Thursday, 9/14

I have to be at my doctor's office in a bit (annual check up time yet again), so I'm going to leave you with an oldie but a goodie. Believe it or not, I actually remember this happening.

That was fun.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

*******

(as originally posted 9/17/2015)

If you're one of the three people I yelled at at the top of my lungs yesterday, I'm sorry. It wasn't personal.

Let me explain. I did not, in fact, yell at anyone to their face. I did not get mad, I did not fly off the handle, and I did not hurt anyone's feelings. Yet I still feel a little bad at what I did.

My “Pop Culture” question yesterday had to do with what the letters “NBC” stand for. I thought it was a fairly straight-forward question; after all, NBC was the country's first broadcast network, about to celebrate its 90^th anniversary next year, so I figured everyone would know what those three letters stand for.

I was wrong. Just not in the way I figured.

The first three answers I received mirrored each other. Each of the callers had the first two letters correctly identified. They knew that the “N” stands for “National”, and that the “B” stands for “Broadcasting”. It's what happened after that that blew my mind. The three callers said that the “C”in NBC stands for either “System” or “Service”. And that's a good guess, expect for the fact that if either of those were the correct answer, the company's initials would be “NBS”, and not “NBC”.

And that's when I had my little meltdown.

Well, it wasn't really a meltdown. It was mostly me yelling at the top of my lungs “Doesn't anyone know how to spell any more?” loud enough to travel through a supposedly soundproof wall. I know it was loud enough because our office manager, who sits on the other side of the supposedly soundproof wall, turned to look at me to make sure I wasn't losing my mind.

Oops. My bad.

Thankfully, when I asked the question again, someone did get the answer right (the “C” stands for “Company”, if you're curious), restoring my faith in humanity. And maybe I can kind of understand the confusion; after all, the “S” in CBS stands for “System”, not that anyone would know that. So maybe all three callers just mixed their metaphors, in a way. Maybe it was an innocent mistake on the part of all three callers.

Maybe.

So if you were one of those three callers, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you, if even just to myself.

It's just one of those things...

8-)

Wednesday, 9/13

If it is a gift, it's one I'm fortunate to have. And one that I don't take lightly.

As usual, I did my TV thing Monday night. Unusually, though, I had a studio audience, as WZMQ was hosting a “Business After Hours”, a local networking event where professionals from around the area show up to drink and to schmooze. A few of them were allowed to watch us do the actual newscast, so I wrote a bit that (I hoped) would generate a few laughs.

Thankfully, it did. And it prompted someone who was in the audience to come up to me afterwards and tell me that they thought I had “gift” that's quite precious during these days of discord and dismay.

The gift of making people laugh.

In all honesty, I had never even pondered the subject. I just do what I do. But as I've spent the past 36 hours mulling over what she said, it got me to thinking. And, that, as we all know, can be a very dangerous thing. But maybe in a way, she's right. There are an awful lot of people on this planet who do nothing but sow the seeds of the discord and dismay that are prevalent these days. I mean, it's easy to be bitter and cynical and play to an audience that's primed for bitterness and cynicism. But to make people feel good, or at least help them smile & spend a few seconds out of the bitterness & cynicism, takes work. You have to appeal to their better nature, instead of their basest impulses. You have to be on a higher plane.

And maybe I'm just fortunate that I'm apparently able to do that.

Like I said, I had never looked at it from that angle. I just go out there and try to put an occasional smile on an occasional face. I really don't know if I have a “gift” so much as I try to live in the light instead of the dark. Maybe my gift is is refusing to dive into the bitterness and cynicism that marks modern day life. Maybe my gift is just being goofy or being “light” or by looking for the smile instead of the frown. I don't know. Except for the past 36 hours, it's something about which I've never thought.

But you'd better believe I'm thinking about it now.

By the way, if you wanna see what prompted the comment from an audience member (and check out a LOT of goof) just click HERE

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 9/12

I don't know if this an answer, but it might be.

As you may recall, I spent a great deal of this “summer” complaining about how cool & wet it was. Let me say thank you for indulging me in that; I hope it didn't get too redundant for you. As it turns out, though, I wasn't the only person who complained a lot. Over the past few weeks I've run into over half a dozen individuals who lamented the fact that we really didn't have much of a “summer” this year. So it wasn't just me. A lot of people had that perception.

And I think I have an idea as to why.

If you take “summer” as the months of June, July, & August, you have 13 weeks (and weekends) in there. The weekend is when most people like to get out and enjoy the season, perhaps even trying to play outside all day long Saturday and/or Sunday. But this year, out of those 13 weekends, we only had five that had sun (or, more accurately, sun filtered through smoke haze) both days. The other eight weekends had at least one day with rain. In a couple of cases, both days were washed out.

So if you were looking to have some summer fun this “summer”, only 38 percent of the weekends (just over a third) provided you a full opportunity to do that. The other 62 percent of weekends?

At least a partial washout.

I mean, I don't know if this affected people's perception of “summer” this year at all. I could be totally off-base. I often am.  But seeing as how adults get most of their summer fun on the weekends, and the majority of weekends were filled with at least one day of rain and cool and gloomy conditions...

Well, maybe there's something there. Maybe.

To quote a great American philosopher, that's all I'm gonna say about that. But if you're one of the growing number of people who felt we may have been robbed (just a little) of the one season around here during which we recharge our batteries from the other three seasons when we fave the (gulp) possibility of snow, there's a one potential reason.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 9/11

Because it's Marquette, I'm not quite sure which one it is.

Attached to a street light a few doors down from where I live is this--

Yes, you are seeing that right. It's the beat up frames for someone's sunglasses, attached to the light pole by a small cord. But because it's Marquette, I'm not sure WHY the sunglasses are stuck on the light pole. Because it's Marquette, it could be there because someone lost them and someone else wants to whoever lost them to find them.

Or, because it's Marquette, it could be art. Maybe, just maybe, someone put them there as, I dunno, a statement on the disposable aspect of our modern day society.

Because it's Marquette, it could be either one.

I'm not saying that in a bad way. Marquette is just one of those places filled with artists, and often time those artists will try to make a statement with “found objects”...things you find just lying around on the ground. Like, you know, a pair of sunglasses that just happened to sitting in the grass.

Hence, my confusion as to why the sunglasses were stuck to the light pole.

If they disappear some time soon, I'll trust that whoever lost them found them and took them home (or, I guess, that city workers found them and wanted to remove them from a utility pole). But if they remain there for some time, allowing passersby to ponder the statement that someone is trying to make, I'll know they're art.

I just happen to live in a place where either is a possibility.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 9/7

Wow. It really can't be that close, can it?

I was filling out stuff on my big wall calendar in my office, the one that tells me where to be when and at what time. While writing things down I was marveling at just how packed September is, especially with our just completed trip downstate and our little jaunt to Chicago the week after next. In fact, I've been so busy with the stuff on the calendar this month that I really haven't looked at what's on tap next month.

And that's when I realized we start shooting the next season of “High School Bowl” four weeks from today.

First of all, it seems like we just wrapped up last season like, I dunno, last month. But apparently it's been seven months. And just exactly HOW did the start date for season 45 sneak up on me so that it's less than a month away?

I myself blame 2023. It's been a weird year, hasn't it?

That means I need to get my butt in gear for a couple of things. I need to put together the questions we ask the students during the halftime interviews, and I also need to write up a bunch of UP-themed questions to use during the games. I have a couple left over from last year, but we shoot 20 full shows throughout the season, so that means I'm only, oh, 18 short of what I need.

Looking at my calendar, I also realized we have a packed shooting schedule in October. In fact, we have five shooting dates—a quarter of the entire season—on tap. The show itself debuts November 4^th, and we always wanna make sure we have enough episodes in the can so that if something unexpected happens (snow days, plagues, or an idiot host who mangles his face in a bike accident) we'll have something to stick on the air. And that's why we'll have all those shows in the can before the season premiere.

So, I guess that looking at my calendar is dictating a few of the things I'll be going this weekend—coming up with questions, and then coming up with another kind of question. I'm just not quite sure whether or not to thank my calendar for the reminder or to curse it for, you know, making me aware that we're just four weeks away from the start of the season.

Have a great weekend. Hope your calendar is much kinder to you!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 9/7

Well, that was fun.

Because of the fog, the mist, and the gloom, we were able to get “Happy Hour” off as scheduled last night for the Marquette Regional History Center. I mean, sure...I had to change it from a walking tour into a program in three hours, and it might have been a little rough because of that (as I described it, it was like learning to play a song on a guitar and then all of a sudden being asked to perform on a piano instead). But in the end it didn't matter; the group had a great time and (most importantly) had a lot of laughs.

And that's a good thing.

This, however, is probably not the last you'll hear about a project called “Happy Hour”. I have been throwing around the idea of making an expanded version of this little tour/show into my next documentary. When you think of it, it would be a good companion piece to “The Greasier the Spoon”, and with some of the stories of drunken debauchery that have been shared with me it would be a hoot.

Of course, it would also be a LOT of work, probably spanning over the next year or two (or however long it took me to eventually finish “Greasier”). So while I've not fully committed to it yet, it wouldn't surprise me if I keep babbling enough about it that I actually do something about it.

We'll see, right? And, by the way, I'm giving you permission in advance to kick me when I start to complain about trying to find the time to work on it (if, indeed, I do work on it), because both you & I know I eventually will, right?

8-)

Okay; I not only have to go to a funeral today, but I'm also going to Chicago in 13 days (have I ever mentioned that?) and I need to get to work on a few things. So until tomorrow...

(jim@wmqt.com), who really REALLY needs to get that mythical 25^th hour added to his day.

Wednesday, 9/6

I'm back. Miss me?

We had a great few days visiting Loraine's parents downstate. Loraine got to hang out with her family, we got to go to Aldi (seriously, Aldi, you have stores in Escanaba, Iron Mountain, and Caro (a small town near Reese), but not Marquette????), and I got to explore a place that (as I mentioned last week) is nothing like Marquette.

But it does have a certain small-town charm all its own. The prime example? In a parking lot on the main street of Reese there's a stand that offers fresh produce--

There's actually an amazing selection there, and it's all on the honor system. You take what you want, and you leave the money for it in a lock box. That's not a business model that would work any place other than a small town, and it's one of those things that makes a place like Reese feel so unique.

I even had to go back and get more of these--

Yum.

By the way, did you enjoy the heat wave in Marquette while we were gone? As I mentioned last week, it seems like every time we leave the UP you get nice weather, and it was once again true. While it was nice downstate (if a bit cloudy) temperatures in Marquette were 10 or so degrees higher than they were in Reese, 350 miles to the south.

So...you're welcome? And yes, I AM laughing at the irony of it all. Because if I didn't laugh, I'd be driven insane by the fact that Mother Nature seems to have it in for me this “summer”.

And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

8-)

Except, perhaps, that Mother Nature might REALLY have it in for me.; Tonight's the night the History Center is holding their “Happy Hour” fundraiser, the first portion of which is me hosting a walking tour around downtown Marquette. And after she gave you the gorgeous weather of the past few days, what are we supposed to have today?

Yup. Rain, clouds, and dropping temperatures. Not cool, Mother Nature, not cool.

We'll see what happens, I guess. Wish us luck!

(jim@wmqt.com)