A sure sign of spring arrives this Sunday: Daylight Saving Time. At 2AM this Sunday, March 14, most of us in the U.S. will turn our clocks ahead one hour and enjoy some extra daylight in the evenings and until the first Sunday in November, when we go back to Standard Time. Back in November 2008, I wrote a blog about the background of Daylight Saving Time. Since we “spring ahead” this Sunday, I thought it would be “timely” to revisit this blog from the archives. The time zones we use today in the United States (Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, etc.) date only from the ratification of the Standard Time Act by the U.S. Congress on March 19, 1918. It wasn’t until 1929 that most nations in the world had adopted worldwide hourly time zones. Daylight Saving Time, the practice of turning clocks forward an hour in the spring and then back to Standard Time [...]

I know the posts have become less frequent, but we’re still here, I promise!  Finley just turned 14 months old the other day!  Can you believe it?  I feel like just yesterday I was in the delivery room waiting for her arrival.  She is a ball of joy and a terror all wrapped into one.  The other week a friend of ours who happens to be a day care provider said, “wow, she’s really into everything.  I’ve never seen a child that busy.”  That was very telling for us and basically confirmed that we weren’t going crazy.  She’s a tornado! Finley’s the complete opposite of Katelin in many respects.  With Katelin, we didn’t have to worry about much at this age.  With Finley, well…. Recently, she came around the corner with a handful of those so-called “baby proofing” outlet covers and a big grin on her face. It was almost like she was saying to me, “look [...]

Before I get to the featured local area artist in this post of “The Spotlight” I have a quick news release of a mixed media fabric workshop being held at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Visitor Center. “Fiber Art Journal: Stretching Boundaries” Saturday, March 20, 2010. “The workshop will focus on creating vibrant backgrounds, collage, printing, stamping, painting, surface textures, hand and machine stitching, embellishments and much more on fabric.” The workshop is open to all levels so no art experience is necessary. If interested you must act quick because the Registration Deadline is Friday, March 12th. For more information contact the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Visitor Center at 608-625-2960 or email kickapooreserve@krm.state.wi.us.  The instructor is Carissa Brudos and she is today’s featured artist. If her name sounds familar it might be because she was honored as WKBT NewsChannel 8’s “Top Notch Teacher” last May. Anyway, on to Carissa. Carissa Brudos is an enthusiastic creative instructor with a [...]

For this blog I get to combine two of my favorite things: sports and politics.  I also like movies and pizza and puppies but we’ll save those for another blog. Another spring season brings another ‘will he come back?’ waiting game.  Brett Favre has yet to make a decision on whether he’ll come back, blah blah blah, weighing options, yada yada, make up his mind soon.  But this year good ‘ol Brett has some competition.  Former Governor Tommy Thompson says he may get back into politics.  He is still trying to decide if he will run against Senator Russ Feingold this year.  So I’m wondering, which waiting game is more intreguing?  Let’s compare. Tommy - Former Cabinet member under George W. Bush Brett - Former Packer Point Brett.  I don’t think I have to go into why people care about a Packer more than a politician. Tommy - Former Presidential candidate Brett - Former Presidential candidate.  Well, not really, [...]

It was almost too perfect when I read the MLB.com report that Corey Hart would be wearing prescription glasses, or “Eric Gagne”-like shades this year.  In case you are the last person not to know this: the song “I wear my sunglasses at night” was performed by a musician also named Corey Hart. With that twist of irony out of the way, I hope this isn’t another in the long line of Brewers coming up with corny excuses for a season’s worth of struggles.  I grew tired of hearing J.J. Hardy talk about how moving around in the batting order was negatively affecting his production last year.  I realize sometimes those comments are about a player answering the questions he is asked, but most players just own it and don’t spew excuses. Of course, we have heard the “I corrected my vision in the off-season” stuff before.  Remember when Brewers third baseman [...]

I always had these very romanticized visions that my parents would be living in the home I grew up in and I’d drive over to their house on the weekends with my kids to visit and have a little Sunday Dinner and bake cookies.  Then there’s real life. Instead, my children are still just 12 and 9 years-old but my parents are 82 and 89-years-old. The golden years happened before my kids were even born. I”m the youngest of five kids and I’m finding myself in the very demanding position of being part of the “Sandwich Generation”. Adults still raising their children but also caretakers for their aging parents. I’ll tell you what, it’s no place for sissies! When my parents asked if they could live with me and my two children five years ago, I didn’t hesitate. We’ve always had a great relationship and I knew I had the stamina and the where-with-all to help take [...]

Today President Obama urged an “up or down” vote on health care. Well that ultimatum took me back to the famous “You’re either with us or against us” from President Bush. So it got me thinking, do ultimatums work? I think ultimatums are often times abrasive messages meant to manipulate people into doing what you want them to do. To be clear, I’m not talking about everyday ultimatums, i.e. do you want hash browns or home fries?  I’m talking about the ultimatums meant to expedite a decision on a major topic, for example national security or health care. I think ultimatums can be useful, meant to clear up what choices are available in a given situation, but I think more often than not they stem from frustration, and often they backfire. Let’s take into account the kind of people President Obama is addressing. People in Congress are generally well educated, passionate about their [...]

I have decided to move my blog to a different URL in the hope of attracting more of an interested target market. I’m also able to play with a new look and feel of my blog, which fits in with the tone and atmosphere much, much better. Please feel free to visit my new blog page frequently, as I will post all my future updates to that site. http://musiclivereviews.wordpress.com Thanks fans, I’ll see you there! -BC

What happens during commercial breaks?  What are you talking about after they turn your microphones off at the end of the newscast and you’re seen chatting with the other anchors?  These are all common questions I get from viewers, but last night was proof that sometimes we don’t even know what’s going to happen. During the commercial break right before Cory’s weather forecast at 10 o’clock, my co-anchor Martha Koloski, turned to me and said I don’t feel good.  I’m sweating and I feel light headed.  She had given blood earlier in the day and hadn’t eaten dinner at this point.  It seemed to come on quite suddenly.  Instantly, I’m thinking she’s going to pass out right next to me live on air.   I’m going through a hundred different scenarios in my mind and how I’m going to handle it.  Am I going to have to stop the newscast [...]