Daily Dose of BS April 19th swearing

On average we utter our first swear word about 10:54 am.  They obviously don’t take into account early morning people or people who commute in for their job because I know for a fact that I do most of my swearing either in my car on the way to work or when something f’s up at work.  A study into everyday stresses and frustration of about 2,000 Americans say that most will drop a word that used to get your mouth washed out with soap by 11a while about 25% of us can’t get past 9am without some sort of vulgarity crossing our lips.  I am not sure if I swear because I am stressed or because I can.  But the survey went on to say that 56% of Americans are stressed over money, 36% over lack of sleep, 35% have health problems that they worry about and 30% are stressed by work.  9% are stressed by the environment, while 4% say that the national debt is what gets them.  One of my biggest stressors at home is when the internet is slow that will bring a few choice words, and I am not alone as that is enough to push 52% of us to let one slip.  What stresses you and causes you to swear?   

Daily Dose of BS April 18 safe flight

Every year for the past few years I have taken a vacation every 15 weeks, this year I decided not to, and I don’t know why we are halfway through week number 16 and I have nothing scheduled in the foreseeable future.  This week last year I was in Florida with some friends, that was the last time I took a flight and was the first time I got to sit in first class, a buddy of mine swapped seats with me so that I could have that experience, I have great friends.  Yesterday there was a plane that had engine problems where a piece of the engine broke apart at more than 30,000 feet, spraying metal pieces through the fuselage and forcing the jet to make an emergency landing.  Damn, this goes to show why we need to know our jobs and train and retrain until we can do it in our sleep or without thinking.  I don’t know anyone who was on that flight but I for one am thankful that that pilot knew what to do.  Speaking of vacations, have you ever made a trip off the beaten path to check out the world’s biggest fill in the blank?  

Daily Dose of BS April 17th taxes

Death and taxes the two guarantees in life.  Today is the day for one of those, taxes, you have until midnight tonight to send in your taxes.  Since 1955 tax day has been on April 15^th, with a few exceptions, if the 15^th falls on the weekend or if patriot day or emancipation day falls on the 15^th or the Monday after a weekend where the 15^th fell.  What started out as a simple thing, turned into a complicated pile of mess.  I am glad I have an awesome tax accountant and would suggest that everyone get someone that they trust to look at personal and business taxes.  If you cannot get your taxes done by today you should submit IRS Form 4868 so that you can get an automatic six-month filing extension, you can find that form and others at irs.gov.  As for the scammers and cheaters that are out there, shame on you there are lots of people depending on your money.  Happy Tax Day here’s for many happy returns.  Get it?

Daily Dose of BS April 16th snow

Obviously over the weekend snow fell, funny how soon we forget, I of course am talking about driving in the snow, I am sure I am not the only person that noticed that people do not remember how to drive in the snow, even though winter just finished a few weeks ago, prior to this latest snow. With the snow came some other events like shoveling and salting, and if you wanted to be young again snowball fights, forts and snowmen. Back to the business of snow.  If you shoveled your walk, great job! I commend everyone who got out and shoveled their walks in the past 24 hours. The road warriors who plow our streets should get medals. I think the majority of those who plow did a great job. But and I know you were waiting for the big but I saw a handful of occasions where a private person or business threw their snow into the city street. You can get ticketed for this, according to a friend of mine who is a cop one of his favorite tickets to write. So when you get your sidewalk or driveway plowed in with snow don’t toss the snow from your sidewalk or driveway back into the street because it is against the law. 

Daily Dose of BS April 13 fear of the day

The fear of something new and unknown those are the things that scare me, today’s date Friday the 13th, or triskaidekaphobia Try saying that word 5 x fast.  Heck try saying it once, it is a mouthful.  I am not sure what causes the fear of the 13th, the fear of black cats crossing the road, or any other fears or phobias.  Again, not scary.  For me it is speaking in public, which I am working on and new technology at work.  I really do try to embrace the things that scare me.  I think that they help you grow.  Those that listen to my radio show or watch some of my Facebook videos know that I am not a fan of snakes, I have had them in my studio before and the thermometer in the studio jumped by over one degree when they were in the studio but I embraced and even held a couple of them.  What are some strategies that you have used to overcome fear? 

Daily Dose of BS April 12 gun tshirts

When it comes to free speech is it all free?  Matthew Schoenecker a high school freshman at Markesan High School about an hour and a half from Milwaukee was told to change his shirt, or spend the day in an isolated cube, not for what he said, but for what he wore.  You see Matthew names his school in a lawsuit because he is trying to exercise his right to defend his First Amendment right to support the Second Amendment.  His T-shirt spells out the word love with the letters in LOVE formed by a handgun, grenade, two knives and an assault rifle.  Is this shirt appropriate to be wearing at a High School?  

Daily Dose of BS April 11 Facebook

I am a Facebook user, I use Facebook many times throughout the day, when I first wake up I look at it, I spend time on it while I am at work, I look at it when I get home from work and while I am watching tv at night.  I am a Facebook junky.  I use much of what I read and look at on Facebook to gather opinions from others and use the news feeds for gathering some of the news going on around in my community from why are the cops screaming down Losey Boulevard to where is that smoke coming from to what happened to Joe?  I use my Facebook account to keep up to date and to keep informed.  Yesterday while perusing Facebook, I came across the story of a manager of a mall store that fed a 16-year-old girl marijuana and booze then sexually assaulted her in the back room of a store.  That made me sick, but it also opened up dialog between my kids and I last night.  I agree that we spend too much time on Facebook but some of the time we spend on it can be helpful.

Daily Dose of BS April 10 overdoses

With an average of about one every other week it is not very promising, the La Crosse County Health Department released the number of drug overdoses last year totaling at least 26 people.  There were 16 men and 10 women between the ages of 21 and 73 who died from drug overdoses.  Of those who died 17 had prescription painkillers in their systems 14 had fentanyl, 7 had heroin, 7 had methamphetamine and fifteen of them had a combination of drugs in their system.  Totaling 26 deaths in 2017 or an average of one every other week.  So sad.  La Crosse County Health Department is now working on a way to combat these overdoses with a goal of 6 policies of programs in place by end of August.   The county’s new overdose death review team will be studying these cases to see if there was missed opportunities for intervention, and work toward developing strategies to reduce drug deaths. I wonder if we are all to blame because of the glamorization of the drug culture with shows like Breaking Bad?  I watched the show and rooted for Walter White.  

Daily Dose of BS April 9 buses

I am guessing that high school students and high school athletes travel millions of miles every year with going on field trips to traveling for games with other schools.   Over the past few days there have  been a couple of accidents that have made the international news.  First the bus that was carrying a Canadian Jr’s Hockey team.   Early this morning there was an accident of a coach bus and an overpass in New York.  A bus carrying about 38 kids coming back from spring break hit an overpass.  There was a bus accident last week, thankfully with no fatalities.  Are buses safe?  Should seat belts be worn in school buses?  Would they be used if they did install them, would they cause more harm than good?  Should there be more safety persuasions when it comes to both charter buses and school buses?  

Daily Dose of BS April 6 cameras

I saw what you did.  Have you ever looked around to see if someone was watching when you did something from adjusting yourself to when you tripped over the sidewalk or on the carpet at work?  I know when I do something like that I always look around to see if someone is watching or if someone saw what I did.  Sometimes you get lucky and there was no one around, but that is not being the case in today’s society.  There are cameras everywhere, and I mean everywhere, I read that on an average day we are on someone’s camera at least 75 times a day in the US and over 300 times per day in London.  I am guessing that, that number is a bit lower in our neck of the woods, but there are still cameras watching your every move…and if the camera misses it I am guessing that someone saw, and is watching, someone knows your secret.  As a matter of fact, dude in the red car driving down Jackson Street early last night, right before the sun went down…I saw what you were doing, next time grab a Kleenex.

Daily Dose of BS April 5 hatched baby art

When I was walking the hallways before finally settling into my studio this morning I heard conversation coming from one of them talking about the ugly baby.  I am hard of hearing and don’t usually notice background talk but stopped for a moment to eavesdrop if you will for a moment, I heard the ugly baby is now in front of city hall and something about seeing it on tv last night then my hearing went to normal mode and couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation.  I am assuming that the conversation was about the “Hatched Baby” statue since yesterday it was reborn on the lawn of city hall.  The 9-foot-tall statue was placed in its temporary home yesterday and will eventually be returned to Friedberg, Germany one of our sister cities.  I for one will be going down to city hall later today to enjoy this piece of art.  

Daily Dose of BS April 4 youtube shooter

Money will make you do strange things, remember the movie Indecent Proposal when a guy was offered a million dollars to sleep with his wife, he took it and then regretted it.  A woman from San Diego, California went in and began shooting up the YouTube.com headquarters yesterday afternoon after YouTube changed the way that they pay for content.  Apparently, the new algorithms changed the way that this lady got paid the ads on her YouTube channel stopped showing and she didn’t like it because here payments were stopped and she went to shoot up the headquarters.   Are content creators – podcasters, writers, photographers, video creators etc. being taken advantage of by the websites that deliver their content?  Should all content creators be paid?  

Daily Dose of BS April 3 Kiwanis Radio Day

I think that it is important to be involved in your community, from getting out and voting today as it is election day to getting involved in a civic organization or a church.  One of the things my parents instilled in my brothers and I, was to give back either monetarily or with time. I chose to work in radio so I have more time than money. There are tons great organizations out there that are in need of your time, and your money. Find one and help when you can. Today is Kiwanis radio day so as you pop around to the different radio stations in the La Crosse Market you will hear lots of different unfamiliar voices, talking about the benefits of being in the Kiwanis. The best thing about being a part of a service group is that if you are active in the group you are pretty much guaranteed to make some good lifelong friends, I am still friends with some of the guys I was in Boy Scouts with and my best friends are people that I was in the Jaycees with. My suggestion to you is be active within our community and let us all work to make our great communities an even better place to live, just another reminder that today is election day.  

Daily Dose of BS April 2 Amazon vs Trump

I read a few articles about how President Trump thinks that Amazon is bleeding the Postal Service dry by being the delivery service for much of the online shopping that is done through Amazon.  You could tell who the stories favored by the way they slant on the story.  One would say that the deal that Amazon struck with the United States Postal Service was a great deal and the other would say that it is a poor deal and can’t be sustained.  I feel as though this is a spat between Jeff Bezos from Amazon and owner of the Washington Post and President Trump.  What are your thoughts?  

Daily Dose of BS March 30 Easter

This Sunday is Easter a day for Christians to celebrate that Jesus has risen.  I believe in God and I pray every day, I try to do the right thing, and try to model the right behavior for my children to follow.  This Sunday will be no different.  We will be celebrating as a family by enjoying my second favorite holiday meal, second only to the Thanksgiving feast.  We will spend part of the day playing games and looking for the hidden eggs, as the kids have gotten older the goodies in the eggs have gotten better for sure.  One of the things that the kids will have to think about when grabbing eggs is has dad put things that aren’t supposed to be in the Easter eggs, in the Easter eggs, Sunday is also April Fool’s day.  Last time that Easter and April Fool’s day were the same was way back in 1956.  Have you ever been a part of an elaborate Aprils Fools Prank?  I never have, I have thought of some diabolical ideas, but never followed through with them.  What are some of the best April fool’s jokes that you have heard of?

Daily Dose of BS March 29 advice to yourself

The other day on Facebook a friend of mine posted what advice would you give to your 18-year-old self, I thought about it for a minute and said I would tell my 18-year-old self to quit smoking now, eat better, drink less and you don’t need to be drunk to be the life of the party.  We all have words to live by, things that we want to pass on to our kids.  My Dad always used to say that a moment of laxity can cause an eternity of regret, when I was younger I didn’t know what that meant, I do now.  We all have those bits of advice that we have heard from mentors, what are some that you have heard?  Some of my favorites include - Give at least one genuine compliment every day.  Take responsibility for what you did.  Promise to do better next time, and mean it.  Help people without expecting things in return. And finally try to see the good in people, including yourself.  What are some of the words that you live by, or words of wisdom that you would share with your 18-year-old self?

Daily Dose of BS March 28 free range parenting

Kids should be able to walk outside, walk to school, and stay home alone right?  A new law in Utah now allows for free range parenting.  What?  Isn’t this the goal of every parent everywhere?  The bill redefines "neglect" in Utah law so that kids can participate in some unsupervised activities without their parents being charged.  The official definition of neglect is failing to care for properly, the state or fact of being uncared for.  My goal as a parent is to nurture my kids, help them to grow and help them to become productive members of society.  I feel as though I have done those goal by allowing my kids to first of all be kids and feel safe at home, secondly by giving them the chance to go out and explore, sometimes on their own and sometimes by being tethered to either my wife or me.  I most certainly wouldn’t let my 3 or 4-year-old play at the park alone but may have let my 5-year-old have a little freedom to walk ahead of me on way to park, depending on the child.  My twins walked half way home from school to meet me by about 2^nd grade and could go to the park to play at about the same time.  They were 9 ½ to 10 when they felt comfortable with being home alone when there was a quick run to the store.  Letting go is part of the parenting process and now in Utah letting your kids be kids is on the books.  Maryland kids under 14 may not be out unsupervised.  

Daily Dose of BS March 27 traditional media

Ever thought of the question Is traditional media dead?  I am talking about the good old forms of broadcast media?  I am talking radio and tv, AM and FM radio and good old broadcast TV.  I spend hours a day with good old school media, from the time I wake up to my clock radio, tuned in to Today’s Talk 1490 so I get my news right off the bat, to my time at work on the radio to my drives home listening to music and talk.  From the radio to the television while sitting on my comfortable oversized overstuffed chair getting my screen time catching my favorite tv shows.  I think that the delivery system of both radio and tv have changed but the premise has not.  I now stream more of tv than ever before and my radio station both streams and podcasts our shows.  Heck, we even have an app (get it here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wlfnam.player ) We are changing and evolving but I don’t believe that we are dead, however, my station is the only “true” AM left in the market, the other two have gone to simulcast on FM.  I think we either need to keep up, reinvent or get out of the way.  How do you listen to the radio or watch tv?

Daily Dose of BS March 26 overdoing it

We are better than average again when it comes to drinking.  New study out shows that 1 in 4 Wisconsin residents are exceeding the national average of binge drinking by about 20 drinks per year, the average binge drinker in Wisconsin is having 490 drinks per year compared to the average binge drinker of 470.  The average number of drinks per week for the typical Wisconsin binge drinker is 9.43 drinks per week.  Or basically a lot of drinking.  Last year we had about 50 thousand drug overdoses right?  The average annual deaths caused by excessive alcohol use is about 88,000.  That is a lot more than the drug overdoses, yet we turn a blind eye to it since it is legal.  I think that we have an overconsumption problem in this country.  Food, Booze and Drugs.  

Daily Dose of BS March 23 sex

I am paraphrasing here but a buddy of mine posted on Facebook the other day who cares who the President slept with.  I would have to agree with that post.  I didn’t care or talk about it when it was Clinton and I am not going to speculate now that it is Trump.  If television tells me anything these days it is that sex is just that, sex.  According to a study the average amount of sexual partners that are acceptable in a survey of 2,000 adults are 7.6 different partners, any more you get the tag of promiscuous.  If you ask me, people are having sex are going to have sex and it isn’t anyone’s business except for the people involved.  I am not involved with the President on a personal level, and I really believe that neither are you, so why should it matter what he is doing?  I guess what I am asking, if you are not involved, in any way, does it really matter who is sleeping with who, President or not?