by Dino Corvino on July 31st, 2009
We sat down and talked about Friday Questions this week as a staff. We thought long and hard, or about as long as we had between fun stories about my falling down or other things I do to embarrass myself in public, and we came up with the idea of making our questions topical, based on the stories and posts of the week. With the new contributors we have in the pipeline, we hope that this is easier and more fun.
So I pose these questions.
1. Do you believe this meeting on Tuesday will be successful or unsuccessful in swaying the minds of the two swing council people Matt Kaiser and Steve Foley? Given the change in tone of Ed Gale’s comments following the meeting, do you believe he is changing his staunch anti-renovation position?
Also, why does this not die? After 14 years and hundreds of meetings, why does this not die? If the council votes to say NO when this comes up again, will this keep coming back? Why is that?
2. Have you ever solved a dispute over a beer?
3. Cheryl is reading A Thousand Splendid Suns right now. She wants to know your opinion on the rights of women in cultures where they are secluded from general society. Should we push for reform because we know what is better for them? or should we leave them alone but intervene when it comes to violent discipline?
4. Tanning beds are as dangerous as arsenic says the CDC, and the tanning bed industry says that’s a reckless and false statement. Where do you stand? Have you known anyone with skin cancer? Do you tan indoors?
5. Are you going to Sneak Peak?
by Dino Corvino on July 3rd, 2009
I suppose that this might be while watching fireworks as right now Sarah Palin is on television going on and on about resigning or saving Alaska, or really just Obama being a bad guy and how we need to support the troops. Honestly, I have no idea what she is talking about. But, there she is, talking on July 3rd.
1. My good friend Pat Peckham is off to Montana for a few weeks. I am inspired by both Montana and vacation. What was the longest true vacation you have taken? Let us not count that time you could not get a job for a year.
2. My main man Rob Mentzer and I talked after he was out in his yard doing yardwork today. Do you do that sort of thing? Do you garden? Have you been to the community garden? I grow tomatoes.
3. Does your job provide you with a business card? What do you do with them?
4. Are you aware of any large scale wi-fi hotspots within the city? For example, we have the Balloon Rally happening, is that wi-fi’d out there?
5. What kind of vacuum cleaner do you use?
6. I just read a book by Neil Strauss called “Emergency” about preparing for the end of America. Do you think we should get ready? Do you have any of that trepidation?
7. My main man Adrian is a mechanic on large trucks and engines (I think, so if I got that wrong, Adrian, I am sorry). I have spent a lot of time around the guy, and I really have a giant admiration or man crush on him for his self-sufficiency. He has travelled the world, and he can do everything. He is a skilled craftsman. Is there anything you wish you could do, in the traditional trade crafts like plumbing, pipe fitting, finish carpentry, etc?
8. Are we moving away from that sort of country, and into a nation of webmasters and baristas and reality TV shows?
9. What do you think of Shawn Duffy, former reality TV show star, taking on David Obey?
by Dino Corvino on June 26th, 2009
1. The King of Pop and Farrah Fawcett passed away. Do the passing of folks like these, for lack of a better word — celebrities, affect you? Sadden you? In 2009 are there anymore heroes anymore? Or do we as a culture destroy this with some predatory need?
2. The heat was simply impressive, and the fact that it did not break into a massive storm boggled my mind. How did the heat affect you? As we look to the future, what societal changes can we make to ensure that these extremes in temperature are something that we can protect ourselves and our family against while ensuring we have a working model for the future?
3. Have you ever corrected someone’s behavior in public?
4. We all get slighted, and we all court approval. Do you think you are less likely to speak up in correcting a slight for fear it will lessen your chance of approval later on?
5. Do you think that Wausau has a “cool kids table” like my high school cafeteria did?
6. Do you think you’re smart? Smarter than?
7. Do you like fishing? I just went fishing and caught my first fish, and I threw them back. It was pretty cool. But there were a lot of skeeters on the lake at dusk.
by Dino Corvino on June 5th, 2009
Clearly our Managing Editor Cheryl Mathis was inspired this week, and had three posts of high-level awesomeness. So, in honor of her themes, I put these humble questions before you.
1. Do you volunteer? Why or why not? Is there something you would like to work on that we simply do not have locally? For example, I would like to meet and help work on dark fiber utilization, but, no one knows what I am talking about, so I might just simply be delusional.
2. Have you been in your neighborhood long? Do you consider yourself part of your neighborhood? Who is the longest running member of your neighborhood? Do you see your neighborhood as a community?
3. At what point do you take yourself or your loved ones to the emergency room? At my buddy Eric’s bachelor party I ended up taking a total stranger to the emergency room for a head wound suffered at Malarkeys, and while I wondered how I got roped into taking some dude to the ER, I also wondered what would get me to the ER. Following my eye surgery, I went often.
4. How awesome is Cheryl?
5. What is your favorite street here in Wausau?
6. Does the City of Wausau and surrounding municipalities work together well? I mean we are all essentially in this boat together, tied together. With the other municipalities not having downtowns, should we all not look at Wausau’s downtown as our own?
7. Have you heard of the plight of the oppressed honey bee, exploited for the free range wax that goes into lip balm?
by Terry VanOrder on May 29th, 2009
1. The other day, a 22-year-old girl asked me if I thought she should get married. She and her boyfriend have been talking about it, and she is having that hormonal urge to nest and procreate. So, what do you think? Is 22 too young or just about right to take that big step? What is a good age to enter into that legal binding commitment? Or is there no good age?
2. I know that technology is a huge part of our lives, and the computer has become like an appendage to us. First thing every morning I’m signing on to check the weather report, the news, and the latest word from friends. But, could you give up any use of, and contact with, your computer for, let’s say, a month? (Work does not count.) On a scale from 1 (being a piece of cake) to 10 (drive you stark raving loony), where would you fall?
3. Speaking of stark raving loony, do you like nuts? They happen to be one of my favorite snacks, and cashews are my favorite. What (or maybe who) is your favorite nut?
4. Is it really true that dog is man’s best friend? Or is something or someone else man’s best friend? And what is woman’s best friend?
5. Cactus (or is that cacti?) give me the creeps. They’re prickly and they don’t flutter in the wind like a plant should. And they just look mean. And I read once (I think in the National Enquirer) that a woman discovered snakes living in her cactus that she got through mail order. Yikes! Do you like cactus?
by Dino Corvino on May 15th, 2009
This has been a tough week in Central Wisconsin. We have an wildly increasing murder and domestic violence rate compared to prior years, local scandal is reaching pandemic scale, and well we have what was initially thought to be a pandemic but now is appears to be a lot of similarly sick people, but we might turn that into a pandemic once flu season starts. So, maybe we should look to Friday Questions for a little relief.
1. Who do you consider a mentor? We all model ourselves or have people guiding us, who has guided you or been an inspiration to you? Give thanks to those that got us here.
2. What is your favorite song to sing? I think it is fair that most human beings entertain a love of singing in private, and some in public, so do you have something that you truly like to sing? If you are a performer, what song has meant a lot to you? And why?
3. Are you carrying h1n1 flu around with you?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. What is your favorite literary experience? Or, what is your favorite book?
6. Do you have a favorite magazine? Recently someone gave me an old issue of Vanity Fair, and I sat and read it. I realized how amazing Vanity Fair is, and how many magazines pale in comparison.
7. Do you think our local news media does a good job in covering the events of the day here in Central Wisconsin?
Have a good weekend.
by Dino Corvino on May 8th, 2009
Sorry for the delay in posting these, I had to go shopping. In trying to think of my favorite Mothers Day story I came up with several. Too many to share really. So, I will just stick with questions.
1. Did you get your mom something, or did you just get reminded you need to go shopping?
2. What is your first memory of mom?
3. Was your mom cool to your high school friends?
4. How far do you live from your mom?
5. Are you a mom?
6. Will you be a mom soon?
7. What is your favorite mom story or memory?
by Dino Corvino on May 1st, 2009
1. Have you ever made an intoxicated fool of yourself?
Stories of my birthday party are sort of personal mythos, and my friend Eric is having a bachelor party this upcoming weekend, and I threw a few back with Robert Mentzer like a month ago, but I have a few stories that are not from my birthday that involve public drunkenness that sort of amaze even me.
2. Have you ever been punched in the face? Been in a slap fight? Had someone pull your hair out of anger? Have you ever been in a physical altercation? What did you think of it?
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by Dino Corvino on April 17th, 2009
1. Do you own luggage, or do you cobble it together from friends and family when you travel? If you own, what do you own, why did you pick it, how long have you owned it? I remember traveling with my folks as a child and these amazing hard suitcases that seemed to be made out of amazing magic tough stuff. Where are those now?
2. Do you think it disingenuous when people like Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity decry “the media” in one breath, and in the next breath proclaim that “the media” has no listeners or readers, and that everyone is listening or reading their shows? I choose them not because of what they stand for, but rather the inconsistency in that sort of claim.
3. What word processor or office suite do you use on your computer? I recently made the leap to Leopard, and as such my Microsoft Office got deleted, and I do not have the disk anymore. So, I am flirting with NeoOffice.
4. Our good friend Grinning Soul is off to Europe for a long sojourn. While we shall be sad to see her go, it is still exciting. Do you have any suggestions for her? Restaurants, dancing, places to run with bulls?
5. Since the advent of the iPhone, or more importantly, the $99-dollar-all-everything-plan at Sprint and the arrival of AT&T in Central Wisconsin, has your usage of the mobile platform changed? Are mobile devices becoming more than phones for you, more than phones for most of central Wisconsin?
6. If you had to drive from New York City to Wausau, and had to pick a car to do it in, what would you drive? You would have to be alone and just trying to get home.
7. Do you have seasonal allergies? What do you take? Or do you not take anything?
8. Is your house honestly too big for you and yours? I was talking to my good friend Anne, and we were talking about buying some land and getting an airstream, and that would be that. Do you think our tendency toward bigger homes is a bad idea?
by Cheryl Mathis on April 3rd, 2009
1. What piece of advice would you give to a much younger “you” so that something would be a less painful experience?
My initial reaction to this question was that I try not to live with regrets, that even if awful things happened or I did really dumb things, they made me who I am today, so therefore, they aren’t inherently wrong. But really, I think that’s bull. I may love and accept myself now, but I still have a more highly refined compass now than I did back then. So I would tell myself to stay away from student organizations in college so I could focus on my studies, finish my degree and avoid some rather terrible experiences.
2. What is your strongest April memory?
Four years ago, my dad went into the ICU on my birthday at the end of April. Turns out, he had colon cancer and congestive heart failure. It was a very memorable time for a lot of reasons. I learned how much I would miss him (he’s fine now) and how my relationship with my parents differs from that of my siblings. For a happier memory, I loved having a week-long birthday celebration in college once. And on my birthday, I walked around campus with balloons floating up from my backpack.
3. Who are your top five greatest people (celebrities and non-celebrities)?
My Mom
My friend Dorothy
Mister Rogers
My husband
Whoever makes the crab rangoons at Chang Garden
