Tuesday, 2/28

It's a big problem around here. I just wish I had a big solution for it.

Over the past couple of years, Marquette has developed a...reputation's not quite the right word, but a “reputation” as a place where the homeless will come to hang out. The people of Marquette, being very fair and kindhearted, started a program called “Room at the Inn” around a decade and a half ago. Churches, on a rotating basis, would take in the homeless at night during the winter, just to get everyone out of the cold and into safety. That soon grew into the Room at the Inn shelter, which is open 24 hours a day year round, and gives those who are down on their luck a place to both have a little shelter and to regroup.

It's a program that works, and a program that was started with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, it's also a program that through no fault of its own has outgrown those best of intentions.

You see, word of Marquette's kindheartedness has spread and more and more homeless seem to make their way to Marquette to take advantage of it. Anecdotally (and I'm hoping this really isn't true, but you never know) it's said communities around the region are telling the homeless in their area to go to Marquette because “they'll take care of you”. Because of that, Room at the Inn is full on a nightly basis. Because the shelter has rules about their guests drinking or indulging in other bad behavior, not every homeless person who shows up is welcomed in.

That has led to scenes like this one in the church courtyard across the street from the station--

That's a homeless encampment, where five or six individuals gather on a nightly basis to drink and swear at the top of their lungs and do whatever else. I can leave work at 7 at night and see and hear them, and then come back at 730 the next morning to do something and they're still there, still drinking and still swearing at the top of their lungs. Several times the Marquette City Police have dispersed them, and several times they've regrouped.

It's a cycle that doesn't seem to want to be broken.

I have no idea how to tackle a problem like homelessness. I don't know if it can even be tackled without a systemic overhaul of the way we live in this country. And I know many homeless people are just down on their luck and need a place to stay while they're trying to get their lives back in order.   That's why Room at the Inn was formed up here, and that's why it's helped so many people by giving them what they needed when they needed it.

But as for those who don't want help or are too far gone to even ask for it? I have no idea. I really don't.

Since I took the picture before the storm last week the encampment in the church courtyard seems to have disappeared, although I'm 100% certain it popped again somewhere else. Then, once that one's discovered, they'll be chased away by the police again in what has become a very tragic, never-ending game of human whack-a-mole. How does this problem ever get resolved?

I wish I knew.

(jim@wmqt.com) 

Friday, 2/24

Okay...it can stop now.

Actually, the snow does seemed to have stopped, at least looking out my kitchen window (from where I'm writing this). I went out running a little while ago, and was greeted by some flakes of, I'm guessing, the lake effect variety, but at least for a few minutes we're okay.

So keep your fingers crossed.

I just checked, and it looks as if we received 10 inches here in downtown Marquette, but double that at the National Weather Service. While that's not storm of the century snow, as one person had cautioned a few days ago, it is a big pain in the butt, especially since we had lost of most of our snow cover last week.

But...it's back. And to, uhm, not celebrate but to acknowledge that fact, I get to drag my snowshoes out this weekend and use them for the whole second time this year. So I guess something good came out of all of this.

8-)

Actually, I may use them a third time, as well, as I'm taking Monday off, at least from this job. I have to shoot the High School Bowl “Year in Review” show and do my other TV gig, but I may have a window of a few hours to snowshoe for a third time this year.

Unless, of course, the rain that's in the forecast for Tuesday shows up a day early.

That's my plan, and I'm sticking to it. Back with something new on Tuesday. In the meantime, have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 2/23

No zombie apocalypse yet. As for the snow...well, that's still up for debate.

When we last spoke, I was ruminating over the fact that just a few days after cancelling a major winter event up here because of a lack of snow that we could now get up to two feet of the white stuff (minus a zombie apocalypse) in a 24-hour period. How does it look so far?

Okay; that's of 9:50 this (Thursday) morning, taken on my walk to work. I have no idea how it's going to turn out. Yesterday one of our meteorologists said (and I'm not kidding on this range) that we could have anywhere from four to 16 inches of snow, and with a range like that coming from a professional I don't want to even venture a guess myself.

Let's just say there may be a lot of snow and leave it at that. Or there may not be and we may all end up disappointed. It's probably gonna be one or the other. After all, as I said yesterday, there's no in-between any more.

There's just weirder and weirder weather.

I'm not going to complain too much, though. I have a friend who had to fly downstate for business Monday. All of her meetings got cancelled, so she tried to fly back home Tuesday afternoon. However, all the flights were sold out and there were no available rental cars, so she's stuck in Lansing for however long this lasts, hunkered down in a hotel room.

That is a situation in which I would NOT want to be.

So we'll see how this all ends. Lots of snow? Not much snow? Zombie apocalypse to go along with it? I guess we'll know by some time tomorrow.

Wish us luck.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 2/22

Okay...seriously?

A week after the unprecedented cancellation of the UP 200 sled dog race because of a lack of snow we're now on track, beginning later today, for a winter weather event that could see two feet—TWO FEET--of snow dumped on us over the next 36 hours.

What the what, Mother Nature?

Now, I know we've broken the planet. I know that climate change has caused weather to act in stranger and stranger ways. But to get two feet of snow in one day, just a week after having not enough snow for a winter activity, does kind of boggle the mind, even in an era when mind-boggling events seem to occur each and every day.

Gulp.

And, of course, what's scary is this—as mind-blowing as the possibility of the next few days seems,in a couple of years we may end up looking upon it in quaint fondness. Because it wouldn't surprise me if in a few years, when we get four feet of snow and a zombie apocalypse in the same day, that we look back on what may be coming tomorrow and think to ourselves...”boy, what I wouldn't give for just two feet of snow in one day”.

Although, I'm guessing, if you're going to have a zombie apocalypse, having it while four feet of snow is falling WOULD better your odds of survival.

Hopefully, whatever comes the next two days is survivable. Maybe we'll get the full two feet, or maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised by a smaller amount. In the end, I guess, it really doesn't matter. I guess we can just consider it practice for whatever comes in the future.

Because, even without a zombie apocalypse, you know that whatever DOES come in the future will be a lot worse than what we'll be getting tomorrow.

(jim@wmqt.com) 

Tuesday, 2/21

 My life is weird.

First of all, "hey".  Hope you had a good extended weekend, if you had an extended weekend.  Or hope that if you had the traditional two-day weekend that you weren't resentful of anyone who had a three day weekend.

Basically, hope you had a great weekend...no matter how long it was.

Mine was more productive than anything.  I was able to get a lot done on "The Greasier the Spoon", and while I didn't work my full-time job yesterday I DID do work my two part-time TV jobs, and it's on one of them that I found out my life is weird.

Or, perhaps more to the point, it was re-affirmed that my life is weird.

As you may recall, we've finished shooting "High School Bowl" for the season, leaving just the "Year in Review" show to stick together.  I was working on getting stuff together for that when, for a reason that now escapes me, I had to search for something on the Interweb.  And it was while doing that search that I discovered something I had never known; in fact, something I had never even thought to consider--

That the little show I've hosted for eight years has its own Wikipedia page.

Literally, I had no idea the page existed.  I have no idea who started it or who updates it.  But there, staring me in the face, was a page about a little local TV show in which I get mentioned several times, including in the information box on the right hand side of the page that's the most important piece of real estate on Wikipedia.

Have I mentioned my life is weird?

I'll have to check, but I'm guessing it's someone at NMU involved with the show who's been maintaining the page.  After all, it has a complete list of winners and runners-up over the first 43 years of the show, as well as information that only a person who's been behind the scenes might know.  Or...maybe there's just some kind of super-fan out there doing all this.  If there's one thing I've discovered since 2014 it's that there are people out there who really, really like "High School Bowl".

So, perhaps, one of them initiated the whole Wikipedia thing.

All I know is this--over the past couple of years--maybe the past decade or so--there are times when it seems like my life has taken a life of its own, and I'm just along for the ride.

And most definitely, seeing the Wikipedia page for "High School Bowl" is one of those times.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 2/17

This is weird. I don't have to shoot a TV show this morning.

Almost every Friday morning since the end of September I've hauled my butt over to TV-13 to tape a game or two of “High School Bowl”. But seeing as how we wrapped the season last Friday I don't have to get up early, get dressed up, and play TV host.

And I kinda miss it.

When I started this whole thing all those years ago I had no idea what to expect. I've been amazed by the experience, not only by the fact that they keep asking me back each & every year but more by the people I've been able to meet while hosting that TV show. One of the things I say at the beginning of every show is that everyone watching gets the chance to spend an hour with some of the brightest young people on the planet, and I'm not kidding when I say that. Some of the kids I've met and had the chance to get to know really are smart...scary smart, in fact, with some in medical school, or graduate school, or on track to become professors and/or research scientists who could one day change the world.

I've joked in here before about how my ties get more fan mail than I do, and I'm fine with that. But one nice compliment that I occasionally get comes from people I've never met before, who stop me on the street just to tell me they enjoy watching the program because, and I quote, “you (me, the host) seem to be having fun doing it, and it shows”. To me, that's the best kind of compliment, because I AM having fun with the show, and when I started that's the feeling I hoped to get across.

It's nice to know that every so often things go the way you plan then.

There are still many weeks of the show left to air, so I hope more of that fun keeps coming through, including another one of our “Cerebral 16” matches tomorrow night. Check it out if you're so inclined.

And have a great weekend, too. Like many people, I have Monday off (or at least have Monday off in my role as Radio Jim), so if you don't see one of these Monday, that's why. Back with another one of these Tuesday!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 2/16

I don't think anyone saw THAT coming.

For the first time in its history the UP200 Sled Dog Race, one of the crown jewels of UP winter activities, was canceled before it started. Why, you ask? Well, I answer--

Actually, it was a lot more than just a lack of snow (although, ironically, it is snowing right now, but just lightly). The rain we've had the past few days turned to ice, and that means that the mushers, dogs, and spectators just would not be safe.

Hence, the cancellation of the race.

Like I said, it's never been canceled before it started, although it has been cut short many times, most notably a few years ago when temperatures shot up into the 60s the second day of the race and made the course untenable. So it's not like the weather hasn't wreaked havoc on the UP200 before.

It just hasn't before the race even got the chance to start.

Part of me wonders if this is just gonna be the new norm. The planet's warming up, the weather's becoming wackier and wackier (as an example, it was 46 degrees and raining in Marquette on Valentine's Day) and we may be at the point where some of our iconic winter events—ski, sled dog, and outhouse races—may or may not take place on a yearly basis, all depending upon what Mother Nature has up her sleeve. That would suck, but it wouldn't surprise me if that's our new normal.

And that would be a shame.

Organizers of the race are scrambling to put together a “Festival of the Sled Dog' for Friday night in downtown Marquette, to take the place of the race start. It won't be the same, but at least it'll be something, and I hope it's a success.

If only because we'll probably be seeing more and more things like this happening in the future.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 2/15

It's never the ones I think it'll be.

I've been doing those “Life in the 906” pieces for TV 19 for five months now, and during that time I've discussed everything from food to the arts. Some of the pieces get a lot of comments; some, not so much. And it's always the ones that I think no one will have any opinions on that, inevitably, generate the most comments.

Much like the one I did Monday night.

It was about, of all things, the UP & beer. Now, I really don't drink a lot, so maybe I wasn't the best person to deliver the message, but for some reason it struck a chord with people watching. I have no idea why; it was just a goofy, tongue in cheek piece on the beverage and the UP's love for it. But for some reason, people felt compelled to send me messages or even stop me on the street and mention how much they enjoyed it.

Like I said...who knew? One of these days maybe I'll figure out the code as to what people will respond to and what they won't. All I know for now, though, is that if I think people will spark up at a piece they won't. And if it's something that I just think of as a goof...well, that's the one that gets the biggest reaction. I guess that's my superpower these days.

Here...decide for yourself.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

*****

We’ve talked before about three of the four basic Yooper food groups. We’ve discussed pasties at length, have joked about cudighi, and have made passing reference to fudge. So this week, how about an ode–a valentine, if you will–to the fourth basic Yooper food group–

Beer.

There’s just something about living in the UP that goes along with a love for beer, be it an old-timer picking up a jumbo or a young person meeting up with friends at their favorite brew pub.

Why beer? Why not? Beer saves lives…literally. Back in the Dark and early Middle Ages when it wasn’t always safe to drink water it WAS safe to drink beer.

When Europeans came to the Upper Peninsula they brought beer with them. Almost every town of any size had its own brewery. Some of those breweries, in fact, even became famous.

During Prohibition when it wasn’t legal to drink beer that didn't stop people from brewing their own. In fact, federal revenuers would visit places like South Marquette to catch home brewers, which led many kids of the era to notice a neighbor was missing, ask their parents about it, and be told…

“Well, he’s on a three to five year vacation”.

Thankfully, times have changed, and now beer is celebrated in many ways. It’s celebrated in festivals where thousands of people will gather in a downtown Marquette park to pay homage to their favorite drink.

It’s also celebrated in the enormous number of amazing craft breweries we have spread throughout the UP, like Blackrocks and Ore Dock here in Marquette, Upper Hand in Escanaba, and the Keweenaw Brewing Company in Houghton. You could take their product–what some might call their art–and stack it up against any beer brewed anywhere in the country.

That’s how much beer means to the people of the Upper Peninsula. That’s how much the perception of it has changed over the decades. And that’s why, with a fair amount of seriousness, you can make the case that beer is indeed the UP’s national drink.

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

Tuesday, 2/14

I don't even think I can answer my own question.

In the course of interviewing people for “The Greasier the Spoon”, I made sure I asked each and every person—be they a restaurant professional or just a restaurant fan—what one classic but now closed restaurant they would like to see open again, if even for just a day. I've received a variety of responses for old places, from Big Al's to the Tip Top to the Northwoods, but while I was working on the project last night I realized something--

I'm not quite sure how I would answer my own question.

I have had a couple of favored Marquette restaurants over the years, all of which have specific memories or specific likes attached to them. But I don't know if I could nail it down to just one. I miss Entre Amigos. I miss the Rubaiyat. I miss one or two of the Chinese places. Even though it's only been gone a month or so, I even miss Jean Kay's.

But to narrow it down to just one? That's a little harder.

I guess, if pressed or if my life depended up on it, I might—just might—have to pick the New York Deli...the old one, not the newer one. If I had to pick it I'd pick it because of two things—Don Curto, and a dish I had there twice that may have been one of the greatest things I've ever eaten—a chicken and corn with pasta combination that John Godo threw together when he was visiting his grandparent's farm and brought some fresh corn home with him to Marquette.

The dish was THAT good.

But would you want a restaurant back just for a dish you had twice (in two days, I might add)? That;s problematic, at best, and another reason why I'm having trouble answering my own question. Thankfully, though, I didn't interview myself for the documentary. The people I DID interview were able to answer the question, and everyone can see the end result on March 8^th.

And be surprised (or maybe not surprised) when they find out that every restaurant owner I spoke with all mentioned they like to bring the same place back. Which place was that?

Well...stay tuned for the answer opening night.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 2/13

I wonder if I can break the space-time continuum by typing this?

I wrote a LOT this weekend. I wrote the latest “Life in the 906” for TV-19 that I'll do tonight. I wrote the rest of the script for “The Greasier the Spoon”. I wrote a newspaper article for “The Greasier the Spoon”. I wrote ideas for the year in review show we still need to do for “High School Bowl”. And now I'm writing a blog about, well, writing a lot the past few days.

That wouldn't violate any laws of physics, would it? Sanity, I could understand, but we're safe from ruptures in the space-time continuum, right?

Please say “right”.

I know that I've always said that I consider myself a writer above anything else. Even though I babble on the radio and babble on the TV and babble during history things, a lot of that is written. I mean, on occasion you wouldn't believe that I actually thought about what I was going to say, but I do. And for big things—TV appearances, full-length documentaries about restaurants—I actually write a script. Much of what I do just comes off the top of my head, but the rest needs to be written ahead of time.

And that's what I did this past weekend.

Now, I am in no way complaining. If you had told the younger me that the older me would consider himself a “writer' and work on four or five different (and very unique) projects the younger me would have been thrilled. And the current me LOVES what I do. If I could just find someone to pay me to do nothing BUT write (hint hint, anyone out there with money), my life would be complete.

Maybe that's what this weekend was; a peek at an alternate universe where I'm just ensconced somewhere, fingers flying furiously over a keyboard in an attempt to not only push out as much material as possible but also trying to make sure that said material is worth it. I'm mean, I know it's an alternate universe that will probably never occur (unless, like I said, anyone with a lot of extra money is reading this), but still...

One of the things you can do when you break the space-time continuum is to create an alternate universe. So, if that WERE to happen, it might not be the worst thing in the world. After all, youd thing the multiverse is a big place. So, if there were to be one universe in which I could be a fully time writer, I could love with that.

I'm just saying...

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 2/10

This particular milestone sure arrived quickly, but I'm off in a few minutes to shooting the final episodes of “High School Bowl” for 2022-2023. I swear we started shooting it last week, but I'm guessing I'm wrong about that.

Because, you know, I'm wrong about things quite a bit.

Since I have to leave, I'm going to leave you with something I wrote during the first year of my hosting the show. And I do have to say—eight years later, things are pretty much the same.

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

*****

(as originally posted 1/15/15)

Some days I think my ties are more popular than I am.

Since the “High School Bowl”s I host have started to air I've received a lot of compliments on the job I've been doing. And while I appreciate those comments, I also know that a trained monkey could probably do it just as well (and probably wouldn't have trouble saying some of the technical terms in those pesky questions about math). But what does surprise me is the amount of people who, after complimenting me, start to gush about what they really like when they watch the show--

My ties.

Seriously...the ties I wear on the show seem to get almost as many comments as do my hosting duties. In fact, my ties have received their own fan mail, a couple of e-mails that made no mention of me other than the fact that I was the guy wearing them. And I think that's very cool. I didn't think it would happen, but I think it's very cool.

The plan wasn't originally for me to wear ties much on the show. When we started, I figured I'd just wear an open shirt with a sport coat, which is a semi-respectable way to appear on TV. But to make a good impression on the first few shows we taped I figured I'd wear a tie. Admittedly, it's not always tied right and sometimes it's worn rather loosely, but I figured I'd start off wearing ties just to prove that I was a responsible adult (of course, I'm really not, but that's just a secret between you & me). However, as the weeks wore on and people started to take notice of the ties I was wearing (and when I wasn't wearing one) I figured I'd just keep on wearing them while taping.

And now it looks like they're the most popular thing I do on the show.

Of course, I can kind of understand why. I've always felt that ties shouldn't be boring, that they shouldn't just blend into whatever else you wear. After all, then it's just a piece of cloth that spends most of the day choking you. I like ties with color—ties with lots of color (especially a splash or two of purple). I like the contrast you get between a solid-colored shirt and a multi-colored tie. And I'm lucky enough to have a skin tone that works well with lots of colors and with lots of color contrasts. So instead of wearing a boring shirt with a boring tie, like many people on TV, I get to have fun with what I wear. I get to play with colors and contrasts, and, well, people seem to notice.

Or, at the very least, they're noticing my ties.

Now, when I started this gig, I had no idea that a splash of color would be such a big deal, but it apparently has become such. Who knew, right? And because of that, I'll be curious to see what new comments I get on my neckwear, especially on a few of the shows coming up in the next couple of weeks. For my birthday my parents said to go out and buy myself a few new ties, and I did. They should start showing up on the air by the end of the month, and we'll hafta see if they get more comments than the ties I wore when the show first started.

Because of they get MORE, I may have to get my ties their own agent

8-)

Thursday, 2/9

Without even realizing it, I could break The Streak.

A couple of years ago, a few of you may recall, I had a streak going. Whenever it's above freezing I run in shorts. Even if it's 33 degrees, I'll will shed heavier gear and run in shorts. And a couple of years ago, I had a streak going where I was able to run in shorts at least once for 35 months straight. That, of course, means, that the temperatures here in Marquette were above 32 at least once a month for 35 straight months.

Then, of course, we had a cold march and The Streak came to an end.

The Streak popped into my mind yesterday when it was in the 40s and I ran in shorts for the first time this month. During the run I wondered if there was another Streak to be had, and when I finished running I looked back in the running logs I keep (and yes, I keep running logs, but that's a whole 'nother story). The last month that I was not able to run in shorts at least once was February of 2021, which means that this current Streak is now 24 months old.

Now, assuming March is anything but an arctic wasteland, I'll be able to run in shorts at least once. We then get into spring, summer, and fall, all months when I DO run in shorts, and by the end of the year we're looking at a streak of 34 months.

Just two shy of tying the record.

Now, I'm not a weather forecaster, nor do I play one on TV. But if we've gone through several years of Januarys and Februarys where I've been able to run in shorts at least once, you could make the assumption (and yes, I know what they say about assuming things) that when March of 2024 rolls around I will have a streak of 36 months going. In fact, since spring, summer, and fall are the months when you can count on wearing shorts at least once, that means by the end of 2024 the latest Streak will be at 45 months and counting.

So there's that.

No; I don't know why I keep track of things like that. I just do. But when you're out running and letting your mind wander, the strangest things can pop into it.

The Streak is proof of that.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 2/8

The stack of index cards keeps staring me in the face.  Or, at least, it would if it had eyes and could stare.

The stack to which I'm referring is a stack of 91 index cards, each one of which has the information for an interview clip for my upcoming "The Greasier The Spoon" documentary, debuting four weeks from tonight at the Marquette Regional History Center, written upon it.  I have to take those 91 cards, put them in some sembelence of a coherent story line, then provide context through a script, record that script, and then edit it all together to make something between an hour and an hour and ten minutes long that people enjoy.

Oh, and did I mention that those clips added together are already over an hour in length?  And that's even before I provide context and a coherent story line.

This will be interesting.

I really shouldn't be complaining; after all, so many people were so giving of their time and the memories for the interviews.  And it sure beats the alternative--not having enough material, and having to figure out how to get to the proposed running length.  But when you have an embarrassment of riches like this, you have to go through and not use stuff that you really wanted to use.  Not only that, but if you take something out that affects part of the story a little bit down the line, you'll have to change that piece, as well.  In a way it's like a giant house of cards--pull the wrong one out and the story collapses through a sheer lack of context.

Although, in this case, I suppose I should refer to it as a giant house of index cards, which could then collapse under a sheer lack of context.

My job, now, is to figure out what stays and what goes.  And that's why the clips are on the index cards, so I can lay them out, see what goes where, and move them around so that the story, in whatever form it ends up taking, makes sense.  Then I have to do all the other things I mentioned, and hope that the final product does what I hope it'll do.

Bring a smile to the faces of the people who watch it.

So wish me luck.  Hope that I'm able to get that unwieldly stack of cards a little more, uhm, wieldly.  Hope that what I take out doesn't disappoint people who were hoping to hear a particular story.  And hope beyond all hope that four weeks from tonight it's done, it's screened, and it's well received.

I know I'm asking for a lot, but a boy can dream right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com), fighting the good fight against the stack of 91 index cards.

Tuesday, 2/7

It's Chicky-poo's birthday again. 

My dad turns another year older today, and while it's not a milestone birthday it IS a semi-milestone birthday, which means that it ends with a "5".  In keeping with the Koski family credo/phobia about age I won't mention what's in front of the 5.  Suffice it to say, if I'm not as young as I used to be then he's definitely not as young as he used to be.

So let's just leave it at that.

My dad will probably spend his birthday doing one of two things.  He'll either be down in Florida terrorizing the pickleball courts or he'll be in South Carolina babysitting my nieces' daughter, his great-grandchild.  That's one thing you can say about my dad--he's never sitting around bored.  He always has something--usually several somethings--to do.

And you wonder where I get that exact same issue?

8-)

As I've mentioned in here before as I get older I see more and more of my dad in me, and not just in the "I can't sit around bored" realm, either.  We both seem stuck with that endearing klutziness that has caused me a fair amount of grief but has landed him, on occasion, in the hospital.  We're both either blessed or cursed with the slightly swarthy Mediterranean complexion that comes from his (believe it or not) Irish ancestors, which means that while others burn we just get really really tan.  And, as I've noticed recently, I find myself copying certain facial expressions of his while exasperated.

And, as we all know, I've been exasperated a lot recently, which is probably why I've noticed it.

But in the end, you know what?  I'm fine with that.  I hit the dad jackpot, and whether the grand prize was the klutziness or the facial expressions or something I have yet to discover, that's cool.  I'm the winner in this whole thing.  And why?

Well, it's because I have the greatest dad in the world.

Happy Birthday, Chicky-poo!!!!!!

Love,

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 2/6

Even if I had the ability to find out the answer, I don't know if I'd want to.

As some of you may know, I kinda (understatement alert) like chocolate. While it's not my favorite food in the world, it probably is in my top five, and I do consume quite a bit of it. Now mind you, the kind of chocolate I do eat—dark chocolate—has less sugar and more antioxidants than the chocolate that the majority of Americans devour, but I don't know that that makes up for the amount of chocolate I consume.

I'm just saying.

With that in mind, during a conversation I was having with someone this weekend about my chocolate consumption, the question was posed—just how much chocolate DO I eat on a weekly basis? How many calories of my weekly intake come from dark chocolate, as opposed to, say, vegetables or fruits?

That's a good question. And, like I said, I'm not sure I want to know the answer.

Part of me feels like I wouldn't be shocked by the number; after all, my entire diet isn't chocolate and, as I keep saying, the chocolate I do eat is the “better” chocolate than most (“better”, of course, being a comparative term). So maybe I'd see the figure, shrug my shoulders at its insignificance, and move on with life.

Or...

I'd see the figure, give an audible “yelp” at the scope of it, and vow never to eat the food again, even though both you and I and everyone I've ever met knows that's a vow I could in no way, shape, or form keep.

It would be one of the two. I have the feeling there's no middle ground here.

Maybe—just maybe—one of these days I'll sit down and figure it out. Maybe—just maybe—one of these days my curiosity and/or sense of masochism will get the best of me and I'll look at the empty wrappers in the garbage, pull them out, and do a little math. Or maybe—just maybe—I'll realize that despite the purported health benefits of dark chocolate the calorie count just isn't worth it.

Of course, that would be the day that hell freezes over and/or the Lions win the Super Bowl (actually both one in the same), but you never know. Stranger things have happened, right?

I just don't know if they'll happen with me figuring out just how much chocolate I eat on a weekly basis. Maybe there are some things that we are better off just not knowing.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 2/3

Because it's been an insanely hectic week and because I have to go be on TV in a few minutes I'm gonna leave you with something I wrote three years ago (right before the world turned on its axis). But it's also apt because I did the exact same thing this past Wednesday (prior to a DFB Pokal match for the same team I mention in the blog).

Who knew I had it in me?

8-)

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

*****

(as originally posted 2/20/20)

I was almost a guy yesterday.

Seriously. I did a very guy-like thing yesterday. I know I'm usually not a guy. In fact, I think we were even discussing this a few days ago. But I did a very guy-like thing, and because of it, you would have thought the world had shifted on its axis or something.

I wore a sports jersey to work. I don't think my co-workers will even be the same.

Because they were playing their first game in the Champions' League knockout round yesterday (where they beat Tottenham 2-1) I wore an RB Leipzig jersey to work. It's one of, I think, two sports jerseys I've ever owned, and since Loraine had brought her RB Leipzig scarf to her job, I figured I'd share her spirit of support. Obviously, it worked because of the final score of the game, right?

8-)

Anyway, my co-workers acted if I'd come in wearing a canister of Coronavirus germs, or something. Jen wondered what was wrong, if I was making some kind of cry for help. When I told her why I was wearing it, she then told me all about her pretend boyfriend, David Beckham. My boss had to stop and stare at me for a few too many uncomfortable seconds, as if I'd grown a third arm or an extra head. And then Tanner, our sports director, a guy who wearing sports jerseys ever single day of his life, had to point out that even he was wearing a “normal” shirt for the day, and that for once I was the oddball.

Then it's a good thing I'm comfortable being an oddball, isn't it?

I had no idea that being a “guy” for a day would engender such a reaction. Can you imagine what would have happened had I also come in wearing camo pants or drinking beer or doing whatever else it is guys do? I would have driven them insane. Or, at the very least, caused them to grow a third arm or an extra head. And while that does give me an idea or two for the future, it also just makes me laugh that little laugh that we all do when things get a little strange.

Today, I'm back to not being a guy. I'm wearing a brightly colored shirt and a dark jacket, because I know that I look really good in contrasting colors. I'll have some tea, and then go to a meeting about a charity fashion show with which we're helping out. And not once, not at all, will I say anything about sports, sports jerseys, or the sports fans who wear sports jerseys.

If only because I did enough of that yesterday.

Thursday, 2/2

How much is a person's entire financial identity--their social security number, credit card and bank account numbers, credit history, et al--worth?  Most people couldn't put a financial amount on it, but I can.

Because mine's apparently worth $5.21

Long time (and I mean looooong time) readers of this may recall that I was one of the people whose financial information was stolen in the great Equifax data breach of 2017.  I was one of millions of people whose financial identity--their social security number, credit card and bank account numbers, and credit history--was lifted from the companies by hackers.  Thankfully, my portion of that data hasn't (or at least hasn't yet) been used, and I've spent the last 5+ years checking every so often to make sure my financial identity--one of the cores of who we are these days--has remained safe.

Knock on wood

By the fact that I was one of the victims of the data breach I was also entered into a class action suit against the company, and although it took 5+ years I finally received my settlement from the lawsuit.  I had no idea what the amount would be; after all, I filled the paperwork out back in (believe it or not) 2019, but a mere three years later, there it was, finally in front of me.

A check for $5.21.

In one respect, the amount didn't matter.  What was important is that Equifax made sure the breach never happened again.  After all, when you're entrusted with some of the most sensitive information a person has you NEED to make sure that information is protected.  But in another respect...

$5.21?  For having my most sensitive information stolen by hackers?  Seriously?????

There were millions of people who had their data stolen, and all of us deserved justice.  I don't know if we needed the psychic slap in the face that our financial identities are worth the approximate cost of a cup of coffee, but that's the world we live in.  Whether the settlement amount was absurdly small or the lawyer's fees absurdly high is something that, I suppose, I could look into.  But like I said, making sure it doesn't happen again is the most important thing.  The settlement amount was secondary.

But $5.21?  That's...eye-opening.  I received more than that in another settlement, one fifteen years ago because the first iPod I bought didn't come with a carrying case.  I received $25 bucks for that, which means that (if I'm doing my math correctly here) that iPod case is five times more valuable that my financial well-being.

That seems logical, doesn't it?

But it's done.  My aforementioned financial identity seems to be secure, the company has promised it'll never happen again, and the justice system has compensated those of us who were injured.

Now, if you'll excuse me, even though i don't drink it I'll go buy a cup of coffee to celebrate.

Geesh...

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 2/1

Well, it worked. Kinda. Sorta.

After four months of database work, file tweaking, and general gnashing of teeth our new computer system is up & running at the station. There still appear to be several more months of file tweaking and general gnashing of teeth ahead as we discover all the little problems and issues that go along with a huge computer switch, but it's running, nothing blew up, and no one died.

So that's a good thing. And, please—you're gonna hear mistakes the next few weeks. You're gonna hear things that aren't going right. But those issues will eventually (I hope) get worked out.

Be gentle with your criticism.

8-)

As I've said before, going from our old system to the new one is like going from German to English. They're both in the same language family, so you get the basic structure and a few things are similiar, but all in all they're two totally different things. Just being on the air yesterday was a trip, having to use a mouse instead of a touchscreen, having computer monitors in new, unfamiliar places, and wondering why this button did one thing while on the old system it did another.

It's a learning curve. That's for sure.

But that might not be a bad thing. You know how they say in order to keep your brain supple you should constantly challenge it to do new things, like learn a new language? Well, I'm guessing that the next few weeks could cause my brain to become the most flexible organ in my body.

And it may prove that you actually CAN teach an old dog new tricks.

That, of course, was the last item to check off in my “January from Heck” list. So now, I can concentrate on two things—fixing all the little mistakes that will arise from the switch, and seeing just how supple my brain will become. Because, as we all know, that's one area in which I could always use a little help!!

(jim@wmqt.com)