Friday, 10/12

I wonder what the young girl on the bookmark would think?

Those of you who also follow along on the trip blogs I write () every time Loraine and I go to Europe know the story of my niece Mallory and her bookmark. But for those of you who don't, here it is—the first time I went over there Mallory was six at the time, and disappointed that she couldn't go with us. So I brought a bookmark she had given me a year earlier, a bookmark with the portrait of a 4-year old her on it, and took a picture of it in Germany, to show that she did “go” to Europe with us. I then brought it back the next time, and have done it ever since.

In fact, here's this year's version--

I bring this up because Sunday's a big day for Mallory. You see, Mallory's longer the 4-year old on the bookmark. Nope; Sunday, Mallory turns 21. I'm not quite sure how that happened; after all, it seems like she just turned 13 last week. But Sunday she becomes an “adult” adult, even if her mother doesn't want her to. It's been a big year for Mallory; she graduated from college, passed a bunch of certification tests for her chosen career field, and now gets to have a drink if she wants when we go out for her birthday Sunday.

I think the young girl on the bookmark would be amazed at what the older version of her has become.

Yet there's one thing that's remained constant about Mallory from the bookmark years to today. She was, and is, one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Right around the time the bookmark picture was taken, she and her mom drove me out to the airport to I could head down to Florida and see a space shuttle launch. Because 4-year old are, you know, 4-year olds, her mom bought her a package of two cookies to eat (and, presumably, to keep her occupied). Well, my dear niece Mallory insisted on saving one of them so she could share it with me, just one example of the thoughtfulness with which she lives her life. Over the years, we've been able to “work” together at the station, sample chocolate together, bake Christmas cookies together, and collaborate on a photographic project that's gone on for years.

You know the 4-year old Mallory. Here's the “today” version of her--

Sure, I'm her uncle, and sure, I'm supposed to be proud of her. But even if I wasn't related to her, and just knew her, I would still be aware of what an amazing young woman she has become. I'm serious about that. So happy birthday, Mallory. Congratulations on becoming an “adult” adult. And I can't wait to see what you accomplish in the next few years!!!!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 10/11

Just how soon is too soon to break out the hats & mittens?

I'm not asking for myself; after all, as long as it's above freezing it's shorts weather for me. But as I mentioned yesterday, it's been wet & cold here for, like, forever. And yesterday afternoon I started seeing people walking down the street dressed up in winter gear—in heavy jackets, in hats, and in a couple of cases, mittens.

On October 10^th.

I won't get into whining about the weather again. I did that enough yesterday, and I'm sure that you don't need to hear it from me again until, say, the next time the snow flies. But it's still early October. Last year around this time, we had an 80-degree weekend, and wearing hats & mittens were among the furthest things from our minds. But because we were denied an Autumn this year (seriously—it was 83 degrees in September 17^th, and it's rarely been above the mid 50s since) it's something we have to consider.

I don't in any way blame the people I saw wearing mittens & hats yesterday. For October (heck for most times of the year, save January & February) it was bone-numbingly cold. And when you add in the hypothermic rain, a rain that draws heat from your body, it was even worse. For many people, wearing hats & mittens was the only was they COULD go outside. But for me, at least, that didn't mitigate the shock of seeing people wear them.

On October 10^th.

Because I'm a masochist, I checked the National Weather Service's forecast for Marquette for the next week. Because I'm not a sadist I won't reprint it here. Let's just suffice it to say that I won't be surprised if I see more and more people don the apparel of winter in October of 2018. So if you haven't rummaged through your closet to find your hats & mittens, or if you haven't made it to your favorite stores to pick up new ones, you might want to think about doing it soon. No one will blame you.

Even if it is just October 11^th.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 10/7

Okay. That didn't last very long.

Yesterday I wrote a blog about not having anything to write about. I sent it off to be posted and then jumped into the shower, whereupon three different new ideas lodged themselves into my brain, ready to be written.

Doncha just love when that happens?

First of all, thanks for the notes several of you sent after reading yesterday's entry. All of you suggested topics I could write about, and all of you had some pretty good ideas. So if I ever think I'm running out of things to say, I may take your suggestions. I appreciate you making them.

Second of all, I knew I just should've stared at my keyboard a few more minutes. After all, that's about how much longer it took for those ideas to come to me after writing that I had nothing to write about. Sure, the shower I jumped into could've had something to do with it—there is scientific evidence, after all, that your mind wanders when you do things like shower or run—but it's just one of those things. Either your brain works or it doesn't work, and while I tend much more toward the latter, I'm glad that, at least in this case, it was the former.

As it turns out, it was something my (much) better half had said (off-handedly) that got my mind to thinking. She mentioned that there were two marathons held on the same day, one in Chicago and one in Munich. Chicago, of course, is my second favorite place in the U.S., while Munich is one of my favorite in Germany. So I started to think--if I could run one of the marathons (with the caveat that I'm not in shape for a marathon (a 10K maybe, a half-marathon, if my life depended upon it, but not a full marathon)) in which city would I run—Chicago or Munich?

Hard choice, right? But that's what got my brain to spewing out all those ideas.

I don't know in which city I'd run; after all, Chicago has all that great architecture, and Grant and Millennium Parks. But Munich has great streets, and lots of history, and it has the Englischer Garten, which is one of the best parks I've ever been in. Plus Munich has German chocolate. On the other hand, Chicago's an hour away (assuming air traffic control is working at O'Hare), while Munich's a day away. Both places are fairly flat, both have huge crowds cheering on the runners, and both have great public transportation systems to get the runners where they need to go.

See why it'd be hard to choose?

But that's the great thing. I don't need to choose, if only because I'll probably never be able to run a marathon, no matter how much I run or how hard I train. It's nothing more than a mental exercise, a choice in wishful thinking. And it gave me an idea for a blog, which then gave me two more ideas, which (since then) have led to even more. So it's nice that I don't have to choose.

And it's even nicer that I now have a bunch more stuff to write about.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 10/8

Okay, I've been sitting here staring at a computer screen for half an hour now. I think my laptop is starting to laugh at me.

There aren't many days like this, because I usually do have something to write about. But every once in a great while, usually on a Monday, I try to come up with something to write about, and horribly fail at it. Either there's nothing going on, or I haven't fully developed something I'm working on (hello, update of “107 Things to Love About Marquette County”), or I don't have any pictures to share , or I am just totally without inspiration, It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen.

And it's not the greatest of days when that occurs.

I actually started to write two different blogs today, but neither of them panned out. In the first, I was channeling the spirit of Andy Rooney in complaining about getting snow in early October, like we did Thursday, but that didn't go anywhere after the first paragraph. And then I started to muse about why people call chocolate bars “candy” bars. That's not a bad idea, and you may see something about that in the future.

However, it wasn't ready for today.

So I guess I'm stuck with the old trope—writing about not having anything to write about. I know it's a cheap thing to do, and I know that it's a trope that every writer falls back on at least once in their life, but it was either that or give you a “best of”, and while that would've been easier than staring at a laptop screen for half an hour (and having it laugh at me), I didn't want to take that route.

So instead I'm writing about not having anything to write about.

I hope you'll forgive me. I hope you'll realize that this is a one-time only event. And I hope that you'll believe me when I say that (with any luck) this will never happen again. And I'm pretty sure it shouldn't. After all, with all the crap that's going on in my life you'd think I'd have SOMETHING interesting to write about, right? Or maybe that's the problem. Maybe there is so much stuff going on that I'm having trouble concentrating on getting one simple thing (like a blog entry) together.

It wouldn't be the first time my brain bailed on me like that, after all.

Okay; I've been staring at this screen long enough. Time for me to get up, get my stuff together, and face the world. Hopefully, THAT goes a little better than writing this has. Wish me luck!!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 10/4:

Yay. No one died!!

Okay, maybe that's not the BEST way to measure how the first TV show of the year went, but yesterday's taping of the first episode of “High School Bowl”'s 41 season went off with very few hitches. There were a few stumbles on the part of the dorky host, who might have been a little rusty after not doing it for six months, and there might have been a few stumbles thanks to a new way we've devised to introduce some of the people participating, but other than that it's done. And no one died.

You can see the results for yourself Saturday, November 3^rd.

Speaking of shows, although of the non-TV variety, I was given a flash drive by my friend Jack Deo yesterday, the first step in a show we'll be doing at Kaufman Auditorium next January as a benefit for the Marquette Regional History Center. It should be a fun show in a couple of different ways—because I always have a blast working with Jack, and because I (don't think) I'll have to do a lot of work for it. You see, because he has a lot of of pictures on the subject, Jack just wanted to super-charge the walking tour about Marquette's dock system that I've given the past few years. That's fine with me; after all, like I said I did most of the research on the subject a couple of years ago, so it shouldn't be too much work. But what sold me on doing it was Jack's suggested title for the show. In fact, I told the History Center that I would only do the show IF they used Jack's title.

So that's why our show is being called “What's Up, Dock”.

“Dock” will incorporate the stories I've told during the Lower Harbor walking tour, plus additional stuff on Upper Harbor and some of Marquette's other docks and the boats that used them. Plus, because sailors are involved, and sailors were often perpetrating mischief of all kinds, I have the feeling that stories involving bar fights, hookers, and moonshine might—just might—be told, too.

So, you know, it should be a blast.

The date hasn't totally set yet for the show; I just know it'll be one of the last two Thursdays in January. So if you didn't get to go on either of the walking tours I gave, or you did and want to hear more stories about hookers docks and the people who used them, make sure you check out “What's Up, Dock” in three and a half months.

I think you'll enjoy it!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 10/3

I think it might be a little different this year.

In just a few minutes I'm heading over to Public TV 13 to shoot the first episode of "High School Bowl" for the 2018-2019 season. It should be a lot of fun; for the first show, we've set up rivals going up against each other (Negaunee takes on Ishpeming, for example), and we'll be trying a few new things to freshen up the show for its 41^st year.

So that should be fun.

What might be different, though, is this. This will be my fifth season hosting the show. When I started the gig back in 2014, there were a large number of freshmen also starting the show, and over the first four years of hosting I was able to get to know those young people. In a way, we kind of grew up together, they as humans and me as a dorky TV show host. Many of us developed a certain chemistry on the air, and Id like to think that familiarity made for some fun TV. But now as I enter my fifth year of the show, they've all grown up and have moved on to bigger and better things.

My original “crew” is now gone.

That's not to say that the kids appearing on the show this year are total strangers or aren't fun. They aren't, and they are. In fact, I'm looking forward to chatting with some of them on the air, because I know it'll make for interesting TV. But the original group of kids with whom I started five years ago—the young people who made up the bulk of the good teams last year from Ironwood, the Soo, Escanaba, and elsewhere—aren't on the show any more. For the most part, they're now amazingly smart college students, and their places have been taken by their brothers & sisters, or the friends who served as alternates last year.

It'll be different. I mean, it'll be the same, but it'll be different, if that makes any sense.

I have no doubt the kids taking their place will do a great job, just as I have no doubt that several of them will be just as strange—if not more—than the students they're replacing. I'm also sure that over the next few years they'll help me make some fun (if not downright absurd) moments on an otherwise staid TV show. So even though they're not the exact young people who started at the same time as I, I'm sure we'll have just as much fun as ever.

Even if, for the first time since I started hosting the show, a lot of the faces will be different.

****

And on that note, I need to head over and shoot that aforementioned first episode of the year. But before I have to do that I also have to wish my favorite sister in the world a happy birthday! That's right; Mel's another year older, although you'd never believe it if you spend any time with her. And she actually has a great birthday lined up this year. Her three amazing daughters, one of whom lives here, one in Florida, and one in Minnesota, are all gathering along with their mom in St. Paul for a little family reunion in honor of Melanie's birthday.

So if I don't get the chance to say it in person, Mel, happy birthday!!!!!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 10/01

The song is 36 years old. Why can't I get it out of my head?

You know how I said Friday I wasn't gonna do anything this weekend? Well, I tried not to. Unfortunately, my brain wouldn't cooperate. I have a weak mind. I'll admit to that any day of the week. So when someone requested a song Friday afternoon I shouldn't have been surprised that for the rest of the weekend I had Toto's “Rosanna” running through my mind on constant repeat.

Some days it's not easy being me.

I suppose I should grateful it was “Rosanna” and not some, say, Barry Manilow song stuck in my head, but that's not the point. I liked the song when it first came out, and I've enjoyed listening to it over the years, but it's now looping over and over and over and over in my head, I'm not so sure. And the weird thing is that it's not the same part of the song, which is now it usually happens. Nope; with “Rosanna” it's sometimes the interplay of synths and horns in the middle of the song, sometimes it's the guitar solo during the extended playout, and on occasion, it's even a one measure organ riff in the middle of the first and second verse.

That's how much it's been stuck in my head. I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a 36-year old organ note stuck in my head. To quote my friend Deanna, “just shoot me now”!

Except, of course, I don't want you to do that. While it would probably get that particular song out of my head, it would also remove ALL songs from my head, and I'm pretty sure I'm not quite ready for that yet.

It's my fault it's stuck in my head, after all. I had to answer the phone Friday. I had to play the request and the song that came from the phone call. And then while I was running Saturday morniing I might have—just might have, mind you—played it on my iPod. That was all that it took; since then, it's taken up residence in my head and it won't leave.

Lucky me, right? And now, let's conduct an experiment. Want it stuck in YOUR head?

(video)

No, that's okay. You can thank me later!

(jim@wmqt.com)

(And as an aside, here's a cool trivia fact about the video. The two dancers are Patrick Swayze and Cynthia Rhodes, working together for the first time five years before they were a couple in “Dirty Dancing”. See? My obsession was good for something, right?)