Reflecting on 2015

With life as hectic as it is sometimes, there is often little time for reflection. As I sit writing this I am actively procrastinating on no less than half a dozen projects both for work and on a personal level but that's how I have always operated. It is also how 2015 has gone for me. I am sure that if I were to dig deep enough and carefully analyze every minute detail of the past year that I would be able to pick out a vast array of accomplishments. Maybe this feeling of unaccomplishment is due to a birthday next year which for whatever reason is troubling to me. I'm not turning forty years old but it's still disconcerting none the less.

Sure, 2015 was definitely marred by turmoil. There was a situation in my professional life which rocked my world not even before I had celebrated one full year at what I still look at as being one of the most amazing jobs I have ever worked at. That job has given me freedom, opened up a world of possibilities and at the same time tied my stomach in knots due to the actions of one who caused heartache and tremendous loss felt across a wide area.

Those actions truly stuck with me. With that event occupying a piece of my mind, I was less able to enjoy what was normally a fantastic weekend with some of my best friends. It was still a great weekend but those tragic events were still very fresh in my mind. I am, however, looking forward to our 2016 weekend and  actively making plans because life truly goes on and while the events of 2015 definitely stung and left me with more questions than answers, it's not wise to dwell on the past.

There were plenty of highlights. My first grade daughter was voted into the student council at her elementary school. My two year-old son got his first haircut at the hands of his mom. He also developed a deep liking of tractors -- so much so that he often sleeps with one in his crib. My daughter learned to ride her bike without training wheels.

Overall, my family is in a far better place than we were three years ago when I was just beginning my foray into the world of marketing and we found out that we were expecting the birth of our son.

I earlier said that this year has often tied my stomach in knots but it has also been far more relaxing than previous years. We finally had a year without large, time-consuming projects. We vacationed on the Hawaiian island of Kauai with two of the best couples anyone could ever ask for as friends. We replaced the tires on both of our vehicles (hey, not everything can be hugely exciting).

We also tackled a handful of small projects which had been bothering us for years. The kitchen ceiling was replaced. The living room ceiling was redone with tin panels. I fixed a few cosmetic electrical issues. I plan on redoing some of the grout in the master bath. I stained 300 linear feet of fence by hand. I finally built the workbench in the basement which I had been planning for over a year. I got back into selling fall decor (mainly pumpkins and gourds) but doing that reminded me of my teen years when that was a cash cow for me.

I took our kids to my parents' farm this fall to show them what the fall harvest was like and managed to get both of them into the combine with me driving. Showing the what I used to do when I was some twenty years younger was huge. It also showed me that I still remember how to operate the farm equipment just as well as I did in the 1990s.

With that being said, 2016 looks to be a great year. We look forward to a calmer year filled with even more accomplishments and landmarks. I hope for good health for my parents and my in-laws. I look forward to more frequent gatherings with friends and family and a year full of personal accomplishments!

Minnesota State Fair Food Bingo

The Minnesota State Fair is known across the country for being a mecca of sorts for food on a stick. The portability of food on a stick, coupled with the variety of deep fried everything makes the Minnesota State Fair a ten day orgy for your taste buds.

With that being said, it' was high time for someone to come up with a basic but fun game centered around the crazy food available at the Minnesota State Fair. While you can find highly organized maps detailing where to get the newest fair food creations nearly everywhere and websites have detailed every category of food available at the 2015 Minnesota State Fair, the time is right for a bit of chaotic fun in the form of Minnesota State Fair Food Bingo.

Just like any other form of bingo, you can play horizontally, vertically, diagonally, blackout (or what I call "food coma") or take the easy route and go for four corners.

Download the card, share it, print off a hundred copies and leave them around the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.

CBS fall 2015 schedule thoughts

In the past two or three years, network television's quality has both declined and increased. I have The Walking Dead) being shown on AMC -- a cable channel.

seen a number of great ideas with an almost infinite amount of potential completely squandered and left to wither and die. I have also seen dreck and lowbrow, low-concept programs become middling hits. To find a hit nowadays, though, is a challenge as television viewing is more fragmented than ever before with the continuing rise of Netflix, Amazon becoming a player and the most popular series (

CBS (aka The Tiffany Network) had been able -- until the past year or two -- to avoid the sliding ratings and rarely had more than two series which turned out to be complete dogs. They continually churned out crime dramas which pulled in steady ratings and spawned spinoffs. On the comedy side, their multi-camera shows followed a formula of set-up, easy joke, laughter. It worked and they built on their Monday comedy success with a solidly watched Thursday comedy block. That new Thursday block quickly laid waste to NBC's once-popular Thursday comedy block.

But the success of the CBS Thursday comedy block came at a price. Failing to find a big hit after How I Met Your Mother began its decline and eventually ended its run, the two-hour Monday comedy block was scaled back to a mere hour for the 2014-15 season. The anchor 2 Broke Girls  failed to improve or even maintain its viewership levels.

The schedule for the fall 2015 season on CBS is the most disappointing and lackluster of all of the networks -- and that says a lot given the bottom-of-the-barrel crap NBC is rolling out.

CBS FALL 2015-16 SCHEDULE
(New programs in UPPER CASE; all times ET)
MONDAY
8-8:30 PM The Big Bang Theory
8:30-9 PM LIFE IN PIECES
8-9 PM SUPERGIRL (Starting in November)
9-10 PM Scorpion
10-11 PM NCIS: Los Angeles
TUESDAY
8-9 PM NCIS
9-10 PM NCIS: New Orleans
10-11 PM LIMITLESS
WEDNESDAY
8-9 PM Survivor
9-10 PM Criminal Minds
10-11 PM CODE BLACK
THURSDAY
8-11 PM, ET/ NFL Thursday Night Football (Premieres Sept. 17)
5-8 PM, PT
8-8:30 PM The Big Bang Theory (RTP) (Starting in November)
8:30-9 PM LIFE IN PIECES (Starting in November)
9-9:30 PM Mom (Starting in November)
9:30-10 PM ANGEL FROM HELL (Starting in November)
10-11 PM Elementary(Starting in November)
FRIDAY
8-9 PM The Amazing Race
9-10 PM Hawaii Five-O
10-11 PM Blue Bloods
SATURDAY
8-9 PM Crimetime Saturday
9-10 PM Crimetime Saturday
10-11 PM 48 Hours
SUNDAY
7-9 PM 60 Minutes
8-9 PM Madam Secretary
9-10 PM The Good Wife
10-11 PM CSI: CYBER

 The biggest shock is that beginning in November, CBS will have no comedies on it Monday night lineup for the first time in over 60 years. This is not just the end of an era, it also marks the continued slide of sitcoms on network television. There will be a mere 12 hours of comedies each week on network television when November rolls around. I am sure that the number has been far lower before but when spread across four major networks it is definitely a low point for televised comedies.

The one series that sticks out like a sore thumb for CBS is Supergirl. It's not geared towards the silver hair crowd. It features a female lead. It could also be the beginning of CBS actively trying to attract younger viewers with the cheesy but young-skewing Scorpion pairing well with Supergirl. Two hours of dramas which could actually appeal to people under 50 years old. Or Supergirl could be a complete failure and vanish by February. Just wait and see.