Monday, 3/11

Once again, some of us are obviously separated by denominational differences.

I guess I didn't realize it, but there's a sizable contingent of people out there who are opposed to Daylight Savings Time, at least based on what I've seen on social media once we switched our clocks ahead yesterday morning. There are people out there who don't like the jet lag associated with it, there are parents out there who don't like how it affects their kids, and there are people out there who are just philosophically opposed to it because we're no longer a nation of farmers.

So, of course, I have to be one of the people who actually LIKES Daylight Savings Time. But you wouldn't expect any less from me, right?

The reason I like Daylight Savings Time is probably the reason others don't. Because of my schedule and my lifestyle, I like it darker in the morning and lighter late at night. During the summer, if it's light until 10 pm...great. It means I can play outside when I get off of work. But if we didn't have DST, it'd be getting dark an hour earlier, which means that, if I had to work late, I couldn't enjoy an extra hour of evening. And if we didn't have Daylight Savings Time, the sun would start coming up, at least here in the U.P., before 5 in the morning, which means that around half of my sleep cycle would be disrupted.

And that, on a purely personal level, would suck.

But if wouldn't be as bad as it would be for our friends 60 miles from here. If we didn't have Daylight Savings Time, during the summer the sun would start coming up in Dickinson County, which is in the Central Time Zone, between 3:45 and four AM.

That's right. Without Daylight Savings Time, during June the sun would rise in Dickinson County at 4am. In what world is THAT right?

Now like I said, the reasons I like Daylight Savings Time are purely personal. I'm probably in the minority, at least based on the vociferous complaints I saw over the weekend. And I realize that because we're quite far north and because we're right on the edge of a time zone, that not having Daylight Savings Time would lead to us having to deal with amazing sunrise and sunset extremes. But still...

Who wouldn't rather have the sun set later at night instead of at (gulp) five (or even four) in the morning?

To quote a coffee mug I have somewhere...it's hard not being a morning person.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 3/8

Just a couple of nonsensical things today before I head off to TV land, things that probably only I care about.

The first? While I commend the city of Marquette for the great job they've done in removing the 800 feet of snow we've received recently, I do have a question about their priorities in cleaning sidewalks. For instance, I live on Front Street in Marquette, one of the busiest streets in the city, just a few blocks from not only an elementary school but a fire station, as well. Our sidewalks still have that 800 feet of snow on them, which means that parents walking their kids to school and dorks walking to work have to walk out in the street, dodging traffic and fire trucks. Yet two blocks to the east, the sidewalks on Pine Street are fully cleared off. You can walk on them safely and easily.

Now, I realize Pine Street is another busy street, but I don't believe it's busier than Front. And I know for sure it has neither an elementary school nor a fire station on it. Yet that street's sidewalks are cleared off while the sidewalks on Front aren't. So if you happen to be driving up Front Street and notice a lot of pedestrians try to get where they're going (and get their alive), don't mutter under your breath at us.

It's not out fault.

The other thing? It has to do with the TV I'm about to shoot. I've been hosting “High School Bowl” for five years now, and never once have I noticed that the buzzer that sounds when the students ring in for a question sounds different depending upon who's buzzing it. Seriously; when we were getting ready to shoot half a show Wednesday we were testing it out and noticed that if a student from the top row buzzes in the sounds goes up on the scale, while if a student on the bottom buzzes in it goes down. There were a bunch of us standing around just amazed by the fact that we've never noticed it.

But then, I guess, we're easily amazed. Next time you watch an episode check it out and see if you notice it quicker than we did.

Okay; I'm off to the place where the buzzer sounds different depending upon who buzzes in. Have a great weekend; don't forget to set your clocks back, either!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 3/7

Welcome to the world, Calum!

My brother and his fiance welcomed their second child to the world yesterday. Calum Lee Koski made his planetary debut a little after noon, which now means that poor Tiffanie will have to live in a household with four dudes, ranging in age from 40-something years to 40-something hours. I feel for her. I really do.

8-)

I have two wishes right off the bat for my youngest nephew. I hope he's able to lead a long, fruitful, and happy life. That goes without saying for all of my nieces and nephews, and so far they've all been able to do that. Secondly, I hope he's not like his older brother in one very important aspect--

I hope he doesn't cry every time he sees me.

I may have mentioned this before, but Calum's brother Abel, would, for the first year and a half of his life, cry every time he saw me. We never did figure out why, although we're pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that my brother and I look a lot alike (except I still have hair) and the young man may have just been a little confused. I get that. I don't get a lot about kids, but I do get that. Thankfully, in the last few months that changed, and every time I see Abel I now get a big hug & a kiss, even if it's in the middle of a grocery store.

So I have that going for me.

The one thing that blows my mind about both Abel and Calum is that, odds are, they'll both be alive in the year 2100. They may be semi-doddering old men, hitting each other with their walkers as brothers are wont to do, but they'll be around for a year that many of us still consider to be science fiction. How much will the world change during their lifetimes? I mean, when you consider how much things have changed since even their dad was born, the possibilities are endless. And I hope, for their sake, the possibilities are all positive.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. After all, young Calum now has his entire lifetime (minus, of course, one day) for those possibilities to unfold.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 3/6

Even if I did have a bad day, why would I bother anyone with it?

Over the past few years I've received comments from people regarding something I do on the air, and it happened again yesterday. It's something I never really thought about, but it must make an impression on some people. The comments have to do with how I never seem to have a “bad day” when I'm on the air, how I always seem “to have a smile in (my) voice”. Apparently I always sound like I'm happy and having fun when I'm on the air, and people notice that.

And from the sound of it they appreciate it, as well.

Trust me, I do have bad days. Some days, I'm dealing with recalcitrant equipment, other days, it's dealing with a personal situation. And since September, who HASN'T had a bad day because of the weather? So I do have bad days. But I don't let it affect my on-air performance. My job is to entertain people, to make sure they have a good time getting through their days. They may tune in to try and make their own bad day better; why would I add to their troubles with troubles of my own?

I mean, I'm really lucky. Being an optimist by nature I really don't have a lot of bad days, and even if something is weighing upon me I have this freakish ability to compartmentalize. I seem to be able to shove whatever's bothering me to the back of my head for a few minutes when I need to do something else. I don't know if I'm lucky in that respect or if it's a sign of some serious mental instabilities (neither would surprise me). All I know is that if people are tuning in for fun or to relieve their own troubles, it doesn't do much for them if I'm a major bummer.

And it's something, apparently, that people notice.

So, if you don't mind, I'll just continue being me on the air. In all honesty, I wouldn't know how to do it any differently, anyway, so I guess you're stuck with an optimist with a smile in his voice.

Even if I am having a bad day.

And speaking of which, I KNOW I won't have a bad day today, if only because I'm now off to shoot (half) an episode of “High School Bowl”, and the only bad news about that is we only have a few more left to shoot for the year. So until tomorrow...

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 3/5

It’s sad. It’s just really, really sad.

Here’s a short clip of the blog I wrote four years around this date; in fact, right as "The Streak" was beginning--

“All it took was a 15-minute span around 1pm, when I went out and took a walk around downtown Marquette, a downtown Marquette filled with sun and a temperature approaching 60 degrees.

It‘s been a long time since I was able to do that, to just go out and enjoy the sun and the “heat”. Now, I realize that compared to, say, July, this was nothing, but after 5 long months of temps below 50 (with very low seasonal sun angles) it was nice to get out and “feel” the first taste of the summer to come.

And I know I wasn’t the only one enjoying it, The people I passed on the street all had an extra spring in their steps, and I noticed things I haven’t seen in months, like the young lady with neon orange hair sitting on the steps of old City Hall, the young couple walking down the street, hand-in-hand and oblivious to everything but love, and the guy running up Front Street hill without a shirt, but wearing a hat & gloves.”

That’s right. Four years ago almost today, the temperature pushed 60. SIXTY. Six-zero. Within 20 degrees of 80. Or, if you wanna think of it this way. . .

50 degrees WARMER than it’s scheduled to be today.

Sigh.

For once, I know I’m not the only one sighing heavily. Even if I had 6 hands, I wouldn’t be able to count the number of people who’s mentioned to me that they’re sick & tired of the cold, they’re sick & tired of the snow, and they’re just ready to have something. . .else. Something like the day we had four years ago. Definitely nothing at all like the weather which we’ve lived through for the last several months.

Once again, sigh. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that, at least for now!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 3/4

You know, maybe I need to enunciate a little more clearly.

I’ve now had two people come up to me at entirely different times and ask the exact same question--“How come, when you’re taking Instant Requests, you ask the caller about their station for “More Music, More Fun, and and Instant Request? Why do you say ‘and' twice”? Well, I actually don’t. I ask them about their station for “More Music, More Fun, and AN Instant Request”. And once I explain that to the person asking the question, they realize what’s going on, and nod their head in acknowledgment.

However, as I’ve found out many times over the hundreds of years that I’ve been doing this, if more than one person notices something, then a LOT of people are noticing that same exact thing. Therefore, I guess I need to enunciate a little more clearly.

In all honesty, I don’t even pay attention to stuff like that, and I’m sure I should. I’m sure a vocal coach could come in and explain dozens of things I’m doing wrong (like not enunciating clearly and being overly dependent on the words “okay” and “like”). I’m sure a real radio “professional” would point out that I don’t punch the right words or phrases, and that I often just sound like I’m talking to someone, instead of having a voice that sounds like I Should Be On The Radio.

My bad. I guess I just don’t really have a radio voice, something that’s been pointed out many times when people meet me for the first time and say, “You sound just like you do on the radio!” Well, yeah. . .that’s just because it’s me talking. I’ve never approached it like I should sound like I Should Be On The Radio; I just always figured it’s just me talking to you guys, and why should I have a “radio voice” to do that? Yet there are so many people in this business who are what are known as “pukers”; people with big RADIO voices that make themselves sound like their tonsils are coming out of their throats. I’m sure you’ve heard them before, and I know that’s what some people expect when they turn on the radio.

But that’s not me, and it’s not something to which I ever aspire.

However, maybe I SHOULD work a little on the enunciation, especially if people keep wondering about the double “ands” at the end of an Instant Request. I do tend to speak rather quickly, and maybe, sometimes, on occasion, my words tend to run together, especially if they have the same sounds, like “and” and “an”. So I’ll try and work on that.

Like I said, my bad.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 3/1

Well, this could make things interesting.

As most of you know, I'm going to Germany at the end of April. And as most of you know, I have to do all kinds of work ahead of my trip to Germany to be able to leave. Well, I received a letter in the mail yesterday from the fine folks at the 96^th District Court in Marquette informing me that my presence is requested for five Tuesdays in April for jury duty.

Uh-huh.

I won't even be here for two of those Tuesdays, something I'm already working on with the court. And as for the other three Tuesdays; well, I'll willing to do them. After all, jury duty is one of the prices we pay for living in a participatory democracy. And I know that if I were ever accused of a crime, I’d want a jury of my peers to judge me, and not have some official with an agenda or some military tribunal do the job. But open-ended jury duty during the three weeks when I'm already working feverishly to get ready to head over to another continent?

Sigh.

This is the same kind of set-up I had to deal with a few Decembers ago, when I was given six dates in and around the holidays and told to be ready to hear a case. Thankfully, five of the six were canceled, and the other was shut down just as I got to the court house. But that was a month of heck, pardon my French. I had to work ahead at night and on the weekends just in case I was called, and then when I wasn't called I spent too much time bemoaning all that wasted time. I'm hoping that because I'm already working ahead that my schedule won't get so screwed up, just as I'm hoping that there won't actually BE a case on any of those Tuesdays and I can just keep getting ready for Germany.

Like I said, I'm not opposed to jury duty. But to be called one year during the holidays and then again as I'm getting ready to go to another country? Well, the timing could be better.

Yes, I know. When you consider that millions of people have put themselves in harm’s way over the past 240+ years so that I actually have the privilege of sitting on a jury, something you can’t do in so many countries across the globe, my little bout of whining seems, well, little. And I realize that there’s never a “good” time fur jury duty. It’s just something you need to do, a little act that allows you to play a small part in the big experiment of democracy.

But still. If you would, keep your fingers crossed that there won't be court cases on April 2^nd, 9^th, or the 16^th. Or, if there are, that they cause minimum disruption. I'd appreciate it.

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)