Tuesday, 1/31

This may not work for you. Heck, it may not even work for me. But I think I've come up with a way to mentally, at least, handle this hellaciously cold snap we currently find ourselves in.

Just think of the (pardon the pun) polar opposite,

Now, let me explain. If you study weather or if you're just obsessed with temperatures like some of us, you know that winter is kind of a mirror-universe version of the summer. Even though the temperatures are cold and the precipitation is solid instead of liquid, winter and summer are like the matter and anti-matter versions of each other, or like the evil and good versions of each other.

Which, I guess, would make winter the Spock with the beard.

(And, hopefully, someone is currently rolling on the floor laughing out loud. Either that, or my jokes are just getting WAAAAAAY too specific).

So let's work from that theory, that Summer & Winter are the same seasons, just 180 degrees apart. In that theory, January and July are the yin and yang of the seasons. They both represent the extremes of their respective seasons (which, in real life they do, January being the coldest month of the year in Marquette and July the warmest). If something happens in January there would have to be something happening in July that's a mirror version of it. That would then mean that there is an equivalent version of this hellacious January cold streak, and it's the thought of that that's keeping me going.

Because, after all, the July equivalent of this cold streak would be a nice long streak of hot & humid weather in July.

From a meteorological point of view, both streaks are pretty much the same. They're both caused by weather systems that have stalled over the area or that have popped in from a place where they usually don't visit. They both bring extreme and uncomfortable conditions, and they both last longer than (some) people would like. When they finally go, people rejoice in the fact that “normal” weather returns. They're almost exactly like a mirror copy of each other.

Except one's brutally cold, and the other is heavenly warm. And while I can't speak for every single person, I know which one I prefer.

So that's how I'm (hopefully) gonna get through this next week. Whenever I shiver or have to throw on extra layers or, heck, even look out the window, I'm just gonna think—I'm in the Mirror Universe now. But soon, I'll be back in the real one. And when this summer's equivalent of this cold comes around, I'm gonna bask it in as much as I can.

Hopefully, that will work. Keep your fingers crossed.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 1/30

Could it be that I might actually have survived my five days from heck?

Keep your fingers crossed.

The five days to which I'm referring started last Thursday, when Jack & I did “Lights Camera, Marquette” at Kaufman Auditorium, followed by “High School Bowl” & work Friday, followed by announcing at the Noquemanon all day Saturday, followed by work stuff for three of my jobs Sunday, and to (hopefully) be wrapped up today by finally (finally!) having our new computers installed at work.

Once that installation is done (and computers, that's always a VERY big if) I just have to do the other of my TV gigs tonight and then, just maybe, I can sit down, stare at the wall, and wonder what kind of bozo has scheduled these last five days for me.

I honestly think whoever it is needs to be fired.

8-)

Of course, as I mentioned last week, there really does seem to be no rest for the wicked. Now that I'm past this batch of stuff I get to stare at the next batch of stuff. While there are only two more shooting dates for “High School Bowl” left on the calendar, I still have my other TV gig (and the attendant writing that goes along with it). Plus, I'm only a month or so away from the premiere of “The Greasier the Spoon”, the documentary I'm making for the Marquette Regional History Center.

So I won't be bored. That's for sure.

However, assuming the computer switch-over goes well today (and please keep your fingers crossed that it DOES go well) I might be able to actually catch a breath for a day or two. After all, miracles CAN happen, right?

Please say yes...

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 1/27

 So...how did it go last night for "Lights, Camera, Marquette" at Kaufman Auditorium?  Well, this is how it went--

I'd like to say more, but I have to be at a TV studio in a few minutes.  Then I have to go do radio stuff.  Then I have to announce a cross-country ski race.  Then I have to write something for my other TV gig Monday.  And it looks like Monday is also the day we finally get the new computers installed at the station.

If there is indeed no rest for the wicked, I'm wondering just what I may have done in the past to rate the next few days.

8-)

I'm off!!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 1/26

Well, tonight's the night.  Tonight's the night Jack & I get up on stage at Kaufman, show a bunch of old movies, and crack a few bad jokes.  Since I have a lot to do before that, would you mind if I re-purposed something?

I mean, at least it's something that's relevant to all this, as opposed to just being, well, irrelevant.  So we have THAT going for us.

Anyway, here's a Mining Journal article I wrote about the big show tonight.  Hope it at least gives you a little hint as to one of the things I've been working on the past few months.

(jim@wmqt.com)

                                                *******

A unique piece of Marquette history, which the public can see Thursday night, was literally rescued from a dumpster.

In the 1910s and 1920s the owners and managers of the Delft Theater in Marquette shot 35 millimeter movie footage of area events and activities. That film was then shown in the theater, placed before films starring such stars of the day as Charlie Champlin and Mark Pickford. There was also footage shot of several local businesses, in what may have been an early version of the pre-show commercials that populate movie theaters today.

Flash forward to 1980, when Jack Deo owned Superior View Studios, then located above Donckers in downtown Marquette. Looking out his window one day, Jack saw what appeared to be several canisters of movie film lying in a dumpster behind the Delft.

“I immediately ran down and talked to (theater owner) Paul Florence, who was cleaning out the theater. In the basement were all the old films from the Delft Theater, and he was nice enough to give them to me instead of throwing them away”, Deo said.

The footage he recovered was irreplaceable, chronicling both everyday life in Marquette–shots of schools, businesses, and life on Lake Superior–as well as special events, such as pageants at NMU, parades, and the arrival of Army generals on a nation-wide tour.

Screen shot of old Post Office and (now Old) City Hall taken at corner of Washington & Third in the 1910s

Deo sent the film away for preservation, a process he said involved two different processes–the films actually shown in the theater, and the negatives on which it was shot. The negatives were stored in tightly wound reels, but in 1980 sixty years after the footage was originally shot, big portions of the film reels had started to degrade.

“Some of the film had already started to turn to dust”, Deo said. “There was a George Shiras movie that was gone, among others. However, there were some that were still intact, so the negatives were sent off to the only lab in the country that could process them.”

Deo received some assistance from Russ McKee, who ran the Michigan DNR magazine at the time. Deo was working with the magazine, and showed McKee what he had found. “He knew they were worth saving”, says Deo, who ended up with two 16 millimeter reels of film.

Since then, the 16 millimeter reels, taken from the original 35 millimeter footage, have been transferred to several other formats, now digital. And while the original footage, some of which has experienced severe degradation over the past century, will never match today’s 4K television picture or IMAX movie screens, what remains is a vital link to Marquette’s past.

Instead of seeing mere still pictures of the area in the 1910s and 1920s, the movies bring to life an era of the city in a way that few have ever seen before.

All of which was saved from a dumpster 43 years ago.

*****

That footage (and more) will be screened, with commentary from Jack Deo and Jim Koski, as well as live silent movie-era music played by Bob Buchkoe, during “Lights, Camera, Marquette: The Silent Films of 1914-1949”, a fund-raising program for the Marquette Regional History Center Thursday, January 26th at 7 at Kaufman Auditorium. Tickets range from $15 to $25, and will be available online or at the door. For more information, call the History Center at (906) 226-3571, or visit www.marquettehistory.org.

Wednesday, 1/23

It's been almost exactly a month. Have you finished eating all of your Christmas gifts yet?

I don't know if you're like me, but a big chunk of the gifts I'm given over the holidays, maybe even half, consists of food. Chocolate makes up a large majority of it, but you could count cookies, nuts, fruit, gift cards used to buy food and, well, more chocolate as part of the sum total. I don't mind; after all, people know how much Loraine and I like certain kinds of food, and that makes us easy people for whom to buy, I guess.

Of course, that means that after the holidaze both Loraine and I have a lot of food to eat. The chocolate's not a problem, especially the huge collection sent to us each and every year by daily blog readers Floyd & Betsy of Reese (thanks, other Mom & Dad!), but the other stuff—especially the perishable items like fruit or semi-perishable stuff like cookies—do need to get eaten before they go bad. And that usually means they they need to be gone by, say, now.

We're almost done with those items. Are you?

I mean, you may not have to worry about it. You may not have a lot of food given to you over the holidays, and you may not feel the pressure to get it all consumed by a certain date. Maybe that's just us. And maybe that's just karma biting us on the butt for spreading out 30,000 calories worth of cookies to friends and family before the holidays, and maybe karma doesn't feel the need to pay back you and yours.

Maybe.

One system that we have found that works is this—we sample each and every thing we're given. More often than not, we end up consuming the whole gift. But on occasion, especially if it's one of several of a certain kind we've been given, or if it's of a taste with which we may not be totally enthralled, we'll “donate” the rest of it to Loraine's office mates. Unlike me, she works with a big staff of people, a staff of people who don't mind sampling food brought in by coworkers. In that way, it's a win-win—they enjoy it, and we manage to get all the food consumed before it goes bad.

See? We've thought this through.

We appreciate all the food we're given each year, and enjoy sampling every single thing that's given to us. And this year, it looks like we might actually make through all of them by, uhm, April or so. Wish us luck!

(jim@wmqt.com), who hopes that YOU'VE managed to eat your way through all of your yummy Christmas gifts!

Tuesday, 1/24

 So...was this a case of great minds thinking alike?

Or was it something entirely different?

As I said I would, I took my snowshoes out for the first time on Sunday morning, trekking over to Park Cemetery to take advantage of the foot of fresh snow we received at the end of last week.   For the past several years, when snowshoeing over there I've followed a very roundabout course I came up with, going halfway around the cemetery, then into the woods around the Fit Strip, avoiding the groomed trails but going up & down the wooded hills surrounding them, all before heading back into the cemetery and going the rest of the way around it.

It takes about an hour and a half, and since it avoids any or all of the places that someone would walk or ski, I get quite the workout, all while enjoying the solitude you get from being in a place where no one else goes.

Or so I thought.

When I got into the wooded part of my trek, I noticed that I was actually following in the snowshoe-d steps of someone else.  And those steps I was following were themselves following the exact same, meandering random course that I came up with a few years ago, a course that takes you off any beaten path and up & down hills that no one else in their right mind would go up & down.

It was weird.

As I was following the footsteps along the meandering course I came up with, I thought of two reasons why someone would have gone before me the exact same way I've been going the past several years.  One of the explanations would be that, if you were looking for a maximum aerobic workout on snowshoes, you might pick the exact same course that I came up with, including the same hills, valleys, and detours.  The odds on that happening are infinitesimal--perhaps on a par with the Lions ever winning a Super Bowl--but it COULD happen.  Maybe great (or at least similar) minds really do think alike.

Or maybe, just maybe, someone decided to (literally) follow in my footsteps after I went snowshoeing one of the times I went last year, thought the course I meandered was a good workout, and chose it as their preferred course ever since.  The odds on that are better than the Lions winning the Super Bowl someone else coming up with the exact same course on their own, but still...

You don't know.

I'll be curious to see what's up the next time I head out to snowshoe, probably after another heavy snow.  Will I be breaking a fresh trail by myself, or will someone else have gotten there ahead of me, following in my footsteps even before my footsteps had the chance to do it themselves.

We'll see.  And if those footsteps are there before me once again, that'll make me even more curious as to why they showed up in the first place.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 1/23

 Wow.  It's a Monday, and I'm about to go to work.  Why does that feel so weird?

Well, it feels weird because it IS weird.  I have had the past four Mondays off, for Christmas, New Year's, a medical appointment, and Martin Luther King Day.  I have no been to work on a Monday since, uhm, last year.

Well, I haven't been to work on a Monday since December 19th, but it sounds more impressive if you say "last year".  So let's just leave it at that.

8-)

It's a good thing I'm actually working on this Monday, as it starts my annual "week of insanity".  Yes, I know I have MANY weeks that could be labeled "weeks of insanity", but this one really is.  Aside from doing five days of radio I do a TV commentary tonight, the final interviews for "The Greasier the Spoon" tomorrow night, the big "Lights, Camera, Marquette" production with Jack at Kaufman Thursday, host another TV show Friday, and then spend all day Saturday announcing at the finish line of the Noquemanon.

And I have to remember to try to eat & sleep sometime in there, as well.

So I guess it's a good thing that I do actually go to work today.  After all, I have the feeling that every extra second I can get is a second that would (or at least should) be put to good use.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 1/20

To quote a great American, “When I'm wrong, I say I was wrong”.

And boy, was I wrong.

As you may recall, when I wrote yesterday's blog I was wondering if we'd actually get any snow at all from our latest Winter Weather Warning. After all, several times this year what we received was quite different from what was forecast, and I was just pondering if it would happen again.

Well, uhm, no, it didn't. The forecast was right on track--

It was amazing, as well; between 9 am and, I think, 2 pm we received what appeared to be six to eight inches of snow. It slowed down for a bit after that before picking up again, but for those four or five hours the storm was everything as promised.

And then some.

My gig in Big Bay did end up getting postponed, so I was able to spend a couple of hours last night working on other stuff. It was moved to next month, which means that I'll lose a couple of hours of editing time then, but that's okay.

After all, next month is in, you know, a month. I'll deal with it then.

Thankfully, it's all in the process of ending, so maybe it's time to grab my snowshoes and see if there's now enough snow to trod around the Fit Strip for the first time this winter. That would be a nice treat, and a nice reward for being wrong.

You know, my regular default operating mode.

8-)

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 1/19

So...which way will it go?

As I type this we're under a Winter Weather Warning, with the possibility that anywhere from 12 to 18 inches of white stuff could fall, depending upon which way the wind blows, how fast the system moves, and, I dunno, whether or not we all eat tacos during the day today. I know it's supposed to be bad, but it's supposed to have been bad several times this year, and most of those times?

The snow didn't come. Or it rained. Because, you know, that's the way our weather is these days.

Thankfully, I don't think the weather will impact any of my insane January activities; in fact, it may make them a little better. If it's as bad as it's promised, I'm guessing the show Jack & I are doing tonight in Big Bay will be called off. “High School Bowl” for tomorrow has already been rescheduled, So, in a way, I suppose I should be cheering for a big snow event.

It'll give me a few hours off.

Like I said, I have no idea what's gonna happen, and in all honesty I'm okay either way. I'll do a program and other stuff if it doesn't snow, and if it does...well, that means that we may actually have enough snow for me to break out my snowshoes this upcoming weekend.

What will happen? We'll find out in the next few hours. So stay tuned.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 1/18

I have to make cookies soon, and writing down a reminder to myself reminded me that I have to unleash a rant about something. So if you don’t mind (or even if you do), here we go--

How come they still insist putting flour in paper containers, especially containers that allow holes to be torn in them way too easily? Last time I checked, it’s the 21^st century...can’t they come up with something a little more high-tech than easily torn paper?

Okay, I’m done complaining. And yes, I know that I could put flour into a plastic container the next time I open a bag, but that’s not the point. Why does flour come in a flimsy bag to begin with? Especially a bag that could explode into a big mushroom cloud of white powder, something that MAY have happened in a certain Marquette kitchen a month or so ago when a certain Marquette resident may have had to open a new bag of flour to make Christmas cookies.

I’m not naming names, but it MAY have happened. Hence, my complaint about the bags in which they still sell flour. While I’m all for using environmentally friendly packaging, and paper’s about the most environmentally friendly container you can get, why is it the paper and glue they use is so hard to tear apart? Maybe I’m doing this wrong--it wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened--but I try to be very careful when opening a bag of flour. I mean, it does no good to tear open a bag of flour recklessly and leave a huge gaping hole in the side of it; after all, have you ever tried to pour flour out of a bag with a huge gaping hole in the side of it?

If that’s the case, then why are tops of bags of flour so tightly wound and tightly glued? I know they have to be strong sealed enough so they don’t burst open in the store or in transit--I get that--but why are they sealed so tightly that it could take either an incredibly sharp knife or a laser cutter just to get the bag open without traumatic injury to it? Or to you? Like I said, maybe I’m doing it wrong. Maybe I still haven’t discovered the secret to opening a bag of flour properly. But it just seems to be that there should be a better way of selling flour than in a paper bag that’s prone to explosion. It really does.

And that, to quote a great American, is all I’m gonna say about that. After all, I don't wanna start approaching my quota of crankiness for the month. There are still thirteen days left! So with that...

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 1/17

 Wow.  People really like their old restaurants, don't they?

I spent my day off yesterday conducting one (hopefully last) big batch of interviews for my upcoming "The Greasier the Spoon" documentary for the Marquette Regional History Center.  While some of the interviews were with restaurant professionals, a couple were just with everyday people, people who've spent the last 50 years enjoying the restaurants that the documentary will be spotlighting.

I don't wanna give away too much before the thing is put together and has its debut, but I feel safe in saying that there are a few old restaurants that keep popping up again an again as these interviews roll on.  Some, like the Top Top and the Coffee Cup, I'm just too young to remember.  Others, like the Northwoods, I remember quite well.  And it's been quite the trip watching the people I'm interviewing and seeing their eyes light up as they talk about the places they used to frequent and the memories they still have.

I hope that all translates to the finished product, as well.

For me, the trip has also come in digging up old pictures and visuals to use in the film.  One resource I have now that I haven't had in previous projects is the recent digitization of old editions of the Marquette Mining Journal, a joint effort between NMU and the Peter White Public Library.  Ironically, one of the benefactors of the digitization is also an interview subject in the documentary, Dr Russ Maghagni.  Because of his largese and the work from the library, I've been able to sit at home and dig up old newspaper ads and stories about places that might otherwise have been ignored.

So if you watch the show and see things like this-

You'll know it's because of the digitization project that I'm able to include them.  Between all that information and the great interviews I've compiled over the past (gulp) two years, I'm hoping this project will be something that people enjoy and appreciate.

If nothing else, we'll find out March 8th.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 1/13

Since I won't be here Monday, which is Martin Luther King Day, and since I have to be in a TV studio in a few minutes, how about if I take the easy way out and give you something I wrote about the holiday a few years ago? It's appropriate and, if you don't feel like reading it today, check it out Monday, when it'll be even more appropriate.

Have a great weekend. Back with something new Tuesday!

(jim@wmqt.com)

******

(as originally posted 1/20/20):

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Those of you who have been reading this for a long time know of my deep admiration for the man in whose honor we have a holiday today. And while most people know the Classics Illustrated version of his story--the March on Washington, the “I Have a Dream” speech, and his assassination--I have the feeling that not enough people know about how he led one of the most profound changes in this country’s history, and how the words he spoke throughout that long & contentious change still resonate today.

And that’s a bad thing.

Now, I’m not gonna go off on a rant on how everyone should go out and spend the day studying about his life; after all, you all have your own life to worry about. But every year I like to share a quote of his that may not be quite as famous as “I Have a Dream”. And when looking through some material about him over the weekend, I found one that made me laugh, and not necessarily in a good way.

Here it is--

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

It comes, if I’m not mistaken, from his book “Strength to Love”. If you didn’t know that was written 55 years ago, you’d think he was talking about politics and of the partisan divide of American electorate today. Or that he was talking about one of the endless ways many Americans just seem to want to float through life without challenging themselves.

Now, I know I’m out of the ordinary. God, do I know I’m out of the ordinary. But it seems to me that going through life trying to take the path of least resistance--the “easy” way out--is nothing more than cheating yourself and cheating the people around you. After all, we all have a finite amount of time on this planet. Shouldn’t we make sure that the time we do have is put to good use? Shouldn’t we continue to learn and give ourselves new experiences?

Sadly, most people don’t put their limited time on this planet to good use. Did you know that 35% of Americans, once they graduate from high school, never read a book again? I mean, really? How can you hope to learn--how can you hope to challenge yourself, to better yourself--if you don’t read? Another great American philosopher (I’ll tell you who in a second) once said “TV has all the answers”. And sadly, I think too many people believe that. Too many people sit and watch and blindly follow the marching orders of their favorite partisan news channel or their favorite reality TV star and never stop to think or to question for themselves. There’s more to life than what you watch or what you’re told by TV, although I don’t think the philosopher who said that “TV has all the answers” would agree.

Especially because that philosopher was Homer Simpson.

So in honor of Dr. King, think for yourself today. Challenge yourself today. Prove that our universal quest doesn’t lie in easy answers, but that it lies in people willing to search for the hard truths.

Thursday, 1/12

It's going...thanks for asking.

A week ago I wrote about how purely insane my month of January has turned out to be. I've had one of two of you inquire as to how it's going, and I can proudly say that I haven't dropped dead.

Well, at least not yet.

There are many good things, actually. “Lights, Camera, Marquette”, the show Jack & I are doing at Kaufman two weeks from tonight, is pretty much done. I haven't written a newspaper article about it yet, but everything else seems to be done. And I'm using this upcoming Monday—a day I have off for the first time ever, because it's King Day—to shoot a bunch of stuff for “The Greasier the Spoon”, the documentary I'm making for the History Center.

So I am trying to make the most of my precious time.

However, the computer transition here at work isn;t going quite as smoothly. As soon as one problem is dealt with another pops up. You'd think it would be fairly straightforward, but it's not. We're transitioning to a new system that works—kinda, sorta—like our old one, but there's enough of a difference that that “kinda, sorta” isn't as comforting as it should be. I've been referring to this whole process with this analogy—it's like trying to go from German to English. They're related languages, but they don't have much in common.

So I have that going for me. We'll see how it turns out.

Ads I wrote before, I'll make it through somehow. I'm not quite sure how, but I will make it through. Just keep your fingers crossed for me.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 1/11

Because the weirdest things pop into my head while I'm trying to go to sleep some nights, let me ask you this question--when is chocolate really not chocolate? Is it when there isn’t any chocolate in the chocolate?

No, I’m not (deliberately) trying to be confusing, and no, this isn’t some kind of Zen exercise. This is a real question that deserves real pondering, and here’s why--odds are, you received some kind of chocolate product for Christmas or as a gift for hosting a New Year's Eve party, right? I mean, chocolate products are everywhere during the season, and odds are one or two of them ended up in your hands. If you have still have a chocolate gift or two lying around, look at the container in which they came.

Because your chocolate may really not be chocolate.

I’m not kidding. If you received anything from Palmer, or a little box of Andes mints, or perhaps even a giant Nestlé’s Crunch Bar, you’ll see one of two things on the box. You’ll either see that they’re described as “chocolate-flavored products” or if you look at the ingredients you’ll see that they don’t have cocoa butter and/or chocolate liquor, the two things that make up actual, real chocolate.

That’s right--your chocolate may not have any chocolate in it. THAT’S why I posed the Zen-like question!

This has been going on for a couple of years now. Some manufactures, in order to squeeze every cent they can out of their products, have replaced the actual chocolate they buy and use with a mix of partially hydrogenated soybean oil and chocolate “flavoring”, and then pass it off as ‘chocolate”. Now I know I may come across occasionally as a chocolate snob, but in an instance like this, my snobbery may be justified. I mean, if you eat this stuff, you’re not eating chocolate. You’re eating artery-clogging saturated fat that tastes like chocolate. And, at least to me, it doesn’t even taste like real chocolate; it tastes like, I dunno, brown-flavored wax. If you don’t believe me, try a taste test. Take a piece of real chocolate, and eat it. Then take a chocolate-flavored candy product, and do the same.

You may find yourself becoming a chocolate snob, too.

The sad thing is most people probably don’t even realize what’s going on. I mean, how many people read the labels or the ingredient lists on the food they eat? That’s probably why the candy companies figured they could get away with it; after all, if no one paid attention, they could probably also replace any nuts in their bars with “nut-like pieces” of tree bark and no one would be the wiser. It’s sad, but it’s true, and it seems to be a fact of modern life.

I’ll quit complaining about it now; after all, there are SO many things in life that are more important than and deserve more discussion than “chocolate” that it’s not even funny. I just figured I’d point it out, and maybe open a few eyes in the process. Besides, you guys know how I love chocolate...at least when it actually IS chocolate.

Caveat emptor, I guess.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 1/10

 That'll teach me to try and save a little time.

Sundays are when I usually write my Monday night thing for 19 News.  For last night's segment, though, I was planning on talking about the Packers/Lions game that had taken place the night before.  Because it was a very late game, and because I wanted to get the copy and graphics to them, I wrote it, as usual, Sunday afternoon, assuming something specific would happen and I could get away with it.

And then the Packers had to go and lose.

So early yesterday morning--VERY early yesterday morning--I had to re-write it and send it along.  I was able to salvage most of it, although I did lose a few jokes and one line I kind of liked.

But, like I said, that will teach me to work ahead and save a little time.  Since I wrote it and since it shows how writing can be fluid, given the circumstances, I'll give you both version--the air done and the unaired one.

Compare and contrast at your leisure.

(jim@wmqt.com)

AIRED VERSION--

As we’ve discussed before, we’re all Yoopers. But we’re not all the same. We try to overcome those differences, but there are two or three times a year when it’s almost impossible.

And that’s when the Packers play the Lions.

Last night, of course, was the latest epic struggle between the UP’s two “home” teams. And last night led to something that hasn’t happened much in the past six decades–the Lions won, and the Packers aren’t going to the playoffs.

If I had to guess–and this is nothing more than a guess–I’d say the UP is split 65-35 in favor of Green Bay. There are many reasons why, but let’s face it.

Green Bay’s had a lot of success over the years. The Lions?

Well, they’re the Lions. So it’s probably not a surprise that Green Bay’s more popular than Detroit across the UP.

I’m agnostic on the issue these days. However, I was raised a Lions fan, and the resultant decades of psychic pain instilled in me a deep empathy for Detroit supporters, especially during those years they flirted with or even achieved a perfect record.

Well, perfect if you consider 0 and 16 a perfect record.

Maybe that’s what makes last night so stunning. Detroit looked like a football team and the Packers? Well, at times the Packers looked like the Lions. When does that happen? And because of it, both teams are out of the playoffs.

That’s probably more of a shock to the system of Green Bay fans, for whom a playoff berth seems a birthright. But maybe they should take a cue from Lions’ fans, for whom the unofficial team motto, since 1957, has been “there’s always next year”.

So this upcoming weekend, the 65 percent of the UP who are Packer fans and the 35 percent that are Lions fans should come together, and find a new team to cheer on during the course of the playoffs.

Just as long as it’s not the Minnesota Vikings.

I’m Jim Koski, and that’s another slice of “Life in the 906”.

UNAIRED VERSION--

As we’ve discussed before, we’re all Yoopers. But we’re not all the same. We try to overcome those differences, but there are two or three times a year when it’s almost impossible.

And that’s when the Packers play the Lions.

Last night, of course, was the latest epic struggle between the UP’s two “home” teams. And it turned out like almost every epic struggle between the two the past six decades–the Packers are going to the playoffs and the Lions are going home.

If I had to guess–and this is nothing more than a guess–I’d say the UP is split 65-35 in favor of Green Bay. There are many reasons why, but let’s face it.

Green Bay’s had a lot of success over the years. The Lions?

Well, they’re the Lions. So it’s probably not a surprise that Green Bay’s more popular than Detroit across the UP.

I’m agnostic on the issue these days. However, I was raised a Lions fan, and the resultant decades of psychic pain instilled in me a deep empathy for Detroit supporters, especially during those years they flirted with or even achieved a perfect record.

Well, perfect if you consider 0 and 16 a perfect record.

Things looked like they might turn out differently this year. It looked like it might have been the year when tables turned and hell froze over. It looked like the year that Detroit might be going somewhere and Green Bay might be going home.

But the Packers did what the Packers do. They beat the Lions. They made the playoffs. And for a big chunk of the UP, life is as it should be.

And as for the Lions? Well, there’s always next year. Just like there’s always been a next year since (sigh) 1957?

So this upcoming weekend, 65 percent of the UP will be cheering on their favorite team in the playoffs, while the other 35% will sit back and wonder if maybe–just maybe–the 66th time might be the charm for theirs.

I’m Jim Koski, and that’s another slice of “Life in the 906”

Friday, 1/6

Since I have to be at NMU in a little bit to resume shooting the 44th season of "High School Bowl", I'm going to take the cheating, easy way out and leave you something that I wrote a couple of years ago, although considering yesterday WAS a snow day, it's actually pretty appropriate.

And...since I'm in the middle of a string of four Mondays in a row when I'm not working, there won't be another one of these until Tuesday.

That's okay.  Just call me "Mr Good News".  Or "Mr Not Making an Effort".  Either one of those would work, right?

8-)

Have a great weekend.  Like I said, back with something new on Tuesday!

(jim@wmqt.com)

                                            *****

(as originally posted 1/8/19):

I miss shoveling. And because of that I was almost—almost--tempted to take up Jen on the offer she made yesterday.

Yesterday on her daily station promo our morning personality said she'd offer up my services if anyone needed the 8 inches of snow we received removed from their driveways. I had no idea she said that; then after a listener called and (jokingly) wanted to hire me, I figured out what was going on.

Sorry, but I think I'll have to say no.

For a ten year span in the late nineties and into the 00s I was a monster shoveler. If there was a shoveling hall of fame, I might have made it in on my first try. During that 10 or 12 year Loraine and I lived in buildings where we had to remove the snow ourselves. And for some bizarre reason—especially when you consider that I abhor winter—I really got into it. I actually looked forward to getting out & shovel. But now we live in a building where the landlord also lives, and he removes the snow each & every day. And while it blows my mind, I actually kind of miss doing it.

I know. I'm a freak. What's your point?

Actually, before you call be a freak (well, okay, before you call me a freak for THIS), hear me out. First of all, even though I REALLY dislike winter, shoveling was one of the few parts of it I did enjoy. I liked it because shoveling is a GREAT aerobic and muscle-building exercise. It’s a workout that works out parts of your body you never knew you had. It builds up your heart, your lungs, and your endurance.

It’s a great way to sweat.

I also liked shoveling for another reason. In my line of work, I don’t often have a way to measure what I accomplish every day. Sure, you guys may tell me you liked (or didn’t like) something in particular, and once every year we get a book that tells us how many of you listen on a weekly basis, but I don’t have a sense of “accomplishment”. It’s not like I can sit back at the end of the day and say “look--I made 88 widgets today”. With shoveling, I DID get that sense of accomplishment. When I was finished removing the slop from the driveway or the sidewalk, I could sit back, look at the end result, and say “look--I removed ALL that snow”. I won’t get that now.

So that's why I was tempted, if only for a second, to take anyone up who was interested in Jen's unsolicited offer yesterday. Thankfully, sanity kicked in before I could do so, but there was a moment, and it's all because I'm apparently a walking oxymoron.

And yes, as always, you can leave the “oxy” part of it out, if you'd like.

8-)

Thursday, 1/5

If I'm still alive by the end of the month, I'll consider that a success.

January is shaping up to be one of those months that I get every so often, a month so packed full of stuff that I don't often get a chance to breath.  In no particular order, I have...

Four episodes of "High School Bowl" to shoot.

Five "Life in the 906"s to write and produce.

An end (hopefully) to the ongoing computer transition at work.

A History Center show that Jack & I are doing at Kaufman.

A newspaper article to write about the show Jack & I are doing at Kaufman.

Another show that Jack & I are doing in Big Bay the week before that.

Trying (desperately) to get work finished on my "The Greasier the Spoon" documentary, which I (perhaps foolishly) promised to get done by the beginning of March.

Several dentist and doctor's appointments.

Several meetings for the city boards on which I sit.

Oh--and spending a Saturday announcing at the Noquemanon.

And that's not counting the regular, every day stuff I have in my life, which is sometimes a non-stop thrill ride all of it's own.  I know a couple of years ago I promised that I'd start to learn how to say "no".  Maybe, another one of these days, I should actually learn how to do it.

Sigh.

Hopefully I WILL make it out of the month alive.  Hopefully, I WILL figure out how to manage all this.  Hopefully, I WILL learn how to manage my time and my ability to say no.  I mean, I wouldn't lay any money down betting on it, but you never know.

Miracles do happen, after all.  And maybe one will occur this month letting me get all of this done.  Wish me luck!

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 1/4

Okay.  I wrote about a family New Year tradition yesterday.  Now for a personal one.

I finally got around to watching the Sun Bowl last night, only a mere four days after it was played.  I didn't know who the teams were in the game, and I had no vested interest in how it turned out, which may account for the fact that I waited four days to watch it.  Heck, I don't even LIKE college football, which makes recording--and watching--the Sun Bowl even stranger.

But I've watched it every year since the late 80s, so why stop?

Here's the deal--the Sun Bowl is always played on December 30th at, well, the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.  I'm usually working on December 30th, and like most people in radio I will have a TV on in the background, if not to keep me company then to keep me abreast of what's going on in the world (Hello, January 6th, 2021).  One year right after I started in radio the Sun Bowl came on, and I thought the setting for the stadium--literally built into a mountain-side--was cool, so I watched it.  I made a point of watching it the next year, just to see the cool stadium again, and well, thirty-some years later I'm still watching it.

For the stadium, of course.  And the tradition of it all.

Every single year, I have no idea who's playing in the game and, as I mentioned, it really doesn't matter.  I don't watch the game for the game; I watch it for the scenery.  In fact, over the past few years I've actually started to DVR the game and scan through the actual football stuff just to get to the commercial breaks, going into which they show what I'm looking for.

Yes, I know I'm strange.  What's your point?

So feel free to ask me who won or what kind of play there was.  Even though I just went through the game last night, I have no idea.  But if you ask me what kind of shots they had of the stadium and the mountain into which its built, I can tell you in vivid detail.

After all, that's why I keep carrying on this strange personal tradition.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 1/3

It's one tradition I'm more than happy to keep alive.  And I'd like to think my grandmother would approve of it, as well.

First of all, welcome to 2023.  I hope you had a great New Year weekend, and that if you overdid it just a little Saturday night that you're back to normal.  It's been three days, after all, but I DO know how some people like to send out the old year and bring in the new, so if you're one of those...

Hopefully, you've recovered by now.  Hopefully.

Now that we're out of the holiday season we can look back a little at some of the things we did, some of the traditions that we carried on and some traditions that may have fallen by the wayside.  I know that for me the past three years have tossed a BUNCH of holiday traditions out on the street, but on New Years Eve I was able to carry on one that's been around since before I was even born, back in the age of dinosaurs--

The Broken Glass.

This goes back to my Grandma Schwemin (my mom's mom).  Every year for New Year's Day dinner the dessert would be Broken Glass, a dish some call Cathedral Windows.  It's a mix of Jell-O, Dream Whip, and a graham cracker crust, and it's something to which everyone in the extended family would look forward.  She got the recipe out of an old magazine, and my mom ended up with it.  After my Grandma couldn't make it herself any more I was given the task, and even though our family no longer gathers for a big New Year's Day dinner, I still make the dessert, and my siblings and nieces come for their (yummy) piece of family history.

(I know it's family history, by the way, because my niece Mallory once wrote a school paper on the dish and its traditional role.  And you don't wrote school papers on something unless it IS history, right?)

The dish is rather ephemeral; it only lasts a day or so after you make it before it dissolves into a mush.  And that, I suppose, is one of the reasons why it's so special.  That, and the fact that it's been around for every year since before all of us who eat it were born.  And over the past few of those years, I've been wondering about something.

I plan on making the Broken Glass on New Year's Eve for as long as I'm able.  Hopefully, in 40 years I'll still be enjoying it.  But there will (theoretically) come a day when I'm no longer able to put it together.  Will one of my nieces or nephews step up to carry on the tradition?  Will one of their future children (or even grandchildren) take a swing at it?

I have no idea.  And like I said, that's so far in the future that it's probably not anything I need to wonder about at the moment.  But it IS one of the few family holiday traditions that we still carry on, started back in the 1940s, almost 80 years ago.

It would be kinda cool to find out that in another 80 years, around 2102 or so, that the Broken Glass was still being enjoyed by the seventh or eighth generation of Schwemin/Koski family members.  After all, that's what traditions are for, right?

(jim@wmqt.com)