Wednesday, 4/12

My jaw hurts.

As you may recall, I've inherited several things from my dad--his skin tone, a life long love of "Looney Tunes, and, unfortunately, a severe case of klutziness. While my case doesn't seem to be as bad as his--no knee surgery or neck braces for me, at least not yet--it's always there lurking in the background.

And that's why I have a sore jaw.

The background--a few minutes after I went into work yesterday we had a two-second power outage. No, I don't know why, but for some reason the Marquette Board of Light & Power seems to like to have little flickers on the block of downtown where the station sits (and, at the same time, not having the power go out at the bank across the street where Loraine works).

Anyway, the power went out for two seconds. In that two seconds, my office computer--the one that I use all the time, the one that contains all the backups of all the stuff I do--fried. Hopefully, it's in the process of getting fixed. If not, I have some stuff to do. But that's neither here nor there. I had to use other computers at work, which meant shuttling information back & forth on flash drives. One of the times I was grabbing a flash drive I was under a desk (because, of course, that's where all of our computers sit to keep them out of the way). While getting out from under the desk I banged my head on the shelf, which caused me jerk to the left, which caused me to slip, which caused me land jaw-first into the hard plastic arm of a chair, which is why my jaw still hurts almost a day later.

Fun.

Thankfully, my jaw still works. I can talk and eat and swallow, which means I didn't break anything. It is, however, bruised and scabby, as I tore quite a bit of skin off when the chair and I had our loving little touch. That, of course, means that some smart aleck will soon ask about the fight I got into, and that I can either explain what really happened or just play along with it.

Except, of course, no one would ever believe I would get into a fight.

Hopefully, this heals soon, and hopefully, so does my office computer. If not, well...that's life. At least now I know how to get up from underneath a certain counter without bleeding or breaking something.

Although, considering the gift I've inherited from my dad, I wouldn't put it past me.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 4/11

And once again, the rest of the story.

As you may recall, I had stuck a few pictures up yesterday, taken during our (finally) Spring-like weekend. I had also posted the pictures on Facebook, where hundreds of people have given them a “like” or a “love”. But I did not include one more picture I had posted on the social media site, a picture that seems to have become a tempest in a teapot.

Specifically, this picture--

I just thought it was a cool picture. I liked the composition of it, and thought it kind of a slice of modern-day Marquette life. It did not even occur to me that within a couple of hours the comments section below it would be filled with so much venom, vitriol, and sheer hate that I had to disable the comments and delete the ones that had already been left.

Sigh.

It started with people who believe climate change is a hoax leaving all kinds of wacko comments and conspiracy theories, and then gathered steam as people on the other side started to fight back. Pretty soon, it had devolved into a meme-spewing, four letter word “debate” that would make even the most hard-core of individuals blush with embarrassment.

All that just because of a picture.

Some of it may be my fault. I just thought it was a cool picture. I had no idea it would trigger a few people and lead to what it did. But the behavior that people show on the internet these days, where their identities are protected by either a false name or the fact that they're not face to face with whomever they're engaging, is deplorable. Yes, I get that you don't agree with someone on an issue. That's fine. But the way some people acted with the others with whom they were engaging was just horrid. There isn't enough soap in the world with which to wash their mouths out. There aren't enough corners on the planet for them to take a time out.

I was stunned. And, if I had to admit it, a little sickened by the whole thing, as well. I mean, I know just how bad people can be in the Internet. I have, after all, accidentally stumbled upon the comments section of a news story on TV-6's website, and I thought that people couldn't be any worse than on there.

Turns out I was wrong.

All I did was take a picture that I thought looked interesting. I had no idea that it would lead to, well, a whole bunch of online trolling, misogyny, and behavior better left to six year olds. That's not the purpose of art.

Lesson learned, I guess.

(jim@wmqt.com) 

Monday, 4/10

 Have a good Easter?

Hope you did.  Hope it was as good as ours; I made a ham with a blood orange/brown sugar glaze that turned out WAY better than I had any hope it would, along with the added bonus of it being over 60 degrees in Marquette for the first time since, I think, Thanksgiving.

So, along with (it seems) the other 24,998 people who call Marquette home Loraine and I went out for a walk in the sunshine, and I brought along a camera.  What did we see?

How about an iconic stretch of buildings--

A few of the new places that call Marquette home--

A busy stretch of road, not only for pedestrians but for cars, as well--

Some people taking advantage of the two new walking piers installed at Founder's Landing--

A view of Marquette that people who haven't been here in 10 years might not recognize--

And one that they would--

All in all, quite the nice day and, hopefully, the sign of many more to come.

Tomorrow, one more picture.  And the tale of why you should never--never--read the comments section of a web page...even if it's your own.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 4/6

Black jellybeans. Never, ever black jellybeans.

I had someone ask me about my favorite Easter candy a couple of days ago, and instead of trying to figure out which is my favorite, because that might be an impossible task, I told them which Easter candy I absolutely abhor--

Black jellybeans.

Unlike, say, the tale of why I don't like bananas, I've never ever liked black jellybeans. And I'll be the first to admit it's the taste of them. While I like anise in cookies, the taste of it in black jellybeans (and its weird cousin, black licorice) just turns my stomach. Unlike bananas, I don't know why it turns my stomach. It just does. And it's not even because I force-fed myself so many black jellybeans that I made myself sick. I don't think I could ever eat that many, because I just don't like the taste.

If that makes me a freak, so be it, because I know there are a LOT of people who love black jellybeans. I know of people who'll buy a bag of nothing BUT black jellybeans and eat them one after the other. But not me. Any other color of jellybean is fine; heck, I even like those bubble-gum flavored Jelly Bellys that make some people wretch.

But black jellybeans? Nope. I'll leave those for you.

So if you happen to see me being offered jellybeans this weekend (not that you would, but never say never), you can rest assured that I'll happy munch down on the red ones, the green ones, the yellow ones, the blue ones, and even the bubble gum ones. But the black ones?

I think I'll pass.

****

Since I'm off tomorrow and there won't be a new one of these, I hope you have a great Easter weekend. And I hope your black jellybeans are few and far between. Unless, of course, you like them...because if that's the case you can have mine.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com) 

Wednesday, 4/5

And now...the rest of the story.

Yesterday I was talking about how I have a few (okay, a lot of) dorky habits, among them waiting each and every year for the US Census Bureau to release their “Annual Estimate of the Resident Population of Counties” survey. Aside from city managers and a few statistic geeks, I'm guessing not a lot of normal people look forward to it.

However, as we all know, I'm anything BUT normal.

So just how DID I turn out this way? Well, when I was young—too young to go to school—I would look at all the kids walking down the street going to class and, apparently, get bummed out. So every day I was like that my mom would read to me—read to me from the encyclopedia or the world atlas, so I could learn something even though I couldn't go to school. Those little lessons instilled in me a life-long love of geography (so much so that I minored in geography and population studies in college) and a burning desire to look forward each and every year to things like the US Census Bureau's “Annual Estimate of the Resident Population of Counties” survey.

Yup. I blame my parents.

I don't mean to sound like a typical Gen X-er, so maybe the word “blame” isn't the right word. It's thanks to my parents that I given the gift of learning, a gift that I still use today (hence, the huge stack of books about geography and history and language sitting on my kitchen floor, waiting to be read). I often claim to be a big dork (an absolute truth, by the way) but it's a claim that I proudly carry. And part of that is because of what my mom did for me all those years ago. I was four years old and couldn't go to school, so she made a school for me, a school that probably had as much influence on me as any other one I attended.

The reason I'm bringing all this up—aside from the fact that I dorked out on TV Monday night—is that it's the birthday today of my original school teacher, my mom. I highly doubt she set out to teach me; I'm sure, after all, that she just wanted to shut me up. But those little lessons I was given back before I could even understand what was happening have stuck with me ever since, and have been one of the biggest gifts anyone could ever be given--

The gift of learning.

So Mom—thanks for that gift, as well as all the others given to me over the years. I know a lot of people say that they have the best mother in the world, but no one will ever convince me that anyone else does.

Because I know I do.

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Love,

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 4/4

Why yes, I AM that much of a geek. Thanks for asking.

Last night on “Life in the 906” I geeked out over some Census Bureau estimate numbers that were just released for U.P. counties. Afterwards, I had someone ask me if I really do pay attention to such minutiae as I mentioned last night, and I had to admit that yes, I do.

Tomorrow, in fact, I'll tell you the story as to WHY I do it. But to set that up, here's what I said last night. Actually, it's what I said last night and even more, what I wrote before realizing I had to cut 45 seconds to make my time limit.

Here 'tis--

We need to recruit five more people to live in Marquette County, and I'm gonna tell you why.

First of all, if you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m...kind of a geek.  No really–it’s true.  And one of the many ways in which that manifests itself is the way I look forward to the US Census Bureau’s release each and every year of their “Annual Estimates of the Resident Population of Counties” survey.  It’s a fascinating read; they really SHOULD make a movie out of it some day.

I have no doubt it would be a blockbuster.

Anyway, one of the interesting findings in this year’s estimate is that Marquette County has grown by a little over 600 residents since the last official Census was taken in 2020.  According to the Census Bureau, Marquette County now has 66,661 inhabitants.  If we had just five more people living here, we would have hit the jackpot…sixes all across the board.

Yes, I need help.  What’s your point?

The Census Bureau actually had good news for several UP counties.  While Marquette had by far the biggest growth, several others also jumped.  Alger, Schoolcraft, Keweenaw, and Baraga all gained over 100 residents, and even counties that had been shedding inhabitants, like Iron and Ontonagon, managed to stay level with where they were 2 years ago.

Of course, these are just estimates; it’s not an actual count.  And that’s why UP counties that lost residents this time around shouldn’t be too concerned.  The Census Bureau estimates Chippewa County lost 500 people, Houghton County over 300, and Delta County almost 200.  Whether or not that trend continues, there’s still plenty of time for those areas to work on getting their numbers back up.

But overall, even though it’s just an estimate, it’s pretty good news for the entire UP, a place where population loss has become chronic.  Maybe it’s a sign that the brain drain might be easing.  Maybe it’s a sign that the rest of the world is starting to come to their senses and realize just what a special place this is in which to live.  I mean, it doesn’t matter.  What does matter is that, for some UP counties, decades of population loss have been mitigated, at least temporarily.  For those areas, that's a great thing.  And for those of us who are geeky enough to look at those numbers, it’ll make it a little more interesting each and every year when the annual Census report comes out, to see if that trend continues.

Now, if we could find those five extra residents for Marquette County, and have sixes all across the board–we’d be all set.

I’m Jim Koski, and that’s another slice of “Life in the 906”.

Like I said...tomorrow, the story as to WHY I geek out over Census Bureau estimates.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 4/3

Once again it was not as bad as we were led to believe it would be. But it would sure be nice if it stopped.

As you may recall, Friday I posted the “before” picture of what it looked like outside prior to the snow-rain/even more snow deluge we were scheduled to get between Friday morning and Saturday afternoon. This picture, to be specific--

I also promised to post an “after” picture, once everything was gone and we were finished shaking our fists at the sky, so here 'tis--

As has been the case all year, it was not the massive storm we'd been led to believe. But as has also been the case all year, it was just enough to have to once again have to spend hours cleaning up.

It's getting to be really old really quickly.

It's now April, and if this keeps going any longer I think a whole bunch of us will be ready to flip out, and not in the good way. Sadly, this isn't the first March & April in which we've felt like this, and that's prompted me to go back in the archives and find a “poem” I wrote eight years ago, the last time this happened. While the year has changed the sentiment is still the same--

I want to go outside and play again.

I want to be able to wear shorts and t-shirts.

I want to be able to lose my gloves and not give a rip.

I want to throw my car’s ice scraper away.

I want to forget about wind chill.

I want to forget about lake effect.

I want to not have to cringe every time I see a weather forecast.

I want to be able to talk to Laura, ask her if it’s going to be 80, and have her say “yes”.

I want to ride my bike.

I want to go to the beach.

I want to smell flowers and freshly cut grass and poplar trees along the bike path.

I want to see green.

I want to forget the color white even exists.

I want to be able to pull out my camera and take pictures of something, anything, other than the “after” picture I posted here.

I want summer.

Okay, April The ball's in your court. Don't disappoint us.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)