Friday, March 30, 2012

The Madness Of March





March is one of my favorite months of the year. I've finally recovered from the holidays, winter is almost over, and of course March Madness! The NCAA tournament is always exciting and even though this year’s tourney didn't provide many last second heroics, it did have its fair share of upsets. I even got emotional which I normally don't (unless it's a Packers game) during the Marquette and Badger games. No, they didn't make the Final Four, but it was great watching their run. The only thing that messed up my March was my busted brackets...again (I really need to just stop.)

Not only was the NCAA tournament exciting, but the WIAA state basketball playoffs were entertaining. I followed many of the local teams, from Little Chute, the first team ever to lose two playoff games, to the great overtime game at St. Mary's Springs, to the state finals games.

Another fun thing that was added to my March was our Facebook Faceoff March Madness Best of the 80's Tourney. We took 32 of the best songs from the 80's, matched them up with some listeners and you voted for the best. It was a lot of fun seeing which songs you wanted to see move on. There were defiantly some surprises and huge upsets. No Michael Jackson in the Elite 8??? He's the king of pop! Also, I enjoy The Police but I never thought they'd make the FINALS! Before the tourney started I thought Bon Jovi was going to be the favorite but they were upset by Jessie’s' Girl in the 2nd Round. It's been tons of fun and we greatly appreciate the votes that we've been getting at facebook.com/k07.1

The Finals are going on this weekend so make sure you vote and tune in on Monday to hear the winners. The people who were match up with the songs in our Final Four are going to win some great prizes from Save A Lot, Hoppers Silk Screening, The Butchers Block, and Fox Diamond Center.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Muppet Drum Off

There are few things in life that bring me back to my childhood, like The Muppet's, so I'm very happy that they've made a comeback. I thought the movie with Jason Segel was very good and held true to the Muppet's name. Another thing that has always held true with the Muppets is that Animal is one heck of a drummer. I was a drummer in high school and even though he's not all skin and bones, one of my favorite drummer’s is Animal. He goes crazy and always looks like he's having a great time. Another one of my favorite drummers is Travis Barker from Blink 182. The beats that he comes up with are original, challenging, and always fit the song great. (Neil Peart from Rush is hands down my favorite and THE BEST drummer ever.)

In high school one of my favorite movies was "Drumline." I always wanted to get into a drum off and I always thought that they were really cool. So what could be cooler than two of my favorite drummers, one a man, one a Muppet going head to head in a drum off on Jimmy Kimmel. Enjoy.




Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Cleanest Crime



When I think about what people might steal, I think about money, jewelry, cars, and things like that. The last thing I would think that is being targeted is Tide laundry detergent. Not ALL, or Clorox, or Gain, just Tide. When I first saw this, I thought it must be a small group of people doing this or it was an isolated incident. Nope. The Tide thefts are getting so bad in some places the local authorities are setting up task forces to catch these clean burglars and some stores are locking up there Tide, much like what is done with video games at stores. But how bad is it really? Well, one man in St. Paul was recently arrested for stealing over $25000 worth of Tide over a 15 month period.

This leads to the question I think we all have...Why? The explanation I found is that it is a house hold product. Mostly everyone uses some sort of detergent and Tides orange bottle makes it the most recognizable. Also Tide, unlike some other detergents, Tide doesn’t have serial numbers which makes them impossible to track. Apparently the thieves are selling the detergent on the black market for a fraction of the retail price and in some cases sold back to the stores they were stolen from.

I didn't know there was a black market demand for soap. Once again, when I think of the black market I think of guns, drugs, and plutonium (not that I'd know, I watch too many movies). I wonder if there is something else that can be done with Tide. Can it be broken down into drugs? Is it an ingredient in some sort of bomb? Or is it simply that bad guys need to do laundry too?

Friday, March 9, 2012

Spring Forward...I'd Rather Sleep In

So this is a re-post of a video I found in November but it does a great job making a point on why springing forward is stupid. It's honestly been one of my least favorite days of the year since middle school. My idea, GET RID OF IT. It doesn't pay to have anymore. Here's a very fun and smart video I found about the costs of daylight savings time, not including how bad of a mood it puts me in.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Think When You Get Ink


Tattoos are very popular in this country. Around 41% of men and 59% of women have tattoos. I am in the inked population as are most of my friends and family. However, I did not take my trip to the tattoo parlor lightly. It took about three years and a big push from some friends to get me in but I'm very happy with my decision.

Getting a tattoo is a big decision. It can be expensive and it's going to be with you for the rest of your life. That's why it took me so long to decide what to get and where to get it. I didn't want to get something that I'd regret someplace on my body that would change a lot as I get old and fat. In the end I ended up getting my family crest tattooed on my arm. (See above)

If you are thinking about getting a tattoo, here are some things you may want to avoid permanently staining yourself with.

A Superhero or Cartoon - I love Batman and Mickey Mouse as much as the next guy. I have Batman and Mickey t-shirts but keeping something like that on you at all times is too much. It's too childish and too dorky. I would not want to be walking around when I'm 75 with a cartoon mouse on my arm. Instead a family crest or original drawing that you've done is a great alternative. They're much more personal and meaningful than the Dark Knight.

An Iconic Figure or Pop Culture Reference - If Che Guevara or Madonna is your hero you might think, what better way to show that than get their face tattooed on yourself. That's fine but often times your heroes face doesn't translate very well from the paper to your body. Plus as you sag so will the face. A great alternative for that is a symbol or some lyrics from your favorite artist.

Barbed Wire - This was really cool and original in the 80's...now not so much. Barbed wire tattoos basically say "I really wanted a tattoo but couldn't think of what to get." If you are all about the arm band ink, try doing a pattern of something that symbolizes what you do or your culture. You could also do an arm band of lyric like previously mentioned.

Chinese symbols - This is also a very popular tattoo and sure they look cool and might mean peace or freedom or something nice. But do you actually know Chinese, can you read Chinese? If not you might want to think about something else. For all you know it could say I'm a dirty pig butt.

Girlfriend/Wife's Name - You may love you girlfriend or wife more than anything in the world and it may last forever. But on the off chance it doesn't, do you really want to explain to your next girlfriend/wife why it says Samantha on your chest? No. If you love your girlfriend or wife, I don't think you need to be reminded with a tattoo. A good alternate to that would be your children’s names or maybe even your parents.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Spinning's Bright Idea



I'm a big fan of biking and spinning. I try to do it a few times every week, either outside or on a spin bike indoors. Even here at K107.1 we've done some spins to kick off a few events for local charities. But now there is another great reason to spin, to power the gym you're biking in.

A gym in Massachusetts has rigged their spin bikes to help power their gym. It's kind of the same concept as the old cartoons of someone in a hamster wheel running and spinning the wheel to power the building. The owner of Energia says that when the bikes are in use the building’s demand for energy drops off and as soon as the workout session is over the demand for power goes back to normal levels.

They say that an average work out generates about 100-130 watts. That is enough energy to power two laptops for an hour. Throughout the course of a year the fitness center says they can create enough power to light 72 homes for a month. This is a great idea. It's great for the gyms budget and for the environment. I think the real question is why don't more gyms do this? Right now there are only 70 gyms in the U.S. that use this technology. I wish I could use this in my apartment. It'd be a win win win situation. I'd save money, help the environment and be more motivated to get a great workout in.