Author: John Bollwitt

I ran just over five miles today. That’s nothing new, but the fact is that I wore shorts and had no need for a stocking cap. The mornings are still cool enough that you need something long sleeve, but I’ll take this. I like it. A page is turning and the chapter known as winter is becoming a memory rather than the harsh reality is was for however many months that was. Why put thought into it? Let it be gone for this year.

The sad reality now is that being so warm outside, there’s little time to get out and enjoy it. However, I have to love what I do. When things get slow, we head for the transmitter sites. And suddenly I’m reminded of the heaps of projects that we have to do at said locations, but at least it’s a change of pace. Get out and take a drive. The final destination might be for getting dirty and sweaty, but the ride to and fro are enjoyable.

Tonight I found myself on the roof of the station to install a GPS antenna to replace our current clock system in the studios. Precise time is pretty important in this business, but I think it was also important to take a moment and notice the sunset tonight. Should always take the time and enjoy the simpler things than just… work.

So much going on. Fund drive time keeps everyone busy and stressed out. It progressively gets better and better as the week goes along, but it’s a lot of work. You just keep going until the job is done.

Today is Zach’s birthday. He turns seven today. It’s amazing how fast he’s growing up, and everyday he makes a lot of strides in his development. More importantly, there’s a party for me to get to today. Hooray!

The week of gluttony begins tomorrow. To you, that means we will ask for your donation of money to support the station. To me, that means lots and lots of food. Pizza, sandwiches, coffee, cookies, and lots of other really good things that I would probably never eat aside for this time of year. The work gets a lot easier for me as I usually just wait around until some one needs my help, and that usually consists of getting food from whatever place for whatever meal. For the most part, a pretty easy week. Makes the fact that I have to come in for a little while over the weekend not such a horrible thing, but with free food, I would have made my appearance anyways.

I think I’m still full from the feast I had with my family over Easter. The day started out with a brunch and ended with more food than the meal we began with. For a moment, you felt like you made it out of the holiday without the ability to fill up on more food than your eyes can handle. Little do you know what lurks around the corner. With luck, I was able to avoid total food coma until I got home, but I still had some goodies to wade through for the next few days.

Summer is looming on the horizon and I cannot even begin to explain how happy this makes me. Today was the first day of the year that the flip flops came out for the entirety of the day. It takes some getting used to again, but I have missed the warmth so much. Just getting into the car today, it was hot to the point where you had to roll down the window to just breathe.

Tomorrow they’re calling for thunderstorms. Yes!

It’s not done yet, but the new furniture is rolling in. They should be done by the end of the week. My office was done yesterday. It’s really strange to me. Before, it was just a room with a chair and a desk where I did the things that I do. Now, it’s an actual work space. I would go as far to say that it’s a real live office. I actually feel like I’m working and that the corporate world has embraced me with open, cold, metallic arms.

DJ Shadow did a brilliant remix of “We Might As Well Be Strangers” by Keane. It’s quite lovely.

This week has really pushed on me. In fact, I had to head into the station today for an ISDN with Wisconsin Public Radio for a decent portion of my afternoon. It wasn’t that bad. ISDN’s are easy unless the interview with the station on the other end is not that exciting in terms of content. Such as the other day where the interview involved something about economics that went completely over my head and out of the realm of my interest. However, it was a long week and I was super tired, so that had a lot to do with it as well.

Long story short, we’re getting new office furniture at the station starting Monday. This means we had to clear everything we could from the old furniture and have it hauled away by the end of last week so the new stuff can roll in first thing at the beginning of next. Lots of heavy lifting, bumps, bruises, and scrapes. At certain points, I had flashbacks to the days of moving KRUI. Luckily, everything moved stayed within the building and very little of it involved expensive audio equipment.

At one point, Jim asked me, “Could you imagine what it would be like to move this entire radio station?” I told him very nicely and politely that I did not want to think about it and hope that I’m not around if and when that happens.

I love how advertisers are targeting “real men” these days. The simple fact is that there are men out there that cannot cook. For them, I feel very sorry. It’s not that hard. Really. Instead, fast food places cater to these individuals saying, “Hey, don’t worry! We’re here. We’ll take care of you.”

They stop short of actually pulling your own mother on the screen to say that you should clog your circulatory system full of this crap because you need to “eat something, you’re too skinny.” Let’s not fail to mention that the people on these commercials seem to be not of you most obese types, to say the least.

And Hootie’s doing commercials for Burger King now? Guh? Where’s the rest of the guys? That annoying, long haired, blond drummer dude? With the big nose? Come on… You know who I’m talking about. I know you do.

I was never a gamer. I always liked playing video games growing up, but that’s just it. I liked to play them. I was never dead set on winning. If I could conquer a level, that was good. I’d get frustrated, but I’d always come back to the game. Retry that level, get where I could, and start the process over again.

I remember nights where I would be all geek like and play network games with other friends. Remember, these were the days before internet gaming. If some one got upset with what one person did in a game, it was very usual for that person to tromp down the hallway and punch other said person for doing whatever they did. It was a good time, but I don’t think I can recall “winning” at whatever it was that we played.

In the long run, gaming just never stuck with me. I like playing games, they’re fun, and I’ve done my fair share of wasting time with them. If I practiced, I’m sure I could get better at such things, but I really have no drive to.

However, if it wasn’t for NHL ’93, I probably wouldn’t have come to love hockey as much as I do.

As if shopping for cars wasn’t nerve racking enough, I’m trying to figure out what I want to do about my cell phone provider. Right now, I know what I want from my next phone. That’s easy being the geek that I am. I don’t want cool; I want functionality. Beyond that, it’s all about what kind of plan I can get. Zach hooked me up with a sweet plan as good friends who work for cell phone companies should be really cool about doing. I don’t know how much better I can get than what I have right now.

Had a really good time celebrating my brother’s and nephew’s birthday this past weekend. Spread the wealth of Napolean Dynamite and had some good laughs. Parties like this consist of lots of good food and funny things coming out of the mouths of the kids. More so, the streaking that Anthony thought would be fun to do in the middle of the night with his birthday sleep over buddies. Little white blurs running around the house in the middle of the dark, cold night. He’s pretty amazing at math as well.

And here is what Rebecca thinks I look like in South Park.

I bought toothpaste that is cinnamon flavored compared to the typical mint stuff that I’ve been buying most of my life. I saw it and thought it was worth a try. I like cinnamon. It’s probably one of my favorite tastes of what tastes that can be classified as such things. However, I’ve been deceived.

This toothpaste tastes so good that I want to eat it. Last I heard, that’s a bad thing. It’s like drinking mouthwash because it tastes like peppermint schnapps. Even worse, it’s red. So suddenly, you look into the sink and start to wonder if all of your teeth are about to fall out because of this sea of red foam being rinsed down the drain. I just went to the dentist and got the sister-in-law seal of approval on my teeth, minus the four tiny cavities that were found. That happens when you haven’t seen the dentist in nearly two years.