Friday, 11/10

Tomorrow is Veterans Day. Most people only think about the day when they realize there won’t be any mail delivery, but in living with a World War II researcher, I’ve come into a whole new appreciation of the day, especially when I hear the stories of people for whom the day honors, both those still with us and those never came home from their service.

People like THIS one--

Lawrence Ryan was born in Ishpeming on November 9^th, 1921. He was the oldest of three children; their parents died when they were all young, and the Ryan siblings were split up. Lawrence and his sister Helen were placed in the Holy Name Orphanage in Marquette, while their brother Bob stayed with an aunt in Ishpeming. The siblings remained close, especially after Lawrence and his sister moved back to Ishpeming to live with other relatives. He was a very talented musician and had an aptitude for science, graduating from Ishpeming High School in 1939 and, thanks to an uncle, enrolling in Michigan State for two years. Like many men of his generation, though, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he joined the military, becoming a fighter pilot cadet.

After two years of aviation training, Ryan made a short trip home to see his brother and sister, and then went overseas with his unit, the 509th Fighter Squadron, 405th Fighter Group, 84th Fighter Wing, U.S. 9th Air Force. Stationed in England, Ryan’s squadron escorted bombers as they attacked military installations, factories, and other important targets in Germany. Like all pilots in the war, Ryan just had to fly 50 missions, and then he could go home and finish out the war with non-hazardous duties. But because he was single, with no wife or children, he decided to stay on with his unit after his 50^th mission, allowing someone in his squadron who WAS married to head home in his place.

15 missions later--on his 65^th flight--Ryan was shot down over Uelversheim, Germany. He was 23 years old when he was killed.

After he died, Ryan's body was temporarily buried in this cemetery in Uelversheim, which we visited a few months ago--

Then he was brought back home, and buried next to his parents in the Ishpeming Cemetery. His brother and sister, when we met with them a few years ago, still talk about their big brother in fond and slightly melancholy terms. His name is on the Veterans’ Memorial next to the Ishpeming Post Office, and is also listed on a plaque on the Michigan State University campus, honoring the 300-plus students and alumni who died during the conflict.

So tomorrow, when you realize you’re not getting any mail, and you then realize that it's Veterans Day, think about all the people who’ve served their country, and, in cases like that of Lt. Ryan, made the ultimate sacrifice, as well.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 11/9

Trust me—it's been just as irritating for me as it has been for you. Maybe even moreso, because there seems to be nothing I can do about it.

Three times in the past three weeks we've been barraged with a ton of dropouts on the air. It will, at times, render listening to the station almost impossible. We try to figure out what's going on, but can't. And then it clears itself up and the problem doesn't occur again for four or six or eight days. Then, for a few hours, it comes back with a vengeance before disappearing again.

And there seems to be nothing we can do about it.

We've been able to narrow things down just enough to make us think that we're making progress, even if that progress doesn't show on the air. We know that something is interfering with our signal as we send it from our downtown Marquette studios to our transmitter in Ishpeming. Specifically, we know that something's interrupting our signal between Marquette and a mid-point tower at Morgan Meadows. We know the interference is occurring somewhere between here and there. We know that the interference is causing problems for at least one other area radio station, although not at the same time it's causing our problems.  And yesterday, at least, the problem really seemed severe during the first 15 minutes of each hour.

But other than that, we have no clue.

There are so many radio signals floating around the air today that I'm kind of surprised that this hasn't happened before. Theoretically, everyone who uses radio signals is supposed to be registered with the FCC, and they're supposed to monitor things so that no one interferes with anyone else. But with so many wi-fi and wireless signals now in use, signals that span a big swath of the electromagnetic spectrum, there's just a lot of “gunk” out there. And that may lead to something called “multiplexing”. I don't know exactly how it works, because I'm not as smart of some of the engineers who are trying to figure out this problem, but multiplexing is what happens when you have a signal on a specific frequency. Apparently, if you double or triple or multiply that exact frequency by a certain number it can, theoretically, interfere with another signal on one of those multiplied numbers. That might be what's happening to us. There are cell phone and other towers on the path our signal travels from Marquette to Morgan Meadows; maybe one of the signals coming off of one of the towers is causing the problem.

That's just one of the theories floating around.

The irritating thing is, of course, that we get a little closer to figuring out what the problem is, and then the interference disappears before we can get equipment or people out there to figure out what's in the air. It's kind of a Sophie's Choice—we need the problem to be ongoing to figure out what it is, but you also don't want the problem to exist at all so people can actually listen without shutting their radios off.

You're darned if you do, and you're darned if you don't.

If things go like they normally do, you should be able to listen interference-free today. After all, the problem is bad one day, and they goes away for a few days. That's a good thing for listeners, and usually good for me, too. At least until the next time it happens. And sadly, with the lack of success we've had in trying to figure out the problem, there WILL be a next time.

Wish us luck.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 11/8

See? I really DO know what I’m doing by eating chocolate!

I came across a link to an old article  on the Huffington Post a few days ago regarding chocolate and all the health benefits related to it. Now, I knew that moderate consumption of one of my favorite foods was good for your health, but when I saw the list, even I was astounded.

For instance, eating chocolate can, according to the article:

--Make you think better

--Control your appetite

--Lower your blood pressure

--Relieve anxiety

--Lower your bad cholesterol

--Kick up your metabolism

--Give you smoother skin

--Help you lose weight, and

--Lower your risk of a heart attack.

And here you wonder WHY I eat chocolate so much??

8-)

Chocolate actually does all that; the science behind it is proven. There are two very strong caveats to go along with this, though. You actually have to consume your chocolate in moderation; eating more than two or three ounces a day (the size of an average bar) just adds calories to your diet without adding any extra benefits. And the chocolate you eat MUST be dark chocolate, with at least 70% cocoa content. Milk chocolate doesn’t have enough flavanoids in it to help your body, and all the extra sugar in it just makes you gain weight.

Good thing I really like dark chocolate, huh?

I knew eating dark chocolate was good for you; I guess I didn’t realize ALL the benefits that came from eating moderate amounts of it, especially because some of those benefits are so counter-intuitive. I mean, eat chocolate to lose weight or lower your cholesterol? It doesn’t really make sense, but the science is there, as is the answer the next time someone asks how I can stay so skinny when my love of chocolate is so well known.

I just eat the right kind of chocolate, and I don’t eat too much of it. Who knew, right?

Now, if scientists could only prove that eating pizza, ice cream, and cookies from Cal’s Party Store had the same health benefits as eating dark chocolate. If that were the case, I think my diet would be set for life.

Hopefully, that discovery is just around the corner!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 11/7

I know what’s wrong with this country these days, and I can sum it up in two words--

Leaf blowers.

Probably not the two exact words that popped into your mind, right? And I’ll admit I AM being a little facetious, although I'm not the only one. My “Weird Fact of the Day” yesterday was that 68% of Americans wouldn't mind if leaf blowers were banned. I can sure see why so many people think that way--leaf blowers consume finite, non-renewable resources. They spew pollution, both environmental and noise. And because people using leaf blowers use far fewer calories than people who rake, they also add to the country’s exploding obesity problem.

Leaf blowers. . .the all-American problem-causing device!

I don't know about the rest of the 68%, but I've always thought that way, especially on those weekends when one of my neighbors stands in his yard and spends an hour or so using one of the machines to blow several hundred leaves around his yard. I didn’t think it actually took that long to put all those leaves in a pile; after all, when I’ve raked a small yard like the one he has, it sure didn’t take me an hour to do it. I truly believe he just liked the noise the machine was generating and ending up moving the pile of leaves from one side of his yard to the other.

At least that would explain the hour of noise, right?

I know I’m not the typical American these days. If I’m outside enjoying myself, I use a bike or skis; I don’t hop on a 4-wheeler or snowmobile. If I need to go to a store three blocks away, I don’t hop in my SUV and drive there. And if I have to rake leaves, I actually use a rake, and not a pollution spewing noise machine.

Obviously, there’s something seriously wrong with me, right?

Sorry if I’m sounding like a cranky old man in training here, but as I contemplated the noise my neighbor was making I just had this epiphany about leaf blowers and pollution and obesity and how it just typically. . .American it all seems to be. And I’m not saying in any way that everything that seem to be ill these days is the fault of leaf blowers; I can think of at least a dozen others off the top of my head. It’s just that at the moment my neighbor’s leaf blower started up, something clicked in what’s left of my brain, and I knew right then and there--

Leaf blowers are, if nothing else, a symptom of what’s wrong with things these days.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 11/3

My grandfather died thirty years ago today. And in a very small way, it changed a little something in your life.

I don't think any of you knew my maternal grandfather, Frank Schwemin. He worked at NMU for many years and called square and round dances throughout the area before dying of emphysema on November 3^rd, 1987. It's funny, but in a way he lives on, as his oldest grandson has the same dorkily long limbs and slightly sunken eyes as he did. So every time you see me you see a bit of my grandfather.

But that's not how his death changed your life in a very small way. When my grandfather died I was working in Flint, suffering through a horrid job in a horrid locale. At the same time I came home for his funeral a job at TV-6 opened, a job almost exactly the same as I was doing down in Flint. Up to that point, I had always thought that my future lie somewhere other than Marquette. I don't know why I did; call it the impetuousness of youth, I guess. But coming home for his funeral made me realize that moving back to Marquette might not be the worst thing in the world. So while I was going to funeral and family gatherings I managed to sneak in a job interview before heading back to Flint, where I waited to hear if I got the job.

A few days later I found out it was given to someone else.

That might've been the end of it right there. I might've resigned myself to finding a new job somewhere else and then hoping that the girl I had met in Flint might wanna look for a job there, too. But as it turns out, the person hired for the TV-6 job worked at a Marquette radio station. That meant that his job had to be filled, and while I hadn't really thought about going back into radio, a few months later I found myself moving back to Marquette to fill that position. And while that particular job was almost as bad (if not worse) than the one I had in Flint, it had three things going for it—it was in Marquette, not Flint. The girl I had met in Flint decided to take the leap and move up here. And it allowed me to connect with a guy for whom I had worked in high school, and when the afternoon air slot opened up at Joe Blake's WMQT, I took it and haven't looked back since.

That's why my grandfather's death 30 years ago today changed your life just a small, tiny bit. If I hadn't decided after he passed away that I wanted to move back to Marquette you'd be listening to someone else every afternoon, and I'd probably be working at some job somewhere I didn't like, missing out on the chance to live in an amazing city with an amazing woman, an amazing family, and an amazing lifestyle.

And that all started because of what happened 30 years ago today.

(jim@wmqt.com)

(ps—enjoy your weekend. And, as is (sadly) becoming normal, stay warm & stay dry!)

Thursday, 11/2

Eleven months down, one to go.

Those of you who have read these babblings forever know that on occasion I do stupid and/or weird things (the rest of you may now mutter to yourself “that explains a lot”). I do something once, and then decide to see just how long I can keep it going. Well, I'm now 11/12^th of the way through something that IS stupid and/or weird.

And I only have to do it once more.

We have had a bizarre weather year this year. Along with our cold & wet summer, ur tropical September, and then the monsoon we had last week we also had a very mild winter. It was so mild, in fact, that we had a stretch of temperatures in the 40s during January and hit a peak of 64 in February. Because I tend to wear shorts when I go running any time it's above freezing, I amused myself by wearing shorts in January. I got a chuckle out of the fact that I was wearing shorts in January, but didn't think any more of it. Then when it hit the 60s in February and I wore them again, one of those stupid and/or weird things popped into my head; namely, could this be a year where I wear shorts while running at least once every month?

After yesterday morning, I'm 11/12^th of the way into it.

No, I didn't plan on seeing if I could run in shorts every month of a year. The opportunity just kind of presented itself, and I took it. Maybe it was because after several bitterly cold winters the comparative warmth of this January and February presented an opportunity. Or short-circuited something in my brain. Or both. Nonetheless, seeing as how I'm this far into it I might as well go for the gold, right?

Now, we just need to make sure that there's a day in December that's above freezing, and I'll be all set. Keep your fingers crossed.

(jim@wmqt.com), doer of weird things

(ps—while I have the chance I wanna wish my favorite brother in the whole wide world a happy birthday. I mean, he's my only brother, so he kind of has to be my favorite brother in the world (at least that's what my mom makes me say), but nonetheless, if you see Marc around anywhere today, make sure you wish him a happy birthday, because he deserves it!!)

Tuesday, 10/31

It may sound like the grossest thing in the world, but trust me—it was amazing.

First of all, Happy Halloween. Today's blog, despite the fact that I mentioned something gross, has nothing to do with the holiday. But I hope you enjoy the day nonetheless. And seeing as how it's kinda cold out, at least here in Marquette, you may celebrate your Halloween with some nice, warm soup, right?

That's what we're discussing today. Soup.

This past Saturday Loraine and I went out to Republic for our annual soup feast. Loraine's been adopted into an extended family out on the West End; every year around this time we head out there, show the pictures from our latest trip, and eat a lot of soup. Wanda, our hostess, always goes out of her way to make three different kinds of soups, and in the 7 or 8 years we've been doing it I don't think she's come up with a bad one. This year, she wanted to go out on a limb and try something a little different. She wasn't sure if it would work, but she saw a recipe and just had to try it.

And that's how I came to try Dill Pickle Soup.

I know, right? Soup made out of dill pickles is not the first kind of “oh, yum!” soup that pops into your mind. In fact, just about every single person at the soup feast went, “huh?” when first told about it. But just about every single person also went back for seconds (or thirds) after trying it. It's that good. I never thought that the combination of shredded dill pickles, chicken, potatoes, cream, and spices would work as a soup, but it does. It wasn't overly pickle-flavored, but it had enough pickle-ness to it to really make it stand out.

And stood out it did, even moreso than the Cheeseburger and Greek Chicken soups that Wanda also made. Both of those were amazing, and I had multiple bowls of both. But Cheeseburger and Greek Chicken are flavors you'd expect in soups. Dill Pickle certainly isn't.

But it rocks.

(jim@wmqt.com)

(p.s.--Wanda did give me the recipe; shoot me a note if you have the courage!)