new car | Croncast - Life is Show Prep

Betsy and her husband Kris Apr 04, 2007

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 08:35:27 -0500

Croncast - 2007-04-04.mp3
Show: #345
Length: 36:47
Size: 25.2mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris April 4, 2007

I did something a bit different with this show . . . and it is more of an experiment to get some feedback. I'll stop here so that I don't give away too much or sway opinions. Let us know what you think.

Croncast, my baby
It's like my toast master's
You gotta stick your moobs in the air
The weight I am losing is making me dizzy
When I turn things swing
You got a loose bag of goodies
I need a mra
Yeah, you came up with the term "manitute"
You need to continue that
The pregnancy gear for overweight men
Full body corset thing . . . Flexees
Girlfriends wouldn't search for the Flexees, wives would
You bought the farm baby
It's a good thing that I am switching gears Mr. B
Are more people getting interested in selling on eBay?
Yeah, things are changing
I'm like the Aurora casino just throwing my money in and getting nothing back
Betsy's big thought . . .
She was waiting in line at the twins and triplets sale
Tethering the laundry baskets and dragging them across the floor
This year there was a sign . . . no dragging
Betsy gets the full introduction to some of the planners
Descriptions will be less Betsy-ish
Ok, yes, Ok,yes
Like I am a museum display
She comes up with the list and checks Vicky in
Gets to Betsy, tells her her name . . . Oh, I know who you are. You have a blog.
Betsy admits that she says some nasty stuff
Betsy's stomach sank
Bears just stop talking right now
She says, "It was funny when you said we had 'weak pelvic floors'." I find nothing at the sale
Betsy checks the post when she gets home . . . she laid out an entire post of how and I why she sells on eBay
They picked her post apart and realized that they should be doing it too and not donating there stuff for her to sell
What is the plan?
For those of you eating put down your food
It's got nothing to do with you
Is it about sex?
It has everything to do with me
If you are married and have the option . . . get the vasectomy
Vasectomy does equal an increased sex drive
No worries about birth control
Like the vaginal plug
You went to Catholic school right?
I give, I give
Betsy really digs the type A personality
I can tell who was here I can tell from the face on the skin like a snake
We're slowly getting in to show mode
Congratulations to Dave and Melissa!
Bill from hhradio.net . . . listened to every show
We've used a lot of color on our palette
Oh, the Volvo
Kris talks with Thom Volvo
Zero percent satisfaction and we will never buy another Volvo again
The defective V70 will be our defective V70
We're not asking for a refund or a brand new car, we understand depreciation
And no I won't sell my car back to you for a wholesale price
They won't help us out but they will honor our warranty because we don't want another Volvo, "because you don't want another Volvo there is nothing that we can do for you beyond honor the warranty because this is not mutually beneficial to us."
Betsy gives us Thom's perspective
I would get more customer care and satisfaction if I bought a $1.39 box of cereal instead of a luxury car
The dealership tells us this happens 1-2 times a year
We had more recourse through eBay with Slowsky than now!
Kris tells Volvo how to fix it for the next people . . . Talk us back into a Volvo about how safe and well put together they are
Auto auction price for my car is not fair value . . . I am not a wholesaler
Make me want to come in and get another Volvo
Sorry dude that sucks, we're sorry, but we're not going to help you
I am done talking about the Volvo
It's over
Let's get down with the positive . . .
Elliot did his yearly EEG
It came back with no abnormal activity!
He's now going off his medication
So we are monitoring him for seizures and so far so good
His behavior has gotten so much better

Audience Survey, please fill this out for us
Look for the graphic on "Audience Survey" on the main page

Tags: Volvo Cars of North America Volvo of Lisle mra manitute Flexees vasectomy

Betsy and her husband Kris Apr 02, 2007

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:46:22 -0500

Croncast - 2007-04-02.mp3
Show: #344
Length: 39:56
Size: 27.4mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris April 2, 2007

It's good to be back!
Thanks to everyone who sent messages and comments
Four weeks of not being told you're fabulous has taken it's toll on Betsy
It's a thankless job being a house wife
Betsy really needs the show, she just won't admit it
I do like success Mr. B I just don't like to work very hard
iTunes users leave us a review in the iTunes music store
I've never been stuck on one thing
Yes, I was well rounded
I still have the sharp shins
The family knows me as the idea guy
But I stick to it like peanut butter
I am like that crazy inventor guy
The creepy guy who's in his garage all the time?
I have been waiting for this
Head first into break and I was excited
But Bears, you did nothing around the house
This will be a turning point in our marriage . . . Kris will start participating
Winter brings garbage
The sky opens and beer cans fall
Kris's sliding man pants while he works
Getting that backside tan
Can you turn around and lift your shirt
You'll have a pregnancy like slider to measure the tan for a man who does things
I get less sunshine now that I am working from home
And I've started losing weight
I have . . . like it is panic
Your Weight Watcherness of the last 4 weeks are putting the screws to me
My face is saggy . . . my tummy is jubbly
You'll have lost 6 or 7 ounces
Packing it in before was the truth
I am going to end up with a post-pregnancy belly
Watch yourself big boy
You never asked me to do anything on break other than bring in the garbage can
What if I buy you a ladder?
I'm done I cede the floor to you Betsy, now tell the Volvo story
Tidal wave in the car
Zeus was nowhere to be found
She calls me, "I was driving in my car . . . "
The way I don't ever want to hear Betsy start that way
I know that I am going to end up back at Volvo of Lisle
Yes, I was correct
We hit'em up to try to get it taken care of
The gist of it is that we are screwed
"You should call customer care and start there."
"Work your way up"
Reputation management matters but auto dealers don't care
This is a fluke but the Volvo reputation for a consumer begins at the dealership
They are the ones that should care
Once it is repaired Betsy asked for a price for them to buy it outright
Big mistake
Once she told them no new Volvo that she would buy a new car from another dealer it was over
Sure it is all soccer moms around here but it doesn't matter
Now we'll keep it til the warranty runs out unless something so bad happens that they will actually take responsibility for the car being a lemon
I never leave the house now
Which brings me to my point . . . I am going to sell your car Mr. B
You can't sell my car, baby
The farthest I went from the house in the last week alone was 35 feet
Talking taxes on Wednesday . . . strikingly vivid
We thank everybody for the emails, comments and the calls
Thanks for everyone who filled out the survey
Leave us a review in iTunes

Audience Survey, please fill this out for us
Look for the graphic on "Audience Survey" on the main page

Tags: Croncast Weight Watcherness croncast returns Volvo of Lisle reputation management

Volvo V70 the curse of Slowsky

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 10:26:18 -0600

As many of you know we divorced Slowsky months ago and sent her on her way to a certain death on someone else's watch. About three months ago as a replacement for the 7 year old beast we picked up a 2006 Volvo V70 at Betsy's insistence that this was the car for her . . . I should have known better. It is was an untitled demonstrator and only had 600 miles on it. It now has 3800 miles on it.

In the last three months it has been in for service 4 times (quickly to be 5 as soon as Volvo will come and remove it from our driveway). It has been towed once (soon to be twice).

The repair visits have been:
1) Passenger window that wasn't attached to the track at the factory so it wouldn't go down or up. Cause: Presumed drunken Swede.
2) A child booster seat that didn't have the release strap attached. Yes, the strap and accompanying plastic cosmetic piece were not physically attached to release the seat. So I pull and it comes off like it was glued with butter. Cause: Again presumed drunken Swede arriving late for work after churning butter at home.
3) Car will not come out of park or release key for 30 minutes. Got it in gear and drove it in. Cause: unknown.
4) Car will not come out of park 8 hours after repair. Waited 2 1/2 hours for Volvo to get us a tow in a metropolitan area that is pavement from us to Chicago. Cause: a clip of some sort was broken.
5) Car will not come out of park 12 hours after repair. It now sits on our driveway. Cause: Something is broken and the dealership hasn't figured out what it is otherwise I wouldn't be writing this post about it sunbathing on our driveway.

To say that we have been dissatisfied with this purchase would be an understatement.

Betsy is now worried about driving the car. Even if the future repairs do the job I can't blame her. Getting stuck with a brand new car, Moose and Maggers in the winter doesn't sound too appealing.

The thought that maybe the air bags were packed with popcorn wouldn't surprise me at this point or the steering wheel is held together with tape and bubble gum or that the car's computer is an old Sega game console from Goodwill.

There is no doubt that Slowsky is back to haunt us.

Tags: Volvo of Lisle V70 tansmission Volvo V70 2.5T V70 Slowsky

Betsy and her husband Kris Jan 22, 2007

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 07:13:49 -0600

Croncast - 2007-01-22.mp3

Show: #330
Length: 33:22
Size: 22.9mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris January 22, 2007

Today's show is brought to you by Henry Busby
Kris thought he would be cool and Betsy shoots him down immediately
Yes, it wasn't that cool
Leaving comments at Croncast, please do
Wii comments on the Wii friend code post
"I love my Wii," Betsy
You're trying to steal my thunder
I'm gonna pick up this dusty Wii and go pro
Betsy plays tennis for 2 hours and makes it
Something fabulous should happen when you make it pro right?
Betsy makes tennis pro
Tiny little start!
Shave 10 pounds off my Wii
Betsy's Mii is too lifelike
Kris did a great job making her Wii
I didn't do anything to it that would make it out of the ordinary
No clue as to what you're husband would change about you
"It looks just like me"
Wii tournament is next weekend
Betsy is going to auction off all my old electronic equipment on eBay
The Zune . . . I have to have it for a corporate client
Nobody is going to use it, but the lucky winner of my auction will
You are the worst with money Mr. B
Brown is not cool
I can't believe you bought a brown one
Can you imagine wearing this brown brick on your hip at the club working out?
It's a step away from the normal colors
Has design sensibilities
The broken iMac
Betsy starts the swearing fit
Nick T is real . . . his mom left us a message, right on!
Slowsky's spirit is back and haunting Betsy's new car
Betsy can't hold it together with car guys
The dealer says they can't get up in for a week . . . right
The haunting continues
Is that normal to happen with a car that has 3700 miles on it?
Did you spill something in it, mam?
Betsy escalates with the car guy immediately
Kris steps in to slow it down
So Volvo of Lisle supposedly fixed the car
If you want us to wash your car it will take another 20 minutes
The sign said it would be clean when I got it back
And the dealer wouldn't give me a loaner car
Betsy goes out with a friend Saturday night
Tries to start the car that she picked up 7 hours before
The car won't come out of park again
It is now abandoned at her friends condo complex
THE CAR IS BRAND NEW!
Her friend tells her it is a lemon
Volvo roadside assistance will be called Monday morning
Do you know the effort it is going to take?
You're telling me that I need to start the Slowsky saga all over again
Hoping that this is a symptom of a greater problem
Well, Zues peed on someone again . . . she was pregnant
She's going to fall and give birth in a puddle of dog urine
And Betsy bolted

Tags: Henry Busby Volvo of Lisle Volvo V70 Volvo Lemon Brown Zune

Betsy and her husband Kris Nov 03, 2006

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:30:33 -0600

Croncast - 2006-11-03.mp3

Show: #293
Length: 25:37
Size: 17.6mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris November 03, 2006

The puffy cuff fashion show is a reality
Betsy does up her QVC and I bust out my TailorByrd shirts (aka the ultimate puffy cuff shirts)
Kris's beard is outta control and Betsy didn't tell me
Betsy mistakes pun and analogy
She blames the cleaning product fumes
Zout has alcohol in it?
"Mixing Comet and Mr. Clean like the best drugs I've ever done. Except my toddler wasn't there and I wasn't in a bathroom"
Before the Bear's fashion parade Betsy talks about her dream come true and how it was crushed
Kris wouldn't know this because he didn't grow up in civilization
The greatest carpet company in the world
Hanging out in the breezeway watching Three's Company waiting for the commercial
Booba gets excited and then quite
Kris crushes her dreams twice
Some how you show in all of my dreams
Who is on the other line?
A sweet woman named Florine or Lorretta
She is a carpet warehouse in Cicero . . . not Bombay
Did she pick a great American movie star name?
Why didn't she sing the jingle before she hung up?
It's like waiting for the cable company
"Carpet the next day"
I'll be sitting on urine soaked carpet for Christmas
Ed is not the blue collar, named stiyched on his chest and no mustache like the guy in the commercials
Empire guys dolls in the Goodwill hamper
Betsy wants hotel carpet
"I want carpet that makes me feel lucky"
Everyone has boring carpet
One color carpet cut to different lengths
It's not like a swimming pool you retard
Yes, hotel carpet Betsy
I can make this carpet with my clippers
Why $.88 paper backed carpet isn't Betsy
Betsy is trying really hard to sell me on new carpet
I don't care about Ed from Empire or his carpet or his Escort full of samples
It is a syllogistic loop with Betsy's carpetdom
Simply fix the garage door opener for drama
10 minutes of Ed . . . You wish you got 10 minutes of Ed

Here Comes Puffy Cuffs in his TailorByrd threads:

Full blown Puffy Cuff with contrasting bling

The multicolor puffy cuff and Betsy's photo goal. It's too cold to puffy in Chicago now

Betsy says that I would like Oswald Boateng get up
Very anti-climactic fashion parade
You used to be happy with the orange tag items from the Target end cap
Just because it was on sale?
Ben Witt sends his thanks . . . You're welcome Ben
Ben was around B.B. (before Betsy . . . that's Ben's abbreviation)
Betsy gets no more cleaning products . . . she can't add and there are five examples in 1 minute
Kris gets called the ageist
I put this ageism on Betsy
Betsy's first stalker
Many more show in the next couple of days!

1) Fill out the appropriate form for you - *New* Listener or Get a Handle (current listener)
2) Verify your email address (Activates and qualifies those with a "Handle")
3) *New* listeners get activated and qualified by using their special RSS feed
4) 300th new listener and the person whose Handle they use win iPods AND
5) A drawing for 2 more iPods from everyone who entered!

Tags: TailorByrd Oswald Boateng Empire Carpet (800) 588-2300 Naperville

Betsy and her husband Kris Oct 27, 2006

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 06:26:08 -0500

Croncast - 2006-10-27.mp3

Show: #290
Length: 49:12
Size: 33.8 mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris October 27, 2006

Kris points out the Croncast blog
When I made the site it was judging what's most important
The news section is for stuff like Betsy stubbed her toe
We will present for the first time ever a podcast fashion
Betsy models her QVC stuff that arrived a couple days ago
The Quality Value Convenience Fashion show Fall 2006
We have a topic . . . holy shit this is like a real show
Fashion show begins:

One night me and a box of wine ordered a bunch of stuff off there!

Stretch Cordury Animal Print - A snake humped a dairy cow - Flattering or Fattering?

The official pant suit of Wisconsin

What if you wanted to wear it open for another look?

Suitable for dating Dick Cheney orange.

End Fashion Show

Betsy talks about being a victim of car prejudice
Betsy goes dumpster diving in her QVC and her new car
She is a professional dumpster diver for 5 years
When the police roll by
All the looks . . ."she must be moving"
The Volvo just saved me
If I had been driving Slowsky, I would have been in the pokey with the kids
Teaching our children to break the law
Betsy's haunt is behind Old Navy
More moments of the day with Betsy
Getting out of tickets
Tubby the Love Bucket from Goodwill makes a return appearance
Halloween at Goodwill is the big season
Last year's Target outfits
Taking the dog to get fixed
The veterinarian sales pitch to upgrade all the doggy treatments
Social work joint for career day in high school . . . Kris
I don't know if I could work the rest of my life
Making the choice
Kris doesn't drink and sometimes that can be strange
The "You don't drink" look
Kris goes all out until he burns out, my aptitude for addiction
Warning: NOT KID SAFE AT ALL!
What follows is 23 minutes of phone call follow up good luck dear listener

Tags: QVC Volvo V70 Tubby the Love Bucket aptitude for addiction Halloween

New (to me) car speculation

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 06:57:20 -0500

I got an email with a guess about what car I traded my Scion xB (below) for. The first guess from Eric O. was a Honda Element (even more below).

Eric said he could see me driving the Element. I think it is a great looking car but we'll see . . .

Did I trade this . . .

For this?

What do you see me driving instead of the Scion?

Update: See the correct answer

Tags: Scion xB new car trade Honda Element Honda

Vacation: Act #1 Naperville to Omaha

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 05:59:32 -0500

Croncast - 2006-06-12.mp3

Show: #235
Length: 37:05
Size: 25.4 mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris June 12, 2006

Thus begins our sharing of a vacation that ended 5 days early. We are not quite sure that our big summer vacaction driving to Denver in Slowsky was really a vacation. But we are sure that we will never drive anywhere on vacation again.

What we can say about our trip is that with the help of many lucid memories and five days to regain our footing on solid ground that we would like to bring your our trip in three separate podcasts. There is too much to share in a single 30 to 40 minute podcast that deserves great attention to detail.

What do you call a thousand mile trip in you wife's savings account? If you're us, show prep.

The long, feel good intro
Sending email easy like
When we last left you it was June 2 of 2006 a millenia ago
Things were much simpler then
H.G. Wells Time machine could take us back
Walking hand in hand with your spuse at the beach
I would have liked to have decided not to go on vacation
We should have flown
Short version, we leave, there's trouble and we come home five days early
Here we go
We're going to rcap the whole thing in 3 shows
It is June 2, 2006 in nice and sunny Naperville, IL
Kris is an hour late and damned Skype showed it to Betsy
Moments of our life are really important to you
Betsy pretends that she is me on Skype sometimes
The planets seemed to be aligned for our trip
The eBay pick-up guy got here right on time
Naperville was going to be hardest part with traffic
Driving Slowsky is like launching a boat
An hour and a half later w'ere making 8 miles of progress
The van is too tall for most drive thru awnings
Slowsky went to the dealer and got $1500 of repairs to travel worldwide
This is the point where you start adding up the costs
Gas doesn't count as vehicle maintenance
We finally make it to I-88
Slowsky is topping out at 70 mph with nothing more to give
First omen . . . we ignore it
We're gonna make it to Omaha
It wasn't a shifting issue but I am pushing Slowsky really hard
We get near DeKalb which is 50 miles from home and think about turning it around again
We push on
Betsy says "no" to my lead foot and thinks the 70 mph thing is good Slowsky is sucking gas and needs refill at 180 mile mark, still in Illinois Another omen Kris starts venting that we should have flown at gas station number two
"I drove the Alaskan Highway and need a new car."
All the signs were there
It was our decision to keep moving on
Not true to Betsy's faith
Dinner at The World's Largest Truck Stop on I-80
Maybe it is safe because it's a tourist trap
Nope, it's a 3-D world of a sex offender registry
All just minor inconveniences at this point
Bleeding money out of my eye balls
10 years ago this would have been an adventure but with kids it is a nightmare
In Iowa they drive on the grass
Not a single room vacant
Pulling off on Omaha hoping for an empty hotel room
Scoring a room 20 miles north of downtown
10,000 lesbians converged on Omaha the same day as our vacation, of course

Coming up on Wednesday . . . Vacation: Act #2 Omaha to Denver

Tags: vacation Denver John Elway Dodge Naperville Omaha Slowsky thetrip

Croncast - Betsy and her husband Kris Ep. 90

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 05:28:13 -0500

Croncast - 2005-06-17.mp3

Show: #131
Length: 32:19
Format: mp3
Bit rate: 64 kbs
Size: 14.8 mb

Croncast - Betsy and her husband Kris Ep. 90

Here we go everybody, Betsy and I talk about our super white trash mecca weekend that began with a skiing squirrel in an above ground pool, the Wisconsin Dells the Tiajuana of the Midwest.

Betsy talks about her bathed in gasoline seagulls from Mexico while the baby pukes on her hand, how I will be in charge of the man and how his memories of this trip will probably be great and Betsy's will be, "Thank god I didn't have to go to the waterpark." and a short bit about how Betsy and her mom used to just call me at work and tell me they were leaving for vacation.

Listener Russ sent us this about naming pharmaceuticals;

"Vi---meaning hard ( as is Vitamins,minerals,rocks,,HARD )
Agra--meaning root ( agriculture etc...)
so ViAgra = Hard ROOT"

and Ben sent this version;

"Viagra is taken from the word "Viagraha," which means Tiger in Sanskrit."

Good thing this isn't CBS because I am not going to check these facts. Betsy and I fit Viagra, Wal-Mart and Nascar into the same 5 minutes, proof positive we've been living in the midwest forever, we get into Wal-Mart being evil and their funding of NPR shows, the darkside equivilant of this; Darth giving a free shirt to Yoda with his likeness and Yoda sporting it day and night.

Our long distance Casey Kasem shout out to Melanie from Nova Scotia, all songs being euphemisms for sex, Wang Chung? and Billy Ocean and his commercial for his song.

Tom sent in a notice that my new car was one of the top 10 "Nerdmobiles" by CNET look for the Scion xB, we talk about Betsy's love fluff and we wrap with a final story of my youth and the small town.

Tags: betsy croncast hard viagra sent

Croncast - Betsy and her husband Kris Ep. 88

Mon, 13 Jun 2005 05:29:35 -0500

Croncast - 2005-06-13.mp3

Show: #129
Length: 36:36
Format: mp3
Bit rate: 64 kbs
Size: 16.7 mb

Croncast - Betsy and her husband Kris Ep. 88

So my voice is coming back, slowly, got a bit of my laugh back and . . . I got a new car, a Scion xB. I am going to take some photos and I'll be right back.

Here they are with a couple of reflections of the Lincoln.

Thirty with bald spots on top and a bass tube and neon lights illuminating the inside, I will travel the suburbs frontin' as a 20 year old with his first gig. We talk about my rejection letter from WBEZ in Chicago, at least they were still thinking of me.

We also get into buying the car and how if they knew us they probably wouldn't loan us the money because our payment history with them is not indicative of our bill paying habits, what Kris could go without if we no money, Betsy inheriting the Lincoln, the subdivision block party which marks the one year anniversary for us in this house, buying children.

And then we get into Betsy telling me that camping isn't waking up in the back of a truck bed in a cornfield but is Wolfgang Puck Latte's in a personal cup, we do the show shout outs, special one for Timothy Vojta for a generous donation, my childhood viewing of Miami Vice (I never wanted to be Tubbs).

Tags: back betsy croncast kris buying