Monday, 2/23

Who knew that a trip to the grocery store would provide such fodder for conversation?

Like most people, Loraine and I braved the snow (the never-ending snow, which has canceled schools yet again today) over the weekend to head out and grab some groceries. As often happens, while I was strolling the aisles I was stopped by a couple of people. A discussion I had with one of them will be topic of tomorrow's post, but the other is the subject of today's, and it deals with the fact that I don't know the answer to a particular question.

The first person I ran into at the grocery store was, as it turns out, someone I knew as a kid. When I first saw them I had no idea who it was, aside from thinking to myself "look at the old person over there". But when they came up and introduced themselves as someone I'd been in Kindergarten with, I was shocked.

And stunned, and, well, you know...

We exchanged pleasantries, and they mentioned they've been following the work I do for the History Center, even though they no longer live in Marquette and were just visiting for the weekend (joking, of course, that they picked the best weekend they could for such a visit). And through all the work I do for the History Center, this person wondered a). where I get the energy to do it all, and 2). how I've managed to stay so "youthful", both physically and mentally.

And I have to admit that I have no idea.

I mean, genes play a part of it. Even though my parents are both in their 80s they're still active; heck, when my dad's in Marquette he still rides his bike up the Iron Ore Heritage Trail a couple of times a week. That covers the physical part of it. And far as the energy and mental outlook of a young person? Well, after thinking about it for a bit I'd like to chalk it up to a positive attitude. I love the stuff I do, and I'm always looking forward to tackling the next big thing. If what I did was drudgery or boring, I'd probably approach it differently.

But thankfully, it's not.

The question this person asked also made me think, which, as we all know, can be a very dangerous thing. As I've said in here many times, I'm an incredibly lucky person. I get good genes from my parents. I've stumbled into a fascinating career and enjoyable side diversions. And I recognize that without those I too could end up being stared at by someone in a supermarket thinking that I'm nothing more than an old person.

We become who we are by the circumstances in which we live. I'm just fortunate enough to have had a pretty good set of circumstances leading up to an incredible (if occasionally very weird) life. So if I had to give an answer to the question of "why", I guess that would be it.

And if I ever see this person again, that's the answer I'd give to the old Kindergarten classmate I saw a few days ago in the middle of a supermarket.

Tomorrow—the the story of the individual I ran into 30 seconds later.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 2/20

Oh, look. Everything's shut down again because of the weather.

I know I've been whining a lot this week about the “Throwback Winter” we're currently enduring, but the optimistic part of me hopes this may be the last time. There's wet, heavy snow out there yet again, the winds are whipping all the crap that's falling around, most schools are closed, and our epic end-of-the-season “High School Bowl” shoot has been pushed back a few weeks.

So, you know, it's just another day in the never-ending winter of 2026.

What gives me hope that it may be the last time? Well, it's nothing I can tangibly prove. There's no forecast model I've looked at, and no hard data to back it up. But I have a...feeling. There just seems to be something that's saying that this might be the last time.

Like I said, I have nothing to prove it, and it might just be me grasping at straws as I slowly descend into madness, but it just...feels like this might be it. Maybe I'm reading something into the (relatively) warmer temperatures that's not there, and maybe the fact that it stays light later at night has stripped what's left of my sanity, but it just feels like this might be the last big one of the winter.

Of course, I realize that up here we can get a “big one” at any time before Memorial Day, and this year we'll probably get several, but like I said, I'm grasping at straws here. At least let me dream a little, right?

8-)

I'll be curious to see how it turns out. Maybe it'll be in the 60s some day soon, and the snow will melt. Or maybe the snowbanks, like this one outside of my house--

will keep growing at an exponential rate until they become the highest points in the entire state of Michigan.

This year, we're gonna get one extreme or the other. I have a feeling there's no middle point. Just like I have the feeling that we're (hopefully) closer to the end of all this crap than we are the beginning.

Keep your fingers crossed. And stay warm this weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 2/19

It's never gonna end, is it?

After suffering through the snow day yesterday, watching almost a foot of wet, heavy snow dumped on us, comes word that another system is moving through tonight and tomorrow, promising up to another foot of the crap on top of the crap we just received.

What the what, Mother Nature?

I'll be curious to see what happens with it all, as tomorrow we were supposed to shoot the final episodes of “High School Bowl”--the semi-finals, the championship match, and a bunch of material for the “Year in Review” show. However, since we have teams coming in from (literally) all four corners of the UP, I'm guessing we may have a few issues with that.

We'll see.

I did a little math for my “Weird Fact of the Day” yesterday, figuring out that it's been 86 days (and counting) since it was snow-free here in Marquette. That prompted a listener to call and suggest, politely, that maybe I should go to my happy place, and think about summer. Maybe, she said, even post a few pictures of flowers to take my mind off the snow.

We have the greatest listeners in the world, don't we?

So with that in mind...

There. I don't know if the pictures will get rid of the snow (okay, they won't) but for at least a few seconds, as i was going through the hundreds of flower pictures I've taken over the years, I didn't think about all the crap sitting outside.

And these days, we count that as a win, right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com), at 87 days and counting...

Wednesday, 2/18

It's not fair, when you really think about it.

We've had a nice stretch of weather recently, with sun, warm temperatures, melting snow, and a hint that after a throwback type of winter that Spring is on the way.

But apparently that's over--

That's what it looked like just a few minutes ago, on my walk to work this morning. We're under a Winter Storm Warning, with schools closed all across the UP, mostly because all the stuff that was melting the past few days has now frozen over, to be covered by the heavy snow that's blowing around because of the heavy winds.

Oh, joy.

After several mild winters in a row I think a lot of us forgot just how brutal of a slog a “Throwback” winter can be, especially in regards to the way it teases you into thinking it's over, only to cruelly slam it back into your face, laughing while it does so.

Summer doesn't do that to you.

The past several years Loraine and I have been able to get out on a soccer pitch and start kicking the ball around sometime in March, or even, in the case of two years ago, on Valentine's Day. Based on what this winter has been like and what's in the forecast, I know it's not gonna be anything like that this year.

In fact, if we're lucky, we might be able to get out there by, oh, Memorial Day. I mean, I know it won't be that long, but on a day like today?

It sure feels like it.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 2/17

This one walked a bit of a tightrope.

Even though I didn't have to work my radio gig yesterday, I did have one of my TV jobs, and since it was President's Day I had the idea to riff on the topic. I was batting several ideas around, and then (as usual) I woke up in the middle of the night realizing the best way to do it.

The only deal? If I didn't set it up correctly the whole bit would fall flat on its face, and I'd look a fool. Or, at least, more of a fool than I usually do.

Basically, the entire TV piece last night lead up to the gag, to the punchline of the entire segment. If I didn't set it up correctly, or if I didn't leave enough clues, when I revealed the “gag” I ran the risk of people just shaking their heads in disbelief and/or throwing things at their TV sets or computer monitors.

And I probably get that happening enough as it is.

Not only did I need to set the bit up correctly, but the payoff—the gag, the punchline—had to be the best it could. I ran several different options through my head, and it wasn't until I came across the one that I eventually used that the piece lit up and, at least to me, seemed to work. But once it did, it came off even better than I had imagined.

See for yourself--

Sadly, as with most TV pieces it came in way too long, which means I had to cut out a couple of gags.  Thankfully, though, I WAS able to sneak in a possible campaign slogan--“You don't have to BELIEVE in him. You just have to believe IN him”.

Yup; I know I'm not normal. What's your point?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 2/13 (!)

Since I'm not working Monday, President's Day, I figured I'd write about the topic today, if for no other reason than to remind you that you may keep staring out the window and eventually asking yourself, “How come the mail hasn’t shown up yet”?

You know--one of those days!

Instead of spending the day Monday pondering the achievements (or lack thereof) from everyone from Millard Fillmore to Gerald Ford, most people will simply shrug and wonder, if you were to ask them, just who the heck Millard Fillmore and Gerald Ford were. And that’s kind of sad. I mean, I know I’m a history geek, and knew who all the Presidents in this country’s history were at a young age, but I’d like to think that names like James K. Polk, James Buchanan, and Rutherford B. Hayes should at least spark a tiny flame of memory in most people. I mean, I know they don’t, but I’d like to dream that they would.

And as long as I’m dreaming, can we have beach weather this weekend, too?

I know you guys are among the smartest people in the world, so here are two tests for you. First of all, before the current one, who was the only U.S. President to be elected to non-consecutive terms? In other words, he was President, then he wasn’t, then he was elected again? The answer to that comes at the end of this.

Secondly, going backwards from our current President, how many in a row can you name until you stump yourself? Go ahead, give it a try. I’ll wait for you.

(By the way, this is just me, waiting until you stump yourself).

(Stump yourself yet? Good. Keep going).

(Now are you stumped?)

From a statistic I saw, the average person can only go back FIVE Presidents before failing. FIVE. That means that they have no idea who was President before Bill Clinton. I mean, they may know the names of Nixon and Kennedy and at least one of the Roosevelts, but they don’t know where they fall in that order. And that’s kind of a shame. I don’t expect everyone to be able to name all 46 Presidents in reverse order--heck, even I can’t do that--but it is kind of nice to know who falls where and what effect that had on the growth and the history of this country.

And for the record--I can go back 20 Presidents. I always forget who came before William McKinley. I know; dorky, right?

So have yourself a great President’s Day Monday. If you wanna impress the people around you, slip into conversation how interesting you believe it to be that Grover Cleveland was the first President to be elected to non-consecutive terms. And if you REALLY wanna impress the people around you, add to the conversation the fact that during his second non-consecutive term Cleveland asked Peter White to head what would now be the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but that White turned him down because he was too busy being, well, Peter White.

President’s Day. More than just another day you don’t get mail.

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 2/12

I wonder if Bob Seger ever considered this?

When I was out running yesterday morning Bob Seger's “Hollywood Nights” popped up on my iPod. If you're not familiar with the song, it's about a Midwestern boy who heads out to California and falls in love with a girl, a girl who dumps him by the end of the song. The girl, as described by Seger, is one of those stereotypical California girls who, as the lyrics put it, had been born with “a face that would let her get away” with just about anything.

But that's not what sent my brain into overtime. Nope; this is what sent my brain into overtime. The song is 48 years old. The album from which it came, “Stranger in Town”, was released in 1978. So, for a second, assume what took place in the song really happened. Assume that the girl born with “a face that would let her get away” was (for the sake of argument) 22 when the song happened. That would mean that the girl born with “a face that would let her get away”, the girl that broke the protagonist's heart, would now be 70 years old.

The girl born with “a face that would let her get away” would now, in all likelihood, be a grandmother. And the guy whose heart she broke? There would probably be kids calling him “grandpa”.

That's what sent my brain into overdrive.

No, I don't know why I thought of that. I mean, I knew in the back of my head that the song was almost 50 years old. I haven't heard it in a while, which probably led me to listen to the lyrics a little closer than I normally would've. And for some strange reason, stuff just started to add up until I realized that the two characters in the song are now eligible for Social Security and enjoying senior discounts at their favorite restaurant.

Where they probably eat dinner at 3 in the afternoon.

Like I said, this is just something that popped into my head while running. Hopefully, weird stuff like that won't send your brain into overdrive throughout the day

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)