Daily Dose of BS April 16

Imagine yourself driving on a road no one in front of you and no one behind you cruzing at the speed limit, not a care in the world.  Up ahead you see a car gliding up to the stop sign, you are about a ¼ mile from that person, thinking in your head they won’t pull out in front of me, they will stop fully and wait the 3.2 seconds that it takes me to drive past them, and then they can pull out and be on their merry way.  Wouldn’t that be nice. It seems as if I encounter every-me-first-idiot on the road.  It usually happens to me on the highway to the cabin, where there is no passing for miles on end and the car that pulls out usually doesn’t have the power to go up to the speed limit or if they do they pull out like a bat out of hell and speed to the very next turn either right or left, causing me to slow down, tap the cruise if you will.  I just don’t understand why it is that people feel the need to do this, these kind of drivers cause accidents and road rage.  This type of encounter happened to me this morning on my way into work, a truck with Kansas license plates pulled out in front of me from the street just south of the McDonalds lot on the Northside and then proceeded to pull in to the McDonalds lot.  I gave this guy the benefit of the doubt since all the tornados that happened over the weekend in Kansas, and maybe just maybe his mind was there, if you are driving use your head for something more than just holding your hat. 

Daily Dose of BS April 13

My daily morning routine is down to a science, give or take a couple of minutes.  On my drive in to work I know by this time I should be here and by that time I need to be there on my way in.  Today I was running 3 minutes behind, I know this because I had a hiccup at home putting me back that much further, I was on West Avenue / Lang Drive through the marsh by Menards and was boxed in, the guy in the left lane was going under speed the guy in right lane was at speed and I was stuck behind it all.  The guy in the right lane finally passed the guy in left when the guy in left lane sped up to match the speed of the guy on the right in turn keeping me boxed in, as I mentioned a moment ago I was 3 minutes behind schedule, I had to do something, and had to do it quick, I saw my chance the guy in left slowed a moment, I hit it, riding the guy on the right, quick left turn signal then gas and go, I made it over and out of the box, at that exact moment, I saw the cherries, the dreaded red lights on top of the vehicle in my rear view mirror, my heart skipped a beat the bead of sweat on my brow dripped into my eye, I checked my speed only 5 over no worries, another check in the rear view mirror, it was an ambulance and not a cop, it was a whew moment for me, I hope for the same luck to the person that was transported in the ambulance.  Don’t get me started on the first day cluster on Hwy 35 heading north through Onalaska. 

Daily Dose of BS April 12

I remember my Mom telling me stories about when she was a kid that around Christmas mail was often delivered 2 x a day.  I also remember the old tag line of “We are mothers and fathers. And sons and daughters. Who every day go about our lives with duty, honor and pride. And neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. Ever.”  For many years I thought that, that saying was the Postal Service’s motto, did you know that the post office does not have a motto.  I am impressed that if I mail something in La Crosse that it will get to the Twin Cities in a day, two days at the most.  The letter carriers have a job that I would not want.  They know going in that they have Sundays and holidays off, but from there a rotating schedule of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc. off so really very rarely do they get two days off in a row.  The senate is talking about doing away with mail on Saturdays and offering mail delivery Monday – Friday, essentially cutting a day of mail delivery and all that goes with it.  I for one think I can do without the weekend mail delivery, and think about the money it would save us as taxpayers.  Also I think it would help the letter carriers have more of a normal schedule.  I don’t look at it as downsizing, but as budget cutting move.  Your thoughts? 

Daily Dose of BS April 11

So when you open your refrigerators is it nice and neat, are things where they need to be?  Fruit in the fruit crispers and the vegies in the climate controlled veggie drawer?   Ketchup is stored in the door next to the mustard and bbq sauce?  Milk also stored in the door leaving the bulk of the fridge for food, from what is for dinner later tonight to the luncheon meats for lunches and you can’t forget about the leftovers or in my case the planed overs for my lunches.  In a perfect world all would fit in to the refrigerator like a game of well played Tetris, with left over space for what is new.   I opened my fridge this morning to what looked like a poorly played game of Tetris, with this box here and that container there, a few Styrofoam boxes shoved into the top shelf with vengeance and a bottle of ketchup placed on the edge of the shelf so the air movement of opening up the fridge will knock it off to a fiery death below.   Ok maybe a bit exaggerated but pretty close to the truth.  Getting my lunch ready for the day often involves a bit of hunting around the fridge for the best mix of leftovers to fill the belly of the beast.  Today as I pulled one of the Styrofoam boxes out it caught the top of the ketchup bottle and splat the unbreakable plastic bottle didn’t break but the lid smashed into 20 pieces on the floor, the ketchup was oozing its red contents out all over the floor the only thing missing was the chalk line.   

Daily Dose of BS April 10

12 minutes, 12 long minutes.  In 12 minutes you could drive 12 miles; you could put together a meal, cook a burger on the grill, change the oil, do the dishes, or get a load of laundry done.  There are so many things you can do in 12 minutes.  For 12 minutes yesterday evening, I pushed myself.  I enrolled in the La Crosse Park and Rec 5k class and yesterday I ran a total of 12 minutes over a 2 ½ mile stretch.  Now I say run with a grain of salt, it is more like a brisk walking speed with arms moving but this is the most I have ever run in my life.  I had one stretch of running where I did 3 minutes in a row.  I know for you runners out there that this is not a big feat but for a 43 year old who never and I repeat never ever ran, this is a huge feat for me, a personal goal.  I am pushing toward the goal of a 5k in the beginning of May with the La Crosse Fitness Festival, I have been training 3x a week and have come a long way (and have a long way to go), as I mentioned here 3 weeks ago when this started that I ran a total of 90 seconds, last week I made it to 11 minutes.  I guess I look at it this way, if you set your mind on a goal and work toward that goal, nothing can stop you, nothing that is except for you.   

Daily Dose of BS April 9

I think I am wearing Magnetic shirts to work every day.  Not that they attract metal but they sure do attract coffee stains, and it seems the nicer the shirt the bigger and bolder the stain is.  I love a cup of coffee on the way to work in the morning, and then throughout the day.  I either warm up the leftover coffee from the day before or use the Kerig for a fresh brewed dark roast.  I use a travel mug for my daily caffeine intake, supposedly with a spill proof lid.  Amazing the amount of spillage that the so called spill proof lid allows by almost daily, the best way to not spill for me is to take the lid off and drink it without the lid, I would but when driving, that is just inviting a bigger problem, a stain can be taken off the shirt with a Tide pen once I get to work, a hot coffee burn, this is a string of swear words waiting to happen.  I suppose I could quit drinking coffee, but what would I mix my Baileys with when I am watching a hockey game?  

Daily Dose of BS April 5

Bananas, apples and oranges good food for thought, and a great way to start the day.  I try to start my mornings with a piece of fruit and a granola bar, nice to tide me over on my way into work every morning.  I eat my fruit and always toss my fruit wrapper, core, peel out the car window.  My kids asked me about this before since I am adamant about not littering, why is it ok for me to toss the food out the window, I say because it will break down and animals can eat it.  What is your thoughts on this, is this littering or is it ok to toss a fruit cast off out the window of a car?