Daily Dose of BS March 22 grateful

Ever just taken the time to think what you are grateful for in life?  I don’t think that I have ever really just stopped and thought about it, I mean really think about it.  I have to do a presentation on how being grateful helps to relieve stress, and was really thinking about the different way that it does, then it hit me the things that I am grateful for in life help me to not think of the extra things that are weighing me down on a regular basis.  Think about it, the things in your life that make you think, hey I have it pretty good are the stress relievers in your life.  For me when I am filled to the limit with the daily crap that gets me down I grab my phone and open the photo album, and scroll through the things that make me happy, the things that I am grateful for.  What are some ways that you have found to relieve stress in your life?  For me, it was talking through things, but now I think I am going to focus on the beauty around me and the things that I am grateful for.  

Daily Dose of BS March 21 stuff

I have a few things on my mind this morning.  First of all, I was thinking about how crazy things are here in the United States, we are not united at all.  We are tearing this country apart day by day.  What makes a kid bring a gun to school?  Why are we seeing so many of these types of crimes happening?  What pushes that kid to the edge?  Another shooting yesterday the third since the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.  The awareness is at an all-time high yet kids are still being pushed to the brink by bringing firearms to school.  The second thing I was thinking about was the bombings in Texas what causes someone to become a serial bomber?  And why would someone want to harm innocent people?  Why?  I was also randomly thinking about a new technology that allows homes to be printed for under $4,000 and this home will take less than 24 hours to print, and when finished the homes would be between 6 and 800 square feet.  I thought if I ever could afford one of those machines that I would donate one to help end homelessness.  

Daily Dose of BS March 20 parking

Much ado about nothing.  The city of La Crosse leaders were worried about the effect of the shorter alternate side parking and what kind of effect that it would have on the bottom line.  Guess what the shortened alternate side parking season brought in even more tickets, that’s right more people got tickets in the shortened alternate side parking in the city.  In 2018 we had 31 days less of the pain in the ass trying to remember what side we were supposed to be on.  This past season consisted of the 120 days of November 15^th and March 15^th.  In those 120 days 14,719 citations were written or about 123 per night.  Not bad city of La Crosse at a minimum of $147,190 for people parking on the area in front of their homes that they already pay taxes on.  I say minimum because the tickets start out at 10 bucks each and go up from there.  For those of us that remembered to park on the right side of the road kudos to you, for those of you that didn’t, better luck with the parking lottery next year.  

Daily Dose of BS March 19 competition

I read a scenario about how a guy was golfing with his boss and the boss was losing, and getting mad that he was being beat by his subordinate.  The question was do you let up on play to let your boss win?  If I was a competitive person I wouldn’t let me boss win in that situation.  And not being a competitive person I would play to the best of my ability and try to win but not win at any cost.  I have never been a person who cared if I won or lost unless I am playing cards, and if you have played with me you would say that I don’t care if I win playing cards either.  I end up winning about 60% of the time, so in my mind I am winning, right.  Back to the not playing as hard in order to let your boss win, I believe is a mistake as you were probably hired for your drive or your creativity, and taking a knee isn’t what any good leader would want.  

Daily Dose of BS March 16 parking garage

There are a lot of things that make it on to social media as new some call it fake news I call a lot of them human interest stories.  I watched a video yesterday that had a young lady get out of a car and run through a parking lot only to save a spot in the lot.  A person driving a car and trying to get into that parking spot was insistent that the person without the car move so that they can have the parking spot the person who was in the slot refused to move it started escalating and then the video ended without resolution.  My question is who should get that slot?  The person who ran to get it or the person in the car, why did you pick what you picked?  

Daily Dose of BS March 15 toys r us

When I was a kid we had a toy store in town called Storkville and on special occasions such as after your birthday with your birthday money or before Christmas to beg Mom for the latest and greatest of toys.  There were also a few days throughout the year like when Grandma and Grandpa came into town or if we were good.  Those memories fade as you get older, you grow up, you have your own kids you move, you forget about the toy store.  Well today the toy store that was at one time the big dog in the toy store business announced that they will be closing all their stores in the United State, Toys R Us are closing the doors, and with that over 30 thousand people will lose their jobs.  I am not sure what the demise of the toy store, was it introduction of tablets, and other video devices or the prominence of online retailers such as Amazon.  Or could it be that toys have been being made cheaper and cheaper and that the now a day toys aren’t as fun as playing with tinker toys or Lincoln logs?  

Daily Dose of BS Mar 14 hs basketball star

Milwaukee Washington’s basketball standout Deontay Long is being allowed to play against La Crosse Central on Friday.  Long had been charged being party to an armed robber, a class C felony that carries up to a $100,000 fine and or 25 years in prison.  Long has admitted to being a there and taking part in the robberies.  The Milwaukee Public Schools athletic code states that “being charged in court of any act in violation of, or subject to, penalty under Wisconsin State Statutes, will result in suspension from athletes for 25% of the season."  They say as of now his college prospects are on hold.  During the plea hearing in January, the court gave Long permission to play at the state tournament the team made it that far.  The WIAA code of conduct reportedly has no restrictions on athletes who have been charged with crimes.  What are your thoughts on this?

Daily Dose of BS March 13 self check out

More and more stores are offering the self-checkout lanes, am I the only one who doesn’t like it?  These days we are responsible for finding our own items anyway.  The other day I was at a department store picking up something and thought about an ingredient that I needed for dinner and thought I would look in the limited food area, I didn’t find it nor did I see anyone who worked for the store to help.  I finally flagged down someone who told me that they didn’t know.  I ended up making a special trip to the grocery store to buy.  Btw at neither place did I use the self-checkout register, and if offered I use the lines where bagging is offered at the grocery store.  Here’s the thing, you can’t carry on conversations with the automated cashier, well you can but people look at you weirdly.  Plus, I feel if I am going to be checking myself out I should be eligible for the employee discount, and finally think of the jobs that it is taking away.

Daily Dose of BS Mar 12 run to school

It is pretty sad that a father has to defend his decision to make his son walk or jog to school after the kids was kicked of the bus.  I am not sure if you heard the story about the dad who made his son run to school after getting kicked off the school bus for bullying other kids.  Good to see that parenting is alive and well in Virginia.  Bryan Thornhill the father of the ten year old has faced backlash for his decision to make his son run to school.  I guess I am not sure I understand why he is taking so much backlash for a punishment that is going to be a life lesson.  I am guessing that his son will think twice about bullying the next time that he is presented with the chance to do so.  For the naysayer that don’t think that he should have make his son run what would you have suggest that he do?  Spank him?  Take away his phone, have him go without something?  I personally don’t think that the punishment was to harsh.  The dad followed him to school to make sure he made it, I would guess that it was just as hard for the dad as it was for the kid. 

Daily Dose of BS March 9 standard time

It’s the semi-annual mess with your sleep weekend.  Daylight saving time ends on Sunday morning at 2 am, and Standard time begins.  Notice I called it daylight saving time and not daylight savings time, it is singular as in a singular time change that disrupts my sleep for a few days.  Why oh why can’t we be like parts of Arizona, parts of Indiana, and all of Hawaii and leave the time alone.  I hate changing the clocks.  There I said it I hate messing with the clocks because when I can never get them exact.  I was contemplating on marching to my own drummer when it came to the time, but there are too many variables such as work and kids events.  TV is covered because I TiVo everything and really never watch that live.  Another thing that I dislike is that this weekend will be jipped, as this Saturday and Sunday will only consist of 47 hours, and I will get one less hour of sleep.  Ok that is a lie I am going to take a nap or two over the weekend.  I have asked both of my US Senators and my Congressman about doing away with the time change all together, one man isn’t going to make that change who will stand with me on doing away with the time change?  

Daily Dose of BS March 8 cigarette advertising

I don’t remember cigarettes advertising on tv or on the radio, I was too young to have noticed.  I am old enough to remember seeing them on billboards, and I do remember when it was the Winston Cup and many of the cigarette slogans still pop into my head from time to time.  I am a non-smoker, it took a while but I quit that habit for the 39^th birthday about 10 ½ years ago.  I plan on being a non-smoker for the rest of my life.  I do wonder why when cigarette ads are banned on billboards and other media types why they are allowed on the lighted signs outside of convenience stores?  I usually don’t have any desire to smoke but seeing that pop up on the signs rotation while sitting at a stop light makes me think of stopping in and grabbing a pack, I won’t do it but I wonder why that is ok but running the commercials on tv, radio and billboards is not allowed?  

Daily Dose of BS March 7 library fines

I was all ready to write about something else this morning but a story in the paper caught my eye and I thought how stupid.  The city of La Crosse Library system may soon quit charging late fees for books, the fees today are 15 cents per day per item for adult items, audiobooks, cds, etc and 5 cents per day for kids materials except for lucky day items which carry a 50 cent per day charge for being late, to me those don’t seem too lucky if you misplace those.  The new way to combat the not returning of books will be not to allow you to check out books without first returning the books you already checked out.  Hmm, shouldn’t it be like that already?  Research has shown apparently, that fines don’t actually prompt people to return books and that fines make the most vulnerable population from feeling comfortable and welcome in the library.  Here is a novel idea, check out a book, return the book, repeat.  If your book is late pay 15 cents a day.  In a worst-case scenario let’s say the book was a year overdue it would have a fine of $54.75.  How about instead of doing away with fines altogether have book amnesty day, or allow people who don’t want to pay not pay, maybe the power company would take note and have days like this too.  

Daily Dose of BS March 6 money

Not sure if you know what median household income means, it means that half the people make above that amount and half the people make below that amount.  For the United States, that number is $59,039.  For the state of Wisconsin, that number is a bit less being $55,638,  or about $26.75 per hour.  And people still complain about the amount of money that they have.  If you look at our median household income and compare it to the world we are much higher than the average the average is $18,000 per year or $8.65 or just a bit above minimum wage here in the United States.  The “average” person or middle class is sitting between $42,000 to $125,000 and if you are going to be considered upper middle class you have a salary of 3x the median household income of $59,039 or $177,117 I guess my radio salary has a long way to go.  Anybody want to buy a kidney?  

Daily Dose of BS March 5th 8th grader sex with teacher

I am not sure if you heard this story or not but I did over the weekend, there is a female science teacher in Florida that was charged with having sex with an 8^th grade student.  This 14-year-old boy would sneak out of his house at night to meet up with this teacher.  The report that I saw ended up interviewing a psychologist and I am paraphrasing what they said but this gist was that this teacher is lonely and needed to feel love.  I was shocked when I heard that and had to rewind to make sure that is what I heard, and it was.  If this were a male teacher and a female student would that have been said. No.  Are there gender inconsistencies when it comes to sex?  From the sounds of it there are, as a parent of both sexes, I don’t feel that there should be inconsistencies.  What happed to fairness, and protecting our children?  

Daily Dose of BS March 2 walkouts

The high school I graduated from in Roseville, Minnesota is going to be providing a safe space for a couple of walkout protests that are coming up, I think that the school is trying to take the wind away from the sail. If you're protesting something and you're doing it on school time or on company time the protest should be about the journey rather than the event. And along with protests comes responsibility. Allowing the students to get a pass on the day doesn't really measure up as a protest now does it? It makes it more of a school social event rather than what it was meant to be a protest. I know when I was a child they wouldn't have given us a free pass to do anything and I'm OK with that the things that I protest I have the Soap Box to speak from with my job. I get that others don't have the same luxury that I do in me saying what I want for the most part and are able to keep my job for it. With the job came sacrifice, for example, money in radio is horrible, you move around to find a job, I had to work all different shifts, including overnights and weekends. I'm not complaining about the job I have because I chose this job, I chose to do what I do for a living, I chose to have a soapbox if you will. I have paid my dues and fought for what I have and taken the punches at the same time. What they are doing by allowing the students this time as a "free" time I think is wrong.

Daily Dose of BS March 1 guns

Looks like both Walmart and Dicks Sporting goods will be limiting some of the guns that will be sold at their brick and mortar and their online stores.  Is this what needs to be done?  Will limiting the purchase of guns and ammo to those that are 21 and older stop the flow of guns from the stores?  I see how hard it is for a 17-year-old to get beer or whatever else they want to drink.  Heck even picking up drugs is hard right, it is illegal and there are no illegal drugs flowing in the veins of the typical city.  Oh, there are, I get that these stores are trying to help with the problem of guns making it into the hands of those that are younger but do you think that this symbolic gesture is just that a gesture that really has no merit?  I am not sure what needs to be done.  The only thing that I can think that would really work is for all of us to say something if we see or hear something, at least someone will then be able to help before the preverbal Schmidt hits the fan. 

Daily Dose of BS Feb 28 prices

Do you price shop?  Yesterday I needed a battery cable spice kit for replacing a battery in my car, I searched for what the product was then went to buy it.  I stopped at the auto store that was on my way home, figuring that the cost was going to be the same or about the same no matter where I went.  The cost of that part was 10 dollars higher at the place I stopped first.  I quickly got back into my car and drove to the other store to save 10 bucks.  Would I have just bought it if it was a buck or two difference, yes but would not have shopped there again, the price difference in between the two made the first place loose that sale and future sales, because I am not going to be stopping by there again.  I would think that similar stores, selling similar things would have prices that are similar, wouldn’t you?  Do you check prices?  

Daily Dose of BS Feb 27 cows lives matter

Cows lives matter that was the chant in a Madison Festival Foods Store.  Protesting the sale of steaks, roasts and burger.  The protester was playing guitar chanting loudly “murder” and “cows lives matter”.  This is the second time that this group protested this Festival Food Store last time was at Thanksgiving, chanting “turkeys lives matter.” The protesters blocked the isle and wouldn’t let customers make purchases.  I am assuming that since the protest was for meat that the protesters are vegetarian?  Maybe us carnivores should protest tofu, after all it is made of a bean curd made from mashed soybeans, and soy is actually one of the most commonly genetically modified foods in the world, plus soy bean doesn’t taste good on a grill with an ice cold beer.  Seems protestable to me.  Back to the whole cows lives matter, I am not sure that was a protest rather than a celebration, think about it without cows we wouldn’t have our delicious hamburgers, steaks, milk, cheese, yogurt, butter and ice cream.  I guess cows lives do matter. 

Daily Dose of BS Feb 26 21 year olds

I was talking with someone yesterday at Family Fest and we ended up talking about the school shooting incident in Florida and how there are far too many of these happening around the country, this guy went on to say that the best way around this is to make it 21 to do anything.  From voting, to drinking, to joining the military to buying guns to driving a car.  I looked at him like you have a screw loose.  I don’t disagree on some but think that he was off base on others.  Let’s look at voting, I don’t agree with that one as I think that voting age should be lowered to 16 get the kids hooked on the process.  Drinking I think should be lowered to 19 for beer, and 21 for booze.  To join the military, I think that if a young adult wants to serve their country that they should be able to once they are an adult.  As a parent of 4 kids I can tell you that driving not only gives the kids freedom but also frees up Mom and Dad, as for owning guns, I think that certain guns should be able to be bought at 18 and have no problem with having some be owned at a later age.  

Daily Dose of BS Feb 23 human powered vehicle

If you want to drive a hybrid or an electric car, by all means, be my guest, if you want to ride in a bus powered by solar energy go right ahead. If wind-powered transportation is your thing great, human-powered transportation wonderful.  But don’t tell me I can’t drive my car.  Mayor Tim Kabat has called upon federal and state government to address the climate change by denouncing the EPA’s plan to reverse the clean standards developed by the Obama administration.  Calling for automakers and consumers to reduce greenhouse gasses through fuel efficiency standards.  I am already driving a fuel-efficient car and don’t feel comfortable in a super small hybrid vehicle and I can’t afford a new one.