Daily Dose of BS December 15

I have about this much patience...especially since I am getting older.  I don't know about you but sometimes it is the little stupid things that bug me like there is no tomorrow.  Like rude people, or people who talk on their phone at a volume 10x what the normal volume would be.  It is a piece of equipment with a microphone...microphones amplify sound, you don't need to yell in to the phone.  I am also irritated by people who say certain things for example this phrase "You just don't understand."  Really irritates me, it grates on my last nerve...I think it is because my son uses it all the time when he is trying to negotiate with me and is loosing the  argument.  What gives anyone the right to say those words you just don't understand.  Maybe I don't but do you need to point out that I am not that bright?  Maybe try to inform me with some words and ideas I do understand.  My Dad used to say you don't know and you don't know that you don't know.  I challenged him on that also by pointing out that he didn't know either, he quit using it.  I don't know what it is about getting older and not being as flexible but I am trying but please quit being stupid so we can get along.   

Daily Dose of BS December 14

Rain, Rain go away come again some other day.  I always thought it was April showers that bring May flowers.  I don't remember a nursery rhyme that has anything to do with December rain, do you ( how ever there was a A Gun's and Rose's song called November Rain)?  I for one am sick of the puddles in the back yard and the ground being just frozen enough to keep the puddles there and grass just dead enough to have the dog tear up what is left of the brown grass...we have a lovely stew of mud, a few leaves, some grass and what dogs leave behind mixed the right amount of kids toys in our yard for a wonderful fall / early winter backyard stew.  What good is living in a colder climate such as Wisconsin when you can't enjoy what the snow has to offer from skiing, to snowboarding to tubing and sledding, to ice skating, fort building and snow ball fights.  My oldest wants to get a snow mobile this year and I told him to wait till it snows...at the rate we are going it is going to be awhile.  While I am not a huge fan of the white stuff I do enjoy shoveling every once in awhile.  I know weird right, but there are people out there that enjoy cutting wood, so I stand by my enjoying shoveling...snow.  So for what it is worth, I wish we would get some snow, and be done with the rain at least until rain season.  As Bing Crosby sings...I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.

Daily Dose of BS December 13

Yesterday I got to play the big man in the red suit at The Rotary Lights at Riverside Park.  I have played the big man before…but never for so many kids.  I dressed up warm with long underwear, and 3 layers of shirts figuring that I was going to be outside at and I hate being cold, I failed to realize that there was heat in the Santa shed.  I walked out to Santas home by the river nestled within the 2.6 million lights at Rotary Lights, and already felt warm, sat down, glasses got foggy, felt panicky because I was too hot, and thought what if while I am sitting here I have to go to the bathroom, what if a kid uses me as a bathroom, what happens if someone pulls my beard or worse yet my finger?  What would I do?  What if the people show up and call me a phony….what if this or that or the other thing?  I took a couple of deep breaths through my beard, exhaled thru my mouth let out a hardy HO, HO, HO and decided it would all be good, and guess what it was.   All the kids that came by last night were on the nice list, their parents confirmed it.  Most kids wanted either an Ipod Touch, cars, dolls or a Guitar.  The choice of a guitar surprised this Santa.  If you haven’t been down to the Rotary Lights yet, I would suggest you do…bring a food donation to help to stock the food shelves, and Have a Merry Christmas.  

Daily Dose of BS December 12

I got my 3^rd nail in my tire in the past 2 months.  I thought I was going crazy.  Why would I have another nail in my tire?  Is there a hoodlum in my neighborhood that is out there spreading nails over the alleys and streets of the south side?  My son works for Bion’s service center on the South Side of La Crosse, and he has fixed our tire problems all three times, since Bion’s fix and repair tires.  My son said that there has been tons of cars, trucks and vans with nails in their tires this summer and fall.  I had to ask, is there a band of punks sprinkling nails on the streets, are there gangs dedicated to puncturing holes into the tires of unsuspecting Moms and Dads?  Are the tire companies trying to get more people to replace their tires?  Don’t your tires rotate themselves when you drive?  The answer to all of my tire puncture worries were put to bed when he said with all the roofs being replaced around town, nails sometimes end up in the street and sometimes end up in your tires.  Makes since to me.   I am still waiting on an answer on the tire rotation question… 

Daily Dose of BS December 9

I used to be a smoker…when I was younger I used to toss my cigarette butts out the window of my car…when someone pointed out to me that it was littering I stopped.  It bugged me lots as I have always been the guy who wouldn’t even toss a gum wrapper out the window or drop a sucker stick on the ground, and would get irritated when someone was throwing something away and missed the trash and just left it but didn’t see the big picture of not tossing a butt out the window.  When I see someone toss their cigarette butt out the window now it pisses me off and makes me angry.  I want to start writing down license plates and broadcasting them on the air, or post them on a website.  I watched a women yesterday waiting for her kids to get out of school sit in her car with the windows rolled up smoking, only to roll down her window 2 different times to toss her butt out the window.  Doesn’t your car have an ash tray?  Or some receptacle that you can toss your stinky burn butt into?  If you smoke remember that the world is not your ashtray..your butts present a threat to wildlife. Cigarette filters have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales and other marine creatures who mistake them for food ...they are a form of plastic, cigarette butts can persist in the environment as long as other forms of plastic, and are not bio-degradable, don’t be an ass pick up your butt. 

Daily Dose of BS December 8

In Hawaii it is considered The Hawaiian Steak; in Austin they have a museum for it.  In your inbox there is a ton of it, two different things, with one name.  I am talking about Spam.  I am a fan of the meat product that has the name however I always wondered who uses the jelly that comes out of the can when you open it and allow the meat to slowly drop from the can on to the plate with the suction cup sound as it slowly falls from its metal home.  I did try it once with peanut butter on a dare from my brother.  It was gross, I would suggest that you never do try it.  I like Spam mixed in with mac and cheese, or cold on a sandwich with lettuce and tomato.  I do not like my Spam fried like some people do, I think it tastes too salty.  I have never been to the museum even though it is only 90 minutes from here.  The reason I started writing about Spam is for the other Spam the stuff that ends up in your inbox.  I for one am sick and tired of being bombarded with offers for this or offers for that in broken English and bad grammar.  Do people really ever buy things from these spammers?  How often have you ever clicked on one or been temped to send your bank account number to some prince in South Africa?  These spam companies are not only robbing you blind of your time but think of the amount of time that you are wasting when you are at work getting your emails they are taking money out of your employers pockets with the time and productivity that is stolen.  I guess what I am trying to say is I am ok with Spam the tasty meat but not the time and money wasting junk email.  

Daily Dose of BS December 7

I remember being one of the last of my friends families to get a microwave, and vcr.  We used to have to wait for things to warm up and had to watch tv when it was on and movies at the theater, we had to sit in one place to be on the phone since it was in the kitchen and attached to a cord…My have things changed.  I don’t think I know anyone with out a microwave and a dvd player, and most people have some sort of dvr, I am partial to the TIVO.  We carry cell phones have the internet in our pockets, and cars that talk to us.  Yet we are still wanting more, faster and better.  When will we be satisfied with the technology that we have, when will enough be enough?  I can remember when I first tried the internet and how cool it was to be able to have information at my fingertips, and be able to look at what ever it was that I wanted and have the potential to look up anything…I mean anything.  It was amazing how fast it seemed…but how soon we get spoiled; we want it faster, bigger and stronger.  Could you imagine trying to go online now at the speeds you had when you first started online?  I would go nuts, I am as guilty as the next guy wanting new and improved things and technology….hell I want my microwave to heat faster and my tivo to play at 2x speed so it won’t take as long to watch a show so I can get on and do something else…like nap because like the computers in your life sometimes I need a re-boot too.