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.