Six Questions in the Unbearable Humidity
by Cheryl Mathis on July 18th, 2008
- When you ride a bike, do you wear a helmet? My mom fell off of her bike last Tuesday, and she badly damaged her eye because she slammed down on her sunglasses. They think that the damage would have been far less severe if she had been wearing a helmet. Still, wearing one doesn’t come naturally to me because I never wore one when I was a kid. New habits have to start NOW.
- Are you taking any precautions against mosquitoes this summer? I’m freaked out about West Nile, so I won’t let my son have a wading pool in the backyard unless we just fill it for a one-time use. Do you know any natural ways of fending off the terrible scourge on the hide of humanity?
- Are you attending any family reunions this summer? We have one that we’re going to a couple weekends from now, but none of my siblings and their families are attending. I feel like a fuddy-duddy for caring about my extended family. Is it a generational thing that some people don’t care about reunions anymore?
- Do you still prefer the music of your youth? In my plurk group, people have been oohing and aahing over the Packer Blog guy getting to meet Bret Michaels of Poison, though Jim Carlson already knows him. I missed that era completely. In general, I’ve noticed that the music that was popular during your teen years is usually the stuff you prefer to listen to later on. It’s close to your heart because it was so much a part of your formative years. What other excuse could there be for WIFC to play “Pour Some Sugar On Me” five times a day? The nineties was my music era, for better or for worse. What music still turns you on after all these years?
- How do you feel about beer tents at community events? Shawn Sullivan and his family were startled to find a beer garden at the Balloon Rally this year, and they shared some awkward and disturbing drinking-related incidents that upset their small children. Is it a societal norm in Wisconsin? Should it be?
- How are your New Year’s Resolutions doing? My husband and I decided that 2008 would be the year of weight loss, and we’ve lost 40 pounds each. Since April, we’ve fallen off the wagon with our workouts (and eating too much delicious ice cream), and I’m determined to climb back on and continue with the weight loss. I’m kicking our butts in gear, and we’re going to the Y tonight after work to do some fierce cardio. What did you decide to do?
Questions
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Jill Knetter said:
1. I don’t ride my bike very often, and when I do I don’t go far. I’m not even sure I have a helmet anymore, which I know is terrible…if I start riding more I’m going to get one though.
2. I haven’t been outside enough to have to think about mosquitoes.
3. My dad’s family has a reunion every two years, and I generally attend unless work stops me. I do think it’s sad how less and less of my aunts and uncles come every time, though.
4. I am not afraid to admit that I still listen to *NSYNC. They didn’t hit their peak of popularity until I was in middle school, but they were my first concert and I will always hold a special place in my heart for them.
5. Beer tents are not necessary at most community events. I think if it’s an event geared mainly toward adults anyway it’s fine, but if it’s for families then I think people should be able to get through them without alcohol.
6. My new year’s resolutions have been holding up ok. I’ve been trying to be more confident in myself and live a little healthier, and I haven’t seen as great results as you and your husband have (congrats, by the way :) ), but I think it’s going ok!
July 18th, 2008 at 1:45 pm #
erik said:
1. I am too dumb to buy a helmet. Even after my father suffered a pretty big gash in his face after taking a big spill, I still ride the bike helmetless.
2. Not a thing.
3. In my families reunions don’t happen, we get together way too much other times of the year to bother with something like that. Tonight my Dad’s side of the family is getting together for a Friday night outting to Chet and Emil’s in Birnamwood just because. This is something I’ll definitely miss being out of the area.
4. I still listen to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Silverchair, Bush, etc all the time. Though I still try to keep hip and with it as the kids say. Though I can’t remember the last time I’ve listened to music on the radio, if I’m forced to surf the airwaves I hit up talk radio. I get my music from suggestions of friends, that’s how I found out about groups like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Subways.
5. As someone who doesn’t drink I really don’t understand it, but accept the fact that if you want people to come to any event in Wisconsin, you’d best have booze on hand.
6. I didn’t have any this year. Maybe I should have?
July 18th, 2008 at 4:37 pm #
Boogenstein said:
1. no
2. no
3. no
4. I do not let myself become restricted to any genre or period. All music appeals but only some is good enough to stay with me.
5. I believe that they should be compulsory. Parents can only shield their kids from reality for so long. If they don’t like it they should use it to teach about the evils of booze.
6. I did smoke. I don’t smoke. My wallet loves me for it and I have more time to drink!
July 18th, 2008 at 8:09 pm #
deepintheheart said:
1) My doc told me one time after a winter with three concussions that I should consider wearing a helmet or giving up snowboarding. I chose to give up his advice.
Bicycle helmets have always felt the same way. They may prevent the superficial wound, but the major traumas are simply held in by the straps.
2) I have not seen a mosquito in several years. Fire ants are my latest scourge.
3) Everything about “family” makes me feel sick. Phrases like, “put some more gas on it. . . it’ll burn” and “here, hold my beer I’m gonna try something” come to mind. My family consists of four people. That is more than enough.
4) Some of the music “of my youth” is still interesting on a semi-monthly rotation. Lately it is all Ed Burleson.
5) I’m with Boogenstein. Every event–each and every single one of them–should have beer tents. After all, where can children learn colorful language, see the social strata intermingled, and possibly witness public urination? Texas (among other states) is plagued with “blue laws” and several potentially interesting locations become much less so without the delicious leer of a beer tent.
6) New Years resolutions remind me of Shakespeare in Love. Just a bad idea all around.
July 19th, 2008 at 7:11 am #
Boogenstein said:
Re:5. Growing up in Europe there was much less separation of beer and kids. People seem to spend so much time and trouble shielding there kids from any possible danger that those very same dangers become exciting when the kids are older.
We ventured over the pond last year and something jumped right out at us. There were kids playing in the streets! If America continues to lock it’s kids down in front of their xboxes, the future generations will become stranger and less grounded. The Country with such supposedly strong family values locks up the kids and denies then the childhood that their parents enjoyed. So sad to see.
July 19th, 2008 at 7:24 am #
Alex Tallitsch said:
1. I don’t have a bike. I have three broken lawn mowers and a broken snow-blower though. That has put the bike on the long list now.
2. I don’t worry much about mosquitoes, if they are on me, they are toast. We spent so much time outdoors in the wilderness growing up, that they really don’t phase me.
3. Not a big reunion guy, although at times it can be refreshing. Immediate family only is fine with me.
4. Never made it through the door to see Brett Michaels, it was a VIP meet and greet after rockfest. It was too packed to justify. I love the music of my youth, but have added to that list consistently since then. It depends what memory I want to bring to the surface. High School = Hair Metal, Twenties = Electronic, Heavy Metal,NIN,and Pink Floyd, Thirties = Sports Radio with a sprinkling of tuneage here and there.
5. I will agree it is a Wisconsin tradition that should be left alone. I don’t drink, so their existence is really meaningless to me. If you want to sit in a tent and pound beers while the event you paid for revolves around you that’s fine. If it is a beer event, well that’s a different story.
6. I decided to get up for another year.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:50 am #
Jane Neal said:
1. I cannnot adjust to riding with a helmet. When my kids were younger, I wore one and made them wear one, too, but I never wore one growing up and I can’t amke myself wear one now.
2. When I sit out on the front porch, I light citronella candles, and spray my ankles with repellent (ankle bites are the worst! Or maybe knees?). I try to empty standing water after a rain, but don’t spend too much time thinking or worrying about it.
3. After my mom died last year, I excised the dead weight of one of my sisters and my brother. Have not attended a reunion other than a funeral since I was a child (am not aware of there being any, perhaps we’re just not wired that way.) I prefer my immediate family and my friends to relatives. Truly believe that, “Friends are God’s way of apologizing to us for our families.”
4. I have always been one of those people who are uncomfortable in their own time. I was meant to grow up in the ’40s or the ’60s or not at all. My taste runs eclectic.
5. Coming from a place (Texas) where there’s plenty of beer but no tents, I’ve always been bemused by the tent/fence thing. I think to some extent that fencing it off makes it seem more taboo and adds to the allure. I use idiots as teaching tools for my kids.
6. I resolved long ago to not make resolutions, but kudos on your success!
July 19th, 2008 at 10:06 am #
Andy Laub said:
1. All the time.
2. Not really. The only time I experience mosquitos is at Nine Mile, so the solution there is “don’t stop.”
3. Nope.
4. I don’t prefer it, but I don’t dislike it. Occasionally there will be a song that reminds me of the awkwardness that was high school or middle school, and I will usually tune it out.
5. Eh. It’s Wisconsin, so I can’t really say I’m surprised :P
6. I didn’t make any resolutions either, so I’m doing great on those.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:47 am #
Mohawk Matt said:
1. Helmets are for suckers. And I like my drain bamage.
2. The don’t bother me too much. I grew up in the country, so they were always around. I just swat ‘em. The only thing that annoys me is when you’re trying to sleep and you can hear one of those little bastards buzzing around somewhere in your room.
3. Not family reunions per se, but there are enough birthdays and such that I usually see everyone.
4. The popular music of my youth sucked, in my opinion. I got into punk rock that was much older than me, and now I’m into rockabilly witch is older yet. So no, I really don’t listen to music of my youth.
5. Drinking at festivals or events goes back farther than Wisconsin or the U.S. or any discussion about how it’s ruining our society. Taverns, Pubs, and Mead Halls have always been a part of fests and goings on, and just because someone doesn’t want there kid to see someone drink a beer doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be available to others.
6. I think I made a resolution, but I can’t remember what it was.
July 20th, 2008 at 1:51 pm #
Dino Corvino said:
1. I weear a helmet. I am honestly trying to put my life back together, and have good habits. A helmet is one of them. Oddly enough I will not wear a helmet on the four wheeler.
2. I never leave my basement.
3. We have cousins weekend each year. So that is important. We often host it up north, so I tend to go.
4. The music of my youth still holds up. I had Sinatra parents, I found hip hop from Spin magazine, I found punk rock on my own, and can draw punk rock back to frank sinatra.
5. I pretty much think that beer tents a weakness. If your event cannot stand or fall without beer sales money, I think your event cannot stand or fall. I know for a fact I am wrong in this, that the REALITY is we need that beer money. But I still do not care. What if The Who wanted to play Wausau, and the condition was no beer tent. Would people stay home? I tend to think they would. And this makes me sad. I know they need booze at the festivals, and I am sure that it is great. But as a non drinker, I need the event to stand on its own. For example the St Annes thing, Schofield Fun Days, the fair, and many others…the event is too weak for me to go to. Vic Ferrari, some polka band, bands I have seen three years earlier as the marquee are here again…yeah, I saw that, did that, do not need to do it again.
What about using our entertainment budgets to bring in new talent, new names…the people are going to come…you have the beer. Maybe give someone new a chance, other than the same 5 names.
6. My resolutions are still on track.
July 20th, 2008 at 2:08 pm #
Melissa Sullivan said:
1. I don’t have a bike, but if I did I would wear a helmet. My kids always do too.
2. I just use repellant with the highest DEET concentration available, and don’t really worry about it after that.
3. Shawn’s family gets together once every year at a park in town so we’ll do that. And this weekend, we’re going to South Dakota for my Grandma’s 90th birthday so I’ll see my Dad’s 7 brothers & sisters and tons of cousins.
4. I like the nostalgia music for a kick, but I mostly choose to listen to stuff from the last 5-10 years. (BTW, I wanted to jump off of a bridge when the above poster referenced N Sync becoming popular when she was in middle school. Dude, I was like married in my mid-20s when N Sync was popular. What happened to my youth!?)
5. I think there is a big difference between a beer tent/garden and a beer stand. I do not object to my kids seeing people “drink a beer.” Heck, there’s plenty of beer drinkin’ going on in this house on a regular basis. But it’s one thing to have beer available at the Balloon Rally so people can have a beer or two to wash down their ribs. It’s another to have an actual fenced off tent for people to stand and drink for hours, then stumble out to mingle amongst my preschoolers who are just trying to watch some balloons and fireworks. And the teachable moments theory is not particularly persuasive. I’m a parent 24/7 — I have more teachable moments each day than I can possibly make good use of. Sometimes, I’d just like to take my kids to seemingly family-friendly events without encountering teachable moments. That’s why I thought it really sucked to have a beer tent at the Balloon Rally, and i hope they reconsider next year.
6. I don’t make resolutions per se, but I do set goals and try to achieve them throughout the year. Like this year, I wanted to start running in actual races, and I did a 10K in June.
July 21st, 2008 at 7:30 pm #
Billie said:
Scary, my comments are about the same as Alex’s…except for #5 as I never have seen Brett Michaels and found punk in my teens, which is also where I spent much of my 20’s. Instead of sports radion these days (30’s) I listen to a great deal of NPR, Sunspot and They Might Be Giants.
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:05 pm #
timothyp said:
1. Haven’t been on a bike in many years.
2. On the few occasions that I have been outside so far this season, I really have not come across too many of the little blood suckers.
3. The only relatives I have left live in Milwaukee (nephew), Alabama (nephew) or Japan (sister). Be kind of a waste of time and expenses for the four of us to travel that far for a reunion, but it would be kinda nice.
4. There are a few current artists that I take notice of and listen to such as Joe Bonnamassa, North Mississippi All Stars and Tab Benoit, but overall I listen to more music of the past… and what I do listen to depends on the mood I am in.
5. I rarely go out anymore but if I did go to an event that had a beer tent, I wouldn’t be drinking all that much anyways. If you want to imbibe, by all means do so. Are they neccesary at every event mentioned? Not really… but is up to the event planner to make that decision, not me.
6. I do not make resolutions.
P.S. It has been strange being without internet service for almost two months, but it was a nice little break.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:49 am #
orkmommy said:
I was told that if you put about a teaspoon of cooking oil in your kids swimming pool that it will keep the mosquitoes away and it’s not enough to “stick” to the person swimming. I haven’t tried it though…
July 24th, 2008 at 12:43 pm #