Tuesday, 5/26

I guess it was a weekend for taking pictures of flowers.

The increasingly warmer temps we had this weekend accelerated the blooming of flowers around Marquette. They had been popping up everywhere before Friday, but after above conditions the past few days it seems like the whole city is blooming. And since I was out quite a bit with my visiting father-in-law, and wasn't gonna let weather like that go wasted, you get to see what my camera saw!

I saw red-ish tulips-

And yellow daffodils--

I saw these purple thingees, whatever they are--

And these magenta thingees, whatever THEY are--

I know. I take a ton of pictures of flowers, yet most of the time I have no idea what I'm photographing. I really should learn what grows around here so I don't have to keep making excuses. I guess I'll just have to add that to the list.

One thing I photographed that I DID know the name of, though, was all the stuff that was in this picture, non-flower division--

I was just just walking around and was struck by the geometry of the shot. I guess it just goes to show that, no matter how many times you've traversed the streets, there's always something new to see in Marquette!

Finally, I'm sure you're all curious as to whether the lilacs came out this weekend. Your answer? This picture was taken at 9:45 am this morning...

There's your answer.  They're close.  They're really close!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 5/22

There's a difference between the two. There's a HUGE difference between the two.

I'm finally starting to get caught up on all of my stuff at work and, if I'm being honest, I'm once again working ahead just a little, as a three-day weekend and a long-awaited visit from Loraine's dad will be occupying my time the next few days. All of this has come with some effort on my part, and more than once the past few days I've uttered a phrase that I usually do when plowing through things, a phrase that if nothing else allows me to vent a little, if only to myself.

That phrase? “I need a vacation”.

Normally, co-workers & friends will laugh if they hear me utter that phrase, although uttering it the past few days got me a few disbelieving looks and a phrase uttered back at me--”you were just on vacation”.

No, I was not on “vacation”. I was on a “trip”.

There IS a difference between the two. Vacations are when you sit on a beach or go on a hike; things that rejuvenate your body and your mind. A trip is when you spend hours in an airplane, then drive on foreign roads, and spend your time navigating through a land where your first language is only the second or third language of the area.

There's a huge difference between the two.

Don't get me wrong—I LOVE our trips. I'd do one every month, if I could. But they're not “vacations”, nor do I expect them to be. My “vacations” are those warm summer days we (usually) get around here when I skip out of work and go play in the sun. They're two different things. And I haven't had a “vacation” recently. I had a great trip, but I really could use a vacation some time soon.

Hopefully Mother Nature provides it. And hopefully she realizes there's a difference between a “trip” and a "vacation”.

Because that difference is quite a big one.

Have a great holiday weekend. I'm off of radio for three days, although I do have my TV gig Monday night. See you then!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 5/21

I'm not going to weigh myself this weekend.

One of the first things I usually do on a Saturday morning, right before I go on my long, meandering run, is to weigh myself. I do so at the same time every week; that way, I get a pretty good idea if I’ve been a bad boy the previous week, a good boy the previous week, or, as is usually the case, an average boy the previous week.

But I won’t weigh myself this Saturday, and I believe you could guess the reason why—German chocolate, lots of bottles of German Dr. Pepper (the kind with sugar, and the kind that tastes like Dr. Pepper used to taste when I was a kid), and several very yummy German (or Italian, or Indian) dinners.

Germans do several things quite well. Raising your cholesterol level is one of them.

After our first two trips to Europe both Loraine and I weighed ourselves the weekend after we returned, and after being shocked out of our minds, vowed ever since to wait a few weeks before measuring our weight again. Sure, a week or two really wouldn’t seem to make that much of a difference, but you’d be surprised at how much 10 days of healthy eating and exercising can lessen the shock of stepping on the scale the first time after returning. It may be cheating a little, but it’s cheating in a good way.

Kind of like some schools do in college football.

If I had to guess, I’ve venture to say I gained two pounds while I was over there this year. I don’t base that guess on anything scientific, other than the fact that I “feel” two pounds heavier. As far as I know, I could step on the scale Saturday and find out I haven’t gained anything at all, or I could step on the scale tomorrow, and find that I shot up five pounds. The possibility of it going up five pounds is the reason why I haven't yet weighed myself since returning, but if I had to guess, I’d guess two pounds.

We’ll see if I was anywhere in the neighborhood when I step on the scale a week from this Saturday. If I’m back to what passes for normal, we’ll know my guess was fairly accurate. If I step on the scale next Saturday and see I’m still three or four pounds over what I was before we left, we’ll know that my guess was wrong, that I saved my system a shock by waiting a week to weigh myself, and that I probably shouldn’t eat too many dinners at restaurants or drink too much Dr. Pepper in Germany any time soon.

I'll just have to make sure I don't go back there in the next couple of months.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 5/20

I finally had a chance to get the pictures, no thanks to my Chromebook.

If you were reading along with our trip blogs, you may remember how on the Friday we got to Saarbrucken I had shot a lot of pictures with my big Nikon camera, but because the Chromebook I was using seemed to have a problem with an SD card as big as the one I had in my camera, I couldn't get the pictures off it it. I bought a smaller SD card the next day and had no problem the rest of the trip.

I just couldn't transfer (and use) the pictures I shot that particular day.

Last night I finally had a few seconds to stick the card in my laptop, where I was able to transfer them with no problem (what that says about Chromebooks? Well, that's a topic for another day). I was glad I was finally able to take a look at them, because I seemed to recall that they were pretty good.

And, for once, I was almost correct.

What kind of shots was I not able to share on our trip blogs? Well, several of them were taken on the Willi Graf Ufer, a riverside trail--

It was a nice night in Saarbrucken, and everyone seemed to be on that trail, just enjoying the evening--

In fact, looking down on the trail from the pedestrian bridge over it, it almost appeared as if you were in a painting--

Other shots I couldn't post? This one--

This one--

And a picture that really doesn't make much sense without context, this one--

So...here's the context. This was a guy who just walked into the middle of Saarbrucken's St Johannes Market Square, pulled out a boom box, played Simply Red's “Holding Back the Years”, and began an interpretive dance to it.

Because, you know, why not, right?

Anyway, I'm glad I finally had the chance to see the pictures (and about 70 others that I took at 1 FC Saarbrucken's practice that afternoon for Loraine). Now, I just have to lecture my Chromebook on the importance of actually working when I need it.

Because computers always listen when you do that, right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com) 

Tuesday, 5/19

I thought it would be easier this way. I, apparently, was wrong.

I'm starting to get back into the swing of things after our little visit to Germany. I thought it might be a little different this time around, as we came back last Friday and, for the first time, had a whole weekend to ease back into the real world. And while the weekend was fine for getting our body clocks readjusted, it really didn't help as far and anything else went.

I mean, it's probably my own fault, but still. We had a whole weekend!

8-)

I used to the weekend to do laundry, unpack, write my TV piece from last night, go through pictures, go through chocolate, and just try to get ready to get back to “normal”. Of course, when I went to work yesterday we had technical issues that took a while to fix, I never did get into the swing of things on the air, and I'll get to deal with the fallout from that this morning, aside from heading over to NMU to set up the schedule for next year's “High School Bowl”.

Although now that I think about it, aside from the technical issues I probably have no one to blame but myself for the insanity, right?

Hopefully things start to slowly work out today. Hopefully I can get things back on track. Hopefully, I can even work a little bit ahead because, wouldn't you know, we have a three day weekend coming up.

Hopefully, I'm not being too optimistic. We'll see, I guess.

*****

Speaking of the TV spot I write this past weekend and did last night, it talks about something cool I think we should do around here. Check it out if you dare--

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 5/18

 Hey...I'm back!

I don't have a lot of time to write anything right now, as I'm trying to get caught up with, you know, everything, including two of my jobs (radio & TV-19) today, and my other TV job (High School Bowl) early tomorrow, plus a three day weekend looming.

So I'm not taking the easy way out, but I'm, uhm, going to take the easy way out.  Here's what i saw on my way to work this morning--

And that's all I'm gonna say about that.  Well, at least for today.  I promise nothing at all the next three or four weeks.

8-)

I'm off to try & get caught up.  A full one of these tomorrow!

(jim@wmqt.com)

While Jim's in Germany...

All you need to do is head to jimkoski.org (or simply click or tap HERE) and you can read along with whatever fun and/or mishaps come his way!