Bud Depietro is retiring after 21 years of service. The document contains several anecdotes from colleagues about funny incidents that occurred during travels with Bud. These include Bud losing or misplacing items like shoes, phones and laptops, getting his head stuck in subway doors, and spilling drinks on fellow passengers. Bud is known for being accident-prone but is also a talented musician who plays the accordion. The anecdotes demonstrate Bud's lighthearted personality and the hijinks that occurred when traveling with him.

2. BUD DEPIETTO’S
RETIREMENT
21 YEARS OF SERVICE
March 2013

3. I Gotta Pee

6. Colors of Bud

8. Santa Bud

11. Bud with Strangers

13. Traveling with Bud

14. Mary Olson
Bud and I traveled to Perth Australia for a demo.
My luggage was lost so we had to quickly go
shopping Sunday afternoon to try to find some
clothes. When we met in the lobby to go
shopping, Bud said “You won’t believe this, but I
packed only one dress shoe. I will have to wear
one dress shoe and one tennis shoe to the
meetings the next couple of days”.
The next morning he had two dress shoes, in his
haste to unpack before we went shopping, he had
kicked one of the shoes under the bed.

15. Dana Midby
While navigating our way through London, Bud and I decided to get to as
many attractions as we could as we only had about ½ day to see the
highlights of London. Our mode of transportation was the subway. We
were starting to get the hang of using the subway, getting to know which
color lines we needed to reach our destinations. This particular
destination require the green line.
When the subway doors opened, I jumped in as this was the train we were
looking for. Bud was confused, and elected not to jump in as quickly as I
did. The doors began to close. He finally decided at the last minute, he
better jump in or the two of us were going to be separated. We never
defined a strategy for where we would meet should we get separated, so I
was pleased he finally decided to join me. Unfortunately, his decision was
a little too late, as his head got wedged between those two doors and it
nearly pushed him back off the train. The two older ladies standing in front
of him could not contain their laughter. They thought that was one of the
funniest things they had ever seen. I was just glad he finally decided to
jump on the train. I asked him why he took so long and he said, “I saw this

16. Dangerous Driver

20. Dana Midby
We were coming back from Wenatchee, Washington and hit a terrible
snow storm coming over the mountain. Bud was driving and I could
tell he was nervous (however, he was more focused than I have ever
seen before), so I decided to joke around with him. I was telling him
things like, “With this snowfall, we could easily go right over the edge”.
He looked over at me and said, “If you are trying to make me feel
better, it is not working”. Once we got to the bottom of the mountain,
the snow storm was over and things were getting back to normal, until
Bud realized he was missing the cell phone Kris had just given him.
He was in a panic, so decided to pull over the car and check his
briefcase in the trunk. He popped the trunk and couldn’t find the cell
phone in his brief case. He came back to the front to tell me that he
didn’t find it and then realized the cell phone was on the floor mat.
Rather than going back to shut the trunk, he jumped in the car and
took off. When we realized the truck was open, we had run out of
shoulder, so couldn’t pull off the road again for about 1 mile.

21. Dana Midby (cont’d)
We both had brand new laptops in the trunk, so were really concerned
how Steve Smith would take the news that our new laptops flew out
the back of the car. Luckily when we finally had the chance to pull off
the road, the laptops were still safely tucked away in the trunk. About
½ hour later, we were driving through a very long tunnel as we made
our way to the Seattle airport. Bud again, noticed his cell phone was
missing and decided it must be on the floor mat again, so took his
eyes off the road (not a great idea when you are in a tunnel).
Needless to say, the tires met up with the side of the tunnel and it was
looking like another “Lady Di” tunnel accident was on the horizon. I
said to Bud, “Can you look for that cell phone when we get out of the
tunnel?” and that was his queue to get his eyes back on the road and
worry about the cell phone once we came to a complete stop. This
is a typical two hour time period when you are traveling with Bud.

22. Mary Olson
Bud met a fellow passenger on a plane to New
York and offered her a ride to her destination. He
rented a car and didn’t want to wait in line for the
exit, so he took another route.
A few blocks later, all 4 tires were flat. He called
the rental company and yelled at them for renting
a car with 4 flat tires.
They brought a new car and then called a few
hours later to inform him that he needed to pay for
4 tires as on his exit he had run over the ‘do not
enter’ spikes.

23. Mary Olson
Bud was with a prospective customer in Hartford
for a site visit. He was driving a large van and it
was raining heavily when they were leaving the
newspaper so he went out to get the van to pick
them up at the front door.
Bud hit a post when backing up and shattered the
rear window. The passengers in the back of van
had to hold their coats over their head to shield
them from the rain. Needless to say, their
luggage was soaked when they arrived at the
airport.

24. Clumsy Bud

25. Mary Olson
Bud was visiting his mom in the
hospital, when he left the hospital he
was crossing the street and was hit by
truck.
I don’t recall for sure, but you could
see the imprint of the fender on his
thigh.

26. Bob Larson
One of my favorite stories about Bud – when no one was actually
injured – was a plane ride we shared from Dallas to Ft. Smith,
Arkansas I believe. Small plane (2 seats on 1 side, 1 on the other).
Bud was seated next to a young man on the 2-seat side – I was
opposite one row back.
In typical Bud fashion, by the time the plane was in the air, Bud had his
laptop open, struggling with a large file in his lap, and who knows how
many other things, when the flight attendant came by offering drinks.
Bud opted for a glass of tomato juice and began looking for a place to
set it down. He chose the arm rest between his seat and the guy next
to him, who is now sleeping.
Of course, 15 seconds later Bud knocked the glass of tomato juice into
the sleeping guy’s lap. Chaos ensued with Bud first trying to help the
guy clean himself, but quickly backing off. After several minutes of
angst, Bud offered to pay for the man to have his light colored khakis
cleaned – he declined, but instead insisted the Bud buy him a new

27. All Business

29. Major Deals
 Sun Media
 Transcontinental
 DC Thompson
 HSS Media
 Fairfax
 News Limited
 Gesca
 McClatchy
 Thompson Newspapers

30. Bud & His Love Affair With
Food

33. Bud in Costume

36. Uncle Bud

38. Bud’s Youthful Days

40. Bud the Musician

42. Good Times with Bud

43. Joel VanValin
Bud is a talented accordion player,
and actually played at Carnegie Hall
when he was 11 or something.
At Kris's suggestion, I brought
my big old piano accordion to one
holiday party.
 I toted it up while Bud was speaking
... and he was actually able to play
the monster!
He improvised a song for us all ... a
polka as I recall. I think this is a
perfect retirement hobby for Bud!

46. Priceless

47. Mary Olson
Bud is notorious for falling
asleep at meetings. Dana and
I were at a meeting at the Star
Tribune. Bud was sitting in the
back row with his head back,
mouth open, sleeping.
We really wanted some
popcorn for target practice, but
we made every effort to use
the white board, move from
one side of the room to the
other, etc., so that the other
meeting attendees would not
notice that Bud was sleeping.

49. Things We Love To Tease Bud
About

50. Dana Midby
I’m not sure Bud has fully learned how to manage the belt on
his trench coat yet, but I know of at least two occasions where
he had a situation with his belt that makes me believe this is still
an issue.
While on a trip to England, visiting Northcliffe with Bud & Bob
Lines we heard this horrible banging noise coming from Bob
Lines new BMW. It was early morning, and traffic was very
heavy so it was not going to be easy to pull off of the freeway.
Bob Lines was extremely stressed out as this meant we were
likely going to be late to our meeting and he couldn’t imagine
what was wrong with his beautiful new car. I looked over at
Bud and asked, “Is that your belt again?”. Of course it was,
this is Bud right? We went through this several years earlier on
a trip to Buffalo NY. On that trip, we practiced in the parking lot
how to stuff the end of the belt in his coat pocket so that it would

51. Only Bud
 Bud was always so loud when he was on
the phone that we had to add extra
insulation in the walls and ceiling of his
office to diffuse the noise
Bud has had numerous typos in his
emails over the years. In an e-mail to Don
Oldham Bud addressed the email as “Son,
…” and Don replied “Dad, …”

52. Bud and his PC

53. Lisa McCloud
Daily Checklist I Created For
Bud
 Clean Desk area  Get in vehicle
 Put coffee cup in break  Check once more for PC
room  Put on seatbelt
 Turn off PC  Turn off phone, do not
 Place PC in laptop bag use while driving
 Check for car keys  Start vehicle
 Go to the bathroom  Check for PC
before leaving  Before backing up,
 Grab PC check for people/other
 Turn off office light vehicles
 Make sure you have PC
 Drive, carefully, home
 Take PC out of vehicle

54. What was Bud thinking?

55. Mary Olson
One of the stories that describes the ‘over the
topness’ of Bud is when he bought a pontoon, he
also bought a pair of deck shoes in every size for
his guests on the pontoon. The shoes have never
been worn.

59. Nexpo Cheerleading Squad

61. The “Bud” Quiz

62. 1. How many frequent flyer miles does Bud
have on Delta?
a. 0-200,000
b. 200,001-400,000
c. 400,001-600,000
d. Greater than 600,000

63. 2. What was the name of the band Bud
played in during his younger days?
a. The Bronx Boys
b. The Silver Platters
c. The Meadowlarks
d. The Four Pages

64. 3. How many Friends does Bud have on
Facebook?
a. 0-10
b. 11-40
c. 41-100
d. Bud has never heard of Facebook

65. 4. What is the name of Bud’s favorite
Restaurant in Kimball, MN?
a. Son Of A Butcher
b. Main Street Pub
c. Triple R Grill and Bar
d. Mom’s Place

66. 5. What was the maximum number of traffic
tickets Bud has had in one year?
a. 1-2
b. 3-4
c. 5
d. More than 5

67. 6. Follow-up question....how long did he
lose his license?
a. 1 month
b. 2 months
c. 3 months
d. Bud is still driving illegally

68. 7. Including the current president...how
many presidents have been in office
since Bud started working at PBS/DTI?
a. 8
b. 7
c. 6
d. 5

69. 8. Bud has spilled the following drink(s) on
a fellow air traveler:
a. Red wine
b. Tomato juice
c. Water
d. All the above

70. 9. Bud has personally been struck by the
following vehicle:
a. A beer truck
b. A MAC truck
c. A Rickshaw
d. Bud has never been struck by a vehicle

71. 10. While attending the Pratt Institute in
Brooklyn, NY, Bud studied for a degree
in:
a. Radiologic Sciences
b. Mechanical Engineering
c. Oriental Medicine/Herbology
d. Nanotechnology

72. 11. What is the most asked question of a
waiter/waitress when Bud is ordering
food?
a. Does that have nuts in it?
b. How big is the portion size?
c. What kind of oil is used in the preparation?
d. Is that spicy?

73. 12. How many employees, other than Bud,
have accidentally travelled to Vancouver,
British Columbia INSTEAD OF
Vancouver, WA?
a. 2
b. Nobody
c. 1
d. 3

74. 13. What are the 4 most used words from
Bud on any given day?
a. Are we done yet?
b. I’ll follow up on that
c. I have to pee
d. Dana…get the car

75. 14. What is Bud’s real first name?
a. Angelo. Italian form of Latin Angelus,
meaning “angel, messenger”
b. Basilio. Italian and Spanish form of Latin
Basilius, meaning “king”
c. Federico. Italian and Spanish form of Latin
Fredericus, meaning “peaceful ruler”
d. Matteo. Italian form of Hebrew Mattithyah,
meaning “gift of God”

76. 15. What musical instrument(s) can Bud
play?
a. Harmonica and Kazoo
b. Guitar and Mandolin
c. Bullroarer and Didgeridoo
d. Piano and Accordion

77. 16. What is most commonly heard from Bud
at the end of a meal?
a. Let me get the check
b. Do you mind getting the check?
c. Are you having dessert?
d. Are you going to eat that?

78. 17. What is the incorrect first name Bud
always uses for Jason Goldberg?
a. John
b. Joel
c. Jesse
d. Bud never does this, he never forgets a
name

79. Family

84. Enjoy Retirement Bud!
Congratulations! We’ll miss you!