Wednesday, 12/6

They're on their way there. See? It isn't that hard.

I know I've probably railed about the misuse of the different forms of “there” in the past, so forgive me if I'm babbling babbles that I've already babbled. But there was a meme going around on Facebook this morning in which someone posted that people join an organization because “there to stupid to do anything else”.

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have the very latest definition of the word “irony” right there.

I'm starting to wonder if this whole “there/their/they're” problem is the latest version of the “chicken & the egg” quandary. Are people just grammatically stupid overall, and we notice it more these days because they post everything they write on the internet? Or has technology—the internet and spell-check—made people stupider, so much so that they don't actually know which “their” to use here and there?

Some days, I just don't know.

Now, I make a lot of grammatical & spelling errors when I write, as those of you who read this are no doubt aware. I rely too much on spell-check, and each and every one of these could probably use an extra round of proofreading, the time for which is, unfortunately, limited. So I'm not claiming to live in a glass house. I'm not claiming to be a perfect writer myself. But if I were to post something accusing someone else of being stupid?

I'd make sure I wasn't an idiot myself. But then, that's just me.

I'll shut up about this now, as my schedule for today has been thrown a bit askew and I have to figure out what to do. You see, I was supposed to go hang out with people who, I'm guessing, actually DO know which “there” to use, four teams of some of the brightest young people on the planet, who were to be taking part in another action packed edition of “High School Bowl”.  However, the weather in the western UP (from where two of the teams were coming) has pushed that back to Friday.  Hopefully, the weather will have cleared up by then, and the teams can make it to here from there.

Just not their. Or they're.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 12/5

I was able to do one of them yesterday. Unfortunately, I couldn't do both.

Another birthday has come and gone, and first of all I'd like to thank everyone who sent along their best wishes, whether in person or online. I do appreciate each and every one of them.

I was kind of surprised when a small yet sizable subset of those people asked if I was going to repeat “Birthday at the Beach” yesterday. For those of you who don't recall, two years ago it was 60 and sunny in Marquette on my birthday, so I spent a little time at the beach that day. After all, if you have a December birthday, you don't often get to spend that birthday at the beach. When I did it, I was SHOCKED by the number of people who thought it was an amazing idea; even Loraine had a bunch of her co-workers ask if I went to the beach that day. And based on the comment I received yesterday the concept must've made quite the impression.

So sorry to disappoint everyone, but rain and temperatures in the 40s (and skies so dark the streets lights stayed on all day) wasn't exactly beach weather, even for someone who would go to the beach every day if he could. But trust me—if it's ever warm & sunny again on my birthday, we're ALL going to the beach.

You have no choice in the matter, apparently.

However, I was able to do one thing on my birthday that's just as quirky and just as strange. Remember last month when I wrote a blog about wearing shorts to run at least once every month this year? Well, I completed the cycle yesterday morning; since, as I mentioned, it was 44 degrees, well above the 32 degree minimum for wearing shorts while running, I did something I never thought I'd be able to do (or, at least be able to do while I was still in possession of most (if not all) of my faculties)--I have now run in shorts at least once a month every month of a calendar year.

Who would've thought.

Finally, before I go, I have to thank my young friend Jaxon for one of the most unique gifts I've received recently--

How many of YOU have a hand-made cow Christmas ornament? I thought so!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 12/4

Well, I made it through the weekend. And I didn't explode!

That's right; those two days of (basically) non-stop gnoshing and snacking that I wrote about Friday are now over. The Greek food was, as always, amazing, the baked goods we picked up at sales and ate at the Library Open House were yummy, and the (early) birthday treat of pumpkin bars and mint chocolate chip ice cream was scarfed down with abandoned.

Now, I just need to figure out how I'm gonna eat all the extra pumpkin bars I brought home.

A couple of years ago someone asked me why I have pumpkin bars instead of a birthday cake when the anniversary of my world premiere rolls around, and I have no real answer for them, other than to perhaps say that I don't like to do what everyone else does. I know that's not a real answer; the answer is that I just really like pumpkin bars. At one point in my life my mom made pumpkin bars instead if a birthday cake, and it's stuck ever since.

Not that I would have it any other way.

I in no way mind taking all those extra pumpkin bars home; I would eat them every day if I could. I'd probably be 1,000 pounds heavier than I am, but I'd eat still eat them every day if I could. I just wish, on occasion, that church bazaar day, the day on which I eat more food than perhaps any other, wasn't so close to my birthday. It'd be nice to spread it all out a little, you know? And there have been many years when church bazaar day falls on my actual birthday, so in one intensive 24 hour period I'm bombarded with all the food I've been describing the last few days. That always take a while to get over.

Luckily, though, not this year. Now, I have a couple of days to rest, recover, and eat nothing but fruits and vegetables in a vain attempt to clear my body of all the delicious yumminess I've been consuming. And yes, I DO remember I have all those leftover pumpkin bars to finish. The good thing about that?

Pumpkins are technically a fruit, so I can try to convince myself I'm actually eating with my health in mind. I'm just not so sure I'd actually believe what I'm trying to sell.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 12/1

Tomorrow's one of my favorite days of the year.

Tomorrow is what Loraine and I jokingly call “church bazaar” day, but it's so much more than that. Tomorrow, the Greek Orthodox Church in Marquette is holding their amazing annual Greek bake sale, filled with some of the yummiest food you'll ever taste. Meanwhile, St. Paul's Church is holding an international craft fair (and bake sale), while the First Presbyterian Church is holding their annual holiday bake sale. Tomorrow afternoon, Peter White Public Library's holding their annual holiday open house & cookie fest (where you can see Loraine's usual Gold Star tree). Then Sunday I get to celebrate a day early by eating birthday pumpkin bars and mint chocolate chip ice cream.

By Sunday night, I'll be uttering those infamous words--”I'm never gonna eat again”.

I don't know what it is about the confluence of all those events that makes Loraine and me celebrate like we do when it rolls around, although you may have noticed that food probably plays quite a huge role. But there is something else to it, too. All of those events that I described? The bake sales, the open houses, everything? They all occur within a four block radius of where we live. We hop out of our apartment Saturday morning and just wander through all of these really cool events before strolling home with whatever we've picked up. For some people, picking out a Christmas tree or visiting Santa or singing carols is how they get into the holiday spirit.

For us, it's spending the weekend walking to all of these events and just seeing what there is to see. And that's not even counting some of the other events that occur within that four blocks radius—performances of “The Nutcracker”, visits with Santa, and much, much more. Remember a few days ago when I wrote about how lucky I realized we are living where we live? Well, this is just another example of how it's true. Sure, this time it doesn't involve a beach. It just involves Greek food, baked goods, and birthday ice cream.

What more could you want?

On that note, I hope you all have a great weekend. If you're in Marquette, I hope you get the chance to check out some of those events I mentioned. If not, I hope that your community gives YOU something to help get you into the holiday spirit!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 11/29

I think it's gonna take a while to break this habit.

In a decision I think is horrid for the environment, those of us who live in the city of Marquette will no longer be able to recycle glass along with our plastics, paper, & metals. The news came after the city signed a new trash deal with Waste Management, and took a lot of people by surprise. Apparently, there's no money to be made in recycling glass, and the glass we have been recycling has been pulled out of the bins and tossed in the Marquette County landfill for several months now.

That's not good news.

As some of you may know, I've been an avid recycler since, well, forever. I think that's one of the things about growing up in the late 60s and early 70s, during the height of the environmental movement. It's something I learned about as a kid and something I've done ever since. In fact, I recycle so much that I only have enough actual trash to fill a city bag once a month.

I'm guessing that number's gonna go up soon.

I have no idea why it's no longer cost-effective to recycle glass. I mean, I know it's made out of sand, and I'm guessing it's probably cheaper just to dig up new sand than to recycle the old stuff. But I did a little research—did you know that glass can last up to two MILLION years before it breaks down in a landfill? Two million! Think of it this way--modern humans (Homo Sapiens Sapiens) have only been around 200,000 or so years, which means that we're making materials that will last at least 10 times longer than we've been around as a species. That blows my mind. And that also makes me wonder just how much glass will be sticking around the Marquette County Landfill long after we have a species have either blown ourselves up, evolved into whatever comes next, or have been enslaved by our new robot overlords.

The capper of it all is this—for several weeks now, even though I've known better, I keep washing out all the glass bottles and containers I use. It's force of habit; I've been recycling for so long (and trying to be hygienic when I do it) that I'll still clean an empty glass container out without even giving it a second thought. I mean, I know that I can just toss it in the trash, but there's a default setting inside me that makes me want to recycle the container, even if the city says I can't any more. I'm pretty sure it'll take me a while to break the habit.

Hopefully, it just won't take as long as the glass will last in a landfill.

(jim@wmqt.com, disappointed recycler.

Monday, 11/27

There's no way it's been 15 years...has it?

Fifteen years ago today I wrapped up a HUGE project that had taken up four months of my life. At the time, we were broadcasting from a dumpy, drafty, dusty space in Ishpeming, a space that really wasn’t a good one for a modern radio station with computers and high tech equipment. So thanks for the foresight of the late Joe Blake, we found a nice space in downtown Marquette that fit our needs perfectly, we moved what we could down from Ishpeming (and donated the rest to Westwood High School), and after a VERY long construction and conversion process, we began broadcasting from our current home fifteen years ago today.

So happy anniversary (in a way) to us, I guess!

I can tell you the exact time we began broadcasting from Marquette on November 27^th, 2002. That would be 5:45pm. And I can even tell you what song we played when we began broadcasting from Marquette that afternoon; that would be U2’s “Beautiful Day”. And although that song was a random choice, it was indeed fitting, not only because it wrapped up months and months of very hard work, but because of everything that our move has allowed since then, everything from broadcasting right outside our door for ball drops and bike races and food festivals to how I now live my life.

And in those fifteen years my life has changed considerably. I no longer have to drive to Ishpeming five to eight times a week; instead, I walk down Front Street whenever I feel like it. I no longer have to plan ahead to take a vacation; instead, if it’s a nice day outside, I’ll take a few hours off and enjoy the weather or enjoy the beach, and not have to worry about killing a huge chunk of the day driving back & forth. In all honesty, back in 2002 I was getting to the point where I was getting burned out going back & forth to Ishpeming all the time and wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep doing it; after the move, I was immediately re-energized, and I haven’t looked back since.

As with many things, it does not seem like it’s been a decade and a half since this all happened. It seems like it’s been a couple of years, at most. But it has indeed been fifteen years, a fifteen year span in which we’ve accomplished a lot of things from this studio, everything from frying eggs on the sidewalk and holding a bake sale out front for NMU to raising money for drug dogs and hosting Olympians, rock stars, and all kinds of really great people for all kinds of really great causes. And maybe that’s why it doesn’t seem like it’s been a decade and a half. We’ve just been having too much fun to realize just how quickly the time is passing.

So that’s the big anniversary we’re celebrating today. If for some strange reason you hear “Beautiful Day” at 5:45, now you’ll know why!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 11/22

Am I missing out on something by not eating stuffing?

A couple of years ago on our “Tuesday Topic” we asked listeners about the food they most enjoy on Thanksgiving. And I have to admit I was a little surprised when the winner was stuffing. Not turkey, not pumpkin pie, my two favorites, but stuffing.

Really?

I think this proves a couple of things, one being that it's further evidence I'm not like other human beings. I've never liked stuffing, and I don't know that I ever will. I don't know why; I like many of the ingredients that go into stuffing. But I guess I've just never liked the overall end result, per se, of stuffing. I don't know if it's the flavor, the texture, or the fact that it's usually shoved up a turkey's butt to cook. For whatever reason, I personally don't like stuffing.

But I know I'm in the minority here. I know that every other single person with whom I traditionally share my Thanksgiving dinner adores the dish. And they're probably happy I don't like it. After all, it just means more for them. From the sounds of it, I'm guessing this would also get replayed in any other households where there are a bunch of stuffing lovers and one naysayer. The people who love the dish—the vast, vast majority of people—get a little more because there's one person who, for whatever rational or (ahem) irrational reason doesn't like it.

You know...like at any Thanksgiving dinner where I'm a guest. Unless, of course, someone figured out a way to make it with chocolate. Then, just maybe, I might consider it.

Maybe.

8-)

On that note, I hope that you and everyone with whom you might celebrate has a great day tomorrow. There won't be another one of these until Monday, although I will be on the air Friday should you find yourself so insanely bored that you don't have anything else to do.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(jim@wmqt.com)