Daily Dose of BS June 9 bear

I don’t know about you but when I saw the video of the black bear walking through a neighborhood on the south side of LaCrosse I was a bit concerned, but then I thought about it, I bet that there are a lot of other critters that are more dangerous than the black bear, let’s look at the everyday pests that are right here and in full force and in full view of us on a daily regular basis.  I am talking about the mice and rats that live in La Crosse, or the ticks, especially the deer ticks and the mosquito and the common house fly, all of these spread disease.  We can’t forget about the spiders and the also one that I like least of all the drug dealers in the city.  We have a lot more to fear than the black bear.  

Daily Does of BS June 8 pick up

I know I talked about large item pick up last week, but this week I want to talk about trash and yard waste.  I live on the South Side of La Crosse and I drive by West and Adams at least one time every day.  There has been a pile of sticks sitting on that corner for at least 3 weeks and I would bet even longer than that.  I would think that someone who lives by there, or one of the businesses that are in the vicinity would bend over and pick up to put in the trash.  Also across from Gordy’s where the Johnny Aloha’s service used to be there is a caution work sign and holder just sitting on the street, like it got hit and then left, this has been here for at least a couple of days.  I get that this isn’t your job to pick it up, it isn’t mine either, but is me having this attitude part of the problem?  If we all keep looking past these issues, won’t the issues become bigger, and worse?  I have said it before and I will say it again, we need to keep our surroundings picked up and respectable. 

Daily Dose of BS June 7 Clinton

Hillary Clinton clinches the nomination, becoming first woman to top a major party ticket, and Bernie Sanders is under no obligation to drop out.   Now with the presumed presidential candidates for both parties locked up, that means that everyone is happy right?  Ha, I think that the American voter is angrier now than they were before.  We are getting to be more of a polarized society than ever before as well.  I look at the way that we despise our neighbors and those that think different than us.  There are even those that think the same as us irritate us.  I have about 2 thousand “friends” on Facebook, and I would say about 45% are democrats, and 45% are republicans and about 10% are undecided.  And I have seen some posts saying if you support one candidate or another you will be unfriended.  I guess that if you get unfriended you really weren’t that good a friend now were you.  What people say and post online or rant and rave about in public isn’t going to pull an undecided voter in, I think that it will repel a perspective voter.  I guess I am ready to see the worst in people for the next few months.  

Daily Dose of BS June 6 food disappeared

Ever had anything just disappear from your fridge?  I went out for Chinese food the other day and had a take-out container leftover.  I put it in my fridge and was looking forward to enjoying it when I got home from work on Friday afternoon.  I used to have to put my name on my leftovers in the fridge but as my kids got trained to not eat other people’s food in the fridge I didn’t have to do that anymore.  I don’t know what happened to that Chinese food as I saw it on Friday morning and by Friday midday it was gone.  I asked everyone in my house, including my son who doesn’t even live there if they grabbed the food and no body grabbed it.  Weird thing is that I looked in the garbage to see if someone accidently had thought it was trash or maybe ate it but lied to dad, but nope can’t even find the evidence that I was even at the Chinese restaurant.  Maybe I wasn’t there and maybe I didn’t have Chinese food, then again maybe I don’t have sunburn either.  Nope I got that.  Have a great day, and I hope that the mysterious food eater doesn’t stop by your house. 

Daily Dose of BS June 3 things i do

I wanted to revisit a topic from before, one that made me smile, one that talks about the weird things and have weird habits that we have, for example I always grab 3 paper towels when drying my hands.  I also will say ouch when someone fake punches me, I check the fridge for new and different food even though I know there is only the same old stuff.  I will sometimes look into a window at the store to just to see if I can catch my reflection.  I put the music on my phone on shuffle but then hit skip until I find a song that I really want to hear.  I sit on the step in the kitchen to put on my socks, I have to reread things often because I wasn’t really paying attention when I read it the first time or sometimes even the second time.  When I sit down to watch tv at lunch I don’t start eating until the show is starting. I baby talk to babies and bark at dogs and finally I occasionally check to see if I can move things with your mind.  Are any of these things that you do?

Daily Dose of BS June 2 last day of school

Is there too much pressure on students these days?  There was another school shooting yesterday this time in California at the UCLA campus.  I get that there is pressure on students to get good grades, but who does it ultimately fall back on?  That’s right the student.  Work harder, get better grades.  I think that it boils down to taking personal responsibility for your actions and reactions.  With that being said, today is the final day of school for local kids, some moving on to new schools in September others moving on to new careers and others just moving on.  I remember the huge dreams that I had as a kid the first few days of summer were spent planning out what great adventures that were going to be out there for me and my friends.  We always had huge plans, we were going to start our own lawn mowing business, and we were going to have fun camping trips, ride our bikes everywhere, and stay up all night.  I am sure we accomplished a few of those goals, but it never worked out quite how you had it planned.  That is ok, life doesn’t always turn out as planned, it turns out how you make it.  Kids, enjoy your summer and parents, let your kids live.  Be safe in all your adventures. 

Daily Dose of BS June 1 trash

Is it just me or has La Crosse become more littered with trash?  I know we had the large trash pick-up over the past couple of weeks but it seems like we have more and more things just piled on the boulevards, and by the colleges it is worse.  There are also the junkers or pickers that comb through your trash in search for the ultimate treasure, and then leave the trash where it lands.  There are a few of the pickers that live on Jackson Street as you see their overflowing garbage spilling out of their half-assed trailers.  Isn’t there some sort of a beautification law in La Crosse where this garbage has a place and that place isn’t on one of the main thoroughfares in the city?  If you are going to be a picker, pick and clean up after yourself, if you are going to throw away big items put them out on trash day, or take them to the dump.  It is time that we pick up our community. 

Daily Dose of BS May 31 gorilla

You had to have seen or at least heard about the silverback gorilla from the Cincinnati Zoo.  Saturday a 4 year old boy struggled to find a better vantage point to see the gorilla the boy lost his footing and down he went into a moat around the gorillas, the 400 pound gorilla grabbed the 4 year old and began dragging him through the concrete moat.  To save the boy from further harm, the staff fatally shot the ape.  To me the weird thing about this whole story is that there are people outraged about the fact that the gorilla was shot, a 4 year old boys life was at stake, the zoo did what needed to be done. 

Daily Dose of BS May 27 staycation

It is the first big weekend of the summer season.  Be a tourist in your own community.  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 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.   When someone says I am going to La Crosse what do you tell people to check out?

Daily Dose of BS May 26 emails

I don’t know about you but there are a lot of emails that I have deleted in my many years of using emails, emails that I have accidently deleted to emails that I deleted than immediately wanted to know why I hit delete.  As a matter of fact, I accidently deleted some emails I meant to keep the other day.  So when Hillary Clinton says that she didn’t delete anything that she shouldn’t have I don’t believe her, add to that this that she is a politician and I really don’t believe her.  Should she get a bye on the email issue I don’t think so.  But I do believe that this should be an eye opener and should bring on new rules for people who work for the government, if you have a government job and you are required to have email, all your work email should go through a server that has been set up for your official government correspondence.  Also if they really wanted to know what those emails said, I am guessing that there is a trail somewhere, like in the NSA’s servers.  

Daily Dose of BS May 25 sticks and stones

The bible says do to others as you would have done to you.  I guess there are a lot of people out there that would prefer violence against them.  I often wonder when I hear the news of protesters doing their thing, often times what we hear people protesting is politics and often those protests turn ugly.  Look at last night’s political protest against Donald Trump, the protesters broke through a door and smashed through barriers.  If you are trying to bring your word of peace, this isn’t the way to do it.  I think that we have become a crazy political not only country but a crazy political world.  My biggest wonder is do you think that we will ever have a world filled with peace and people using just words to fight rather than sticks and stones?

Daily Dose of BS May 24 adhd

I remember the conversation well, not the date, not the situations that lead up to it, but the words that came from my Dad.  My Dad and I went out for breakfast many years ago after I got off the air, we had the usual small talk that happens when you are sitting with your parents, the small talk that leads up to the big talk.  Well the small talk didn’t take long that day it was mostly I listened to your show this morning, it was good.  Then he jumped into the big talk of your mother and I were glad that you got into radio because we honestly had no idea what you were going to do for a living.  I laughed, and still laugh at it to this day when I think about it.  I am sure that he was referring to the fact that my attention span isn’t very long.  I have often wondered if they had ADHD when I was a kid if I would have been assigned that label.  I for one am glad that they didn’t.   About 11% of U.S. children have been diagnosed with ADHD, and it affects about 5% of U.S. adults.  Here is a good test, squirrel.  Did you look?  I did. 

Daily Dose of BS May 23 annoying things

How often do you run into something that is annoying to you?  I am guessing daily, because daily I am annoyed by something most of the time it is small things that don’t mean anything.  But what I am talking about today is that stuff that makes you cringe, the things that you can’t believe that get done, by adults.  For example a few years ago there was a lady cutting her fingernails at church.  Not only rude but gross, it was so disgusting that I am not even sure what she did with the nails, let them fly or she pocketed them.  I have seen people cut their fingernails at work too, also unacceptable.  Another of the things that bug me is when people don’t treat an item that you loaned to them as their own, most of my friends will, but occasionally someone won’t and that is irritating, also when someone uses the last of something and doesn’t tell you that they did, for example the last of the coffee, milk, or worst of all toilet paper.  I hope that your week is full of non-angering events.

Daily Dose of BS May 20 political system

I think that it is time that we change up the political system, that we throw everything that we know about politics out the window and start over.  Right now we are in the midst of the paring down process, only to have 6 more months of mudslinging for what, to become President of the United States, and whomever the winner is will work hard their first term at getting reelected for a second term.  We see it with Congress now and with the Senate every six.  How about this, for the President let’s change it to a six year term and you only get one, then you move into a past president spot, then let’s move the two year term of Congress to 3 years and you can run a total of 3 times for a 9 year life cycle in that position.  We could leave the Senate at a 6 year term but limit that to two years.  This would mix it up and maybe just maybe we would get rid of the career politicians and then we could get things done in Washington. 

Daily Dose of BS May 19 drunk

Well we did it again, we made the list.  Of the top 10 drunkest cities in the US, Wisconsin has 7 of the top 10 spots.  How do we celebrate this one? By going out and having a few, it looks like we already do that.  I find it hard to believe that we have 4 of the top 5 and 7 of the top 10 drunkest cities, I have been to Vegas.  What the study was looking at was men having 5 or more drinks in one sitting and women having 4 or more drinks in one sitting and 15 or more drinks per week for men and woman having 8 or more drinks per week.  The weird thing is that the national report shows that 18% of adults on average drink unhealthy amounts of alcohol.  Wisconsin is not even in the top five for beer consumption yet we get the bad rap, North Dakota drinks the annual per capita consumption: 43.6 gallons of beer, and we have the drunkest cities.  Do we collectively have a problem, I would say yes.  Are we the drunkest state out there?  I would say no.  What are your thoughts?

Daily Dose of BS May 18 breakfast

I have always heard the best meal of the day is breakfast, yet many of us skip it.  I used to never eat breakfast, but now it is one of my 3 favorite meals of the day.  I don’t have time for a bowl of cereal in the morning on my way into work, since I have the morning commute down to a science, I do however grab a banana or a granola bar as I head out the door.  Breakfast for me usually consists of yogurt and granola or oatmeal.  Every once in a while I will go grab a bite to eat with someone, but for the most part, my morning is filled with culture, yogurt culture that is.  One of my children is the breakfast king, Robert loves his breakfast and has gotten to be quite the breakfast chef, he can mix about anything with eggs and make a tasty breakfast.  Are you a daily breakfast eater or not? 

Daily Dose of BS May 17 parklets

They’re back.  I spent some time downtown La Crosse yesterday and noticed that the parklet is back on 5^th Ave.  Have you seen it?  Last year I talked about not getting the thought behind the parklet, this year no different.  I guess I don’t get the thought behind the parklet parks taking up street space, maybe it is that we have plenty of green space in the La Crosse area, maybe that we only have so many parking spots that line the streets.  The main difference between last year and this year is that I actually sat in a parklet now and can still say that I just don’t get them.  I am also concerned about the two possibly three spots that the one spot park is taking up, hear me out, people don’t know how to parallel park either that or they are afraid to do it, so with that they pull in to a spot and when they do they leave plenty of room for the car in front of them or behind them taking up a space and a half, multiply that by the length of the street and sure enough two to three spots are taken up.  What are your thoughts on the baby parks?  Are they a good idea?

Daily Dose of BS May 16 big brother

I hate to tell you this but your smart phone is tracking your every move.  I have always wondered if my moves were being tracked by my phone but pushed out the thought of it ever being real by thinking that big brother doesn’t care about Bob Schmidt, why would he?  Turns out I was both right and wrong.  Right about the fact that big brother is watching us, using our phones and our Google accounts to do so and wrong about the fact the he wants to know where I am.  If you follow this link https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0 I think that you will be surprised.  I found out my top 5 places I visit are home, work, Menards, WTC and Festival foods.  I even had my location on my phone turned off.  I have nothing to hide, but it bugs me that my movements are being monitored.  I wonder if it could pinpoint my exact location at my home if it would have a picture of my chair? 

Daily Dose of BS May 13 beer

I am a beer drinker, I love beer.  Moving to La Crosse added to that love as many beer brands have been brewed right down the street.  Not sure if you heard this one or not but a few days ago Budweiser's parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev announced plans to rechristen America's beer just that — "America."  I had to check the calendar on that one because it sure seemed like an April Fools joke, the world’s biggest beer brand isn’t even corporately owned in the United States, they are owned by InBev in fact even the biggest brewer in Wisconsin Miller is owned but a foreign company.  Would it bother you to drink a beer called America that is brewed by a company owned outside of America?  Would a name change of a beer make you want to drink it more or less?  What is your favorite beer brand?  

Daily Dose of BS May 12 anniversary

I always think that it is funny when people say that they married their best friend.  I don’t know about you but I go through fazes of best friends, I have the same core group of friends that I have had for many years, however the friendships do ebb and flow.   Which brings me to May 12^th, 26 years ago I married Marcia Brooks, in that 26 years we have built a great life for ourselves, we have 4 wonderful kids, and nice house and really couldn’t ask for much more of anything.  When we first were going to be married, many people warned us of first of all getting married so young, I was only 21, they said it wouldn’t last.  We have outlasted many marriages, and the thing is we still can tolerate each other, heck we like and love each other.  I don’t know how I got so lucky.  Just think of the 26 years, and how life can change on a dime, or in a split second, our lives have changed many, many times in the past 26 years for both the good and the bad, but what I think makes us work as a team is that we are willing to overlook each other’s short falls and focus on the things that we love about each other.  So no I didn’t marry my best friend, I married Marcia, happy anniversary honey, I love you.