Wednesday, 9/30

AN UPDATE  :  Make sure you read the ps after the blog!

                        *****

 The set's ready. Now we just have to see if Mother Nature (and the people of the UP) play along.

It's two days until we start taping the new season of “High School Bowl” (the main reason, as I said yesterday, that the Corona Curls are gone). We did a run-through yesterday, which went well, and allowed us to explore our new set.

How new? Well, if you've ever watched the show, be prepared for quite the change--

I know. It took me a while to get used to it, as well. There are only three students per team instead of four, and the alternate(s) and coach will be off camera. Still, if things work as well Friday as they did yesterday, we should be set.

However, there is one other factor that's kind of out of our control. Right now, there are a couple of UP counties in which Covid-19 infections are just surging out of sight. We're okay in Marquette County, but once you get close to the Wisconsin border or in the Copper Country you're looking at some of the highest infection rates in the state, on a per capita basis.

So the question then becomes...what to do with students who are coming from those high-infection areas? Postpone their taping dates? Give them some time to have their hometowns get clean (or at least cleaner?) It's not a problem we have to face right away, but in the next couple of weeks we'll have to see where the numbers are and what we (and NMU's Public Safety Department) decide to do.

I'm hopeful we'll get through 20 show tapings and the entire season fine. After all, as I say every week on the show, these are some of the brightest young people on the planet. I'm sure they're fine. The people who live around them? Perhaps not so much, and I'd be loathe to think that a school couldn't participate because some butt-head (or group of butt-heads) decides that they're not wearing a mask doesn't have an effect on the community in which we live.

Keep your fingers crossed that doesn't happen. After all, if I got rid of the Corona Curls for the show, I'd at least like to think their sacrifice wasn't in vain.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

                        *******

The update---no more than 10 minutes after I originally posted this this morning I was informed that part of it is moot, as we will not be shooting the season opener Friday because because, you know, it's 2020.  More details tomorrow)

Tuesday, 9/29

 Well, they're gone. And I still don't know how I feel about it.

As I mentioned at the end of yesterday's blog I got the Corona Curls chopped off last night. Six months, three weeks, and six days after getting my last haircut I finally gave in and now look like a normal person, at least as normal as I could ever look.

Sometimes, it's hard being an adult.

8-)

Looking at myself in the mirror last night was actually kind of a shock. It's like looking at a picture of someone you recognize, but you're not quite sure who they are. That was me looking at me. I've spent so much time the last six months, three weeks, and six days starting at a wild mass of black & gray (and sometimes purple) on my head that seeing a tamed mass made me question who I was for a moment.

Who knew that was even possible?

Of course, I had the curls because I have my first taping date of my TV gig Friday, and I had always set that as the date before which I should look like a “normal” person. But I've become kind of accustomed to the way I look with shaggy, long hair. I mean, I know it's not the best look in the world, and I know that it showed off just how much gray hair I have, and I know that I probably look better with my normal, shorter, hair but still...

The Corona Curls and I have spent six months, three weeks, and six days together. We've gotten used to each other. But their purpose, I guess have ended. It's kind of like a summer fling, except it actually started in spring and was not fueled by love but by a world-wide pandemic instead. And maybe that's why I feel a little bummed the curls are going away. I probably won't have another excuse to grow them again. I certainly hope I never have THIS reason to grow them again.

And that's why it's a bittersweet farewell.

On that note, I have to go take my newly-shorn head over to NMU and do a run-thru of a show on the new set and with all the new protocols in place. I'll take a few pictures, and share them with you tomorrow.

(jim@wmqt.com), Corona Curl-free.

Monday, 9/28

 When you sneeze, how many times do you sneeze?

Yeah, I know. It's a strange question. But it is a legitimate one, born of yet another weird discussion between me and the most amazing woman in the world. Usually, when I sneeze, I sneeze twice in a row. In fact, most people, when they sneeze, sneeze twice in a row. But in the past few weeks , since fall hay fever season has kicked in, I seem to be sneezing only once. I sneeze, I wait for the second, and it never comes.

On the scale of important things in the world, that probably ranks last (unless, of course, I have somehow contracted Covid-19 and that's one of the weird symptoms of the disease). But I'm wondering why I've changed, a wonder made even stranger when Loraine informed me that she's always usually only sneezed once.

Married all these years, and there are still things I'm discovering about her.

Actually, the fact that I never realized she only sneezes once at a time probably goes to show just how trivial this whole subject is. But I like to think I'm attuned to what goes on with my body, and when I all of sudden started sneezing only once instead of twice I noticed it, much in the same I'd notice something else weird, like a toe dropping off or a third eye growing out of my forehead.

It was just out of the ordinary.

Now, I sneeze a lot, especially during the summer. It's not (always) allergies. I'm one of those people who has photo-voltaic sneezes. When I step out in the bright light, especially summer sunshine, I sneeze. In fact, I usually sneeze twice. So why I've started sneezing only once instead of the usual twice has me perplexed. Has the diminishing light of Autumn caused me to lose the extra sneeze, and for the first time in my life I've actually noticed it? Has living with a single sneezer all these years finally rubbed off on me?

I have no idea. And while the world won't stop revolving on its axis if I don't find out, it is the kind of thing that might cause someone with a weak mind to lie awake at night pondering the mysteries of it.

Not, of course, that I'm someone with a weak mind. Nope...not me. Not at all.

8-)

Like I said, in the schemes of things it ranks slightly below the mystery of where your socks disappear when you throw them in the dryer. Who knows? Maybe my double sneezing will return, and I'll forget all about it. Or, heck, who knows—maybe I'll keep my habit of single sneezing, and in a year I'll forget that I was ever a double sneezer. Neither way would surprise me.

After, it's just a sneeze (or two).

(jim@wmqt.com)

(ps—the Corona Curls are scheduled to come off tonight. The gory details tomorrow!)

Friday, 9/25

 Oh...what to wear. What to wear?

TV Jim has a problem that Radio Jim never has to worry about, and that's making sure I look good. Or, at least, look presentable, seeing as how I'm not quite sure that I can ever look good. When I'm just Radio Jim I can dress however I want, assuming that the clothes I choose don't have too many holes in them and are reasonably wrinkle free.

TV Jim? Not so much.

I bring this up because one of my projects for this weekend is to figure out what I'm gonna wear this year on “High School Bowl”. We tape the first show a week from today, so it's time that I dive in with my annual ritual of deciding what gets worn when.

Yes, I have a ritual. I'm a dork. What's your point?

There is an actual reason for the ritual, believe it or not (I mean, aside from the fact that I'm a dork). I shoot 20 episodes of the show each year, and I wanna make sure that what I wear varies throughout the season. After all, I wouldn't want to wear black shirts or a gray jacket three or four weeks in a row, would I? Nope; I wanna mix things up, and make sure that each week I'm in a different color scheme.

Once again, I'm a dork. What's your point?

So here's what I do. I figure out what I have in my closet, and what I've been thinking of picking up for future use. I then (and don't laugh here) write down all the combinations on 3x5 cards. I stare at the 3x5 cards for a while, and then start to move them around, until I think I have a schedule that varies color & texture throughout the season.

Yes, I'm a... Oh, never mind.

There's actually no reason to do this. I mean, I could probably wear the same color on the show for three weeks in a row and no one would notice. There's no reason for me to go through all this effort, and yet for six seasons in a row I've done the exact same thing.

If nothing else, it's a pre-season ritual, right?

And if you think that's bad, I also have to add this into the equation. The last four shows of the previous season are always repeated right before the new year starts, so I have to remember what I wore on those shows, and make sure the outfits and/or color scheme aren't worn again until the middle of the new year. And that's the reason behind the 3x5 cards. If I discover a mistake on my part, I can just move the 3x5 card to another week, and hope that by doing that I'm not setting into motion a daisy chain that leads to a giant cascade failure of me standing in front of the cards yelling out something along the lines of “No...you can't have red AND red back to back”.

It's not easy being me. Really, it isn't.

Anyway, I hope I'll have all the kinks worked out by next Friday, and then know what I'm wearing each week of the show this year. Of course, if this is like years past, I'll end up buying something halfway through the year and want to wear it as soon as possible, thereby throwing my system all out of whack. But if that happens, I'll just do what I always do...haul the 3x5 cards out again, and start the whole thing over.

Yes, I'm a dork. What's your point?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 9/24

 If I was the Polaris dealer I'd want my money back.

Loraine and I received a piece of junk mail a few days ago. Specifically, this piece--

We had to laugh when we received it. After all, neither of us have ever shown any inclination toward buying a four-wheeler, even if we could save $1,000 on the purchase. In fact, every time we see someone hauling one around on a trailer we joke to ourselves that we could probably finance a trip to Europe on what that person Spent on the machine.

And we're usually right about it.

The chuckles were compounded when we saw something else on the card; specifically, exactly where we were supposed to go and get $1,000 off of our four-wheeler--

That's right. A Polaris dealer in New Mexico paid a marketing firm in Minnesota to send a postcard to a couple in Michigan that has no intention of ever buying their product. Isn't the American advertising industry just incredible?

8-)

I'm sure it was some kind of printing or collating error, but like I said, if I were the Polaris dealer I'd ask for my money back. I'm sure it wasn't much, but they did paid something. And I'm guessing we weren't the only ones who received a misprinted card. In fact, if every single household in Marquette received one, that's, like, 9,500 addresses (assuming the national average of 2.2 people live at each address). The penny or so they probably spend on us isn't much, but that would be $95 for the entire city of Marquette. And there are a lot of places Marquette's size—and bigger—where the cards may have been sent, so the cost could add up quickly.

Who knows—maybe THEY spent enough on the mailing for us to finance a trip to Europe. Wouldn't that be ironic?

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 9/23

 I saw a coot yesterday.

No; I didn't go to visit with my dad. That would mean I saw an old coot. (Hi, Dad. Love you!!) Instead, I took advantage of the nice weather to play outside for a little while, where I saw a bird I don't think I've ever seen around here.

A bird just like this--

It wasn't that exact bird; that's a picture of one I took in Germany seven years ago. But as I was walking along the Lower Harbor Breakwall yesterday I saw something out of the corner of my eye, thought it was a plain 'ol duck, and was shocked when it turned out to be anything BUT a plain 'ol duck.

Who knew?

Until that visit to Germany I had no idea what a coot was, or what it looked like. But since then, I've seen them on several trips over there, making the coot kind of the unofficial mascot of our journeys. Basically, if you see a coot, you know you're in Europe.

That's why it freaked me out when I saw one off the Lower Harbor Breakwall.

Now, I know nothing about the migratory habits of the coot. Maybe they visit Marquette a lot flying here or there, and I've just never noticed one. However, I do know that climate change is, well, changing the habits of a lot of creatures, and perhaps the coot is among them. Perhaps this first sighting of one locally will lead to an annual feast of seeing them. Or, maybe, like many of us in 2020, this little coot just lost its way, and ended up somewhere it didn't expect.

You never can tell.

So if you happen to see a strange bird or three around here, see what it is. Maybe my new pal the Coot has decided to hang around for a bit!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 9/22

 I have made a decision. It's not one that I'm necessarily happy with, nor one with which I agree 100%, but sometimes you have to do what's best for everyone involve and make the tough call. And that's what I've done here.

I've decided it's time to get rid of the Corona Curls.

If you've been reading this you know I haven't cut my hair for six months (since March 3^rd, to be specific). It's turned into a wavy, curly mass of black & gray, sometimes punctuated by purple highlights. Had I been stuck on a desert island like Tom Hanks in “Castaway”, I would've left it to grow and grow. Alas, I'm not on a desert island, and a looming date on my calendar has decreed that the curls should probably go.

It's heck being an adult.

I'm not quite sure yet how I feel about losing the curls. I've enjoyed having long hair. It feels weird on my neck. I've been able to add the aforementioned subtle purple highlights to it a couple of times (including this past weekend) to make it stand out. And unlike shorter hair, at least in my case, if I don't feel like doing anything to it in the morning that's fine. There's enough hair there to cover up a variety of sins.

But as of this upcoming Monday, no more.

I had spoken of a looming date on my calendar, and that date is a week from this Friday, October 2^nd. That's the day we start shooting “High School Bowl” for the season. For the past several weeks I've been going back & forth on whether or not to keep the curls. Just sitting around, I'd think they'd be great. Then looking in a mirror, I'd notice that unless I put a lot work into them, they look very unkempt very easily. And since one of the reasons I enjoyed having them was that I didn't necessarily need to put a lot of work into how my hair looked, well...

Let's just say the logic of the situation helped convince me of what I needed to do.

I'm sure I'll think I look like a freak with shorter, more normal hair. I'll notice the spots where it's a little thinner than in other spots, and I'll definitely notice how my ears aren't level with each other, something you don't notice when they're covered with hair. I'll miss playing with it and tucking it behind my ears when it's windy. I'll miss shaking my head and feeling the hair whip around on my neck.

I never would have thought that I'd miss something caused by the Coronavirus, but there you go. This upcoming Monday, the curls go away.

(jim@wmqt.com), who still DOES have a little purple hair dye left, so if I get too bored with shorter, more adult hair...

8-)

Monday, 9/21

 I wonder how long the nutcracker’s been sitting in our kitchen drawer.

Sunday night I was making Loraine dinner, as I do every Sunday night, when I was digging through my drawer of kitchen crap looking for a slotted spoon that had somehow slipped behind everything. Iit took a few minutes, bit I finally found it sitting in the back of the drawer, right on top of a nutcracker.

That's right. We have a nutcracker.

In all honesty, I didn’t even know we had a nutcracker. Loraine herself just remembered having to stick one in a drawer when we moved into our current apartment thirteen years ago. She had no idea when we got it or how we got it, although, as we discovered when we found it underneath the spoon, it must’ve been quite awhile ago, as the nutcracker was still in an unopened package, an unopened package that contained the words “Made in the USA”.

Think about it. When was the last time a company in the U.S. made something like a nutcracker? I’m guessing it’s been awhile. I mean, the U.S. still makes stuff--cars, jet engines, reality TV celebrities--but when was the last time a U.S. company produced something as mundane as a nutcracker?

THAT’S how long the nutcracker has been sitting unopened in our kitchen drawer.

It’s kind of weird it was still there. After all, every time we move we tend to toss whatever we don’t need, thereby saving us both time & cupboard space. But for some reason, the unopened nutcracker had survived over all these years and after all these moves, to be sitting there to act as a landing space for a slotted spoon. Now, I suppose, I'll just have to buy some nuts still in the shell, and see if the thing actually works.

It's either that, or have it sit in the drawer unopened in a drawer for another decade or two. And, in all honesty, would that be fair to the nutcracker we didn't even know we had?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 9/18

 It's all Deanna's fault.

My mind was blown for a short time yesterday after my friend Deanna sent me a meme that blew her mind. Apparently, her own insanity wasn't enough; she wanted to share it with me as well.

But, then, what are friends for, right?

Anyway, the meme was this—actor Paul Rudd, who's been in seemingly every movie for the past 20 years, turned 51 this year. He doesn't look like it; in fact, he still looks very much like he did when he started in “Clueless” 23 or 24 years ago. But he's 51.

Trust me. It happens to the best of us.

That's not what blew my mind, though. That was the rest of the meme, which pointed out that Paul Rudd is now the same as as was Wilford Brimley when he made “Cocoon”, playing a 70-year old.

THAT'S what blew her mind. And mine, too.

Don't believe me? Here are two 51 years olds side by side.

Now, your mind is blown, too. That's okay, though. You can just blame Deanna for that.

*****

Finally, I want to wish the two people without whom I would not be possible a happy anniversary! That's right; Chicky-Poo & Dar are celebrating another year of wedded bliss tomorrow, so if you happen to see them around, make sure you shower them with your best wishes. And if you wanna know more about their story, just CLICK HERE. 

Happy anniversary, Mom & Dad!!

Love,

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 9/17

 I think my iPod's reading my mind again.

I've discussed this several times before, about now my iPod, when it's on shuffle, does weird things, like play Beyonce's “Crazy in Love” followed by the the Chi-Lites' “Are You My Woman?”, the song from which “Crazy” samples its outrageous horn section. Then there was a Monday morning a few years ago when I went running a few hours after returning from Europe, and the first song that played on the shuffle was Simple Plan's “Jet Lag”.

Then there was this morning. Yesterday, I wrote about when I used to run the old Superior 5K in Marquette. I would often do so while listening to a carefully selected group of songs to help get me motivated. So when I went running this morning, what was the first song that popped up when I hit shuffle?

Def Leppard's “Run Riot”, one of the songs that used to be on the “help Jim run the 5K list”.

Now, I know this is all coincidence. I know my iPod doesn't read my mind (it IS 12 years old, after all, which (I believe) is before Apple put the brain control chip in all of its products (that's a joke, by the way)). I know that given a large enough sample size that what seems to to be my iPod reading my mind is just a random coincidence.

But still. My iPod's reading my mind again.

8-)

I actually don't remember much about the songs I used to listen to while running the race. I remember two of them--'Run Riot”, and Heavy D's “Now That We Found Love”. The others I don't recall, although I suppose I may still have the cassette tape on which they resided somewhere. That's right, by the way. The songs used to be on a cassette tape and I would listen to them on a Walkman while running, which means those race times I mentioned yesterday were done while lugging around an 82-pound piece of equipment with me.

Well, 82 pounds, give or take 81 and a half.

The songs all had approximately the same beat and the same tempo, giving me a cadence with which to run. And even though I don't do races any more, I still have an iPod full of songs that have that same tempo, and whenever I happen to be lagging a bit or feeling a little lack of morning energy, all I have to do is pop one of them on and I'm good to go.

Unless, of course, it's one of those days where my iPod's reading my mind. Then I don't even have to do that one simple act.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 9/16

 I wonder if I could still do it as well as I did it 15 or 20 years ago.

That thought's been occurring to me while running recently, so let me explain. Like all people who engage in any kind of athletic activity, I've had my share of aches & pains over the years, perhaps more so in the past few years because, as much as I'm loathe to admit it, I'm getting older. But this year, for some reason, I haven't had those aches & pains. My foot feels fine, my hamstring is cooperating, and I (think) I can run like I did 20 years ago.

It's kind of nice, if I have to admit it.

I've never been a competitive athlete. I'm just not that good. I don't care to measure myself against other people; after all, I know how I'll stack up. But for a couple of years I did take part in one organized athletic event, and that was the annual Superior 5K, which used to be held the weekend of the old Seafood Fest. I didn't do it to test myself against every other runner. In all honesty, I did it for the T-shirts and cups they gave out to the runners who crossed the finish line. But I did always use my result in the race to see if I had progressed over the past year, to see if I had gotten better. And by the last time I ran the race (which, I think, was the last time they held it), I wasn't doing too bad. I ran the five K in 22 minutes and 30 seconds, which actually placed me among the top third of the people in the race.

Not that I was measuring myself against the other runners, though.

Since they stopped holding the race I haven't run another, nor would I want to. But the one thing the race did provide me was a benchmark on where I stood as a runner. I have no idea if I became better or worse after I stopped running them, although I'm pretty sure it's the latter. After all, I'm not as young as I was then (insert ironic chuckle here), plus I started accumulating all those little aches & pains that seem to accompany non-natural athletes as they try to push themselves beyond what their bodies would naturally allow. But as I've spent this summer & fall running pain-free, going up & down the hills of Marquette with what feels like youthful abandon, I've been wondering--

How would I do if I ran the old Superior 5K route? Could I run it at the pace I ran it 15 years ago? Would my healthy (albeit) older body allow that? Or would I look at the stopwatch in embarrassment, coming to the realization that even without aches & pains I'm 15 years older than I was the last time I ran it, and that no one (especially someone without any natural athletic ability) should expect to do something they did when they were (gulp) younger?

I don't know. I don't know that I want to try, nor do I know if I even have the courage to try. But if I'm ever gonna have a shot at doing it, it's probably now. After all, despite my best attempts, I ain't getting any younger, and if I'm gonna do it I should do it while my body is in pretty good shape, free of those nagging aches & pains. But do I want to do it?

That's the question I've been asking myself, one that I'll probably keep asking myself every time I run.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 9/15

 I wonder if working by myself has driven me over the edge?

I'm now coming up on six months of being the only person working at the station, and there are times when I have to wonder if I'm slowly being turned into Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”. I mean, I haven't axed open a door yet, nor have I run out into the snow to slowly die, but the signs are there.

How, you ask? Well, I answer, I keep listening to the same three songs over & over.

It's true. As I've written in here before, I will often get into these little jags where I'll listen to a song over & over again until my brain explodes. But in the past couple of weeks it's been the same three songs, in a loop, over & over again. In fact, according to my iTunes counter, it may have been (ahem) 127 times over and over.

I know. I'm not well at all.

The three songs are, in order, Saint Motel's new “Preach”, Boz Scaggs' classic “Lowdown”, and Nick Heyward's long-forgotten “Whistle Down The Wind”. I have no idea why I started listening to them, I have no idea why I put them together in that order in a playlist, and I have no idea why I've listened to them (ahem) 127 times (and counting).

Like I said. I'm turning into Jack Nicholson's character in “The Shining”. It's the only answer.

Normally, my co-workers might mention something about my listening to a song over and over again, or normally, my co-workers might distract me from listening to the songs with their questions, gripes, or gossip. But for almost six months now I haven't had any co-workers. I'm here all alone. There's nothing to distract me. There are only those three songs, played in that order and on repeat, to keep me company.

Whether or not they're keeping me sane...well, I'll leave that up to you.

So if in the next few months you notice my writing gets a little strange, or I start using words like “preach” or “lowdown” way too often, know that there's a reason for it. And, just to be safe, you might wanna keep any & all axes away from me.

Just a thought.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Those three songs, if you're curious and/or looking to be driven insane?

Monday, 9/14

 You know how Marquette County was built on the mining of natural resources? How even today we have working iron ore & nickel mines? Well, I have another natural resource Marquette County could export, if we so choose--

Goose poop.

Okay; I realize that there may not be much of a market for goose crap out there, but we sure seem to have a surplus of it everywhere. And this year, for some reason, it seems to be even worse. You can walk anywhere along Marquette's lake shore bike path, and spend most of your time dodging those little pieces of, uhm, stuff. And forget about trying to play soccer in Marquette's Lower Harbor Park or at NMU's practice fields out by the Dome or on Wright Street. For the last three weekends, when Loraine & I went out to do just that, we ended up driving around having to find a field that hadn't recently been fertilized.

Thank you, Kaufman Sports Complex, for staying relatively clean.

Marquette's had goose problems before. That's to be expected when you live on a huge lake (with lots of little ponds around) underneath a goose migration path. So we've had to deal with goose waste before. But as I previously mentioned, I don't think I've ever seen as much crap lying around as I have this fall. I don't know if there are just simply more geese using Marquette as a roadside rest area, or if the poop just hasn't been cleaned up as much as before, but it seems like it's everywhere.

It's a crappy situation to have.

If you don't believe me, just go down to Lower Harbor Park. It looks all nice & green and like a fun place to play. But as soon as you start walking on the grass, look down. Do it for two reasons—one, to be amazed at how almost every single inch of that nice green grass is actually nice & green because that's the color of the goose stuff covering it. And also do it so you don't spend the next ten minutes trying to get goose poop out of your shoes which, trust me, is an exercise in futility.

You know what? On second thought, DON'T go down to Lower Harbor Park. I like you guys too much to subject you to that crap. Maybe wait until, I dunno, spring. Maybe it'll be gone by then.

Like I said, I wish I knew why there's an marked increase in goose poop around Marquette this year. I wish it would go away; however, I have the feeling it's only going to get worse. That's why it would be nice if there was a market for it somewhere, maybe as fertilizer. Not only would it continue Marquette County's legacy as a provider of natural resources, but it would also allow those of us who like to play outside with a chance to do so, free of shoes that still carry a reminder of the bird's legacies days after the event.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 9/11

 Not that there was ever any doubt, even after reading the blogs I've written the past few days, but I guess I really a happy person.

A website told me so.

I came across a list on social media a couple of days ago, a list of 10 items that may indicate you are, by nature, a happy person. Eight of them describe me perfectly, one doesn’t apply (yet), and I’m not totally certain about the tenth. The list?

You make good eye contact when you speak with someone.

You’re 95 years old, because happy people live the longest.

You’re kind, selfless, and empathetic

You’re distracted by things. Studies show that happy people are more easily distracted.

You’re generous and laid back.

You’re healthy.

You’re not addicted to anything.

You’re successful.

You have a lot to look forward to.

You’re very trusting of others.

Interesting, huh? Looking over the list I find that numbers 1,3,4,5,6,7,9, and 10 describe me perfectly to a “T”, I’m not the best person to judge if number 8 is accurate, and I still have quite a bit of time to deal with number two, although I am planning on living to be at least 100, so I guess we can put that one in the “pro” column, as well.

Cool!

I guess I’m lucky in that way, in that I’ve always been a glass half-full kind of person, and in that I’ve managed to find a life and lifestyle that seem to make me content. I know there are a ton of people out there who haven’t been able to do that; I feel incredibly fortunate that I’ve someone come out on the optimistic side of things. I don’t know if it’s because of background or temperament or brain chemistry (or any combination thereof), but I’m lucky. I like what I do. I like where I live. I truly like the people I hang out with. And even on those sucky winter days when it’s cold and windy and snowy and just generally crappy, I can take comfort that in a few months the sun will be out and I’ll be walking on a warm beach.

That’s a good thing, right?

I hope many of those ten items apply to you, as well, because everyone deserves to be happy in their lives. Oh sure, we may have setbacks along the way, and there may be stretches of time when things don’t exactly go the way we want them to, but everyone deserves a little happiness in their lives.

Everyone deserves to have at least 8 items on the list apply to them.

On that note, I hope YOUR weekend is full of happiness!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 9/10

 It just figures, you know?

I've tried very hard not to whine (too much) in here about the fact that I should be in France this week. There's nothing I can do about it, and whatever energy I could expend bemoaning the fact that I'm not there could be better used elsewhere. So I've tried not to think about it, at least as much as one can not think about having a second European trip in a year canceled.

Then I did something really stupid. Yesterday I looked at the weather forecast for places we were supposed to be this week, and this is what I found--

Wednesday—sunny & 80

Thursday—sunny & 82.

Friday—sunny & 88

Saturday—sunny & 81.

This was on top of the mostly sunny skies and highs in the 70s the region experienced the first few days we were supposed to be there. So while I'm sitting here typing this it's gloomy and in the upper 40s (ugh). Where I was supposed to be today will be (and given the time difference, already is) sunny & in the 80s. That's only, what—35 degrees and a lot of sun difference?. That's nothing to whine about, right?

Right???

If you've been reading these forever you know that we usually have a couple of days of poor weather when we visit Europe. Heck; sometimes, we have six straight days of rain (I'm looking at you, Bavaria in 2018) We've never had a trip where it's been sunny & warm every single day we were there. And yet, just because we weren't able to go, this year would've provided the opportunity we've never been able to experience.

Sigh.

I don't know what to say. I mean, I know this is just a freaky coincidence. I know Mother Nature doesn't have it in for us. I know this is just the law of weather averages playing out. But even knowing all that, part of me is just sitting here, staring at my keyboard, shaking my head, and muttering “Are you kidding me?” to myself. Of all the years for it to be nice (and I don't begrudge our French friends anything here; I hope they're enjoying it), it has to be this one?

I've said it before, and I know I'll say it again, but 2020 sucks.

Okay. I've devoted enough energy and enough whining about the subject. I really should put my time to better use, and not dwell on something I can't control. So I'm gonna go get dressed in layers, venture out into the prematurely Autumn chill, and try NOT to think about what could've been.

And I'm definitely not looking at a French weather forecast for the next few days.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 9/9

 It'll look different. But it'll still happen, and this year, that's all we can ask.

I've had several people ask if we'll be doing “High School Bowl” this season, and I'm happy to say that we will. In fact, we had a little gathering about how it'll look and how we'll be doing it, and I have to say that when you watch the first episode of the show in November you may not recognize it.

But it will still be “High School Bowl”.

There will be changes aplenty, thanks to social distancing requirements. There will be three students on a team instead of four, they'll be sitting at desks with barriers between them, and there won't be a live studio audience. Because of the way the set will be laid out, you'll also be seeing a lot of “boxes” on your screen. In fact, there may be up to four at a time. One team in one corner, the other team in the opposite corner, and me and the score filling up the rest of the screen.

It'll look more like a sporting event than it ever has.

With one exception, I'm actually looking forward to doing it this way. At its heart, it will still be the same show—a bunch of smart kids and a really dorky host—but it'll look entirely different. You'll see more computer monitors, more screens, and a lot of safety precautions. I think it'll be cool.

Like I mentioned, there is one exception that I'm curious about, and that's the lack of a studio audience. It'll have absolutely no impact at all on the game itself, but I'm wondering if it'll throw me off a little, at least at the beginning. After all, my one talent in life is playing off of an audience, and and if there's no one there to laugh and/or groan at my attempts at humor, I have no idea what it will look like. I'll have to do like I do on the radio, and leave a little pause between the gag and what comes next. That way, the audience can either chuckle or head to the fridge to find rotten fruit to throw at their TV, depending upon just how stupid the thing I said was.

And we all know just how stupid that can be.

We'll find out in three and a half weeks, when we're scheduled to tape the first show in the new format. You'll get to see whether or not it works a month after that.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 9/8

For all that Facebook claims to know about people, they sure don’t seem to know much about me.

One of the things the social media site says they do very well it to match up a person with ads that are tailored to their interest.  For instance, Facebook is supposed to be able to take a look at my profile, determine what I might be interested in, and then place ads on my newsfeed that match up with those interest, all in the hope that I’ll click “like” or visit the website, thereby allowing Facebook to make a little money from advertisers.  However, I’m not sure that it works the way it’s supposed to, based on several “sites you might like” suggestions that have popped up the last few days.  Those “suggestions”?  Well, they were for hunting equipment, a hardware store, and the Parents Television Council, a group that advocates censoring TV shows.

After that, I’m thinking Facebook doesn’t know me at all!

I know the company claims to get its information on me from two sources.  They comb through my likes to find other, similar sites and companies to suggest to me.  I currently have about 200 things that I “like” on Facebook, and not one of them has anything to do with hunting, with hardware stores (in this case, Lowes), or with censoring TV shows.  In fact, almost all of the shows that I “like” on Facebook are ones that the PTC thinks should be taken off the air.  So as far as that goes I’m a bit confused as to why Facebook would think that I might be interested in clicking “like” on its suggestions.

Of course, another way that Facebook “suggests” sites I might like is by combing through the “likes” of my friends, thinking that if they like something, I would probably like it, too.  The flaw in that theory, of course, is that I have a lot of Facebook friends, some of whom I have almost nothing in common with.  I have friends, in real life and on Facebook, who have different political views than do I, have different tastes in TV than do I, and who like to go hunting and/or build things.  And for Facebook to think that I’d be interested in something just because someone I know and/or are “friends” with are interested; well, that just seems to be stretching it a little.

At least it seems that way to me.

Of course, in the end, it’s really not that big of a deal.  After all, it’s only Facebook, and if there’s one thing of which Facebook users are aware, it’s that the site really doesn’t seem to know what they’re doing, despite protestations to the contrary.  So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that among the “things that I might like” are things I find uninteresting or are against my moral views.

That’s just Facebook, after all.

(jim@wmqt.com)

 

Friday, 9/4

 It’s amazing how easy it is to shake up your perception of reality. Sometimes, you just hafta run backwards.

Tomorrow morning, I’m gonna do what I do every Saturday morning. I’m gonna run. I’m gonna run a long way, and one of the places I’m gonna run is around the Fit Strip in Marquette. In fact, I’ll probably end up running around it twice, and it’s the second time around that’s gonna help shake up my perception of reality.

Let me explain—I’ve been running around the Fit Strip since just after I moved back to Marquette three decades ago. Our first apartment was just a block away, and the Fit Strip was a way for us to enjoy nature, if only for a little bit. And even after all these years, it’s the one of the few pieces of nature I actually enjoy being in. So I run around it every chance I get.

The thing is, every time I run around the Fit Strip—and I’ve probably done it over a thousand times now—is that I always run it the same way. I start at the Ridge Street entrance, and run it counter clock-wise. I think I started doing it that way because that’s how the numbered exercise stations are laid out, and I just got to know the course that way. I know it backwards & forwards; in fact, I know the course that way so well that during winter nights when I’m trying to get to sleep, I run through the course in my mind, knowing where every curve, every hill, and every tree sits.

THAT’S how well I know the Fit Strip course.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I tried something I’d not tried in the almost three decades I’ve run the Fit Strip. The first lap around, I ran it like I normally do. But for the second lap, I turned around, and ran it backwards. Instead of running the second lap counter clock-wise, I ran it clockwise. And from the moment I started, it was like I was in a Bizarro-based alternate universe.

You know how, two paragraphs ago, I said I knew the Fit Strip backwards & forwards? Well, as it turns out, I only knew it forwards, because from the moment I started running it backwards, it was like I’d never run it before. I had no idea where on the course I was. When two trails converged, I wasn't quite sure which one to take. And the fact that I was running down hills that I usually run up (and vice versa) threw my mind (or at least what’s left of it after all these years) for one very big, Fit Strip-sized loop..

It shook up my perception of reality.

So now you know what I’ll be going through around, oh, 8:30 or 8:40 tomorrow morning. Think a kind thought for me at that time, if you would. Otherwise, have yourself a GREAT 3-day weekend (assuming, of course, you get a 3-day weekend), and see if you can shake up you perception of reality a little bit. Trust me—it’s an eye opener!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 9/3

 You know, there are days when I wish I could give out tickets to all idiots in the world. And yesterday was one of those days.

Since it was a nice day yesterday I took some time off to play in the sun. I was riding my bike along the Lakeshore Boulevard bike path near the Lake Superior Theater when I noticed a flagrant violation of the law by a pickup truck driver. Despite the fact that the speed limit was 25, despite the fact that they were on a city street, and despite the fact that they were going around a corner, the (male) driver of a silver pickup decided he didn’t want to follow the law, so he sped up and passed the car in front of him.

That's right. On a city street where there’s no passing and while going around a corner, the driver of the silver pickup passed a car that was going the speed limit. And to make it worse, there was an oncoming car going the other way around the corner, meaning the pickup truck driver going the illegal passing had to serve to avoid hitting it, causing the driver of the car he had just (illegally) passed to slam on her brakes, lest she hit the pickup truck.

Oh, the things you see while out for a ride on a sunny day.

It seems like I’ve been mentioning bad drivers in here a lot recently, and if you’re getting sick of it, I do apologize. But WTF?? Am I just noticing these flagrant violations of traffic law more? Are there more drivers out there flagrantly violating traffic laws? Do drivers just not care any more?

I’m not sure if I should be glad that I don’t drive a lot, or be worried because I don’t drive a lot. After all, by walking everywhere, I put myself at the mercy of people who don’t pay attention to pedestrians. But then if I drove everywhere, I’d be putting myself at the mercy of idiots in pickup trucks who decide that it’s okay to pass someone while going around a corner on a city street.

Some people, I tell ya...

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 9/2

 It's actually become one of the most difficult things I do every week.

Tuesday is “On The Town” day, the day when TV Jim does one of his weekly TV gigs, this one for Fox UP talking about stuff going on during the upcoming weekend. Normally, it's a breeze to do; after all, with all of the festivals and events and stuff going on in the UP—especially during the summer—all I have to do is find three of them and I'm good to go.

That's “normally”. As we may have discussed once or twice in here, 2020's been anything BUT “normal”.

And that really impacts something like “On The Town”. I mean, if nothing's happening because of the pandemic, that doesn't give me anything to talk about. If none of those festivals or events are going on, what's there to let people know about?

Not much.

I can usually find one event that's going on somewhere in the UP. And I can usually tie in something people can do on the weekend that a big traditional event (like Art on the Rocks or the UP State Fair) would normally occur. But after that? I'm scouring websites and Facebook pages and newspaper ads, all to try & find something to talk about.

It used to be easy. Now...not so much.

I'm not complaining, nor am I thinking it's a pain in the butt. I'm not, and it's not. It's just become a little more...interesting in the past six months to find that all the things we used to take for granted are things we no longer can take for granted. But, then, isn't that 2020 in a nutshell? And since I know there are some people who do enjoy seeing the segments (and a few sly comments I may (may) make during them) I shall keep doing them, no matter now much extra work they may be.

After all, if it's one thing that people can still take for granted in a year when we can take nothing else for granted, a few extra minutes of work is more than worth it.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 9/1

 Tomorrow, I should've been leaving for France.

Today, in a just world, I would've been working to get all those last minute details ready so we could leave. But because we don't seem to live in a just world any more, today is simply Tuesday.

Tomorrow, then, is just simply Wednesday.

Today, instead of taking care of those last minute things and then looking forward to traveling somewhere exciting tomorrow, I instead get to wonder just how in the world British Airways “lost” the $82 we paid for seat assignments after American canceled the co-share flight on which we were book.

Tomorrow, I'll probably still be shaking my head wondering how anyone deals with airlines without losing a big part of their sanity and a small part of their soul.

Today, I won't have to check the weather forecasts in two different states and three different countries, making sure that we won't have any possible delays or disruptions.

Tomorrow, I'll bemoan the fact that it's supposed to be in the 80s in the places we were supposed to be visiting the first few days.

Today, I'll feel sad for the 40,000+ Americans who will catch Covid-19 and the 1,000+ who will die of it.

Tomorrow, I'll feel disgusted by the national leaders and the governors of certain states who allowed that to happen, thereby putting US citizens not only in mortal danger, but unable to go anywhere else on this planet.

Today I'm wistful about what could have happened..

Tomorrow, I'll be bummed about what didn't.

(jim@wmqt.com)