Daily Dose of BS Aug 29 FU

What ever happened to respect? Not only of others around you but respect for yourself? My kids and I were out yesterday running errands and decided to drive down 5th Avenue in La Crosse. There was a group of people standing on the opposite side of the road when we approached in our car, they stopped talking and one of the kids walked slowly in front of my car, greeting me with a big FU. What the heck did I do? Drove down a side street, this is now something that you aren’t allowed to do? I should have known that it was a weird day when we started off on our adventure I didn’t pull away from the stoplight fast enough and the guy behind me didn’t lay on the horn but threw up his arms and mouthed WTF. Are we in that big of a hurry or is there that much anger in the world? I am not sure, but what ever happened to our nice small town?

Daily Dose of BS Aug 30 problems

There was a study done on what millennials find to be the most troubling things facing the world and surprisingly it has some well thought out issues.  On the list is lack of economic opportunity, safety issues, lack of education, food and water security, government accountability, religious conflicts, poverty, inequality, wars, and climate change.     I agree that many of these are problems, large problems.  But some of the biggest problems I feel we are dealing with are terrorism, dishonest politicians, lying media, people not being able to work together, addiction (all kinds from heroin, to alcohol, to technology) laziness and greed.  What do you feel are the biggest troubles facing the world today?

Daily Dose of BS Aug 28 hurricane

After seeing some of the pictures and videos of Hurricane Harvey and the torrential rains that hit Texas over the past couple of days, it brings me to 20 years ago when the banks of the Red River flooded and my wife’s family home in East Grand Forks Minnesota had 4 feet of water on the main floor of their family home.  One thing that I do know about people is that we are resilient and do overcome the obstacles that are thrown at us.  Every time that we hear of some community taken to the brink of obscurity we see the town and the surrounding people pull together and team up to fix what is the problem, look at what Hurricane Katrina did 12 years ago in New Orleans and how that community pulled together to rebuild.  I look at Grand Forks and how they rebuilt.  Even though there is devastation in Houston Texas, they too will overcome, rebuild and come together.  I have faith.  

Daily Dose of BS Aug 25 amazon

There is a new list of Kmart stores that are closing, and quite honestly, I am not surprised.  I was thinking about shopping and the future of shopping the other day.  I had purchased a hammock from Amazon during Amazon Prime day I got the set up for about half price.  It was a super comfortable hammock, in fact it was napped on many times.  In between uses I took the fabric part of the hammock in and put it in the garage.  Well mice had got into the garage and had chewed a hole in the fabric, I wasn’t happy but thought ok it on the foot side, what harm can come of that, I laid on my hammock and the thing ripped right in half, down to the ground I went with a thud, my son laughed but then helped me up, I contacted Amazon explained my story I got a new one about 24 hours after I spoke with the company.  No questions asked.  No hoops to jump though just good customer service.  Why can’t we see more of that with the brick and mortar stores?  If this keeps Amazon will rule the world.  

Daily Dose of BS Aug 24 didnt win the lottery

Imagine my surprise this morning when I didn’t win the lottery.  I am not much of a lottery player and I thought that the guys that never plays wins, sure- I throw in my two bucks every time that work has a buy, just so I am not left out when everyone else gets to quit.  But yesterday I did something that I have only done a handful of times in my life, I bought 6 lottery tickets.  The last time I bought tickets I dreamt that I won the lottery, I didn’t dream that last night.  In the past when my family and I talked about the lottery and if we won we talked of moving, I don’t think we would move out of the area, I love it here it is after all God’s Country.  A lot of people say that they wouldn’t quit their jobs, I am not sure I buy that one, but then I didn’t win and neither did you, so off to work.  

Daily Dose of BS Aug 22 Trumps Speech

A 16 year war will be an even longer war after last night.  President Donald Trump spoke to the country in prime time last night  saying “Our troops will fight to win. We will fight to win. From now on, victory will have a clear definition. — attacking our enemies, obliterating ISIS, crushing al Qaeda, preventing the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan, and stopping mass terror attacks against America before they emerge. We will ask our NATO allies and global partners to support our new strategy, with additional troop and funding increases in line with our own. We are confident they will,” “Ultimately, it is up to the people of Afghanistan to take ownership of their future, to govern their society, and to achieve an everlasting peace. We are a partner and a friend, but we will not dictate to the Afghan people how to live or how to govern their own complex society. We are not nation building again. We are killing terrorists,”  The US has about 8,400 forces in Afghanistan now.

Daily Dose of BS Aug 21 eclipse

Many millions of people will have their heads tilted away from their cell phones later this afternoon.  About 1:11 is when the eclipse will be at its peak in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  I remember when the eclipse of 1979 got us out of class and in the playground at Falcon Heights elementary school with our homemade solar projectors.  What a cool memory.  It really irritates me that there are scammers out there selling fake eclipse glasses.  But you can always go old school and poke a hole in a note card then grab another note card as the screen and line them up in order to see the eclipse.  In La Crosse, Wisconsin, we will get about an 85% covering and from what I have seen from the National Weather Service that we will have a 42% cloud cover.  The DOT also reminds us that motorists should also be prepared, and spend time focusing on the road, in fact some DOT dynamic message signs in Wisconsin are flashing this message: Don't Have an Eclipse in Judgment. Drive Safely.

Daily Dose of BS Aug 18 buy local

I have been noticing a disturbing trend with work being done around the city.  There are a lot of out of town and out of state work trucks working on local projects such as roads, water and parks.  The other day I was watching the work being done at the new ball field at Houska Park.  I didn’t even know there was a new field going in over there, it looks great, but I noticed that there was a Winona business doing the landscaping.  I am guessing that there are a lot of La Crosse based businesses that pay taxes right here in La Crosse that would have loved to do that job.  I get that some of the other work that is farmed out to other businesses from other communities and states because you have to be competitive but for a smaller business that is putting in trees, and doing beautifying an area, wouldn’t you think that even within a range that giving the job to a local person that will be spending money locally would make more sense?  I haven’t noticed for a while but a few years ago the police cars came from a dealership in Eau Clarie again, wouldn’t it be better to buy from a local dealership?  

Daily Dose of BS Aug 17 Burzinski

Roger Burzinski the man who was shot and killed by the La Crosse Police Department on Sunday evening wasn’t a stranger to breaking the law.  Burzinski was a career felon, with an extensive arrest record which includes convictions for possession of a firearm by a felon, second-degree sexual assault of a child, battery to police, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, fleeing police and armed robbery.  And if I recall correctly his brother also tried killing a La Crosse cop by swinging a knife at him.  It is too bad that Burzinski’s actions ended his life the way that they did, but it is also crappy that he put the child in danger that was in the car that he hijacked and the stress that he put on the parents of that 1 year old child and the stress that the shooting has now put on the 2 police officers that were involved in the shooting and also the stress to the families of all involved.  Was the right action taken?    

Daily Dose of BS August 16 statues

Racist? Villain? Hero? You cannot change history.  You can’t, I know many have tried with their own, but what we have done are things that we have done.  I don’t know my family’s history when it comes to slavery, I hope that we never had any slaves, I am not sure if my family has ever been involved in the creation of any positives in the world either.  I only know what I know.  If we were involved in any wrong doings that I haven’t been a part of there is really nothing I can do about it at this time.  Sure, I can say that I don’t agree with what they did but there is not a thing I can do to change it.  I get that there are statues up all over the country honoring the memory of this person or that person, but how many of the statues are really seen?  I just spent a week in Washington DC where there is a statue on just about every corner, and I really couldn’t tell you what statues I saw or where they are or who they honored. Maybe it is just me but if there is a statue that you don’t like or don’t agree with, isn’t it just as easy to ignore it or not search it out than to bring it down and try to change the past?  We can’t deny that it happened, we can only try to not let it happen again.    

Daily Dose of BS August 14 shootings in La Crosse

More gun violence in La Crosse, last week there was a home invader shot, yesterday there was an armed carjacker that was shot and killed by the police.  Whatever happened to La Crosse being a quiet community with everything swept under the carpet?  Isn’t that the way it used to be?  If there was a problem we looked the other way?  Now it seems that the world has different glasses on instead of looking the other way we are looking at another way to make everything a problem, I don’t feel that either of these ways of looking at things are the right way to look at the world.  I think that political bias and political correction has snuck into every aspect of our lives and that because of that we are not able to get things done.  Are things spiraling out of control because we offer too many breaks, a slap on the wrist instead of sentencing worthy of a crime?  

Daily Dose of BS Aug 3 shopping carts

I once heard someone say you never see a successful person leave a shopping cart in the parking lot.  Ever since I heard that I have tried to put my cart away.  Not that I didn’t put my cart away before but there have been times I am sure in the past where I have left it to do what it wants.  No more.  When you put away your cart it kind of makes you a servant leader, you see others first and the big picture, it also shows that you have discipline, you see it is the simple things that add up to the big things, if you put away your shopping cart you have a goal, when you finish that goal you have simple success, with that success you have a feeling of accomplishment, with that accomplishment, you have the feeling as though you can do the next big thing, you set another bigger goal and go through the same steps, the snowball effect is amazing.  And to think that it all starts with putting away your shopping cart.  If you are not a cart returner, I grant you a clean slate, move forward putting away carts, remember it is the simple things.  

Daily Dose of BS Aug 2 Right NOW

Simple question today.  Do you trust the government?  Any government?  I remember the Van Halen song Right Now and on the video there is an animation of someone pushing someone over with the words “Right Now, our government is doing things that we think only other countries do” Those words have stuck with me since that video has come out.  Now we see all the turmoil in Washington DC and even in our states, it makes me think that they weren’t really that far off.   In the news today Rex Tillerson Says the U.S. Wants Dialogue With North Korea at 'Some Point'.  What do you suppose that this means?  There are 3 Americans being held there.  Are we going to negotiate with them?  

Daily Dose of BS August 1 waking up

Waking up on the wrong side of the bed seems like a stupid thing to say, I get up every morning on the same side of the bed, if I were to get up on the wrong side I would have to crawl over my wife and that I am sure would go over like a lead balloon.  Most mornings I feel as though my attitude first thing in the morning is going to dictate where my day goes, if I start off with a crappy attitude then the day seems to go the way I thought it would go, therefore I try to have a good attitude for the day.  I read an article awhile back touting Purpose, Control, and Optimism.  If you feel a sense purpose, and control and you are optimistic you can tackle anything.  So when your day is derailed from the start, look at reigning it back in by refocusing your day and start with purpose, control and optimism. 

Daily Dose of BS July 28 buying time

The old Jimmy Soul song “If you want to be happy” Starts off with if you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife, so from my personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you.  This doesn’t really hold true these days, firstly because there are no ugly people we all have redeeming qualities, secondly because studies say that money can’t buy happiness but at sure can buy you free time and that is what makes people happy.  In our 24 hour a day world the thing that makes us most happy is time.  A study published from the National Academy of Science, found that people who spent money on time-saving investments like having things delivered or hiring someone to do your yard instead of tending to the yard themselves, or paying for a cleaning person to come in a couple times a month makes for greater life satisfaction. That wasn’t only true for only the rich, but everybody benefited from buying time.  What time savor can you not live without?  For me it is the Tivo, dishwasher and when the kids mow the lawn. 

Daily dose of BS July 27 transgender

I have to admit I was kind of shocked when I heard the tweet storm from the President yesterday regarding the ban on transgendered people from being in the military.  His 3 tweets said this “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow ... Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming ... victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you,” his decision reverses a decision from former President Obama and caught the Pentagon off guard.  I wonder what happens to the already enlisted men and women in our military that are struggling with their identity.  I read one report that one soldier felt fired.  The Pentagon hasn’t released data on how many transgender troops there are, however the Human Rights Campaign says the military the “largest employer of transgender people in America.”

Daily Dose of BS July 26 rfid

I don’t think my employer could pay me enough to implant a chip into my body.  Employees at Three Square Market a vending company out of River Falls will starting next month be implanting RFID chips in the hands of employees.  The chip will allow the employees the chance to long in to office tools like copiers, unlock doors and pay for items in the vending machines.  I have nothing to hide but there is no way on Gods Green Earth that I would want my employer or anyone for that matter to know where I am all the time.  I don’t like that Google tracks my everything don’t believe me check out this link.  https://www.google.com/maps/timeline  Google knows where we were, who we saw, I am guessing that Big Brother knows what we bought.  So the those who own companies and want to start chipping your employees, you better look past this guy, or start paying a whole lot more.  

Daily Dose of BS July 25 war eagle

Sure, I think that the war eagle on the side of the old meat market looks cool.  Does it mean anything to me?  Nope.  Will its destruction make me lose any sleep?  Nope.  Is the building kind of an eye sore?  Yep.  In the 25 years that I have lived in La Crosse sure I have seen that painting on the side of the crappy building, do I know anything about it?  Nope, I didn’t even know it was on the old Weagel Schubert Meat Market until I read it in the paper.  Come to think of it I am not even sure what the meaning or history of the old painting is.  I know it looks cool, and after they were talking about taking down the building and the historic effort to try to save it came out, I have been thinking that there has to be a way to save the painting, not that I think that it should be but because there has to be a way and I like to figure stuff out.  The nomination of the building to be an historic landmark by someone who doesn’t own it, I don’t think is right.  If the building’s owner wanted to look into it I think that is a whole different story.  Thoughts on someone else trying to push an agenda?  

Daily Dose of BS July 24 class reunion

Some I knew some, I didn’t, all of us had something in common, we all graduated 30 years ago.  Over the weekend, I drove to the cites on a mission, not quite a mission from God but it was a self-discovery if you will.  I really enjoyed getting together and talking with these familiar strangers, familiar because we all had the joy and the burden of being the first graduating class of Roseville Area High School.   And strangers because our lives have taken us to different places, we have all experienced different paths in our lives and yet somehow even though 30 years ago we were basically made to be classmates, 30 years later we came together on our own to enjoy the stories that have made us, us.  Funny I heard from a few there, that the word was be careful what you say to Bob as it would end up on the radio on Monday.  Sorry to disappoint, but what happened at the 30 reunion will stay at the reunion, not because it was a code, but because I had so many conversations that I forgot what details go with what story.  If you have the chance to go to your reunion, please go, you will be surprised that as you get older the playing field levels.  

Daily Dose of BS July 21 juice

Do you remember June 17, 1994?  I bet the date doesn’t ring a bell but if I say slow speed chase featuring a white bronco, I bet you immediately recall the OJ Simpson chase through LA.  I remember being glued to the television and then watched the OJ Simpson trial, then the shock when OJ was found not guilty for the murders of his wife Nicole and her friend Ron.  Fast forward a few years when the juice was in trouble with the law again, and by this time I believe that he thought that he was Teflon, was jailed in 2007 for conspiracy to commit a crime, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, two counts of first-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon, two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.  Yesterday we heard that the Juice will be loose.  Did he pay the price for his crimes?