Friday, 5/9

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then today's entry will be rather long.

First of all, even though all I did was read something Loraine wrote, I'm thinking that last night's History Center cemetery tour went off pretty well--

That was just one of four groups that wandered around Park Cemetery to learn the stories of a dozen or so men & women who contributed to the Allies' efforts in World War II, the 80^th anniversary of VE Day being yesterday. It was both weird and nice to just stand there talking about my birthday buddy Oliver and having someone else do the work, knowing full well that I'm the middle of putting together a couple of tours for this summer myself.

I'm just glad this one went off so well.

The second picture?

And, to quote a great American, that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Have yourself a great weekend. If you can, wish your mom a happy Mother's Day, and enjoy the nice weather we're supposed to have (at least up here)!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 5/8

Why yes, I AM insane. Thanks for asking.

Before sitting down to type this I wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything that I need to take care of in the next few days. I have something coming up tonight (which I'll mention in a second) and just wanted to get a little organized because, believe it or not, I DO try to be organized.

Not that you could tell by the piles of notes and random thoughts scattered everywhere around my kitchen, but I try.

Anyway, by the end of this upcoming weekend I have to...

-Finish a newspaper article that runs right before Memorial Day

-Start a newspaper article that runs a week after that.

-Write my TV piece for this week

-Write a TV piece for Memorial Day that I'll tape on Monday, because we're going to visit Loraine's dad over the holiday, and...

-Wrap up writing on my “Wild Wild West” tour for next month so I can start writing & researching my “Harpy Hour” tour for July.

I think I'm gonna go sit in a corner and cry for a few seconds. After, of course, I finish writing THIS.

Sigh.

I mean, I like writing. I really do. It comes naturally to me and, I'm hoping, I don't suck at it. But when I look at that list of projects with a deadline coming up, knowing very well that I have a bunch more stuff to write after these are done, makes me wonder if I'll have a shred of sanity left whenever I'm finally finished..

Assuming, of course, I actually had any sanity to begin with.

So I suppose I should get cracking, but not before I tell you about that thing coming up tonight. The History Center is holding their annual cemetery tour at Park Cemetery, this one marking the 80^th anniversary of VE today (which is, indeed, today) by talking about WWII vets buried there. Since they know of Loraine's work on those who died in the war, we've been asked to present on three of them, which means Loraine will be talking about Leo Robinson and the co-author of her first book, Elwood Norr, while I get to chat about by birthday buddy, Alvar Liimatainen. If you're curious, it gets underway at 6.

And, believe it or not, I didn't have to write a thing for this one. It's a miracle, I tell ya.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 5/7

I LOVED yesterday.

What made me love yesterday? All it took was a 15-minute span around 1pm, when I went outside and took a walk around downtown Marquette, a downtown Marquette filled with sun and a temperature approaching 70 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”. Actually, it was the first time since October when the temperatures hit 70 here. Now, I realize that compared to, say, July, this was nothing, but after those six long months (not to mention very low seasonal sun angles since that fateful October day) 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.

Spring fever affects different people in different ways, I guess.

I thought about grabbing some food and eating lunch down at Lower Harbor Park, but sadly worked called (it seems to get in the way of a lot of things I want to do these days, you know? 8-)). Besides, there will be other days to do that, days when the temperature’s even warmer and the sun is even brighter.

Sadly, those won't include the next few, when temps will be 20 degrees colder and the sky will be filled with clouds, and not sun. But those “other days” are not far away, and after what was our late winter this year, it’s something to which we can ALL look forward.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 5/6

I've never tried it, but I really didn't think it would be THAT hard.

I had an idea a few months ago for a TV bit. Last week, when I had to decide what to do last night, I came across the scrap of paper where I had written down that idea, and figured that since I didn't have anything else pop into my head, that I'd do it for this week.

That's when I learned that the concept of a Yooper crossword puzzle is a lot simpler than actually putting together a Yooper crossword puzzle.

It started off simply enough, as I had to come up with a few gag clues for the puzzle (the whole concept being a comedy piece, after all). It was after I came up with the clues that I discovered that the actual construction of the puzzle is a bear. I tried to fit all the words together on my own, and while I could do that, I had no way to make the actual puzzle (a vital visual in a bit about crossword puzzles, sadly).

I then found a website that would put together a crossword for you. However, it wouldn't put the words exactly where I wanted them to go. Instead, it put the answers in a way that would work for an actual crossword puzzle. And since several of the clues (and gags) I wrote up required certain words to be placed in certain positions, with certain letters matching up in certain places, it took a lot—maybe two dozen tries--for me to get everything to line up correctly.

Then I had to put the puzzle together, answer by answer, into video clips so they could go along with what I was saying on the air. I'm guessing—and this is just a guess, because I think I may have blocked some of the more frustrating moments from my memory—that for a two minute bit I spent 10 hours of my time this week.

I'm guessing that's not the most efficient use of my time, is it? Well, decide for yourself. It was either ten hours well spent, or a complete waste of enough time for several naps. I'm guessing there's really no in between on this one.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 5/5

I can't believe I missed it!

First of all, hope you had a good weekend. Even though the weather wasn't perfect up here I got a lot done, everything from playing soccer with Loraine to putting together a bizarre TV piece (more on that tomorrow) to pretty much finishing up work on one of my History Center tours for this summer.

So if you look at it that way it actually was a GREAT weekend.

One of the things I didn't want to do, and therefore didn't do at all, was to check my work e-mail. So when I started going through it this morning I noticed I had missed a press release sent out late Friday night, and because I missed that press release I didn't have a chance to celebrate a holiday Saturday.

Yup. I missed World Naked Gardening Day.

I know; it's a tragedy of the highest order, isn't it? If only I'd checked my e-mail while I was off for my weekend. I could have skipped all the political releases, the event releases, and the press releases that I (for some reason) receive from a PR firm in Milan, Italy (all in Italian, natch). But if only I had sifted through all the garbage I would've been aware of what I could have done on Saturday.

Instead, I missed it. Now I'll have to wait another year to romp around my garden without any clothing on. But on the bright side, that now gives me a year (minus a few days) to actually get a garden.

The press release itself was a ranking of the 100 top metro areas in the US and how those places ranked on everything from gardening to the weather on May 3rd to public ordinances on people walking around their gardens without any clothes on. If you're curious (and I know you are) Miami is best place in the country to garden naked, while of the 100 biggest places in the US Lincoln, Nebraska ranks last. It's kind of ironic, considering they grown nothing but corn in Nebraska.

I guess they just do it with their clothes on.

So learn from my mistake. If you have a calendar upon which you write dates for the future, remember to mark down Saturday, May 2^nd, 2026 when we can actually to remember to celebrate this momentous holiday.

After all, we don't want to miss another World Naked Gardening Day, do we?

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 5/2

It's funny that they got the hard one right and the easy one wrong.

Let me explain. I had to call yesterday and make my yearly doctor appointment, the one where my doctor looks at things, tells me I'm medically boring, and we then spend the rest of the appointment talking about subjects like bikes or “Lost in Space”. My doctor works in Negaunee for UP Health Systems, which means that when you set up an appointment you have to call a number and get put through to a call center someone not in the UP.

One way you can tell that it's a call center not in the UP was the way in which the woman on the other end of the call pronounced something. Believe it or not, she said “Negaunee” right; she must have had some training on that. But when she answered the phone she said, and I'm quoting here, “Up Health System Negaunee”.

That's right . She didn't say “U-P”. She said “Up”.  As in the opposite of down.

I'm pretty sure that's a clue that the call center is somewhere in the US OTHER than the UP.

Now, the fact that the call center isn't in the UP doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother some people around here. And I give whoever's doing the training of the operators credit for teach them how to properly say “Negaunee”. But to also leave out the fact that “U-P” is an abbreviation, and not a word?

Well, that's almost like teaching someone how to make an omelet but forgetting to teach them how to crack open an egg. One just doesn't work without the other.

But that's neither here nor there. My doctor's appointment is scheduled, and that's the important thing, even if I, apparently, am headed off to “Up Health Negaunee”.

I just hope I'll be able to find that particular office when the time comes.

8-)

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 5/1

It's the first of May, so if you celebrate, happy May Day. It's also nice to see that something's pretty much right on schedule--

I've always kinda sorta thought of May as the gateway to summer, which it really is here in the UP. We start to get warmer temperatures (and, in all honesty, a chance of snow, as well) and all manner of spring flowers start popping out.

Including, of course, the best smelling things on the planet, the subject of an almost insane annual frenzy of sniffing each and every year, lilacs.

If you've been reading these for any amount of time you know I'm, uhm, a bit obsessive about lilacs, posting multiple picture of the buds as they're growing and then out, and stopping every time I see a bush that's bloomed, sticking my nose into the tree and inhaling with as much gusto as my lungs provide. I have no idea why; over the years, that's just how it turned out.

So, as we head through May (and, perhaps, even into June) don't me surprised if you may notice reference or 20 to the trees I pass, the buds that pop out, and the smell that they provide. I'm sorry; apparently, I just can't help myself. So in advance, just let me say...

Hi, I'm Jim, and I'm a lilac-holic.

(jim@wmqt.com)