Wednesday, 11/27

I'm thankful they're thankful, I guess.

Twice in the past two days—once from someone calling in an “Instant Request”, and the other from a person I ran into on the street—I've had people say they're thankful for me and everything I do. It's kind of weird and kind of overwhelming and kinda cool all at the same time.

So...thanks?

I just do what I do because I enjoy doing it. I don't do it for glory or fame; in fact, I'd keep doing what I do even if absolutely no one in the world cared. But for whatever reason—and I personally have NO idea what that reason is—people seem to gravitate to those things I enjoy doing. I keep saying this recently, but I'm one insanely lucky dude. And to be told that twice during the one week of the year in which we're supposed to give thanks..

Well, that makes me thankful, as well.

*****

Speaking of the Turkey Day holiday, I have a long weekend coming up. That's right...four days await in which I get to do nothing at all. Well, at last nothing at all for this job. I do have to write a TV piece for Monday, I do have to get ready to start taping the second round of “High School Bowl” next week, and I do have to figure out what I'm doing for our big Kaufman history show in January. Plus, I have to make Loraine a big dinner tomorrow, and, well...

Other than THAT, I have four days of nothing to do.

8-)

Have a great holiday. Back on Monday!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 11/26

Apparently I'm swearing to myself in German quite a bit these days.

Actually, let me rephrase that a little. I don't know a lot of German, but among the phrases I do know are “Mein Gott” and the all-purpose German declarative “Scheisse”. Every so often these days, either to keep my vocal chords limber or to express general bemusement at the way the world is going, I'll let loose with one of those phrases.

If things are going really well I might even use both.

I don't know why I started doing it; after all, if I were going to swear in a foreign language you'd figure it would be French, right? But nope; for some strange reason, if I need to let loose with an epithet, it's in German. I don't know if there's something kind of guttural or ephemeral about German, or if it's because they're used a lot in that “Luna & Sophie” TV show I told you about a few weeks ago, but it just seems a little more satisfying to let loose in that language, for whatever reason.

Yes, I need help. What's your point?

I suppose I could break it up a little. I suppose I could use Google Translate and see those phrases in different languages. For instance, I could shout out “mano dieve“ or „môj Bože“ or „tanrım “ if I wanted to use Lthuanian or Slovak or Azerbaijani, respectively. And I could replace „Scheisse“ with „bok“, „merda”, “lapoa “ in Turkish, Portugese, or Samoan, should I feel like it.

If I wanted to.

I may have to put that on my list of things to do, which means that I'll be getting to it by, uhm, June of 2027. But until then, I still have the old German fallbacks upon which to fall back. I just wish I knew why I actually started doing it, just like I wish I knew how I do most things in my life these days.

Mein Gott!!!

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 11/25

We've been lucky. We should appreciate it, because that luck might be running out.

Last Friday I shared an old story about how I'm lucky in that I don't have to choose between “city” and “beach” because, where I live, I have them both. Here's another way in which I've been lucky--

I played soccer with Loraine yesterday.

Now, what makes me think I'm lucky because I played soccer with Loraine on Sunday, something I do pretty much every weekend? Well, we played soccer on November 24th. We've been playing soccer together for seven or eight years now, and it's rare that we get to play on a clear field this late into the season. There was last year, the year with no winter, and then there was...

Nope. That was it. But because we had just a few (unexpected) flakes of snow yesterday we got to play soccer at the end of November and, if our luck holds, although the forecast isn't promising, we'll get to do it Thanksgiving morning, as well.

After all, you have to burn off all those calories SOME way, right?

8-)

I realize that our good luck may be bad luck for some people, especially those who depend on winter weather for their livelihood. And I totally get that. But, if Mother Nature is handing us lemons, we might as well make a little lemonade out of it, and work on our sprints and corner kicks, right?

Admittedly, playing soccer at the end of November isn't like when we play at the end of July. There's not a lot of green grass and sunshine and sweat.

Instead, it looks like this--

But you know what? We'll take it any week of November through March. After all, we get to play soccer during a season when we should be complaining about the snow and the cold.

And because of that, we consider ourselves lucky.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 11/22

Since I have to be back at NMU (yet again) for “High School Bowl” in a few minutes, I figure I'd leave you with an oldie but a goodie...inspired by yesterday's birthday girl. Have a great weekend...see you on Monday!

(jim@wmqt.com)

*****

(as originally posted 11/23/20 (right smack dab in the middle of the second Covid lockdown, not that it figures into other than quick reference))

It took me 24 hours to figure it out, but I really am a lucky person.

My girlfriend Loraine was watching an interview over the weekend with Noel Gallagher, the brains behind Oasis, and the interviewer was throwing a series of rapid-fire questions at him. He would be given two items, and he had to choose which one he would give up forever if he was forced to pick. Most of them were goofy and musically oriented (“The Stones or The Who”? “Fender or Gibson”?) and gave Gallagher fits having to choose, but there was one he had no problem with—the city or the beach? He rattled off “the city” quickly; as it turns out, he doesn't even like the beach. The question, though, stuck with me. If I was forced to choose between giving up either the city or the beach, the two places I love to be in more than any other, I don't think I could. It's be like Sophie having to choose between her children.

There's just no good outcome to that question, and no one—NO ONE—should ever be forced to have to make that horrid decision.

As I've written in here many times before, I am an urban creature. I need concrete and I need people and I need the feeling of being a part of something, even in the joy that is 2020. If you were to force me to live in the woods or in someplace without a sidewalk I probably couldn't handle it. And as I've written in here before, my dream job is being a (highly paid) beach bum. So the thought of having to choose between the two just wouldn't work.

As I was running this morning I came to a realization. I realized that, living where I live, I would never have to make that choice. I would never have to choose between being in a city or going to a beach. I can have my concrete and sidewalks and people, and I can have my beach. I can have them at the same time. In fact, I've had them at the same times many times, as I leave work or my apartment, and hop on a bike or take a short walk down to McCarty's Cove or South Beach. I actually live in a place where I can be in a city AND a beach at the same time.

I live in a place that has BOTH of my versions of heaven. How many people get to say that?

I mean; seriously—how many people get to say that? How many people get to be in an urban core of a city and yet have a beach a few seconds away? Very few. And of those few, how many actually take time out of their day to appreciate it? I mean, even I think I've been a little guilty of taking the fact that Marquette has great beaches for granted; after all, they're just part of what makes this city so wonderful. Maybe it took that question to point out just how amazingly lucky we are here. Maybe when you're pondering having to choose between two incredible things, your eyes are opened just a little bit more as to how lucky you really are.

I hope I never, ever have to answer that question posed to Noel Gallagher. But in a way, I'm glad he was asked.

Thursday, 11/21

11 am, huh?

I have no idea why this fact interests me so, but it does. For some strange reason, someone did a survey on death; specifically, someone did a survey on the typical times and dates people die. For instance, according to this study in the Annals of Neurology, the older you get, the more likely you are to die on your birthday (which means I should be REALLY careful the week after next). You're also a little more likely to die after getting a paycheck, as well (probably from the shock of seeing how underpaid you are). And, more people die in the late morning than at any other time. In fact, a few minutes either side of 11 am seems to be the deadliest time of the day for humans.

For whatever reason.

I came across this while searching for an upcoming “Weird Fact of the Day”, and it's been stuck in my head ever since. Why 11 am? You always hear about people dying in their sleep, so shouldn't it be 3 in the morning? And you know how many drunk drivers are out there, so why not 11 pm? Nope; the most likely time for a human to die is around 11 am.

And that's exactly how it was worded—”for a human”. I don't know if that's because they were writing in, you know, the Annuals of Neurology and wanted to be specific, or if they included chipmunks or brown bears or squid in the study, but if you're a human—and I'm guessing that's, oh, 60% or so of you reading this—you're more likely to die at 11 am than any other time.

Yikes.

I'm hoping I'm safe; after all, most days at 11 am I've been awake a couple of hours, I've quaffed a cup or two of (green) tea, and I've had my morning dark chocolate. All those are things that are good for your health. I'm usually at work by then, which means that I've successfully navigated crossing a bunch of streets without getting hit by a car. And it's usually early enough so that all the little things that might cause one's blood pressure to shoot out of control haven't happened yet.

11 am seems safe for me. I hope it is for you, too. However, I will stick in this addendum--if you're reading this within a couple of minutes of 11 am today, be careful out there. After all, I'd like you to come back tomorrow (at 11 am or any time) and read this again.

The more you know, after all...

8-)

*****

Before I go, I do have to wish my all-time favorite human being a happy birthday! That's right; today marks the anniversary of Loraine's birth, and while I know she doesn't want a big deal made out of it, I'm hoping she doesn't mind a small deal made out of it.

So happy birthday, Most Amazing Woman in the World!!

Love,

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 11/20

I tried, but I couldn't quite get it right.

My “Life in the 906” piece for this week dealt with change, prompted by two things—a comment made by someone who hadn't been back to Marquette in a decade--”I can't believe how much this place has changed”--and a picture I came across while looking for another shot.

Specifically, this picture--

That was taken off of the (now) Range Bank Parking deck back in 2008, showing a grassy piece of land in the foreground and a power plant in the background. That was going to be the “then” part of a then & now picture, showing just how much what was in the photo has changed. Only, it didn't work out like I thought--

I'm sure an ordinary person would look at the two and see the point I was trying to get across, but, as we all know, I'm anything but ordinary. I couldn't exactly match of the aspect ratio of the shot because the “then” picture was taken by a real camera with a long lens, while the “now” picture was taken with a phone camera. Plus, and I'm sure this is just me being picky, you can't see where the power plant no longer exists.

So I ended up not using either shot. The piece turned out okay, but one of its original inspirations—the 2008 shot—didn't get used. But, then, that's what these babbling are for, right?

8-)

Okay. I have more to say, but seeing as how it's my (it seems) primary purpose in life these days I have to go shoot yet another episode of “High School Bowl” in a few minutes, so we'll continue the conversation tomorrow, if you don't mind.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 11/19

Jim's Adventures in Celebrity, pt 2, or...I suppose that as far as reputations go, it’s not the worst one in the world to have,

No more than an hour after writing yesterday about how I'm apparently a “celebrity”, I walked into a convenience store and the first thing the young woman working behind the counter said to me was, and I quote, “You know everything, right”? Now as those of you who read this on a daily basis are well aware, no, I certainly DON’T know everything, yet I apparently know enough that people seem to think I do, which I guess is a bizarre side effect of my being a local “celebrity”. Anyway, the young lady proceeded to ask me a question that I actually knew the answer to, which, I guess, then further cemented my reputation, at least in her mind.

I’ve said this before and I know I’ll say it again—I, Jim Koski, do NOT know everything. Sure, when I was a teenager and my younger brother & sister were in grade school, they’d ask me something, I’d answer, they’d ask how I knew, and I’d reply with “I know everything”. And that even carried down to the next generation, when a decade or so ago when my niece Mallory brought in a friend to the station. She asked me a question about something, I answered, her friend asked how I knew, and Mallory just said “He knows everything”.

You think THAT’S how reputations get started?

Of course, that’s just in my family. How does the rest of the world get this warped idea that I know everything, especially when I don’t? Well, this is what I think (and, bear in mind, that I could be wrong, especially because I DON’T know everything)—I seem to have a weird talent. I seem to have this bizarre ability to talk about almost anything in the world for at least 30 seconds, and make it sound like I know what I’m talking about, before revealing to anyone around that I’m really just a massive fraud. But before those 30 seconds are up, some people seem convinced that I really am an expert on the subject.

Which, as both you and I know, is hardly ever the case.

It’s an ability that does come in handy on many occasions, be it on the old “Stump Jim Day” on movie trivia, or when asked a very bizarre and intricate question during one of my History Center walks. As long as you sound like you know what you’re talking about when you start out, I’ve found that people—people who know much more than you—will then provide enough new information on the subject to allow you to keep going, which then further leads people to believe that you know everything.

It’s a vicious circle, I tell ya.

Actually, I don’t think my ability is anything out of the ordinary. I think anyone who has a little natural curiosity and who does a little reading could develop it. I’ve always thought that knowing a little bit about a lot of subjects is better than knowing everything about only one subject; if nothing else, it makes you a much more well-rounded person.

And if you take it to an extreme, or happen to be a “celebrity” where you have a chance to show off the ability, you start to develop a reputation, a reputation that ends with you walking into a convenience store and hearing those fateful words—

“You know everything, right”?

(jim@wmqt.com), who actually knows so little about everything that it’s frightful.

Monday, 11/18

I'm still not totally comfortable with it, but at least I now understand it.

Since we last spoke I've had a couple of encounters with people that have stuck in my mind. The first occurred when a plumber came to fix a leaky bathroom sink. Loraine showed him in and he got to working. I thought of something he should know, and walked into out bathroom to tell him. That's when he stopped working, looked at me, and said--

“I didn't know I was going to have a celebrity sighting today!”

And that followed an encounter at last Friday's “High School Bowl” shoot, where the parents of one of the students taking part wanted to get a picture of me with their student because, as they put it, “You're one of the biggest celebrities in the UP”.

Really? Are you sure about that? And if it is the case, doesn't the U.P. REALLY need a much better class of celebrity?

8-)

You'd think I'd be used to stuff like that, especially since encounters like that have increased since I started doing way too much TV. But I don't know that someone ever gets used to stuff like that. I mean, I know I'm not a celebrity. I'm just a dorky kid who grew up in Marquette and is now a dorky adult who lives in Marquette. I am not a celebrity. Taylor Swift is a celebrity. Jon Stewart is a celebrity.

I, however, am not.

But I get it. In this very small pond I guess that my ubiquitous presence on TV screens, through radios, and leading hundreds of people down the street makes me a slightly bigger than usual fish. It's not like I set out to do it; it just comes with the territory, I guess. And, if we're being honest, I guess it's better being someone's celebrity sighting than it is being someone's object of loathing.

I mean, that just may be me, but still...

So if our paths cross feel free to say something. But don't feel like you need to act like I'm a “celebrity”. Because, as we both know, I'm really not.

I just happen to be an example of the closest thing we might get to a celebrity around here.

(jim@wmqt.com), NOT a celebrity.

Friday, 11/15

Happy opening day! Or, if you're agnostic in that regard, happy Friday..

Either one works for me.

Today marks the start of what we jokingly refer to as the official UP national holiday, opening day of Michigan's firearm deer season. Whether you celebrate it or not it IS a big deal around here, as evidenced by the Instant Requests I was getting as far back as Tuesday from people who were already heading out to their deer camp.

So even though I look it as a strange Yooper tradition, for many people it's a tradition that's a big deal.

In that vein, I wrote what could loosely be called a “poem” about the tradition back in 1999, a (gulp) quarter of a century ago (as a side note-- quarter of a century ago??? Isn't it time I started looking for a real job??) I've been posting that “poem” every Opening Day Eve since then, and I don't feel as if I can buck tradition and not post it.

And I DO apologize for the very bad pun in that last sentence.

Since it's a tradition, here is that “poem”. If you actually are going out hunting, good luck, and stay safe. If you're agnostic regarding the holiday, that's okay, too. It's just one of those things that makes the UP such a unique place to live.

Have a great weekend, either in or out of the woods!

(jim@wmqt.com)

*****

“’Twas the Night Before Deer Camp”,

by Jimmy Koski, grade 3.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE DEER SEASON

AND ALL THROUGH THE CAMP

HUNTERS WERE UNLOADED BEER CRATES

AND LIGHTING UP LAMPS

THE RIFLES THEY HUNG

IN THE PICKUP WITH CARE

IN HOPES THAT A 10-POINTER

SOON WOULD BE THERE

I IN MY ORANGE

MY BUDDY IN GREEN

SAT DOWN TO A CRIBBAGE GAME

THE BIGGEST EVER SEEN

WE PLAYED THROUGH THE NIGHT

AND EMPTIED THOSE CRATES

BUT MORNING SOON CAME

WE DIDN’T WANT TO BE LATE

WE SET OUT AT SUNRISE

AT DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT

PUT DOWN A BIG BAIT PILE

IN HOPES THAT BAMBI WOULD BITE

WE SAT AND WE WAITED

AND WAITED SOME MORE

I KEPT MY EYES OPEN

MY BUDDY STARTED TO SNORE

WHEN TO MY SURPRISE

STANDING RIGHT BY A TREE

WAS A BIG 12-POINT BUCK

MY PANTS I DID...WELL, NEVER MIND ABOUT THAT

I BROUGHT UP MY RIFLE

I LINED UP THE DEER

THEN MY BUDDY WOKE UP AND YELLED

“HEY--WHERE’S THE BEER?”

THE BUCK RAN AWAY

I LOWERED MY GUN

MY BUDDY JUST LAUGHED

SAID “LET’S HAVE SOME FUN”

WE WENT BACK TO DEER CAMP

AND HAD US A BALL

SO LET ME SAY THIS--

GOOD LUCK DEER HUNTING TO ALL...

(copyright 1999)

Thursday, 11/14

It appears as if this is now a different world than the one in which I grew up. And it leaves me a little sad.

First of all, I'm not saying that today's world for a kid is better or worse than it was when I was a kid. After all, that was last century, and things change. It's not better now, nor is it worse now. It's just different now, as different as the 1940s or the 1950s were to when I grew up.

Change is a constant. That's a fact of life. It's not a bad thing.

That being said, here's how it's a different world than the one in which I grew up. It's my nephew Abel's birthday today. I looked around a few stores to find a gift for him, a gift that would both appeal to a 8-year old and show off what a cool uncle he has. I tried to find him a spaceship. A rocket. Something that would show him about the wonders of space flight.

Guess what you can't find in stores any more?

I mean, you can find Transformer-like toys that could (loosely) be called spacecraft, and you could find a bunch of “Star Wars” vehicles that (theoretically) could fly in space. But I couldn't find a toy that's a realistic space craft. I couldn't find a shuttle, an old Apollo/Saturn V stack, or even a Space X Crew Dragon capsule or the new STS booster. There was nothing along those lines available in any of the stores I checked.

I was bummed.

In all honesty, I didn't know if I actually expected to find any. I know that rockets and spaceflight aren't as magical to kids as they were to kids back when I was young (you know, last century). So I wasn't totally surprised by what I found (or didn't find). But still—spaceflight is one of humankind's great, defining technical achievements.

Shouldn't kids know about that?

I guess I'll just have to make sure he understands what a big deal it was (and is) as he gets older. But for now, I hope he enjoys what I did get for him. And I hope his mom & dad don't get TOO upset if he tries what I ended up getting for him and it, say, explodes all over their living room.

I mean, isn't that what uncles are for?

8-)

Speaking of the birthday boy (and his very dorky uncle)...

Happy birthday, Abel!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 11/13

I'm starting to wonder if we're gonna have a repeat of last year.

Those of you who weren't in Marquette last winter may recall me writing about how we didn't actually HAVE a winter. We had one storm—in January—and spent most of the season wearing shorts, walking under umbrellas and canceling all sorts of events that required snow. Well, this year we're now just a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and here's what it looked like outside yesterday--

To me, at least, that looks more like mid April than it does mid November. And based on a long range forecast from the National Weather Service, one that calls for above-average temperatures and below average precipitation for (at least) the rest of the month, you gotta wonder--

Will we have another non-winter winter this year?

Normally, I'd say no. Normally, I'd point out that last year we had a La Nina and a bunch of other factors that led up to a (no pun intended) perfect storm of weird weather. But we no longer live in normal times. We've broken the planet, and that's cause massive change all around the world. Thankfully, we don't have to deal with floods or fires, like some places; instead, we get dusting of snow here and a dusting of snow there. And temperatures anywhere from 5 to 25 degrees above the (very) long-term average. We've only been able to hold a full, complete signature UP event—the UP 200—once in the past six years. And I can't even tell you the last time either harbor in Marquette froze over completely and for an entire season.

I guess that, compared to what winters used to be like around here, it's a radical new normal.

We'll see how it turns out. After all, the odds of us having a non-winter winter for two years in a row would seem to be infinitesimal, at best. But the way things are going these days?

I wouldn't bet against it.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 11/12

 

Hope you had a great weekend. While mine was three days long, I'm still wondering how it went.

What did I do, you ask? Well, I answer...

I, in no particular order, bought a new washer/dryer, used said new washer/dryer, did an interview with someone, got a Covid shot, didn't feel too hot for a few hours after the Covid shot, played soccer with my favorite soccer partner in the world, bought a new love seat, tried (unsuccessfully, so far) to get rid of the old love seat, wrote a TV piece, performed said TV piece, made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, put together a holiday gift list, complained about the rain, tried to remember the password to a website I hadn't been on in a while, spent too much time resetting the password to that website, started working on my next History Center show, wrote up a bunch of UP-themed questions for the second round of “High School Bowl”, and started ruminating about a project which, if I decide to do it, could take almost all of my time at the beginning of the new year.

So, you know, a usual weekend for me.

8-)

I'll often joke about how I'm always so busy because I get bored easily, and while there is a modicum of truth to that, I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe, I should put it to a test. You know...work my butt off one weekend, accomplish everything I need to for two weekends, and then spend the following weekend doing absolutely nothing at all.

I wonder if I'd be able to handle that?

I'd like to think I would, but I know me better than that. I realize that there are people who use the weekend for its intended purpose—to do nothing but veg out in front of the TV and relax. And I suppose that's what a normal person SHOULD do. But, as both know, I'm anything but normal, and I have the feeling that by, oh, 10 am Saturday morning, I'd be pacing around, looking for something to do, and accomplishing nothing other than driving Loraine insane.

And I'm sure she'd appreciate that.

So for the foreseeable future I'm gonna guess future weekends will look like the one I just finished, minus (hopefully) the Covid shot and purchasing of a washer-dryer. If that ever changes...well, I probably wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Really, I wouldn't.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 11/8

Because I have to go shoot yet another “High School Bowl” in a few seconds, and because Monday is Veterans Day, I figured I'd leave you with something from a dozen years ago that seems kind of appropriate.

Since I have Monday off, something new comes up Tuesday. Have a great weekend, whether it's three days long or not!

(jim@wmqt.com)

*****

(as originally posted 11/9/2014)

Sunday is Veterans’ Day. Most people only think about the day when they realize there won’t be any mail on Monday, but in living with a World War II researcher, I’ve come into a whole new appreciation of the day, especially when I hear the stories of people for whom the day honors.

People like THIS one, Charles Senecal.

Charles Senecal was born in Newberry in 1918, and moved to Grand Marais when young. He graduated from Grand Marais high school, and was drafted into the Army in 1940, for what was supposed to be a one-year hitch. However, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he was in for the duration.

He went overseas with an offshoot of the 107^th Engineers, and found himself stationed in England, where he trained for and eventually took part in the invasion of Normandy. He found himself in three other major battles, earning commendations for them all, when on December 17^th, 1944, while resting somewhere in Belgium, his unit was called back into action.

You see, the Battle of the Bulge had begun.

Even though he was in an engineering battalion, Senecal’s team was ordered to become an infantry unit, and took up defensive positions near the village of Bullingen. This, of course, was during the worst European winter of the 20^th century; think of what a blustery January day is like in the U.P. and you can imagine what it was like in Belgium in December of 1944--not ideal conditions for any activity, much less defending a village. Soon, a German Panzer division approached Bullingen, and were turned back by Senecal’s engineers-turned-infantry soldiers. A second German attack was repulsed, and when the third one came, it consisted of a dozen German Panzer & Tiger tanks (the biggest tanks either side had). Senecal’s unit was over-run, and one machine gunner found himself cut off from the rest of the group, and under heavy German fire. Sgt. Senecal, with no regard for his safety, dashed across an open field and came to the rescue of the gunner, receiving the wounds from which he eventually died three days later.

This, in fact, is the field where he died, on the outskirts of Bullingen, Belgium--

For his actions, Grand Marais’ Charles Leonard Senecal was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. He was temporarily laid to rest in the Henri-Chappelle Military Cemetery in Belgium; his body was returned to be buried in Grand Marais in October, 1947.

So on Monday, when you realize you’re not getting any mail, and you then realize that’s because Sunday was Veterans’ Day, think about all the people who’ve served their country, and, in cases like that of Sgt. Senecal, made the ultimate sacrifice, as well.

Thursday, 11/7

Because we all need a laugh these days, let's turn to my “365 Stupidest Things Ever Said” calendar, shall we?

The calendar is one of the things I put on my holiday list every year, and after I unwrap it I read all 365 (or 366, this year) entries in a row and usually end up, at some point, sitting on our living room couch with tears streaming down my face.

Kind of like a few nights ago, but in a good way.

Anyway, yesterday's entry caught my eye, not because it was particularly funny (although it was), but more because of where it from—Michigan Tech...

Knowing the people at Tech, and how their brains work logically and with a minimum of fuss, I can actually see someone writing out a sign just like that. Whether or not you could actually follow the instructions?

Well, that's open for debate.

So congrats to our friends up the road for making the calendar at which I laugh my sanity off to on a yearly basis. If you're looking for a challenge (and I know most people up there are), you can always see if you can top yourself and make next year's edition, too.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 11/6

Really?  I had to be right about this?

You may recall yesterday when I wrote that I thought last night's election wouldn't be as close as all the polls showed, and I have to say I was correct about that, although not in the way I thought. I'm still processing everything after not sleeping last night AND having to go shoot "High School Bowl" in a few minutes.

So I'm gonna put up the flower pictures I had originally planned on posting, for a calming few seconds before you delve head-first back into whatever your day holds.  And since mine holds TV in 25 minutes, I hope you'll forgive me.

8-)

And, as Mr Bee says in the picture above, don't forget to breathe.  I think it's really good advice on a day like today.

(jim@wmqt.com) 

Tuesday, 11/5

I wonder if I should do it again. I wonder if I'll even NEED to do it again.

First of all, welcome to Election Day, the day we may (or may not) find out who will be leading this country for the next four years. As I both wrote in here yesterday and talked about on TV last night, it's been a stressful few months, and that stress will continue until there's a definite winner. And if it's anything like the LAST election, that could take a bit.

While we were waiting for a winner to be declared four years ago, I took to posting pretty pictures of flowers in here. As it turned out, several people actually looked forward to the pictures as a way of relieving, if only for a few minutes, the uncertainty of what was going to happen. I had no idea that's the effect it would have, much less that it would help people get through a stressful time, but if it helped, I'm glad I did it.

And that's why I'm wondering if I should do it again.

Now (and this is just me), I don't know if it'll be necessary. I have this feeling—and I could be entirely wrong about this—that the election won't even be close. I have a feeling-and I could be entirely wrong about this—that we'll look back on this election and wonder why we thought it could have been so close. That's just a feeling, and if I'm wrong about that—and I very well could be—then we may not know how things turn out until, perhaps, later this week.

So if that's the case, you may be seeing a lot of pictures like this--

Will I be posting more of them? Well, I guess we'll find out tonight.

Or tomorrow.

Or, if history repeats itself, some day later this week. We'll see...

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 11/4

Tomorrow, we hope, it's over.

I think many of us have been watching this year's ever-evolving Presidential election with a mix of fascination and fear, much like one might watch an innocent little puppy running into the path of an 18-wheel truck. Well, with the election finally tomorrow, and the final results of it known (hopefully) not soon after, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that it has almost run its course.

Almost.

I'm not gonna delve into the politics of the election; after all, we try to stay as non-partisan as possible around here. But I do wanna talk about a trend I've noticed this year, especially on social media, that I don't think is a good trend, and that's the vilification of people who think differently than you. I can't tell you the number of times I've been scrolling down my Facebook feed only to see someone sharing an article that says “so & so DESTROYS Politician One” or “Science proves the followers of Politician Two are stupid”. And those are just the headlines of the articles; once or twice, I accidentally read the comments under the post, and then felt like I had to take a shower.

They were that bad.

Now sure, you can disagree with people on the issues and what they think should be done about those issues. I have friends with whom I disagree politically, but that doesn't mean I think they're morons or should be rounded up and thrown out of the country. That's just...wrong. They're people just like you, people who are concerned about the future of the country and in which direction it's headed. You may disagree with people on something, but that doesn't make them the devil incarnate. It just means they have a different opinion than you. But there's something about politics the past few years, and this election cycle in particular, that has brought out the worst in people. In fact, there have been times this year when I thought things couldn't get any cruder or ruder than they were.

And then I was proven wrong.

I would not want to be whoever gets elected tomorrow night. I would not want to have to take over a country filled with such venom and hatred, a country where half the people think think the other half are morons or the Anti-Christ. Yet whoever does win tomorrow is going to have that job, faced with the task of trying to lead a country where half the population thinks they should be drawn and quartered. I'd like to say I have hope we'll get over this. However, I've lived in this country the past eight years and, however, I've read some of the comments posted online, and I know that's not gonna happen any time soon.

I wish I had an answer for this; I really do. Because then I could run for President under a platform of national reconciliation, and not find my reputation, my life, and the actions of the people supporting me torn apart, ridiculed, and shoved into the smelly Mason Jar of partisan politics.

So remind me not to do that any time soon.

Maybe, once the election's over, we'll have a cooling-off period, and some people will look back on their Facebook feeds in wonder and disgust at some of the stuff they've posted. Maybe, once the campaign ads are done and cable news goes back to talking about something other than politics as a blood sport, people will be able to take a step back and see the bigger picture.

And maybe, while we're at it, I can get that spaceship I ask for every year on my Christmas list. Because I have the feeling there's a better chance of that happening than there is of peace, friendship, and goodwill occurring after tomorrow night.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 11/1

Finally—FINALLY--I'm going to get around to writing about those two TV shows you should check out.

But now I'm gonna make it three.

This all started earlier this week when I wrote about the never-ending stream of political commercials on the air- and streaming-waves, and how it'll be nice to watch something OTHER than those spots back to back to back (to back). I have a couple of international shows I've been watching recently to escape just that, and wanted to recommend them.

So now, I finally am.

The first is an Australian show on Paramount + called “Colin from Accounts”. It's a romantic comedy of sorts, about a couple of who find themselves taking care of a dog one of them runs over with a car after the other flashes him. It's funny, it's weird, and, like all comedies these days, it makes you squirm a little. But for such a show it has a surprisingly romantic heart, which is perhaps due to the fact that a husband and wife team created and writes it.

That's one.

The other show is a German police show available on PBS Passport called “Luna & Sophie”. Loraine and I decided to watch an episode just because it's set in Germany (and in German with subtitles); now, we're almost half way through the series. It's that good. Sure, each episode has a murder to solve, but that usually takes a back seat to the two lead characters, women who are best friends and partners on the force. One's single, one's (unhappily) married, and it's that part of the show that makes it so worthwhile. It's filled with humor and some biting social commentary, two things no one would ever suspect Germans of being good at, but trust me.

They are.

So, those are the two shows I keep meaning to recommend, should you want to avoid political commercials the next few days. But now I'm going to add a third--

The 46^th season premiere of “High School Bowl” is coming up tomorrow night at 8 on WNMU-TV...hint hint.

Speaking of which, I have to go shoot another episode of it now, so I'll take my leave now. Have a great weekend...especially considering it's the last one you'll have to spend avoiding all those political ads!

(jim@wmqt.com)