Daily Dose of BS May 18

Yesterday I had an awesome day I got to spend it with my twins in Madison, the annual 4^th grade field trip to the state capitol and the Wisconsin State Historical Museum.  You could not have asked for a nicer day for travel, and for this dad.  It was amazing.  I am so proud of the kids and how well each and every one of them behaved, everyone stayed in their groups and none of the teachers had to raise their voices.  We had well informed tour guides in both the capitol and the museum, in the almost 20 years that I have been in Wisconsin I have been on the capitol grounds but never inside, can you say beautiful, our tour took us into the Wisconsin Supreme Court, The Assembly Chamber, The Governor’s office, and the Wisconsin State Senate Chamber, while in there I asked where Senator Jennifer Shilling sat and the tour guide said right where you are sitting, how weird is that, and the proof was on the back of the chair.  As we were leaving one of the legs of the tour we ran into a protester, I don’t care which side of the Governors recall you are on, I as a parent of 4^th graders do not think that it is appropriate for you to protest with your anti anyone signs pointed toward and pandering to 10 year olds, on the other hand it is a free country and we have the right for free speech, I guess I didn’t like that the protester played up and for the kids cameras, and it did open up dialog with the kids and the teachers.  There were other protesters on the capitol grounds I read the messages, but they were a more passive protester.  We ended up the field trip at the robot museum in the Dells, I wish we had more time in the Museum.

Daily Dose of BS May 17

Lots of people give gift cards for gifts, I used to always be against them, but as I have gotten older I have had less a need than a want.  When you are first starting off in life there are things that you need to live like food, shelter etc, those needs don’t change when you get older but if you played your cards right those should be available to you.  Then you add the next tier of things like cable, internet, cell phone and home phone.  Bringing me back to the gift card idea, when I get a card now I will go out and buy something that I wouldn’t normally buy.  So it does in fact become a special gift, one of the bad things about them though is that you are forced to buy from a store maybe you wouldn’t normally shop at or maybe you may have to add your own money for the gift.  I have received a few of the Visa or Mastercard $50 or $100 cards over the years.  And saved them for a special day, like this past weekend when I went to the Mall of America.  I pulled out the cards so that I would be able to get something special.  One of the cards was from Christmas a few years ago and when I went to use it, it had about 36 dollars less than I expected it to have, well I looked at the back of the card and to my surprise after 12 months the card started charging you $2.95 per month.  Don’t you pay 5 dollars for the card to begin with, and don’t lots of people not use or forget about having the gift cards so that way the credit card company is making money that way anyway.  I am all for a 5 year expiration date but to charge me for not using it that is silly.  

Daily Dose of BS May 16

Having a cold when temperatures are above freezing sucks, my nose has been dripping, my throat has been hurting, I have been coughing and been sneezing, not one or two times but multiple times in a row.  If that isn’t a cold I don’t know what is.  I hate having a cold in the winter and when you get one when it is nice out it is even that much more of a pain in the rear.  Walking around coughing and sneezing while wearing shorts isn’t cool, also blowing your nose when it is 80 outside isn’t either.  When I am not feeling well in the winter I want to cuddle up with a warm blanket, when it is warm out, I don’t  want to be hot, how do you get rid of a cold and not boil to death with blankets?  Unfortunately I find if you want to stay awake you can only take Nyquil at night.    

Daily Dose of BS May 15

Why is it so damn expensive to order stuff at a ball game?  I went to a Twins game on Sunday and for two pops and two hot dogs it was 21 dollars, 21 dollars.  You know I could see if these were the best hot dogs in the world and if the bun wasn’t tore and the pop was bottomless, but it was an ordinary hot dog with way too many fried onions, and a 20 ounce Diet Dew, I am not a big pop drinker but I was not about to start shelling out 7.50 per beer.  The hot dog had almost a whole onion on it and I asked for light onion.  I thought to myself when you add ketchup and mustard to the dog you most certainly will spill, guess what I did.  Maybe it was a premonition or maybe I just know the way I eat and with a belly that covers a lap, if I spill I almost always stain a shirt.  Target Field is a good place to watch a baseball game but it is no Miller Park.  I don’t understand that when you live an area that is cold and snowy from the end of September till mid April why you wouldn’t put in a retractable roof, also when you go to a Twins game or a Vikings game at the Dome you don’t get the added excitement of tailgating at least not the whole tailgating experience that you get when you go to a Brewers game or a Green Bay Packers game.  Speaking of over-priced food I shopped to make breakfast for my mom for Mothers day at a grocery store in the cities and we are lucky here in La Crosse, the prices for food and beer here are a lot cheaper.  Plus we can buy beer at the grocery stores.

Daily Dose of BS May 14

What time is it?  Are you tied to a clock?  Does your life revolve around knowing the time and being somewhere by a certain time.  I am lucky enough to have a job that I love but is very tied to a clock.  From the top of the hour news, to the timing of what is said and how long a commercial or as we in the business call it a spot is, a 30 second spot is 30 seconds long and a 60 second spot is 60 not 59 or 61 seconds.  I live in a career where time is of the essence, and when things are not on time at work and in life I am stressed.  I forgot my watch this morning and realized it when I was backing out of the garage, how often will I look at my watch?  Guess what when it isn’t there you look at it all the time.  I never thought I was that dependent on my watch.  I must have looked at my wrist at least 10 times in the first hour I was at work, I finally put my phone on the desk so that I could read the time.  This past weekend I met my Mom and Dad and their spouses as well as my brother and his wife at the Mall of America, we all ran into traffic because it is the Twin Cities and traffic is part of the daily life there, needless to say most of us were late, and I was the latest.  I hate being late, but hate traffic even more.  

Daily Dose of BS May 11

I remember being in Banff National Park when I was a kid on the giant snow bus taking a tour of the glaciers there, above the driver was a sign that said Tipping is not just a city in China.  I remember asking the driver what that meant and having him embarrassed by it and said never mind.   For as cheap as I am with somethings, I like to say frugal, I am a pretty good tipper; I enjoy good service and don’t mind paying for it.  When did it become mandatory for every Tom, Dick and Harry to get tips though?  I truly can see if you go above and beyond in your job maybe get a little something once in a while, but when did it become the expected rather than the once in a while thing?  I am waiting for the tip jar to come out at the grocery store, or the convenience store, how about at the checkout at a fast food restaurant?  Do we need to tip the guy that walks in ahead of you into a building for holding the door?  Are we expected to tip the gal who slows you down in a construction area?  How about when you are driving through Illinois and have to stop at the toll road?  I know what would be a great time to tip, next time you get pulled over offer the cop a tip, and make sure that they know it is a tip for doing their job and not a bribe I would hate to have you get in more trouble for doing that.  I have a great money making idea, since I am just doing my job and entertaining and informing, if you feel the need to tip me go ahead, Daily Dose of BS 1407 2^nd Avenue North, Onalaska, Wisconsin 54650.

Daily Dose of BS May 10

Up till yesterday I have always wondered what the heck people were talking about when they complained about the people at the Onalaska office of the DMV. I have always gotten great service from a smiling happy employee.  I am trying to get rid of an old hard sided Normad camper that was on my land when I bought it.  I ended up giving it to some friends of mine who have a young family and would really get lots of use out of it.  This camper has been sitting on my land well before the time I bought it and was last licensed in 1998 so it has been quite a while.  I wanted to get the title for it so that my friends could license it and start enjoying it.  Well the first thing I did was call the Madison office of the DMV and spent over 30 minutes on hold only to get some paper work mailed to me.  The paper work asks me all sorts of questions about how I obtained the camper, asking for pictures both inside and out, having to have a police officer look for and write down the VIN number and sign off on it.  My camper is such an old camper that when they ask for the VIN number of it, there isn’t one on it, there is a serial number and there is a number stamped on the frame of the camper but it isn’t the VIN number either.  There is a patient number and other random numbers on the tongue of the trailer but not VIN number.  Leading me back to Onalaska, I brought my paper work that I got from the office in Madison, figuring that it would be easier for me to explain in person what I wanted to do than to write it out and send it back in to Madison.  Guess what the local office didn’t even want to have anything to do with me or my issues, saying send your writings to Madison along with a check.  With some prodding I was at least given the rest of the right paperwork to fill out and send.  Should it be this hard to get rid of a camper, I am beginning to think that I should have just scraped it for the money.  Daily Dose of BS weekdays at 5:15 on Magic 105.