Friday, 5/29

Maybe that’s why I’m always so calm.

While trying to find yesterday's “Weird Fact of the Day” (25% of women have cried after a bad haircut, if you're curious) I came across another interesting statistic. A new survey shows that people who compulsively check their phones for texts or messages or notifications suffer anxiety or depression at a rate up to 60% higher than people who don’t.

Let that sink in. Sixty percent higher.

I actually know a couple of people like that; people who will look at their phone every two minutes and then seem disappointed when there’s nothing new to attract their attention. These are the same people who will send me a text or an e-mail and then wonder why I don’t get right back to them, even if the text or e-mail was trivial in nature. Well, that’s probably because I don’t check my phone every two minutes. In fact, I can actually go (gasp) hours without even giving it a second thought.

Oh, the horror!!

Call me weird (it certainly wouldn’t be the first time) but I don’t see why I should be checking my phone every two minutes. After all, that’s like being at work or being on call 24 hours a day. I wouldn’t want to constantly be on call without a phone; why should I do it with a phone? There are times when you just need to separate yourself from whatever or whomever. You need to allow your brain to detach and de-tangle, and that doesn’t happen when you’re checking your phone every two minutes.

I can’t say I was surprised when I saw that statistic; we seem to live in a world where there’s too much information and not enough time to process it. And before you go thinking I’m a technological Luddite or something, be aware of the fact that I use technology just as much or more than the average person. I just don’t feel this...compulsion to use it every single second I’m awake. I’m fine with leaving my phone at home when I go to the beach or to leave it in another room when I’m spending time with loved ones. After all, what’s more important in the scheme of things, especially for your mental health--a walk on the beach, or a text message you really don’t need at that moment?

Now can you see why that survey was probably quite accurate?

So the next time you see someone in a restaurant or a store or even (heaven forbid) in a movie theater checking their phone every few minutes, make sure you don’t say “boo” around them. After all, they’re probably anxious enough as it is.

*****

Speaking of ways to remain calm, I'm trying to stay that way while awaiting the arrival of these--

Hopefully, this weekend. If they finally DO pop out, you know how I'll be spending a lot of my time the next few days, right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 5/28

I could actually live with a schedule like that.

We've had weird & wacky weather recently—80 Tuesday (when I spent some time in my auxiliary office), 65 yesterday, and in a forecast only the 50s today. It's much like the holiday weekend, when we had a cold day Saturday, a normal day Sunday, and a very hot day Monday. I know it's just a coincidence, but it seems like there might there is a pattern developing—one really hot day, one really cold day, and one normal day. The more I think about that, the more I come to a conclusion--

That might not be a bad way to spend a summer.

I mean, think about it. If we could guarantee that pattern—one hot day, one cold day, and one normal day—throughout the summer, that would kill several birds with one stone. If you're someone who craves heat, like me, you'd know which days you could take off from work and enjoy it. If you're someone who gets overwhelmed by the heat, you'd know that the next day you could cool things down. And then for everyone else there would be a normal summer day.

It's almost like it would be a win-win-win.

Now, obviously, I realize that would never happen. I realize the pattern we're in is just an anomaly. I also realize that if our weather ended up repeating the same pattern over and over that 1). we've really screwed our climate up, or b). someone's developed a weather control machine and just forgot to tell the rest of us.

Either way, that wouldn't be good.

We'll have to see how things go. I mean, the forecast shows it's not going to repeat, but these days, who knows? Maybe Mother Nature likes falling into a routine. After what we've been through the past seven months, weather-wise, nothing at all would surprise me.

Nothing at all.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 5/27

Yesterday, I was able to use my auxiliary office for the first time in a long time--

Those of you who have been reading these forever may recall that on nice summer days, if I have a lot of writing to do, I may skip out of the station with an old notebook computer, head down to Lower Harbor Park, and just write in the sun. Well, for the first time in, like, forever, yesterday it was nice enough to do so, so I unilaterally decided to move the seat of power for the station a block and a half away from where it normally sits.

It was nice.

After the winter (and now lack of Spring) that we've had, it's nice to be able to do little things like that. I mean, think of what we've had to deal with the last six or seven months. Do you think anyone would deny us the chance to enjoy a little sun and a little warmth?

Well, these days, you never know, but it's not anything I would deny anyone. So off to my auxiliary office I went.

Hopefully, I'll be able to enjoy it quite a bit the next few months. However, like most of you, I DID live through the winter and lack of Spring we just had, so I'm not taking anything for granted. I mean, I'm an optimist by nature, so I'm hopeful.

But, like I said, I also lived through the last seven months up here, so I know what's actually within the realm of possibility,.

I wasn't the only one down at the park. During my hour or so in my auxiliary office I saw other people taping on screens, several individuals enjoying their lunch, and an entire 7th grade class making as much noise as a class of 7th graders can make.

But you know what? I'm cool with that. Because, like me, they've had to live through the past seven months, and even seventh graders deserve their time in the sun. Hopefully they, like the rest of us, will get the chance to do this again and again and again.

After all, what's the use of having an auxiliary office if you can't use it on occasion, right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

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)