Thursday, 1/29

I made a discovery yesterday. And I'm not quite sure I'm comfortable with what I found.

This was a discovery I never thought I'd make, nor one that I ever assumed would have to be made. But after getting to work after shooting an episode of “High School Bowl”, and getting myself into my daily routine, I made a discovery that—hopefully--will not change my life as I know it.

I discovered I may be getting tired of eating chocolate.

I know...mind blown, right? Yet for a moment yesterday morning, right as I reached for my first piece of the day, that flash did cross my mind—did I REALLY want to eat it? For several seconds, I pondered the thought, holding the chocolate that really, in that immediate moment, didn't seem all that appealing.

Then I ate it.

I ate several other pieces that morning, too, proving that (I guess) I'm really not tired of eating chocolate. And as I ruminated on this bizarre reaction, I all of a sudden realized that I probably wasn't getting tired of eating chocolate so much as I was getting tired of eating chocolate with bits of candy cane crushed up inside, the kind I was holding in my hand when I had that strange feeling of not wanting any more chocolate.

And just between you & me, I'm okay with that.

As we entered the holiday season a few months ago Loraine and I may—may--have gone a little overboard in buying seasonal chocolate. And a lot of that chocolate, especially the dark chocolate of which I am a little too fond, had crushed up candy canes or some other peppermint flavoring inside. Those bars consist of the majority of the chocolate I've been eating recently, and yesterday morning just must have been a kind of breaking point, a way of my body reminding me that there ARE other kinds of chocolate, not just the kind with crushed up candy canes in them.

So that's why I thought I was getting tired of eating chocolate. And that's also why I spent a chunk of the day eating more chocolate. It just wasn't the kind with the candy canes in it.

Of course, I still have several various bars of chocolate containing candy canes or peppermint flavor lying around. I'm now kind of curious. If I let them lie around for a few months, will I still be sick of them? Will I be able to eat them with as much gusto as I usually attack chocolate, or will I be forced to, say, stick them in cookies and give them away to someone? I have no idea. We're in uncharted territory here, so we'll just have to see.

I'll let you know the answer in three or four months.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 1/28

I can not believe it's been forty years.

For those of us who were born in the 1960s and 1970s the first time we had a “generational” moment, a moment where we know exactly where we were when it occurred, occurred 40 years ago today. Much like people older than us know exactly where they were when John Kennedy was shot, we as a generation know exactly where we were when we heard that Challenger blew up 74 seconds after liftoff from an icy Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The event that occurred forty years ago today.

In one way, it's been amazing that it happened forty years ago, because it sure doesn't seem that long, at least to me. I don't if that's because I'm just getting old(er) and time flies by a lot quicker than it used to, or if it's because NASA was still flying shuttles a quarter century after the accident and that kept it at the forefronts of our brains, but if doesn't seem as if it happened four decades ago. It's really doesn't.

But then when you look at footage about the accident (something I really don't like to do, always covering my eyes at the words “Challenger, you are go for throttle-up”), you see grainy, standard-def video, you see spokespeople with big 80s hair, and you see computers that, while advanced for their time, probably have less processing power than the phones you hold in your hand. The evidence is there. It really DID happen 40 years ago today.

Since Challenger, of course, there have been two other “generational” moments that have occurred. And I think it's surprising that the loss of another space shuttle, Columbia in 2003, wasn't among them. I don't know if that's because we already had a spaceflight “trauma”, or because by that point people just didn't care, but for most people Columbia didn't mean a thing. Or at least it didn't mean as much as the other two “generational” events that occurred after Challenger.

What were those two events? Well, September 11^th is one of them. Everybody know where they were when the planes hit the towers. The other generational event might surprise you, but it's true. Everybody knows where they were the night O.J. Simpson took a ride in that white Ford Bronco. It's wasn't as earth-shattering of an event as Kennedy or Challenger or 9/11, but everybody seems to know where they were that Friday night. And some might even argue that since O.J hired an attorney named Robert Kardashian and gave he and his family their first access to fame, it's the most influential of the generational events.

And that's a scary thought.

But for many of us, the first “generational” event of our lifetime was Challenger, which occurred forty years ago today, whether you want to believe it or not.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 1/27

It's holding up for now, thanks for asking.

One day last week I had mentioned that, with all the stuff going on, I hoped my voice would hold out. And now that this week has become the second busy vocal week in a row, a listener gave me a call yesterday and asked how my voice was doing.

I'm happy to say it's cooperating, for now.

All I did last week was talk...on TV, on radio, to a sellout History Center crowd, and at the Noque. As it's turning out, all I'm doing this week is once again talking, on TV three days, on radio all five days, and to a small history group (but just for one hour).

Maybe one of these weeks I'll have a “normal” week and not have to talk too much at all. And yes, you can spend a few minutes laughing your head off about what I just said.

I'll let you get it out of your system.

My voice has actually been holding up remarkably well, with the exception of a brief episode yesterday when someone walked into the station after obviously being in a car full of cigarette smoke. That's one thing that really wrecks my voice, and it's something I've noticed has gotten worse as I get older. Thankfully, very few people around Marquette poison themselves anymore, and I'm rarely exposed to it.

But when I am, I can really tell how it affects me.

I have confidence that I can make it through both “High School Bowl”s and everything else this week with relative ease. Then maybe I have a few days with minimal vocal output, sitting around in silence as I...

Oh, who are we kidding? If I get a couple of hours of not speaking, I'll be happy. And it'll be a relief.

8-)

*****

One of the many ways in which I've been talking the past few days? Here 'tis--

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 1/26

That was a Noquemanon unlike any I’ve ever seen. And I should know—I’ve been at all of them.

I’ve done the finish line announcing at Noque races that had too much snow, or were lacking snow, or were too warm. However, I don’t think I’ve ever announced at one where the temperatures were so cold and the winds so strong that I actually saw skiers being blown down the course or, at the very end, just blown down like a big chunk of ice.

It was bad.

I feel sorry for those hardy souls who took part in this year's marathon and half-marathon. Between the delayed start, the slow course, and the wind chills of 20 or 30 below it took most skiers, even the elite ones, a half an hour to 45 minutes longer (or even more) to complete the course than in a “normal” year. There were some people out skiing for four or five hours on Saturday, and as they crossed the line you could tell by the looks on their face that they had been through a struggle.

And these were the skiers who actually took part in the race. I can imagine that there were a ton who just took a look at the forecast and decided not to do it. And I don't think anyone would blame them whatsoever.

I do have to hand out kudos to everyone in the crowd who stood out and braved the icy cold for a few minutes, or those volunteers who stood outside at the finish line for hours in the bitter wind chill to collect chips or guide skiers where they needed to go. I’m one of the lucky volunteers. All I do is sit in a heated shed and talk. That’s nothing compared to those volunteers who spend the entire day outside in whatever Mother Nature throws at them.

Saturday, she threw her worst at them, and they persevered.

So the Noque is over for another year, and I’ll be curious to see what the 2027 race holds. After all, two years ago it was too warm. Last year was cancelled because of a lack of snow. This year, they were worried it would be too cold. What on tap for next year? Too many lava flows? A tornado?

These days, nothing would surprise me.

*****

By the way, you know last week was supposed to be my “busy” week? Well, what would you call TV tonight, “High School Bowl”s Wednesday and Friday, and the release of last “Pieces of the Past” of this batch, along with all the usual stuff I have to do?

Yeah; that's what I thought, too.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 1/23

Even wonder what the crowd at a sold out show at Kaufman Auditorium looks like? THIS is what it looks like-

That's right; despite the fact that frigid air was already starting to move into the area Jack & I were able to get “Legends & Lore III: Marquette Unknown” into the, ahem, history books. It seemed to go quite well; as always, I provided the laughs and the bizarre stories, while Jack (mostly) managed to hold back the tears as he recounted the story of the Donckers family, complete with special guests and lots of “aahs” from the crowd as he explained how they (in some cases literally) saved the business he ran for 30-some years.

All in all, quite the successful night. And based on what people I spoke with afterward said, they're already ready for the next one.

So, you know, no pressure, or anything.

8-)

Now, we wait & see what happens with the weather. As we thought, every single school and almost every single institution in the UP is closed today because of the bitter wind chills, so I don't have a “High School Bowl”. The Noquemanon is still up in the air; after cancelling today's events, they'll be making a decision later today on what they're doing tomorrow—shortening some or all of the races, altering the course, or, heaven forbid, saying “sorry” for the second year in a row.

That would suck, but when you have 1,200 skiers and 600 volunteers outside in Martian-like weather conditions, you have to think about stuff like that.

So, I have no idea what my weekend involves. I started the week knowing that it would be a busy one. I had no idea it would also be highly disjointed and slightly chaotic, as well.

But then it's 2026. Should we expect any different?

Have a great weekend. If you're in any part of the US that's freezing or covered with snow (and that's most of the US), stay warm!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 1/22

How do you make a week of insanity even more insane? Add a little chaos, and stir the heck out of it.

As we know, I'm the midst of a bunch of days of non-stop activities, everything from “High School Bowl” to the Noquemanon. But how can we make that even more interesting? Well, why not add a weather term I've never heard before, an Extreme Cold Warning, that'll be in effect from tonight through Saturday. In fact, temps shouldn't get above zero through that span, and wind chills are forecast to fall down to 60 (that's sixty) below zero in some areas of the UP tomorrow.

Fun, huh?

Because of that, my week of insanity has changed just a bit. No longer do I have “High School Bowl” tomorrow morning, as schools started preemptively cancelling classes as early as yesterday. That takes Friday off the table. And while no decisions have been made yet, if conditions are that bad Saturday morning is it actually safe for people to be outside cross-country skiing from Ishpeming to Marquette in the Noque?  They've already cancelled the youth events scheduled for Friday, so...

Thankfully, I don't have to make that decision, especially because it was shortened two years ago and scratched outright last year because of a lack of snow. It would indeed be ironic if it was axed for a third year running because there was too MUCH winter, as opposed to too little.

I guess we'll find out soon.

That Extreme Cold Warning goes into effect tonight, but not before we're (hopefully) able to get in “Legends & Lore III: Marquette Unknown”, which gets underway at 7 at Kaufman. Jack & I have a bunch of cool (and in my case, occasionally bizarre) stories to tell, all wrapped up with Jack's epic salute to an iconic Marquette business (complete with special guests).. One of the stories I'm most looking forward to sharing is how many of the classic pictures of Marquette were taken by one guy on one trip.

Pictures such as this one--

Wish us luck. And since I don't have “High School Bowl” tomorrow, I may actually have the chance to share how it went. Assuming, of course, the world doesn't freeze before then.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 1/21

Okay...my week 'o fun is now officially underway.

And because I have to get over to NMU in a bit to shoot the first “High School Bowl” since the beginning of December (we've had a few snow days since then, you know) I'm going to leave you with something I did Monday night, but that you may not have seen since it aired at 11 instead of its usual 6 pm slot.

That's right. I got bumped from my usual slot Monday night. But you know what? I got bumped so they could show Martin Luther King's iconic “I Have a Dream” speech in its entirety. And if there's one thing that I do NOT mind getting bumped for, it's the greatest piece of oratory in human history.

Trust me on that.

Since I have to scoot in a few minutes, I'll then leave you with this week's “Life in the 906”. Given what our weather has been (and will continue to be) like this week, I don't think I could have picked a better topic.

Your opinions may vary.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)