Happy New Year!!!!

2012 is finally here.  I hope everyone had a good time partying on New Years Eve and made it safely with no incidents like kissing on someone you shouldn’t be kissing on because you were full of liquid courage while your significant other was there.  I also hope people have chosen an achievable resolution to start off the year and not something they thought sounded good at the time.  With the start of the New Year, there are some things that need to be stopped ASAP.  For adults, it’s not a good look wearing those angry birds or cartoon characters stocking hats.  If you think they are cool or cute or whatever you want to call them, buy them for your kids.  If you don’t have any kids, buy them for a good friend kids.  If you don’t have friends or any friends that have kids, I don’t know what else to tell you.  And while I have it fresh in my mind, you shouldn’t be wearing back packs that have cartoon characters on them either.  If you have kids, let them wear the back pack or just hold on to the bag.  There’s nothing worse than seeing 6’4” 250 pound man wearing an Elmo back pack on his back with no kid in sight looking like a super sized elementary school kid with facial hair.  In 2012, I encourage everyone to wear the right size clothes.  If you are small, get the right size to fit your small frame.  Quit going to the big and tall store for tank tops when you’re only 5’5” 95 pounds and no muscle. Tank tops are not supposed to be baggy.  On the other end, to the larger people don’t get scared off by how many X’s are on the tag of your shirts or clothes.  If it fits and you look good in it, it’s all good.  Now with that being said, it’s the X’s not a tall t-shirt.  If you are short and stocky, you don’t belong in a tall t-shirt.  The shirt is down to your knees and you look like you have on a night gown.  To the parents, I have two things for you to start being more aggressive with in 2012.  The first is if you have elementary school kids, make sure you help them get dressed properly.  That is the time when they want to be more independent, pick out their own clothes and dress themselves.  Just remember if you let them wear high water jeans now, they will grow wearing high water jeans, for the parent’s sake maybe.  The second one is, make sure that your kid’s hygiene is right before they leave the house.  Make sure they are taking showers or baths and they are using deodorant.  Nothing worse then seeing a high school aged kid who dresses well but smells like they just jumped out of a pile of garbage. 

The start of a new year should be filled with new beginnings, start off fresh and erasing old negative memories.  Never consider anything as a failure but as a way to not do that same thing again.  Follow me on Twitter @wlhoward_psa.  Until the next time, stay cool.

New Year’s Resolutions

2011 is almost over.  It’s time to party and bring in the New Year.  With that comes the question what is your new year’s resolutions?  For some people, that resolution hasn’t change since 1990 but they get away with it because the same person doesn’t keep asking them every year.  Either that or they know you’re not going to stick with it.  Here are some things people may want to stay away from and things that might help get you to your goal.  If you are going to make a resolution to get back in shape start off slow then increase as you feel yourself getting more in shape.  Don’t go out on January 2 and get a membership to a gym or work out facility knowing the only time you will see the gym is when you walk or drive past it on your way to a fast food restaurant.  Also don’t go out and purchase those P90x workouts knowing you can’t walk one block without getting tired.  It’s going to be hard to explain and embarrassing why someone had to call the paramedics to your house because you thought you were hanging in there but blacked out.  If you are single, quit blaming everyone else but yourself on why you can’t find the right person.  Take a step back and figure out what it is that is keeping you from finding the right one for you.  Maybe it’s the sudden yelling outburst.  Or maybe that you’re a grown person and still picks your nose out in public.  Or maybe it’s the uncontrollable farting in public.  Stuff like that.  Also don’t set your standards so high that you let a good person go by.  There are others like getting money and having a drama free 2012.  The only thing I’m going to say on money is get it the right way.  Don’t be out here trying to be something that you are not.  Now you are in prison with some hardcore killers because you thought you were Nino Brown.  The only way to keep 2012 drama free is simple, don’t put yourself in those situations.  If you are over the age of 30, you should already know better.  Too many grown people are still acting like they are still in high school, WAKE UP!!!!

The power of the mind is amazing.  If you don’t believe me, think back to a time when you were in bad situation and remember how you were feeling at that moment.  Now do the same but with a positive situation.  The same goes with getting back into shape, finding “the one” for you and other things.  If you believe that you can do it, you will.  If you don’t believe, nothing will happen.  Whether you think you can or think you can’t, either way you are right.  Follow me on Twitter @wlhoward_psa.  Until next time, stay cool and see you next year.

Road Rage 2- Snow & Ice

It snowed over the weekend here in Minnesota aka MinneSNOWta which makes the roads slippery and with that comes the drivers who look like they just got their driver’s license.  I don’t understand how someone that has lived here for more than 3 years, knows how the roads get and still can’t drive this weather.  The reason I’ll give people at least 3 years is because if you are not familiar with driving in snow or on ice, the first year could be a demolition derby or crash course or however you want to describe it.  The second year may not be as bad after they took their lumps and messed up about 3 cars that first year.  If they learned from their mistakes, they would drive a little more cautious but within the speed limit, try to stay off the roads that are the worst and know how to control a vehicle on ice.  By the third year if it snows they won’t have a problem driving anywhere.  I understand that you need to be cautious in snowy or icy weather but how cautious is too cautious.  If you are only driving 10 mile per hour or lower if that is possible, that’s being a little too cautious and you’re probably going to get stuck depending on how much snow is on the ground.  And on the flip side of that, if you driving over 60 miles per hour on ice, YOU NEED YOUR ASS BEAT!!!!  What makes people think they can speed on ice?  People can’t be in that much of a hurry knowing it’s very slippery.  Another thing that bothers me and other people this time of year is the accidents after an accident.  For those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about, these are the people that cause an accident while staring at another accident because they are not paying attention to driving their own vehicle.  These types of accidents can happen any season but seems like they happen more often in the winter.  If you are driving by yourself and you see an accident, all it takes is a quick glance then you keep it moving.  You don’t need to stare for 5 minutes.  Now you’re mad because you have ran up the back of the car in front of you and smashed the front of your car.  If you have another person in the car, have them give you the blow by blow of what’s going on?  And if you are the other person in the car and you see the driver staring a little too hard, smack them in the head and tell them to keep their eyes on the road.  And last if you are not a good driver in the snow or on ice, you might want stay away from going up or down big hills.  There’s nothing worse than seeing someone stuck trying to get to the top of a hill and not know what to do.  It’s even worse to see someone panic and slam on to their brakes coming down a hill.  I’m pretty sure that everyone who has driven in snow or on ice has had that problem but its how you deal with that problem.  One thing you don’t do is press all the way down on the gas pedal trying to get up a hill because if you hit a dry area, your car is either going to take off and possibly go through the air like an action movie or you take out a few parked cars.  Same can be said about going down an icy hill.  Don’t slam on the brakes.

I don’t want to sound mean when I say this but if you grew up or have lived here for a long time, there’s really no excuse why you can’t drive in the winter.  I understand that accidents do happen but how they happen can be questioned.  Basically, be careful when driving on ice or snow and keep your eyes on the road.  Follow me on Twitter @wlhoward_psa.  Until the next time and I know it’s getting cold outside if you live in Minnesota but stay cool……………………Mentally.

Black Friday – The Aftermath

Another Black Friday has come and gone.  Hopefully everyone knows what Black Friday is but if you don’t, Black Friday is the first day after Thanksgiving that stores have a ton of sales but only have a certain amount of items available.  So if you ever hear anyone bypass Thanksgiving or look at Thanksgiving as the day before Black Friday now you know.  I bet there are a ton of people that are still recuperating from Black Friday.  Maybe they took an elbow to the ribs going for that toaster they wanted, a finger in the eye going for that camera they were looking at or got pepper sprayed by another irate customer for reaching for the same Tv.  It never fails that there’s a few stories that stick out.  The things that I hear and read about on Black Friday are reasons why you probably won’t see me out at a store at the crack of dawn or even out on that day.   First I’m not a morning person so waking up to be at a store at 5am is unheard of for me.  As a matter of fact doing anything around 5am other than going to work is unheard of for me.  And who in there right mind would sit in a chair all night or camp out in front of a store just to be the first to get what they are looking for?  Is it that serious?  For all that, it better be something for them and worth it.  I wouldn’t see it justified to do that for someone else just for them to say it’s not what they wanted But if that does happen, you should rip one of their sleeves off of their shirt, get them an elbow to the side of their head or spray them with pepper spray just so they would know how it felt the day you fought your way in the store to get them something.  Speaking of pepper spray, someone would actually pepper spray another person or people while in the store, WHAT WAS THAT.  Did they feel that threatened by the other person to spray them?  Or were they doing that just so the other people wouldn’t get that last microwave?  You never know what goes through a person’s head at that time.  If you are a timid or paranoid person that you have to pepper spray someone in a store, you shouldn’t have been there.  Another thing is my patience in a parking lot is very low.  If I can’t find a parking spot in at least five to ten minutes at the most, it’s a wrap.  So if I ever decided to go to a store on Black Friday, someone else will have to drive unless they have patience like me because the time limit maybe even shorter on Black Friday or during the holidays period.  I’m getting better with my patience in the parking lot though.  And last I’m also not a fan of big crowds and rude people.  Not into getting bumped into by someone and then have them look at me like I did it on purpose.  With that being said, if I was reaching for the last Blu-Ray player and someone comes out of no where tries push me over to get that, it may get ugly.  They might have to use pepper spray just to get me off that person.  So one false move and it could go down in the store if you know what I mean.

It’s amazing what some people determine as important.  It’s also funny to see how far people would go to get what they want.  This year was the first time I heard pepper spray being used and it wasn’t the police.  I hope everyone got what they went to that store.  If not, you pretty much wasted gas on a blank journey.  Follow me on Twitter @wlhoward_psa.  Until the next time, stay cool.

Happy Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  For some families that celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s a time give thanks to what they have, spend time with the extended family if they are in town and for the sports nut men and women in the family, to watch the football games all day.  But it’s also the kick off to the holiday season.  For some families, it kicks off the first leg of the ugly sweater contest Thanksgiving edition.  I really don’t get how some people get a sweater that makes them look like an over sized turkey and think that is fashionable.  Do those people realize that there are ugly sweater contest that they would probably dominate.  The bad thing is that the designers make money because some people just buy those sweaters just for ugly sweater parties and contests.  Another event that has really been magnified because of a show is eating.  It has taken on another meaning with Man vs. Food on.  I have a feeling some people are going to create their own personal challenges. How fast can I eat the whole turkey before anyone notices or can they eat two pies in 15 minutes.  And finally what every man and some women do on Thanksgiving is watch the football games before, after or even during the football games.  Now depending on when they eat and how much they eat, it could turn into you watching the game or the game watching you.  Hopefully the games will be good this year so then they don’t fall asleep.

I may joke a lot and point out certain things but I’m really thankful for waking up everyday, for my family, friends, making people laugh without offending anyone and the support I’m getting from people who have read my blog.  I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  Follow me on Twitter @wlhoward_psa.  Until the next time, stay cool.

Wake Up 2

I know it has been a while since I wrote a blog.  There has been a lot going on so I decided to write another WAKE UP blog. I just have a few more random thoughts to get off of the brain again.  It finally snowed here in Minnesota over the weekend and I’m still seeing people wearing sandals, WAKE UP.  There is snow on the ground and it’s cold outside but people are still wearing sandals.  I know it didn’t snow that much but if there snow on the ground, it should be time to put the sandals up until next spring. Maybe their feet are as tough as raw hide.  And if they are that rough, would you want them to rub their feet up against you while watching a movie?  Stuff like that makes me want to throw a snowball at certain people.  And speaking of open toe shoes for women, why do women still wear stocking with open toe shoes?  Isn’t that running the risk that you might tear your stockings with those razor blades that you call toe nails?  Then you are wondering why your foot is cold because your toes sliced through your stockings.  And finally for the women, is sequin still in style? I’m not talking about just the design on the shirt but the whole shirt is sequin.  Whenever the light hits your shirt, you are blinding everybody in that area with you shirt.  Men, if I see another man wearing a scarf with a short sleeve shirt thinking that’s a nice style, I’m going to choke them with their own scarf.  When you take your coat off, take the damn scarf off too.  You’re not a celebrity.  If you are between the ages of a high school kid to a grown person, STOP WEARING LITTLE KIDS BACKPACKS!!!!  It makes no sense to see high school senior or a so-called grown person wearing an Elmo from

Sesame Street

backpack, YOU NEED YOUR ASS BEAT!!!!  Do they know how stupid that looks?   You are big as hell with a little backpack made for LITTLE KIDS.  That just shows how many followers are around instead of leaders.

There are so many things that make you want to say WAKE UP.  As a society, we all need to realize that.  If you wear a backpack made for little kids and then wonders why you are treated like a little kid. And as for as the still wearing sandals in the winter time someone really needs to step on your foot in some big moon boots.  Follow me on Twitter @wlhoward_psa.  Until next time, stay cool.

Liquid Courage

For those of you who don’t know what liquid courage is, it’s a little extra confidence someone gets after a certain amount of alcohol is consumed.  Now with that being said, you might see a lot of things when you go out that probably make more sense if you know what condition some of the people were in.  Here are things to avoid or help to avoid if you are a true friend.  Liquid courage will not get you a record deal.  No matter if you think you sound like Keyshia Cole and try to play every one of her songs in the juke box or request them from the Dj, to everyone else at the bar you sound like Keyshia No.  Diddy or Jay-Z is not walking through those doors to give you a record deal.  Liquid courage will not make you stronger.  So if you are 5’3” 105 pounds wet, just because after a few drinks you think you take the guy at the end of the bar who is 6’5” 240, chances are you might be calling 911 to have the paramedics remove his shoe from your butt.  Liquid courage will not give you sex appeal.  Instead of you thinking you are looking sexy and everyone is looking at you because you good.  What they are really saying while they are laughing is “Did you just that drunk chick fall?”  One of the only good things liquid courage does for you is gives you confidence to talk to that man or woman you have been looking at all night.  Depending on your condition at the time you make your move will determine whether or not you are getting that number.  If you are slurring and spitting in the person’s face as you are talking, you might or will get a drink thrown on you.  If you can compose yourself to look somewhat decent, you might lucky and get that number.

It’s amazing to see how much more confidence someone has after a few drinks.  Now what they do with that confidence can be hilarious as well.  Just make you sure you don’t hear these words the next day from a friend “I can’t believe you did that last night.”  Also make sure that if you do have liquid courage running through you system that you have ride home and don’t climb your drunk butt behind the wheel of a vehicle.  Follow me on Twitter @wlhoward_psa.  Until the next time, stay cool.