Read Jim's Blog While He's In Germany!

To check out what Jim & Loraine are doing in Germany, just CLICK HERE!!

Monday, 4/22

It looks like all systems are go.

With a day left before we hop on a plane and blow this Popsicle stand for a few days, it looks as if everything I need to get done is either done or will be finished today. It's something upon which I always cast a wary eye; after all, I've been working ahead on certain things for almost three months now, and it would not be cool if something (a dead computer, a mental breakdown, and/or the like) got in the way of all that work.

But thankfully, it appears as if fate has once again cast a loving aura upon everything. So thanks, fate!

Here's what's going on. There won't be a blog here tomorrow, and starting Wednesday afternoon (your time) I'll start posting on our trip blog. You can just keep coming back here to get to it; I'll make sure I leave a link right above this blog so all you need to do is click one extra time. Hopefully, it won't be too much. And if it is, you have my sincere apologies.

Really, you do!

As always, I plan on posting every day we're there, and based on past experience, I should have no problem. However, you never know if a new hotel we're staying at will have bad wi-fi, or if I'll have some kind of technical problem with the equipment I bring along. It hasn't happened yet, and I don't think it will this time, but I just wanna put that out there just in case. I'm also planning on send back radio reports each weekday, so you can listen for those, as well.

Well, I think that's it. The next time we speak I'll be a quarter of the world away spending a night in a city that perhaps has more history than any other of the past century. And that's just one stop on this whirlwind of a getaway.

See you then!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 4/19

If you go to Europe with Loraine you shouldn't be surprised if the press follows close behind.

As you know, one of the places we're revisiting is Weissenfels, the town where Marquette's Elwood Norr—the subject of Loraine's first book—was shot down in World War II. When we were there in 2013 and presented a copy of that book to the town's mayor, we (or, more to the point, she) found ourselves the subject of a press conference and, the next day, a newspaper headline--

We're spending a day going back to Weissenfels to visit a few old friends and to give the town a copy of her second book, “Elden's True Army Talks”, because it talks about (and has pictures of) our first visit. Apparently, because Loraine's a big deal there, we were sent a copy of this press release (yes, press release) talking about our visit and the book presentation--

It's in German, but the jist of it is that the press is invited to the book presentation at 1 pm on that Monday, and it also gives a little background on Loraine and why we visited back in 2013. I should also point out that the release was sent in the name of the town's mayor (the Oberburgermeister) so you know it's important important, and not just the kind of thing that local reporters would scrunch up and kick into the nearest recycling bin.

I've said this before and I'm sure I'll say it again, but for someone who's so shy & unassuming in real life Loraine sure seems to have developed this otherworldly presence about her when we're in Europe. I mean, she's still shy & unassuming when we're over there, but the people we meet are able to recognize that certain quality in her, the quality I'm always trying to describe when I call her “the most amazing woman in the world”.

She certainly fits that bill when we're in a place like Weissenfels. That's for sure!

So that's on tap the Monday we're there. Don't forget that you can find out the OTHER reason we're going by checking out the preview blog on our trip site.

On that note have yourself a great Easter weekend. Try not to eat TOO much chocolate (as if that's even possible). We'll spend part of the weekend digging out our summer clothes to wear in Germany, where the forecast is still calling for upper 70s for the first few days we're there!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 4/18

Well, this could make things interesting.

Remember last year when we went to Germany and it rained for six straight days? I don't think we're gonna have that problem again this year. In fact, the advance forecast for our jaunt to Leipzig shows almost summer-like weather, with the possibility of temps in the 70s and (perhaps) even 80 a day or two.

In April. In Germany.

Now, I'm, not really getting my hopes up. I know that a weather forecast a week out is not to be trusted. After all, a week before we left last year the forecast called for one day of rain and then the return of sun, and we all know how THAT turned out. But still, after suffering through the winter that we suffered through here, you can't help but get just a little tingle of excitement running through you, even if your brain is telling you to stop it.

We were planning on temps in the 60s, which are normal for that area this time of the year. That would be fine, especially with the flowers bursting forth and the grass turning green throughout the region. But the thought of weather 10 or 15 degrees warmer than that has us both happy—because it could be warm!!--and a bit perplexed, because the clothes we were planning on packing may not be the exact clothes we need. Add to that the fact that evenings may only be in the upper 40s or lower 50s, and there you go.

Sure, it's a first world problem. But it's our first world problem.

Central Europe, especially in and around Germany, has been a place quite affected by climate change. A large chunk of the Bavarian Alps no longer get snow—in fact, ski resorts have been closing by the dozen—and spring around the country has been arriving earlier and earlier each year. Not only that, during summer, heat records are set on an almost annual basis (except, apparently, when we're there). So maybe we shouldn't be too surprised that temperatures may be way above normal for a chunk of our visit there.

We'll just have to see. We may just have to bring a few extra pieces of clothing. And if it does happen, we will have to enjoy every single second of it.

Especially after what we've been living through here the past seven months.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 4/17

Six days left to go, and everything seems to be set, including the hotels at which we'll be staying in both Berlin and Leipzig.

Whenever we're in Germany we usually stay at a Motel One. It's a European chain that's kind of like a budget hotel but not really. The hotels don't have things like phones in the rooms, and the rooms themselves aren't suite sized, but the locations are great, the staff amazing, the bars and breakfast rooms funky, and the look of the hotels are stellar, if only because just about everywhere you look you see this color blue--

It's a trademark of the chain. The staff wears that color; the ever-present mints they have lying around in massive jars are that color; and if you go more than 3 meters without seeing that particular shade of blue, you know you've left the hotel (or, at the very least, this plane of reality). They take pride in the way their hotels look—in fact, their slogan is “Like The Price, Love the Design”--and that blue is the centerpiece of it.

It would be like McDonald's without the red, or the Detroit Lions without losing. I mean the Detroit Lions without silver and blue. That's how central it is to the chain.

The other reason we like Motel One so much? Loraine's fish.

It's actually not Loraine's personal fish, so much as a fish she likes to see. You see, each Motel One room has a loop of a fish aquarium on their TV system that you can play in the background. It's actually quite relaxing, and we've gotten into the habit of just leaving it on when we're doing other stuff. Loraine's favorite fish is the blue & yellow one in the lower right hand corner (the one that kinda looks like Dory from “Finding Nemo”) We've gotten pretty good at knowing when in the loop her fish will show up, so we'll make sure we say “hey” to it when we first get in.

Now, not all Motel One's play the same fish loop, sad to say. For instance, in Munich last year we didn't get to see Loraine's fish. But we're spending five nights at the Motel One in Leipzig, where we first saw Loraine's fish (and where I took the above picture), so with any luck we'll see it there again. And since we haven't been to the Motel One Tiergarten in Berlin yet, we'll just have to see if we can say “hey” to her fish there, as well.

Yes, apparently we're easily amused.

So if you ever find yourself in a city with a Motel One I highly recommend trying it out. Like I said, the rooms aren't huge, but they have fish. And a blue that will soon sear itself into your brain.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 4/16

Well, the third time was once again the charm, so I don't have jury duty again today.

Woo hoo!!

Just in case I did, though, I was all set to give you something, which would've been the preview blog for our upcoming excursion, which I posted on our trip site a few days ago. And since we're leaving one week from today, why not just follow the original plan, right?

So here you go. Check it out by CLICKING HERE.

Tomorrow, the hotel chain we usually stay at while in Germany, and how both a fish on the TV and the color blue play into our fascination with it. 

(jim@wmqt.com

Monday, 4/15

Wow. Was I actually funny once?

With a week (and a day) to go before we leave for Germany, 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 two days, 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 over 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-plus that I'm gone 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.

(jim@wmqt.com)

(ps—tomorrow is my last potential day for jury duty, so if there's nothing here...well, you know the drill!)

Friday, 4/12

I'm not quite sure what's worse—all the build up over an April winter storm, or the aftermath when everybody wonders just what all the excitement was all about.

I know that in some parts of the Upper Midwest Armageddon did indeed occur; however, here in Marquette, this is what we woke up to--

The biggest problem we faced was the freezing rain that fell over the inch or three of snow we received. It was kind of anti-climatic after all the build-up. Heck, a few local schools even cut classes short yesterday, and in the end the snow (or what there was of it) didn't even start falling until after 430.

But it's been a horrid spring. I don't think you can blame anyone for being a little shell-shocked, can you?

Now that this is all out of the way and we have several days of (cold) rain in the forecast, maybe we can finally stop obsessing over winter weather and start obsessing over what we'll (hopefully) see in the next few weeks . Things like this--

And this--

And this--

And that's all I'm gonna say about that. Have yourself a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 4/11

And a grand time was had by, I hope, all.

Last night's trivia contest at the Marquette Regional History Center was a blast. I actually learned a few things, thanks to questions that other people came up with (for instance, did you know that Colonel Sanders actually came to Marquette for the opening of the franchise here?), and everyone seemed to really enjoy the bar questions that I contributed. Maybe that's not a surprise, though.

After all, they were drinking last night!

One of the stories I told combined both alcohol and crime, and is an example of just how much people think they can get away with. In 1947, Kelly’s Slide, located between Marquette and Negaunee, was one of the county’s hot spots. People from all over the area would go there to listen to orchestras and to dance the night away. The guy who owned it was a Chicago native named Mike Kelly. While some locals really liked Mike, there were always rumors that he was a Windy City gangster. I don’t know if THAT was true, but I do know what happened one night in 1947 IS.

That night, Mike Kelly reported that he’d been robbed of several thousand dollars. The police came out, investigated, and after talking to everyone involved, said the case was clear & shut. The money was missing, Kelly had been beat up, and they told him to file the paperwork with the insurance company.

Then, one day a few weeks later , working on an anonymous tip, the police went back to Kelly’s Slide to talk to Mike Kelly about the robbery. . .specifically, where HE had buried the $2,000. You see, Mike Kelly had apparently cooked up a scheme with another individual to fake a robbery, get the insurance money from it, and then split the loot from both the robbery and the insurance company. Only, it seems the accomplice hadn’t received his share, and told police where the original loot was buried. So Kelly, realizing the jig was up, showed them where he’d buried the money under the bar. He was arrested, and convicted of attempted swindling, among other charges. He spent some time in jail, returning to run his bar when he was released.

There are a TON of stories like that out there, which probably explains why people love their bar stories so much. Remind me to someday tell you stories about a guy who was murdered at one Marquette dance club, how Snuffy's got the nickname “The Broken Jaw”, and just what vile nickname was given to burgers you would get at The Elite, among others.

You know, for someone who was neither of the age nor the inclination to be at any of those places, I sure do seem to know more than my fair share. But think of it this way—you have to give the audience what they want, right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 4/10

Okay. I can either whine about the upcoming blizzard or talk about history. I'll let you choose.

(8 microseconds later...)

Wow. That was quick. And it wasn't even close, was it?

So with that in mind, whacha doing tonight? Well, if your answer was “not much” or “trying to remember where I put my snow boots”, you're more than welcome to join me at the Marquette Regional History Center for their “Trivia, Take Two” contest, where I get to do the only two things for which it seems I'm uniquely qualified—ask people questions about history, and then make fun of them when they get them wrong.

If it's anything like last year's contest, it should be a blast.

We actually had a packed house last year, and I'm hoping it'll be the same tonight. The fine staff at the History Center has put together 50 questions, I added five more about bars, and now everyone who takes part will get the chance to see if they can answer them for fun (& prizes). People who participate are more than welcome to bring their own adult beverages (a factor that made the contest quite amusing last year), and I've been promised there will be snacks, as well, so if you're interested, it's a great way to learn a little and raise money for a great organization.

Oh—and to be made fun of if you don't know the answers, too. But in a kind & gentle way. That I promise.

*****

Okay. Maybe I WILL whine about the weather just a little bit. I know it's April, but a Winter Storm Watch starting overnight tonight that will most likely turn into a Winter Storm Warning before you know it? Mother Nature...are you sure. Are you REALLY sure?

And that's all I'm gonna say about that. At least for now.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 4/9

Is it weird that I've never been on a passenger train? Or is that one of those things that makes me uniquely American?

I can't quite decide.

In two weeks I'll be riding on the first passenger trains of my life, first heading from Berlin to Leipzig and then a few days later from Leipzig to visit Loraine's friends in Weissenfels (and, of course, back both ways). And while passenger train ridership is nothing out of the ordinary for Europeans—in fact, it's part of their everyday life—for Americans train ridership is something very unique, something so extraordinary that people look at you the same way they'd look as if you told them you came from another planet.

You know, the kind of looks I get a lot.

Of course, part of that has to do with the way we live vs. the way Germans (in this case) live. They have a well-funded train system that runs on time, and gets them where they need to go almost as quickly (and in some cases quicker) than an airline would. We have a woefully underfunded train system that only goes certain places at certain times, and even then only has something like a 40% shot of getting there when it's supposed to. Just because of that I can see why Germans ride trains and why Americans avoid them like black flies at a summer beach.

But it wasn't always that way.

Study enough history and you know that for a big chunk of America's lifetime trains were the only way to get from here to there. In fact, up until the 1960s passenger trains even pulled into and out of Marquette several times a day. But with the advent of both the interstate highway system and commonplace air travel train ridership plummeted, and in the case of a place like here, totally disappeared. Traveling by train is now about as common as sending a telegram to someone...assuming, of course, you can still send telegrams.

That might be a blog for another day.

Germans, of course, embrace mass transit as a way to cut down on air pollution, while Americans don't seem to give a rip about that. But cities in Germany are a lot closer together than they are in the US (the distance between Berlin & Leipzig, for example, is about the same as the distance between Marquette & Houghton), and unless you have the high speed trains available in the rest of the world train travel between any major US cities just takes too long. I can see why flying or driving makes more sense.

It's just too bad we've given up on it.

Anyway, it should be a fun time, and a very unique experience. So unique, in fact, that I doubt that more than a handful of people (if even that many) reading this can welcome us to the club.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 4/8

I just realized that Andy Williams warped my life.

Now, before I get to the “how” of how the singer of “Moon River” and the star of a long-running 60’s TV variety show warped my life, let me get to the “why” of discovering it. One of the books I recently finished reading was a fascinating tome entitled “I Hate Myself And Want To Die”, written by a perceptive young man named Tom Reynolds. Despite its title, it’s an hilarious book about the 52 most depressing, maudlin, and just plain bad songs ever written. One of the songs he talks about is the immortal “MacArthur Park”, first sung by Richard Harris and later disco-fied into a number one hit by Donna Summer. He mentions many other people who’ve tackled one of the most bizarre songs ever written, and it was then that I realized Andy Williams warped my life.

You see, Andy Williams was one of the people who recorded “MacArthur Park”. And when I was a very young kid, I used to listen to the 8-track of the song over and over and over again (yes, my parents had an 8-track player and yes, they actually had an Andy Williams 8-track tape which, in hindsight, may explain a lot about how I turned out). I never listened to the beginning and the end of the song; that was just Andy Williams singing “Park” the same was in which he sang “Moon River” and all his other hits (like, uhm, “Moon River”). It was the middle section of the song that I listened to over and over.

Imagine this--Andy Williams is singing “MacArthur Park” the same way he sang “Moon River”. Then, the bridge (the middle) of the song starts. Andy fades out, and something really REALLY strange starts happens. What sounds like an 80-piece orchestra kicks in, along with a wa-wa disco guitar and disco-like drums, meaning the song goes from “Moon River” to something that sounds like the bad soundtrack to the worst “Shaft” movie ever made. Then, after two minutes of the Andy Williams Disco Orchestra, it goes back to “Moon River”.

Don't believe me? Listen starting at 2:20 into the song--

I hadn’t thought about that piece of music for, gosh, 30 or so years, until I came across it in that book and everything just came flooding back to me. I went to iTunes and, proving it may be the single greatest cultural aid (or single biggest time-waster) in modern history, they had “MacArthur Park” by Andy Williams (they also had “Moon River”, but I skipped that one). I downloaded it, listened to the middle of it, listened to the middle again (much like I did when I was a kid), and realized something.

You see, I’ve always liked songs with horns and strings in them; witness the fact that I think Earth, Wind, and Fire’s “September” is the greatest song ever recorded. I never knew WHY I like songs with horns & strings in them; I just always have. And that’s when I realized how Andy Williams warped my life. You see, the first song I can ever remember really paying attention to that had horns & strings in it (albeit overblown horns & strings) was his version of “MacArthur Park”.

Apparently, Andy Williams is responsible for the type of music I listen to and like even today.

I think I’m gonna go sit in a corner for awhile, think about it, and decide whether to laugh or to cry. . .

(jim@wmqt.com)

(ps--don't forget that I may or may not have jury duty tomorrow.  If you don't see anything new here you know the drill!)

Friday, 4/5

Today, two things that are entirely unrelated.

The first has to do with a phone call I received at work yesterday, when someone rang me with a question about the movie “Nacho Libre”. After I answered it (specifically, who starred in it), I got to thinking. And that, as we all know, can be a very dangerous thing. Of what was I thinking?

That no one in the U.S. seems to know about one of the best “worst” movies of all time.

“Nacho Libre” is the story of a masked wrestler, played by Jack Black. What you may not know is that masked wrestlers have been a HUGE part of of Mexican pop culture for years, so much so that a series of films mashing up wrestling and horror movies popped up in the mid 60s, the “best” of them being the immortal flick “Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy”.

Yes, that’s the actual name of it.

I first saw the flick when I was visiting Mexico at age 14, and it’s been stuck somewhere in the dim recesses of my head ever since. I’ve seen it in both English and Spanish and, frankly, it’s better in Spanish, especially if you don’t speak the language, because then you can make up your own plot in your head. Not that there’s much of a plot to follow; basically, it involves an evil mummy springing to life and battling the women who dropkick it back into the netherworld. The action, costumes, acting and, most importantly, plot are so ludicrous that I’m surprised Quentin Tarantino hasn’t tried to remake it yet.

If you EVER see it playing on some obscure cable channel or find it floating around in your Netflix queue, check it out for a great laugh. It’s called “Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy” starring, in alphabetical order, the Aztec Mummy and some wrestling women. You WON’T be disappointed.

***

Secondly, it’s my mom’s birthday today, and I certainly can’t let that go without some kind of notice. I’ve had several of you mention to me over the years that it seems as if you’ve come to know (and sympathize for or with) her, what with me mentioning assorted items as to how I've made her life a living heck, including (but not limited to) how I was actually born a month past my due date, how I once tore open dozens of boxes of cereal in a grocery store, causing the whole family to eat nothing but Corn Flakes for several weeks, and how I once would only eat bananas and milk for months and then one morning spewed them all over the kitchen, refusing--to this day--to ever eat another banana again.

Yes, I was a special kid. But then she was a special mom to put up with all that, and with everything that my sister and brother threw at her, as well. So I’m sure all of us--her kids, as well as you guys, who’ve come to know her over all these years--wish her another year of health, happiness, lots of painting, and, perhaps most importantly, extra strength in putting up with my dad and his shenanigans.

Happy birthday, Mom. . .from all of us!!

Love,

(jim@wmqt.com)

(p.s.--if you haven’t visited her painting website recently, just  click here. You'll be stunned and amazed, in a good way!)

Thursday, 4/4

Wanna see where I'm gonna be in three weeks?

Well, technically, Loraine and I should, if things go to plan, be arriving in Leipzig three weeks from today. We won't be paying a visit to this temple (the picture of which was shot off of our TV last weekend), known as Red Bull Arena, for another two days after our arrival in that fair city.

But let's just call it three weeks and leave it at that.

And actually, if you wanna be really technical, this magenta circle on the next version of the picture shows EXACTLY where Loraine and I will be three weeks and two days from today--

We chose those particular seats for a couple of reasons—one, they're across the field from the team benches, which means that we can keep an eye on the comings & goings of the RB Leipzig team and their coaching staff during the match. The seats are also near the end zone “Fan Zone”, where the team's most passionate fans spend the entire match pounding on drums and singing soccer songs, and we kind of wanted to experience what that would be like.

We'll just have to make sure we bring Tylenol with us for the headache that's sure to ensue after spending two hours sitting near singing & drum playing soccer fans.

The final reason we're sitting in those seats also has to do with the “Fan Zone”. After the match is over the team walks over to that end of the stadium and salutes the people who gave them energy, cheered for them, and (hopefully) propelled them to victory. While we won't be as close as some people, we're hoping for a glance of the players we've watched the past couple of years.

That's why we're sitting where we're sitting.

And we're hoping they do win. Leipzig is currently in third place in the Bundesliga (coming off a 5-0 shellacking of Hertha Berlin), while the team they're playing, SC Freiburg, is sitting in 11^th. Believe it or not, Five Thirty Eight, the website that forecasts US elections and sporting events, also does European soccer matches, and the last time I checked there was a 67% probability that Leipzig would win (as well as a 22% probability the teams will draw). So that gives us an 89% probability that we won't walk away from those seats totally bummed.

Let's just hope fivethirtyeight forecasts the game better than they did, say, the 2016 election.

So that's where we'll be in three weeks and two days. I'll be writing more about the trip as a whole; in fact, one of my hoped-to-be-completed projects this weekend is a preview blog for our trip site, which I'll also post here (assuming I ever get it done). But because several of you were curious following the whole epic adventure of procuring those seats last week, I figured I'd share this now.

Three weeks. Two days!!!!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 4/3

It was interesting. It really was. But I'm glad I was given some time back.

My jury duty duty was limited yesterday; I was one of the people left not yet questioned after the jury was locked down. So I was able to go back to work, undo all the work I had taken care of Monday, and spend the rest of the day as I normally would.

So it wasn't too painful. Except, of course, for having to undo the work I did Monday. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't necessarily enjoy doing something Monday, then re-doing it Monday after being informed I have jury duty, then re-doing the re-doing Tuesday after I'm not selected for the jury. But maybe that's just me.

Of course, I'm still not off the hook yet. I still have two more Tuesdays ahead of my trip that I may be called in, and it is making it kind of hard to set things up. Twice yesterday I had someone ask if I was available for a meeting or get-together for next week, and twice I had to conditionally say I’d be there. I felt rather bad for one of those, as someone called me first (out of a group of 6) to set a time for something, trying to work around my schedule because it’s usually the wackiest, and here I had to apologize because I have no idea what my wacky schedule for next week will look like until next Monday afternoon.

Sigh.

I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m whining about my jury duty, because that’s not my intent. Like I wrote last month, I’ll happily do my civic duty. And I actually found the whole process of jury selection yesterday fascinating; the questions both sides ask, the determinations a judge has to make, as well as the collective breath held by those not yet chosen when the judge asks if the lawyers are happy with the jury they've chosen. It was really interesting. I just wish things could be a little more...firmly set, instead of prospective jurors having to call every week this month to find out if their schedules for the next day--indeed, for the immediate future--gets thrown out like a 3-week old piece of leftover lasagna.

But..what are you gonna do, right? In the end, I know I’ll suck it up and do what needs to be done, even if it happens to occur two more times in the next two weeks. I mean, I'm hoping it doesn't, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Especially if you want to fulfill your part of living in a participatory constitutional republic.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 4/2:

Well, guess who has jury duty today?  Yup.  Details and the story tomorrow.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 4/1 (no foolin')

Well, today’s the big day. Actually, the first of three big days, if you want to be technical, but today’s the day that starts it all off.

This afternoon between 3 and 430 I have to make a phone call to the 96^th District Court in Marquette. What the recorded voice that answers my call says between 3 and 430 this afternoon determines my fate for tomorrow. If the voice tells me something has been canceled, I’ll be fine with that. However, if the voice tells me to report to court tomorrow morning at 8:15, I’ll know I’m stuck on jury duty for a while, and my life as I know it gets turned upside down.

Like I mentioned last month, I’m on call for jury duty for each of the next 3 Tuesdays, the first of which is tomorrow. So if I don’t get stuck on jury duty tomorrow, I’m still on the hook for the next two weeks as I'm diving into the hard work of getting ready to leave for Germany the fourth Tuesday of the month (a date for which I've been excused from jury duty, thankfully). So if I don’t get called in tomorrow, I still could in the coming weeks.

Oh well. It's the price you have to pay for living in a semi-functioning democracy, right?

As I said, I have no idea if I’ll be stuck performing my civic duty starting tomorrow, so I, in all honesty, have no idea what my schedule’s gonna be like. I have, however, devised an easy way for YOU to know what’s going on in Jim-land. If you come back here tomorrow and find a blog, you’ll know the voice on my recorded phone call told me I’m free for the next week, and you can celebrate (or mourn) in any way your personal feelings dictate. However, if you show up here tomorrow and see the words “Jim’s on jury duty”, you’ll know that my life’s temporarily turned upside down, and you can then mourn (or celebrate) in any way your personal feelings dictate.

And, if you want, you could wish me luck at the same time, because between jury duty, trying to keep things running at work, and doing whatever else I need to do with the rest of my life (like getting ready to travel a quarter of the way around the planet), I have a feeling it’ll be an interesting few weeks.

So stay tuned. And keep your fingers crossed the recorded voice tells me I’m safe for a day.

(jim@wmqt.com)