Friday, 6/28

To wrap the week up, nothing at all about how my life is weird or how I've become an accidental Tik Tok star or anything like that. Instead, one thing I've noticed the past few weeks, a sign that the US economy is strong and that some people have way too much money--

All of the insanely expensive summer cars on the streets this year.

That was made quite apparent over this past week, when I saw dozens of bright shiny new “mid-life crisis mobiles” (my jokingly juvenile term for them) on the streets of Marquette while out & about. Many of them were red, almost all of them were convertibles, and most of them were driven by someone of obviously advanced years. I don’t know if they were just out enjoying their new toy, or trying to recapture lost youth (or both), but there sure seem to be a lot more of them out on the roads than in past years.

I’m probably not the best person in the world to write about these vehicles; after all, I don’t drive much, and when I do drive it’s in Loraine's six year old car that gets about 40 miles per gallon. Part of me understands why people drive around with their newly purchased tops down; after a long winter of being cooped up inside your home (and your car) you just wanna feel the rays on your skin and the wind in (what’s left of) your hair. I get that. But what another part of me doesn’t understand is why you’d spend a lot of money (and in some cases, a massive amount of money) on a car that, around here, at least, you can only drive a few months out of the year.

I mean, some of the cars I’ve noticed the past few days obviously cost a LOT of money. I’m not talking about the standard Corvettes and Camaros you might think of as summer cars; no, I’m talking about several high-end European sports vehicles I saw tooling around. I’m not a car salesperson (nor do I play one on TV), but even I know that if you buy a BMW or a Fiat with all the options that it’s gonna cost you a few bucks. And to spend that much money on a vehicle you can only use for a fraction of the year...I dunno.

I just don’t get it.

Think what you could do with the 5 (or even 6) figures that you might spend on a part-time car. Think of the hungry children you could feed. Think of the non-profits you could help out. Think of the people whose lives would be better if you gave that money to an organization that could help them out. Or you could look at it an entirely different way. When Loraine and I are out walking and see one of those cars, we try to figure out how much it would cost, and then figure out how many trips we could take to Europe on that money. I might be weird in this instance (and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that happened) but it just seems strange to me to spend that much money on a toy.

Even one that has a drop-down top and goes from zero to 60 in 3 and a half seconds.

I guess I’ll just never be one of those people who goes out and spends tens of thousands of dollars on a toy. Of course, the way I’m going, I’ll never actually HAVE tens of thousands of dollars to spend on a toy, but that’s another matter all together. There are obviously people who do have that much money to spend, and if they wanna spend it on a part-time toy; well, that’s their right. You, in fact, may be one of those people, and if you have bought yourself a zippy little summer sports car, I hope you’re having a blast with it. After all, you earned the right to do it. I might not understand it, and I might believe people could do better things with their money, but it’s their money. As an economist might say, as long as they spend it on something, that’s the important thing.

And around Marquette, at least based on what I've seen this past week, that’s what they’re doing.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 6/27

People on Tik Tok are really, really nice!

In the eight or nine days since I've become an accidental Tik Tok star (2.4 million views and counting on Emily's video) I've noticed something. Usually, if you read the comments left on any other social media site (Facebook, X, whatever) some of them are just really negative or, inn some cases, hateful. There's something about the anonymity of the Interwebs that bring out the worst in people, and you can often see that in comments left on some of those sites.

But not Tik Tok. I don't know how nor do I know why, but on Emily's video there are over 4,000 comments, and from what I've read not one of them was negative. Some of them were emojis, many of them just quoted back lines, and a whole bunch complimented either Emily or me (or both of us). But like I said, I don't think I saw one single piece of snark, criticism, or hate.

It was weird. Welcome, but weird.

That continued after Emily put up my “Life in the 906” from Monday night on the History Center's Tik Tok page. Once again, not a snotty or snarky comment anywhere, just things like “He's such a sweet soul” and “He rolled with it. He couldn't have handled that any better”. It's so refreshing to see that that it almost tempts me to dump all my other social media and sign up for the Tok. And you know what? If they actually allowed videos that were landscape (like a TV screen) instead of vertical (like a phone screen) I would. I mean, I know that shouldn't be a disqualifying factor, but I guess that's just the finicky artist in me.

My bad.

The past nine or ten days have been a trip in many different ways. However, discovering that people can actually be nice on social media? That might be the biggest trip of all.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 6/26

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

Even when I was a little kid I was drawn into the world of radio by, believe it or not, clear channel AM stations, those major market stations broadcasting at 50,000 watts at night, which means that you could hear them all across the country. When you're a dorky little kid and can listen to stations like WLS in Chicago or WJR in Detroit or even (gasp) WCBS in New York, well, you can be warped for life.

And I'm the poster boy for that.

The reason I mention this is we're coming up on the 93^rd anniversary of Marquette joining the radio world. And to me, that seems like the perfect time for a “Pieces of the Past” on the history of WBEO or, as the kids called it back in the 1930s, “We Bother Every One”. Like everything else in radio it's gone through some transformative changes in the past century, but if it wasn't for that station none of the 16 others in Marquette would exist.

And I would have been forced to become, you know, an adult by having to work at a real gig.

Enjoy!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 6/25

I wonder what the odds are that I ended at this exact point in my life?

I've been writing a lot recently about how weird my life is, and I don't want to bore you and do that again. But after I did my TV bit last night, based on the fact that I'm now a temporary Tik Tok star (2.1 million views and climbing), I started to think. And that, as we all know, is a dangerous thing.

Here's why.

Being a dork means that I've watched and read a lot of science and science fiction in my life. Among other things, that means I'm a great believer in the Multiverse, that there are infinite universes in which we live, each one based on a single moment of time. As an example, take one of my walks to work every day. If I just head in like I normally do, we stay in the “prime” universe of my life. But if I one day decide to walk around a block differently, that version of me heads off into a different timeline, because who knows what might happen to that particular multiverse version of Jim. Maybe nothing, maybe I get hit by a car, maybe someone runs up to me and gives me a million dollars. Any of those ways would cause a divergence in my personal reality and, therefore, pop out another version of Jim in another timeline.

Dorky stuff, I know. But according to most physicists, that's how the space-time continuum works.

Anyway, to kind of pull this back into our current version of reality, while I was walking home last night I started to wonder just how many life choices, random accidents, quirks of nature led to this version of me being at this point in time. One little thing in the past—me deciding not to take a job or to stay an extra year in school, or meeting Loraine, or moving back here, whatever—and I would not be where I am right now. So many things had to happen in the order in which they happened that the chances of my current state of reality—overworked history nerd and accidental Tik Tok star—has to be infinitely minuscule.

Yet, here we are.

I don't know why this particular thought popped into my head on my way home last night, but it did. One different step along the way—small or big—and things would have turned out radically differently. But I am where I am because everything that's happened to me happened at a certain time and in a certain way, leading to the formation of my current sense of reality.

Which means that somewhere in the Multiverse, there's probably a Jim who's an accountant or garbage collector, or a Jim who actually likes winter, or a Jim who's never heard of Tik Tok. I wonder if they've thought about everything that had to take place to make their reality a reality?

(jim@wmqt.com), thinking about things WAAAAAAY too much.

Monday, 6/24

Wow.  This is just starting to get…weird.

You may recall a few days ago when I mentioned the latest strange moment in my life, when I became an accidental Tik Tok star after my History Center cohort Emily put together a “Gen Z Intern Edit” video of something we shot back in January, and a whole bunch of people watch and/or like it.  At the time it had gathered 118,000 views, and the sheer number of people who had taken the 51 seconds to watch it blew my mind.

Well, that was Thursday.  And I wonder what the Thursday Me would think when, as of early on this Monday morning, it was up to 1.7 million views.

If I had a dollar for every time someone watched that video…I’d be a millionaire.  A literal millionaire.

I don’t get it.  I mean, I’m not a member of Gen Z, so maybe I’m not supposed to get it.  But there’s something in Emily’s work that’s captured the zeitgeist of a moment and has propelled both of us to a point where we never thought we would be.  She’s stunned because she’s created something viral.  I’m stunned because…well, because the kids watching seem to think I’m like, you know, cool, to use a Gen X term.

I mean, we all know I’m not, but some of the comments just make me shake my head in amazement–”you know he knows what he’s talking about”, “that dude seems so chill”, “I would totally listen to anything he has to say”.  That’s not some famous person or some learned person or some important person they're referring to.  They’re referring to me.  And even though my mind has been blown repeatedly the last few years…

This really blows my mind.

I have no idea what’s next as far as Emily’s video goes.  I thought it would have been a one or two day wonder, and then something else new would have come along.  I was (quite obviously) wrong, so I don’t even want to venture what’s to happen next.  Like all things viral, I’m sure it WILL slow down, but as to when, I have no idea.  Until it does, I’ll just keep watching the number of views go up, and stand in amazement at what Emily Varga has created.

And what has, in the most unlikely of ways, made me, for now, at least, a one week Tik Tok sensation.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 6/21

Great. Now it's all downhill from here.

That's not normally the way I would greet a summer day, during my favorite time of the year, but in one small aspect it's true. Yesterday was the longest day of the year (here in Marquette almost 17 hours of sun). Starting today the days get shorter.

We're already on the glide path to winter and it's not even the end of June yet.

I'm kidding, of course. I mean, not about the fact that the days start getting shorter today, because that actually is true. But what I am kidding about is the fact that winter is on the way. Sure, it's supposed to be chilly & rainy today, but that's par for the course, mostly because of things like Lake Superior and the fact that we're so danged north some people don't even think that “summer” starts until July 1^st. Yes, meteorological summer starts June 1^st and astronomical summer started yesterday, but there are many Yoopers who don't believe summer starts until July 1^st.

I live among a strange group of people, in case you haven't figured that out yet.

But no matter when you think summer starts (and for the record, it's June 1^st, and that's the only correct answer) the reason that we get so worked up about summer and the start date for it is that it's fleeting. In many places of the US you get nice weather five to eight months of the year. Here we get two solid months—three in a lucky year—and it's that short length that makes us so passionate about it. We can disagree over when it starts; the one thing we can't argue about is how ding-dang short it is.

So that's why even a stupid fact like the days getting shorter cause us to joke about the oncoming rush of winter. We know it's coming, and we know it'll be coming sooner than most of us wish. Now, it's just up to us to make the most we can out of summer, now that it's here.

Because we all know it won't be here for long.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 6/20

I know I keep saying my life is weird, but my life really IS increasingly weird.

Apparently I'm now a Tik Tok star.

I'm not quite sure how that happened. All I know is that Emily Varga, who's my co-hort at the Marquette Regional History Center when it comes to social media and the posting of all the videos I make, put together what she described as a “Gen Z” trend—a rapid cut edit of random comments by me, interspersed with weird faces I made, all that she shot when I put together a promotional video for “Legends & Lore” back in January. She didn't tell me she was doing it, but I found out when she sent me the link in an email that also mentioned the video, in the three days since she put it up, has been viewed almost 700,000 times.

700,000.

I don't know how these things happen; I really don't. I guess I just do things that no one else does and know people, like the amazing Emily, who does something special with them. If you had told me earlier this year that I'd become a budding Tik Tok star I would have laughed, but with the way the last few months have been going nothing surprises me any more.

Nothing.

Perhaps even better than the number of views the video has received were the hundreds of comments left on the video. Almost all of them were amazingly positive, with people saying things like “He's so adorable”, “I need me one of him”, and (from someone who I'm guessing is local) “Jim's an absolute legend”. I just kept reading the comments and kept laughing to myself because...

Well, I'm not sure why. Except for the fact that my life is weird. And it seems to keep getting weirder.

Wanna see the You Tube version of the video?

******

Oh, and speaking of how weird my life is, how many people showed up for "Walk on the Wild Side" last night?

Have I ever mentioned my life is weird?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 6/18

The next few days are gonna be weird.

Between big tours, days off, and Loraine's brother coming up to visit I have a feeling that I won't know left from right, up from down, or yesterday from today. I mean, I normally don't know any of that anyway, but with everything out of the ordinary going on it'll be about 1,000 times worse.

If that's even possible.

Tomorrow I have off from work (at least my radio job), but I do have my big Jim Koski ™ walking tour for the History Center. Or, at least I do if it doesn't rain (which it's supposed to). Loraine's brother is also scheduled to come up, which will make for a busy day. I work (at least my radio job) Thursday, which is also the make up day for “Walk on the Wild Side”, although, as I write this, it could also rain Thursday and wash it out for a second day in a row. I then took Friday off, have graduation parties up the wazoo Saturday, and, somewhere in there, also have to write a TV spot & get the graphics together for Monday.

To quote a great American philosopher, I'll sleep when I'm dead.

I'd like to say it'll get easier, but next week I then have to work ahead because I get two days off the following week, for the Fourth of July. And that brings up a totally unrelated, but not unimportant point—how did we get to the Fourth of July already? Wasn't it just St Patrick's Day a few weeks ago???

Anyway, I guess I'm writing this for a few reasons—if you come back here tomorrow and there's nothing here, it's because I'm off. If you try listening to me on Friday and I'm not here, it's because I'm off. And if you see me wandering around on a sidewalk and I look like I'm in a different space-time continuum...

Well, it's because I probably am.

8-)

Those are my pre-emptive excuses for the next few days. I mean, I hope I won't have to use them, but just in case I do, they're now all set. Back Thursday with details on how the tour went...or didn't go. Wish us luck!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 6/17

In the end, there were just too many jokes I had used before.

I had an idea for tonight's “Life in the 906” I was working on, kind of riffing on lists and one liners I've been collecting for a while. I put a rough draft of it together, and realized, much to my horror, that the idea was just a different riff on several pieces I've already done, Now only that, but I think I had used most of the jokes in various bits & pieces over the past almost two years I've been doing the TV gig. And since I really don't wanna repeat myself, I moved on to something new.

However, since I haven't used the idea in here yet (at least, I don't think I have), why let all that work go to waste? So, to make sure that I wring every drop of blood possible from every single thing I write, I hereby present to you something that may sound familiar if you're a TV viewer yet something that (hopefully) seems fresh to blog readers and radio listeners--

SEVEN SIGNS YOU MAY NOT BE A TRUE YOOPER:

7. If you've never—even in a dream—thought about buying a pick-up truck.

6. If, when someone says “hilltop”, you think of a mountain, and not a sweet roll.

5. If you don't salute when you hear the name Vince Lombardi.

4. If you don't own a single piece of clothing in hunter's orange.

3. If you've never gone ice fishing, because you're afraid of cold feet.

2. If you realize the Appleton is NOT the shopping capital of the universe.

And the number one sign you may not be a true Yooper?

1. If you've ever—even once and even by accident—pronounced it PAY-stee

That's it. And in the end, what did I come up with for TV tonight? Tune in and find out.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 6/14

I think it was a compliment. If not, I now know what it's like to get sarcastically burned with a flame hotter than that of the sun.

And that's rather hot.

A listener came in to pick up a prize yesterday, and when I gave it to her she must have realized who I was. She didn't say any of the usual things people say when they realize who I am (“Hey, you're that guy on the radio” or “I listen to you every day”, or “I enjoy watching you on that TV show” or, even, “I see you walking everywhere”). Nope; she said something I've never been told in all the years I've been doing this gig, and that's been an eternity.

What did she say? She said, and I quote, “Wow, you sound a lot younger than you look”.

Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch.

First of all, I'm trying to look at the comment in the most positive way possible. A lot of people, as they age, lose something from their voice. It might get a little deeper or growlier, or it might lose a bit of the enthusiastic edge of youth. So if this person thinks I still sound young, well, then yay for me.

That's a good thing.

However, just how old does she think I look? I mean, sure, I'm not a kid any more, and some days I seem to have more gray hair than brown hair on my head, but at least I still have SOME hair on my head. And because of genetics (thanks, Mom & Dad!!) and because I try to take care of myself, I don't (think) I look my age. In fact, most people, when guessing, are usually off by a decade or more when trying to figure out how old I am.

So the listener who made the comment either assumed that, because of my voice, I'm still a kid, or that I'm a really old fart who just covers it up really, really well.

Gulp. I'm certainly hoping it's the former.

Those of you who've been reading these things for years (you know, because I'm apparently old and have been writing them forever) may recall the Koski family phobia about aging. We don't like to think about getting old, we don't like acting old, and, because of those good genes to which I earlier referred, we can usually get away without appearing “old”. So maybe I'm being just a little too sensitive about this. That's happened before, after all. Maybe the listener really DID mean it as a compliment. Maybe she really did think I sound and act young on the radio, and that it was a bit of a shock to look behind the curtain. I certainly hope that was the case...

Because if it wasn't...well, then I'm old(er). And despite my protestations, my denials, and my vehement refusal to acknowledge the fact, she saw through the smokescreen and glimpsed the truth. So now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go sit by myself in a dark room and sob quietly for a few minutes.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com), who at least still sounds young!!

Thursday, 6/13

I appreciate the kind words, but the possibility does exist that I take too many pictures of them.

I've heard from several people about my “Life in the 906” from this past Monday, in which I came out (to those who don't know) as a lilac-holic. I showed a lot of the lilac pictures I've taken recently (a LOT) and talked about my love for them.

And to everyone who's commented on it, thanks, It's always nice to know I don't suck.

In the bit I joked that I take way too many pictures of lilacs, and while I personally believe you never CAN take too many pictures of them I was astounded by the sheer number I had to go through to select the ones I ended up using. Seriously...I've been shooting digital pictures for 21 years now. Every year I take, on average, 30 pictures of lilacs. To save you from doing the math in your head, that means I have almost 700 pictures of the blooms that I had to choose from.

Is approximately 700 (and counting) pictures of lilacs too many? I personally don't think so, but I could also see the other side of the argument, should someone want to make it.

During the bit I had a couple pieces of B-Roll, which is video that goes along with what I'm saying. I put one together of just blooms, while another featuring blooms with Marquette landmarks behind them. That video seems to have caught the fancy of several people who commented, and since it'll otherwise just sit in my laptop unseen forever, wanna see (in TV parlance) “Lilac Flip B”?

Now, if I didn't have 700 (and counting) pictures of lilacs sitting on my laptop, think I could have come up with B-Roll like that?

8-)

Speaking of TV-19 news, I'm on again tonight talking about next week's Jim Koski ™ walk tour, entitled “Walk on the Wild Side: The Very Historical (Yet Occasionally Sketchy) Story of Founder's Landing”. Check it out if you're bored; Sarah says I can even talk about the hookers who play a surprisingly outsized role in the tour.

Yes, I know. I'm incorrigible.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 6/12

Today might be the day.

After a fun pop-up fire tour last night the forecast for today—sunny & 80—makes me think that I should take the first of my vaunted half-days for the year. What will I do? Well, play in the sun. I may go for a walk on the beach, I may hop on a bike with a soccer ball and kick it around over at Kaufman for a bit. I may even work a little on my NEXT tour, scheduled for just a week from today.

But I WILL be out enjoying the sunshine.

It actually doesn't matter what I do. And that's the great thing about it. I can do whatever I want at any time I want. At least, up until 2 when I have to go to work. But before then, it doesn't matter what I do.

And I like that.

So those are my plans. But because this is a little short today, I have something to share. It may be one of the greatest lines in recent newspaper history, and it comes from NY Times writer Rob Tannenbaum in a fun & slightly tongue-in-cheek article talking about the ubiquity of the Santana song “Smooth” (which turns 25 this week). It's a good article, but there was a line in it that literally (I was eating breakfast at the time) made me do a spit take. That line?

“When the sun explodes and human life expires, only cockroaches will remain, and those roaches will build a radio station and keep “Smooth” in heavy rotation.”

Oh, if only I could write like that...

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com), off to play in the sun!

Tuesday, 6/11

Today's a big day in Marquette history.

It was 156 years ago today that most of Marquette burned to the ground in the Great Fire of 1868. It was a tragedy in which, thankfully, no one died. And in a way, it was a good thing, as it forced a young Marquette to change and become the city we now love. I'll actually be leading a pop-up tour for the History Center tonight about the Great Fire as well as (among others) the fires talked about in this new “Pieces of this Past”. So if you wanna join us at 630 at the History Center, you're more than welcome.

Otherwise, enjoy this story of three more fires, none of which caused as much damage as the one in 1868, but which (at least in one case) have a little more mystery to them.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 6/10

They're all quite interesting. I just haven't made up my mind on them yet.

Believe it or not, it's been a month & two days since Loraine and & I left for Germany (wild, right?). As I wrote before we left, one of the things I love about Germany is their tea; you can walk into any German grocery store and choose from dozens (if not hundreds) of different flavors from which to sample. So I sampled. In fact, here's what I bought while over there--

A couple of them were teas I love and bought more of—green tea with orange and ginger, and the legendary fennel-anise-carraway seed tea that causes people to roll their eyes but causes my tastebuds to scream out in pleasure. There were, however, a couple I've never tried, and those are the ones that I've been trying to form an opinion of the past few weeks. Going from left to right in the picture, they are...

A vanilla-blueberry mix,

A plum-cinnamon combination,

And a strawberry-mint concoction.

Of the three, the vanilla-blueberry has a very unique taste. In fact, it's one that I could see entering the pantheon of  Jim's Great German Teas ™ , but I have to sample it a little more to make that decision. The plum-cinnamon is okay; I don't know if this makes sense or not, but it tastes more like a “winter” tea to me, so perhaps in a few months (sadly) when the weather starts to turn (assuming, of course, we actually HAVE a winter this year) my opinion of it will have changed.

And then there's the strawberry-mint. One of my favorite German teas every is a strawberry-mint Rooibos tea that you can only get if you have a hotel that serves Eilles-brand teas; you can't buy it in a store (and trust me, I looked). By itself, the strawberry-mint tea (which was the closest analogue of it I could find in stores) really doesn't do much for me. However, I just picked some plain Rooibos tea, and when I have a little calm in my life (as well as a clean palate) I'll steep the two bags together in an attempt to create my own strawbery-mint-Rooibos tea.

Will it work? Well, even if it doesn't taste the same as the kind I so adore, at least I'll be drinking German tea, which means that it won't be a waste of my time. Wish me luck!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 6/7

Wow. The total really WAS that small?

As even they admitted, it's a bit late in the year for the National Weather Service in Marquette to release snow totals for the winter that really wasn't a winter. But release them they did yesterday, and two numbers really stood out for me. The first? That no place in the UP—not one—received over 200” of snow this year.

The other? That here in the city of Marquette we received a whopping (double checking the number just to make sure) 34 inches of snow this past winter.

34 inches. That's less than a meter of snow. If you were hold up a yardstick, the total of snow—every single flake we received this year—wouldn't reach to the top. And if you consider that we received 12 inches of snow—over a third of our entire total—during one weekend in January; well, then you understand just how non-winter our winter really was this year.

Wow.

I know that while it was occurring I wrote a lot about just how weird our winter was, and seeing the actual figures makes me realize that it was indeed bizarre. Even the National Weather Service Office, which is five miles west of Marquette and a thousand feet higher in elevation, only received 127 inches. They're located in one of the prime snowfall areas of the UP, yet only saw half of what they usually get.

As I kept writing about our non-winter winter this year I wondered if I was perhaps engaging in a little hyperbole. It now looks like I wasn't.

I have no idea if this was just the freakiest of winters or a harbinger of what our climate-changed world is morphing into. I'm guessing it's the latter, seeing as how the Weather Service also said that our five winters with the lowest snowfall totals (including this past year) have all come since 2000.

Maybe in the future we won't even be able to use a yard-stick as a compassion tool. Wouldn't THAT be something?

Have a great weekend; after all, there's no snow in the forecast, even if a little rain may visit us, much like it did throughout January and February this year!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 6/6

You're gonna be hearing a lot about that place today.

“That place” is, of course, the Normandy beaches in France, where 80 years ago today what is still the largest amphibian military invasion in human history took place. No matter where you look, you'll see a lot of stories about that big day, and you'll also be seeing a lot of pictures from the area, most of them dealing with death and mayhem and almost all of them in black & white.

And that's not necessarily fair to those beaches. I've come to know and like them. I mean, sure, they were a really bad place 80 years ago, but except for the people who live there, no one ever seems to think about what they are today—beaches, and rather nice beaches, at that. Instead of bloody battles, you now see this--

You'll see school kids practicing for the big game--

You'll see harness racers getting ready for the next big event--

And, like on every beach, you'll see birds. Lots & lots of birds--

Sure, you'll still, 80 years later, see monuments to that bloody day--

But most importantly, you'll see families just out enjoying themselves--

And I have the feeling that, if you were able to talk to the over 3,000 Allied soldiers who died on the beaches 80 years ago today, that's what they would want to see more than anything. To know that their sacrifices have allowed generations of French families—and American tourists—to enjoy the beaches upon which they died AS beaches, and not as some fortified stronghold of an invading power led by a madman.

I know that every single person I've met in Normandy certainly thanks them for what they did, and appreciates their sacrifice every single day. Especially on those days when they can take their kids to the beach, enjoy the sun, play in the water, and (I'm sure) to remind them never to forget WHY they're able to play on that sand.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 6/5

This week's video was fun to put together.

Actually, I should backtrack a little and say that I had a blast researching the topic for this week's “Pieces of the past”. Like many of the videos I've done in 2024 it's an offshoot of one of the stories I told during “Legends & Lore” at Kaufman back in January. I found a few of the pictures and then Jack, as well as Beth & Hunter at the History Center, kept finding more and more pictures, most of which were weirder than the original, and voila--

I had a show segment. And now, a video. And, to make it even cooler, the kicker is that the building I've worked in each and every day for the past 20+ years is a featured character in it.

Who could ask for more, right?

So here it is, an answer to a question you've probably never asked—what would our great-grandparents have done for fun in the days before the Internet, TV, or, just maybe, even electricity--

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 6/4

It's a number about which I was curious.

Like most people, I have several graduations parties on the schedule in June. One was this past Sunday, while two more are at the same time in a couple of weekends (and that should make scheduling getting to them quite fun). Of course, when you're invited to a graduation party you're guaranteed three things—a lot of food, a graduate who's forced to tell people she or he doesn't even know what they're doing with their future, and a card, usually filled with money.

And that's what I was curious about.

It's been a couple of hundred years since I graduated from anything, so I was wondering just how much cash a new graduate can rake it. Thankfully, we have Google for that, and courtesy of the great gods of Google I was able to find out that the average high school graduate in 2024 will find themselves with an extra $1,300 after their gradation party.

That's not a bad chunk of change.

Of course, I know that for students going off to college $1,300 will just buy a couple of books and maybe four pizzas, so they really welcome the money. Whether or not it's worth spending four hours telling your mother's great aunt's ex-husband what your plans are after school depends upon the individual, but I could think of worse ways to make $1.300.

Really, I could.

*****

Last night's TV thing was a group affair, as I was provided a couple of pictures by Loraine's niece Katrina, who held a rummage sale a few weeks ago and was the first person I thought of when I realized I had absolutely no pictures of rummage sales anywhere in the 22-year collection of shots on my laptop.

So thanks, Kat. If anyone wants to see how she contributed (or how I babbled on and on about rummage sales) just CLICK OR TAP HERE!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 6/3

I realized I hadn't spent a lot of time with them, and figured I should before they disappeared. And I'm glad I did.

With everything that went on in the just completed month of May, something rather important fell by the wayside—spending time with lilacs. Sure, I stopped and sniffed my favorite bush on the way to and from work each day, but I really hadn't wandered about the city, connecting with them. But since they're (sadly) on the downside of their lives, I figured I probably should.

So that's one of the (many) things I did over the weekend.

I have several favored lilac spots, including Father Marquette Park--

And it seems like I wasn't the only one enjoying them there--

However, just about anywhere you wander throughout the city, you'll be greeted by bushes in full bloom--

And, of course, I had to spend a few seconds with the ones I pass by each and every day--

Sadly, they'll be gone soon, so I'm glad I was able to spend a few moments with them before they leave us (actually a metaphor for many things in life). Of course, if someone could figure out a way to have them bloom year-round that would be amazing, and make scheduling a whole lot easier. I mean, I know that won't happen, but a boy can dream right?

8-)

Thanks, lilacs of 2024, and sorry our time together was so short!

(jim@wmqt.com)