Daily Dose of BS Sept 5

Do we have a drinking problem?  You’ve heard the old saying you drink, you get drunk,  you fall down no problem.  We have a couple of Universities in La Crosse and plenty of bars, mix young men and women getting away from home for the first time moving to a new city, coupled with cheap drinks, peer pressure, and you have a recipe for disaster.  We have had many young men end up dead in the river over the years and had a missing student in La Crosse this past Sunday into Monday.  A 22 year old from West Salem went missing for about 8 hours.  As a parent I could not imagine what kind of thoughts went through the parents head.  I am glad that this young man was found alive, but still drunk at 10:30 the next morning.   According to a news release from the La Crosse Police Department at least 7 patrol officers, 2 supervisors, 6 investigators, 2 deputies with k-9, and 8 firefighters were involved in the search, not only did this stunt cause his buddies to worry not to mention his parents but look at the labor costs associated with this.  I am all for going out for a few beers with some friends, but stay with your friends and get a designated driver.  By the way over the weekend La Crosse cops handed out over 50 citations for underage drinking.  

Daily Dose of BS August 31

I have never been a motorhead.  I have had cars, motorcycles, trucks and vans.  The reason I bring this up is that my car that I drive each and everyday I have had for about 5 years my Mom gave it to me because they got a new car and thought this car is on its last legs plus it got better gas mileage than my full sized van.  My Honda Accord has 341,660 miles on it, it starts right up, and moves right along, when my Mom and Step Dad owned it they did all the maintenance, when you were supposed to.   I really believe if you keep up on the maintenance it will keep your vehicles running to their full life.  I am only the second owner of this car.  My truck on the other hand has 203,000 miles and I believe to be on its last legs, which bums me out, I have had this truck for 7 years and my vehicle with the least miles is my full sized van with only 108,000 miles on it, but I can't afford to drive it with gas flirting with 4 bucks a gallon.  I think I could start the Schmidt junk car lot on the south side.  What has your favorite and least favorite car you have had?

Daily Dose of BS Aug 30

Facebook is an amazing beast, yesterday was my birthday and I had over 10% of my “friends” wish me Happy Birthday.  It is heartwarming that someone would take a few seconds out of their day to so that, for that I thank you.  It is funny about birthdays when you are a kid you can't wait for it and can hardly contain yourself with excitement when it comes to the gift time, when older I am not going to lie, I sometime forget how old I am, some days I feel as though I am in my 20’s others I feel in my 60’s I guess that is good that I am now 44 and right in the middle of where I feel.  This weekend is Labor Day weekend the last official weekend of the summer and the last bit of freedom for the public school kids of the area, here is hoping for a great safe weekend for you and yours and also a super learning filled year for the up and coming school year.  

Daily Dose of BS Aug 29

As Brewer and Shiply sang about in the 70’s new research is showing that being one toke over the line as a teen is linked to later declines in your IQ.  I have heard the saying don’t be a dope by smoking dope, but now they are saying if you are a teen who routinely smoke marijuana you have a long term risk of having a dropping IQ, the researchers didn’t find the same for those who waited until they were older than 18 to become a frequent pot smoker.  I for one do not smoke pot but know many who do and have routinely thought why don’t they make it legal?  I believe that if we do that the government will get us out of debt or at least or at least on the path to being debt free, the way we could make and save money is through taxes, tax it at a higher rate of tax, in turn it would bring that money in.  The people who are in jail for smoking it would be free to become a productive member of society,(or as productive as a pot smoker can be) those that sell it would be able to focus their skills at selling to other illegal things, and end up in jail again anyway, as you can't save stupid. 

Daily Dose of BS Aug 28

As a radio guy in a small market you are not going to get rich.  You can make an ok living but getting rich beyond your wildest dreams ain’t going to happen.  You know what I am ok with that, I made a choice and am happy with the choice that I have made.  I share my office with another guy here at work and I came across a coupon for something I was going to buy later in the week while I was reading the paper, I proceeded to rip the coupon out of the paper.  I got shot the what in the hell are you doing look, then the comment real men don’t use coupons talk.  I would have to disagree, I think that men that don’t use coupons are not the real men, isn’t it part of my job to add to my families wealth?  Add to the bottom line?  Make sure that the family has food on the table and to try to have extra money in the bank account at the end of the week?   Isn’t that part of what a man does?  Plus I am comfortable with who I am and ok with presenting a coupon, I questioned in return, asking what is wrong with it, and got the response at the it just isn’t what a man does.  Your thoughts?

Daily Dose of BS Aug 27

I hate late.  The fog this morning was horrible; I had a hard time seeing a half a block.  It was bad then good then bad again.  Driving blind is not good.  How safe do you suppose that is?  The one thing about the fog is that slows people down and makes them drive more defensively.  I didn’t even see a single phone out this morning and usually I see the glowing light of a phone in an oncoming car.  The slow down was taken to the extreme while driving through Onalaska, a semi was going 10 miles per hour, 10 miles per hour, it the driver crazy?  There are people that have to be somewhere, cause most people don’t just go driving at 4:45 in the morning.  I felt my blood actually getting warmer as I was stuck behind this person driving at a turtles pace.  I was glad when I got the chance to finally pass.  I was kind of surprised the after I passed that someone didn’t pull out in front of me off one of the side streets only to turn on the next street.  I guess when it is foggy people tend to slow down and pay attention.  

Daily Dose of BS August 24

Is it weird that when I was driving into work I was excited to get to work, not for the fact that I love my job which I do, but for the fact that we have a water cooler with ice cold water, and for some reason this morning I have been craving ice water.  While driving in I heard that Lance Armstrong has given up the fight to clear his name.  I do not get this, I always assumed that we as Americans are innocent until proven guilty, guess we are sometimes.  I got a call and a letter from the DMV about 5 or 6 years ago telling me I owed them money.   Huh are you kidding me what for, they said I way underpaid for a van that I bought, saying I underpaid by 6 thousand dollars and that I owed the taxes on the 6k and also a fine for lying.  I wrote a nice letter back to the state explaining how I got the van and kindly reminded them that I was innocent and that they needed to prove I did wrong, it was dropped.  I think that Lance Armstrong should be cleared for doping also, because he has had to jump through hoops and at every turn he has given up his fluids when ever asked.  Have I mentioned, I am glad to be at work.   

Daily Dose of BS Aug 23

I forgot my watch again, this seems to happen a few times a month.  I am addicted to my watch, not that I look at it lots but I miss it around my wrist, I get a constant wrist hug all day long.  My watch is one that my Mom gave to my Dad when we got his Masters Degree, they are divorced so my Dad gave me the watch.  I bet if you go back and read the Beloit College mindset list that wrist watches made the list long ago, my kids all have watches but never wear them.  Back to the mindset list, a list of things that incoming college freshman have always known.  Like there have always been blue M&M’s and that there are no tan ones.  There has never been a romper room, Starz has always been on Direct TV, Mr Burns replaced JR Ewing as the most shot at man in TV, history has always had their own channel, and the Lambeau Leap has always been.  See the complete list at http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2016/ 

Daily Dose of BS August 22

I hate moving.  Not standing up and moving my body from here to there but the act of packing up all my stuff into boxes and loading it into trucks, vans, cars and into the care of others to a new location.  I bring this up because there are no less than 5 houses within a block of where I live up for sale.  This I don’t get, if we as a whole don’t like change isn’t moving to a new location one of the biggest changes that you can make in your life.  I know that moving to La Crosse was the best move that I ever made, it happened just over 20 years ago.  I moved here to work for the Eagle radio station and have not looked back, when I first moved here it was my goal to get to the Twin Cites as a radio personality, I ended up falling in love with the area and built my life around La Crosse.   Since my move here, I have lived in two locations, I rented for a couple of years and been a home owner for over 17 years, 17 years in the same space, kind of weird I know but new walls have been built others tore down, colors, furniture and the feel has changed, and as I started this out, I hate moving.  

Daily Dose of BS August 21

Ever listened to someone talking, someone who should know better and scratch your head and say to yourself what the hell?   We all have been hearing about Congressman  Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for US Senate in Missouri who is running against Senator Claire McCaskill, and his opposition to abortion rights even in case of rape with a claim that victims of “legitimate rape” have unnamed biological defenses that prevent pregnancy.  HUH?  Did he ever take a science class?  Then claiming he misspoke.   The Republican party is now waiting for him to pull out of the race so that way they can point someone else to run against Senator McCaskill, McCaskill seems to be the only person who wants Akin to stay in the race.  What do you think?

Daily Dose of BS August 20

There are some basics that we need every day like food and sleep.  I get plenty of food because I can control that, but sleep is one thing that I don’t think I get enough of, I go to bed plenty early but of late have been having a harder time sleeping, from not being able to hit the bed sleeping like I used to, to waking up multiple times in each night and then not being able to fall back to sleep, because I have an active mind.  I have even tried to keep a pen and paper by the bed so when I get a life changing idea I can jot it down, well my penmanship is so poor when I am awake it is even worse when sleeping so I stopped doing that, so there is a tape recorder by the bed now, my voice sound lots deeper at 2am than it does when I am at work.  About 5 years ago I got a cpap machine and that has helped, but not as well lately, any advice for a better nights sleep?

Daily Dose of BS August 16

There are a lot of Americans who are not proud to be Americans, there are thousands who could care less about our Country.  People are out there bad talking us, burning flags, committing crimes and not giving a damn about a country that I and millions of others love.  These are people who were born here, raised here and have had the world handed to them, had the best of the best not because of what they did but what our forefathers have done.  There are natural born citizens who don’t care for America and could care less.  This ticks me off.  Then you look at some citizens who fight hard to be in America and bring their kids with them looking for a better life when they come to our country to be in the land of the free, home of the brave, yet they get looked down upon.  Correct me if I am wrong but don’t we all have our roots somewhere else if you go back far enough?  Yesterday was the first day of the Deferred Action Immigration Event, allowing thousands of young undocumented immigrants who want to be here, that want to work that have not been in trouble with the law, are in school, have graduated or have served in our military.  I guess if someone wants to be an American, and follow the rules, I welcome them with open arms.  For those of you who  don’t like it here or don’t want to be here, what is keeping you here? 

Daily Dose of BS August 15

Have you ever happened across any of the slight disappointments in life?  You know the disappointments that I am talking about right.  The ones such as pouring a bowl of frosted mini wheats and finding only a slight amount of frosting on the cereal?  You know what’s worse than that is getting the bowl of cereal ready have the hunger for the cereal then going to the fridge for the milk only to find out that there is either not enough milk for the cereal or worse yet pouring the milk taking the first bite of the cereal and having the milk be bad.  How about after enjoying a Chinese dinner and opening up your fortune cookie only to find you have been jipped out of a fortune?  I know that these are slight things to be upset about but there are many of these slight disappointments that add up to many disappointed people, how about when you finish up a job in the bathroom only to find that the person who was there before you didn’t replace the paper or maybe you’re out of soap or paper towels, not anything that will kill you but make for disappointments.  

Daily Dose of BS August 14

Today is an important day, don’t get me wrong every day is an important day, but today is extra special.  Today you could be part of the solution, you get to help choose many different elected seats from Congressional, to United States Senator federally to Legislative and State Senate, to Representatives to the Assembly, District Attorney and Clerk, Treasurer and Register of Deeds.  Voters may vote for candidates in the primary of ONLY ONE political party, if you do not designate a party preference and vote for candidates of more than one party then no votes will be counted, so please read the directions when going to the polls.  Voting takes only a few minutes, but the results are resounding.  The primary in my opinion is one of the most important votes you will make, since it is less attended than the main election meaning your vote really counts you also get to help to shape the election from a bigger pool.  Please get out and vote.

Daily Dose of BS August 13

 Last week was the first time I got to sleep in every single day for an entire week in over 2 years.  It was also I am assuming the last family vacation I will be taking with my entire family, my oldest goes for his senior year this year and already is growing wings.  I spent a few years in Scottsbluff Nebraska working in radio 20 years ago and would drive thru South Dakota to get home to the Twin Cities a few times a year and saw the signs for Wall Drug and The Worlds only Corn Palace and always just drove by.  On vacation I made sure we stopped at the above places and also many other roadside places.  We did the Corn Palace a week ago Sunday stayed at a great place off the Interstate at The Thunderbird Lodge, it was the first time I have ever stayed in a place with enough beds for the 6 of us.  What a great night’s sleep, plus it was close to the Corn Palace.  Next up was our trek across the state of South Dakota to Custer State park, stopping in the Badlands and if you have never been there, would greatly suggest it.  We were passing and getting passed by the bikers on their way to Sturgis, pretty sad that all the hotels and State Parks boosted their rates for the half million bikers and others coming into their state.  At Custer Park went on a Buffalo Safari and saw up close, close to 200 buffalos it was breath taking.  Off to the faces, and a pioneer dinner.  We then headed south to Scottsbluff to visit some friends we hadn’t seen in 20 years stopped at a restaurant we missed and then off to visit friends in North Platte Nebraska.  It is good to have friends, catching up and reliving the good old days.   

Daily Dose of BS August 2

The .9 isn’t fooling anyone, when gas is 3.64.9 why don’t they just say 3.65?  I am not fooled and most of the American public isn’t either, if that is the case why do it?  I guess that is why cars are 44,999 or other things are 1.99.  Why not make it 45 grand or 2 dollars.  The extra cent isn’t going to make or break anyone will it?  Wait let me take that back, we are getting nickel and dimed these days at the pump these days.  Gas prices are up again this week, we are up about 15 cents in the past couple weeks.  At 10 gallons that is a buck fifty every time you fill up, and if you thing back to about 14 years ago we had a bit of time when gas was 99.9 cents a gallon, my wages haven’t gone up 4 x in the past 14 years has yours?  In fact I think my wages have gone up .9% a year.

Daily Dose of BS August 1

All too often we get upset with service, either bad service for this or bad customer service for that.  We have all had our share of bad service.  If we get bad service we tend to complain under our breath and move one, only to return to that store to spend our money there again.  Kind of a sad commentary of us I think.  I am as guilty of it as the next guy.  When we get good service or even exceptional service when have we even said anything about it to the manager or whomever it was that gave us that service, I think in the back of our heads we expect that service every time we go somewhere right?  Unfortunately it isn’t the case; I so rarely receive superb service that when I do I say something, like thank you or you are doing a good job.  I went through the drive thru lane at Taco Johns last night on way to Logger game and blown away by the customer service that was given to me.  I had three contacts with the young lady working the drive thru, from the loud speaker to the purchase to the handing off of my food and each of contacts was better than the last.  I mentioned to her, thank you for doing your job well, for the positive attitude and for making it easy to be a customer.  I made an effort to save the receipt but must have tossed it, I think the name on the receipt said Chelsy but I may be mistaken, but whatever business ends up with this young lady working for them in the future, will be lucky.

Daily Dose of BS July 31

The James Holmes shootings in Aurora Colorado has brought up some interesting topics.  I believe that we all have the right to bear arms.  I feel that we should be able to conceal carry if we are properly trained.  I also think that guns are too easy to get.  Why would anyone other than a police officer or someone in the service need or even want a rapid fire semi or automatic gun.  If you are a hunter these take out the sport of the hunt and the only other reason I can see you having one is so that you can shoot something many, many times.  Why?  Also why do we need to buy 1000’s of bullets at a time?  Why can we buy them without ever having to see anyone, or register your bullets?  If you are buying over a certain amount of ammo don’t you think that it would be safer for us all if the person who bought massive amounts of ammo should have to register it somewhere, or at least see someone?  Don’t get me wrong, I think we should all have guns if we want but they should be registered legal guns.  If you’re not causing problems or plan on doing something illegal why would you care if your bullets are registered and why would you care if someone knows you have the bullets?

Daily Dose of BS July 30

The rabbits in La Crosse have been doing what is expected of them.  I don’t think I have ever seen more rabbits in my life as I have around my neighborhood.  I remember when I was a kid growing up in the Twin Cities, that my buddies and I tried catching rabbits with a box and some carrots, never having enough patience to wait until they actually jumped into the box so that the string could be pulled.  To be honest with you I don’t know what I would have done with the rabbit if I would have ever caught one.  The reason I bring these pesky four legged luck bringers up is that the luck on at least one ran out this morning, it was on the other side of the road and wasn’t moving, it didn’t move that is until I drove by then I am guessing the boredom of being a rabbit overtook the rabbit and he decided to play chicken with my tires, the car won.  Too bad that he chose my car to play it with, cause when it happened I felt bad, bad enough to think about it for more than a minute, bad enough to write about it and talk about it.  Ok, I’m over it now, but come on rabbits it’s not cool to play rabbit roulette with the four tires of a car, eventually you will tire.  

Daily Dose of BS July 27

We are going to be seeing the best of the best after the Olympic opening ceremony opens up the annual 4 year games tonight.  There has already been some controversy with the uniforms that the American Athletes will be wearing; in fact Harry Reid called for the burning of all uniforms and start over.  I don’t know about you but most of the clothing I am wearing unfortunately is made overseas.  I would more likely say lets burn the uniforms because they are ugly rather than that they are made overseas.  I am hoping for lots of positive stories to come from the Olympics, but as we know from prior years there competition sometimes brings out the worst of the worst.  Remember the Olympics from 18 years ago, if I say skating and Olympics what is your first image?  I think of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, I was ok with their friendly rivalry but once the clubbing happened, come on.  This isn’t the only time that controversy has taken center stage at the Olympics either.  Let’s hope for more of the positive stories to come from the next couple of weeks as thousands of amateur athletes and hundreds of professional athletes take center stage, here is to good sportsmanship and positive outcomes.  

Daily Dose of BS July 26

Couple of things I am thinking about this morning there are so many times that we let things go, for example I have a piece of siding that got blown not off my garage but is not in the track and is about 16 feet off the ground this happened last March when the tornado went through my neighborhood, I see it once in a while, but it’s one of those things that doesn’t bother me, it’s on the honey do list but is not at the top and someday it will get done, most likely today since I am making a deal about it, but there are many things on that honey do list that just keep sitting there like, paint the door jamb in the basement or build shelves for the cabin I have a list that keeps growing.  I sometimes get to the list but more often than not, the list grows, and I am guessing that mine isn’t the only list to keep growing.  Do you have items on your list, if so what kind of items are on it?  The second thing that is on my mind is that I put together a lunch most nights so I don’t have to do it in the morning, I went to grab my lunch this morning and over half of it was eaten, thanks to my 17 year old son.  

Daily Dose of BS July 25

I really dislike the phrase No Worries.  It implies that I was going to worry about whatever it was that I said that made someone say not to worry.  To me that is very presumptuous of you to think I was worried about it to begin with I would have said something or I would have just worried about it but now I have the free pass of not worrying about it at all.  Well thank you, thank you  very much thank you for the free pass thank you for allowing me off the hook, thanks for the chance for me to have a free conscious.  Thanks for making me not think about what I did anymore, what if I wanted to worry, what if that was my main purpose in life at that moment.  I sometimes like to worry about things that may or may not have been I sometimes sit and think what if they would not have said no worries and then thought what if I did worry after they said not to, it is no wonder that I go through so many tums and rolaids and other antacids.  All this because someone offered me two words after I answered them an answer, the two words of no worries, is what started it all. 

Daily Dose of BS July 24

A six year old is among the 12 dead, I am sickened by the fact that this monster James Holmes went in guns blazing to a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, last Friday in Aurora Colorado.  This is unacceptable, a travesty, a horrible chain of events.  I am not claiming to be a great parent, we all have our own situations that we have to deal with as a parent but I don’t think that I would have brought my 6 year old or my 4 year old to a movie at midnight.  Especially to The Dark Knight Rises, these movies are made for an older crowd; a crowd that understands what it going on.  I sometimes get questioned by my own kids when we are watching things if they are real (and they are older than six), and when you see things that are in the movies that are presented as real we sometimes get caught up in the “realness” events, then bringing your kids to a midnight showing which is way past the bed time of a typical 6 year old.  I am not trying to start anything with this especially with 71 people shot and 12 dead, but don’t you think that having kids at that young age in the movie theater is inappropriate.  I am angry, actually mad as hell that this happened, just like the rest of the nation but come on there is a reason that Bambi isn’t playing at midnight, it is not a movie show time for kids.   

Daily Dose of BS July 23

Be a tourist in your own community.  In the economy we are enduring and gas prices un the upward swing again I think we should look at the great things we have in our own back yard the things that we take for granted like the rivers, and lakes.  When was the last time you were out on the water here in our backyard?  How about the bluffs and the many miles of trails both on the bluffs and through the parks, I have been exploring these trails more in the past year than I did in the first 19 years that I have lived in Gods Country.  I also invite you to take in the great local shops in Downtown La Crosse or a short drive to the north there is the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway, many different foods can be found here and you can't forget the salute to this that and the other thing, almost every single weekend we are blessed to live in an area that has fest fairs and fun weekly.  So look around and take in what is around and live life to its fullest.  And share what you have found, don’t just sit on that diamond, let everyone know.   The reason I bring this up is I was in Stevens Point over the weekend for a baseball tournament and when I told a few people I was going there, everyone mentioned to go to Belt’s for ice cream and when I posted on fb I was going to Stevens Point everyone there said go to Belt’s when someone says I am going to La Crosse what do you tell people to check out?

Daily Dose of BS July 20

When you are in line at the grocery store and you write a check, why would you not put the name of the store, the date, and your signature on the check while you are in line instead of waiting until the last possible second to do it?  I have been stuck behind people in the shortest line at the grocery store and 9 out of 10 times this will happen.  Why do the people writing the checks not use the debt card and why would they wait until the last second to fill in what could have been done earlier?  And why is it that these people who wait do not seem to have a care in the world that maybe just maybe this is why they are buying cat food for 10 and food for one.

Daily Dose of BS July 19

I got a new toilet at my house it is a 10 when it comes to the flush at least according to the flush scale, why in the world would anyone get anything less than the best when it comes to flush power?  Do you like to embarrass your guests by putting it as the guest bathroom toilet and see who comes out and asks for the plunger?  For my top of the line 10 flusher I paid under 200 bucks, 200 bucks for a piece of equipment that takes everyone’s ummm Schmidt.  The reason I bring this up is that the sound of the toilet is not a nice flushing sound of cascading waters gently flowing around the bowl but a hack if you will of trying to get something unstuck from the back of your throat, forcing the mess to its final resting place, the noise will wake the dog and the kids from a quiet nights sleep, scare the heck out of you the first time it happens and when you happen to be napping on the recliner in the other room.  It may be a low water user and it may be a 10 on the flush scale, but on a decibel scale it is deafening, so next time you flush one of the new toilets flush and plug, I better clarify flush and plug your ears.   

Daily Dose of BS July 18

Move over; don’t wait until the last possible second.  Where there is road construction there are going to be idiots.  I don’t get it.  You know that when there is road construction that you need to move over especially when there is construction that is ongoing like the Hwy 35 construction in Onalaska or the Losey Blvd construction in La Crosse, it should not come to a surprise to you that you are going to have to switch to either the right or left lane, you should know that.  Unless today is your first day in the city, or your first day driving, when you are the car that waits until the last possible second to merge how did that make you feel?   Did you feel like the b.m.o.c?  Was it a feeling of power?  Was it your winning moment of the day, if so I am sorry that your life is so boring that you need to put yourself and your passengers in harm’s way along the way putting my life in danger and in turn ticking me and everyone else behind me in a bad mood at least for a second.  Um if I am talking to you when was the last time that someone did that same thing to you?  Did it tick you off?  I bet it did and here you are doing the same thing, wonderful.  Have a pleasant day, and don’t let the idiots tick ya off. 

Daily Dose of BS July 17

If you listened to any radio over the weekend, you may have heard that the credit card companies are now going to allow stores to pass on the 3% usage fee to the customer.  Now correct me if I am wrong, isn’t that cost already being passed on to us as the cost of business?  I guess I can honestly say this right now that I for one will try not to spend my money with businesses that are adding the credit card fees to my bottom line.  I can say as of right now this is how I feel, but in the grand scheme of things, I hope that this fails miserably and falls back on the credit card companies and every business that implements this outrageous fee, unless of course they drop the fees straight across the board for all the prices at the store for people who pay cash.  I can say this now but will most likely it will be about as meaningful as a celebrity saying that they will move from the country if x is elected, I don’t recall anyone of these loud mouthed celebrities moving from the county.  If they did move would we miss them, most likely not but if we all complain about this, maybe just maybe we can make a difference.   

Daily Dose of BS July 16

Do we give in to our kids too much; are we taking too much crap from our kids?  Are the inmates running the asylum?  I see it at my house and at others around, when I misbehaved I got the look and if that didn’t work I got the threat of wait until your father gets home.  That was about all it took, I am sure I was a good kid, not like the many that are running all over their parents now.  I am not pointing fingers at least not too much but when was the last time you saw a kid ask either mom or dad for something heard the parent say no and then the kid turns on the tears, attitude, and anger only to have mom or dad give in to the kid.  It kind of makes me a bit mad to see this, because what is this teaching these kids, that if they have a fit they will get what they want.  I am sorry to burst your bubble kid but that is not going to work once you get in life.  In fact I am not against punishment for misbehaving, I am not saying beat your child or even raise your hand but what is wrong with a few days break from the tv, computer, gaming system or even a day or two off of spending time with friends.  I feel we need to get our lives back and it can start at home, getting respect from our kids.  It really does hurt to see a kid walk all over their care giver, parents do your kids and yourself a favor and take back the house. 

Daily Dose of BS July 13

Billboards are great reminders, the one that stands out the most to me is the one that ran a few years ago that said “Buzzed driving is Drunk Driving.”  I am not a stupid man and never really thought about it but it made sense to me.  It was a wake up call that made me realize just that.  Since that billboard came into my life, I have changed the way I drive, and when I will get into a car.  I lucked out and I am guessing that you may have also.  It was an easy and simple message but it hit home, the people who put that message followed it up with a few car crash billboards with the caption under each that said drunk driving and showing a smashed car and the same picture with the caption buzzed driving under it.  Bam wake up call.  As I said in a few moments ago, wasn’t something I even though of, so for the people who put up that campaign thank you for saving some lives.

Daily Dose of BS July 12

I know a guy who gave up his smart phone since he couldn’t not look at his phone while he was driving.  I think that if you know you can't not look, this is a smart thing to do.  I am not sure how many times throughout the day that I notice someone texting while driving, and it is both men and women, young and old.  I am often looking at my phone when I am stopped but have been tempted to look at it I am not going to lie.  I heard on the radio yesterday morning that there is new technology out there that will stop your phone from being able to text while driving but only if you are the driver.  I like this, I think that this kind of technology will be a good thing for our younger drivers and heck even the more seasoned drivers like myself who are tempted to look at the phone while driving.  The only thing is how does the phone know that you are the driver and not just a passenger.  I was making a phone call the other day from my phone in my car and the guy who was in the truck next to me laid on the horn, at first I was mad, but then realized that he assumed that I was texting, and I was still mad, but I got over it and understand why he was upset.  

Daily Dose of BS July 11

Are you as irritated as I am when you call a business to talk to someone and they come on with a recorded voice saying we are trying to make it easier on you by streamlining the process by automating?  I call BS I do not recall a single time in my life that the automated phone answerer has made my life or anyone’s life easier.  How can listening to an answering machine telling me to listen as our options have changed possibly make it easier for me to get my job done?  I called a huge business that every one of you have heard of the other day a number that I had memorized as I have talked to these people for many years, only to end up 7 minutes later still trying to navigate their stupid time saver, the only saver of time that was saved was the person on their end of the line answering the phone and putting me thru to the person that I wanted to talk to.  This reminds me of another Midwest business that has a generic number out there, and the listing for you to talk to this department push this etc and I thought I would beat the system and push zero to get the operator, guess what that just repeated the message and then I was on a mission to find the operator number so that I could voice my opinion on how I loved the system, it was a double digit number and when I hit it I was transferred to a full mail box and hung up on.  Needless to say I voiced my opinion next time I visited the store; the voice mail however is still the same.  Damn. 

Daily Dose of BS July 10

I had the most surreal week last week.  I always wanted to have a 3 hour long morning talk show, I have been doing radio for much of the past 25 years, and in that time I have had a 30 minute talk show for about 5 years and produced a talk show for over 15 years, and filled in for that talk show many times., but the past week was one of trial and error, more error than trial.  I learned a lot, for example you cannot walk in to a new situation thinking you are able to BS your way through an hour if someone was not available to talk.   I also learned that a billboard is huge, especially if your mug is on it.  It is so surreal to look at a 12 foot high mug shot on a billboard.   It is also weird to have people be totally blunt with you, for example someone said you are horrible on the radio and I am glad you got fired from your last job, another person told me I have the face for radio, I have also heard that I love your voice and I think you are funny.  I guess when you have a media job and you are in the public that you can expect the unexpected.  But when you are totally blunt with someone try to remember that we do have feelings, and maybe try to tone it down a bit, and I know I got the face for radio and the voice for newspaper.

Daily dose of BS July 9

We have all heard someone we know say I long for the good old days when things were much simpler.  Heck I bet that many of you have said it at a point or two in your lives.  Now correct me if I am wrong the good old days meant black and white tv, only am radio, no remotes, cell phones, microwaves, or dvd players and dvrs.  It also meant getting on your hands and knees to trim grass around the fences, washing dishes by hand and hours and hours of research done at the library.  I guess we all love having a hot and humid home especially after last week, and love to cut wood, and stack it only to be woke in the middle of the night to add wood to the fire.  And who can forget the ice cold outhouse seat at 2 in the morning with no lights.  I for one am glad that we have the modern conveniences, and for the every once in a while that I think otherwise, there is nothing stopping me from getting rid of the modern convenience that have made our lives easier and more productive.  If ya don’t like it try spending a day living in the past, winding up your record player, having your phone in your kitchen and having to open your garage door by yourself, oh yea remember men you have to wear a suit to work, with a fancy hat.

Daily Dose of BS July 5

Hot enough for you? I hate when people say that but have been finding myself saying it within the last few days. The temperatures around La Crosse have been unbearable and as I am getting older I am not as tolerant when it comes to heat and humidity. I was thinking that I have had the air on in my house for the past at least 10 days and maybe even longer. I even gave up going to my cabin on Tuesday night because there is no air there, also didn’t go to Riverfest Tuesday night because of the same thing. I did spend much of yesterday there and also will be walking a mile in her shoes for prevention of domestic violence tonight, come down to the fest grounds to cheer us on and to look at over 300 men wearing high heel. And when we are done doing the walk, I expect that the La Crosse Jaycees Beer tent will be full of men with high heels…the picture of that is just scary and disturbing. Daily Dose of BSweekday mornings on Today's Talk 1490 and weekday afternoons on Magic 105

Daily Dose of BS June 25

I have been in radio for most of my adult life; I have worked in many different formats meaning music genera over the past 24 years from top 40, to oldies, from active rock to talk and adult contemporary to country.  I have worked all shifts starting out overnights in Mason City Iowa, moved to Scottsbluff Nebraska and over the 2 ½ years there, worked all the shifts mornings, middays, afternoons and nights.  I have spent the last 20 years here in La Crosse Wisconsin.  Most of that time working in radio; one break I took ,the other was a layoff.  I have been with the La Crosse Radio group since about 6 months after my layoff, I have been here almost 3 years, working in news and doing the afternoon shift on Magic 105.  About 6 months ago I was asked if I wanted to help switch the format of Adult Standards 1490 WLFN to Today’s Talk 1490.  Would I?  It would be a dream come true, as working talk radio was always my favorite.  The dream is getting closer as I will be taking over the morning show calling it BS with Bob Schmidt, 6-9 Monday – Friday.  I have never been part of a format change before, and I am sure some will be upset, hopefully more will love it than hate it.  You know as a person with over half my life on the radio, I am surprisingly nervous as I type this out.  It is getting closer and closer by the day.  I am asking you to please join me when you can weekday mornings on Today’s Talk 1490 and then again weekday afternoons here on The Best Variety Magic 105.  And to all my team members at La Crosse Radio Group thank you for believing in me, I won't let you down.  Daily Dose of BS 

Daily Dose of BS June 22

I did not write this, I don’t know who did, I tried to find the original author, I couldn’t, but I liked it so am sharing it.  Me, behave/normal?  Seriously?  As a child I saw Tarzan almost naked, Cinderella arrived home after midnight, Pinocchio told lies, Aladdin was a thief, Batman drove over 200 miles an hour, Snow White lived in a house with 7 men, Popeye smoked a pipe and had tattoos, Pac Man ran around to digital music while eating pills that enhanced his performance, and Shaggy and Scooby were mystery solving hippies that always had the munchies. The fault is not mine!  Also don't forget that Elmer Fudd didn't practice gun safety.  Fred & Daphne used to head off alone together.  Captain Caveman was a throwback raging on 'roids.  There were like 99 Smurfs, but only one was female....and they lived in shrooms.  It's still unclear what George Jetson did for a living.  A dune buggy had a speech impediment.  And somehow the Harlem Globetrotters ended up in all of the cartoons mentioned.  Captain Kangaroo could see us thru the tv, there was sexual tension between Mr Skinner and Miss Krabapple , the Simpson kids always disrespected their parents, how am I to know any better. As I said I don’t know who originally wrote this, but thought I would share.  It’s just not my fault.

Daily Dose of BS June 21

Is it so bad to want to communicate when you go to the bar or to a restaurant?  It seems like bars and restaurants are trying to hide something by pumping the volume up in their establishments, is there a correlation between the volume of the jukebox, radio or tv in a place and the quality of the food, drink or service?  I haven’t found this to be the case, but  I have poor hearing and am getting older and like to sit and just BS when I go out, communications are the cornerstone of any relationship and if you don’t get a chance to talk when you are out, how do you build friendships?  No wonder the younger generation has a hard time communicating beside with short answers, the art of conversation will be lost forever if we don’t insist on quieter surroundings, I hate conversations that are interrupted with a huh, or a what because of the ambient noise.  And when you have to yell to talk to the person sitting right next to you, it probably isn’t good for the relationship.  

Daily Dose of BS June 20

My oldest turns 17 today.  In the past 17 years it has been amazing to see him grow into a responsible young man.  From his help around the house, to getting and holding a job through his junior year at Bions Service Station to lettering in golf, and getting a job this summer at Forest Hills.  Hayden has done this all while being on the Honor Roll every quarter of his High School Career.  As his dad I am so proud of this guy.  He has great friends, who all have high aspirations in life.  He is polite, caring and has a great scene of humor, he is also smart-alecky at times and people always throw at me where do you think he got that.  I don’t know, can you pick that up off a toilet seat somewhere?  I expect many great and exciting things for this young man.  I don’t mean for this to be embarrassing but I am so proud of him.  Hayden I hope you have a great birthday, and remember I always love you buddy.  

Daily Dose of BS June 19

Two words “thank you” not hard to say but often forgotten, don’t be that person that gets something and doesn’t say the two little words.  How hard is it to thank someone for what they have done for you?  I make a conscience effort to say thank you for everything from the waitress bringing me a glass of water to the person holding the door to the person that is doing their job right, because we all know that, that does not always happen.  (You know who I most often forget to say thank you to, my family, we often take our families for granted, and for that I am sorry.)   Another two words we tend to forget is I’m sorry.  How hard is it to say I’m sorry, it makes a huge difference as we go thru life, it is so easy to say and the repercussions of saying it are huge.  If you made a mistake admit it and move on don’t dwell on it, it will save you heartache later.  So to wrap up this BS thank you for listening and sorry if this topic didn’t sit well with you.

Daily Dose of BS June 18

So there we were, the seven thousand people who weathered the storm at FreedomFest 2012 getting ready for the 3^rd and final band Steve Miller who called himself Stevie Guitar, when Don Weber founder of FreedomFest got up to speak, to remind us again of the reason we were all at FreedomFest, it is for our Veterans, it was a celebration of life for those who made it home after their tours and a celebration of the lives of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives so that we have our freedoms.  This was the first FreedomFest that I have been a part of and am looking forward to enjoying it again next year.  From the moment that the Remainders took the stage, I knew it was going to be an electrifying night, with great music, and I was not disappointed from the cover and original songs from the Remainders to every single hit that Foreigner played to the bluesy renditions of the Steve Miller Band the music did not disappoint.  There was an hour break after Foreigner as the weather decided that the music was too hot and needed to be doused with buckets of rain, besides it being the world’s largest wet t-shirt contest I might add with no winners it was a great concert.  Back to Don Weber and his tribute to the Fallen Heroes, I listened to what he was saying and watched on the screen as Patriotic Music played and a slide show of the Brave Men and Women who lost their lives for our freedoms flashed by onscreen.  I was standing shoulder to shoulder to thousands as we watched and not a dry eye in the crowd, I guess I am not too big to cry.  

Daily Dose of BS June 15

I am lucky I had a dad to talk to when I was growing up and my dad continues to be my friend to this day.  There were times when we didn’t see eye to eye but I think that is the way it should be, you can't be a puppet of your parents or your boss or your spouse.  My parents were there for me when I needed them to be and surprisingly were absent when I needed my space.  That is the sign of a good parent I guess, it is what I try to do for my children.  What I am trying to say is that this Sunday is Father’s Day, a day for us to call or stop by and talk to our dads.  If your father is still alive, I invite you to give the old man a call and tell him what you think of him, even if you don’t see eye to eye, I would bet that he would like to hear what you have to say.  Dads are a rare breed that sometimes get overlooked especially with the dead beat dads that are out there, it is too bad that these so called donors were there for the fun but when it came time to step up and be a man, they didn’t, they took the low road, not fessing up to or helping out with and not being there for their kids.  We all have heard the stories of these people who want nothing to do with the child that they helped to create.  For you men that stepped up and take care of your children or help your loved one take care of her children, thank you for being there and being a man for your kids and step kids I wish you a happy father’s day.  And to my dad Bob Schmidt, I love you dad Happy Father’s Day, and thanks for being a man.

Daily Dose of BS June 14

I admit it I make mistakes each and every from typing this up to later reading it on the air.  I do and will make mistakes many throughout the day, I guarantee it.  The thing about the mistakes I make is you will hear them when I mess up on a word on the radio, or see them when I use the wrong word posting this on facebook, if not for the automatic spell check on my computer you would see many more mistakes than are showing now.  The reason I bring this up is when I mispronounce a name on the air, I will hear about it.  Names are for me the hardest to pronounce as sometimes, you look at a name like s-m-i-t-h and you say Smith, and nine times out of ten it will be pronounced that way, the person who got their name on the news however will pronounce s-m-i-t-h as Smyth.  And then feel the need to call you to tell you, that you said it wrong.  I want to say if you didn’t do wrong then your name wouldn’t have been pronounced wrong on the radio to begin with.  But I don’t.  Needless to say I do wrong on a regular basis, and if you have a problem with that, then I think it would be your issue as I admit I am wrong and am ok with who I am.  

Daily Dose of BS June 13

Have ya ever broken a mirror, how about, spilled salt, sneezed 3 times, opened an umbrella in the house?  I am guessing unless you have lived in a padded box you have done one or all of these supposed bringers of bad luck.  I had the ultimate BS happen last night, a bird dropped a big old load of BS on my head and shoulder.   If you are wondering what BS stands for in this case it stands for Bird Schmidt.  Right on my head and this isn’t the first time that this has happened to me.  I was riding my motorcycle on Father’s Day 1995, 3 days before my oldest was born when a bird let loose all over my head, face and glasses; thank goodness I was close to my destination.  I am in a long line of Schmidt’s that have been target practice for our winged friends, I remember when I was a kid my Dad told us of a day when he was watching his Dad take a nap on a hammock and Grandpa Schmidt slept with his mouth open, needless to say my Dad saw some awesome maneuvering from the bird and splat right into the open target, I guess Grandpa just moved his mouth a few times and didn’t wake, I asked Dad if he told him, he said no way.   Back to trying to clean up my little mess, I was at the Shelby ball diamonds last night to watch my daughters softball game and the only have the hand dryer there so I was grabbing toilet paper to help with the cleanup I might add that it only came off one sheet at a time, that’s a whole other Daily Dose.  I was able to clean up to the best of my ability, I am thankful that there is no smell.  BTW a great friend of mine told me that getting splattered on by a bird was good luck, yea good luck that cows don’t fly.   

Daily Dose of BS June 12

I have not turned on the air conditioning in my home yet, with shades drawn, and ceiling fans blowing I have avoided the closing up of the house at least for the time being.  It helps that over the 2 hottest weekends so far this year we were out of town.  I am guessing if we reach the expected high of 90 this weekend I will be breaking down and flipping on the air.   I grew up in a house where air wasn’t turned on until it was 100+ with 100 percent humidity.  I like to be comfortable so when the house gets too warm or too humid I turn it on.  Once the air is on for a couple of days for a stretch of heat, I usually leave the air on for an extra day just because, and then when I do finally turn off the air and open the windows it needs to be turned on again, I wish there was a magic home comfortable switch.  It is all about comfort I think, for all of us not just me, we all love comfort and hate it when we are uncomfortable.  We collectively prefer things to go our way and like it when we are not put out too much; I think it is just human nature.  Remember that being uncomfortable pushes you into greatness, that being uncomfortable has brought forth many of the best inventions.  

Daily Dose of BS June 11

Ever have one of those weekends that you couldn’t wait to get back to work? I have had them as well, this past weekend sure wasn’t one of them. The 11th annual Algoma Fishing weekend brought in 3 new faces, two of my boys and a hockey dad joined the usual gang from La Crosse, Milwaukee and St. Louis, Missouri. Friendships have blossomed over the years and not only is it a great time fishing but also a so called brotherhood where many jokes, and one-liners are shared over a cast and a beer. This year no different in fact a few baahd pranks have been pulled on a few of the guys. The guys from Fishin Magician Charters took great care of the gang again this year as we got a total of 24 salmon between the groups and no shortage of fish stories and camaraderie among the fisherman. It was great for me to spend time with my boys and allow them to blossom into young men, and just as great to grow and make new friends. If you are looking for a get away from your regular life and want to spend some time fishing a great lake, I would suggest a trip to Algoma Wisconsin fisherman’s paradise and a trip with family and good friends both old and new. And for the newbies, maybe remember the Dramamine. Daily Dose of BS weekday afternoons on Magic 105 and soon on 1490

Daily Dose of BS June 7

Pick up after yourself.  Don’t throw your cigarette butts on the ground.  Use the trash receptacles, separate your recyclables.  The world is not your garbage can.  I feel like the Dad here, but pick up your crap.  I am sick and tired of going to the park and seeing some rude inconsiderate person leave their garbage on the picnic tables, and by the swing sets and on the walking trails, how about the person that almost made the garbage can, and splattered their mess all over the side of the can, come on how hard is it to make it in the reciprocal it seems like it was more effort to miss the can.  Also the world is not your ashtray.  Do not flick your butts on the ground.  And you who leave your kids dirty diapers in the parking lot, I hope that someone accidently fills your car with crap, but then you probably won't notice it.  

Daily Dose of BS June 6

Voters turned out in droves, I made it to the polling place yesterday at about noon and it took me a whole 7 minutes to get a parking spot, walk in to the polling place, get directed to my ward number from the check in person, stand in my ward line to sign and get my ballot, cast my vote, talk to a couple of neighbors and go home, 7 minutes out of my day, I waste more time everyday during my work day than that.  If your excuse for not voting was you don’t have the time, it is not a big time issue, and your boss has to let you have time off to vote, so in the next election, please vote.  So now that the recall is done and over with, time to start campaigning for the next election, you didn’t think that it was over did you?  If the results were not what you wanted are you prepared for a recall of the recall?  I am not sure I get the whole recall idea anyway.  I thought if you vote for a candidate and you are not happy with their performance that you try harder next election to get your candidate in.  I am also not extremely happy with all the negative ads.  I am sure we all have things in our past that we would not like to come up, why re-hash these candidates past with things that they did 40 years ago, let’s focus on what have they done lately, what ever happened to live and let live and forgive and forget?  For those of you that got out and voted yesterday, pat yourself on the back for doing your duty.  For those that didn’t, and are not happy with the outcome, you could be the reason that the election turned out the way it did.   

Daily Dose of BS June 5

If you are in Wisconsin and are not a convicted felon today you need to vote. Polls are open until 8 tonight and they are expecting a huge turnout. Well 60-70% the other 30-40% can't be bothered. I was trying to think of what reasons you would not go out and vote, if someone you love has passed away in the past few days, if you were in an accident on the way to the polling place, if your kid, parent, loved one got hurt, you died. I really cannot think of any other good reason for you not getting to the polling place. If you are on vacation and didn’t vote, you could have voted with an absentee ballot. Get it, this is important, you need to vote. Make a difference be heard, please vote.

Daily Dose of BS June 1

They are talking about making it illegal to sell sugared drinks larger than 16 ounces in New York City.  Isn’t a 16 ounce pop a super small?  I remember when I was a kid that the largest pop you could buy was a 32 ounce big gulp at the local gas station, I would head there after school and get 32 ounces of icey cold goodness and it would last the rest of the night.  Fast forward many years and 32 ounce pops are the small sized, at most the medium pop, in fact at Kwik Trip I think they have a 22, 32, 44, and 52 ounce pop.  Heck for coffee I believe that the sizes are 24, 20, 16, and 12 ounce, and if New York follows through on the sugary drink ban, most of what people drink will be effected, how often do you see someone only getting black coffee, many add sugar and cream and are drinking instant cappuccino.  I don’t see New York following through on this.  If they do it will it force everyone to go smaller, to force people to drink out of smaller bottles, maybe taller bottles so that way they look like they are drinking more, either that or people from New Jersey will coming over the bridge with illegal bottles of pop in 20 ounce and 24 ounce bottles, I could see it now black market Mt Dew and Pepsi, I would say Coke but that is already sold on the black market.  

Daily Dose of BS May 31

I have an addiction my son pointed it out to me.  Hi I’m Bob and I am addicted to my cell phone.  I constantly am checking it for information.  From my emails, to my facebook to what news is breaking locally, to using my camera to the maps and gps.  There is so much that the phone has become that I feel naked if I am without it.  When I got my first watch for my first communion, I started wearing it and have been a watch wearer ever since, when I got my first job, I started carrying my wallet, most of the time it is empty but always is in the right hip pocket, when I started driving my keys were always close at hand and now the phone is teetered to my hip.  It is like an accessory that gives back tenfold, what other carry with do you have that gives you so much.  From the ability to go online, look up information, text, among other things, like a calendar and an alarm.  Oh yea you can also use it to make and receive calls.  

Daily Dose of BS May 30

In Wisconsin we are facing the recall of our Governor Scott Walker, the man who faced him in the 2010 gubernatorial election Tom Barrett is facing Mr Walker once again.  The polls show Walker leading Barrett by a margin of 50 to 45 percent.  There was a ton of effort going into this recall election from the people who stood on street corners collecting signatures for the recall, to yard signs, to door knockers, and automated robo calls, to people standing and picketing at different events, lots of time, effort and tons of money spent on political advertising.  Don’t you think that this is over kill?  If there would have been this much effort put forth the first time around that this would not be taking place today.  In the general election there was a turnout of less than 50% they are expecting between 60-70% out to the polls this coming Tuesday.  60-70% this is a lot of people but still not all the people who are eligible to vote.  Don’t you think that only the people who voted in the first election should be allowed to vote in the recall?  If you were too busy to be bothered the first time around why should you get a do over?  If you are not happy with the turn out of this election or any election maybe you should have helped with the original outcome and gone to the polling place and voted in November of 2010.  If the outcome comes back not the way you wanted this time around are you going to want another recall?  A recall of the recall?  This of course is tongue in cheek, but I am sure I have ticked off quite a few and they didn’t make it down here.  I think that you have every right in the world to vote, it is your right as an American.  Please take your responsibility to go to the polls on June 5^th and at every election after, don’t just make the exception to vote at this election because you either weren’t happy with the candidate or situation, please get out and vote in every election.  

Daily Dose of BS May 29

It has been over half my life since I have been able to legally buy beer.  I was up in Northern Minnesota this past weekend for the graduation party of one of my nieces.  Boy was it cold, when we left LaCrosse on Sunday morning it was 70 on the way up to a high of 96 heard from many that air conditioning was turned on for the day.  When we got to Two Harbors Minnesota it was foggy and cold, of course we dressed for LaCrosse weather, big mistake it was a high of 45 foggy, cloudy and damp.  What the heck were we thinking?  It is always fun though to get together and visit with family.  My nephew texted me on the way up asking me to pick up some beer since they were in Minnesota and you can't buy beer on Sunday, ah the joys of Wisconsin living, beer on Sunday and no 3-2 at grocery stores (at least that is what my 24 year old nephew thinks).   After hanging out at the hotel, my nephew who just turned 21, my 24 year old nephew, my sister-in-law and I went out for a beer at a local tavern.  It was the first time my 21 year old nephew was to buy a beer, I thought being the uncle that I would give him the money to buy the pitcher of beer I give him 9 bucks and said leave a buck for the tip, he proceed to leave a dollar on the table and then headed to the bar, I said no leave it with the bartender, he got the beer came back to the table gave me back my money and said that he didn’t have to pay for it, that they just put the beer on his cousins tab.   So he still never bought his first beer, I guess I will just have to go out with him again someday.  

Daily Dose of BS May 25

The next time you go to any store that sells cleaning supplies look around at the packaging for the soaps and cleaners, they are in colorful bottles, made with coloring that mimic power drinks and some of the bottles are in the shapes of pop bottles.  Why in the world would these companies do this?  I remember when I was a kid the Mr Yuck stickers were prevalent.  There was even advertising reminding parents to put the Mr Yuck stickers on the poisonous things under the counter, you would think that with how we have all become overprotective of our most valuable resource our children that we would continue with putting Mr Yuck stickers on our corrosive cleaning supplies and also work on packaging of cleaning supplies that did not looking like kool-aid. I heard on the radio this morning about in Texas so far this year that 71 kids had ingested the new Tide Pod laundry detergent because it looks like a piece of candy.  The people are Proctor and Gamble are now working on new packaging so that way kids don’t think of it as candy.  I think we should bring back Mr Yuck.

Daily Dose of BS May 24

This is it, my final day on the radio according to an email I got I am the winner of 1 million dollars.  I am going to pack up my stuff and hit the road.  How lucky am I, I never even bought a ticket.  All I had to do was respond with my social security number to the email and they will send me a check.  They promised.  People don’t lie and people don’t scam do they?  Heck it seems legit.  I wonder how many people fall for this?  I read a letter to the editor the other day about a grandfather getting a call from who he thought was his grandson asking for some money, the grandpa wanting to help withdrew the money and sent it to some foreign country to his grandson.  He ended up getting his money back because someone was paying attention and told him it was most likely a scam.  I wonder how many fall victims to something like this?  It is unfortunate that there are people out there taking advantage of the elderly and the socially inept.  As for me I am going to pack up my desk and am going someplace nice, after all I got a million free dollars coming my way.  

Daily Dose of BS May 23

It’s hard to admit I am getting old.  I take a nap daily, I can't stay out late, drinking doesn’t appeal to me as it once did, I have hearing aids and I sometimes hurt when I do things I am not used to doing.  I mention this because last night I went to a metal show at the LaCrosse Center.  I used to love going to shows the louder the better, it all started with my first concert with Motley Crue opening up for Ozzy back in 84, I have been going to shows ever since.  I first saw one of the bands last night back in 2001 Megadeth played at the Hollywood a few weeks before my twins were born.  In the past few years, not as many rock shows since there hasn’t really been any, I saw Korn and Disturbed last year, and a few lesser known bands since then, but none have been as loud and visually stimulating as the Rob Zombie show last night.  I found myself closing my eyes a few times and looking away from the stage because of the pulsating red and overabundance of things to look at.  I also hate to admit I was wearing hearing protection during the show, the nice thing is that my ears didn’t have any new ringing when I got home, just the ringing in my ears from earlier hearing damage from not wearing the hearing protection.  Today back to work, a bit tired, hearing aids in, glasses on and coffee grasped firmly in hand, I hope my memory isn’t going next, remind me when is nap time?  

Daily Dose of BS May 22

Have you ever been in the middle of your favorite TV show and had the weather alert go off and the weather guy come in over the best part of the show?  I am guessing we all have if you ever watch TV.  It was a year ago today.  Do you remember what you were doing?  I do I flipped on the TV in time to have Dan Breeden tell the other meteorologist that they should head to the basement.  If the TV weather guy is headed to the basement I had better do it too is what I thought.  Five of the six of us were home, my youngest son was at a friends.  I had called his friends mom to let her know that the kids should be in the basement, no sooner did I get the words out of my mouth a loud band and no electricity.  Thankfully the flashlights were right there and surprisingly they had working batteries.  The rain stopped, the sky color was a pale yellowish blue haze, things got quiet, the dog started barking and a weird eeriness was all around.  Pretty soon you could see it had cleared up, out the back door to see what had happened.  I was two blocks from the damage, the storm had blown out my back windshield of my car, and ripped some siding off my garage, but we faired really well.  I grabbed my recorder and camera, threw on my station shirt then headed out to check out the neighborhood damage, with all the trees down and the power lines down,  roofs off, damage done, it was amazing that we had no serious injuries, and no deaths in La Crosse, in Joplin Missouri they had a tornado on the same day, they weren’t as lucky as we were, 161 dead.   It could have been a lot worse, it is still weird to drive down 16^th Street with so many of the trees gone, I’m just thankful we didn’t get what could have been.

Daily Dose of BS May 21

It seems like more and more dropping their home phone lines.  I still have a home phone and am sure I will for many years as I have young kids, that and I have a great home phone number.  I have been running a business out of my house for many years and have had a business phone/ fax number for many years compliments of a magicJack internet phone, I am one that saw the late night tv commercial many years ago and thought what the heck, if I buy it and it doesn’t work I’m only out 20 bucks or so, I have had mine for at least 4 years and have been nothing but pleased, I bought a thin client so that I could keep my magicJack on all the time without running my computer, this worked well for quite awhile, soon after I got the thin client hook up, the folks at magicJack came up with the magicJack Plus, a device so that I could plug into my router and power and wa-la I would have phone, I finally broke down and got one, the only complaint I have is that I was not able to port over the pre-paid time I bought on my original magicJack, there is a $20 a year service fee for having the magicJack phone but for me well worth the fee.  Having a cell phone is lots easier, but if you need a fax number or a back up phone at your home, you should check out the magicJack.  

Daily Dose of BS May 18

Yesterday I had an awesome day I got to spend it with my twins in Madison, the annual 4^th grade field trip to the state capitol and the Wisconsin State Historical Museum.  You could not have asked for a nicer day for travel, and for this dad.  It was amazing.  I am so proud of the kids and how well each and every one of them behaved, everyone stayed in their groups and none of the teachers had to raise their voices.  We had well informed tour guides in both the capitol and the museum, in the almost 20 years that I have been in Wisconsin I have been on the capitol grounds but never inside, can you say beautiful, our tour took us into the Wisconsin Supreme Court, The Assembly Chamber, The Governor’s office, and the Wisconsin State Senate Chamber, while in there I asked where Senator Jennifer Shilling sat and the tour guide said right where you are sitting, how weird is that, and the proof was on the back of the chair.  As we were leaving one of the legs of the tour we ran into a protester, I don’t care which side of the Governors recall you are on, I as a parent of 4^th graders do not think that it is appropriate for you to protest with your anti anyone signs pointed toward and pandering to 10 year olds, on the other hand it is a free country and we have the right for free speech, I guess I didn’t like that the protester played up and for the kids cameras, and it did open up dialog with the kids and the teachers.  There were other protesters on the capitol grounds I read the messages, but they were a more passive protester.  We ended up the field trip at the robot museum in the Dells, I wish we had more time in the Museum.

Daily Dose of BS May 17

Lots of people give gift cards for gifts, I used to always be against them, but as I have gotten older I have had less a need than a want.  When you are first starting off in life there are things that you need to live like food, shelter etc, those needs don’t change when you get older but if you played your cards right those should be available to you.  Then you add the next tier of things like cable, internet, cell phone and home phone.  Bringing me back to the gift card idea, when I get a card now I will go out and buy something that I wouldn’t normally buy.  So it does in fact become a special gift, one of the bad things about them though is that you are forced to buy from a store maybe you wouldn’t normally shop at or maybe you may have to add your own money for the gift.  I have received a few of the Visa or Mastercard $50 or $100 cards over the years.  And saved them for a special day, like this past weekend when I went to the Mall of America.  I pulled out the cards so that I would be able to get something special.  One of the cards was from Christmas a few years ago and when I went to use it, it had about 36 dollars less than I expected it to have, well I looked at the back of the card and to my surprise after 12 months the card started charging you $2.95 per month.  Don’t you pay 5 dollars for the card to begin with, and don’t lots of people not use or forget about having the gift cards so that way the credit card company is making money that way anyway.  I am all for a 5 year expiration date but to charge me for not using it that is silly.  

Daily Dose of BS May 16

Having a cold when temperatures are above freezing sucks, my nose has been dripping, my throat has been hurting, I have been coughing and been sneezing, not one or two times but multiple times in a row.  If that isn’t a cold I don’t know what is.  I hate having a cold in the winter and when you get one when it is nice out it is even that much more of a pain in the rear.  Walking around coughing and sneezing while wearing shorts isn’t cool, also blowing your nose when it is 80 outside isn’t either.  When I am not feeling well in the winter I want to cuddle up with a warm blanket, when it is warm out, I don’t  want to be hot, how do you get rid of a cold and not boil to death with blankets?  Unfortunately I find if you want to stay awake you can only take Nyquil at night.    

Daily Dose of BS May 15

Why is it so damn expensive to order stuff at a ball game?  I went to a Twins game on Sunday and for two pops and two hot dogs it was 21 dollars, 21 dollars.  You know I could see if these were the best hot dogs in the world and if the bun wasn’t tore and the pop was bottomless, but it was an ordinary hot dog with way too many fried onions, and a 20 ounce Diet Dew, I am not a big pop drinker but I was not about to start shelling out 7.50 per beer.  The hot dog had almost a whole onion on it and I asked for light onion.  I thought to myself when you add ketchup and mustard to the dog you most certainly will spill, guess what I did.  Maybe it was a premonition or maybe I just know the way I eat and with a belly that covers a lap, if I spill I almost always stain a shirt.  Target Field is a good place to watch a baseball game but it is no Miller Park.  I don’t understand that when you live an area that is cold and snowy from the end of September till mid April why you wouldn’t put in a retractable roof, also when you go to a Twins game or a Vikings game at the Dome you don’t get the added excitement of tailgating at least not the whole tailgating experience that you get when you go to a Brewers game or a Green Bay Packers game.  Speaking of over-priced food I shopped to make breakfast for my mom for Mothers day at a grocery store in the cities and we are lucky here in La Crosse, the prices for food and beer here are a lot cheaper.  Plus we can buy beer at the grocery stores.

Daily Dose of BS May 14

What time is it?  Are you tied to a clock?  Does your life revolve around knowing the time and being somewhere by a certain time.  I am lucky enough to have a job that I love but is very tied to a clock.  From the top of the hour news, to the timing of what is said and how long a commercial or as we in the business call it a spot is, a 30 second spot is 30 seconds long and a 60 second spot is 60 not 59 or 61 seconds.  I live in a career where time is of the essence, and when things are not on time at work and in life I am stressed.  I forgot my watch this morning and realized it when I was backing out of the garage, how often will I look at my watch?  Guess what when it isn’t there you look at it all the time.  I never thought I was that dependent on my watch.  I must have looked at my wrist at least 10 times in the first hour I was at work, I finally put my phone on the desk so that I could read the time.  This past weekend I met my Mom and Dad and their spouses as well as my brother and his wife at the Mall of America, we all ran into traffic because it is the Twin Cities and traffic is part of the daily life there, needless to say most of us were late, and I was the latest.  I hate being late, but hate traffic even more.  

Daily Dose of BS May 11

I remember being in Banff National Park when I was a kid on the giant snow bus taking a tour of the glaciers there, above the driver was a sign that said Tipping is not just a city in China.  I remember asking the driver what that meant and having him embarrassed by it and said never mind.   For as cheap as I am with somethings, I like to say frugal, I am a pretty good tipper; I enjoy good service and don’t mind paying for it.  When did it become mandatory for every Tom, Dick and Harry to get tips though?  I truly can see if you go above and beyond in your job maybe get a little something once in a while, but when did it become the expected rather than the once in a while thing?  I am waiting for the tip jar to come out at the grocery store, or the convenience store, how about at the checkout at a fast food restaurant?  Do we need to tip the guy that walks in ahead of you into a building for holding the door?  Are we expected to tip the gal who slows you down in a construction area?  How about when you are driving through Illinois and have to stop at the toll road?  I know what would be a great time to tip, next time you get pulled over offer the cop a tip, and make sure that they know it is a tip for doing their job and not a bribe I would hate to have you get in more trouble for doing that.  I have a great money making idea, since I am just doing my job and entertaining and informing, if you feel the need to tip me go ahead, Daily Dose of BS 1407 2^nd Avenue North, Onalaska, Wisconsin 54650.

Daily Dose of BS May 10

Up till yesterday I have always wondered what the heck people were talking about when they complained about the people at the Onalaska office of the DMV. I have always gotten great service from a smiling happy employee.  I am trying to get rid of an old hard sided Normad camper that was on my land when I bought it.  I ended up giving it to some friends of mine who have a young family and would really get lots of use out of it.  This camper has been sitting on my land well before the time I bought it and was last licensed in 1998 so it has been quite a while.  I wanted to get the title for it so that my friends could license it and start enjoying it.  Well the first thing I did was call the Madison office of the DMV and spent over 30 minutes on hold only to get some paper work mailed to me.  The paper work asks me all sorts of questions about how I obtained the camper, asking for pictures both inside and out, having to have a police officer look for and write down the VIN number and sign off on it.  My camper is such an old camper that when they ask for the VIN number of it, there isn’t one on it, there is a serial number and there is a number stamped on the frame of the camper but it isn’t the VIN number either.  There is a patient number and other random numbers on the tongue of the trailer but not VIN number.  Leading me back to Onalaska, I brought my paper work that I got from the office in Madison, figuring that it would be easier for me to explain in person what I wanted to do than to write it out and send it back in to Madison.  Guess what the local office didn’t even want to have anything to do with me or my issues, saying send your writings to Madison along with a check.  With some prodding I was at least given the rest of the right paperwork to fill out and send.  Should it be this hard to get rid of a camper, I am beginning to think that I should have just scraped it for the money.  Daily Dose of BS weekdays at 5:15 on Magic 105.  

Daily Dose of BS May 9

Having four kids I have had my share of going to sporting events, conferences, art shows and school concerts. I remember when I was in band in middle and high school that after our concerts I always wanted to go somewhere for a special treat and it was always either Farrells or Bridgemans I don’t even know if either of those Ice Cream shops are around anymore. Fast forward about 30 years and things don’t change much, at least for the going out for a treat part, yesterday after my twins spring concert they wanted to go for Ice Cream at Ranison Ice Cream & Candy, great choice kids. Back to the music, the 4th and 5th graders at Spence did an awesome job of singing, playing instruments and speaking on the microphone, and as a person who does that for a living I am a bit jealous as there was one speaker who is in either 4th or 5th grade that could have a career as a voice over artist right now. The kids music teacher Mrs Pierce spoke after the show and said the kids came up with their own melodies after learning the songs for the show. I didn’t hear an off note. They say that children are our future and if that is true, we are on track for a bright future. Daily Dose of BS 5:15 weekday afternoons on Magic 105

Daily Dose of BS May 8

Are you mobile?  I am guessing that 99% of us are.  Only one of my 16 year old friends doesn’t have a phone, and of the kids that do each of them have a better and cooler phone than mine.  I have a blackberry curve.  I originally got a blackberry for the business aspect of it, and then got another one because I didn’t want to have to learn a new system.  My phone has been locking up so I went to the phone store yesterday and they suggested I get the update.  I agreed and proceeded to go home and downloaded the newest operating system, backed up my phone, tried to sync it and then installed the update.  A friend of mine works for a cell phone company and said the backup is easy and everything should be back to the way it was.  He was wrong.  It took about the whole afternoon yesterday to update and upgrade my phone, then all the shortcuts I put in to the phone were not in place, and all the newest phone numbers I put into my phone were not available.  The thing that gets me the most is my entire calendar was on my phone, so if I have an apt with you in the next year, please send it to me and if I miss an apt in the next while, I am going to apologize for it now.  

Daily Dose of BS May 7

Does anyone have pictures?  I am looking for any pictures of me in mid stride of Saturdays 5k.  I promise this is the last time I talk about my 5k quest until I can do the whole thing.  I am so proud of everyone who participated in this past weekend’s La Crosse Fitness Festival.  The organizers had a tough call for Sundays Marathon, as the thunder, lightning and rain hit the area early and by 5:15 they had to call the marathon and pushed the half marathon back by an hour and a half.  I bet that the disappointment was there for those who have pushed, trained and worried about the race.  Back to Saturdays 5k, I was sick to my stomach as I was getting ready for the 5k, I had nerves, and anticipation as we walked up to the starting line,  I went toward the back of the pack since I am not a speed runner, hell I am just starting after 43 years of not running.  Someone said the starting gun was fired and the 1000 people in line started to move, it took me 52 seconds to get to the starting line the fear turned into excitement, I know I can do it, we started walking, wanted to get warmed up for the jog, got to 2^nd street and up the incline, jogged up the hill thought it was about 5 minutes, was about 90 seconds, ooh ooh I am in trouble, how do I bail out of this is going thru my mind, then thought I can do this.  The next mile is a blur, I have no recollection of what happened.     At the half way point there was water, oh sweet h-2-o oh how I love thee.  Again conscious of my surrounding, hey there are people walking faster than I am jogging, wtf?  How is this happening, what am I doing wrong, they all look happy, me I am cursing each and every miserable step, the next mile or so was blurry again, we are getting close to Riverside Park, my legs feel like they each weight a ton and each shoe is a concrete barricade but the end is in sight, way way way over there.  My thoughts go from I can make it, to how much longer, to what was I thinking, to why am I here.  I all of a sudden hear Chad yell you can do it Bob, go.  It was the push I needed, I sprinted ahead, 3 turtles and a baby passed me up but I was bound and determined to finish with that awesome pace of molasses.  I reached the last turn of the 5k and my legs decided that I was done at that moment, Melissa who was in my training group said you can do it, its just a few more yards, it was enough to get me to the mouth of the finish line and Eric and his wife were there to help me through the finish line.  In a running time of 46.28 but take off the 52 seconds that we started with and have a time of 45.36.  I know I won't be winning any land speed records, but I got nothing to go but up from here.  You know it really wasn’t that bad and I am looking forward to doing another one sometime in July.  I plan on training until I can finish without stopping to walk.   

Daily Dose of BS May 4

As you have heard over the past 6 weeks or so that I have been in training for the La Crosse Fitness Festival 5k that takes place tomorrow.  When I started out I was able to run a total of 90 seconds.  At the beginning of this week I clocked in 20 minutes of jogging over the course of a 5k, last night I walked the fitness fest 5k to see how long the walk would take, I was able to finish with a walking time of about 57 minutes so just over 3 miles per hour, not a bad stride.  Tomorrow will be my first official 5k as a jogger; I walked it last night so I will have a time to beat tomorrow.  At 10 tomorrow morning the weeks of training will be put to the test, I have a bit of anticipation and am a bit nervous as I will be embarking on the unknown.   To all the runners, bikers and walkers in this weekend’s La Crosse Fitness Festival, congratulations on all your training and good luck.