It's 16 degrees... harumph...

I've lived in the Midwest my entire life, but I NEVER get used to the winters here. This is what I'm going to look like until the great thaw in April:

My Beef: Snakes in the Grass

It's hard to avoid snakes while walking on the trail of life. They can be everywhere, and you need to be on guard. It's an unfortunate reality; there are those people in the world who get through life and work their way up the ladder by throwing others under the bus.

Remember, the squeaky wheel may get the grease, but it's the worst wheel that's the loudest.

A friend of mine is having problems with a co-worker... if the two of them have successful projects at work his co-worker is the first to gloat about how he "did such a great job." The moment something goes wrong and their meetings aren't well received, he is also the first to run screaming to the higher-ups and start whisperings around the company that the reason they didn't do so well is because my friend "dropped the ball." It amazes me that this has gone on for as long as it has; after all, everyone recognizes this man as a coiled, venomous, creature waiting to strike at anyone. When it comes down to it, this man isn't creative nor talented, and he's grasping at every blade of grass to keep his job and he doesn't care who he has to bad-mouth to keep it.

Alex Karras once said, "It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than to dominate them, more 'manhood' to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind."

Dropping Weight and Dropping a Listener

This morning before headlines, I mentioned that my co-worker John asked me if I had lost weight. I told him, "Yes, it's this great new diet that's really easy to stick to. It's called the Poverty Diet."

This may be surprising to some folks, but starting out in radio and working in a small market, you don't make a lot of money - in fact, you make VERY LITTLE money. Add to this fact the troubled economy, the price of gas (whether or not it is going down, it's still a necessary cost), and the student loan payment that seems to double every month, one becomes very aware of how far their dollar doesn't go.

I joked about this on the air; that my breakfast this morning is an apple and some peanut butter (totally true), that I will be posting my "meal plan" on my blog so that other people can "slim down like Stefani;" it's easy, really; all you need to do is eat that stuff in the cabinet you forgot you bought... lots of tomato soup and tuna (also true).

That's the reality of my situation. I am down to the last few things in my cabinets and I'm crossing my fingers that I make it to pay-day like so many other people out there.

My sense of humor rests in making light of situations. I am the woman at the wake who chooses to tell a funny story about the dearly departed instead of weeping. When I get a bit of bad news, I'm the first to have a laugh about it. Positivity and humor are the best medicines to get through a hard time and I make no apologies for finding the silver lining. I celebrate life - its highs and its lows - I don't mourn it.

That having been said, I will restate my last point; "I am down to the last few things in my cabinets and I'm crossing my fingers that I make it to pay-day like so many other people out there."

We received an irate call on the show from a woman who said that we lost her as a loyal listener because "how dare we joke about poverty when so many children go to school hungry and the reality is that there are people who are ACTUALLY down to their last few cans of food."

Yeah.

People like ME.

We never joked about poverty in general. We never scoffed at people trying to make ends meet. We were merely making light of my bad situation with the understanding that other people can feel that pain.

For those people who can relate to eating half a can of soup to make sure that they have something for lunch the next day, or cutting a piece of bread in two in the hopes that they can eat some toast for breakfast.

I hear you.

For those people who are hoping the weather stays relatively warm for as long as it can because the budget for heat this winter is slim.

I hear you.

For those people who are frustrated in making the decision about where their last five dollars goes... in the gas tank... extra formula... chipping away that debt to the electric company so your lights don't get shut off.

I hear you.

Now, I have my head on straight and I will get through this minor bump in the road of my life. There will come a day when I look back on my early years in radio and wonder with great humility how I was able to stay sane in the face of the economic blows. In the meantime I will continue to laugh. Without laughter I have nothing.

...and to the woman who called: In your attempt to be an advocate for the struggling masses, you have, instead, berated a person whom you were so quick to be a voice for. You say that we've "lost a loyal listener," but obviously you weren't listening.

(For those out there who would love to help the less fortunate, tune in to 95.3 WXRO and 1580 WTTN the morning of December 11th for our Holiday Food Drive. Remember, too, that Leslie will be handling the Stocking Stuffer Program to provide gifts for children who otherwise wouldn't have a merry Christmas, and as always, we host The Children's Radiothon every June on WXRO and WBEV to raise money for children's programs in Dodge County... don't touch those dials!)

Stick, Skateboard, Baby Doll Added to the Toy Hall of Fame

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- The lowly stick could be a magic wand, a knight's sword or a fishing rod.
Now the universal plaything has landed in the National Toy Hall of Fame, along with Baby Doll and the skateboard.
The three were chosen Thursday to join the lineup at the Strong National Museum in Rochester, N.Y. Previous inductees include the bicycle, Mr. Potato Head, Crayola crayons and the cardboard box.
Curators say the stick is a special addition. They praised its all-purpose, all-natural, no-cost qualities. They also noted its ability to serve either as raw material or an appendage transformed by a child's imagination.

...and, might I add, they didn't have to find the "inventor" of the stick to make a lame speech at the induction...

Yes! The stick! I've built forts (well, lean-tos, mostly), I've had sword fights, and most importantly, I built a VISIBLE line that my sister couldn't cross. The only thing better than the stick was the cardboard box. A refrigerator box was a castle, a space ship. When you were small, a common packing box was a car! I feel sorry for the generations to come. With all of the advancements in technology that have been made in the past 20 years, fewer and fewer children are using their imaginations. Children don't play with toys anymore, the toys play with the children. Everything has to blink and light up, sing songs and talk to children. (The only "toy" we had that interacted with us was a Speak-N-Spell - and if you remember that thing, you know you couldn't make out what that mechanical voice was saying unless you read along with the word on the screen.)

Hey kids! Go outside. Play Hide-N-Seek, Ghost in the Graveyard, Tag, Hopscotch, Mother-May-I, Red Rover. Pull out a board game! Try to be the first children EVER to make Mousetrap work! Have one of those marathon Monopoly games that you have to put on hold for a few days and pick up next week! There are so many great games out there; Clue, Sorry, Parcheesi, CHESS, Twister. Pick up some crayons and draw, paint, sculpt with Play-Doh. Using your imagination is the BEST thing about being a child. It will exercise that important part of your brain that can lead to many fun and rewarding jobs like advertising, graphic design, fashion design, film, theatre, architecture.

Think about what this world would look like without imagination. There would be no Eiffel Tower, no Mona Lisa, no Sydney Opera House. No one would think the new Corvette looked cool because it WOULDN'T.

Take a moment, friends, and enjoy a retro day dream...

Legos. Tinker-Toys. Lincoln Logs. Cootie. Hungry Hungry Hippos. Erector Sets. Super Balls. Hot Wheels. Skip-Stick. Mud Pies. Running through a sprinkler. Catching fire-flies. Doing cart-wheels for hours. READING Nancy Drew. Drawing on the sidewalk with chalk.

Politics and Religion... lets talk!

I often have a difficult time coming up with something to complain about for our segment "What's Your Beef?" I'm not someone who dwells too much in the negative; there's too much of that in the world, anyhow, without me adding to the problem.

Today was different, though. I had something to say.

Why is it that two people can agree to disagree about everything under the sun with the exception of politics and religion? Why do people feel the need to get in someone's face over their beliefs and tell that person they are wrong?

I used this analogy on the air; if I were in a bar and a woman confronted me, saying, "Those shoes you are wearing are the ugliest things I've ever seen and you are wrong for wearing them," I'm sure everyone within ear-shot would agree that a statement like that is rude and uncalled for. What difference does it make to others what shoes I wear? Does it negatively affect someone's day to know that I'm a fan of my Chuck Taylor hi-tops with a hole in the right toe?

It seems, however, totally acceptable for someone to be confronted with "Those opinions you have regarding politics and religion are the ugliest views I've ever heard and you are wrong for having them."

Friends are lost and enemies made with statements like this.

Blood has been spilled over differences of opinion.

Today is election day. When you are at the polls please keep in mind that every one's footwear is their own concern, and if you really want to know why he decided to go with the steal-toe boots that lace up to the knee, or why she prefers her black strappy sandals (that seem to go with everything) - ask... don't attack. We'd have a lot less problems in this world if we behaved like adults.

I received this email after the show, and I thought I'd share an excerpt with you. The subject line was "love your shoes..."

"Hey Stefani,

Love your shoes! Good beef today. I'm a conservative who was raised by liberal parents who, to this day, wonder where they went wrong with me. My father and I have openly disagreed on politics all of my adult life, while my mother respectfully ignores the subject. We remain extremely close. My parents are my moral compass and I respect the way they have lived their lives. They respect my willingness to take professional chances and the successes I've achieved from it. We agree to disagree on the government's role in our lives.

It upsets me when people refuse get along due to political differences."

At least I'm not the only one out there who feels this way... - thanks, RW.

Alright... now for some pseudo-political humor!

Enjoy...

This Guy's my HERO!!!!!

Teenager changes name to Captain Fantastic
A teenager has changed his name to Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined.

The record-breaking name, now thought to be the world's longest, was the idea of music graduate George Garratt, 19.

He changed his name by deed poll online for £10 last week.

Captain Fantastic said: "I wanted to be unique. I decided upon a theme of superheroes."

Captain Fantastic joins a number of people with unusually long names, including Rhoshandiatellyneshiaunneveshenk Koyaanisquatsiuth Williams, a girl born in Texas in 1984.

The teenager, from Glastonbury, Somerset, added that while he thought the new name was "crazy", his grandmother was no longer speaking to him.

Unbelievable...

Woman doles out candy after Obama backers denied treats
By AMBER HUNT • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • November 2, 2008

Janette Fleury ended up passing out a life lesson with her candy this Halloween: Sometimes adults act like children.

Across the street, a fellow supporter of Republican presidential candidate John McCain was denying costumed children candy if their parents supported Democratic rival Barack Obama.

“They came to my house and saw the McCain sign and asked, ‘Are you going to be like that, too?’ ” Fleury said today. “I told them, ‘No. Sometimes adults just act stupid.’ ”

It was perhaps an unexpected message coming from a 51-year-old woman wearing a witch’s hat. But Fleury felt it was necessary after neighbor Shirley Nagel turned Friday night’s annual candy quest into a political debate with youngsters.

On Friday, Nagel had a sign in her Grosse Pointe Farms yard reading: “No handouts for Obama supporters, liars, tricksters or kids of supporters,” according to WJBK-TV (Fox2).
When children approached, Nagel quizzed them about their parents’ political leanings, Fleury said. If they were pro-Obama, Nagel turned them away, she said.
The fire was stoked further when Nagel’s next-door neighbor put out a large Obama poster and his own homemade sign promising candy for all.

Nagel told WJBK-TV that “Obama’s scary.” When asked about children who’d been turned away empty-handed and crying, she said: “Oh, well. Everybody has a choice.”
Fleury said most of the rejected children didn’t appear upset. Rather, many walked away chanting Obama’s name, she said.

Nagel couldn’t be reached for comment today. The Associated Press reported that her front-yard sign was taken down by Saturday afternoon. Phone calls placed by the Free Press were forwarded to a voice mail in-box that was full.

Fleury takes her politics seriously, too, but she said that there’s a time and a place for them.
“I just don’t think politics should be intertwined with Halloween,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact AMBER HUNT at 586-469-4682 or alhunt@freepress.com.




They are CHILDREN. Unbelievable.