you're undercharged at the store do you point out the mistake?”  This is a really good question and one that should be asked of our political candidates, I am guessing that they will say yes of course they do, but I would then follow up with what is the cost of a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread or how much is a gallon of gas.  I am going to guess that most of our political candidates on the national level have no idea what the cost of the basic necessities of life costs, how about a stick of deodorant or laundry soap?  I bet no idea, and maybe just maybe this is what is wrong with the top, that they are so far removed from the “normal” life that we lead there is no connection.  Back to the will you point out an undercharge while at the store, yes of course I will, and I have, I have also given back extra change and you are damn sure I will point out when I am overcharged as well.  I also use coupons, I work hard for my money. 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 13 no guns

Wouldn’t you think that a police officer in a court room with a jury watching a case, that they would be able to carry a side arm as part of their uniform?  I read an article yesterday that had Judge Gonzalez disarming police officers while they were testifying in a battery case.  Three La Crosse Police officers were told that they couldn’t wear their firearm or their duty belt while in the courtroom.  Apparently having a gun on a belt on a police officer is a distraction to a jury and could be cause for a mistrial.  I’ll tell you what I think, if there was a cop in a courtroom on the stand while I was on a jury, and the cop wasn’t packing heat, that would be more of a distraction to me than a cop without a gun on the stands?  What do you think?  To me it is like a firefighter without their tools trying to fight a fire.  

Daily Dose of BS Oct 12 Pop

Looks like the government wants to reach deep into our pockets once again this time taking from those who are drinkers of sugary drinks, like sports drinks, energy drinks, fruit punch, sweetened iced tea, and drinks like Kool-Aid and lemonade.  Oh yeah this reach for money of course includes pop, or is it soda, or do you call it Coke?  I grew up in the Twin Cities and I called it pop, now when I ask for a drink it is usually water.  Other people call it soda, and in Georgia they call it Coke.  It is all the same, it is sugary, caffeinated water with carbonation.  Back to the story of the WHO World Health Organization, they are backing a controversial measure to reverse type 2 diabetes, a 20 to 50% soda tax.  I think that they think that an increase in the tax will increase the cost of goods, in turn it will drive the prices up and make people think about buying the pop before they do, in turn making less people buy pop.  I don’t know if it will work, look at the amount of people still smoking with those taxes, and how many of us still drive, look at the gas tax. 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 11 roundabouts

I sometimes feel like I am running around chasing my tail, (in case you are wondering, no I really don’t have a tail) with how busy life is these days do you ever feel like you are running in circles as well?  The government is now adding to that feeling, well even more than they usually do.  More and more communities are getting the run around and the turn around with the roundabout, I go through one now every day on way to work.  I don’t mind when they are in a neighborhood since there are no other cars around when you approach plus you can try for the world record of laps in a quiet roundabout.  I am going to admit this to you, I get anxious when I approach them, what if I do it wrong, it stems from when I first approached one in the Dells, I didn’t know what to do I got off too early and ended up having to go out my way to get back on track.  Personally not a fan of the roundabout, but I am getting better though. 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 10 debate

I didn’t get a chance to watch the Packers game last night.  I was watching the Town Hall style debate.  WOW.  It started off harsh and didn’t let up.  I honestly think that if the first question asked would have been the question that was posed to the candidates at the end of the night the tone would have been set differently.  The final question of the night was what is one thing that you respect about your opponent, Clinton respects Trumps kids and Trump respects Clintons tenacity.   I knew right off the bat that the debate was going to be feisty since they didn’t come out and shake hands, hell they didn’t even look at each other.  But by the end they shook hands, I wonder what was said in that moment and if there was a power play by either for hand dominance?  BTW if that was a Town Hall style debate, it certainly isn’t a town I would like to be a part of.  

Daily Dose of BS Oct 7 clowns

I really don’t get the whole clown thing going on across the country.  What?  People are afraid of clowns or is a made up fear since there are weirdos out there dressed up in their creepy macabre clown makeup.  One of my good friends who is a performer of physical comedy and makes his living clowning around.  He wrote a good piece on the current clown bashing starting off saying that “The clown arts are based on the purpose of serving to create joy.  he understands that some don’t like clown entertainment, this is a time when our world could use some extra joy, and that Real clowns are being lumped in with a disturbing group of people, who are sadly perpetuating a sick myth. These terrible people are not clowns.  A simple truth... audiences know a real clown.”  Kenny, I agree.  Be safe out there.  I am not sure why these people are trying to freak people out, maybe just maybe they too are just clowning around.  

Daily Dose of BS Oct 6 Obamacare

President Bill Clinton said what a lot of Americans have been thinking for a long time.  Clinton criticized President Barack Obama's signature policy reform Monday calling Obamacare "the craziest thing in the world."  Here’s the deal, a lot of the big insurers are backing out and premiums are going up I have heard over 60% in places. The fix?  Raise the penalty in an effort to FORCE people to buy insurance.  On paper I would think that it would work and would lower the premiums for the masses, but we just aren’t seeing it we are seeing the cost of health care heading even higher.  I feel as though we are lucky living here with two great hospitals and access to some of the best care in the country but at what cost?  And how about the subsidies?  How do they work, or do they?   Has anyone’s health care gone down since this started? 

Daily Dose of BS Oct 5 taxes

I liked the VP candidates better than their running mates.  One of topic that seemed to bring the most arguments was the not paying taxes of Trump.  Excuse me but as a tax paying American, I always try to pay the least amount of taxes I can.  I have regular conversations with the IRS media people and they want each American to pay their fair share of taxes.  I agree with that assessment.  Heck if we all didn’t want to get a benefit of tax breaks, wouldn’t we just pay the max and call it good?  I work hard for my money and would like to have all that I can to use, wouldn’t you?  

Daily Dose of BS Oct 4 internet selling

We are in an interesting time.  Google is introducing hardware to go with their popular search engine, Facebook is looking for a bigger piece of the pie and my third favorite site Craigslist is an amazing beast.  I get how Google and Facebook make money but when it comes to Craigslist, I wonder what the business model is when it comes to making money on that site.  There is no advertising and no charge for listings.  What am I missing?  I am glad to see this business work because it allows us to upcycle and to have it be new to us yet keeps it out of the land fill.  I also have found that people will be willing to pay a bit more for items on craigslist compared to if you were to sell it at a rummage sale.  Plus you can look for the bargains you are looking for without leaving your house, and if you are selling - the best part of it all is I have sold most of the items I have tried to sell and even better is you don’t have to have a rummage sale.  

Daily Dose of BS Oct 3 56th Oktoberfest

Well we did it.  We made it through the 56^th annual Oktoberfest celebration, what did you think?  I enjoyed this years fest, I think even more than previous fests, I did fest all 4 days and I liked it.  It is funny since fest became a shorter celebration, I didn’t find myself at fest any less than other years, in fact I think I headed down even more.  I took part in the Slicing of the Golden Brat, I drove the Mapleleaf Parade on Saturday, it was typical we were number 102 in the parade and supposed to line up by 930 am for a 10am start to the parade, we didn’t even start to move until after noon, which made for a long morning.  At least the weather was awesome.  I hit a few concerts and yesterday I was a judge in OktoBRATfest featuring 7 chef made brats.  I had fun seeing many people that I haven’t seen in quite a while.   My biggest issues with the fest isn’t with fest at all but with the get as drunk as possible mentality of too many.   The drunk and disorderly folks especially around the college area left their garbage strewn all around.  I thought that West Avenue looked like a dump site.  Pick up after yourself.  And remember a community fest isn’t about getting a drunk as possible and wrecking the beauty around you.