Tuesday, 2/9

 Really, Tom Brady? Really?

As you may recall, I wrote yesterday's blog before finding out the score of Sunday's Super Bowl. As soon as I posted the blog I checked the score and had to fight temptation all day long to update it with all sorts of language that I'm sure wouldn't be acceptable in a forum such as this.

You're welcome.

8-)

All I can say is that I'm glad we followed Loraine's plan and didn't watch the game live. I don't know that I would have made it out alive. And I'm quite sure that I missed absolutely nothing by scanning through the game on my DVR and just watching the commercials and The Weeknd. That way I saved myself three and a half hours of screaming, sighing, and the development of an ulcer. So I'm cool with that.

(And for those of you who don't know about my...antipathy for Tom Brady, just realize I'm a Colts fan, and most of the 00's and the teens were a nightmare. That's all I'm going to say about that).

I watched the good parts last night. As far as The Weeknd's show, I was quite impressed. I've discovered that's not a popular opinion with anyone who's over, say, 40 and doesn't know his music, but I am (familiar with his music, that it). I think he did a great job, and the production values for the entire bit just blew me away. I would have to put it in the top ten of Super Bowl halftimes shows of all time. Admittedly, the bar has been set kind of low for a goo pd halftime show, but I quite enjoyed it.

As for the commercials? Will Ferrell was funny. The dude who sang in the Oatly commercial must live in a state where weed is legal. And Jeep?

Really, Jeep? Forget something in your map?

Now if only they'd forgotten to put Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. If only...

(jim@wmqt.com), now with nothing football-related to complain about until next year!

Monday, 2/8

 As I write this, I have no idea who won.

I know; weird, isn't it? The Super Bowl finished 10 or so hours ago, and I have no idea who won. I've been studiously avoiding social media before writing this, just so I could write something about how, once again because my football bete noire was playing in it, I didn't watch the game and couldn't tell you (at this moment) if Tom Brady once again ripped my heart out or (less likely) how Kansas City broke both of his legs while America stood up to cheer.

I'm guessing it'll be the former, but a boy can dream, right?

Instead of watching the game Loraine and I followed the fool-proof plan she came up with a few years ago, maybe even the last time Brady was in the Super Bowl and I spent too much time complaining about it. We made ourselves a pizza and ate while watching a couple of “Star Wars” movies. There was no heartache involved, no gnashing of teeth nor rendering of garments.

There was even a little laughter, which NEVER occurs when Tom Brady is in the Super Bowl.

I did DVR the game, though, and I'll check it out tonight. That way, if Tom Brady ripped my heart out I can scan through that part and watch the commercials and The Weeknd. And if Kansas City broke both of his legs while America stood up & cheered?

Well, my DVR has a slow-motion function on it. I can watch it happen over and over and over again. And I can watch the commercials and The Weeknd. That would be a GREAT way to spend a Monday night.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 2/5

 Seeing as how it didn't work out last time, maybe it will this time.

Last month, as you may recall, I took a day off to do a couple of things, among them hoping to cross-country ski for the first time all winter. And, as you may recall, I ended up running in shorts—in the rain—instead.

Have I mentioned it's been a weird winter up here this year?

Well, I'm going to take next Friday off and try to do it all over again. The original plan was for us to get a lot of snow today, and provide me a base with which to play with my cross-country skis and/or snowshoes.  However, here in the city we received only two or three inches instead of the 12 in the forecast.  There wasn't even enough to cancel school here in Marquette.  Or at least there wasn't enough to close schools in Marquette until TV-6 accidentally announced classes were cancelled and they had to shut down because of that (Oops).  Now we're left with downright cold temperatures the next week, and there goes my first stated reason for taking next Friday off.

Some day this winter I might be able to ski or snowshoe in the city of Marquette.  Someday.  

I'm sure I'll find something to do next Friday.  After all, I did last month when I didn't get to ski and/or snowshoe.  I'm not even gonna let the extra work I have to do to take the day off bother me.  After all, I did enjoy my three-day weekend last month. I'm sure I'll enjoy it this month. And who knows—maybe one of these months I might even be able to bump it up to a four day weekend or, dare I say, even a five day weekend.

THAT would be a miracle.  Almost as much as me being able to cross-country ski at least once this winter!

On that note, have yourself a great weekend. Enjoy (hopefully) watching Tom Brady getting pole-axed into the ground over and over Sunday night. To my favorite youngest niece in the whole world...Syd, have a great birthday today. And to my favorite father in the whole world...Chicky-Poo, YOU have a great birthday Sunday. Stay out of trouble, too!

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 2/4

 It's a good thing I'm not superstitious. Or, in this case, maybe it's a bad thing I'm not superstitious.

Yesterday it was my turn to put Loraine's gas in the car. Even though I don't own it, I still drive it, so I pay for half the upkeep (yes, even the dead batteries). I put gas in it because the tank was getting down near half, and it's been, uhm, since before Thanksgiving since we last bought it, so I figured I should fill it up.

Everyone should do that at least once every two and a half months, right? And yes, I'll shut up now.

8-)

Anyway, I filled it up and went to see how much I put in. I don't remember what the cost was, but I do remember just how much gas went in the tank--

5.555 gallons. Freaky, huh?

That's a, what? One in 10,000 chance that that number pops up? I know I've never remembered how much gas I've purchased all the other times I've filled up a tank, but I'm guessing I may remember thie one for a while.

5.555 gallons.

Because I'm not a superstitious person I realize that it was just random chance that that number popped up. If you fill your tank 10,000 times, odds are that one of those times will see you pumping exactly 5.555 gallons. It's just math. It's just probability. It's just science.

However, if I WERE a superstitious person I'd take this as a sign. I'd start to wonder if there was something cosmically aligning about the number five, and I'd rush out and buy as many lottery tickets I could that had combinations of the number. I'd sit in anticipation, waiting to see if lightning struck twice.

But, alas, I'm not superstitious. I know that the odds of both my pumping 5.555 gallons of gas and those being the winning lottery numbers are, like, infinitesimal. So maybe it's a good thing I'm not superstitious. It'll save me a buck, or however much a lottery ticket costs these days.

That being said, if you ARE superstitious, so ahead and give it a try. Maybe you can change my mind...and make yourself a little money in the process.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 2/3

 I must be a sucker for punishment. That's the only explanation.

As you may recall, over the past year I've used my laptop to produce 40-some short history video pieces, an hour long documentary on Third Street, and a 100-minute slide show with my pal Jack. Thanks to a purchase I just made, I think I've kind of committed myself to doing it all over again.

Oops.

I mean, it's not like anyone's sticking a gun to my head, or anything, and I've actually had a blast producing all the content I've been producing. And that may be why I went out and purchased an upgrade to my video editing software...a very big upgrade.

How big, you ask? Well, I answer, I went from version 12 of the program to version 19. And that's, like, a lot of upgrades, right?

The new version of the program is quite cool. If I had any talent in the area I could do animation, the editing aspect of it is much smoother, and if I chose to do so I could actually produce content in 4K Ultra HD.

Not that I want to, but I could.

So, what am I going to do with all this new capability? Well, to play around with it and see what it can do I'm planning on doing another series of those “Pieces of the Past” shorts. Not 40-some of them like last year, but a few, just so I get the hang of the software. Then, I keep telling everyone that one of my cancelled tours from 2020, “The Greasier the Spoon”, would make a great documentary, and I actually have done a little prep work on it. And for another “then”, then I could also throw together video versions of some of the older shows I've done for the History Center, both because I have everything I need and because, I suppose, they should be recorded for posterity. Or at least for someone to view in the future and laugh at just how much of a dork I was.

We'll see. I don't want to commit myself to anything concrete, and I certainly don't want to destroy what little is left of my brain by trying to out-do Ken Burns

But who knows. If I'm not a sucker for punishment it could be fun. Now if you'll excuse me, I suppose I should see if there's a book called “4K Animation for Dummies”.

(jim@wmqt.com), dummy. Or sucker. Take your pick.

Tuesday, 2/2

 I guess that may count as strike two.

I wrote in here a week or two ago about how I felt I was starting to tire of eating chocolate. Or, at least, starting to tire of eating chocolate with crushed-up candy canes in it. Well, I had another piece of chocolate yesterday and, for the second time this year, it made me question reality. It made me question if I actually want to keep eating chocolate.

Maybe the world really IS coming to an end.

This time around it's actually another piece of chocolate we were gifted over the holidays. If you recall, almost EVERY gift we received had chocolate as at least one component to it, and we've been trying to sample as much as we can without blowing up, figuratively and literally. One of the gifts was milk-chocolate covered gummies in the shape of the UP. It's kind of a cool idea, and I was looking forward to trying them out.

However, the gummies come in a variety of flavors, one of which was watermelon. I don't know who thought a milk chocolate covered watermelon gummy in the shape of the UP was a good idea, but just let me say, as someone who's eaten his fair share of chocolate and who tries to keep an open mind about anything that has to do with it--

No. Just no.

I'm not quite sure why someone would've thought that a chocolate covered watermelon gummy would be a good idea; after all, you don't drizzle chocolate sauce on freshly sliced watermelon, do you? And since most gummies amp up the sour factor (one reason, in all honesty, why I don't really eat many), having a really sour candy covered by a really sweet chocolate (such as milk chocolate) really, really doesn't work.

It's like brushing your teeth with mint toothpaste, then drinking a glass of milk, and then eating an orange, all in a 10-second span.

Admittedly, the cherry-flavored and orange flavored UP gummies were quite good covered with the chocolate. However, since they all look the same covered in chocolate, and since you never knew which one you'd be getting—watermelon, orange, or cherry—it was kind of like playing Russian Roulette with your taste buds.

Not an experience I'd recommend.

So now twice since the turn of the year I've questioned my relationship with one of my favorites foods. Of all the things I hoped would be ushered in with 2021, this was NOT one of them. With the way the world is these days I can't say I'm 100% surprised, but this was definitely not one of them.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 2/1

 Okay. Even I don't think I could say that. In fact, I KNOW I couldn't say that.

Researchers at MIT apparently ran out of important things to study, because they've just made a discovery that will probably not win anyone there a Nobel prize. However, because it doesn't deal with string theory or quantum mathematics or the theory of the multi-verse, it's a discovery that many of us can appreciate.

That discovery? The world's hardest tongue twister.

No, seriously. They used all their math skills and all the algorithms they could come up with to decide what the hardest tongue twister would be for the average human to say. I think we've all had to deal with trying to say tongue twisters before. Heck, I know I've embarrassed myself on the air many times while trying them, my personal favorite being the simple “Colts Coach Caldwell” that I could never ever get right. However, no tongue twister I've ever tried tied my tongue in such knots as the one that the MIT researchers came up with.

Don't believe me? Try saying “Pad kid poured curd pulled cod” even once. I dare you.

(Go ahead and try. I'll be right here when you're done)

Give yourself as headache yet? Sprain your tongue? Let out a few choice words when you got done trying it? Well, don't worry. I'm guessing you're in good company, as I myself couldn't even get through it the first time without sounding like I was gargling with marbles. I have no idea how anyone could say it multiple times, and at any rate of speed. I mean, by breaking it down syllable by syllable I could get through it, but as soon as I tried to say it like a normal person (or at least as normal as I could get) I blew the proverbial gasket. It just doesn't work.

No way, no how.

So hats off to the researchers at MIT. Aside from discovering the secrets of the universe both big and small, they've also been able to figure out the worst tongue twister in human history. Now I'm hoping they'll take a hint from a classic episode of “Monty Python” and figure out a joke so funny it makes people die. Maybe they'd pick up the Nobel for THAT, you know?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)