Europe

Click here to read Jim's blogs each day he & Loraine are in Europe!

Tuesday. 8/29

It's a good thing I don't believe in curses.

It's a good thing I don['t believe in curses because if I believed in curses, I would look at the weather we have had in Marquette all summer—cold & rainy—and then look at the weather Europe has had--sunny & warm, like today, where temperatures are in the 80s & 90s. I would then look at the forecast for Europe for the first few days of our trip there, and notice that the forecast calls not for the weather Europe has had (you know, like today, with temperatures in the 80s & 90s) but instead calls for the weather that we have had all summer—cold & rainy.

If I believed in curses, I'd believe that no matter where we go we bring this accursed weather with us. It's a good thing I don't believe in curses, huh? But in advance, I do apologize to the people of Europe just in case it's cold & rainy for the week and a half we're there.

You see, we're cursed. Even if I don't believe in them.

*****

Other than that, as far as I can figure out everything is taken care of and everything is ready to go. Loraine’s gone through her checklist twice, and everything that’s on the list—a list honed over a decade of these travels—is either packed & ready to go, or it sitting on top of a suitcase, waiting to get used one more time before it itself is then packed and ready to go. Our passports are out, our Euros are counted, and there’s just one thing left to do—

Leave.

And, of course, there's the important part—you get to go with us! Well, not literally go with us; I don't think more than 2 or 3 of you might fit in my suitcase. Nope; as always, you get to follow along with our blogs. It's amazing; we've had a TON of people ask if I'll be writing again every day as I usually do, and the answer is, of course, yes. I had no idea so many people traveled with us virtually, but it sure is satisfying that so many people want to know what we're up to.

So here's the deal--there will not be anything posted tomorrow; part of the day will be spent on airplanes, while the other will be spent traipsing through downtown Chicago. We’ll get to Dusseldorf (via London) around 1 or so local time on Thursday afternoon, and then take off from there. So, unless things go horribly awry, the first blog should be up mid-Thursday afternoon Marquette time, either through a link that’ll be posted on this page or through our Blogspot site. If we’re Facebook friends, I may also be posting a few things as we’re waiting in Chicago and London. If we’re not friends yet (and I hope it wasn’t something I said), click here and make it so.

Well, that’s it. There doesn’t seem much left to do except get through this day, grab a few hours sleep, and then stay awake for 36 hours until we finally make it to our first destination, which is Bastogne. It should be quite the adventure, so wish us luck, and make sure you keep checking in!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 8/28

And with two days to go before we leave for Europe, I have to wonder--have I retained enough French to make our trip go smoothly?

I guess we’ll see beginning Thursday.

I’m not fluent in French, nor have I ever been. I’ve just picked up enough, through travels and self-teaching, to get us where we need to go. I don’t have any natural aptitude for language, so every time we leave Europe I seem to forget whatever French I’ve picked up, hence my need to learn it all over again right before we go. And since they speak French in three of the four countries we'll be visiting this week and next...

Sigh. And yeah, I know, it’s not a very efficient way to do things, but when you’re dealing with a brain like mine what do you expect?

If I had to grade myself on whether or not I have enough French crammed into my head, I’d actually have to give myself four different grades, for reading, speaking, listening, and writing the language. I’m actually not too bad at reading it; if I had to grade myself on that, I’d give me a B-. And reading French is the most important thing I need for our trip; after all, I need to understand directions, road signs, and which chocolatey baked goods are which. Reading French, for me, at least, is fairly easy. Even if you don’t know all the words you can make a pretty good guess as to what the sentence or phrase means.

So I guess I have that going for me.

Unfortunately, that’s by far the best of the grades I’d give myself. I can speak enough to either make myself vaguely understood or to make whoever’s listening to me take pity and switch to their English, so let’s give me a C- on that. Listening to a native French speaker speaking French and trying to understand it? D- on that. And writing French? Well, I haven’t even made at attempt at that, aside from whatever’s stuck in my brain learning to read French, so I’ll have to give myself an F+ on that (assuming, of course, F+ is an actual grade).

So let’s average the four grades together--B-, C-, D-, and F+. That’d be, uhm, let me convert the letters to numbers, divide them, and convert them back to letters, and we, uhm, hold on a sec. . .we end up with a D+.

I’m screwed, aren’t I?

Of course, every time we’ve gone to a French speaking country I’ve gone over there with pretty much a D+ average, and we’ve survived. Sure, we’ve had to occasionally rely upon the kindness of (English speaking) strangers, but we seem to have come through with no bruises. And there have been a couple of times when I amazed even myself and pulled French out of my head that I didn’t even know was there, like last year when I almost had an actual multi-sentence conversation with a kind woman in a gift shop. So with any luck that’ll happen again this year when we're in the Belgium-Luxembourg-France portion of our trip.

Just keep your fingers crossed for me, if you would!

Two days to go!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 8/25

Wow. I was almost close to being actually funny once!

With just a few days to go before we leave for Europe I've been spending a lot of time putting together the things that need to air while I'm gone. And because the program director in me refuses to allow my afternoon personality to be off the air for a week and a half, we usually air “best of”s that I've recorded and saved throughout the years. The past few trips they've been phone calls with listeners; after all, that's mostly what we do around here. But this year, I've dig really deep to see what I could find.

And I found some comedy bits.

The bits are what are know in the biz as “blackout bits”; just little 20 or 30 second items to run going into or out of a commercial break. And what with humor being a VERY subjective thing, I'm sure that there are many people out there who would take exception with my referring to them as “comedy” bits. But I've found nine or ten “comedy” bits that I put together somewhere between 10 and 15 years ago, back when I was doing “comedy” bits, and you know what?

I, at least, don't think they're half bad!

I was in my phase of doing “comedy” bits while I was also in my phase of listening to a lot of old-time radio. A lot of the radio I was listening to at the time were the master comedians, people like Jack Benny and Fred Allen and Jim Jordan in his character of Fibber McGee. The one thing all of these master comedians had was impeccable timing. They knew how to tell a joke, and they REALLY knew how to sell a joke. And while I've always thought my sense of comedic timing was a little better than the average person, it was nowhere near that of Benny or Allen or Jordan. So while I was listening to all of these classic comedians, I was also trying to see if I could preach what they were practicing.

Hence, the “comedy” bits.

Most (but not all) of them revolved around the fictional “Yooper TV Network”, and some of the, well, Yooper-centric shows the network might air. The shows might be Yooper reality shows, or Yooper dramas, but it was a way to make fun of what was going on in pop culture at the time while still making it relatable to people who live up here.

At least, that's what I tried.

As with everything in life, I kind of got away from doing the “comedy” bits as the years went by. I don't know if they were too much work or if I just had a limited amount of ideas and used them up, but from what I can tell the last one was put together in 2007. So it was interesting to dig them out and listen to them again, a reflection of where my mind was almost a decade ago. For some, I remembered them like they were yesterday. For others, I'd totally forgotten about them. And one of them, in particular, actually made me laugh when I listened to it again.

Wanna hear it?  Just CLICK HERE.

As I've written in here many times before, humor is a very subjective thing. All I know is that it made me laugh when I listened to it. Your results may vary.

So for the week and a half I'm gone (actually, just seven days on the air, thanks to Labor Day). You may be hearing things like that on the air. And even if you don't make you laugh, think of it this way—it'll at least be a window into my brain, at least they way it was a decade ago.

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 8/24

For once in my life, maybe I need to be MORE optimistic about something.

As those of you who read this on a regular basis know, I'm an optimist. I always see the bright side of things, and am eternally hopeful about things. That's why I was kind of surprised when I went running yesterday morning. I went on my Wednesday run; yes, I run different routes on different days. And as I was running through Shiras Park, two thoughts hit me, the first being that because I'm going to Europe next Wednesday I won't be doing this particular route for another three weeks; September 13^th, to be specific.

The other thought? That the next time I do my Wednesday run through Shiras Park the leaves that are now bright green probably won't be so bright or so green.

I don't know why that thought popped into my head. Like I said, I don't usually dwell on the negative side of things. But there was just something so filled with finality in that stupid thought that my mind went where it usually doesn't go. It went to the dark side. And it was weird.

The funny thing about it is that it really is an accurate statement. I won't be in that park for another three weeks, and by then leaves will have started to change. They won't be dead or off the trees or anything, but unless something really strange occurs they will have begun their final journey. And maybe that's what blew my mind—we have gotten to the point of the summer we never really had where we know it's about to end. We can look at a calendar or glance at tree leaves and know that there are only a handful of days left before a drastic change comes over our lives.

Go ahead. Just call me Mr. Happy Sunshine, or something.

I'm pretty sure these weird feeling stem from this—the crappy summer we've been through (and that I've been whining about incessantly in here) has not in any way recharged my batteries. Maybe I haven't gotten enough sun the past few months; maybe I just haven't been able to reach the minimum amount of fun in the summer sun that's required to then face an Upper Michigan winter (with an adjoining fall & spring that often mimic winter). But the thought that the leaves will be changing next time I run through one of my favorite parks just blew my mind.

And maybe that's why, for once, I wasn't able to look on the bright side of things. Let's just hope it doesn't happen again.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com), aka Mr Happy Sunshine

Wednesday, 8/23

I realize I'm probably the only one who cares, but a piece of Marquette history is now gone.

If you've driven past Graveraet in the past few days, you'll notice that they're putting in a drop off lane in front of the school--

That's a good thing. It'll be safer for the kids, safer for drivers, and safer for everyone. So that's cool. But you'll notice that they had to tear out part of the sidewalk to do it; specifically, they tore out one of three remaining unique chunks of sidewalk in Marquette. You know how you come across all kinds of pieces of sidewalk that say “Do not spit on the sidewalk”? Well, the one they tore out in front of Graveraet said this--

That's right; there are (were) a couple of chunks of sidewalk around the city that had an extra verse to a uniquely Marquette piece of poetry. The one pictured above is on South Fourth Street, and there's another in South Marquette,  that say “”Do Not Spit on the Sidewalk. Spit on the Side”. For those of you who don't know the story behind this, when the cement sidewalks were first installed in Marquette in the early 1900s gentlemen would spit their chewing tobacco out, usually on the sidewalk, after which women would walk by in their long dresses of the era and have hems of said dresses pick up all the tobacco juice just spit out by the men.

So when you see “Do Not Spit on the Sidewalk” stamped in cement, that's why. And those rare ones that also added “Spit on the Side” added extra guidance for the gentlemen of the era. Now you know.

It's funny; when I saw that they were doing work in front of Graveraet I actually contacted the Marquette City Engineering Department to see if they could save the piece of sidewalk. But since the city wasn't doing the work, they told me I needed to get in touch with the company doing it for the school. Unfortunately, I didn't get to it in time, and now that rare piece of Marquette history is gone.

Excuse me a moment while I shed a tear or two .

(That's okay; you can look at this line of type, and spare yourself the embarrassment of being around me as I'm crying over a piece of sidewalk).

Like I said, there are still a few of the original long-form pieces left in Marquette, although the way the city is ever-changing they may not be there for long. Maybe that can be a project when I get back from Europe—visit the remaining pieces, make sure they're still there, and also check and see if there's any construction scheduled to be near them. Who knows—in the end, maybe one of them can still be preserved for posterity.

(jim@wmqt.com), who really DOES need to get a hobby, you know? 8-)

Tuesday, 8/22

I wasn't sure what to expect. So I guess there's no way I could be disappointed, right?

Eclipse Day has come and gone, and we actually were able to enjoy it here in Marquette. Except for a few high hazy clouds floating here and there, we were able to see the 72% coverage we had here in Marquette. And thankfully, everyone practiced safe viewing--

The hazy clouds actually helped a little with the photography of the eclipse. I was able to capture the eclipse thanks to the sun poking through the clouds and the reflection of the image off the darkened screen of a tablet--

That's right. I used a camera to shoot a reflection off of a tablet. But it worked, so whatever helps, right?

I wasn't quite sure what things would look like at 2:15, when we had the maximum coverage of the sun by the moon. Even so, I was still a little surprised when things really didn't seem that different. It wasn't as bright as it usually is, but it wasn't that much more different. As I mentioned on the air, it was kind of like a December afternoon, when the sun's weak. It's still there. It just isn't as bright as it is on a normal August afternoon.

If there was any surprise about yesterday, that was it.

Thankfully, around here we were able to enjoy it. I know there were chunks of the Midwest that couldn't, so for that we should be grateful. After all, it's not every day you get to live through a solar eclipse, right?

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 8/21

Welcome to Eclipse Day!

As I write this I have no idea if we're even going to be able to see the partial eclipse that'll happen in the skies above us this afternoon. I'm hopeful, but whenever I've been hopeful about the weather this year I've been disappointed.  As I type this there are some foggy-type clouds on the horizon, but otherwise (at least as of 8:41 am) it's looking good.  So like I said, I'm hopeful.  I'm doing this for two reasons, the first being that, as you all know, I'm a space geek and I get geeked out by things like this. Aside from a cloud-obscured partial eclipse back when I was in college I haven't been able to see a solar eclipse in person. Lunar eclipses, yes; a lot of them, in fact.

But solar eclipses? Not so many.

The other reason I keep checking? The eclipse is occurring when I'm in the air today, and I figured it would be interesting to actually broadcast from outside when it's happening. Since it would be kind of self-defeating to attempt the broadcast if it's cloudy, it'd be nice if we could see it. Hence, the obsessive checking of the forecast and the cloud deck.

I wanna know from where I'll be working for a bit today.

By the time some of you read this the eclipse will be over and you'll have a pretty good idea of what I did today. But for those of you reading this in real-time, keep your fingers crossed. I;d rather see it live than watch it on TV!

***

By the way, if you're curious, the “21 Pictures” show outside of the History Center Friday night went well. Around 100 people showed up, which isn't too bad considering it was only around 60 degrees and the clouds were just finally breaking up at showtime. It sounds like everyone had a good time, and were as “wow”-ed as much by some of the pictures as was I when I first saw them. So thanks to everyone who trooped out, and to those who are wondering--

Yes. It IS weird not having to work on anything for the History Center today!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 8/18

After tonight I'm free.

I've been writing in here about my busy summer doing things for the Marquette Regional History Center. I haven't been complaining—I love doing tours & programs for them—but tonight wraps up a two month span of a bike tour, a walking tour, a newsletter article, and a program, all of which had to be researched, put together, rehearsed, and finally presented. And since I didn't want to spend my entire summer putting them together, I started working on them right after Christmas.

Which means that I've been working on these things, on and off, for almost eight months now. But after tonight, I can breathe easy.

“21 Pictures” has probably been the hardest of the four to put together, for a couple of reasons. One is that it's a 10 pm show, which means that the humor and the, uhm, adult elements to it have to be amped up a little. And since there was no overwhelming “theme” to it (unlike my “Docks of Iron Bay” tour which was about, obviously, the docks of Iron Bay), it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do with it, aside from showing a bunch of really cool pictures.

And I hope I've worked it out. I guess we'll see tonight.;

You're welcome to show up outside the History Center tonight at 10, If any rain lingers (and it'd better not) we'll do it inside; otherwise, bring your lawn chairs and your favorite beverages and I'll show 70-some pictures on the wall of the building, and tell stories about (but not limited to) where people went to make out in the 1920s, a bar turned strip club where you could still hold baby showers, and the single strangest class ever offered by the Marquette Public Schools. If you can, and if you're interested, hope to see you there!

Enjoy your weekend, too. I know I'll enjoy mine, because for the first time in a long time, I will be free.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 8/17

I told you I'd go out and take some pictures of flowers. And I kept my word!

You may remember that I took a half day Tuesday, a half day where the forecast promised a lot of sun. But since this is the summer of 2017 in Marquette I instead ended up with a half day full of fog and cold winds off the lake, which means I couldn't head down to the beach and zen out.

I could, however, grab a camera and go out & photograph things. As I mentioned a while ago, I haven't done that much this year, and since we're going to Europe in a bit and one of my jobs there is to act as Loraine's staff photographer, I figured I'd get a little practice in.

And even though it was gloomy out, I did my best to capture a little color, including pink--

And purple--

And even more purple--

Plus red--

And yellow--

And since the day was kind of gray anyway, I decided to join in the party.

I know I've been falling down on the job this summer as far as taking pictures goes, and as these prove the yucky weather isn't a very good excuse. So here's my promise—I'll try to do more before we leave, maybe even this weekend, assuming the forecast actually holds for once. After all, practice does make perfect, right?

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 8/16

Two weeks from today! Two weeks from today!!

That's right; two weeks from today Loraine and I leave on our latest jaunt, and as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I wrote a preview blog for our trip site. Since I don't want any of you to be left out, here it is, in its entirely, with pictures and everything.

Two weeks from today! Two weeks from today!!!

(jim@wmqt.com), wishing his partner in travel a happy Date-i-versary, too!

*****

We're hoping that the second time's the charm.

Welcome to this year's “Jim & Loraine” ™ adventure, a getaway which our resident trip planner has dubbed “Euro Wing Ding 2017”. If much of the itinerary seems familiar, that's because it is. It's basically a re-do of our cool & rainy 2014 trip, which we for good reason now call “The World's Smallest Hotel Room Tour”, mixed with a little of the 2015 “Jim & Loraine's Luggage Didn't Arrive” trip with our parents. That's right—we're tempting fate and hoping things actually go right this time.

Any good feelings you'd like to send our way would be greatly appreciated.

We're flying into someplace new this year, Dusseldorf, Germany. From there we hop in a rental car and spend a few nights in Bastogne, Belgium, where we hope to do a couple of things—spend a day with our friend Carl, and visit the outlet stores of two of our favorite chocolate brands in the whole wide world, Jacques and Galler.

After all, to build a collection like this you have to start early--

From Bastogne, we'll spend the next several days following pretty much the same route as we did in 2014, with what we hope are two big differences, one under our control and one not. Last time we did this trip we thought we might stay in Ibis Budget hotels and see if we saved any money. Well, we did actually save a few cents, but seeing as how most of our rooms were little bigger than some people's closets--

This time around we decided to get real, adult-sized hotel rooms. That's the one change that's under our control. The other change? Well, in 2014 we got caught under a stationary weather system for the first week of our trip, which meant a lot of clouds, cool temperatures, and a couple of days of rain. While we know there's nothing we can do about the weather, we're keeping our fingers crossed. It's been the warmest summer in history in Europe, and we're hoping it stays like that. Of course, it was also like that in 2014, and look what happened. So just let me say this--if turns cloudy and cold when we get there...

Well, the people of Europe will know who to blame.

Like 2014, we're spending nights in Nancy and Colmar, France, at the latter of which we'll (hopefully) get to spend a little time with our friends Oliver and Marie-Rose. Before those cities, though, we'll be spending a night at a hotel overlooking vineyards and the Moselle River in the Luxembourg town of Remich. The view should be something like this--

Hopefully with lots of sun, though.

After France, we'll spend the rest of the trip in Germany, first for a few nights in the university town of Freiburg, with it's glorious sandstone cathedral--

And the nearby Black Forest. After that, we finish with a night in Heidelberg--

Where our parents were able to spend a day in 2015 sightseeing while Loraine and I spent the day buying clothes and toiletries because ours had been left behind in Philadelphia. From there we head back to Dusseldorf, and after that we play connect-the-dots on our way to London and Chicago and Marquette.

Another thing that we're hoping is different from 2014 is the road construction. We ran into all kinds of it the last time we tried this route, and it caused us to have to drop several things we wanted to do (including, sadly, visiting a chocolate shop). This time around we're hoping not to see many signs like this--

And instead have smooth and open roads in front of us. We have help this time, too, as we're traveling with a European GPS system for the first time. Seeing as how we'll be in some major cities this tour, and it'll be my first time driving on German roads, we figured it was probably the prudent thing to do. Thanks to a birthday gift from my parents, we get to be prudent.

So we have that going for us.

We're leaving August 30^th; you have until then to get your virtual passport up to date and ready to go. I'll be posting things here each day of the trip, and if you've read them before you know that it's not necessarily the kind of stuff you see on normal trip blogs. But that's okay. If you've read these long enough, you know we're not normal travelers.

So until then...

(jim@wmqt.com)

(ps—if you're wondering where Loraine came up with the name “Euro Wing Ding 2017”, it's her tip of the hat to Tony DiNozzo, Sr, on "NCIS”, who once described a trip of his just like that. We're hoping some of Robert Wagner's charm rubs off on us!)

Tuesday, 8/15

Here's the deal—remember how I was thinking of taking yesterday off? Well, obviously, I didn't.

I AM, however, taking a half day, so I can walk the beach, run the streets, and do something I haven't done even once yet this summer—take pictures of flowers.

So with that in mind, I'm gonna leave you with something I wrote a couple of summers ago. Back tomorrow with, I'm guessing, pictures of flowers to share!

(jim@wmqt.com)

(as originally posted 8/8/15)

Sometimes I wonder how we make it through a dinner together.

Loraine and I make it a point to have dinner together every night we can. It's a chance for us to catch up, and a chance for us to have some of the, well, strangest dinner table conversations around. Unlike me, Loraine grew up exposed to classic country music. She's a Top 40/rock girl through and through, but she does know a little about old country music. She told me about a song from the early 70s with one of those stereotypical early 70s song names, and, of course, me being me, I got it all wrong, so much so that I was walking around our apartment convinced that the name of the song was this--

“You Ain't Women Enough To Be My Man”.

Now, you'd think that I'd be intelligent enough to realize that my version of the song title doesn't make a lot of sense; at least, it wouldn't have mad a lot of sense when the song came out in the early 70s. But no...I just wandered throughout the house repeating the title over and over, driving my dear wife insane to the point that she had to pull a reference book out to show me that the title of the song is NOT “You Ain't Women Enough To Be My Man” but is instead what she told me it was originally--

“You Ain't Women Enough To Steal My Man”

Well, that's pretty much the same, isn't it?

I have no idea why I heard it as “You Ain't Women Enough To Be My Man”; of course, I have no idea why I hear half the things I hear and think half the things I think. And in my (pitiful) defense, I don't know much (if anything) about country music from the early 70s. The song title probably COULD'VE been “You Ain't Women Enough To Be My Man”. It's almost as good as something along the lines of “You Don't Have a License (To Drive Me Up The Wall)”. But, as often happens, I was mistaken. I was highly mistaken. Fortunately, I have Loraine around to set me straight.

Even if I do think that “You Ain't Women Enough To Be My Man” would be a pretty good country music song title.

8-)

So with apologies to Loretta Lynn and to my dear wife, here's the song in its original form and with its correct title, if you're curious--

Hopefully, one of these days I'll actually get something like this right!

Monday, 8/14

Sundays, what do you have against us this year?

Here's a warning right off the bat. I'm gonna whine about the weather again today. If you don't wanna read it, I don't blame you. I wouldn't either. Come back tomorrow and I won't say a thing about Mother Nature and her vendetta against us.

Promise.

Okay, if you're still here, I'm gonna vent the same vent I vented a few Mondays ago. If you recall, I had taken Mandy's advice and I was keeping track of weather on Sundays this summer. She said I could only whine if I had the evidence to back it up.  Well, after yesterday's rain storm, a storm that was not in the forecast, I've updated the scientifically proven list I posted a few weeks ago--

Sunday, June 4th—61 & foggy

Sunday, June 11th—79 & sunny early, then rain in the afternoon (like yesterday)

Sunday, June 18th—cloudy & 61

Sunday, June 25th—cloudy, rainy, high of 60

Sunday, July 2nd—cloudy, misty, high of 69

Sunday, July 9th—cloudy & drizzle, high of 60.

Sunday, July 16th—sunny but only 60 degrees.

Sunday, July 23rd—cloudy & cold & rainy, high of 58

Sunday, July 30^th—Sunny & 85. No rain. An anomaly this year, and a great day.

Sunday, August 6th—Mostly cloudy, cold north wind, high of 65.

Yesterday—sunny & warm early, then rain in the afternoon.

There's the proof. Out of 11 Sunday this “summer”, only one has been warm and dry. One. Out of 11 Sundays. What gives, Mother Nature?

I know enough about science to know that it's just a coincidence. I know that there is nothing in nature that works on a seven-day cycle; a seven-day week, after all, is just a human construct. And if we were living in a society where Sunday wasn't a day off, I'd be sparing you these whines. But just the fact that we have 13 summer Sundays, and that 10 out of the first 11 have been cold or wet or both, makes me wonder, even if I know better, if there is some kind of weird Karmic payback for something we did. If that's the case, let me make this plea to Mother Nature.

Dear Mother (and I hope I may call you that):

This is Jim, your friend from Marquette. I know that we as humans have not been treating you very kindly these past few years, and that you're doing your best to try to mitigate the damage being done by some of us. However, I hope you'll find it in your heart to remember that not ALL humans are trying to destroy you. In fact, some of us are doing our best to help you heal and recover. So if you're purposely trying to get back at us by making our few precious Sundays as bad as you can, may I respectfully ask that you pull back a little, at least here in Marquette? Up here, we don't get a lot of summer Sundays, and we'd like to enjoy the few we get. I hope you know that most people in Marquette are on your side. We bike, we recycle, and we try to take care of you as best we can. I understand why you're taking your frustrations out on humans, but remember—some of us like you, and try to take care of you. It'd be cool if you could at least acknowledge that, and let us enjoy our Sundays before they become cold & wet (& even snowy) for months on end.

Besides, if you want to take your weather frustrations out on someone who deserves it, I'd be happy to supply you with GPS coordinates for Washington, DC.

Thanks for listening, Mother. I hope you'll consider my heart-felt plea when it comes to the two final Sundays of our summer.

Thanks in advance, and I sincerely hope we can work together constructively in the future.

Your pal,

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 8/11

I wonder how many names I'll butcher tomorrow?

That's a thought that always pops into my head anytime Finish-Line Announcer Jim makes an appearance, as he will tomorrow at the Ore-to-Shore. I mean, there are people coming across the line all the time, usually in groups of three or four. Their names pop up on a computer screen and then are replaced by names from new people coming across the line. So that only gives me a second or two look at the name, decide how I'm gonna pronounce it, and then spit it out.

So to whomever gets their name mispronounced tomorrow, I apologize in advance. I really do!

Actually, after almost 20 years of finish line announcing at both the Noque and the O2S, I feel fairly confident that I'll get many more names correct than I'll screw up. Practice, after all, does help, and I've had p[plenty of practice over the years. But I think I've also had good training in the matter in another way. After all, I used to host a telethon on TV, a telethon where I'd have to read pledges from people throughout the U.P. And if you can correctly read names from throughout the U.P., I'm guessing you can read names from anywhere in the world.

So wish me luck!

If you have the chance, you should make sure you get to one of the mass starts for the race tomorrow in Negaunee. They're like nothing you've ever seen; each has over 1,000 riders getting their race underway at the sound of a gun and a trumpet. It takes over five minutes for all of them to go by, and it's just an amazing sight. The Soft Race race (with, ahem, a dork announcing the start) begins at 9 at Lakeview School, while the Hard Rock gets underway at 945 in downtown Negaunee.

Trust me—you won't be disappointed!

And with that, I have to head to work to put together a couple of CDs of music to play during the festivities. Have yourself a great weekend, and like I said, if you have the chance, check out part of the race!

(jim@wmqt.com), who still has no idea what he's doing on Monday, if you're curious. I suppose I should figure it out soon, right?   

Thursday, 8/9

Monday I might do something wild & crazy. Monday I might do something way out of the ordinary. Monday I might do something I hardly ever do.

Monday, I may take the day off.

I can't remember the last time I had a full, non-holiday day off. Sure, I've been taking half days here and there throughout what's passed as our “summer” this year, but I haven't had a whole day off since, maybe, when we went to France last year.

It's been that long.

I've been thinking about this all summer, and while I'm still considering it at this point, there are several reasons for the possibility. One, I have to work Saturday for Ore-To-Shore. I've been working a lot of weekends this summer, and would like to have more than 24 hours in a row off. Two, I'd like to take a day off when it's still nice out, and seeing as how the Monday after this Jen has off and one of us has to be here to work, and the Monday after THAT is right before we leave for Europe, if I'm gonna do it I have to do it this Monday. And finally, I have a crap-load of things I've wanted to do this summer that I haven't gotten to, everything from just wandering around taking pictures to cleaning off headstones at Park Cemetery to getting my International Driving Permit at AAA to writing out a pre-getaway blog for our trip site.

I have no idea what I'll do if I take Monday off. If it's “nice” out (with “nice”, of course, being a comparative term) maybe I'll do what I usually do on a half day, adding in a few of those things I mentioned above. If it's not nice out? Maybe I'll read a book. Maybe I'll take a nap. Maybe I'll put the finishing touches on “21 Pictures”, which I really need to do. Maybe I'll surprise Loraine with a nice dinner or some of her favorite brownies. It doesn't matter.

It'll just be nice having the day off.

I haven't totally decided yet, but I need to figure this out soon. After all, when I take a day off it means that I have to work ahead to get everything done for that extra day. And seeing as how I'm already trying to work ahead to be able to go to Europe in a few weeks, maybe the timing isn't the best. But I'd like to think that I could squeeze out an extra day while it's still (comparatively) nice out. I dunno. It was a thought on my part, but the more I type this the more I start to wonder. Would it be worth it? Would a half day be better?

I say this in jest, but it's not easy being me sometimes. Really, it isn't. Oh well...I'll let you know what I figure out tomorrow!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 8/9

If you know what to look for, it's astounding what you'll find.

I'm still getting comments from people about the “Docks of Iron Bay” tour that I gave last month. One of the things that seemed to make an impression upon the people who attended was the concept of playing “urban archaeologist”, of finding clues to the past hidden in plain sight. One of the best examples I gave during the tour was that of the Jackson Dock, a dock that still plays a huge part in downtown Marquette.

What, you say? You've never heard of the Jackson Dock and the railway leading up to it? Well, you see it every day, if you know where to look.

The Jackson Dock was one of the first in Marquette, built in the mid 1850s and used up until it was burned in the Great Fire of 1868. It was rebuilt and used again, and the pilings for it found new life yet again when, in the 1920s, all the land from the dock to the shore was filled in to built the Spear Coal Yard, which was then used until the 1970s, after which it was cleaned up and became Lower Harbor Park. In fact, when you walk or bike on this path in the park--

You're walking on the remains of the old Jackson Dock. Yup; that part of the park sits on the remains of that old dock. And, of course, whenever you had a dock you had to have a rail line leading up to it, and the Jackson Dock had just that. Have you ever wondered why the Savings Bank Building is so oddly shaped, and has a gap between it and the next building?

Well, if you stand at that gap, and you look at what you can see from it--

You'll notice the gap lines up exactly with the outer bike path at Lower Harbor Park. Or, as you may also call it, the old Jackson Dock. That's because the rail cars heading out to the dock had to pass right by the Savings Bank Building. That's why it's so oddly shaped, and that's why there's a gap between it and the building next door.

One other lasting legacy of the Jackson Dock? Well, you know this alley behind Donckers?

Ever wonder why it's called the Jackson Cut Alley? Could it be because for many years it wasn't an alley, but was actually the rail line that led to the Jackson Dock (via the hole next to the Savings Bank Building)? Well, wonder no more, because that's how the alley got its name. It's amazing; even though there hasn't been a “Jackson Dock” for over a century in downtown Marquette, it has a legacy that may be bigger than anything other than the Great Fire of 1868.

And you can see it all around, at least if you know where to look.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 8/8

Sure...now that I need them, do you think I can find them?

Nope.

Those of you who read this on a daily basis may recall a blog I wrote a couple of months ago about how British one pound coins are changing, and how the two that I have in my possession need to get used during our upcoming layover in London. If you don't use them by November, they're no longer any good, except, maybe, as little trinkets you throw in a fish tank.

It's ether use them or lose them.

I wrote the blog about the two coins, even including a scanned picture of them.  But as I'm starting to get things together for the journey, what's the one thing I can't find? Yup; the two one pound coins, the one thing I really can't save for a future trip because the only thing they'll be good for after November is fish tank trinkets.

Sigh.

I have no idea what I did with the coins after I wrote the blog. I thought I had given them to Loraine for safekeeping; that would've been the smart thing to do. But she says she doesn't have them, and a quick search of both my travel stuff and the places in my office where I might have left them (ie the bed of my scanner) have proved futile.

They've disappeared. Maybe they really DO wanna reside in a fish tank.

I'm sure I still have the coins somewhere. I'm sure they're shoved in a drawer of stuff or buried deep inside the pockets of a pair of pants I haven't worn since April. So I'm confident I still have the two coins. That's not the point, though. What's the good of having the coins if I can't find them and then use them before the November deadline? Sure, the two coins are worth less than three bucks, so if I don't find them it won't be the end of the world.

It's just the principle of the thing.

So keep your fingers crossed that sometime in the next three weeks I stumble across them, and am able to pick up a can of European Dr. Pepper or something at Heathrow. Otherwise, if I ever do find them the coins will only be good as trinkets in a fish tank. And I don't have any fish.

Sometimes, I amaze even myself. And usually it's not in a good way.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 8/7

Going there and coming back are two entirely different things.

In a little over three weeks Loraine and I will leave for our little week and a half getaway in Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany. We're looking forward to it, and it should be a grand time all around. In fact, I'm in the middle of putting together a preview of the journey for our trip blog, and I'll share it here soon, as well.

Of course, to get to Europe and back you have to fly. You, in fact, have to do a LOT of flying. As I've been getting ready to go I've come to realize that the flight there is a whole lot different than the flight back. And here's why.

On the flight over, you're excited. You're full of adrenaline. You're ready to start a new adventure. And because it's an overnight trip, you try to sleep a little. It doesn't always work, but even if you lay there for a few hours with your eyes closed, that's most of the flight over.

But on the way back, not so much. Your trip's over, and you just want the flight to go as quickly as possible. But because of the way the schedule goes, it's a daytime flight. You can try to sleep, but it really doesn't work. It's just one very long flight in the middle of one very long day with several flight. This year, for instance, we'll leave London around 11am and get into Chicago at 2pm, which makes it an 8-hour flight. This is AFTER getting up really early and flying from Dusseldorf to London, and before we make the final flight from Chicago to Marquette.

See? Not quite as exciting as flying into Dusseldorf to start a new adventure, is it?

Over the years, I've developed a system to try & get me through the long flight back to the U.S. You know how you have to pack a lot of toys for kids on a car trip? Well, for the flight home, I basically do the same for myself. I always take the newest Vanity Fair magazine and save it for the flight home. I get a bunch of logic puzzles from a great website so I can do them during the flight (and this year, I even remembered the answers for them, too, unlike (ahem) last year). I also stick a couple of 5-part episodes of the old radio show “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar” into my iPod. All that is shoved into my backpack before we leave, and isn't touched until our flight home is in the air. Between all that, a few meals, whatever magazines the airline has in the seat, getting up to stretch a few times, and (assuming the person in front of me doesn't lower their seat) writing the final blog of the trip, I can usually make it through a loooooong day.

Of course, then once we're in Chicago (and through Customs) we have five hours to kill before our flight to Marquette, but at least you can wander around an airport and kill a little time that way.

However, I'd prefer not to think of the flight home just yet. I'm ready for it and my backpack is packed for it; I'd just rather not think about it yet. That's a month and a three days away. It's the flight over that's the important thing right now, and that's a mere 23 days from today.

It's starting to get close!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 8/4

There's no way it's been a decade, has it?

As I stumbled out of bed yesterday Loraine, about to leave for work, said “Happy 10^th anniversary” to me. And my brain, which as we all know does NOT function well early in the morning, started to wonder. It wasn't our 10^th wedding anniversary; that was at the end of last century. It wasn't the 10^th anniversary of our first trip to Europe, nor was it the 10^th anniversary of something like her “new” job.

Then she let me know—yesterday was the 10^th anniversary of the two of us moving into our current apartment.

My mind, still not functioning, was blown. 10 years in our current apartment? No way. Two years, sure. Three years, maybe. But 10 years. TEN YEARS?

Wow.

I mean, we both still have boxes of stuff in our closets that we need to unpack, boxes that we figured we'd get to when we had the time. You'd think that after a decade we would've found the time, but nope. Ten years has (apparently) gone by, and we're still acting like we just moved into the place.

Sigh.

Another thing that blows my mind, perhaps even more than the fact that's it's been ten years, is that I have now lived in this apartment longer than I've lived anywhere else. When I was a kid, my parents kept upgrading our living facilities as our family grew, so I lived in three houses before I moved out on my own, and since then I've lived in (let me count here) eleven different apartments. In those fourteen total different houses and apartments the longest time I spent in one was a little under nine years at my parents' Fairway Drive house. Based on the way I kept moving I figured that would be the longest I ever lived in one place.

Shows what I know.

Our current apartment, while a little small, is in a great location and has great landlords, so I can't say I'm surprised that we haven't had the urge to move any time recently. Plus, the last time we moved (a decade ago, apparently), Loraine and I joked to each other that we really didn't want to move again any time soon.

Guess it really wasn't a joke.

So here we are ten years (and a day, now), living in the same apartment. If you had told me back in 2007 that we'd still be there in 2017 I probably wouldn't have believed you. But then, it doesn't seem like it's been ten years. It seems like, at the most, three. So ask me again in, say, 2037 if I'm surprised we're still there. By then it might actually feel like we've lived there for a decade.

Have a great weekend. And I hope your mind isn't blown by an unexpected anniversary!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 8/2

Sure, for a week I didn't see one at all. Now I see them everywhere I go.

If you recall, when I gave my dorky license plate count update on Monday, I mentioned that one of the states I usually see multiple times during the week in which I keep track—Oregon--was conspicuous by its absence. I didn't know why, it just was.

Well, that was last week. I ended the count Sunday night. In the 48 or so hours since, I have seen FOUR different vehicles with plates from Oregon, including two back-to-back on Front Street in Marquette, which I assume were traveling together. Either that, or I had a quick out-of-body experience and was teleported to Portland for an instant.

I'm gonna guess it was the former of those, though.

So, what gives, Oregon? You're usually one of the most dependable states in my dorky little count. I usually see you in the first few days of counting. But why not this year? Why did you decide to hide in silence the whole week I was counting license plates, and then burst forth like the slimy creature in “Alien” as soon as the week is over?

I thought you were cool, Oregon.

Oh well. The one thing I always say about this dorky little project of mine is that it's not scientific. I have no control over when and where I see the plates; I just count them when I see them. I'm sure there were visitors from Oregon in Marquette last week; I just didn't happen to be in the same place with them at the same time. I'm sure there might be ways to make my little survey a lot more statistically valid, so I'd have a better chance of maximizing my chances to see plates, but you know what?

It's a fun little thing I do because I'm a dork. It's not THAT important.

I'm assuming I'll see a bunch more Oregon plates in the next few days, like the state is mocking me, or something. But that's okay. It's just one of those things. However, if I start seeing license plates from New Mexico, which is the other state I usually see but didn't this year, then I'll know something really strange is going on!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 8/1

Who said it could be August already? No one asked MY permission!

I’m astounded at the speed with which this summer is passing. It seems like it was just a week or so ago that I was getting ready for Loraine's parents to visit over the Memorial Day weekend; it seems like it was just a couple of days ago that I was sitting on the street watching the Marquette Fourth of July parades. Now, it’s August. By the time I wake up tomorrow (or so it’ll seem) kids’ll be back in school, I’ll be back from Europe, and Labor Day will have come and gone. Then, we have nothing but falling leaves, cold temperatures, and 7 straight months of snow staring us in the face.

Can’t anyone do anything about that? Please?

8-)

The more ancient I get, the more I’m amazed by how much “older people” actually knew when I was a kid. They’d tell me things like, oh, time speeds up the older you get, but I didn’t listen. I didn’t think it mattered. After all, they were “older people’. What did they know, right?

As it turns out, quite a bit. Now, I find myself trying to pass wisdom along to my nieces. But I always add this caveat—I always tell them that they’re not gonna believe me when I tell them something now, but in 10 or 20 or 30 years, they may find remember some obscure fact or piece of wisdom that crazy old uncle Jim passed along and realize that maybe, just maybe, he knew what he was talking about.

After all, I never believed what I was told until I actually got old myself.

So, anyway, where were we? Oh yeah. . .the fact that that it’s August already. Can anyone please make the summer slow down, even if just a little? Please?? I’ll give you a lollipop and a puppy if you can. Really, I will!!

Thanks in advance,

(jim@wmqt.com)