Friday, 5/30

Not many people get to say this, but you know what? I think I'm on TV too much.

That thought occurred to me as my History Center pal Emily and I stood in the middle of a parking lot in downtown Marquette yesterday afternoon shooting a teaser video for my upcoming “Wild Wild West” tour (June 18^th, by the way). Em is a wizard with a Steadicam, so we were walking forwards and backwards, twisting our way walking in various directions around the lot to make sure the buildings and landmarks I was babbling about were in the shot.

I mean, that's not natural, right? And to do it in one take? That's REALLY not natural, and that's what makes me think I really AM on TV a little too much.

8-)

If she gets it done I'll share it on Monday and then you can judge for yourself if I need to choose another career field. And if I DO need to choose, I'm thinking maybe flower photographer. Perhaps I could use this one for my portfolio--

Or even this one--

That picture should give you a hint about one of the things I'll be doing this weekend—sniffing the lilacs (assuming the smelly fire haze that was hanging in the air this morning goes away, and it had better). I'll also be writing a TV piece so I can, you know, be on TV again Monday.

Because, apparently, I don't do that enough.

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 5/29

After six months, it's finally gone. I just have no idea who removed it.

One of the things that greeted me upon my return from downstate was something that, frankly, I hadn't expected to see any time soon. Take a look at this picture, and tell me what's missing--

If you said “Why, Jim, the traffic cone is missing from the top of the Range Bank ATM”, well, then, you've been reading these since last November. Some time in the last week or so the traffic cone was removed, and with it, my running gag of the past six months was removed, as well.

A moment of silence would be appreciated.

As I've been joking, I personally wondered if the cone would EVER be removed. After all, the person at the bank who would be most likely to take it down has been off for a couple of months, and Loraine (who works at the bank) didn't hear anything about anyone taking it down. That leads me to believe that one of two things happened--

That either someone at the bank finally noticed, or that a drunk person—probably much like the one who originally put the traffic cone on the ATM in the first place—decided the cone would look nice in their apartment, and decided to take it home.

So if, in the next few weeks, you visit a friend who all of a sudden has a traffic cone at their place? Well, I think we both have an idea from where it came.

Now that the traffic cone's gone, what will I do for a running gag? At the moment, I have no idea. But you know what? I'm not worried. This is, after all, downtown Marquette. I think I can predict with a fair amount of confidence that someone, sometime soon, will do something that they shouldn't, and will thereby provide us with weeks (if not months) of blogging fun.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 5/28

 

I think I may have discovered the biggest difference between Marquette and Reese.

First of all, we're back safe & sound after a long weekend visiting Loraine's dad. As usually happens when we're down there we may have eaten a bit too much and we may have visited the local Aldi store a bit too much (seriously, Aldi, what DO you have against Marquette?) but a good time was had by all.

And that's the important thing.

Because we eat too much while we're down there we do try to keep up our exercise routine, and it's while I was running Saturday morning that I realized what might be the biggest difference between Marquette and Reese. I think I've written about a few of them in here before—one has over 20,000 people, the other less than 2,000. One's very blue, the other quite red. One has a big hospital, while the other has a big grain elevator.

But the biggest difference between the two led to the discovery I made while running Saturday. As I always do while exercising I was listening to music and, as I always do, I was singing along (don't judge). Unlike singing while running in Marquette, I was actually able to sing along without sounding winded because, while Marquette has hills and curves and slopes, Reese is flat. As a pancake. As a sheet of paper. As a two dimensional line.

As my singing.

Okay; that's a different kind of flat, but you get the idea. I've written in here before about how Loraine's used the phrase “The Awesome Flatness of Reese” before, but being able to sing along with whatever I was listening to without being short of breath really brought it home. It's hard work running in Marquette. In Reese, it's a walk (or, more technically, a run) through the park.

And it's yet another in the long string of differences between the two places.

****

To answer two burning questions that I wanted answered, the produce stand is up in Reese, although there was no produce to be had. However, if you needed a blooming plant, they were there--

And speaking of blooming plants, here's what I came home to yesterday--

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be busy for the next few days...

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 5/22

I get to drive downstate tomorrow. You can send the sympathy cards to me here at the station.

8-)

Loraine and I are going down to visit her dad for the holiday weekend. It's actually our first trip downstate since Loraine's mom died last year, and it'll be nice to see everyone again. Technically, we've seen Loraine's dad, one of her brothers, and two of her nephews since then, as they all like visiting Marquette, but it'll be nice to see them on their home soil, and to visit the one other thing in Reese worth visiting--

The parking lot produce stand.

As you may recall, Reese sits in the middle of a bunch of (very) flat farm fields. And whenever we're down there I always walk a few blocks (being, perhaps, the only person in Reese who actually walks anywhere) and pick up (literally) farm fresh fruits and produce to munch upon. However, this is the first time since the produce stand went up that we're down there in May, well before most crops are ready, so I'll be curious to see what the selection is like.

If there's much of a selection at all, that is.

Other than that, I'll just be visiting and writing, the two things that seem to rule my life these days. I have my "Happy Hour" tour to work on, a TV piece for NEXT Monday (already), and perhaps noodling on those new "Pieces of the Past" I mentioned earlier this week. On the way back Tuesday I'll also write a new one of these, and if I get a chance I'll post it that afternoon. If not, you'll see it fresh on Wednesday morning, complete with pictures.

Maybe even one showing just stocked (or unstocked) the produce stand was.

So have yourself a great extended weekend and, if at all possible, tell the lilacs to wait until Tuesday before fully coming out. After all, I want to enjoy opening day just as much as everyone else!

8-)

Here's how they looked on my way home last night, if you're curious...

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 5/21

Because I'm diving in a pile of work in order to get ready to head downstate on Friday, we'll pull out our all-purpose favorite word these days--repurpose--and share an article I wrote that appears in today's Mining Journal. Since I'm not too sure how many people actually read the newspaper (or any newspaper) these days, it also allows the tale to perhaps get out to a few more people. And it IS a tale that more people should know about.

(jim@wmqt.com)

******

A Family's Loss

Jim Koski

Marquette Regional History Center

As we head into the Memorial Day weekend, and with thoughts of the 80^th anniversary fresh in our minds, we should remember those families that lost multiple members during World War II. Therew were in Marquette County lost two sons, among them the Lukkarinens of Negaunee, the Kameckis of Marquette, and the Youngs of Marquette, who lost two sons and a son in law.

But only one family lost a son and a daughter to the war.

The McKinney family of Big Bay actually sent three of their children off to serve during World War II. Edward was serving with the Army Corps of Engineers in the South Pacific. William was a member of the 9^th Infantry Division in Europe, while Alice “Pauline” McKinney was a WAC, a member of the Women's Army Corps, tasked with doing everything from office work to washing vehicles in the motor pool.

Bill, who grew up a big Detroit Tigers fan, spent most of 1943 stateside, going through basic training, working his way through the ranks and, like many drafted soldiers of the era, sending letters home to his parents talking about being shuttled between camps, complaining about the food they were served, and remarking about all of the “different kinds of people” he was meeting as he was hopscotching the US.

Bill ended up a sergeant in the 47^th Infantry Regiment, heading to Europe just after the Allied invasion of Normandy and joining an outfit that had been fighting overseas since Africa. In late September of 1944 Bill's regiment became one of the first Allied units to enter the German homeland, capturing the city of Roetgen. A few days later the unit was attempting to take the small logging town of Schevenhutte when McKinney was hit by enemy fire. He died a day later from the wounds he received.

Upon hearing the news, his sister Pauline wrote home, telling her mother “Dear Mom, I received your letter Sunday. Bill’s death sure was a shock to me. I didn’t expect it at all. I never once thought that could happen to us. The war seems closer than ever now. . My dear, Ed and I will soon be home. Don’t worry, we will both come home safe and sound.”

The two surviving McKinney siblings made it through the rest of the war relatively unscathed. Pauline found herself serving in several different European countries, and when the Germans surrendered in May of 1945 she was stationed at Accra, in what is now the country of Ghana, on Africa's Gold Coast. By all accounts, she enjoying her assignment overseas, and looked forward to more service.

However, her life wasn't all Army all the time. She enjoyed the African beaches, and found herself meeting fellow American service members. In fact, in one letter home she told her mother that “I met a very nice sailor from South Carolina. He was 6 feet, one-half inch. Brown curly hair, brown eyes. Danced like a dream and seemed to be a gentleman. Now that is the kind of man I could fall for. If there wasn’t a war going on and everything changing”.

Two days after she mailed that letter Pauline McKinney boarded a C-47 transport plane headed for London and a new assignment. The plane in which she was riding crashed into the Atlantic shortly after taking off, killing all aboard. The aircraft was never found, and the 18 WACs on the plane were the only members of the Women's Army Corps to be lost while overseas.

Bill McKinney is buried in the Henri Chapelle American Military Cemetery in Belgium. Pauline is listed on the tablet of missing in the Carthage Military Cemetery in Tunisia. Brother & sister are both also remembered on the family headstone in the Big Bay Cemetery.

Tuesday, 5/20

It took a while, but I finally cracked it.

I just have no idea how.

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent part of the weekend writing not one but two TV bits (one for last night and one for Memorial Day). I spent a fair amount of time on the one for last night, if only because I knew what I wanted to write about—people from downstate—but I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to say. I've spent a chunk of the past two and a half years making fun of Trolls, and as I was writing several different versions of the bit I realized I had already cracked the same jokes before. And since I really don't like repeating the same bits over & over I started to think that maybe I should come up with a different topic.

Then my brain did that thing I really don't understand, and five minutes later the piece was complete and, at least in my opinion, kinda good.

For whatever reason.

I've written in here before that I really don't understand how inspiration works, and maybe, in the grand scheme of things, we're not supposed to know how it works. We're just supposed to let it wash over us and, when done, be thankful it was there. I mean, I know that's how I feel about last night's piece. It wasn't working and then, out of the blue, it was. I'm not gonna complain nor am I ungrateful it happened.

It just did.

So here's what inspiration threw into my brain without notice over the weekend. All I can say is that I'm thankful it actually happened. Otherwise, I might have had to do something OTHER than make fun of people downstate.

And where's the fun in that?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 5/19

The TV spots are done, thanks for asking. But they were only the tip of the iceberg.

Now that our "summer" is over and Autumn has returned (well, at least the cool temperatures, clouds, and rain one usually associates with Autumn) I took advantage of it this weekend. If I couldn't play outside, I could work inside, and that's what I did, getting together a TV spot for both tonight and next Monday (Memorial Day, when I'll be visiting Loraine's dad downstate). Not only that, but I also finished up all the writing for my first History Center tour of the summer, made a little headway into the second tour, and devoted more than just a fleeting thought to the next series of "Pieces of the Past", which I'm bound and determined to get produced before the year is out.

If you can't play outside, that's what you do inside.

I actually kinda surprised myself with how much I was able to get done, especially Saturday when I sat down to type out a few lines and had Loraine pop her head into our living room almost three hours later to ask "What are you working on now". But that's just how things go these days. I'm not in any way complaining. I am curious, though, as to how it happens.

Although maybe I shouldn't because if I look too closely at it it might disappear, right?

8-)

I was especially happy with the TV piece for tonight. I wrote several different versions of it until, all of a sudden, something I hadn't thought of occurred to me, and that changed the entire tone of it. I'll share that tomorrow and talk about the process of putting it together. And it was also nice to get "Wild Wild West" (my June tour) out of the way. When I thought of doing a tour about the 300 to 500 blocks of West Washington Street in Marquette I had no idea what I would talk about or how it would turn out. But there are some nifty stories that are coming out of my research...stuff I had no idea ever happened in Marquette.

So I hope whoever comes on the tour next month enjoys it.

That's how I spent my weekend. Hope yours was as equally productive!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 5/16

I'll be curious to see who wins the race.

Loraine and I are heading downstate to visit her dad over the Memorial Day weekend. Because of the timing of our trip, I'm kind of curious what will happen first—will we get home in time, or will the lilacs bloom while we're gone?

I'm hoping it's the former, because I really don't want it to be the latter.

For a point of reference, here's what the lilac buds looked like on my way home from work last night--

Given their current state and given their history of popping out right around the Memorial Day holiday I'm hoping I don't miss the most wonderful time of the year. I'm thinking that, because of the fact we've had a cold Spring and that the holiday's a little earlier than usual, I might be safe, but one never does want to take chances when dealing with fresh lilacs, do they?

Or is that just me? Please tell me that's not just me.

8-)

Don't worry; I'll be obsessively checking their status over the weekend, as well as writing at least two TV pieces (because going downstate means I need to work ahead). So I have the next few days mapped out. Hope yours is equally as fun!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 5/15

I'm a bad human being.

It was Stevie Wonder's 75^th birthday Tuesday, and do you think I acknowledged it here? Nope; I totally didn't. I mean, in my defense, there's been a lot of other topical material to cover this week, but to skip any mention at all of the 75^th birthday of one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time?

I must really suck to do that.

I'll make up for it now. On his actual birthday I spent quite a bit of time going through an article on Stereogum that ranked each and every one of his albums from worst to best. Don't worry; I'm not going to do anything like that. Instead?

My five favorite Stevie Wonder songs ever (your choices may vary)--

5.  “Love Light in Flight”. It's funny, but the Stereogum article which I read thought the soundtrack to “The Woman in Red” was his worst ever, and I can't say I disagree (even though it sold a TON of copies thanks to “I Just Called To say I Love You”). However, “Love Light” was a highlight, featuring a groove that just won't quit. It's not necessarily about anything, but if you're like me (and, hopefully, you're not) the groove will stick in your head forever.

No matter now bad the rest of the album is.

4.  “Uptight”. This was one of his first “adult” songs as he transitioned from “Little Stevie Wonder” to just plain 'ol Stevie Wonder, and it showcased everything you'd expect from him as he approached the early to mid 1970s and a streak of five classic albums—funk, horns, and a chorus that reaches for the sky.

3.  “I Wish”. That streak of five classic albums I mentioned (most of which won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year) wrapped up with “Songs in the Key of Life”, which featured two number one songs, “Sir Duke” and this funk masterpiece, which, if nothing else, has served as the backbone of more than a few of the hip hop classics of the past three decades.

2.  “Higher Ground”. Aside from funk, Stevie Wonder has a social conscience, and this is one of the songs that shows it. The 70s, much like today, were filled with political and social upheaval, and this tune reflects it perfectly.

Now, he just needs to write something equally as good and as relevant for today.

1.  “Superstition”. I often joke on the air that it's one of the two greatest songs in recorded music history, and I dare anyone to prove me wrong. The fact that the beat came from Jeff Beck, of all people, makes it interesting, but the whole song is the total package.

It's the essence of Stevie Wonder wrapped up in 4 minutes

That's it. Like I said, your choices may vary. And trust me—when trying to pick out your five favorite Stevie Wonder songs ever, you have a LOT of choices

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 5/14

Yes, it IS a formula, but at least it's a formula that seems to work.

As a writer (among other things) I'm always wary of falling into a formula, of doing the same thing the same way over and over (and for that I blame Mike Love, who once told Brian Wilson to "stick with the formula" when it came to Beach Boys songs). So because of that I do pay attention to what I'm doing and how i appraoch it, lest I become someone who just does the same thing over and over.

I would never want to do that.

But over the past two and a half years I have noticed that, when writing my TV pieces, many of them fall into a "formula".  I mention a subject, I crack a few jokes, I get serious about the subject, and then I wrap it up with another gag. I guess, without even realizing it, I've created a "formula".

Let's call it the "Life in the 906" formula.

Obviously, not every TV piece I write falls into the formula, just as every one of these doesn't (at least I hope) fall into the trap. But there are enough TV pieces that do so, enough that I've begun to notice when I'm writing that I'm writing to the "formula". And I'd complain a lot more than I am now because I've noticed one thing--

The "Life in the 906" formula, at least in this situation, seems to work.

I have a collection of the "906s" of which I'm really proud kept in a folder on my laptop. And as I was adding Monday's piece to it this week I noticed that probably half of the ones I had saved, including this past week's, fell into "the formula". I'm not 100% sure why I write to the "formula" without even noticing it, other than I only have two minutes to get my point across, I usually try to include some humor in it, and I want to make a point. That's hard to do in a two minute piece, although "the formula" does seem to make it work.

I guess I stumbled onto something without even realizing it.

So while I've always tried to NOT be Mike Love and to try and vary from "the formula", maybe in some instances it's not a bad thing. I guess it means not every "906" will be like "Good Vibrations", but if everything I were to do would be comparable to, say , "I Get Around", I guess I couldn't complain too much about that.

See for yourself. Here's this week's piece in the classic "Life in the 906" formula, with a subject, jokes, making a point, and one final joke.

(jim@wmqt.com) on occasion, apparently, the follower of a formula.

Tuesday, 5/13

Even the fly in the studio enjoyed yesterday.

You may recall that I had mentioned yesterday that it was supposed to be warm, and it was—temps that topped out at 89 here in downtown Marquette. I went running during the heat of the day, the first time I've been able to do that in eight longs months, and it was glorious.

And trust me—I was not the ONLY one doing so.

The heat seems to have promoted the rapid (and ongoing) beginning of the greening of everything in just a day or so--

And it also brought back to life the dormant flies everywhere that have been snoozing through the past few months. You may have run into a few of them wherever you are. I know I certainly did, as there was one flying so persistently around the air studio yesterday that I almost asked it if it wanted to co-host with me.

THAT'S how pesky that fly was.

I'm not complaining; after all, I live for summer, and flies are one of many parts (an unwanted part, but one nonetheless) that make up the whole package. If it's gonna be 89 outside I can tolerate the fly.

And besides—if I want to take a few hours off to go running in the heat again, I know I have someone-or something—who's ready to step in and take over my air gig, right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 5/12

I think Spring has finally sprung here in Marquette.

First of all, hope you had a great weekend. We had a weird one, at least weather-wise, when it was 70 Friday, 40 Saturday, 70 again on Sunday, and now with a forecast of 80 here today. But then, that's what you get when you live next to the world's largest natural air conditioner, a topic that, purely coincidentally, I'll be talking about tonight on TV.

But that's neither here nor there..

Friday I celebrated "Ceremonial First Day of Wearing Shorts to Work Day" (which, by the way, IS a real thing, at least to me) by heading down to Lower Harbor Park to see how Spring-like things were there. And despite the wickedly late winter we had this year, I'm happy to say that, slowly but surely, we're getting there--

The grass is finally starting to turn green, buds are starting to call the trees home, and residents of all kinds were out taking advantage of the gradual turn towards warmer weather.

Something, of course, you'd expect everything to do on "Ceremonial First Day of Wearing Shorts to Work Day".

Lest you think this is just me, it's not. Last Thursday when I was taking pictures of the lilac buds for Friday's entry a woman came up to me and said, and I'm quoting here, "Isn't Spring just the greatest time of the year?" She's not wrong, which is why it's funny that it's probably the shortest of the seasons here in the UP. I mean, think of it--it was below freezing last week, and snowing just three weeks ago, yet today it's supposed to be 80. It's like we went from full winter to full summer in under a month. And the funny thing is...that's not uncommon around here. Summers are short but spectacular, falls drag on, and winter occupies half of the calendar. Yet Spring?

Well, I guess that's what we call this past weekend.

I have no idea if summer's here to stay, if winter makes a return (Mother Nature DOES, sadly, enjoy giving us May snow when she can), or if we get more than a weekend of Spring. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out. All I know is, that for now, people are taking advantage of the fact that Spring has sprung.

No matter how short of a season it turns out to be.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 5/9

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then today's entry will be rather long.

First of all, even though all I did was read something Loraine wrote, I'm thinking that last night's History Center cemetery tour went off pretty well--

That was just one of four groups that wandered around Park Cemetery to learn the stories of a dozen or so men & women who contributed to the Allies' efforts in World War II, the 80^th anniversary of VE Day being yesterday. It was both weird and nice to just stand there talking about my birthday buddy Oliver and having someone else do the work, knowing full well that I'm the middle of putting together a couple of tours for this summer myself.

I'm just glad this one went off so well.

The second picture?

And, to quote a great American, that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Have yourself a great weekend. If you can, wish your mom a happy Mother's Day, and enjoy the nice weather we're supposed to have (at least up here)!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 5/8

Why yes, I AM insane. Thanks for asking.

Before sitting down to type this I wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything that I need to take care of in the next few days. I have something coming up tonight (which I'll mention in a second) and just wanted to get a little organized because, believe it or not, I DO try to be organized.

Not that you could tell by the piles of notes and random thoughts scattered everywhere around my kitchen, but I try.

Anyway, by the end of this upcoming weekend I have to...

-Finish a newspaper article that runs right before Memorial Day

-Start a newspaper article that runs a week after that.

-Write my TV piece for this week

-Write a TV piece for Memorial Day that I'll tape on Monday, because we're going to visit Loraine's dad over the holiday, and...

-Wrap up writing on my “Wild Wild West” tour for next month so I can start writing & researching my “Harpy Hour” tour for July.

I think I'm gonna go sit in a corner and cry for a few seconds. After, of course, I finish writing THIS.

Sigh.

I mean, I like writing. I really do. It comes naturally to me and, I'm hoping, I don't suck at it. But when I look at that list of projects with a deadline coming up, knowing very well that I have a bunch more stuff to write after these are done, makes me wonder if I'll have a shred of sanity left whenever I'm finally finished..

Assuming, of course, I actually had any sanity to begin with.

So I suppose I should get cracking, but not before I tell you about that thing coming up tonight. The History Center is holding their annual cemetery tour at Park Cemetery, this one marking the 80^th anniversary of VE today (which is, indeed, today) by talking about WWII vets buried there. Since they know of Loraine's work on those who died in the war, we've been asked to present on three of them, which means Loraine will be talking about Leo Robinson and the co-author of her first book, Elwood Norr, while I get to chat about by birthday buddy, Alvar Liimatainen. If you're curious, it gets underway at 6.

And, believe it or not, I didn't have to write a thing for this one. It's a miracle, I tell ya.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 5/7

I LOVED yesterday.

What made me love yesterday? All it took was a 15-minute span around 1pm, when I went outside and took a walk around downtown Marquette, a downtown Marquette filled with sun and a temperature approaching 70 degrees.

It‘s been a long time since I was able to do that, to just go out and enjoy the sun and the “heat”. Actually, it was the first time since October when the temperatures hit 70 here. Now, I realize that compared to, say, July, this was nothing, but after those six long months (not to mention very low seasonal sun angles since that fateful October day) it was nice to get out and “feel” the first taste of the summer to come.

And I know I wasn’t the only one enjoying it, The people I passed on the street all had an extra spring in their steps, and I noticed things I haven’t seen in months, like the young lady with neon orange hair sitting on the steps of old City Hall, the young couple walking down the street, hand-in-hand and oblivious to everything but love, and the guy running up Front Street hill without a shirt, but wearing a hat & gloves.

Spring fever affects different people in different ways, I guess.

I thought about grabbing some food and eating lunch down at Lower Harbor Park, but sadly worked called (it seems to get in the way of a lot of things I want to do these days, you know? 8-)). Besides, there will be other days to do that, days when the temperature’s even warmer and the sun is even brighter.

Sadly, those won't include the next few, when temps will be 20 degrees colder and the sky will be filled with clouds, and not sun. But those “other days” are not far away, and after what was our late winter this year, it’s something to which we can ALL look forward.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 5/6

I've never tried it, but I really didn't think it would be THAT hard.

I had an idea a few months ago for a TV bit. Last week, when I had to decide what to do last night, I came across the scrap of paper where I had written down that idea, and figured that since I didn't have anything else pop into my head, that I'd do it for this week.

That's when I learned that the concept of a Yooper crossword puzzle is a lot simpler than actually putting together a Yooper crossword puzzle.

It started off simply enough, as I had to come up with a few gag clues for the puzzle (the whole concept being a comedy piece, after all). It was after I came up with the clues that I discovered that the actual construction of the puzzle is a bear. I tried to fit all the words together on my own, and while I could do that, I had no way to make the actual puzzle (a vital visual in a bit about crossword puzzles, sadly).

I then found a website that would put together a crossword for you. However, it wouldn't put the words exactly where I wanted them to go. Instead, it put the answers in a way that would work for an actual crossword puzzle. And since several of the clues (and gags) I wrote up required certain words to be placed in certain positions, with certain letters matching up in certain places, it took a lot—maybe two dozen tries--for me to get everything to line up correctly.

Then I had to put the puzzle together, answer by answer, into video clips so they could go along with what I was saying on the air. I'm guessing—and this is just a guess, because I think I may have blocked some of the more frustrating moments from my memory—that for a two minute bit I spent 10 hours of my time this week.

I'm guessing that's not the most efficient use of my time, is it? Well, decide for yourself. It was either ten hours well spent, or a complete waste of enough time for several naps. I'm guessing there's really no in between on this one.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 5/5

I can't believe I missed it!

First of all, hope you had a good weekend. Even though the weather wasn't perfect up here I got a lot done, everything from playing soccer with Loraine to putting together a bizarre TV piece (more on that tomorrow) to pretty much finishing up work on one of my History Center tours for this summer.

So if you look at it that way it actually was a GREAT weekend.

One of the things I didn't want to do, and therefore didn't do at all, was to check my work e-mail. So when I started going through it this morning I noticed I had missed a press release sent out late Friday night, and because I missed that press release I didn't have a chance to celebrate a holiday Saturday.

Yup. I missed World Naked Gardening Day.

I know; it's a tragedy of the highest order, isn't it? If only I'd checked my e-mail while I was off for my weekend. I could have skipped all the political releases, the event releases, and the press releases that I (for some reason) receive from a PR firm in Milan, Italy (all in Italian, natch). But if only I had sifted through all the garbage I would've been aware of what I could have done on Saturday.

Instead, I missed it. Now I'll have to wait another year to romp around my garden without any clothing on. But on the bright side, that now gives me a year (minus a few days) to actually get a garden.

The press release itself was a ranking of the 100 top metro areas in the US and how those places ranked on everything from gardening to the weather on May 3rd to public ordinances on people walking around their gardens without any clothes on. If you're curious (and I know you are) Miami is best place in the country to garden naked, while of the 100 biggest places in the US Lincoln, Nebraska ranks last. It's kind of ironic, considering they grown nothing but corn in Nebraska.

I guess they just do it with their clothes on.

So learn from my mistake. If you have a calendar upon which you write dates for the future, remember to mark down Saturday, May 2^nd, 2026 when we can actually to remember to celebrate this momentous holiday.

After all, we don't want to miss another World Naked Gardening Day, do we?

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 5/2

It's funny that they got the hard one right and the easy one wrong.

Let me explain. I had to call yesterday and make my yearly doctor appointment, the one where my doctor looks at things, tells me I'm medically boring, and we then spend the rest of the appointment talking about subjects like bikes or “Lost in Space”. My doctor works in Negaunee for UP Health Systems, which means that when you set up an appointment you have to call a number and get put through to a call center someone not in the UP.

One way you can tell that it's a call center not in the UP was the way in which the woman on the other end of the call pronounced something. Believe it or not, she said “Negaunee” right; she must have had some training on that. But when she answered the phone she said, and I'm quoting here, “Up Health System Negaunee”.

That's right . She didn't say “U-P”. She said “Up”.  As in the opposite of down.

I'm pretty sure that's a clue that the call center is somewhere in the US OTHER than the UP.

Now, the fact that the call center isn't in the UP doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother some people around here. And I give whoever's doing the training of the operators credit for teach them how to properly say “Negaunee”. But to also leave out the fact that “U-P” is an abbreviation, and not a word?

Well, that's almost like teaching someone how to make an omelet but forgetting to teach them how to crack open an egg. One just doesn't work without the other.

But that's neither here nor there. My doctor's appointment is scheduled, and that's the important thing, even if I, apparently, am headed off to “Up Health Negaunee”.

I just hope I'll be able to find that particular office when the time comes.

8-)

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 5/1

It's the first of May, so if you celebrate, happy May Day. It's also nice to see that something's pretty much right on schedule--

I've always kinda sorta thought of May as the gateway to summer, which it really is here in the UP. We start to get warmer temperatures (and, in all honesty, a chance of snow, as well) and all manner of spring flowers start popping out.

Including, of course, the best smelling things on the planet, the subject of an almost insane annual frenzy of sniffing each and every year, lilacs.

If you've been reading these for any amount of time you know I'm, uhm, a bit obsessive about lilacs, posting multiple picture of the buds as they're growing and then out, and stopping every time I see a bush that's bloomed, sticking my nose into the tree and inhaling with as much gusto as my lungs provide. I have no idea why; over the years, that's just how it turned out.

So, as we head through May (and, perhaps, even into June) don't me surprised if you may notice reference or 20 to the trees I pass, the buds that pop out, and the smell that they provide. I'm sorry; apparently, I just can't help myself. So in advance, just let me say...

Hi, I'm Jim, and I'm a lilac-holic.

(jim@wmqt.com)