Thursday, 3/12

Today, I promise not to write ANYTHING about the weather. I'll save that for tomorrow when we're supposed to get another foot (or more) of the white crap.

Sigh...

Instead, two totally unrelated things I've been meaning to mention. First of all is a weird thought that popped into my head yesterday afternoon while eating an apple—do you leave the stem in when eating an apple, or do you twist it out? I don't know why the thought popped into my head; it just did. I personally twist the stem out. I don't know why; I mean, I could eat an apple with the stem in it. It wouldn't bother me at all. But for whatever reason, I always twist the stem out.

I guess I'm just weird like that.

And in regard to twisting the stem out of an apple—is/was there some kind of weird thing that goes along with how many twists it takes to get the stem out of the apple? You know; like if it takes four twists you'll kiss four people this year, or something strange like that? I seem to remember something along those lines from when I was a kid, but I don't remember any of the details. So if YOU know if I'm remembering this correctly or if I've just moved myself one step closer to heading off the deep end (a distinct possibility), let me know.

And thanks.

Secondly, I would like you to read this paragraph--

“In this paper, we develop a cascadic multigrid algorithm for fast computation of the Fiedler vector of a graph Laplacian, namely, the eigenvector corresponding to the second smallest eigenvalue. This vector has been found to have applications in fields such as graph partitioning and graph drawing. The algorithm is a purely algebraic approach based on a heavy edge coarsening scheme and pointwise smoothing for refinement. To gain theoretical insight, we also consider the related cascadic multigrid method in the geometric setting for elliptic eigenvalue problems and show its uniform convergence under certain assumptions. Numerical tests are presented for computing the Fiedler vector of several practical graphs, and numerical results show the efficiency and optimality of our proposed cascadic multigrid algorithm.”.

My question is this—did you understand it? Please say no. Please say that only a genius (or, in the case of the person who wrote it, a former lineman for the Baltimore Ravens who's a math scholar) can understand it. Because, you know, if that's something most people understand and I don't; well, then, I even dumber than I thought I was.

And that's quite dumb!

Okay. That's it for unrelated things for now. Except for this—if you're in Marquette and wanna see a dork on TV, there's a special fundraising edition of “High School Bowl” on WNMU-TV tonight at 9. There will be two pledge breaks in the show, and the aforementioned dork—well, okay me—will be begging for bucks for Public Media.

Between those, though, will be game segments featuring some of the brightest young people on the planet. And I'm pretty sure at least one or two of them might even understand that paragraph about the cascadic multigrid algorithm.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 3/11

Okay. This can stop any year now.

As I may have mentioned once or twice (or several hundred times) the past few months, we're in the middle of an honest to goodness “Throwback Winter”, a season that reflects what winters used to be like around here before we broke the planet. After a bunch of mild winters in a row I don't think most people are quite happy with the way this one is turning out, and were kind of euphoric on Monday when it jumped up into the 50s and melted a whole bunch of the white stuff--

However, it didn't last too long. Here's what it looked like when I showed up to work this morning around 10--

We're in the middle of a Winter Storm Warning, schools all across the area once again closed, and I'm thinking the vast majority of the 300,000 people who call Upper Michigan home are so ready for this stuff to be over that today is kind of like a gut punch to the psyche.

It really IS unwelcome.

It blows my mind that according to the National Weather Service, here in the city of Marquette we're only 15 or so inches above our “average” snow total. Based on the massive amount of white stuff we've all had to move this year it doesn't seem possible, but that's science and, as we all know, science doesn't lie. Averages, of course, are made up of many different numbers, including those when our horrid winters were the norm and not just “Throwback”.

We've just been spoiled the past decade or so.

Will it ever end? Well, that's a question for people much smarter than I. All I know is that our brief tease of Spring this past weekend was just that—a tease. Apparently, we still have a LOT more of our “Throwback” winter to get through.

Yuck.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 3/10

I wonder if anyone actually got all of the jokes?

Following last week's somber TV piece about the ultimately unsuccessful search for a missing person in Marquette, I decided to go all out on the goofiness this week. Thankfully, this time of the year there is a ready made subject for a little goofiness, which I'm guessing is the ONLY thing potholes are good for. So I went all out on them last night, mixing in gags ranging from Yooper jokes to off-handed comments about 16^th century Portuguese explorers.

Why? The question, perhaps, should be “why not”, right?

8-)

This was also one of those instances where the bit came in way too long, and I had to cut a bunch of gags out, including (but not limited to) my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon, the two least of the Great Lakes (Erie and Ontario, obviously), Bigfoot, and the state bird of Michigan, the mosquito. But you know what? As we've said before, sometimes editing makes things better.

See if it did this week--

I think I've written in here before about a line one of my favorite comedic personalities of all time (Jack Benny) once said—“if we can't stick in one joke a week just for us, we're in the wrong business”. So if there's a gag or two (or eight) in there that you didn't get or seems just plain stupid (probably the vast majority of them), never fear.

I was just paying homage to one of the great comedic minds of all time. It was just me writing a gag (or six) for myself.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 3/9

And now, we’re left with the garbage.

With probably 90% of the snow in the city of Marquette melting over the past week, what was just recently a white wonderland is now a big brown blob of sand and junk and all kinds of crap, both figurative and literal (thank you, the small minority of Marquette dog owners who don’t think the city’s pooper scooper law applies to them). Loraine and I went for a stroll Sunday and were astounded by the amount of bottles, cans, empty fast food wrappers, and other different examples of the refuse of winter, all laying in decaying heaps on city sidewalks and in city streets.

As I wrote about last week, March may be the one month of the year when Marquette isn’t, well, beautiful. Aside from being filled with leftover brown dirt, it's also filled with the leftover remainders of people who think that, just because they can’t see where it lands, it’s okay to toss whatever garbage they have in their cars or in their hands on the nearest sidewalk. And it’s also filled with the leftover remainders of pets, innocent animals whose owners think it’s okay to leave big piles of bacterial-filled waste on a sidewalk where hundreds of people must dodge said piles when the snow melts for the season.

Sigh.

Thankfully, as I mentioned last week, we live in a community where the clean-up doesn’t take too long. But until then, we’re stuck with an uglier than usual city. Uglier than usual because of the natural result of winter ending (the sand everywhere, and the broken branches everywhere), and uglier than usual because, well, some people are just slobs.

The sad thing is, of course, that it doesn’t have to be that way. People COULD pick up after themselves during winter, and then when March rolls around, clean-up would be quicker, it wouldn’t cost the city so much, and Marquette could start looking like Marquette again, instead of someone’s personal garbage heap.

Sad to say, though, I won’t be holding my breath waiting for that to happen. After all, I know what people are like these days.

And let's just say my faith in humanity is not what it once was...

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 3/6

Wow. I can't believe we're done for the year.

I'll have to keep this kinda short, because I'm off to NMU in a bit to tape the final episodes of “High School Bowl” of the season. We're doing two shows today, the semi-finals and the finals, as well as interviews and material for the "Season in Review" show, and it puts the wraps on another fun year, a year that seems like it just started yesterday.

But now, it's over.

I don't know if it seems like it's been a short season because it all went so smoothly, or because it's been a blast doing it, but I'm kind of stunned at how quickly it went. Maybe it's the fact that I've been doing it for a bit now; maybe it's because this year, more than any other, the young people on the show have been doing things like putting my face on their pants. I have no idea. I just know it's been a blast this season, and I'm very sorry to see it come to an end. Some familiar teams have made the semis, while there are a couple of surprises in there, as well. I can't wait to see how it turns out later today. You'll have to wait until the middle of April to see it for yourself, but trust me when I say this—there are some amazing moments still to come this season.

The season that, like I said, wraps up shooting in just a few minutes.

With that, I'm off to make sure my tie is straight. Have yourself a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 3/5

As I mentioned a few days ago, I'm wrong about a lot of stuff. But I know I'm not wrong about this.

Marquette is usually one of the most beautiful places on the planet. During the summer there's green everywhere you look. During fall that green changes to a palette of polychromatic majesty. And even a snowfall during winter can have an ethereal beauty of its own.

At least the first few snowfalls of the year have that ethereal beauty. After that, all bets are off.

However, there's one segment of the year during which Marquette is not at its best. In fact, you could even make the claim that during that particular segment, Marquette is downright ugly. That period of time?

March.

Don't believe me?

That's a picture I took yesterday, as the sun & 45 degree temperatures reduced our six foot snowbanks into five foot snowbanks. And it, I think, proves my point. All winter long city crews dump sand everywhere, just to make sure that vehicles can make it up the wicked hills of Marquette. That sand is covered up by snowfall, so we really don't notice it when it's around. However, when the snow starts to melt, the sand doesn't, meaning the city turns, for several weeks, into a pile of giant brown mush.

And you know what? There's no way a city can look good when it resembles a pile of giant brown mush.

Thankfully, that particular phase doesn't last too long. Soon (hopefully), the snow will entirely disappear, city crews can work their cleaning magic, and in a month or so green grass and the first flowers will make an appearance, propelling the city toward awesome beauty for which it is known.

But that's still a little bit away. For the next few weeks, we'll just have to deal with the fact that Marquette is still in need of its yearly makeover.

And hopefully, after the winter we've had, that makeover comes sooner rather than later.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 3/4

Who knew a sign of its legacy would still be around, and still sitting in my bedroom, all these years later?

I've been reading a book about the history, development, and sales of candy in the U.S., and one of the things discussed in the book was Wacky Packages. Admittedly, Wacky Packages weren't a candy, but since they stuck sticks of bubble gum in the package, I guess that allowed it to qualify for inclusion in the book. For those of you who don't know Wacky Packs, a thousand or so years ago they were stickers satirizing products of the day (for instance, Crest Toothpaste was turned into Crust Toothpaste), something that appealed to those of us who were nine years old back then (as opposed to those of us who occasionally act like nine year olds now).

Anyway, I had quite the collection of the stickers, so reading through the section of the book about Wacky Packages made me chuckle. I was reading in our bedroom, while Loraine was somewhere else in our apartment. I left the bedroom to show her the page, and in doing so walked past one of the dressers we use. I've had this particular dresser since I was a kid, and on the side of the dresser I passed while leaving the room there are several areas where the stain had been peeled off a long time ago. It wasn't until I walked passed the dresser carrying that book on candy that I realized WHY the stain was peeled off.

The stain on the dresser was peeled off because of the fact that when I was a kid, I once had a bunch of Wacky Packages stickers stuck onto it, stickers that were at one time removed, causing the areas where the stain had been peeled off.

It's funny, because I hadn't looked at the side of the dresser for decades. And I have no idea why I looked at it at the moment I was also carrying the book with the section on Wacky Packages. I just know that I, for some reason, looked at the dresser at that exact second and made the connection. It's funny, too, because if you look close enough you can see the stain that's peeled off is actually peeled off in the shape of stickers. I suppose if I had pictures of each and every Wacky Package sticker from my youth I could tell you which sticker on the dresser was planted where, but that would probably be bordering on the obsessive.

Just a little.

It's weird how parts of our youth keep popping up as we get older & older (and older). Sometimes all it takes is a book—and an old dresser—to remind us of that.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 3/3

I, personally, think the description is apt.

My TV piece last night dealt with what Marquette residents went through last week; namely, the ultimately unsuccessful search for missing NMU student Trenton Massey, and how the community pitched in in an attempt to find him. At the end of the piece I talked about the old Mr Rogers quote on “looking for the helpers”, saying that maybe the one good thing to take away from this whole tragedy is that the residents of Marquette ARE, indeed, the helpers.

I'm often wrong about things, but this is one time I know I'm not.

I guess i would hope that residents of EVERY community could find it in themselves to be called “helpers”, but something I saw after getting home from TV last night reminded me that might be one of things about which I might be wrong.

A Facebook friend of mine had expressed sympathy for a group of marginalized people, and shared the reaction someone from his hometown (another community in Upper Michigan) had stuck on the post. I'm not going to quote it exactly, because it was not nice, but in essence it said “the people of Marquette are corrupting you”. Now, I know that we live in an extremely polarized world these days, and that for some individuals empathy for others and hate of “the other” has been weaponized. The comment left on the post is proof positive of that. But to say that the people of Marquette, one of the kindest groups of people you'll ever meet, a group that turned out en masse to help find someone who was missing, are a “corrupting influence” on someone?

Really?????

Like I said, I know we live in a polarized world these days, and that the very things that make the residents of Marquette “helpers” are looked down upon by a certain segment of society. But you know what? I'll take love over hate, inclusion over division, and helpers over takers, any single day of the week. I would do that even if I wasn't one of the “corrupted residents” of Marquette. Why?

Because that's what being a good human being IS.

Here's the TV piece from last night--

(jim@wmqt.com), corrupted resident of Marquette.

Monday, 3/2

Going to the grocery store really does get weirder & weirder.

I wrote last week about how I saw both an “old” person and someone who wanted to compliment my TV work at the store last week. Well, as always happened, when Loraine and I went shopping this weekend I had people come up to me, one of whom asked a question that proves that, perhaps, my reputation precedes me.

That question?

“Are you ready for the beach yet”?

Now, as those of you who read this regularly know, I kinda like the beach. I spend a good deal of my summer (at least a good deal of a warm summer) just walking up & down beaches, basking in the warmth of the sun and the zen-like sound of the waves crashing on shore. Those of you who read this on a regular basis also know that my dream job would be “beach bum”, only I've yet to figure out a way to get someone to pay me to do it. That's why I was surprised when the question was asked and it turns out the person doing the asking doesn't read these.

Apparently, I've been doing what I do long enough that everyone in Marquette knows everything about me.

8-)

I guess, in a way, the question made sense, especially because on Friday—the day before the grocery store encounter—the sun was out and the temperatures were, for one of the only times this calendar year, actually above normal. You could even if you felt, joke that on Friday we DID have “perfect beach weather” outside. And while the sunshine DID add a beach-like glow to the day, the fact that it was glaring off of seven-foot snowbanks kind of took away the whole allure of going to the beach, at least then.

So I guess I'm now known not just as the geek on the radio who walks everywhere; or the geek on TV, or the geek who leads big crowds around downtown Marquette while babbling about history. To one person, at least, I'm also known as “the geek who wants to go to the beach”. I guess, though, there are worse reputations to be had, right?

(jim@wmqt.com), who wonders who I'll speak with the NEXT time I'm at the grocery store.

Friday, 2/27

It has been a long week here in Marquette, what with snow storms, school cancellations, the unsuccessful search for a missing NMU student, and the collapse of the roof of the Westwood Mall (and that's just as of this morning), that I figured I'd just leave you with two things, the first of which is this--.

Is WNMU-TV REALLY sure they want to use my ugly mug as an incentive to get people to tune into an entire night of programming? I know that if I saw that picture I'd run screaming to the hills, but maybe that's just me.

Oh—and have I ever mentioned my life is weird? That's just another example.

8-)

As I alluded to a few paragraphs ago, one of the things that's consumed Marquette the past few days was the search for NMU student Trenton Massey, a search that's now been called off. Yesterday I had Marquette City Police Chief Ryan Grim come in and walk us through what went on, as well as the incredible community response to the whole affair.

If you have a little over 6 minutes and an interest in what he had to say, check it out--

On that note, keep your fingers crossed that we actually have a peaceful weekend here in the UP. After what's been going on the past few days, I think we deserve it.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 2/26

If I have to be a failure at something, at least I'm in good company.

Loraine and I were joking around the other night. She had been reading several articles about soccer players we follow, all of whom used to play in Germany, didn't have much success there, moved on, and became stars. However, the German press still invariably calls them “Bundesliga Transfer Flop (in this case, Atletico Madrid star Alexander Sorloth)", because no matter how successful they are now, they flopped when they played in Germany.

And, apparently, that's all that matters. They could be the greatest player in the world outside of the country and STILL be known in Germany as “Bundesliga Transfer Flop”...

Oh, those wacky, wacky Germans.

Anyway, the two of us got to talking about that German practice, and I started to think. That, as we all know, can be a dangerous thing, and I was soon wondering how the German press would describe me, in the extremely unlikely event that they would have to make snide fun of me. I mean, I know I would never be “Bundesliga Transfer Flop”, but what WOULD be my biggest failure in life, the one that they could tag me with?

How about “High School Math Flop Jim Koski”?

I hope this doesn't sound bad, but after Loraine and I were joking around I started to run the concept of “failure” through my brain. What endeavors have I attempted and totally flopped at in my life? Well, I couldn't come up with any. I mean, there have been things I've tried and didn't totally succeed at, but was there anything at which that I totally failed?

Thankfully, there's always high school math.

I often joke that I'm in broadcasting because I suck at math, a joke that's actually common among people in this particular field. In all honesty, I don't suck at all math; addition, multiplication, and fractions don't bother me at all. But when you get past algebra, into geometry and trigonometry and calculus?

Well, then, I really AM a “flop”.

I took all those classes back in high school, managing to limp through them with grades no higher than, uhm, a C-. And aside from a little basic algebra used when trying to upscale or downscale the size of recipes, I've never used geometry or trigonometry or calculus in the thousand years since I took the classes. That, I guess, proves two things—that unless you're an engineer of some sort you probably won't use any math in your every day life, and that, if you're like me and took the classes anyway, you'll have two lasting effects thanks of it--

You'll probably go into a career field that has nothing to DO with math and, in the event that the German press needs something with which to label you as a flop, you're good to go.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com), high school math flop.

Wednesday, 2/25

I should probably really start reviewing my French again.

It's been nine (!) years since I've actually had to use it, and that was only for a few days while we were in Belgium and Luxembourg for our Black Forest trip back in 2017. But seeing as how we're planning on spending our next trip on the German/French border, with a drive into both France and Luxembourg (to buy chocolate, of course) I should probably brush up on.

At least if my ability to read newspaper articles is any indication.

Those of you who've been reading these forever know I know just enough French to get around and to order things in bakeries (the two most important reasons to know another language), but that's about it. I could probably carry on a conversation with a four year old, but if their parent were to come over I'd just throw my hands up and hope they spoke English better than I spoke French.

Sadly, I'm one of those people who seems to lose their ability with a foreign language if I don't use it. I suppose it's just like any other muscle in your body; if you don't exercise it, it just wastes away. And since there are very few French speakers in Marquette (or, at least, very few that I know), the only chance I get to “exercise” is to read newspaper articles.

And that's where I've noticed my problem.

I follow a bunch of French news outlets on Facebook, and whenever they post a story I try to read the headline and the story in French, just to work on my skills and to see if I can figure out what's going on. But I've found myself more and more recently just hitting the “translate” button the story because I don't understand a reference or I've forgotten a word (or six).

I don't like that.

That means that I now have a little over two months to brush up on the language before we leave. That means that I get to haul out my old laptop, which contains my old version of Rosetta Stone. That means I haul out my “French Isn't Scary” book, a language guide designed for eighth graders but one I've found works perfectly for me. And that means I get to walk around Marquette and, if I see something outside or in a store, I get to call it its name in French, strange looks from people nearby notwithstanding.

So, if you happen to be near me in a store or in a park or on the street and you hear me referring to a black cat as “le chat de noir”, don't worry. I haven't lost my mind (or what's left of my mind). I'm just trying to get ready for a side excursion or two into a country where French is the key to the world's greatest baked goods.

8-).

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 2/24

Oh, look. School's not cancelled for once today. It's a 21^st century miracle.

8-)

Okay; now that the sarcasm's out of the way, I promised you the continuation of a story. As you recall, I ran into someone with whom I was is Kindergarten while grocery shopping Saturday. No more than 30 seconds after that encounter ended, another began, as someone came up to me, and told me how much they enjoy my weekly things on TV-19. As I always do, I thanked them for the kind words and for watching. And then they told me about the one that's stuck with them for a couple of years now.

As always, the segment that is still with them took me by surprise. Especially because I totally forgot about doing it in the first place.

Let me digress for a second. I've written in here before about how ephemeral the “906”s are to me. I write one, I do it, I put it online, and them I'm on to the next. Very rarely do I think back on what I've done; in fact, perhaps the only time I do is to look back and make sure I'm not writing about something I've already talked about in years past (an increasingly common occurrence, by the way).

However, if you're just a viewer of the pieces, your reaction is, I'm guessing, far from mine. Apparently, for some people, my idle babblings stick with them for a bit. And that was the case of the gentleman at the grocery store Saturday, who wanted to let me know just how much he appreciated the bit I did a year or so ago about how people these days, when they leave the UP, can take a part of it along wherever they go thanks to their 906 area code.

Like I said, I had totally forgotten about that one, although once he mentioned it every little bit of it came back to me. It touched him because he's not from the UP, and still has a 231 area code on his phone. However, his daughter, who left for college this past fall, took HER 906 number down to Illinois with her, and when he saw the piece it apparently very close to home.

And I can understand why.

Like I said, after I'm done with the bits I'm done with the bits, if only because I have the next bit to deal with. But it's nice to know that some of them, at least, linger a little longer with the people who watch them.

It's one of the best compliments I could ever get.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 2/23

Who knew that a trip to the grocery store would provide such fodder for conversation?

Like most people, Loraine and I braved the snow (the never-ending snow, which has canceled schools yet again today) over the weekend to head out and grab some groceries. As often happens, while I was strolling the aisles I was stopped by a couple of people. A discussion I had with one of them will be topic of tomorrow's post, but the other is the subject of today's, and it deals with the fact that I don't know the answer to a particular question.

The first person I ran into at the grocery store was, as it turns out, someone I knew as a kid. When I first saw them I had no idea who it was, aside from thinking to myself "look at the old person over there". But when they came up and introduced themselves as someone I'd been in Kindergarten with, I was shocked.

And stunned, and, well, you know...

We exchanged pleasantries, and they mentioned they've been following the work I do for the History Center, even though they no longer live in Marquette and were just visiting for the weekend (joking, of course, that they picked the best weekend they could for such a visit). And through all the work I do for the History Center, this person wondered a). where I get the energy to do it all, and 2). how I've managed to stay so "youthful", both physically and mentally.

And I have to admit that I have no idea.

I mean, genes play a part of it. Even though my parents are both in their 80s they're still active; heck, when my dad's in Marquette he still rides his bike up the Iron Ore Heritage Trail a couple of times a week. That covers the physical part of it. And far as the energy and mental outlook of a young person? Well, after thinking about it for a bit I'd like to chalk it up to a positive attitude. I love the stuff I do, and I'm always looking forward to tackling the next big thing. If what I did was drudgery or boring, I'd probably approach it differently.

But thankfully, it's not.

The question this person asked also made me think, which, as we all know, can be a very dangerous thing. As I've said in here many times, I'm an incredibly lucky person. I get good genes from my parents. I've stumbled into a fascinating career and enjoyable side diversions. And I recognize that without those I too could end up being stared at by someone in a supermarket thinking that I'm nothing more than an old person.

We become who we are by the circumstances in which we live. I'm just fortunate enough to have had a pretty good set of circumstances leading up to an incredible (if occasionally very weird) life. So if I had to give an answer to the question of "why", I guess that would be it.

And if I ever see this person again, that's the answer I'd give to the old Kindergarten classmate I saw a few days ago in the middle of a supermarket.

Tomorrow—the the story of the individual I ran into 30 seconds later.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 2/20

Oh, look. Everything's shut down again because of the weather.

I know I've been whining a lot this week about the “Throwback Winter” we're currently enduring, but the optimistic part of me hopes this may be the last time. There's wet, heavy snow out there yet again, the winds are whipping all the crap that's falling around, most schools are closed, and our epic end-of-the-season “High School Bowl” shoot has been pushed back a few weeks.

So, you know, it's just another day in the never-ending winter of 2026.

What gives me hope that it may be the last time? Well, it's nothing I can tangibly prove. There's no forecast model I've looked at, and no hard data to back it up. But I have a...feeling. There just seems to be something that's saying that this might be the last time.

Like I said, I have nothing to prove it, and it might just be me grasping at straws as I slowly descend into madness, but it just...feels like this might be it. Maybe I'm reading something into the (relatively) warmer temperatures that's not there, and maybe the fact that it stays light later at night has stripped what's left of my sanity, but it just feels like this might be the last big one of the winter.

Of course, I realize that up here we can get a “big one” at any time before Memorial Day, and this year we'll probably get several, but like I said, I'm grasping at straws here. At least let me dream a little, right?

8-)

I'll be curious to see how it turns out. Maybe it'll be in the 60s some day soon, and the snow will melt. Or maybe the snowbanks, like this one outside of my house--

will keep growing at an exponential rate until they become the highest points in the entire state of Michigan.

This year, we're gonna get one extreme or the other. I have a feeling there's no middle point. Just like I have the feeling that we're (hopefully) closer to the end of all this crap than we are the beginning.

Keep your fingers crossed. And stay warm this weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 2/19

It's never gonna end, is it?

After suffering through the snow day yesterday, watching almost a foot of wet, heavy snow dumped on us, comes word that another system is moving through tonight and tomorrow, promising up to another foot of the crap on top of the crap we just received.

What the what, Mother Nature?

I'll be curious to see what happens with it all, as tomorrow we were supposed to shoot the final episodes of “High School Bowl”--the semi-finals, the championship match, and a bunch of material for the “Year in Review” show. However, since we have teams coming in from (literally) all four corners of the UP, I'm guessing we may have a few issues with that.

We'll see.

I did a little math for my “Weird Fact of the Day” yesterday, figuring out that it's been 86 days (and counting) since it was snow-free here in Marquette. That prompted a listener to call and suggest, politely, that maybe I should go to my happy place, and think about summer. Maybe, she said, even post a few pictures of flowers to take my mind off the snow.

We have the greatest listeners in the world, don't we?

So with that in mind...

There. I don't know if the pictures will get rid of the snow (okay, they won't) but for at least a few seconds, as i was going through the hundreds of flower pictures I've taken over the years, I didn't think about all the crap sitting outside.

And these days, we count that as a win, right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com), at 87 days and counting...

Wednesday, 2/18

It's not fair, when you really think about it.

We've had a nice stretch of weather recently, with sun, warm temperatures, melting snow, and a hint that after a throwback type of winter that Spring is on the way.

But apparently that's over--

That's what it looked like just a few minutes ago, on my walk to work this morning. We're under a Winter Storm Warning, with schools closed all across the UP, mostly because all the stuff that was melting the past few days has now frozen over, to be covered by the heavy snow that's blowing around because of the heavy winds.

Oh, joy.

After several mild winters in a row I think a lot of us forgot just how brutal of a slog a “Throwback” winter can be, especially in regards to the way it teases you into thinking it's over, only to cruelly slam it back into your face, laughing while it does so.

Summer doesn't do that to you.

The past several years Loraine and I have been able to get out on a soccer pitch and start kicking the ball around sometime in March, or even, in the case of two years ago, on Valentine's Day. Based on what this winter has been like and what's in the forecast, I know it's not gonna be anything like that this year.

In fact, if we're lucky, we might be able to get out there by, oh, Memorial Day. I mean, I know it won't be that long, but on a day like today?

It sure feels like it.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 2/17

This one walked a bit of a tightrope.

Even though I didn't have to work my radio gig yesterday, I did have one of my TV jobs, and since it was President's Day I had the idea to riff on the topic. I was batting several ideas around, and then (as usual) I woke up in the middle of the night realizing the best way to do it.

The only deal? If I didn't set it up correctly the whole bit would fall flat on its face, and I'd look a fool. Or, at least, more of a fool than I usually do.

Basically, the entire TV piece last night lead up to the gag, to the punchline of the entire segment. If I didn't set it up correctly, or if I didn't leave enough clues, when I revealed the “gag” I ran the risk of people just shaking their heads in disbelief and/or throwing things at their TV sets or computer monitors.

And I probably get that happening enough as it is.

Not only did I need to set the bit up correctly, but the payoff—the gag, the punchline—had to be the best it could. I ran several different options through my head, and it wasn't until I came across the one that I eventually used that the piece lit up and, at least to me, seemed to work. But once it did, it came off even better than I had imagined.

See for yourself--

Sadly, as with most TV pieces it came in way too long, which means I had to cut out a couple of gags.  Thankfully, though, I WAS able to sneak in a possible campaign slogan--“You don't have to BELIEVE in him. You just have to believe IN him”.

Yup; I know I'm not normal. What's your point?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 2/13 (!)

Since I'm not working Monday, President's Day, I figured I'd write about the topic today, if for no other reason than to remind you that you may keep staring out the window and eventually asking yourself, “How come the mail hasn’t shown up yet”?

You know--one of those days!

Instead of spending the day Monday pondering the achievements (or lack thereof) from everyone from Millard Fillmore to Gerald Ford, most people will simply shrug and wonder, if you were to ask them, just who the heck Millard Fillmore and Gerald Ford were. And that’s kind of sad. I mean, I know I’m a history geek, and knew who all the Presidents in this country’s history were at a young age, but I’d like to think that names like James K. Polk, James Buchanan, and Rutherford B. Hayes should at least spark a tiny flame of memory in most people. I mean, I know they don’t, but I’d like to dream that they would.

And as long as I’m dreaming, can we have beach weather this weekend, too?

I know you guys are among the smartest people in the world, so here are two tests for you. First of all, before the current one, who was the only U.S. President to be elected to non-consecutive terms? In other words, he was President, then he wasn’t, then he was elected again? The answer to that comes at the end of this.

Secondly, going backwards from our current President, how many in a row can you name until you stump yourself? Go ahead, give it a try. I’ll wait for you.

(By the way, this is just me, waiting until you stump yourself).

(Stump yourself yet? Good. Keep going).

(Now are you stumped?)

From a statistic I saw, the average person can only go back FIVE Presidents before failing. FIVE. That means that they have no idea who was President before Bill Clinton. I mean, they may know the names of Nixon and Kennedy and at least one of the Roosevelts, but they don’t know where they fall in that order. And that’s kind of a shame. I don’t expect everyone to be able to name all 46 Presidents in reverse order--heck, even I can’t do that--but it is kind of nice to know who falls where and what effect that had on the growth and the history of this country.

And for the record--I can go back 20 Presidents. I always forget who came before William McKinley. I know; dorky, right?

So have yourself a great President’s Day Monday. If you wanna impress the people around you, slip into conversation how interesting you believe it to be that Grover Cleveland was the first President to be elected to non-consecutive terms. And if you REALLY wanna impress the people around you, add to the conversation the fact that during his second non-consecutive term Cleveland asked Peter White to head what would now be the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but that White turned him down because he was too busy being, well, Peter White.

President’s Day. More than just another day you don’t get mail.

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 2/12

I wonder if Bob Seger ever considered this?

When I was out running yesterday morning Bob Seger's “Hollywood Nights” popped up on my iPod. If you're not familiar with the song, it's about a Midwestern boy who heads out to California and falls in love with a girl, a girl who dumps him by the end of the song. The girl, as described by Seger, is one of those stereotypical California girls who, as the lyrics put it, had been born with “a face that would let her get away” with just about anything.

But that's not what sent my brain into overtime. Nope; this is what sent my brain into overtime. The song is 48 years old. The album from which it came, “Stranger in Town”, was released in 1978. So, for a second, assume what took place in the song really happened. Assume that the girl born with “a face that would let her get away” was (for the sake of argument) 22 when the song happened. That would mean that the girl born with “a face that would let her get away”, the girl that broke the protagonist's heart, would now be 70 years old.

The girl born with “a face that would let her get away” would now, in all likelihood, be a grandmother. And the guy whose heart she broke? There would probably be kids calling him “grandpa”.

That's what sent my brain into overdrive.

No, I don't know why I thought of that. I mean, I knew in the back of my head that the song was almost 50 years old. I haven't heard it in a while, which probably led me to listen to the lyrics a little closer than I normally would've. And for some strange reason, stuff just started to add up until I realized that the two characters in the song are now eligible for Social Security and enjoying senior discounts at their favorite restaurant.

Where they probably eat dinner at 3 in the afternoon.

Like I said, this is just something that popped into my head while running. Hopefully, weird stuff like that won't send your brain into overdrive throughout the day

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 2/11

What? You don't use the phrase “face pants” in your everyday life?

As we all know, my life is weird, and it keeps getting weirder by the day. I mean, I could mention things like walking into a store Sunday, saying something, and having the young man waiting on me say “You're the dude from the history videos!”. I could also mention the e-mail I received yesterday from someone who saw me on TV Monday and really REALLY wants to make “Six Pack Speed Skating” a thing.

Or, I could just show you my face pants--

Yup; you're looking at exactly what you think you're looking at. A couple of weeks ago the Painesdale High School Bowl team decided to show up for a shoot wearing pajama bottoms with my face on them.

Have I ever mentioned my life is weird?

When I saw the “face pants” I almost lost it, laughing so hard that we had to delay taping a few minutes while I composed myself. I mean, strange things have been happening to me on a regular basis, but I really don't think I had “face pants” on my Weird Life Bingo Card.

I don't think ANYONE would have “face pants” on their Weird Life Bingo Card.

In the two weeks since, my friend Deanna has been using the phrase “face pants” as often as possible in conversation, attributing everything going on in the world—good & bad—to my “face pants”. Even I've found myself using the phrase once or twice, only to then have to explain the whole thing to the person who just heard it. Of course, once they hear WHY I'm using the phrase “face pants” they get it, and, if only for a second, realize that my life is weird.

Because, if you weren't aware, my life is weird.

So the next time something strange happens to you—and I'm assuming that I'm not the only person to whom weird things happen—don't give it a second thought. Just realize that there are forces greater than you & I at work in the universe. Whatever happens, we can just blame it on one thing and one thing only.

Face pants.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 2/10

Well, one of them COULD be a real sport, right?

Last night's TV piece was my latest flight of Yooper fancy, in which I (hopefully) accomplished two goals—making people chuckle a little, and ragging on a certain news anchor for not yet eating a pasty.

The second of those is, actually, quite easy. The first one's a little harder, and with any luck I at least came close.

I haven't really watched any of the Olympics yet, although I did see a clip of Lindsey Vonn's horrific crash, an experience that I really don't wanna repeat. But I know how many people really get into the Games, especially with a Yooper like Nick Baumgartner trying to get another gold, so I figured I would put my own unique spin on a couple of events that SHOULD be in the Winter Olympics but aren't.

Much, I'm sure, to the loss of the rest of the world.

Did I succeed? Well, that's not up to me to decide. It IS, however, something you can determine by checking it out for yourself--

This is one of those bits that just came to me in a flash of inspiration, as when I was walking home from TV last Monday night the phrase “Six Pack Speed Skating” popped into my head. By the time I finished dinner, I had most of the gags; the spot itself was fully written by Wednesday, and when I came back to it Sunday to put graphics together it still held up.

I wish all of my TV bits were that easy, you know?

Anyway, I suppose I should wrap this up. If nothing else, I should start drafting a letter to the International Olympic Committee. I'm pretty sure they'll be as excited by “Six Pack Speed Skating” as the rest of us, right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 2/6

Who knew I was so hardcore, huh?

First of all, hope you had a great weekend. I enjoyed mine, as for the first weekend in a lot of weekends I didn't have much to do. I talked to my dad (the birthday boy; more on that in a bit), I took care of some chores, and Loraine and I headed over to the Fit Strip for a little outdoor winter exercise.

Look what I came back with--

It's not what it looks like. I mean, yes, it IS a cross country ski pole that's obviously broken in half, and if I wanted to leave you with the impression that I had a massive accident while head through the woods, I could use that as evidence, right? But, alas, I'm not that hardcore. I mean, I DID break the pole while skiing, but it wasn't while being hardcore.

It was while I was trying to move a tree out of my way.

As you know, we've had an intense winter up here, so intense that all around Marquette's Fit Strip there are trees & branches that have been blown down, and frozen in place. I came across one while heading around the woods on Sunday, and figured I would be a good community citizen and try to move it. I'm sure someone smarter than me would have figured this out, but it's REALLY hard to move a frozen tree while on cross country skis. So I tried using one of my poles are leverage, and voila...

I ended my skiing with one working pole. Oops.

I did eventually get the giant tree branch out of my path, and used my one working pole to get back to civilization. I'm guessing I won't be doing too much skiing until I get the pole replaced, although I do have an old pole from an old set somewhere on our basement. Maybe I'll try using the one I still have with the old one, and see how it works.

Although if I come across more tree branches on the ground, I'll know better than to use one of those poles to move it.

8-)

*****

I had mentioned that it was Chicky-Poo's birthday on Saturday. What he doesn't know is that the kids on “High School Bowl” wanted to say something to him!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 2/6

Well, you'll be happy to know I made it through a “normal” week okay.

At the beginning of this week I mentioned how this was my first “normal” week in, like, forever. I wondered how I would handle it, and you know what?

I think I handled it quite well. I got everything done I wanted to get done; I even got a head start on next week's TV piece. So I made the most of a “normal” week. And that's a good thing, because next week?

Anything BUT normal.

But before we even think about that, I have something I need to announce. I could not let this day go by without wishing a “happy birthday” tomorrow to my favorite old guy in the whole world. That's right; tomorrow it's Chicky-Poo's birthday.

When I mailed my dad's birthday card a couple of days ago and actually addressed it to “Chicky-Poo Koski”, someone asked how I had gotten into the habit of referring to him as “Chicky-Poo” instead of something normal like “Dad” or “Father” or “Sir” or “You know, that guy”. And in all honesty, I have no idea whatsoever. I don't even know when it started. I just know that one day, probably as a joke, I must have called him “Chicky-Poo” and, for some strange reason, it got stuck in my brain. I started referring to him in that manner. Not all the time, and certainly not when I'm actually having a conversation with him, but I address his mail to him that way, I refer to him that way when he wants me to tell Loraine something, and when talking to my Mom on the phone, I'll ask her to tell “Chicky-Poo” I said 'Hi”.

I know; great son, right?

Anyway it's Chicky-Poo's (excuse me, my dad's) birthday tomorrow, and I couldn't let the day go by without making sure that everyone else knew it was his big day, too. Since he's in Florida, I'm guessing he'll either be playing pickleball or going for a long bike ride (or both). So have a great day tomorrow, DAD. Enjoy the weather, and enjoy all the attention for a few hours!

Love,

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 2/5

You know what? I'm thinking it might be a pretty accurate description.

Over the past few months, as you well know, I've been putting out all kinds of content—these things every day, my TV-19 work every week, 12 “Pieces of the Past” videos, and a whole bunch more. I was speaking with someone who's seen most of it, and whether or not they intended to, they gave me a compliment that, as I think about it, describes what I seem to be these days.

They told me I'm a great “Two Minute Storyteller”.

It's a strange sobriquet, but you know what? It fits perfectly. The TV pieces I do every week? 2 minutes. These things, if you were to read them out loud? About 2 minutes. The history videos? Some are 90 seconds, some are a bit longer, so that averages to (around) two(ish) minutes.

I've never actually even considered it, but I do seem to have a talent for getting a point across in two minutes. I guess I really AM a “Two Minute Storyteller”.

It's funny, because I'm guessing that if you were to go back in time (which, as we know from yesterday, is pretty much impossible) and ask the younger me what title they would end up with, I can pretty much guarantee the younger me would NOT have guessed “Two Minute Storyteller”. In fact, I'm pretty sure the younger me would either laugh the laugh of the ironic at that suggestion, or just shake his head, make a sarcastic comment, and walk away.

But you know what? The younger me would have been quite shortsighted in that reaction.

I'd be curious to know if I've always, deep down, been a “Two Minute Storyteller”, or if it's a talent I've developed over the years, thanks to the type of work I've done (like writing these for 20+ years). Maybe it's a chicken or egg thing, or maybe there's just something in my brain that suited to short spurts of lucidity. I guess it doesn't matter; all I know is that it's a title that I never knew I had, but it's one that I'll proudly carry for the rest of my life.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll have to see if I can come up with a business card that says “Jim Koski: Two Minute Storyteller” on it.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 2/4

It's probably the closest I'll ever come to fulfilling an impossible dream.

I think I've written in here before about a fanciful dream I have that was actually inspired by a real dream, a dream from a couple of years ago where I was walking through downtown Marquette with a camera. That's something I actually do quite a bit in real life, but in that dream I was walking through the downtown Marquette of the 1930s with my 21 megapixel Nikon DSLR, taking pictures (and hi-def video) of a Marquette long-gone, of buildings no longer there and businesses consigned to history.

It was an amazing dream. Sadly, I know a little bit too much about physics (and the impossibility of time travel) to know that it's a dream that will never come true.

Or...so I thought.

When I was doing prep work for the season of “Pieces of the Past” that we just finished, I came across a treasure trove of photos of Marquette of 1929. They were taken by Robert S Platt, a sociologist working for the American Geographic Society. He was working on an article for the AGS's magazine, and spent a week in Marquette that summer just taking pictures. Now, aside from being a sociologist, Platt also had an amazing eye for photography, shooting some of the iconic pictures of Marquette of almost 100 years ago.

He shot many of the same things I shot in my dream, and that I would like to shoot if I could break every law of nature and head back in time.

I used a few of his pictures in various videos, and then saved the lion's share—some of his best work—for the final episode of the season. I also made them into the last segment of mine during “Legends & Lore III” at Kaufman last month, and I still have people coming up to me to talk about a particular shot of Platt's that has stuck with them.

So, while I know that I'll never ever be able to go back in time and take those pictures and videos, I'm thankful that someone at the time actually did.

And because of that, I will forever be in awe of Robert S. Platt.

(jim@wmqt.com) 

Tuesday, 2/3

Today, whaddya say we have a little fun with numbers?

The first number is 45. In a rare instance of something the predates even me (and that's saying something these days), Q107-WMQT became Q107-WMQT 45 years ago this past Sunday (the 1^st). In a move that I'm pretty sure was borrowed from “WKRP in Cincinnati” an elevator music station flipped things on its head one afternoon, when the elevator music stopped and the rock music began, hosted by a very..unique individual named “Marcus Marquette” (in reality, station co-owner Bob Olson). The older people of Marquette County (including, if I remember correctly, my grandfather) weren't too happy, but a station was born.

And it's been around ever since.

A couple of years later, the rock music left and the station switched to pop music, where it's pretty much been ever since. I've been lucky enough to be the steward of it for over three decades now, and I'm always humbled when I think about the awesome staying power of this place. Very few stations are able to become “:legacy” stations—ones that multiple generations of a family grow up listening to—but this is one of them. Credit for that goes to Joe Blake and Marcus Marquette's alter ego, Bob Olson, as well as Tom Mogush, who picked up the baton from them, and passed it along to the people now entrusted with the legacy, the KBIC.

Of course, to celebrate the milestone we have a contest all this month, our “Hot Rockin' Flame Throwing 45^th Birthday Bash”, in which we're giving almost $2,500 in prizes to one lucky listener. So if you feel like it, listen for your chance to qualify.

It's our birthday, but you might walk away with the gifts. After all, that's one thing at which we've excelled the past 45 years.

And, hopefully, will excel at for the next four and a half decades.

*****

The other number I mentioned at the beginning of this? Well, that would be 18.6.

Why? The reason is right here--

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 2/2

This is going to be a weird week. After tonight, I don't have anything out of the ordinary going on.

As we all know, I've had an amazingly hectic past few weeks, with multiple episodes of “High School Bowl”, my weekly TV 19 appearances, a big History Center show at Kaufman, and the Noquemanon all pecking away at my time, my voice, and my sanity. Well, after I share a few numbers and make fun of Kevin tonight, I then have a week—a week—of nothing out of the ordinary.

Unless, of course, you consider radio as “out of the ordinary”.

I'm not quite sure how I'll handle it; after all, I've spent the past couple of weeks preparing for and then rushing from one thing to another that a few days of down time, a few days when there will be absolutely nothing pressing on my schedule, will seem strange. I can see myself waking up in the middle of the night, thinking that I forgot to do something or have a deadline to meet.

When that happens, I just hope I'll be able to get back to sleep.

How did all this happen? Well, after doing three episodes in the past ten days there will be no “High School Bowl” tapings until next Friday (the 13^th!), thanks to the schedules of the remaining schools in the competition. There's no big sporting event that requires my participation, and after dropping the last episode of “Pieces of the Past” last week I now have no official History Center duties for the next couple of months, when I have a new walking tour on the schedule.

See? It's gonna be a weird week, isn't it?

It's actually coming at a pretty good time, although between you & me it would have been better if it wasn't the beginning of February. In fact, can you imagine what I could do with a free week in, say, July, when there's actually no snow on the ground?

That would be magnificent. But seeing as how I could tell the strain on my voice was growing after shooting “High School Bowl” last Friday, I'll take what I can get.

Because, as we all know, nature abhors a vacuum, which means that before I know it, something—or many somethings—will soon be filling up my schedule and I'll be once again rushing from place to place wondering (as I did several times in the past few weeks) where I am and what day of the week it is.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 1/30

I have to go shoot yet another episode of “High School Bowl” in a few minutes, so I'm taking the cowardly way out and leaving you with a few more examples of what I do in one of my other jobs, that of historical storyteller. As you know, we've been dropping a new season of “Pieces of the Past”, and if you wanna check them out, here are three stories from the past few weeks.

The first? How Marquette's two “suburbs” actually have something in common--

The next is the tale of an event that people STILL talk about, 67 years after it happened--

And finally, the story of three generations of a family, three generations that could not be different than the other. I told the first part of the story on a walking tour a couple of years ago, Beth Gruber from the History Center then did a little genealogical research, and voila.

An epic story we didn't even know existed came into being--

With that, I really do need to get over to NMU. Hope you have a great weekend, and you know what? There's one more history video I do have to share, and I will some time next week.

If only because it's probably the closest I'll ever come fulfilling a dream I have, a dream that physics says will never come true.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 1/29

I made a discovery yesterday. And I'm not quite sure I'm comfortable with what I found.

This was a discovery I never thought I'd make, nor one that I ever assumed would have to be made. But after getting to work after shooting an episode of “High School Bowl”, and getting myself into my daily routine, I made a discovery that—hopefully--will not change my life as I know it.

I discovered I may be getting tired of eating chocolate.

I know...mind blown, right? Yet for a moment yesterday morning, right as I reached for my first piece of the day, that flash did cross my mind—did I REALLY want to eat it? For several seconds, I pondered the thought, holding the chocolate that really, in that immediate moment, didn't seem all that appealing.

Then I ate it.

I ate several other pieces that morning, too, proving that (I guess) I'm really not tired of eating chocolate. And as I ruminated on this bizarre reaction, I all of a sudden realized that I probably wasn't getting tired of eating chocolate so much as I was getting tired of eating chocolate with bits of candy cane crushed up inside, the kind I was holding in my hand when I had that strange feeling of not wanting any more chocolate.

And just between you & me, I'm okay with that.

As we entered the holiday season a few months ago Loraine and I may—may--have gone a little overboard in buying seasonal chocolate. And a lot of that chocolate, especially the dark chocolate of which I am a little too fond, had crushed up candy canes or some other peppermint flavoring inside. Those bars consist of the majority of the chocolate I've been eating recently, and yesterday morning just must have been a kind of breaking point, a way of my body reminding me that there ARE other kinds of chocolate, not just the kind with crushed up candy canes in them.

So that's why I thought I was getting tired of eating chocolate. And that's also why I spent a chunk of the day eating more chocolate. It just wasn't the kind with the candy canes in it.

Of course, I still have several various bars of chocolate containing candy canes or peppermint flavor lying around. I'm now kind of curious. If I let them lie around for a few months, will I still be sick of them? Will I be able to eat them with as much gusto as I usually attack chocolate, or will I be forced to, say, stick them in cookies and give them away to someone? I have no idea. We're in uncharted territory here, so we'll just have to see.

I'll let you know the answer in three or four months.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 1/28

I can not believe it's been forty years.

For those of us who were born in the 1960s and 1970s the first time we had a “generational” moment, a moment where we know exactly where we were when it occurred, occurred 40 years ago today. Much like people older than us know exactly where they were when John Kennedy was shot, we as a generation know exactly where we were when we heard that Challenger blew up 74 seconds after liftoff from an icy Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The event that occurred forty years ago today.

In one way, it's been amazing that it happened forty years ago, because it sure doesn't seem that long, at least to me. I don't if that's because I'm just getting old(er) and time flies by a lot quicker than it used to, or if it's because NASA was still flying shuttles a quarter century after the accident and that kept it at the forefronts of our brains, but if doesn't seem as if it happened four decades ago. It's really doesn't.

But then when you look at footage about the accident (something I really don't like to do, always covering my eyes at the words “Challenger, you are go for throttle-up”), you see grainy, standard-def video, you see spokespeople with big 80s hair, and you see computers that, while advanced for their time, probably have less processing power than the phones you hold in your hand. The evidence is there. It really DID happen 40 years ago today.

Since Challenger, of course, there have been two other “generational” moments that have occurred. And I think it's surprising that the loss of another space shuttle, Columbia in 2003, wasn't among them. I don't know if that's because we already had a spaceflight “trauma”, or because by that point people just didn't care, but for most people Columbia didn't mean a thing. Or at least it didn't mean as much as the other two “generational” events that occurred after Challenger.

What were those two events? Well, September 11^th is one of them. Everybody know where they were when the planes hit the towers. The other generational event might surprise you, but it's true. Everybody knows where they were the night O.J. Simpson took a ride in that white Ford Bronco. It's wasn't as earth-shattering of an event as Kennedy or Challenger or 9/11, but everybody seems to know where they were that Friday night. And some might even argue that since O.J hired an attorney named Robert Kardashian and gave he and his family their first access to fame, it's the most influential of the generational events.

And that's a scary thought.

But for many of us, the first “generational” event of our lifetime was Challenger, which occurred forty years ago today, whether you want to believe it or not.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 1/27

It's holding up for now, thanks for asking.

One day last week I had mentioned that, with all the stuff going on, I hoped my voice would hold out. And now that this week has become the second busy vocal week in a row, a listener gave me a call yesterday and asked how my voice was doing.

I'm happy to say it's cooperating, for now.

All I did last week was talk...on TV, on radio, to a sellout History Center crowd, and at the Noque. As it's turning out, all I'm doing this week is once again talking, on TV three days, on radio all five days, and to a small history group (but just for one hour).

Maybe one of these weeks I'll have a “normal” week and not have to talk too much at all. And yes, you can spend a few minutes laughing your head off about what I just said.

I'll let you get it out of your system.

My voice has actually been holding up remarkably well, with the exception of a brief episode yesterday when someone walked into the station after obviously being in a car full of cigarette smoke. That's one thing that really wrecks my voice, and it's something I've noticed has gotten worse as I get older. Thankfully, very few people around Marquette poison themselves anymore, and I'm rarely exposed to it.

But when I am, I can really tell how it affects me.

I have confidence that I can make it through both “High School Bowl”s and everything else this week with relative ease. Then maybe I have a few days with minimal vocal output, sitting around in silence as I...

Oh, who are we kidding? If I get a couple of hours of not speaking, I'll be happy. And it'll be a relief.

8-)

*****

One of the many ways in which I've been talking the past few days? Here 'tis--

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 1/26

That was a Noquemanon unlike any I’ve ever seen. And I should know—I’ve been at all of them.

I’ve done the finish line announcing at Noque races that had too much snow, or were lacking snow, or were too warm. However, I don’t think I’ve ever announced at one where the temperatures were so cold and the winds so strong that I actually saw skiers being blown down the course or, at the very end, just blown down like a big chunk of ice.

It was bad.

I feel sorry for those hardy souls who took part in this year's marathon and half-marathon. Between the delayed start, the slow course, and the wind chills of 20 or 30 below it took most skiers, even the elite ones, a half an hour to 45 minutes longer (or even more) to complete the course than in a “normal” year. There were some people out skiing for four or five hours on Saturday, and as they crossed the line you could tell by the looks on their face that they had been through a struggle.

And these were the skiers who actually took part in the race. I can imagine that there were a ton who just took a look at the forecast and decided not to do it. And I don't think anyone would blame them whatsoever.

I do have to hand out kudos to everyone in the crowd who stood out and braved the icy cold for a few minutes, or those volunteers who stood outside at the finish line for hours in the bitter wind chill to collect chips or guide skiers where they needed to go. I’m one of the lucky volunteers. All I do is sit in a heated shed and talk. That’s nothing compared to those volunteers who spend the entire day outside in whatever Mother Nature throws at them.

Saturday, she threw her worst at them, and they persevered.

So the Noque is over for another year, and I’ll be curious to see what the 2027 race holds. After all, two years ago it was too warm. Last year was cancelled because of a lack of snow. This year, they were worried it would be too cold. What on tap for next year? Too many lava flows? A tornado?

These days, nothing would surprise me.

*****

By the way, you know last week was supposed to be my “busy” week? Well, what would you call TV tonight, “High School Bowl”s Wednesday and Friday, and the release of last “Pieces of the Past” of this batch, along with all the usual stuff I have to do?

Yeah; that's what I thought, too.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 1/23

Even wonder what the crowd at a sold out show at Kaufman Auditorium looks like? THIS is what it looks like-

That's right; despite the fact that frigid air was already starting to move into the area Jack & I were able to get “Legends & Lore III: Marquette Unknown” into the, ahem, history books. It seemed to go quite well; as always, I provided the laughs and the bizarre stories, while Jack (mostly) managed to hold back the tears as he recounted the story of the Donckers family, complete with special guests and lots of “aahs” from the crowd as he explained how they (in some cases literally) saved the business he ran for 30-some years.

All in all, quite the successful night. And based on what people I spoke with afterward said, they're already ready for the next one.

So, you know, no pressure, or anything.

8-)

Now, we wait & see what happens with the weather. As we thought, every single school and almost every single institution in the UP is closed today because of the bitter wind chills, so I don't have a “High School Bowl”. The Noquemanon is still up in the air; after cancelling today's events, they'll be making a decision later today on what they're doing tomorrow—shortening some or all of the races, altering the course, or, heaven forbid, saying “sorry” for the second year in a row.

That would suck, but when you have 1,200 skiers and 600 volunteers outside in Martian-like weather conditions, you have to think about stuff like that.

So, I have no idea what my weekend involves. I started the week knowing that it would be a busy one. I had no idea it would also be highly disjointed and slightly chaotic, as well.

But then it's 2026. Should we expect any different?

Have a great weekend. If you're in any part of the US that's freezing or covered with snow (and that's most of the US), stay warm!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 1/22

How do you make a week of insanity even more insane? Add a little chaos, and stir the heck out of it.

As we know, I'm the midst of a bunch of days of non-stop activities, everything from “High School Bowl” to the Noquemanon. But how can we make that even more interesting? Well, why not add a weather term I've never heard before, an Extreme Cold Warning, that'll be in effect from tonight through Saturday. In fact, temps shouldn't get above zero through that span, and wind chills are forecast to fall down to 60 (that's sixty) below zero in some areas of the UP tomorrow.

Fun, huh?

Because of that, my week of insanity has changed just a bit. No longer do I have “High School Bowl” tomorrow morning, as schools started preemptively cancelling classes as early as yesterday. That takes Friday off the table. And while no decisions have been made yet, if conditions are that bad Saturday morning is it actually safe for people to be outside cross-country skiing from Ishpeming to Marquette in the Noque?  They've already cancelled the youth events scheduled for Friday, so...

Thankfully, I don't have to make that decision, especially because it was shortened two years ago and scratched outright last year because of a lack of snow. It would indeed be ironic if it was axed for a third year running because there was too MUCH winter, as opposed to too little.

I guess we'll find out soon.

That Extreme Cold Warning goes into effect tonight, but not before we're (hopefully) able to get in “Legends & Lore III: Marquette Unknown”, which gets underway at 7 at Kaufman. Jack & I have a bunch of cool (and in my case, occasionally bizarre) stories to tell, all wrapped up with Jack's epic salute to an iconic Marquette business (complete with special guests).. One of the stories I'm most looking forward to sharing is how many of the classic pictures of Marquette were taken by one guy on one trip.

Pictures such as this one--

Wish us luck. And since I don't have “High School Bowl” tomorrow, I may actually have the chance to share how it went. Assuming, of course, the world doesn't freeze before then.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)