LSJ Blogs: John Schneider

What, exactly, is the bank ‘maintaining’?

I wrote this week about the $12-per-month “maintenance fee” Bank of America is charging a local man on the $1,000-plus he keeps in a money market saving account, the interest on which is about 20 cents per month.

Or, you can play solitaire on it…

Amazon.com is advertising a “Laptop Steering Wheel Desk.”
It clips on to the bottom of, yes, your steering wheel.
Not that you would ever use it while your vehicle is actually in motion. Of course you wouldn’t … But what about the driver in the next lane?

 

Credit card, minus ID, equals no pizza

Speaking of credit cards, as I was in Wednesday’s column, Paul McConaughy says, “Just try to order a pizza in East Lansing with a credit card and no driver’s license …”
Pretty cheesy, eh?

Battle of the bantams

In this corner, Virg Bernero, the quick-tempered, say-what’s-on-his-mind, impulsive, pull-no-punches mayor of Lansing
In the other corner, Mike Cox, the quick-tempered, say-what’s on his mind, impulsive, pull-no-punches attorney general.
That wouldn’t be just a gubernatorial race. That would be a media field day. That would be a Guberpalooza!

It really is the handyman’s secret weapon

About a month ago the back of my watch fell off and disappeared. Knowing that Christmas was coming, and that the state of my watch would give me a perfect answer to the question, “And what can Santa bring YOU, little boy?,” I put off the inevitable replacement. I reached for my roll of duct tape, cut out a quarter-size circle, and stuck it over the watch’s innards.

The shopping frenzy - I don' t get it

I managed to get through Black Friday, Brown Saturday, and Gray Sunday without buying anything but gas and dinner. Does this make me un-American? If there's one thing I'll never understand, it's the willing participation of people in shopping stampedes. Please explain.

How to screw up Thanksgiving dinner; let us count the ways

Ever roast the gizzard and other assorted parts inside the bird?
Come on … you can confess.  We’re all friends here.

Dantonio thanks ushers, one by one

Prior to Saturday’s disappointing game, Spartan football coach Mark Dantonio gave Spartan Stadium ushers a nice surprise.

Johnzilla scores six points

Saturday, 5 p.m. I spot a big-bodied deer threading it’s way through the thick stuff immediately north of my tree stand. I see antlers. The six-point buck trots into a clearing 80-90 yards from me …
Boom! One shot from a .50-caliber muzzleloader. A quick, clean kill.
By 7:30 I’m eating venison tenderloin fried with onions.

Is the “holiday tree” dead, at last?

A direct quote from an ad promoting Lansing’s Silver Bells in the City celebration in the Nov. 20 LSJ: “Lighting of Michigan’s official Christmas Tree in front of the state Capitol.”
Hallelujah.