Thursday, 7/23

This is my favorite time of the year.

I mean, sure, I love it for the sun, the heat, the days off (more on that tomorrow), and the general sense of well-bring that summer provides. But I also love because I can take my camera out and instead of seeing nothing but white or brown or just plain dull, I get to see colors.

Lots and lots of colors.

Want proof? I went for a little stroll—no more than three blocks—Monday, just to see what I could see, and this is what I saw.

I saw colors like purple--

I saw yellow--

I saw pink--

I saw orange--

I saw magenta--

And I saw a combination of almost all of the colors mentioned above--

And that was just within a three block jaunt from where I live. I can just imagine what kind of pictures I'd get from the rest of Marquette—or you might get in whichever city you live. It truly is (with apologies to lovers of a certain holiday) the most wonderful time of the year!

*****

Because it's a corporate holiday tomorrow I'm off, so there won't be a new one of these. I'll be back Monday with the results of my dorky little license plate count for the year. Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 7/22

I think I owe the people of a century ago an apology.

I've been taking a lot of pictures recently (you'll see some of them tomorrow), and for some reason, I have a whole batch of the statue of Jacques Marquette in Lakeside Park like this one, from back during lilac season--

Over the years, I've always lamented the fact that the statue is placed (facing north-northwest) so that Father Marquette's face is never lit by the sun. No matter what time of the year, no matter where you stand, you can never get a shot of his face lit by the sun. The photographer side of me has always silently (and jokingly) cursed the people who moved the statue from its original location 115 or so years ago and placed it so that it's never front-lit by the sun. Why did they put it that way? Didn't they know that a century later photographers wouldn't be able to shoot it exactly the way they wanted?

Didn't they think of ME when they put it up?

(That's a joke, by the way).

Then as I was walking up Front Street this past weekend, looking at the statue and once again lamenting the fact that the sun never fully hits the face just so as to be able to take a perfect picture, something dawned on me. It's something so simple and so basic that I'm kinda shocked I hadn't noticed it before, and all of a sudden, the placement of the statue makes perfect sense.

The Father Marquette statue is placed that way because he's overlooking downtown. He's keeping watch over the city that shares his name. And I am an idiot for A). not noticing it and 2) silently (and jokingly) cursing the people who placed it the way they placed it.

To them, I apologize. I'm just sorry I can't break a few laws of physics and send my apology back one century in time.

You guys are obviously much smarter than me, and you may have figured out long ago why the statue is placed the way it is. Or you guys are just much smarter than me in that you know it's only a statue, and it really doesn't matter if it was placed without an optimal photography angle in mind. Either way, I'm sure you never devoted the amount of thought to the subject that I did, and I'm sure your lives are much better for it, especially when you consider that I was born here and have lived a large chunk of my life here and never once in that life realized that the statue of Father Marquette was placed the way it was placed for a reason.

I think History Jim is the most embarrassed. After all, think of the time I've devoted to researching that part of the city (the south part of Downtown, perhaps my favorite) and the countless hours I've spent rummaging around the park, the statue, and (especially) the lilac trees. Yet do you think that even once I might have considered the placement of the statue, and noticed why it is the way it is? Nope; all I did was whine because the sun could never light up Jacques Marquette's face.

Sometimes, I amaze even myself. And usually not in a good way. So this may be 115 years late, and it may go to show the depths of my stupidity, but to the people who moved the statue to Lakeside Park a century ago, just let me say one thing--

You nailed it. Good job. And I'll stop my whining now.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 7/20

 Yup. I'm doing it again.

For the (gasp) 25^th year in a row, I have embarked on a project. That project? Finding out how many different state and provincial license plates I see during “Art on the Rocks” week here in Marquette. It's one of the dorkiest things I do, and I can now say I've done it for a quarter century.

One of these days, I really need to become an adult

You know, I now have no idea how this started; I'm guessing I was just curious as to how many visitors Marquette hosted during one of the busiest weeks of the summer. Since then, it's evolved into this “thing” that I use to measure everything from Marquette's popularity to the state of the national economy. I suppose that one of these years I could actually NOT do it, but I have the feeling that if I were to do that I'd miss something bizarre and/or the world would stop spinning on its axis.

And these days, we should really not tempt fate.

Nothing ever really comes out of the count, other than a piece of paper on which I write the states, a blog, and this year, maybe a TV bit. All I know is that I've been doing it for a quarter century now, and I see no reason to stop. So if you happen to see me walking down the street, craning my neck in an attempt to see if a car's from Michigan or not, just remember it's only me being a dork.

As I have for a quarter-century now.

*****

Speaking of TV bits, here's last night's. Hopefully you're not too freaked out by the sight of bugs, like some of us are.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 7/20

Hopefully--HOPEFULLY--this is a little more normal of a week than last week.

Fingers crossed, at least.

There are a couple of things I'm looking forward to this week, including my annual dorky license plate count (more on that tomorrow).  First, though, I'm focusing on a mystery.  Let's just call it “The Case of the Mysteriously Appearing Beer Can”.

Three times now in the past two weeks, three times since the 4^th of July, I have noticed something very strange, something quite out of the ordinary. Three times in the past two weeks I've been walking down a Marquette street, and I have come upon an unopened can of Busch Light beer just sitting somewhere. On the 4^th it was sitting on top of a trash container on Third Street.  A week or so later it was on my walk to work. And yesterday it was in the street-side garden of my next to next door neighbor.

Every single time, it's been an unopened can of Busch Light. When I first saw a can I laughed, figuring that some underage person was soon to become a very happy underage person. But when I started seeing the cans over and over again; well, that's when I started to wonder what the heck is going on.

Lest you think I'm just seeing things, I'm not. Loraine was with me on the 4^th when I first saw it, and she was with me again yesterday when I took the picture above. And neither of us understands what's going on. Is it just a drunk person losing cans as they're making their way to and from the store? Is it a performance artist trying to make a statement? Is the Easter Bunny getting tired of eggs and leaving cans of Busch Light instead?

I don't know. But I'd be curious to find out.

I highly doubt this will happen, but if you happen to see an unopened can of Busch Light beer on your journeys in and around Marquette, please let me know. Part of me, after all, just thinks it's one strange and bizarre coincidence. But then another part of me, the part that knows the talented, creative, and/or just plain weird kind of people who live in Marquette, wonders if there's something a little more to the whole situation.

Either that, or Busch Light has developed the strangest marketing campaign in history. These days, nothing would surprise me.

So while I'm investigating this whole thing, just call me Encyclopedia Koski. And just call this whole thing “The Case of the Mysteriously Appearing Beer Can”.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 7/17

Geez. It's not over yet, is it?

The literally unprecedented (as I kept referring to it yesterday) bout of fire haze continues unabated, leaving businesses and events closed, apartments and homes smelling like a campfire, and scenes like this every way you turn your head--

That's from yesterday, and I took it because, if you look at the top of the picture, you see the sun trying to fight through the haze.

Needless to say, the sun lost.

Of course, it's not just us. Everywhere in the US east of us seems to be dealing with the smoke; many places, as well, are also dealing with the extreme heat we dealt with right before the haze appeared. So, I guess, if you wanna be thankful for small things, be thankful that the 100 degrees temps skedaddled right before the smoke showed up.

As of now (and we all know how quickly this can change) things look to get a little better today and tomorrow, if only because we could get a bunch of rain and a wind shift, both of which might help a changing jet stream pattern get rid of the severe smoke situation. Still, I get the nagging feeling that were might be in this for the long haul.

I mean, I'm hoping not, but with the way this week has gone nothing is off the table.

So with that in mind, enjoy your weekend. Stay safe. And keep your fingers crossed that the return of sunshine and warm temperatures we're promised for Sunday actually shows up!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 7/16

Talk about going from the frying pan to the fire--

This is a shot down Front Street in Marquette yesterday. And here's one from NMU's webcam on Mount Marquette, looking toward the city--

That's not fog you're looking at; that's smoke from fires around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota and Ontario. After two straight days of temperatures above 100, we're now in our second day of smoke so bad you can smell it in your house and small particles in the air that are 105 times what the World Health Organization recommends.

Not 105%. 105 TIMES. It's bad.

Really, really bad.

It's funny; 40 years ago, when scientists first started to raise the alarm about global climate change they said it would manifest itself as “extreme events”. I'm thinking that two days of temperatures above 105 followed by several days of smoke so heavy you can breathe qualifies as an “extreme event”.

Wouldn't you?

Of course, we're not the only ones dealing with this. Most of the US is suffocating under the heat & smoke, while Europe is broiling (and dealing with major drought), as well. It blows my mind that there are still people out there who deny climate change is happening. You'd think that walking outdoors or just trying to breathe would convince them otherwise.

But, apparently not.

For however long this keeps going, make sure you stay safe. Don't push yourself, and be aware of how this crud is affecting your lungs. Oh...

And keep your fingers crossed it ends some year soon.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 7/15

I don't know who's behind the project, but I highly approve of it.

Highly.

When I was walking to work yesterday afternoon I noticed someone had put painted rocks all along Front Street in Marquette, rocks that said things like –

Or this--

The rocks extended all the way down the street, including one that was set on the retaining wall outside of the station--

Like I said, I have no idea who put them there. I'm thinking it might have been a library project, because there were a LOT of those rocks near there, but I don't know for sure. All I know is that it was a nice thing to see, and something that most people may not have even noticed.

Why? Because people usually don't look down at the ground when they're walking. I mean, I usually don't at the ground myself, but for some reason the first rock caught my eye, and I soon began seeing them everywhere. I'm pretty sure that tourists—looking at all the the cool buildings—wouldn't notice them, and locals, tied up on their phones or caught up in their everyday lives, may not have realized they were there, either.

That's why I'm glad I managed to notice them. So to whomever decided to spread the rocks around downtown Marquette yesterday, kudos. I'm assuming you undertook the projects to make people's days brighter and, at least in my case, you succeeded.

Thanks!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 7/14

Yay. The weather forecast was actually right yesterday!

It's about time.

It also looks as if it'll be correct today, which means that it'll be hot and sunny, which means that I may not be going to work for a bit, So with that in mind, I'll just leave you with what I talked about on TV last night...

The weather. Because, you know, I don't talk about that enough.

8-)

I'm off to once again play in the sun and the heat!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 7/13

 This may have been one for the record books.

Now, before I go any farther, just let me say that I would not want to be a weather forecaster.  It's a science that's not always exact, and climate change is making it harder to do correctly.  Add to that the fact that you get blamed whenever the weather turns out poorly, and I'd much rather stick with the four jobs I currently have.

So there's that.

But still...you have days like yesterday.  The weather forecast called for sunny skies and temps around 90, and Loraine and I were looking forward to getting out, kicking around soccer balls, and getting some some.  However, as the morning progressed the cloud started to move in, and by the time we got to Kaufman it had started to rain.

By the time we made it home, it REALLY started to rain--

Several waves of thunderstorms moved through, and the day that was forecast to be sunny & 90 ended up being rainy and 67.  Like I said, I don't blame the forecasters; their job is hard enough as it is.  But I'm starting to think Mother Nature has it in for us, as evidence by the bottom picture here, the visible satellite picture of what was supposed to be a sunny & 90 degrees day--

The only part of the entire Great Lakes region covered by clouds and rain?  Well, that would be the lucky people in the central UP.  And don't think we don't appreciate it, Mother Nature.

8-(

Today and tomorrow call for hot & sunny conditions, and I'm hoping things turned out as planned, if for no other reason that I'm taking half days today and tomorrow to enjoy the heat.  However, I won't be too surprised if it turns out like it did Sunday.

Because, apparently, Mother Nature has it in for us.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 7/10

Oh great. I'm going to have to look at a dork all summer, aren't I?

As you know, I'm doing a bunch of walking tours for the History Center this summer, and instead of giving each one a poster, they decided to stick them all on one. I'm okay with that; after all, in a way it shows just how active the Center is. But for whatever reason my pal Emily, who put the posters together, also stuck my ugly mug on it. And since we have one of the posters stuck in the window at the door to the station, I get to see this every time I go into work--

There should be a law against something like that, you know?

8-)

I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. I've written in here before how you can take a shot of me from a video, freeze it, and I look either like I'm about to have an apoplectic fit or that I'm a moron of the highest degree (the latter of those, I suppose, is always a possibility). Emily, however, went through some of the stuff we've shot together and found an almost normal looking freeze of me, taken from a teaser video for my bar tour last year. I don't know if it's the exact shot I would have used for a poster, but because there were so many possibilities that were about 1,000 times worse, I'll happily accept what she did.

Even if I still have to look at it every single day when I walk into work.

I know...first world problem, right? I'll shut up now, except to say this—have a fantastic weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com), dork

Thursday, 7/9

There. I think I have my “brand”.

You may remember a week or so ago I was talking about how I seem to do too many things to give myself a “brand”, a 2-5 word statement that describes me and what I do. You know, like Loraine's “That World War II Lady”. Well, after talking to someone about several of the tours I've given recently, she said five words that, if they weren't so absurd and over-reaching, would be a perfect “branding” statement.

What did she say? She said, and I quote, “you're the funniest guy in history”.

Hmm. “The Funniest Guy in History”. Well, it DOES fall into the two to five five word limit for a branding statement. It IS pithy and memorable. And aside from the fact that it's wildly inaccurate and way too narcissistic for me, I suppose it could work.

In another universe.

First of all, she did not mean that I was the funniest person who ever lived...you know, the funniest person in all of history. I wouldn't even come in the top 500 million of that category. What she meant (and had to explain to me after she realized what she had said) was that I was the funniest person she's ever heard talking about history. You know, “history” as in an academic subject, and not “history”, as in “of all time”. In all honesty, I sure there have been many funnier people than I talking about historical subjects. But I do appreciate the thought.

I guess looking for the strange and the absurd in local history has paid off in at least one way.

So while I do appreciate the thought, I don't think “The funniest guy in history” will become my branding statement any time soon. I'm still trying to figure out how to combine Radio Jim and History Jim and TV Jim and Traveling Jim and just Plain Jim in to one pithy statement, but with no luck yet. Daily blog reader Carli of Marquette did have a suggestion after my original post a few weeks ago. She said I should just call myself “Jim Koski, Renaissance Man”, which I suppose could work if real renaissance people like Leonardo Da Vinci or Thomas Jefferson or Bono hadn't set the bar so high.

Ah well; it was just a thought experiment to begin with. Maybe I don't really need a “brand” to be who I am. Although, I have to admit, it probably WOULD be neat to hand out business cards that say “Jim Koski, the Funniest Guy in History”.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 7/8

You might wanna think twice before you do it. I'm just saying...

Working on Front Street in Marquette gives me a front row view to the world outside. It's often quite entertaining, especially during the summer, when there are a lot of visitors to the area. Every so often I'll see people stop and stare at our front window, reading the signs on it and realizing there's a radio station inside. On the rare occasion, I'll even actually see people put their face up to the glass and try to look in.

But that's nothing compared to the people who use the window as a mirror and don't realize that there's someone on the inside who can see them.

You'd be surprised by the amount of people who walk down the street, see a big window, and use it as a mirror to fix their hair, fix their clothes, or just check out their appearance. Because it's a bit of a tinted window, and because the sun's shining on it a good portion of the day, you can't really see inside (unless, like I said, you put your face right up to it). But even though you can't see inside, when I'm in my studio I can see outside.

Trust me on that.

Of course, my situation is nothing compared to Loraine's, who works across the street from me at Range Bank. Their windows are specialty windows designed to reflect the sun and keep out the heat, and you can't see into them. Loraine, however can see out of them just fine, and has regaled me with tales of people taking selfies in the window next to her desk, people using her window as a makeup mirror, people drawing on her window, and people passing by and using the window to uhm, adjust themselves.

When they're doing all this, they have no idea Loraine and her coworkers can see everything they do.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is this—next time you're in a downtown setting, be it in Marquette or another urbanized area, and you see a business with a big window that looks like a mirror, keep walking. Resist the urge to use the mirror-like window as a mirror. Because if you do, I can almost guarantee that there will be someone on the other side watching whatever you do. And if what you do could be considered embarrassing, impolite, or downright raunchy, trust me.

Those of us on the other side of the window will be chuckling about it the rest of the day.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 7/7

So...didja survive your holiday weekend?

I realize that most people weren't as lucky as I in getting a four-day weekend. Loraine, for instance, took part of Friday off but had to work yesterday. So I hope you had a neat weekend, in whatever form (or length) it took. I mean, considering everything that was going on--fireworks, parades, food festivals, and the like--you certainly weren't going to be bored.

At least I know I wasn't. In fact, I may need another weekend just to recover from my weekend, which i always consider a sign that I did things right.

So, I guess I did the weekend right.

*****

Actually, I DID work a little this weekend. I helped my friends at TV-19 with a special corporate-wide 4th of July newscast, and then I did put on real clothes for an hour or so yesterday to do my usual Monday night bit. This one was a piece that kinda sprung fully forth on the Fourth, as I was listening to people shoot off fireworks WAAAAAY past the time they were supposed to be doing so. How it actually ended up involving my dad and Sir Mix-a-Lot, I'm not quite sure, but it did, and this was the end result--

(jim@wmqt.com), still needing a weekend to recover from his weekend.

Thursday, 7/2

Which one would top YOUR list?

I took one of a half-days to go play out in the sun and the heat, and while I was walking along the beach, I started to think about smells that can only exist, at least the U.P., during the summer. I have no idea why or no idea how; when you walk along the beach and let your mind drift, strange things pop into it.

Or at least strange things pop into my brain. But that may be a discussion for another day.

Anyway, what smells DID pop into my brain? These ones—Jim’s list of the Top Five Smells Of Summer:

5. The smell of freshly cut grass. I don’t have to mow a lawn myself any more, but I always enjoy walking down a street when someone is in the middle of trimming the grass in their front yard. It instantly makes your mind think of summer, if only because it only smells that way DURING summer.

4. The smell of charcoal heating up a grill. This actually can be more than just a smell of summer; you can usually appreciate it first in late March or early April, on one of the first days above freezing, when NMU students seem celebrate the return of the sun by breaking out their grills. It’s one of the benefits of walking home from work on a day like that. . . trust me on that.

3. The smell of sunscreen and sweat. Oh, be quiet; it’s not as gross as you think. In fact, it’s the smell that prompted this whole blog, the smell that you get when you walk down a beach on a warm summer day. It just kind of lingers in the air, so if you’re a bit squeamish to call it the smell of sunscreen and sweat, call the smell of the beach. It’s the same thing.

2. The smell of sunshine. Okay, I know that “sunshine” has as much of a smell as the color purple, but you know that smell you get when you open your windows on a sunny day, and the sun somehow magically reacts with the air in your house to produce a smell that wasn’t there before? THAT’S the smell I’m talking about—the smell of sunshine I’m talking about.

Finally, here’s Jim’s number one smell of summer, a smell that, I will admit, is highly subjective—

1. The smell of all the rose bushes along the South Beach Bike Path in Marquette (the beach down which I was wandering). They don’t smell like summer for any reason other than the fact that they're only around for a short time, but when they are around they're heavenly. Don't believe me? Head down there and sniff for yourself.

There you go...an answer to a question you've never thought existed--what summer smells like for the short time it’s here in Marquette.

                                                *****

Because of corporate holidays I'm off for four (!) days. I'll be back Tuesday with something new. Have a great (and safe) 4^th of July weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 7/1

Don't worry. The chocolate is safe.

Like most of the country, Marquette is stuck under a heat dome this week. Yesterday, temperatures hit the lower 90s (we were warmer and more humid than Miami, in fact), and the same is expected today. Fir me, this is heaven on Earth, while I realize that for others it's pure hell. And I do feel for them; I really do

Hopefully, you'll make it through this week unscathed.

Aside from most people living in the UP (me excepted, of course) there's one other thing that does not tolerate heat in any way, shape, or form, and that is chocolate. Now, if you recall, Loraine and I went to Germany two months ago, and one the things we did was to visit three countries in four hours and buy as much chocolate as we could. We brought it home, where we've been enjoying it piece my piece since.

Most of the chocolate we brought home is still uneaten. And if it sat in our un-air conditioned apartment, all those precious bars and tablets would end up as puddles of chocolate mush by the end of the week.. So I did what I'm assuming anyone would do. I bagged them up, brought them down the street, and stuck them in my air conditioned office.

There the chocolate will sit for the next few days, until the Heat Dome dissipates or until we get hungry enough to want to break one open. And I have the feeling that might be a close race between the two.

Seriously, though--was there anything else we could do? I mean, I love hot weather as much as the next person (actually, probably a lot more than the next person), but I do realize there are a couple pf bad things that may come along with it. And one of those is that chocolate, like most Yoopers, wilt under the heat. Now, I don't know if most Yoopers turn into a puddle of mush when it's over 90 for two days in a row (although I'm thinking a lot of Yooper just may), but I AM certain that chocolate does. And since we went to all kinds of effort not only to buy the chocolate but to lovingly get it all home in one piece, well...

A cool room for a few days is the least we can do for the bars of Galler, Cote D'or, and and all the other pieces we know and love.

So while Loraine and I may be baking in our un-air conditioned apartment, rest assured that we have taken care of some of the most important things in our lives...

Our chocolate from Europe.

(jim@wmqt.com)