“I am the least notable person in this vehicle.”
This line comes from “I Love You, Beth Cooper,” a fairly awful film that deservedly bombed at the box office. I wasted a couple of hours watching it last Saturday, although that gem of a line made my time worthwhile.
To put the line in context, two high school geeks in a tiny car with the beautiful girlfriends of some bullies who chasing them are marveling at the situation they’ve gotten themselves in. One of the geeks, who is not the protagonist in the story, suddenly comes to the brilliantly self-aware observation that of the five people in the car, he’s the least memorable person.
It’s said at a moment that is completely unexpected, which makes it funnier.
Even funnier is the fact none of the other four people in the car comment on his comment. He makes the observation, and true to his statement, nobody even bothered to listen to it.
I wish the rest of the film were that witty, so then it could have become one of those films that gets repeated on Comedy Central or TBS nine times a week, and when it’s on, channel skippers would stop to wait for the classic lines, much like they do when “Office Space” or “Caddyshack” is on.
Unfortunately, that line is the only one worth waiting for, and unless a person’s timing is perfect, it’s likely people will skip to the next channel.
I find this line brilliant because I have often felt like the least notable person in a room or vehicle many times, especially in high school and college.
My family moved frequently when I was younger, so I never established a large network of friends. I never had a problem making a few closer friends, but not enough to win any popularity contests.
I moved to Berlin at the end of my eighth-grade year, after two and a half years at a small rural school in Neshkoro where the seventh and eighth grades shared a room and teacher. It was quite a culture shock as I quickly discovered kids there fooled around with drugs and alcohol, and even more shockingly, sex. The closest in Neshkoro we got to any of these things was when we had too much sugar and then played tag, with the guys hoping to grab a handful of, well, it rhymes with “rest,” in tagging any one of the five girls in our class.
I’m sure every Neshkoro kid wasn’t completely Rose-from-“The Golden Girls” wholesome like I was, but I’m fairly confident most of them spent more time thinking about ways of completing “The Legend of Zelda” than ways of conquering Zelinda, the new girl who – don’t gasp – had two earrings in each of her ears.
Distraught I wasn’t as knowledgeable in non-classroom life as my new classmates in Berlin, I spent the majority of my high school years trying to be the least notable person in the vehicle, or room. I figured if people didn’t realize I was there, then maybe they wouldn’t point out the fact I wasn’t notable.
It worked so well that by the time I got to college, I had a perfect strategy for life: be the least notable person. I had a select group of close friends, and I didn’t branch out to others or do anything that would make me stand out.
It wasn’t until I got into the real world that I discovered this strategy was foolish. The least notable person gets nowhere, and it makes for a fairly boring life.
It’s also not a good strategy when you’re a journalist and talking to others is a big part of the job. While I don’t have to stand out in a room, making people aware of my journalistic presence is a must, both for my ability to do my job and for the fairness of the people who may be subjects of any stories I might write.
Since graduating from college, I’ve found a good balance in which I’m usually not the most notable person, nor am I the least notable one. It works well, and it has allowed me to find a great moment in an otherwise completely unnotable film.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Gazette moves to new home in downtown Stevens Point
The Gazette finally has a new home.
We made the move Thursday, July 8, hours after sending the Friday, July 9, edition to press, and months after finding our new location at 1024 Main St., downtown Stevens Point.
Most of the physical move was completed in hours. Gazette owners and employees were on hand to move computers, files, office supplies, books, old papers and other things from 2800 Church St. to the new location. They worked hard, and because of their efforts and teamwork, it was smooth.
I wish I could say I was there for the bulk of it, but I was in Marshfield, getting braces put on my teeth. I was keeping an appointment I had made two months ago, long before I knew the date of the move.
When I made the appointment, for a Thursday on my day off, I knew we’d be moving on a Thursday sometime during the summer, hopefully, but picking which Thursday was an impossibility. A lot needed to be done prior to the move, and making it happen would require full-work on somebody’s behalf.
Fortunately, former managing editor Gene Kemmeter, one of the founders of The Gazette, retired on June 1. Without the day-to-day responsibility of running the news department, Gene now had the time to devote himself to making sure the move could happen. With help from the other owners, including Norb Tepp, Jim Schuh and Gary Glennon, he worked tirelessly to piece together all the puzzle pieces that needed to be put together to build the road we needed to take to come downtown.
We first became interested in the downtown location in January, after touring the facility, which was once occupied by Pro-Logic. In its history it was the longtime location of the Sports Shop, as well as the distribution center of Point Sporting Goods.
Pro-Logic used a lot of computers, and because it did, the building was networked perfectly for our computer needs. It also had more office space than we had at our old location, something we knew we needed if we were to continue growing.
Regardless of which area has the highest traffic count in Stevens Point – whether it’s downtown, Division Street near the campus, the east side along Highway 10, the south side or the business park next to Crossroads Commons in Plover – downtown Stevens Point is the heart and soul of this community, and it was where The Gazette needed to be.
Settling into our new digs on Friday, and getting back to business, we learned the move hadn’t gone quite as smoothly as we thought it had. Our computer server wasn't hooked up right. The problem took a little time to fix – thank God Computer Magic was able to fix a problem they did not create – and after that was resolved, we learned our e-mail wasn’t fully functional, either.
By Monday, that problem was fixed, and since then the staff has been learning the intricacies of the new place, including a new phone system that has, get this, caller ID and voice mail. Welcome to the 20th century, Gazette.
If you’re reading this when you normally would read this, hopefully on a Friday after you get the paper in the mail, then the move can be considered a success, as we were able to get the paper to press on time, once again, as we have for the past 11 years. If not, blame the weather.
Don’t be afraid to stop in and visit us at our new home. We’re open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Our phone number is still (715) 343-8045, and if you want to e-mail us, send it to me at pcgazette@g2a.net.
We made the move Thursday, July 8, hours after sending the Friday, July 9, edition to press, and months after finding our new location at 1024 Main St., downtown Stevens Point.
Most of the physical move was completed in hours. Gazette owners and employees were on hand to move computers, files, office supplies, books, old papers and other things from 2800 Church St. to the new location. They worked hard, and because of their efforts and teamwork, it was smooth.
I wish I could say I was there for the bulk of it, but I was in Marshfield, getting braces put on my teeth. I was keeping an appointment I had made two months ago, long before I knew the date of the move.
When I made the appointment, for a Thursday on my day off, I knew we’d be moving on a Thursday sometime during the summer, hopefully, but picking which Thursday was an impossibility. A lot needed to be done prior to the move, and making it happen would require full-work on somebody’s behalf.
Fortunately, former managing editor Gene Kemmeter, one of the founders of The Gazette, retired on June 1. Without the day-to-day responsibility of running the news department, Gene now had the time to devote himself to making sure the move could happen. With help from the other owners, including Norb Tepp, Jim Schuh and Gary Glennon, he worked tirelessly to piece together all the puzzle pieces that needed to be put together to build the road we needed to take to come downtown.
We first became interested in the downtown location in January, after touring the facility, which was once occupied by Pro-Logic. In its history it was the longtime location of the Sports Shop, as well as the distribution center of Point Sporting Goods.
Pro-Logic used a lot of computers, and because it did, the building was networked perfectly for our computer needs. It also had more office space than we had at our old location, something we knew we needed if we were to continue growing.
Regardless of which area has the highest traffic count in Stevens Point – whether it’s downtown, Division Street near the campus, the east side along Highway 10, the south side or the business park next to Crossroads Commons in Plover – downtown Stevens Point is the heart and soul of this community, and it was where The Gazette needed to be.
Settling into our new digs on Friday, and getting back to business, we learned the move hadn’t gone quite as smoothly as we thought it had. Our computer server wasn't hooked up right. The problem took a little time to fix – thank God Computer Magic was able to fix a problem they did not create – and after that was resolved, we learned our e-mail wasn’t fully functional, either.
By Monday, that problem was fixed, and since then the staff has been learning the intricacies of the new place, including a new phone system that has, get this, caller ID and voice mail. Welcome to the 20th century, Gazette.
If you’re reading this when you normally would read this, hopefully on a Friday after you get the paper in the mail, then the move can be considered a success, as we were able to get the paper to press on time, once again, as we have for the past 11 years. If not, blame the weather.
Don’t be afraid to stop in and visit us at our new home. We’re open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Our phone number is still (715) 343-8045, and if you want to e-mail us, send it to me at pcgazette@g2a.net.
Video stores may be driving themselves out of business
Time to rant.
At the video store last week, a place I don’t visit as often as I used to because I see most of the films I really want to see in the theater upon their release, I noticed all the new releases no longer offered a five nights for $3.50 option.
That option – better known as the purple-sticker option – was previously available on half of the discs for all new releases in the store. The other half was one night only for $2.50, also known as the yellow-sticker option.
I only used the yellow-sticker option when I knew I was going to watch the movie that day and could return it the next day. Otherwise, the purple-sticker option was the better deal for me because I could take my time in watching the movies, especially if I rented three or four of them.
I rarely use Red Box, a vending machine set up in several locations in this area that distributes films that can be rented for $1 per night, and although I’ve used mail video distributor Netflix in the past, I’m not currently a subscriber. Both of these services have caused the closure of many video stores, including one in Stevens Point earlier this year, and they are sure to close others as people choose them for their convenience and cheaper costs.
The video store has always been my preferred choice, because I love walking in, getting greeted by a person and then having the luxury of being able to browse thousands of selections without distractions from the outside world. It’s something I’ve been doing since a young child when my father brought home our first VHS player along with the movie “Romancing the Stone.”
While video stores have changed over the years, especially with the conversion of VHS tapes to DVDs, the basic premise has stayed the same: shelves lined with movie boxes. Those boxes are meant to be read to help a person determine whether or not the movie should be rented or put back on the shelf to collect more dust.
Giving up a video store is something I thought I’d never do. But now that the purple-sticker option is gone, I’m seriously reconsidering this thought, especially when I found out the reason my favorite option was eliminated.
“Why are you no longer offering the purple-sticker option?” I asked.
“We discovered it was causing us to lose too many customers to Red Box,” the clerk told me.
I was baffled. “What? How?”
“Well, people would go to Red Box if a purple-sticker movie was all out.”
I thought about her statement for a second. “So now my only option is renting a film for one night at a price $1.50 higher than Red Box. That makes no sense from a business standpoint for you guys. Now people are going to go to Red Box without even stopping here.”
The clerk was clearly not the person who made the decision, so she didn’t have a response. I added the purple-sticker option was what enticed me to come to the video store over Red Box, and now that I didn’t have this option, I was going to go to Red Box. I told her to let the authorities-that-be their decision was causing one more person to stay away from the video store.
I asked a few of my coworkers whether or not the video store was making a smart business decision. They agreed it wasn’t wise, although they noted they’ll continue to use the video store over Red Box and Netflix because at least the video store employs local people.
My argument is these local people will soon be out of a job if their managers continue to make such stupid decisions, because not everyone will think as nicely as my coworkers.
I didn’t go to Red Box that day, as I didn’t feel like driving from Plover to Stevens Point. I’m glad I didn’t, because that evening the backlight in my LCD high-definition television burned out, leaving me without a television to watch any movies I may have rented. Maybe it was karma for walking out of the video store and questioning its business decision, but I don’t think so.
Not to start another rant, but it’s probably a ploy by television makers to get people to buy new televisions every few years. Apparently, through online research, backlights burning out is a common problem that often occurs shortly after the television’s warranty expires. It’s a simple fix; however, getting the part to do so takes some doing and television repairman charge more than the value of the television to do the repair.
I’m determined to do it myself. In the meantime, though, I’ll probably have to purchase another television to watch those movies I’m not renting from the video store or anywhere else.
At the video store last week, a place I don’t visit as often as I used to because I see most of the films I really want to see in the theater upon their release, I noticed all the new releases no longer offered a five nights for $3.50 option.
That option – better known as the purple-sticker option – was previously available on half of the discs for all new releases in the store. The other half was one night only for $2.50, also known as the yellow-sticker option.
I only used the yellow-sticker option when I knew I was going to watch the movie that day and could return it the next day. Otherwise, the purple-sticker option was the better deal for me because I could take my time in watching the movies, especially if I rented three or four of them.
I rarely use Red Box, a vending machine set up in several locations in this area that distributes films that can be rented for $1 per night, and although I’ve used mail video distributor Netflix in the past, I’m not currently a subscriber. Both of these services have caused the closure of many video stores, including one in Stevens Point earlier this year, and they are sure to close others as people choose them for their convenience and cheaper costs.
The video store has always been my preferred choice, because I love walking in, getting greeted by a person and then having the luxury of being able to browse thousands of selections without distractions from the outside world. It’s something I’ve been doing since a young child when my father brought home our first VHS player along with the movie “Romancing the Stone.”
While video stores have changed over the years, especially with the conversion of VHS tapes to DVDs, the basic premise has stayed the same: shelves lined with movie boxes. Those boxes are meant to be read to help a person determine whether or not the movie should be rented or put back on the shelf to collect more dust.
Giving up a video store is something I thought I’d never do. But now that the purple-sticker option is gone, I’m seriously reconsidering this thought, especially when I found out the reason my favorite option was eliminated.
“Why are you no longer offering the purple-sticker option?” I asked.
“We discovered it was causing us to lose too many customers to Red Box,” the clerk told me.
I was baffled. “What? How?”
“Well, people would go to Red Box if a purple-sticker movie was all out.”
I thought about her statement for a second. “So now my only option is renting a film for one night at a price $1.50 higher than Red Box. That makes no sense from a business standpoint for you guys. Now people are going to go to Red Box without even stopping here.”
The clerk was clearly not the person who made the decision, so she didn’t have a response. I added the purple-sticker option was what enticed me to come to the video store over Red Box, and now that I didn’t have this option, I was going to go to Red Box. I told her to let the authorities-that-be their decision was causing one more person to stay away from the video store.
I asked a few of my coworkers whether or not the video store was making a smart business decision. They agreed it wasn’t wise, although they noted they’ll continue to use the video store over Red Box and Netflix because at least the video store employs local people.
My argument is these local people will soon be out of a job if their managers continue to make such stupid decisions, because not everyone will think as nicely as my coworkers.
I didn’t go to Red Box that day, as I didn’t feel like driving from Plover to Stevens Point. I’m glad I didn’t, because that evening the backlight in my LCD high-definition television burned out, leaving me without a television to watch any movies I may have rented. Maybe it was karma for walking out of the video store and questioning its business decision, but I don’t think so.
Not to start another rant, but it’s probably a ploy by television makers to get people to buy new televisions every few years. Apparently, through online research, backlights burning out is a common problem that often occurs shortly after the television’s warranty expires. It’s a simple fix; however, getting the part to do so takes some doing and television repairman charge more than the value of the television to do the repair.
I’m determined to do it myself. In the meantime, though, I’ll probably have to purchase another television to watch those movies I’m not renting from the video store or anywhere else.
Music magazine covers politics, world affairs better than serious publications
An article in Rolling Stone last week garnered a lot of attention. So much attention in fact it led to the resignation of the general in charge of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.
Many people were surprised a magazine known more for its music coverage than its world affairs coverage would have the ability to publish an article that could lead to the downfall of such a high-ranking official, let alone one that would cause President Barack Obama to react.
Even more surprising to many was the fact the unabashed liberal-leaning publication would put anything in it criticizing a president it heavily supported in 2008.
I’d be surprised, too, if I was only a casual reader of the magazine. As it is, though, I’ve read every article in it, front cover to back, for the last 10 years, happily devouring every word about every subject it’s addressed, even the subjects I had little to no interest in knowing more about.
That’s because the editors at Rolling Stone have an uncanny knack for helping their writers make every subject interesting, and they’re not afraid to tackle anything, even supposedly taboo subjects like the president’s handling of the war on terror.
It started going after Obama about six months ago. In an editorial the magazine’s editor and founder, Jann Wenner, said the magazine still supports the president and his beliefs, but it’s been disappointed by much of Obama’s White House record.
Since then it has published articles hammering Obama on finance reform, global-warming reform and most recently, before the big one, his handling of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Nearly every issue of the bi-monthly magazine features an article written by Matt Taibbi, the finest political writer on the planet since Rolling Stone’s last great one, Hunter S. Thompson. Taibbi has the rare ability of making complicated subjects, such as the meltdown of the global economy in 2008, understandable to us common folk who do not have doctorates in economics. He writes with wit, humor and a sharp pen not afraid of anybody or anything.
Taibbi has more talent in his left nostril hairs than nearly all journalists in his field combined, and for years he’s been putting them to shame with his writings.
So when I first heard rumblings Rolling Stone had an article in its latest issue that could have major implications on the war in Afghanistan, I automatically assumed Taibbi wrote it. Well before I received my issue in the mail, I learned it was not written by him, though, and instead was written by first-time Rolling Stone contributor Michael Hastings. Surprising, yes, but not really. The magazine knows how to find the best of the best.
Hastings stumbled on a bit of luck with the assignment. He was suppose to interview his subject, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, over a two-day period, but the volcano in Iceland grounded his flights home, giving him access to McChrystal for a month. During this period Hastings heard the general say many of the things that led to his downfall, especially his mockery of Vice President Joe Biden.
It’s these foolish remarks that ended McChrystal’s military career, but anyone who actually read the article now knows the heart and soul of it lies with what it says about Obama’s failure to commit the necessary military power to succeed in Afghanistan or his failure to begin troop withdrawal as he once promised. By doing neither, the article backs with facts and quotes, the president is guaranteeing failure.
In many ways, it’s a shame the best reporting in the media is being done by Rolling Stone. Instead of being surprised by this fact, though, other media should follow its example. No matter the politics of the publication, all subjects should be treated as though politics don’t exist. And more importantly, as though they aren’t subjects that should be feared, even if it is the president.
Many people were surprised a magazine known more for its music coverage than its world affairs coverage would have the ability to publish an article that could lead to the downfall of such a high-ranking official, let alone one that would cause President Barack Obama to react.
Even more surprising to many was the fact the unabashed liberal-leaning publication would put anything in it criticizing a president it heavily supported in 2008.
I’d be surprised, too, if I was only a casual reader of the magazine. As it is, though, I’ve read every article in it, front cover to back, for the last 10 years, happily devouring every word about every subject it’s addressed, even the subjects I had little to no interest in knowing more about.
That’s because the editors at Rolling Stone have an uncanny knack for helping their writers make every subject interesting, and they’re not afraid to tackle anything, even supposedly taboo subjects like the president’s handling of the war on terror.
It started going after Obama about six months ago. In an editorial the magazine’s editor and founder, Jann Wenner, said the magazine still supports the president and his beliefs, but it’s been disappointed by much of Obama’s White House record.
Since then it has published articles hammering Obama on finance reform, global-warming reform and most recently, before the big one, his handling of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Nearly every issue of the bi-monthly magazine features an article written by Matt Taibbi, the finest political writer on the planet since Rolling Stone’s last great one, Hunter S. Thompson. Taibbi has the rare ability of making complicated subjects, such as the meltdown of the global economy in 2008, understandable to us common folk who do not have doctorates in economics. He writes with wit, humor and a sharp pen not afraid of anybody or anything.
Taibbi has more talent in his left nostril hairs than nearly all journalists in his field combined, and for years he’s been putting them to shame with his writings.
So when I first heard rumblings Rolling Stone had an article in its latest issue that could have major implications on the war in Afghanistan, I automatically assumed Taibbi wrote it. Well before I received my issue in the mail, I learned it was not written by him, though, and instead was written by first-time Rolling Stone contributor Michael Hastings. Surprising, yes, but not really. The magazine knows how to find the best of the best.
Hastings stumbled on a bit of luck with the assignment. He was suppose to interview his subject, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, over a two-day period, but the volcano in Iceland grounded his flights home, giving him access to McChrystal for a month. During this period Hastings heard the general say many of the things that led to his downfall, especially his mockery of Vice President Joe Biden.
It’s these foolish remarks that ended McChrystal’s military career, but anyone who actually read the article now knows the heart and soul of it lies with what it says about Obama’s failure to commit the necessary military power to succeed in Afghanistan or his failure to begin troop withdrawal as he once promised. By doing neither, the article backs with facts and quotes, the president is guaranteeing failure.
In many ways, it’s a shame the best reporting in the media is being done by Rolling Stone. Instead of being surprised by this fact, though, other media should follow its example. No matter the politics of the publication, all subjects should be treated as though politics don’t exist. And more importantly, as though they aren’t subjects that should be feared, even if it is the president.
Fishing secret won't be revealed with money
I discovered a fishing paradise last week, right in Portage County.
But you couldn’t pay me enough money to reveal its location.
This paradise is full of bass and large panfish, all of which are so hungry nearly every cast lands a fish.
My 5-year-old son, Braden, using his SpongeBob SquarePants rod and reel, caught a 22-inch, three-pound bass, as well as four or five other keepers and a bunch of panfish.
I wasn’t as successful because he kept me busy with his catches, but I still pulled in a few nice bass. I also lost two really big lunkers that thrilled Braden when they jumped out of the water.
All of this took place during just one hour of fishing in my secret fishing paradise location.
I don’t really have a reason to keep this location a secret, as I don’t keep them because my wife and I think they taste too fishy. A few photos are all we take back with us. Revealing this location, though, would violate a tradition I’ve grown up to all my life: never tell others where good fishing holes are located.
It’s OK to tell someone where decent fishing holes are, but giving away a good hole will soon lead to the end of it. It will be fished out, overcrowded and overused, and then will become another worthless spot in the lake, tradition says, if said paradise is revealed.
Until last week, I’ve never known such a good fishing spot. Heck, I’ve barely known decent spots. Now I feel I’m amongst the privileged fishing elite – move over Babe Winkelman – and rising to these ranks has given me to the power to look down at other fishers, much like many of them have done to me in the past while refusing to reveal their paradises.
Go ahead and ask. I’ll happily brag about how good the location is and that the action was so hot I had to leave after an hour because it wore me out. I’ll also rub it in your face that my 5-year-old, who I’ll reiterate was using a SpongeBob pole, probably outfished you in that hour than you in your best full day of fishing ever.
In fact, by his third or fourth bass he was so used to catching monster fish it was beginning to bore him. Yes, his attention span may be short, but it’s still long enough to recognize fishing bliss. Like a really rich chocolate, too much of a good thing can sometimes be tiring.
I once caught a similar-sized bass on Spring Lake in the town of Marion in Waushara County. It was the only fish I caught that day, making the location far from a fishing paradise. I placed the photo of me with the fish in the shopper publication of the newspaper I worked for at the time, at the urging of co-workers and because we needed filler copy for the publication, which specializes in featuring the county’s recreational activities through photos and stories.
Foolishly, I forgot about tradition and revealed where I caught the fish.
Years later, after meeting my wife’s grandfather who lived on the lake, I told him about my catch and that I put a photo of it in the paper.
He was not pleased, scolding me for revealing a location that probably sent the entire fishing public to the lake.
Several years later, his neighbor also scolded me for the same reason upon hearing my story.
Nowadays, I jokingly tell my father-in-law after he catches a large fish I’m going to send his photo to the newspaper there for publication. He knows I won’t, as I’ve mastered the art of not giving away such fishing secrets.
That doesn’t mean I’m not going to let everyone know that I have a great secret. What good is such knowledge if you can’t tease others with it?
But you couldn’t pay me enough money to reveal its location.
This paradise is full of bass and large panfish, all of which are so hungry nearly every cast lands a fish.
My 5-year-old son, Braden, using his SpongeBob SquarePants rod and reel, caught a 22-inch, three-pound bass, as well as four or five other keepers and a bunch of panfish.
I wasn’t as successful because he kept me busy with his catches, but I still pulled in a few nice bass. I also lost two really big lunkers that thrilled Braden when they jumped out of the water.
All of this took place during just one hour of fishing in my secret fishing paradise location.
I don’t really have a reason to keep this location a secret, as I don’t keep them because my wife and I think they taste too fishy. A few photos are all we take back with us. Revealing this location, though, would violate a tradition I’ve grown up to all my life: never tell others where good fishing holes are located.
It’s OK to tell someone where decent fishing holes are, but giving away a good hole will soon lead to the end of it. It will be fished out, overcrowded and overused, and then will become another worthless spot in the lake, tradition says, if said paradise is revealed.
Until last week, I’ve never known such a good fishing spot. Heck, I’ve barely known decent spots. Now I feel I’m amongst the privileged fishing elite – move over Babe Winkelman – and rising to these ranks has given me to the power to look down at other fishers, much like many of them have done to me in the past while refusing to reveal their paradises.
Go ahead and ask. I’ll happily brag about how good the location is and that the action was so hot I had to leave after an hour because it wore me out. I’ll also rub it in your face that my 5-year-old, who I’ll reiterate was using a SpongeBob pole, probably outfished you in that hour than you in your best full day of fishing ever.
In fact, by his third or fourth bass he was so used to catching monster fish it was beginning to bore him. Yes, his attention span may be short, but it’s still long enough to recognize fishing bliss. Like a really rich chocolate, too much of a good thing can sometimes be tiring.
I once caught a similar-sized bass on Spring Lake in the town of Marion in Waushara County. It was the only fish I caught that day, making the location far from a fishing paradise. I placed the photo of me with the fish in the shopper publication of the newspaper I worked for at the time, at the urging of co-workers and because we needed filler copy for the publication, which specializes in featuring the county’s recreational activities through photos and stories.
Foolishly, I forgot about tradition and revealed where I caught the fish.
Years later, after meeting my wife’s grandfather who lived on the lake, I told him about my catch and that I put a photo of it in the paper.
He was not pleased, scolding me for revealing a location that probably sent the entire fishing public to the lake.
Several years later, his neighbor also scolded me for the same reason upon hearing my story.
Nowadays, I jokingly tell my father-in-law after he catches a large fish I’m going to send his photo to the newspaper there for publication. He knows I won’t, as I’ve mastered the art of not giving away such fishing secrets.
That doesn’t mean I’m not going to let everyone know that I have a great secret. What good is such knowledge if you can’t tease others with it?
Television quote sums up 2010 America perfectly
“There are times when the only choices you have left are bad ones.”
This quote comes from a character on the Fox television show “Fringe,” and when my wife, Jenny, and I heard it this past week while catching up on our DVR watching, we both looked at each other and said truer words haven’t been spoken about 2010 America.
The character who spoke those words, Phillip Broyles (played by the great Lance Reddick who is best known for playing Lt. Daniels on “The Wire” – my vote for the greatest television show of all time), was referring to a bad predicament his Homeland Security unit found itself in following a series of unfortunate events.
All the choices unit members had in resolving the situation had serious consequences in which people would be harmed or killed. Still, a decision needed to be made and acted upon, because doing nothing would be even more harmful.
As this country attempts to climb out of a recession that hasn’t been this deep since the Great Depression, it’s clear recovery is going to be slow, if true recovery even takes place at all. While some economic indicators say recovery is taking place slowly, other indicators point out we shouldn’t be so hopeful because it’s not happening.
Based on the things I hear from local officials about budgets in coming years, especially at the state level, people should brace for the worst. The dollars aren’t there, and unless massive changes are made at all levels in the way government operates, the only choices left at budget time are going to be bad ones.
We’re already seeing it at the local level. Stevens Point Area School District residents voted against two spending proposals. Many of those who rejected them did so because they’re worried about their own well being, especially when facing salary reductions, reduced hours and even layoffs, more than they are worried about the setback local education could suffer with budget reductions.
Few people liked having to choose between personal well-being and education, especially knowing education plays a huge role in everybody’s well-being as the young generation becomes our future. But the choice was on the table to get the ball rolling. By rejecting the proposals, school officials knew they had their own difficult choices to make: cutbacks, which meant layoffs, and finding alternate sources of funding.
School officials made those choices, few of which they thought were good. Next year’s school budget has been balanced, although it won’t be official until October or November, and then the process will begin all over again. And since the school funding mode is completely broken, the process of bad choices will begin all over again before anyone can even breathe a sigh of relief.
The county felt a bit of this type of pinch when coming up with the 2010 budget late last year, but for the most part it was relatively unharmed compared to most municipalities. Good planning by our leaders can be credited for this, but even the best planning won’t prevent a bigger pinch from occurring during the next budget cycle.
The state continues to place numerous unfunded mandates on counties and then takes away funding from them. It adds up, and for 2011 the county may find itself scrambling, like local schools, to balance its budget. The choices it will have to make will most likely be bad ones.
I’m sure the state can argue it’s putting counties, schools and other municipalities in these situations because of the pinch it’s receiving at the federal level. And the federal government will most likely have something to blame, too.
Perhaps the only way to get out of this never-ending cycle of bad choices is to start over again. Government at all levels may need to re-examine how it operates, especially in how it obtains funding through taxes and how it distributes those funds.
John Holdridge, chair of the town of Hull, told me he hopes a Property Tax Seminar being co-sponsored by Portage County, the town of Hull and Portage County University of Wisconsin-Extension Wednesday, June 23, at the Lincoln Center, 1519 Water St., Stevens Point, will start such a grassroots movement at the local level to re-examine how government operates.
I hope he’s right. And then maybe government won’t be faced with bad choices, because unlike “Fringe,” which managed to find a good choice so no one would be hurt, life isn’t television. Problems don’t disappear in the final act.
This quote comes from a character on the Fox television show “Fringe,” and when my wife, Jenny, and I heard it this past week while catching up on our DVR watching, we both looked at each other and said truer words haven’t been spoken about 2010 America.
The character who spoke those words, Phillip Broyles (played by the great Lance Reddick who is best known for playing Lt. Daniels on “The Wire” – my vote for the greatest television show of all time), was referring to a bad predicament his Homeland Security unit found itself in following a series of unfortunate events.
All the choices unit members had in resolving the situation had serious consequences in which people would be harmed or killed. Still, a decision needed to be made and acted upon, because doing nothing would be even more harmful.
As this country attempts to climb out of a recession that hasn’t been this deep since the Great Depression, it’s clear recovery is going to be slow, if true recovery even takes place at all. While some economic indicators say recovery is taking place slowly, other indicators point out we shouldn’t be so hopeful because it’s not happening.
Based on the things I hear from local officials about budgets in coming years, especially at the state level, people should brace for the worst. The dollars aren’t there, and unless massive changes are made at all levels in the way government operates, the only choices left at budget time are going to be bad ones.
We’re already seeing it at the local level. Stevens Point Area School District residents voted against two spending proposals. Many of those who rejected them did so because they’re worried about their own well being, especially when facing salary reductions, reduced hours and even layoffs, more than they are worried about the setback local education could suffer with budget reductions.
Few people liked having to choose between personal well-being and education, especially knowing education plays a huge role in everybody’s well-being as the young generation becomes our future. But the choice was on the table to get the ball rolling. By rejecting the proposals, school officials knew they had their own difficult choices to make: cutbacks, which meant layoffs, and finding alternate sources of funding.
School officials made those choices, few of which they thought were good. Next year’s school budget has been balanced, although it won’t be official until October or November, and then the process will begin all over again. And since the school funding mode is completely broken, the process of bad choices will begin all over again before anyone can even breathe a sigh of relief.
The county felt a bit of this type of pinch when coming up with the 2010 budget late last year, but for the most part it was relatively unharmed compared to most municipalities. Good planning by our leaders can be credited for this, but even the best planning won’t prevent a bigger pinch from occurring during the next budget cycle.
The state continues to place numerous unfunded mandates on counties and then takes away funding from them. It adds up, and for 2011 the county may find itself scrambling, like local schools, to balance its budget. The choices it will have to make will most likely be bad ones.
I’m sure the state can argue it’s putting counties, schools and other municipalities in these situations because of the pinch it’s receiving at the federal level. And the federal government will most likely have something to blame, too.
Perhaps the only way to get out of this never-ending cycle of bad choices is to start over again. Government at all levels may need to re-examine how it operates, especially in how it obtains funding through taxes and how it distributes those funds.
John Holdridge, chair of the town of Hull, told me he hopes a Property Tax Seminar being co-sponsored by Portage County, the town of Hull and Portage County University of Wisconsin-Extension Wednesday, June 23, at the Lincoln Center, 1519 Water St., Stevens Point, will start such a grassroots movement at the local level to re-examine how government operates.
I hope he’s right. And then maybe government won’t be faced with bad choices, because unlike “Fringe,” which managed to find a good choice so no one would be hurt, life isn’t television. Problems don’t disappear in the final act.
Broken cassette player serves as reminder radio needs fixin', too
My cassette player in my car died this week, and I’m not happy about it.
While this statement makes me sound primitive, just one step above someone still using an eight-track player, rest be assured I haven’t listened to a cassette since 1992. I use the cassette player, with an adaptor, to connect my iPod Touch to my stereo, allowing me to listen to nearly 2,000 of my favorite songs from my portable library. Call me archaic now.
Without a cassette player, though, I’m now forced to listen to the radio, and it’s driving me mad.
No matter what station I listen to, it seems nearly identical to the one I listened to before it and the one I will listen to next. Radio has become a formula in which a small selection of the same songs are played over and over again, the deejays have little personality and read the same script, and the commercials are played in synch with other stations to give people no reason to change the dial when they come on.
Radio stations playing the same songs repeatedly is nothing new; as a teen a friend and I would listen to pop stations while fishing to hear how many times in one hour it would play a popular song of the time, such as “Can’t Touch This” by M.C. Hammer. Top 40 radio was designed to do this.
Variety was available by listening to non-Top 40 radio stations, but this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, as even those stations seem to have a limited selection.
Deejays were fun to listen to when I was younger, but now most of them seem like the same person. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are, as technology has probably allowed for the invention of a computer-generated person, like Max Headroom, to deliver bland commentary between songs, flavored with brief news tidbits taken from a wire-feed anyone with a computer already knew about yesterday.
A few of the morning deejays on several radio stations can be entertaining at times, but even they sometimes seem bored following the same script their corporate-owned bosses say they should follow because studies show that’s what the public wants.
I didn’t always have a problem with radio. As a child of the 1980s, I grew up loving it. I can recall spending many Sunday evenings listening to Casey Kasem’s Top 40 Countdown, ready to press record on my boombox when he played a song I wanted for my collection.
I also perfected the art of speed-dialing trying to win radio station contests that required people to be a certain number caller. I won a few contests, although the prizes weren’t anything to brag about.
Before the day of instant information from the Internet, radio was my main source of news about some of my favorite music artists. I fell asleep and woke up listening to the radio in hopes of catching news about the release date of the next album by artists such as Guns N’ Roses, Poison and Bon Jovi.
During college I was a student deejay, taking control of the radio station for three-hour shifts at weird hours. I may have had only three listeners sometimes, but I made sure those three listeners were entertained. I played songs I loved, figuring they were probably listening because they shared my taste in music. I didn’t stick to one genre, going from a Public Enemy song one minute to an Eagles song the next. If people called in to request a song, I played it if I had it.
My friends would also join me in the studio, many of them student deejays themselves, and we made sure listeners would laugh.
This free-for-all format has disappeared from radio, and that’s why I’ve been listening to my iPod for the past two years. I’m kind of sad my broken cassette player has reminded me radio is broken, too. I prefer to remember the good times I once had with radio. Maybe I need to fix my cassette player, so I can fix my mind into remembering when radio was good.
While this statement makes me sound primitive, just one step above someone still using an eight-track player, rest be assured I haven’t listened to a cassette since 1992. I use the cassette player, with an adaptor, to connect my iPod Touch to my stereo, allowing me to listen to nearly 2,000 of my favorite songs from my portable library. Call me archaic now.
Without a cassette player, though, I’m now forced to listen to the radio, and it’s driving me mad.
No matter what station I listen to, it seems nearly identical to the one I listened to before it and the one I will listen to next. Radio has become a formula in which a small selection of the same songs are played over and over again, the deejays have little personality and read the same script, and the commercials are played in synch with other stations to give people no reason to change the dial when they come on.
Radio stations playing the same songs repeatedly is nothing new; as a teen a friend and I would listen to pop stations while fishing to hear how many times in one hour it would play a popular song of the time, such as “Can’t Touch This” by M.C. Hammer. Top 40 radio was designed to do this.
Variety was available by listening to non-Top 40 radio stations, but this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, as even those stations seem to have a limited selection.
Deejays were fun to listen to when I was younger, but now most of them seem like the same person. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are, as technology has probably allowed for the invention of a computer-generated person, like Max Headroom, to deliver bland commentary between songs, flavored with brief news tidbits taken from a wire-feed anyone with a computer already knew about yesterday.
A few of the morning deejays on several radio stations can be entertaining at times, but even they sometimes seem bored following the same script their corporate-owned bosses say they should follow because studies show that’s what the public wants.
I didn’t always have a problem with radio. As a child of the 1980s, I grew up loving it. I can recall spending many Sunday evenings listening to Casey Kasem’s Top 40 Countdown, ready to press record on my boombox when he played a song I wanted for my collection.
I also perfected the art of speed-dialing trying to win radio station contests that required people to be a certain number caller. I won a few contests, although the prizes weren’t anything to brag about.
Before the day of instant information from the Internet, radio was my main source of news about some of my favorite music artists. I fell asleep and woke up listening to the radio in hopes of catching news about the release date of the next album by artists such as Guns N’ Roses, Poison and Bon Jovi.
During college I was a student deejay, taking control of the radio station for three-hour shifts at weird hours. I may have had only three listeners sometimes, but I made sure those three listeners were entertained. I played songs I loved, figuring they were probably listening because they shared my taste in music. I didn’t stick to one genre, going from a Public Enemy song one minute to an Eagles song the next. If people called in to request a song, I played it if I had it.
My friends would also join me in the studio, many of them student deejays themselves, and we made sure listeners would laugh.
This free-for-all format has disappeared from radio, and that’s why I’ve been listening to my iPod for the past two years. I’m kind of sad my broken cassette player has reminded me radio is broken, too. I prefer to remember the good times I once had with radio. Maybe I need to fix my cassette player, so I can fix my mind into remembering when radio was good.
Times are a-changin' at The Gazette
“Come writers and critics/Who prophesize with your pen/And keep your eyes wide/The chance won't come again.” – From “Times They Are A-Changin’” by Bob Dylan.
No matter the situation, Bob Dylan has probably written a song with a lyric that applies to it.
Beginning June 1 with the retirement of Gene Kemmeter as the managing editor of The Gazette and continuing until early July through a transition period loaded with a number of changes, “Times They Are A-Changin’,” would most apply to the situation here.
Gene’s retirement is a huge change for The Gazette. For the past 11 years, he has been the face of the paper, which he helped found with several other local media legends, including George Rogers, Jim Schuh and Bill Berry. People calling, e-mailing or stopping in at The Gazette most likely encountered Gene, who was always more than happy to meet those people.
He has also been a silent but major presence at events throughout the community. From Cultural Fest to Riverfront Rendezvous and from both of Portage County’s fairs to the Jazz Festival, Gene was there, camera in one hand and notepad in the other, taking photos and documenting the event for The Gazette.
Gene has also been a top-notch reporter in covering news events, meetings, controversies and anything else the newspaper business has thrown at him for the more than 40 years he’s been in the business. He learned from the best, quoting George Rogers to me constantly in the three years I’ve worked with him, and he has always been more than happy to share what he has learned.
I’ve benefited from this knowledge, as has his son, John, The Gazette’s sports editor. Former employees have also benefited, including Chris Randazzo; Gene’s other son, Mike, who is the news director for a radio station in Appleton; and dozens of interns who have worked here throughout the years.
Following in Gene’s footsteps is daunting, and I hope I can live up to his legendary status as one of the finest journalists this community has ever produced.
Fortunately, I’ve got some good help. In addition to Gene, who still plans on writing and taking photographs during his well-deserved retirement, John Kemmeter will now be working for The Gazette on a full-time basis, rather than just part-time. Making him a full-time employee was an easy decision, as John is one of the finest sports writers in central Wisconsin.
Also helping is Matthew Brown, a 1995 Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) graduate. Matthew, who recently moved back to Stevens Point after living elsewhere throughout the country, will have the city beat Gene covered, as well as other writing and editing duties as The Gazette’s part-time associate editor.
The Gazette also has three interns this summer: Rose Schneider, a 2008 Pacelli High School graduate majoring in international journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; Thomasina Johnson, a 2008 SPASH graduate majoring in journalism and French at Miami University of Ohio; and Mandy Glenzer, a 2008 SPASH graduate majoring in photography at Columbia University in Chicago, Ill. The veterans here plan on putting them through The Gazette’s unofficial “School of Journalism” this summer, so when they return to their schools in the fall they’ll be at the top of their classes.
I would be negligent if I didn’t mention The Gazette’s longtime employees: production manager Paula O’Kray, ad salesmen Kevin “Casey” Sullivan and Matt Clucas, circulation manager Ann Leahy, and graphic artist Brett Hiorns. All five have contributed in big ways in making The Gazette one of the best weekly papers in Wisconsin.
Beginning with this issue, on page 4, Brett will draw editorial cartoons for The Gazette. An artist known most for his work with New York Times-bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss of Stevens Point, Brett excels at drawing caricatures, a skill that will serve him well in this endeavor.
One of the biggest changes taking place at The Gazette has nothing to do with personnel, though. On July 1, The Gazette will move from its location at 2800 Church St. to downtown Stevens Point at 1042 Main St., the former ProLogic building.
This new location will better serve our needs, as it’s bigger and better designed. It’s also in a more visible location, right across the street from the library. We’re excited about the move and invite people to stop in and visit us when we’re there.
Also, people may notice the small price increase with this issue of The Gazette. Frankly, it was needed because the single-copy price has been 50 cents since The Gazette started in 1999. Even at 75 cents, we still think you’re getting a good deal.
The times may have changed here at The Gazette, but we are confident we’ll continue to provide a quality product as we have always done.
No matter the situation, Bob Dylan has probably written a song with a lyric that applies to it.
Beginning June 1 with the retirement of Gene Kemmeter as the managing editor of The Gazette and continuing until early July through a transition period loaded with a number of changes, “Times They Are A-Changin’,” would most apply to the situation here.
Gene’s retirement is a huge change for The Gazette. For the past 11 years, he has been the face of the paper, which he helped found with several other local media legends, including George Rogers, Jim Schuh and Bill Berry. People calling, e-mailing or stopping in at The Gazette most likely encountered Gene, who was always more than happy to meet those people.
He has also been a silent but major presence at events throughout the community. From Cultural Fest to Riverfront Rendezvous and from both of Portage County’s fairs to the Jazz Festival, Gene was there, camera in one hand and notepad in the other, taking photos and documenting the event for The Gazette.
Gene has also been a top-notch reporter in covering news events, meetings, controversies and anything else the newspaper business has thrown at him for the more than 40 years he’s been in the business. He learned from the best, quoting George Rogers to me constantly in the three years I’ve worked with him, and he has always been more than happy to share what he has learned.
I’ve benefited from this knowledge, as has his son, John, The Gazette’s sports editor. Former employees have also benefited, including Chris Randazzo; Gene’s other son, Mike, who is the news director for a radio station in Appleton; and dozens of interns who have worked here throughout the years.
Following in Gene’s footsteps is daunting, and I hope I can live up to his legendary status as one of the finest journalists this community has ever produced.
Fortunately, I’ve got some good help. In addition to Gene, who still plans on writing and taking photographs during his well-deserved retirement, John Kemmeter will now be working for The Gazette on a full-time basis, rather than just part-time. Making him a full-time employee was an easy decision, as John is one of the finest sports writers in central Wisconsin.
Also helping is Matthew Brown, a 1995 Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) graduate. Matthew, who recently moved back to Stevens Point after living elsewhere throughout the country, will have the city beat Gene covered, as well as other writing and editing duties as The Gazette’s part-time associate editor.
The Gazette also has three interns this summer: Rose Schneider, a 2008 Pacelli High School graduate majoring in international journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; Thomasina Johnson, a 2008 SPASH graduate majoring in journalism and French at Miami University of Ohio; and Mandy Glenzer, a 2008 SPASH graduate majoring in photography at Columbia University in Chicago, Ill. The veterans here plan on putting them through The Gazette’s unofficial “School of Journalism” this summer, so when they return to their schools in the fall they’ll be at the top of their classes.
I would be negligent if I didn’t mention The Gazette’s longtime employees: production manager Paula O’Kray, ad salesmen Kevin “Casey” Sullivan and Matt Clucas, circulation manager Ann Leahy, and graphic artist Brett Hiorns. All five have contributed in big ways in making The Gazette one of the best weekly papers in Wisconsin.
Beginning with this issue, on page 4, Brett will draw editorial cartoons for The Gazette. An artist known most for his work with New York Times-bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss of Stevens Point, Brett excels at drawing caricatures, a skill that will serve him well in this endeavor.
One of the biggest changes taking place at The Gazette has nothing to do with personnel, though. On July 1, The Gazette will move from its location at 2800 Church St. to downtown Stevens Point at 1042 Main St., the former ProLogic building.
This new location will better serve our needs, as it’s bigger and better designed. It’s also in a more visible location, right across the street from the library. We’re excited about the move and invite people to stop in and visit us when we’re there.
Also, people may notice the small price increase with this issue of The Gazette. Frankly, it was needed because the single-copy price has been 50 cents since The Gazette started in 1999. Even at 75 cents, we still think you’re getting a good deal.
The times may have changed here at The Gazette, but we are confident we’ll continue to provide a quality product as we have always done.
Public Safety Academy shows greatness of local emergency personnel
I recently sort of completed the Stevens Point Citizens Public Safety Academy, which was formerly known as the Citizens Police Academy and which I dubbed, before even setting foot in the classroom, “Police Academy 4 1/2: Citizens Back on Patrol” after the great 1987 film “Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol.” Some classics deserve a true sequel (“Police Academy 5” was horrible and doesn’t count), even if it is a real-life version featuring a cast of mostly normal people, none of whom can make cool sound effects like Michael Winslow as Sgt. Larvell Jones.
I only “sort of” completed it because work and family commitments caused me to miss six of the 10 classes, including the coolest ones in which class members got to drive a police car, shoot guns and get tasered. OK, I’m glad I missed that last one, as I’ve touched an electric fence before and have no desire to ever allow electricity to run through my body again.
But the classes I did attend were heavily informative, even if they did go a little too long, and they did leave me knowing a lot more about what police officers and other emergency personnel do, making me appreciate them even more.
Led by Lt. Ron Carlson, a 31-year veteran of the Stevens Point Police Department, the class included lessons about dispatchers, ambulances, Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) enforcement, crime-scene evidence collection, the Fire Department, defense and arrest tactics, field-training officer scenarios and the ones mentioned before.
Aiding Lt. Carlson were Kevin Ruder, Stevens Point police chief, and a host of other emergency personnel, including dispatchers, detectives, other police officers and firefighters. All were well versed in their roles and all would have my trust should I ever be involved in a situation in which I need their help.
Ruder told the 14 people in the class – community leaders chosen because they could communicate what they learned to other people in the community – the purpose of them being there was to inform us about what the lives of police officers, firefighters and other public safety workers are like.
Lt. Carlson said no two days are exactly the same. “It’s an adventure,” he said. “To see how policing is done in your community is a lot different than the version you think you know from television. This is not an edited version of ‘Cops’ you may be used to seeing.”
It’s also not “CSI,” “Criminal Minds,” “21 Jump Street,” “Cop Rock” (we could only hope police officers would break out into song and dance when the mood struck) or, sadly, “Police Academy.” Honestly, I always knew television and film highlighted the excitement and downplayed, and in most cases don’t show, the legwork that goes into a police officer’s job.
Detective Ken Lepak said it best, though. “The public’s perception from CSI is ridiculous,” he said, noting people often expect officers to use the gadgetry featured on the show to collect evidence and put the bad guys behind bars, sometimes within an hour’s time, like they do on the show.
He said he once asked a nurse who had a piece of jewelry stolen and who demanded CSI-like skills in resolving the case some simple questions that caused her to rethink her demand. “Do you watch ‘Grey’s Anatomy’? Do the nurses and doctors at your hospital go around making out with each other all over the place like they do on that show?” Touché, Detective Lepak, I say.
Of the four classes I did attend, the one I found most interesting was the one focusing on dispatchers. Many people probably don’t think about these people much, I know I didn’t, but they usually are the first people one has contact with when phoning in an emergency. As a result, dispatchers have to be calm, collective, direct to the point and capable of helping the person that made the call, all while informing the correct emergency personnel about the scene they need to go to and what has happened there.
Stevens Point has seven dispatchers who work four 10-hour shifts per week, answering 100,000 calls as a unit. Dispatcher Kim Zvara told the class people often complain dispatchers sound short with them when they call, but said it’s just them being blunt, as they are often dealing with multiple calls and other situations that may be deemed more important.
While in the dispatch center at the Police Department, the two dispatchers received a call from a concerned mother about her two children she couldn’t find. The dispatchers immediately made a number of calls, to officers patrolling the area, and within minutes both children were located, much to the relief of the class participants. For the dispatchers, though, it was just another situation they helped to quickly resolve.
Another interesting class I attended was the one about OWI enforcement. Officer Steven Spath told the class 81 motorists have been cited for OWI in Stevens Point this year, 279 were cited in 2009, 230 in 2008 and 186 in 2007.
Those statistics, he said, would be a lot higher if the Police Department had more personnel to bust the drunk drivers, noting he estimates 80 percent of the people driving on Main and Clark streets in Stevens Point late at night on the weekends are probably over the legal limit. I guess I know where I won’t be driving at those times.
Officer Spath showed the class a video of an actual OWI bust that occurred in Stevens Point several weeks earlier. The culprit was clearly not fit to be driving, despite his best efforts to tell the officer he was.
I also appreciated Officer Spath telling the class Wisconsin’s OWI laws are the most lax in the country and they need to be revamped to make our roads safer. He said someone who is arrested for OWI in this state can be bailed out that night and be on the road again, still drunk, noting he has arrested people two times in one night for OWI.
Throughout the 10-week seminar, class members learned quite a bit of this type of information. Had I been there more, I’m sure my brain would be on overload. Then again had I been there to get tased, my brain may have lost all this information and I wouldn’t have had anything to share.
I only “sort of” completed it because work and family commitments caused me to miss six of the 10 classes, including the coolest ones in which class members got to drive a police car, shoot guns and get tasered. OK, I’m glad I missed that last one, as I’ve touched an electric fence before and have no desire to ever allow electricity to run through my body again.
But the classes I did attend were heavily informative, even if they did go a little too long, and they did leave me knowing a lot more about what police officers and other emergency personnel do, making me appreciate them even more.
Led by Lt. Ron Carlson, a 31-year veteran of the Stevens Point Police Department, the class included lessons about dispatchers, ambulances, Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) enforcement, crime-scene evidence collection, the Fire Department, defense and arrest tactics, field-training officer scenarios and the ones mentioned before.
Aiding Lt. Carlson were Kevin Ruder, Stevens Point police chief, and a host of other emergency personnel, including dispatchers, detectives, other police officers and firefighters. All were well versed in their roles and all would have my trust should I ever be involved in a situation in which I need their help.
Ruder told the 14 people in the class – community leaders chosen because they could communicate what they learned to other people in the community – the purpose of them being there was to inform us about what the lives of police officers, firefighters and other public safety workers are like.
Lt. Carlson said no two days are exactly the same. “It’s an adventure,” he said. “To see how policing is done in your community is a lot different than the version you think you know from television. This is not an edited version of ‘Cops’ you may be used to seeing.”
It’s also not “CSI,” “Criminal Minds,” “21 Jump Street,” “Cop Rock” (we could only hope police officers would break out into song and dance when the mood struck) or, sadly, “Police Academy.” Honestly, I always knew television and film highlighted the excitement and downplayed, and in most cases don’t show, the legwork that goes into a police officer’s job.
Detective Ken Lepak said it best, though. “The public’s perception from CSI is ridiculous,” he said, noting people often expect officers to use the gadgetry featured on the show to collect evidence and put the bad guys behind bars, sometimes within an hour’s time, like they do on the show.
He said he once asked a nurse who had a piece of jewelry stolen and who demanded CSI-like skills in resolving the case some simple questions that caused her to rethink her demand. “Do you watch ‘Grey’s Anatomy’? Do the nurses and doctors at your hospital go around making out with each other all over the place like they do on that show?” Touché, Detective Lepak, I say.
Of the four classes I did attend, the one I found most interesting was the one focusing on dispatchers. Many people probably don’t think about these people much, I know I didn’t, but they usually are the first people one has contact with when phoning in an emergency. As a result, dispatchers have to be calm, collective, direct to the point and capable of helping the person that made the call, all while informing the correct emergency personnel about the scene they need to go to and what has happened there.
Stevens Point has seven dispatchers who work four 10-hour shifts per week, answering 100,000 calls as a unit. Dispatcher Kim Zvara told the class people often complain dispatchers sound short with them when they call, but said it’s just them being blunt, as they are often dealing with multiple calls and other situations that may be deemed more important.
While in the dispatch center at the Police Department, the two dispatchers received a call from a concerned mother about her two children she couldn’t find. The dispatchers immediately made a number of calls, to officers patrolling the area, and within minutes both children were located, much to the relief of the class participants. For the dispatchers, though, it was just another situation they helped to quickly resolve.
Another interesting class I attended was the one about OWI enforcement. Officer Steven Spath told the class 81 motorists have been cited for OWI in Stevens Point this year, 279 were cited in 2009, 230 in 2008 and 186 in 2007.
Those statistics, he said, would be a lot higher if the Police Department had more personnel to bust the drunk drivers, noting he estimates 80 percent of the people driving on Main and Clark streets in Stevens Point late at night on the weekends are probably over the legal limit. I guess I know where I won’t be driving at those times.
Officer Spath showed the class a video of an actual OWI bust that occurred in Stevens Point several weeks earlier. The culprit was clearly not fit to be driving, despite his best efforts to tell the officer he was.
I also appreciated Officer Spath telling the class Wisconsin’s OWI laws are the most lax in the country and they need to be revamped to make our roads safer. He said someone who is arrested for OWI in this state can be bailed out that night and be on the road again, still drunk, noting he has arrested people two times in one night for OWI.
Throughout the 10-week seminar, class members learned quite a bit of this type of information. Had I been there more, I’m sure my brain would be on overload. Then again had I been there to get tased, my brain may have lost all this information and I wouldn’t have had anything to share.
Crazy 'Lost' recipe made television exciting
The most exciting television show in the history of television, or at least in the years I’ve been watching it, will come to an end Sunday, May 23.
The series finale of “Lost” is set to air on ABC that evening, capping six crazy seasons no other television show has even come close to duplicating, all while retaining a mass audience it should have lost its second episode when it became obvious this show was more about creating questions than answering them.
“Lost,” for those who don’t know, is one part “Gilligan’s Island,” as it focuses on a group of passengers on an airliner who are stranded on an island after it crashes; one part “Land of the Lost” (and not the crappy film version that came out last year), as time travel is frequently involved; one part “Star Trek,” as the science-fiction element of this show often addresses moral subjects, including religion and free will, that the best “Star Trek” shows and films also tackled; one part “Memento,” a film that is nothing but flashbacks, a narrative device “Lost” took one step further with flash-forwards and flash-sideways; and one part LSD or some other hallucinogenic drug, as show creator J.J. Abrams and producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse must have ingested a lot of them when they came up with this recipe.
This recipe shouldn’t work.
But it does. And here’s why:
It makes viewers think, unlike 95 percent of the other television shows out there. While shows like “CSI,” “Desperate Housewives,” “American Idol” and “How I Met Your Mother” can be highly entertaining, none of them are challenging. Other than an occasional cliffhanger, each episode of these shows is contained in itself, and all of them follow a set formula that’s kind of ridiculous if you really think about it. “Lost” requires viewers to see every episode, and it thrives on making sure it has no set formula.
“Lost” is a great “water-cooler” show. People who watch it love to talk about it. At my previous job, the day after “Lost” aired, we spent entire breaks talking about it, with each person giving their own theories as to what’s happening on the island. Most of the staff at The Gazette had not watched the show when I arrived here three years ago, but thanks to high praise from the two of us that did and the availability to catch up with the show through DVDs, a few more became fans.
Now, Wednesdays are spent talking about the Tuesday night episode. We’re already looking for potential substitutes now that it’s ending, but ABC’s attempts to create them with “Flashforward” and “V” have been big disappointments.
The cast is nearly perfect. For six years “Lost” has excelled at casting actors and actresses in both main and secondary roles who are the right match for their characters. And it’s not afraid to kill characters off, despite the fact the actor or actress may be a fan favorite. When the show killed Charlie, played by Hobbit Dominic Monaghan, off in the season three finale, I was upset it took him away from us, but at the same time it was a great moment for the show – one that was recreated for this season’s best moment so far. Character comes before actor/actress on “Lost,” a philosophy I wish other shows followed. Seeing Bree die an unexpected death on “Desperate Housewives” could be refreshing for that show, as opposed to the boring death Edie suffered because the actress playing her, Nicole Sheridan, was fired from it.
“Lost” is a great show to watch with someone else. My wife and I have been watching it together since day one. I like to pause the program to talk about events that take place, and sometimes, god-forbid, talk about them as the show is happening, much to her annoyance. But we both like to look at each other’s reaction when big moments occur, and there are a lot of them, to add to the experience. This doesn’t happen with other shows, unless rolling my eyes at the numerous stupid moments in “Bones” counts.
“Lost” will be missed, but a lot hinges on Sunday’s finale because quite a few questions still need answering. If the finale goes out with a whimper, leaving many of those questions unanswered, then getting over the loss of “Lost” might not be so difficult. But if it goes out with a bang, and I’m hoping it does, television programming will have a big void to fill.
The series finale of “Lost” is set to air on ABC that evening, capping six crazy seasons no other television show has even come close to duplicating, all while retaining a mass audience it should have lost its second episode when it became obvious this show was more about creating questions than answering them.
“Lost,” for those who don’t know, is one part “Gilligan’s Island,” as it focuses on a group of passengers on an airliner who are stranded on an island after it crashes; one part “Land of the Lost” (and not the crappy film version that came out last year), as time travel is frequently involved; one part “Star Trek,” as the science-fiction element of this show often addresses moral subjects, including religion and free will, that the best “Star Trek” shows and films also tackled; one part “Memento,” a film that is nothing but flashbacks, a narrative device “Lost” took one step further with flash-forwards and flash-sideways; and one part LSD or some other hallucinogenic drug, as show creator J.J. Abrams and producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse must have ingested a lot of them when they came up with this recipe.
This recipe shouldn’t work.
But it does. And here’s why:
It makes viewers think, unlike 95 percent of the other television shows out there. While shows like “CSI,” “Desperate Housewives,” “American Idol” and “How I Met Your Mother” can be highly entertaining, none of them are challenging. Other than an occasional cliffhanger, each episode of these shows is contained in itself, and all of them follow a set formula that’s kind of ridiculous if you really think about it. “Lost” requires viewers to see every episode, and it thrives on making sure it has no set formula.
“Lost” is a great “water-cooler” show. People who watch it love to talk about it. At my previous job, the day after “Lost” aired, we spent entire breaks talking about it, with each person giving their own theories as to what’s happening on the island. Most of the staff at The Gazette had not watched the show when I arrived here three years ago, but thanks to high praise from the two of us that did and the availability to catch up with the show through DVDs, a few more became fans.
Now, Wednesdays are spent talking about the Tuesday night episode. We’re already looking for potential substitutes now that it’s ending, but ABC’s attempts to create them with “Flashforward” and “V” have been big disappointments.
The cast is nearly perfect. For six years “Lost” has excelled at casting actors and actresses in both main and secondary roles who are the right match for their characters. And it’s not afraid to kill characters off, despite the fact the actor or actress may be a fan favorite. When the show killed Charlie, played by Hobbit Dominic Monaghan, off in the season three finale, I was upset it took him away from us, but at the same time it was a great moment for the show – one that was recreated for this season’s best moment so far. Character comes before actor/actress on “Lost,” a philosophy I wish other shows followed. Seeing Bree die an unexpected death on “Desperate Housewives” could be refreshing for that show, as opposed to the boring death Edie suffered because the actress playing her, Nicole Sheridan, was fired from it.
“Lost” is a great show to watch with someone else. My wife and I have been watching it together since day one. I like to pause the program to talk about events that take place, and sometimes, god-forbid, talk about them as the show is happening, much to her annoyance. But we both like to look at each other’s reaction when big moments occur, and there are a lot of them, to add to the experience. This doesn’t happen with other shows, unless rolling my eyes at the numerous stupid moments in “Bones” counts.
“Lost” will be missed, but a lot hinges on Sunday’s finale because quite a few questions still need answering. If the finale goes out with a whimper, leaving many of those questions unanswered, then getting over the loss of “Lost” might not be so difficult. But if it goes out with a bang, and I’m hoping it does, television programming will have a big void to fill.
'May I take your order?' is usually difficult to answer
“Wel… to Mc… May I… your… der.”
No, I’m not writing gibberish, although many people probably think I often do. I’m transcribing what I usually hear coming from the speaker at a number of restaurant drive-thrus.
My father-in-law says it better than I can, though: “They put a man on the moon, and those astronauts could communicate to NASA better than I can with a person just 40 feet away and with 40 years of advances in technology.”
He and I both hate going through drive-thrus, and while we try to avoid them as often as possible, sometimes it’s more convenient, and more amusing, to use them.
Not understanding the person on the other end agitates me, and my agitation usually leads to an unpleasant exchange mostly on my behalf. An example conversation, with the garbled words interpreted to the best of my ability:
“Welcome to (insert name of not-so-good-for-the-diet restaurant here). Would you like to try our (insert menu item here the restaurant is shamelessly promoting to the annoyance of everyone using the drive-thru here)?” the drive-thru attendant asks.
“What? I didn’t understand anything you said. Can I give you my order now?” I’ll say.
“I said, ‘Would you like to try our (item is shamelessly promoted again)?’”
“No thank you. Can I order?”
“We’re ready whenever you are.”
“I’d like a (insert nonnutritional menu item here). And…”
“Would you like it as a meal?”
“If you would have let me finish, I would have told you to make it a meal.”
“Would you like it super-sized?”
“Good god, won’t a regular size lead me to an early grave as it is? No, I don’t want it super-sized.”
“So that’s a no?”
“Yes.”
“So you want it super-sized?”
“No. Regular size please. And…”
“What type of drink would you like with that?”
“Again, if you had let me finish I would have told you I’d like a Coke with it.”
“We don’t have Coke.”
“Then a Pepsi. I don’t care. They practically taste the same.”
“Do you want a diet one?”
“Did I say diet? Just a regular Pepsi.”
“Would you like your meal with regular fries or curly fries?”
“Regular.”
“Excuse me. Could you please repeat that?”
“REGULAR fries. Not curly.”
“One regular size (insert name of meal you ordered here), with a Pepsi and curly fries.”
“I said REGULAR fries, not curly fries.”
“Your order already includes curly fries. Look at your order on the screen. Your total is $6.53. Is your order correct?”
“It’s not correct and I’m not done. I want regular fries. Plus, I have two other people in the car I need to order for. Do you want their business?”
“Your order is $6.53. Please pull forward.”
It’s at that point I pull forward, right out of the drive-thru. Someone else can eat my incorrect food order.
The funniest thing about that conversation is that it’s not exaggerated. My wife can’t stand going through a drive-thru with me, because she knows the conversation is often like this one. In fact, it’s sometimes worse, as my 5-year-old son will often chirp in from the backseat, letting the drive-thru attendant know he’s a kid and he wants a toy with his meal. I try to pipe him down, but that can be difficult when he’s trying to make sure he gets what he wants.
Even funnier is when we go through a coffee drive-thru and I’m trying to relay my wife’s order to the attendant. Since most people are already aware coffee is not simply coffee at these places, I’ll spare the details how I order a fat-free, sugar-free grande white chocolate caramel latte without any cream.
Drive-thru ordering can be fun when I’m in a humorous mood. I once ordered a large breast milk – no offense to breast-feeding mothers – when I was younger and trying to entertain some friends in my car.
My father-in-law has me beat, though. He once covered his mouth and talked like the speaker sounds to him, completely confusing the attendant. I would have loved to hear that one.
No, I’m not writing gibberish, although many people probably think I often do. I’m transcribing what I usually hear coming from the speaker at a number of restaurant drive-thrus.
My father-in-law says it better than I can, though: “They put a man on the moon, and those astronauts could communicate to NASA better than I can with a person just 40 feet away and with 40 years of advances in technology.”
He and I both hate going through drive-thrus, and while we try to avoid them as often as possible, sometimes it’s more convenient, and more amusing, to use them.
Not understanding the person on the other end agitates me, and my agitation usually leads to an unpleasant exchange mostly on my behalf. An example conversation, with the garbled words interpreted to the best of my ability:
“Welcome to (insert name of not-so-good-for-the-diet restaurant here). Would you like to try our (insert menu item here the restaurant is shamelessly promoting to the annoyance of everyone using the drive-thru here)?” the drive-thru attendant asks.
“What? I didn’t understand anything you said. Can I give you my order now?” I’ll say.
“I said, ‘Would you like to try our (item is shamelessly promoted again)?’”
“No thank you. Can I order?”
“We’re ready whenever you are.”
“I’d like a (insert nonnutritional menu item here). And…”
“Would you like it as a meal?”
“If you would have let me finish, I would have told you to make it a meal.”
“Would you like it super-sized?”
“Good god, won’t a regular size lead me to an early grave as it is? No, I don’t want it super-sized.”
“So that’s a no?”
“Yes.”
“So you want it super-sized?”
“No. Regular size please. And…”
“What type of drink would you like with that?”
“Again, if you had let me finish I would have told you I’d like a Coke with it.”
“We don’t have Coke.”
“Then a Pepsi. I don’t care. They practically taste the same.”
“Do you want a diet one?”
“Did I say diet? Just a regular Pepsi.”
“Would you like your meal with regular fries or curly fries?”
“Regular.”
“Excuse me. Could you please repeat that?”
“REGULAR fries. Not curly.”
“One regular size (insert name of meal you ordered here), with a Pepsi and curly fries.”
“I said REGULAR fries, not curly fries.”
“Your order already includes curly fries. Look at your order on the screen. Your total is $6.53. Is your order correct?”
“It’s not correct and I’m not done. I want regular fries. Plus, I have two other people in the car I need to order for. Do you want their business?”
“Your order is $6.53. Please pull forward.”
It’s at that point I pull forward, right out of the drive-thru. Someone else can eat my incorrect food order.
The funniest thing about that conversation is that it’s not exaggerated. My wife can’t stand going through a drive-thru with me, because she knows the conversation is often like this one. In fact, it’s sometimes worse, as my 5-year-old son will often chirp in from the backseat, letting the drive-thru attendant know he’s a kid and he wants a toy with his meal. I try to pipe him down, but that can be difficult when he’s trying to make sure he gets what he wants.
Even funnier is when we go through a coffee drive-thru and I’m trying to relay my wife’s order to the attendant. Since most people are already aware coffee is not simply coffee at these places, I’ll spare the details how I order a fat-free, sugar-free grande white chocolate caramel latte without any cream.
Drive-thru ordering can be fun when I’m in a humorous mood. I once ordered a large breast milk – no offense to breast-feeding mothers – when I was younger and trying to entertain some friends in my car.
My father-in-law has me beat, though. He once covered his mouth and talked like the speaker sounds to him, completely confusing the attendant. I would have loved to hear that one.
Jumps are beneficial to both readers and advertisers
I hope this column doesn’t jump to another page.
It’s very likely it will, though, as our pages just aren’t big enough to contain all the information we at The Gazette like to tell you.
And judging by some of the comments we receive, you’ve definitely noticed our pages aren’t big enough.
“I love your paper, but my only complaint is you have to jump from page to page to read the entire story.”
“Too many jumps.”
“Why don’t you put everything on one page?”
Those are the comments we sometime receive about what we call “jumps” simply because if we can’t fit a story in a given space on a page, we jump it to another page.
Ideally, an 11-inch by 18-inch page should contain enough room for any story, even if it has a picture or two. But by the time ads are placed on a page, as well as small stories and photos that are equally as important as the large stories, the space we have to work with is greatly reduced.
Now, in a perfect newspaper world – which by the way doesn’t exist – we’d have perfect-fitting holes for perfect-fitting stories and jumps wouldn’t be necessary. Unfortunately, it never works that way. The stories are usually too long, or too short, for a given hole, and as a result long stories jump to another page and short stories create a hole that needs to be filled by a jump from another page.
Our layout guy, Brett Hiorns, can fudge with the leading, photo and headline sizes to sometimes fit a story, but his time is limited and quickness is preferred Wednesday night when we’re readying the paper. The printer gets an itch for PDF files at midnight, so it can have the paper ready in the early morning hours on Thursday in order to get it mailed to people by Friday.
As a result, jumps are the norm with The Gazette. And that’s not a bad thing, despite the anti-jump comments we receive.
Why? Prior to the corporatization of many newspapers, jumps were the norm with most newspapers, and for good reason. Because of jumps, the entire story could be told; they weren’t written, or edited, to fit a space. When I read other newspapers, I often think I’m not getting the whole story and that key details are being left out or it’s been written in such a way I only get the bare-bone basics.
At The Gazette, the writers here write until they run out of information to write about. Personally speaking, if I attend an emotional School Board meeting like the one I went to in April following the defeat of the second referendum, and it lasts more than four hours, I’ll take a lot of notes. While I don’t have the time to write about every word that is spoken at the meeting, I’ll make sure my story grabs at the heart of events that transpired at it in order to keep those who were not there informed.
I believe all of our writers – Gene, John, George (a Ringo or Paul would fit nicely here), Jim, Justin, Nick, Bill and all of our contributors – follow this philosophy. They tell the story as it should be told, albeit with a jump or two.
In addition to helping to keep readers better informed, jumps also benefit our advertisers. Because of them, people often look at one page multiple times. Multiple views mean a better chance people will notice any given ad, and since studies have proven people often need to see something three or more times to remember it, an advertiser on a page with jumps should be grateful for such placement.
I understand why people don’t like jumps, though. They can be annoying, especially since we don’t have three hands to navigate them. But, because they help better inform readers, our brains will get bigger, and then through evolution we may be able to grow that third hand.
It’s very likely it will, though, as our pages just aren’t big enough to contain all the information we at The Gazette like to tell you.
And judging by some of the comments we receive, you’ve definitely noticed our pages aren’t big enough.
“I love your paper, but my only complaint is you have to jump from page to page to read the entire story.”
“Too many jumps.”
“Why don’t you put everything on one page?”
Those are the comments we sometime receive about what we call “jumps” simply because if we can’t fit a story in a given space on a page, we jump it to another page.
Ideally, an 11-inch by 18-inch page should contain enough room for any story, even if it has a picture or two. But by the time ads are placed on a page, as well as small stories and photos that are equally as important as the large stories, the space we have to work with is greatly reduced.
Now, in a perfect newspaper world – which by the way doesn’t exist – we’d have perfect-fitting holes for perfect-fitting stories and jumps wouldn’t be necessary. Unfortunately, it never works that way. The stories are usually too long, or too short, for a given hole, and as a result long stories jump to another page and short stories create a hole that needs to be filled by a jump from another page.
Our layout guy, Brett Hiorns, can fudge with the leading, photo and headline sizes to sometimes fit a story, but his time is limited and quickness is preferred Wednesday night when we’re readying the paper. The printer gets an itch for PDF files at midnight, so it can have the paper ready in the early morning hours on Thursday in order to get it mailed to people by Friday.
As a result, jumps are the norm with The Gazette. And that’s not a bad thing, despite the anti-jump comments we receive.
Why? Prior to the corporatization of many newspapers, jumps were the norm with most newspapers, and for good reason. Because of jumps, the entire story could be told; they weren’t written, or edited, to fit a space. When I read other newspapers, I often think I’m not getting the whole story and that key details are being left out or it’s been written in such a way I only get the bare-bone basics.
At The Gazette, the writers here write until they run out of information to write about. Personally speaking, if I attend an emotional School Board meeting like the one I went to in April following the defeat of the second referendum, and it lasts more than four hours, I’ll take a lot of notes. While I don’t have the time to write about every word that is spoken at the meeting, I’ll make sure my story grabs at the heart of events that transpired at it in order to keep those who were not there informed.
I believe all of our writers – Gene, John, George (a Ringo or Paul would fit nicely here), Jim, Justin, Nick, Bill and all of our contributors – follow this philosophy. They tell the story as it should be told, albeit with a jump or two.
In addition to helping to keep readers better informed, jumps also benefit our advertisers. Because of them, people often look at one page multiple times. Multiple views mean a better chance people will notice any given ad, and since studies have proven people often need to see something three or more times to remember it, an advertiser on a page with jumps should be grateful for such placement.
I understand why people don’t like jumps, though. They can be annoying, especially since we don’t have three hands to navigate them. But, because they help better inform readers, our brains will get bigger, and then through evolution we may be able to grow that third hand.
Besides being perfect drink, Bloody Mary makes in-laws fun to be around
At the risk of sounding like an alcoholic, I have to proclaim I love Bloody Marys, so much so that if it was physically acceptable, I’d drink a Bloody Mary with every meal.
That said, I’m perfectly aware of my body’s limitations and the havoc alcohol can do to it, so I limit myself to one Bloody Mary a week. I have this drink in the evening, usually on a Friday or Saturday night, and never at breakfast as the hangover cure it’s meant to be. Maybe if I had more than one in the evening, I’d need one in the morning, but I’m guessing that could start an ugly cycle that could lead to alcoholism.
My Blood Mary is simple. I put a shot of vodka in a cup of ice and then add Mr. T’s Bold and Spicy Bloody Mary Mix. I top it with a dash of celery salt and add a pickle, which I use to stir the drink.
According to the New York School of Bartending, I could add a few more items to perfect my drink, including black pepper, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish and lime juice, but adding all of those flavors seems like too much work. I’m a lazy drinker, not a picky one.
I am picky, though, when it comes to paying for a Bloody Mary at a restaurant, especially when the drink costs between $4 and $7. When my wife and I eat out, I’ll ask the waiter or waitress if the venue’s Bloody Marys are any good. In most cases, if the restaurant has them, the person I ask will always answer affirmatively.
Whether or not I order one depends completely on how affirmative that person is with his or her response. An enthusiastic and descriptive answer tells me this person has tasted the bartender’s Bloody Mary and he or she truly likes it. A less eager response usually means the waiter or waitress isn’t telling me the truth or that he or she has never tried it.
While I’ve had plenty of decent Bloody Marys out on the town, I’ve had my share of bad ones. Some simply taste like tomato juice and vodka combined, a blah mixture, and others are so spicy my mouth explodes more than that volcano in Iceland. People traveling in and out at the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee better hope their flights don’t get grounded after I drink one of those spicy ones.
A restaurant usually serves a Bloody Mary worth my money when it comes with a multitude of garnishes such as celery, olives, carrots and mushrooms, as well as a beer chaser. I’m usually not a fan of the beer chaser, but when I’m paying more than $5 I want to make sure I get the most for my money.
Surprisingly, I’ve never been to a Sunday morning Bloody Mary bar some venues host. I’d love to try it sometime, but I’m scared I’ll like it too much, so much in fact that such a bar would ruin the Bloody Mary experience I have at home. Why would I drink a Pinto-version when I can have the Cadillac of Bloody Marys?
My love for the drink developed because of my in-laws’ extended family. At their family gatherings, the preferred drink amongst the group is the Bloody Mary. I had the drink a few times before becoming a part of the family, but it wasn’t a drink that stood out in my mind. After they served the drink to me on several different occasions, I realized I looked forward to the gatherings because of it. If the drink wasn’t available, I often left disappointed.
Since I can honestly say I like getting together with my in-laws’ family, an accomplishment many married people would say is impossible, it is safe to say the Bloody Mary serves a much more important purpose than supposedly serving as a hangover cure. It makes in-laws fun to be around.
Without going overboard, maybe more people should try one when getting together with the in-laws. And then there will be one less problem in the world people need to worry about.
That said, I’m perfectly aware of my body’s limitations and the havoc alcohol can do to it, so I limit myself to one Bloody Mary a week. I have this drink in the evening, usually on a Friday or Saturday night, and never at breakfast as the hangover cure it’s meant to be. Maybe if I had more than one in the evening, I’d need one in the morning, but I’m guessing that could start an ugly cycle that could lead to alcoholism.
My Blood Mary is simple. I put a shot of vodka in a cup of ice and then add Mr. T’s Bold and Spicy Bloody Mary Mix. I top it with a dash of celery salt and add a pickle, which I use to stir the drink.
According to the New York School of Bartending, I could add a few more items to perfect my drink, including black pepper, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish and lime juice, but adding all of those flavors seems like too much work. I’m a lazy drinker, not a picky one.
I am picky, though, when it comes to paying for a Bloody Mary at a restaurant, especially when the drink costs between $4 and $7. When my wife and I eat out, I’ll ask the waiter or waitress if the venue’s Bloody Marys are any good. In most cases, if the restaurant has them, the person I ask will always answer affirmatively.
Whether or not I order one depends completely on how affirmative that person is with his or her response. An enthusiastic and descriptive answer tells me this person has tasted the bartender’s Bloody Mary and he or she truly likes it. A less eager response usually means the waiter or waitress isn’t telling me the truth or that he or she has never tried it.
While I’ve had plenty of decent Bloody Marys out on the town, I’ve had my share of bad ones. Some simply taste like tomato juice and vodka combined, a blah mixture, and others are so spicy my mouth explodes more than that volcano in Iceland. People traveling in and out at the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee better hope their flights don’t get grounded after I drink one of those spicy ones.
A restaurant usually serves a Bloody Mary worth my money when it comes with a multitude of garnishes such as celery, olives, carrots and mushrooms, as well as a beer chaser. I’m usually not a fan of the beer chaser, but when I’m paying more than $5 I want to make sure I get the most for my money.
Surprisingly, I’ve never been to a Sunday morning Bloody Mary bar some venues host. I’d love to try it sometime, but I’m scared I’ll like it too much, so much in fact that such a bar would ruin the Bloody Mary experience I have at home. Why would I drink a Pinto-version when I can have the Cadillac of Bloody Marys?
My love for the drink developed because of my in-laws’ extended family. At their family gatherings, the preferred drink amongst the group is the Bloody Mary. I had the drink a few times before becoming a part of the family, but it wasn’t a drink that stood out in my mind. After they served the drink to me on several different occasions, I realized I looked forward to the gatherings because of it. If the drink wasn’t available, I often left disappointed.
Since I can honestly say I like getting together with my in-laws’ family, an accomplishment many married people would say is impossible, it is safe to say the Bloody Mary serves a much more important purpose than supposedly serving as a hangover cure. It makes in-laws fun to be around.
Without going overboard, maybe more people should try one when getting together with the in-laws. And then there will be one less problem in the world people need to worry about.
Education doesn't have to suffer with referendum's defeat
Few will be able to deny the fact the quality of education the Stevens Point Area School District is able to provide to students will be downgraded due to the failure of the Tuesday, April 6, referendum. Because of the cutbacks the School Board has had to make in order to balance its budget, the district won’t have the staff or the resources to continue providing the same quality it has been giving students.
It’s tough to take, as this community has always taken pride in the excellent education provided by our schools.
But for many in this economy, other things were more important than continuing the high level of education our students receive. People are genuinely worried about their own abilities to provide food and shelter for their families. Education should take a backseat when people are living in fear about their finances between paychecks.
But should education take a backseat when misinformation caused many to vote against it, not worries about finances?
It’s easy to find examples of misinformation out there.
The first can be found in a letter in last week’s Gazette. The letter writer said the district could save money if it didn’t have a Board of Education and a School Board, falsely thinking the two are separate entities.
Board of Education is the formal name, while School Board is a more common name for it. Whatever people want to call it, it’s just one entity that meets as a whole twice a month with a main goal of setting school district policy and establishing a budget. I hope this person didn’t vote no because she thought the Board, or Boards in her case, hadn’t cut all the fat from its budget she thought needed to be cut.
Another example is one School Board President Dwight Stevens mentioned at the Board’s Monday, April 12, meeting. He said during the height of the referendum discussion, he received an e-mail from a lady who said the district should put more students on its buses to save money. She pointed out to him every morning and every afternoon a bus goes past her house with only one or two students on it.
Stevens kindly pointed out to the public that the bus she saw was either at the end or beginning of its route. It had either been full earlier or it was about to fill up with students. Let’s hope she didn’t vote no because she thought the district was wastefully spending money using buses as private chauffeurs for small groups of students.
My final example can be found on another media outlet’s Web site in the comments section of any school-related story. This media outlet’s school stories often generate dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of comments. People are allowed to do so anonymously, and many are quite vocal in their opinions.
Unfortunately, many of these people are also quite wrong about many of their facts. Intentional or not, the misinformation they provide is usually taken as fact by others, people who may have voted a certain way based on this wrong information.
I’ll admit I read those comments because I like to know what the community is saying about certain issues; however, I usually stop after the first few because it pains me to see how misinformed people are about matters.
Even worse are the ugly opinions people have formed about teachers. According to many of these comments, teachers are overpaid, lazy, unintelligent and uncaring about their students.
As someone who visits the schools often, knows and works with many teachers, and sees how students admire these people they may see more than their own parents in any given day, it’s obvious to me teachers are exactly the opposite of what the commentators like to say.
They are probably paid less than their worth – after all, I can’t think of a more important profession to this nation’s future than the people teaching our children. Plus, the amount of education and continuing education they require is staggering. Graduate courses, which they are required to take, are not cheap, and most teachers will admit to owing tens of thousands of dollars in student loans.
Teachers are also hard-working, despite the common misconception that they have easy hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. just 180 days a year with summers off. Most teachers are at school long before classes begin, long after they end and on days schools aren’t in session. They also take work home with them, such as paper grading and lesson writing. If you don’t believe me, ask any spouse of a teacher. He or she will gladly tell you their partner is always working on something school-related.
Calling teachers unintelligent is probably the most ridiculous complaint people have about teachers, as they are some of the smartest people in the community. They have to be in order to keep one step ahead of their students, students who learn more in class than you or I ever did at their age, all because of their teachers.
Any lack of education students have doesn’t take place at school; it happens at home. Parents have the ultimate responsibility to make sure their children do the homework assigned to them. They should also act as teachers by spending as much time as they can educating children about anything and everything. Kids like to learn, and they love learning from their parents while spending time with them.
Although the quality of education the district is able to provide has been downgraded, it doesn’t have to be worse. This community should stop taking sides on the issue, as the referendum is over and cutbacks have been made, and instead it should find ways to ensure our students will continue to learn. Supplement any losses the schools suffered with education at home, take time to thank a teacher rather than criticize them, and make sure others are informed correctly about any and all issues.
It’s tough to take, as this community has always taken pride in the excellent education provided by our schools.
But for many in this economy, other things were more important than continuing the high level of education our students receive. People are genuinely worried about their own abilities to provide food and shelter for their families. Education should take a backseat when people are living in fear about their finances between paychecks.
But should education take a backseat when misinformation caused many to vote against it, not worries about finances?
It’s easy to find examples of misinformation out there.
The first can be found in a letter in last week’s Gazette. The letter writer said the district could save money if it didn’t have a Board of Education and a School Board, falsely thinking the two are separate entities.
Board of Education is the formal name, while School Board is a more common name for it. Whatever people want to call it, it’s just one entity that meets as a whole twice a month with a main goal of setting school district policy and establishing a budget. I hope this person didn’t vote no because she thought the Board, or Boards in her case, hadn’t cut all the fat from its budget she thought needed to be cut.
Another example is one School Board President Dwight Stevens mentioned at the Board’s Monday, April 12, meeting. He said during the height of the referendum discussion, he received an e-mail from a lady who said the district should put more students on its buses to save money. She pointed out to him every morning and every afternoon a bus goes past her house with only one or two students on it.
Stevens kindly pointed out to the public that the bus she saw was either at the end or beginning of its route. It had either been full earlier or it was about to fill up with students. Let’s hope she didn’t vote no because she thought the district was wastefully spending money using buses as private chauffeurs for small groups of students.
My final example can be found on another media outlet’s Web site in the comments section of any school-related story. This media outlet’s school stories often generate dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of comments. People are allowed to do so anonymously, and many are quite vocal in their opinions.
Unfortunately, many of these people are also quite wrong about many of their facts. Intentional or not, the misinformation they provide is usually taken as fact by others, people who may have voted a certain way based on this wrong information.
I’ll admit I read those comments because I like to know what the community is saying about certain issues; however, I usually stop after the first few because it pains me to see how misinformed people are about matters.
Even worse are the ugly opinions people have formed about teachers. According to many of these comments, teachers are overpaid, lazy, unintelligent and uncaring about their students.
As someone who visits the schools often, knows and works with many teachers, and sees how students admire these people they may see more than their own parents in any given day, it’s obvious to me teachers are exactly the opposite of what the commentators like to say.
They are probably paid less than their worth – after all, I can’t think of a more important profession to this nation’s future than the people teaching our children. Plus, the amount of education and continuing education they require is staggering. Graduate courses, which they are required to take, are not cheap, and most teachers will admit to owing tens of thousands of dollars in student loans.
Teachers are also hard-working, despite the common misconception that they have easy hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. just 180 days a year with summers off. Most teachers are at school long before classes begin, long after they end and on days schools aren’t in session. They also take work home with them, such as paper grading and lesson writing. If you don’t believe me, ask any spouse of a teacher. He or she will gladly tell you their partner is always working on something school-related.
Calling teachers unintelligent is probably the most ridiculous complaint people have about teachers, as they are some of the smartest people in the community. They have to be in order to keep one step ahead of their students, students who learn more in class than you or I ever did at their age, all because of their teachers.
Any lack of education students have doesn’t take place at school; it happens at home. Parents have the ultimate responsibility to make sure their children do the homework assigned to them. They should also act as teachers by spending as much time as they can educating children about anything and everything. Kids like to learn, and they love learning from their parents while spending time with them.
Although the quality of education the district is able to provide has been downgraded, it doesn’t have to be worse. This community should stop taking sides on the issue, as the referendum is over and cutbacks have been made, and instead it should find ways to ensure our students will continue to learn. Supplement any losses the schools suffered with education at home, take time to thank a teacher rather than criticize them, and make sure others are informed correctly about any and all issues.
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