Wednesday, 2/25

I should probably really start reviewing my French again.

It's been nine (!) years since I've actually had to use it, and that was only for a few days while we were in Belgium and Luxembourg for our Black Forest trip back in 2017. But seeing as how we're planning on spending our next trip on the German/French border, with a drive into both France and Luxembourg (to buy chocolate, of course) I should probably brush up on.

At least if my ability to read newspaper articles is any indication.

Those of you who've been reading these forever know I know just enough French to get around and to order things in bakeries (the two most important reasons to know another language), but that's about it. I could probably carry on a conversation with a four year old, but if their parent were to come over I'd just throw my hands up and hope they spoke English better than I spoke French.

Sadly, I'm one of those people who seems to lose their ability with a foreign language if I don't use it. I suppose it's just like any other muscle in your body; if you don't exercise it, it just wastes away. And since there are very few French speakers in Marquette (or, at least, very few that I know), the only chance I get to “exercise” is to read newspaper articles.

And that's where I've noticed my problem.

I follow a bunch of French news outlets on Facebook, and whenever they post a story I try to read the headline and the story in French, just to work on my skills and to see if I can figure out what's going on. But I've found myself more and more recently just hitting the “translate” button the story because I don't understand a reference or I've forgotten a word (or six).

I don't like that.

That means that I now have a little over two months to brush up on the language before we leave. That means that I get to haul out my old laptop, which contains my old version of Rosetta Stone. That means I haul out my “French Isn't Scary” book, a language guide designed for eighth graders but one I've found works perfectly for me. And that means I get to walk around Marquette and, if I see something outside or in a store, I get to call it its name in French, strange looks from people nearby notwithstanding.

So, if you happen to be near me in a store or in a park or on the street and you hear me referring to a black cat as “le chat de noir”, don't worry. I haven't lost my mind (or what's left of my mind). I'm just trying to get ready for a side excursion or two into a country where French is the key to the world's greatest baked goods.

8-).

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 2/24

Oh, look. School's not cancelled for once today. It's a 21^st century miracle.

8-)

Okay; now that the sarcasm's out of the way, I promised you the continuation of a story. As you recall, I ran into someone with whom I was is Kindergarten while grocery shopping Saturday. No more than 30 seconds after that encounter ended, another began, as someone came up to me, and told me how much they enjoy my weekly things on TV-19. As I always do, I thanked them for the kind words and for watching. And then they told me about the one that's stuck with them for a couple of years now.

As always, the segment that is still with them took me by surprise. Especially because I totally forgot about doing it in the first place.

Let me digress for a second. I've written in here before about how ephemeral the “906”s are to me. I write one, I do it, I put it online, and them I'm on to the next. Very rarely do I think back on what I've done; in fact, perhaps the only time I do is to look back and make sure I'm not writing about something I've already talked about in years past (an increasingly common occurrence, by the way).

However, if you're just a viewer of the pieces, your reaction is, I'm guessing, far from mine. Apparently, for some people, my idle babblings stick with them for a bit. And that was the case of the gentleman at the grocery store Saturday, who wanted to let me know just how much he appreciated the bit I did a year or so ago about how people these days, when they leave the UP, can take a part of it along wherever they go thanks to their 906 area code.

Like I said, I had totally forgotten about that one, although once he mentioned it every little bit of it came back to me. It touched him because he's not from the UP, and still has a 231 area code on his phone. However, his daughter, who left for college this past fall, took HER 906 number down to Illinois with her, and when he saw the piece it apparently very close to home.

And I can understand why.

Like I said, after I'm done with the bits I'm done with the bits, if only because I have the next bit to deal with. But it's nice to know that some of them, at least, linger a little longer with the people who watch them.

It's one of the best compliments I could ever get.

(jim@wmqt.com)

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)