Friday, 8/31

I have got to stop using the word “literally”.

Literally.

It’s funny; every so often, I’ll notice that I use a word WAAAAAAY too often, and this time around that word is “literally”. I noticed it when I was giving the downtown tour to the DDA's Parking Advisory Committee yesterday morning; while explaining some of Marquette’s wonders, I realized that in each description of a building or a person I used the “L” word, and had to mentally make myself stop doing it.

(I WAS going to say I had to “literally make myself stop”, but see? I’m getting better at it!)

I don’t know how I get into a word rut like that. I just know that it happens every so often, and I usually don’t notice it. I’ll have Loraine or someone come up to me or drop me a note and say something like “have you notice you say (fill in the blank) an awful lot?” To which my reply would probably something like “really? I literally say it that much?” And the vicious cycle starts all over again, as I stop saying the offending word and start saying “literally” (or whatever) again.

This time, though, I caught it myself, which means that maybe, just maybe, I’m becoming aware of my verbal faults. Maybe, just maybe, I’m starting to realize my dependence on certain words or certain phrases. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll end up as an erudite young man who no longer uses certain words as crutches and who no longer drives certain phrases into the ground.

And, while we’re at it, maybe I can get my own spaceship, too? That’s probably more likely than me ever dropping all of my verbal faults!

Literally!

8-)

Have yourself a great holiday weekend. I'm going to experience a Marquette Labor Day for the first time in 14 years. This could actually (not literally) be fun!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 8/30

I had to laugh at what the lady in Super One said.

I was at the store last weekend when a lady pushing a shopping cart spotted me & walked over. I thought she was gonna say something about the South Marquette tour, a thing about which people are STILL talking. I was wrong, though. She said, and I quote, “I just wanted to let you know that I could never do your job. I don’t have enough self-control”.

The comment made me laugh, if only because there’s actually someone out there who thinks I have ANY self-control. But she went on to explain that her comment stems from one specific incident from a couple of months ago, when someone called for an Instant Request for their parent’s 50^th wedding anniversary. Being naturally curious, I asked the caller if they were gonna do anything special for their parents that night, and their response was this—

“Yeah. I’m gonna take ‘em out to Burger King”.

Now, I had entirely forgotten about the call, but it made enough of an impression on the lady in Super One that she wanted to mention it to me. She said that if she was in my place, she would not have had my response, which was my usual way of dealing with something quite out of the ordinary, my use of the word “okayyyyyyyy...”, stretched out just like it’s written and delivered with a rather quizzical tone. She said that she would’ve made sure the caller knew that, just perhaps, Burger King isn’t quite the place you wanna take your parents on their 50^th anniversary.

And that’s why she doesn’t think she could do my job.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the three decades I’ve been doing what I do is that there are all kinds of people out there. There are happy ones and sad ones, funny ones and serious ones, loud ones and quiet ones, and ones who, for their parents’ 50^th wedding anniversary, throw a big party for them or just take them out to Burger King.

Every person is different, and deals with things differently. Maybe this person's parents LIKE Burger King, or maybe Burger King is all they can afford.  That’s why, when I get a phone call like that Instant Request, I just let it play out, and see where it goes. Sometimes, you get a good phone call. Sometimes, you get a chuckle. And sometimes, you even get a moment that sticks in the heads of people who are listening. That’s when I know I’ve done my job.

As for that whole comment about me having any kind of control, self or otherwise...well, that’s a topic best left for another day! But thanks to the lady in Super One for letting me know that I made an impression. That’s the kind of feedback that I really appreciate. I just hope I can keep making more of them as the decades wear on.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 8/28

I saw a message on the beach yesterday, and it’s stayed with me ever since.

I took a half day yesterday, and as I was strolling in the sand before the rain hit I saw that someone had written, in rather large letters, the phrase “I miss my family”. If I had to place a bet on who wrote it, I’d guess an NMU student, someone who’s just left home for the first time, and has discovered that living on your own isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I mean, think about the first time you moved away from your home town and your family, and how you felt for the first couple of weeks. I know how I felt; of course, I actually moved all the way across the country, which, I’m sure, compounded things even more.

The message actually got to me a little, and made me wonder about who wrote it. I just hope that whoever did write the phrase in the same realizes that it WILL get better. Pretty soon, you’ll settle into a routine, you’ll get to learn more about Marquette and how great of a place it is, and, hopefully and most importantly, you’ll find yourself with what amounts to a surrogate family--friends, co-workers, other people who are in the same situation as you. That’ll make the loneliness you’re feeling right now a LOT better. Just give it a chance.

I know change is hard, especially when you're doing it on your own for the first time. It's scary. You're doing stuff you've never done before, and whatever support system you used to have isn't there anymore. But humans are great in one regard—we adapt. We change. We grow. We handle whatever gets thrown at us. I just hope that in a few days or a few weeks or a few months you're able to think about what you wrote in the sand, and realize that you've been able to adapt yourself.

And if nothing else...that's what phones and Facetime are for, right?

*****

You know I wrote a few weeks ago about how every single person we know keeps asking us it if seems weird that we're not getting ready to go to Europe? Well, today's the day you can stop. Today's the day that we'd normally be hopping on a jet plane and heading over there.

And yes, it DOES feel a little weird. So maybe you were right to ask.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 8/27

I'm not much of a guy. But two things that happened Sunday did make me think that there is still a little “dude” inside of me.

As you may know, I'm really not big into sports, just one of the ways in which I can honestly claim that “I'm not much of a guy”. That's just the way it is. We have an ESPN station under our roof at work, and every time we get a new sports director in they look at me like I'm either insane or a human computer when they find out I don't know (or care) about whose RBI is what or whether or not some basketball player finished their TPS reports before getting drafted.

I just don't know, and I just don't care.

That being said, there are two sports franchises to which I do pay attention. The first would be the Indianapolis Colts. The one sport I have always liked is football (just the NFL, though. College football seems like a whole different universe to me) and after growing up as a Lions fan Loraine made me choose another team for whom to cheer and perhaps, one day before I die, see them win a Super Bowl. I chose the Colts because of the brainpower of Peyton Manning, and continued to cheer them when he was replaced by Andrew Luck.

I know...who else would choose a favorite team because they had a smart quarterback? I told you I'm not much of a guy.

Anyway, Andrew Luck retired Sunday at the age of 29. He was just tired of getting beat up and trying to recover from injuries, and decided to walk away while he could still literally walk away. I don't blame him for that; heck, I actually admire him for doing that. But still, when I saw the headline Sunday morning, I actually let out my second involuntary scream of the weekend (following the snowblower I saw Saturday).

So that was the first shock of Sunday.

The other sports team to which I pay attention would be RB Leipzig, the Bundesliga team Loraine and I went to see play in April. Their superstar is named Timo Werner, who's a goal scoring machine and one of the best players on the planet. Well, Timo's contract was running out, and everyone who covers European soccer was convinced he'd be sent off to another team before that happened. But just four hours after I found out Andrew Luck was retiring Loraine let me know that Timo Werner had signed a three-year extension to his contract, which means that he'll be in Leipzig until 2023, and which means that we'll be able to see him again when we go back for another game next May

To quote some other dude who probably didn't care too much about sports, Sunday was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. I just had no idea it would be because of the only two sports teams I even pay attention to anywhere on the planet.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 8/26

I don’t like what I saw in the back of the truck.

Don’t worry; I’m not about to go on another Cranky Old Man (in training) rant. It’s just that when I was out over the weekend I saw something in the back of a pickup truck, something so repellent and anti-ethical to my way of life that I actually (albeit involuntarily) cringed when I came up on it. Yes, it was that bad.

What did I see in the back of the pickup truck? A snow blower, looking ready for action. See? I told you it was bad.

I realize that after a sadly short summer the more moderate temperatures of the past few days have people already preparing for fall. I realize that the un-naturally early changing of many green leaves to red in the last week has many people thinking of fall. And I’m sure the fact the NMU students start classes in today also has many people thinking of fall.

But getting your snow blower out? When it’s August and still ( at least this past weekend) over 70 degrees? No wonder I let out an involuntary shudder!

Now I realize that whoever owned the truck probably just had the snow blower in the back of their vehicle to take it to get tuned up for winter. I understand that. But why so early in the year? Why August? I mean, it’s not like it’s gonna snow soon. After all, it’s not like Marquette’s earliest recorded snowfall was on September 18^th and it’s not like September 18^th’s less than a month away, and it’s not like. . .

Okay. I should probably stop while I’m ahead, right?

Those of you who’ve read this for a long time know that I have trouble handling the change from summer to fall. We’re leaving my favorite time of the year and beginning the transition to my least favorite time of the year. Summer’s too short, and winter’s too long, and to be reminded of that by the sight of a snow blower while it’s still August is just, well, a little too much.

At least for a dork like me. And that, I’m guessing is what led to the involuntary shudder. Summer, we hardly knew ye!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 8/23

Okay. You can stop it now!

When we last met, I was mentioning how successful my Jim Koski ™ walk through South Marquette for the Marquette Regional History Center seemed to be. I put a picture up, made sure I hit “save”, and then promptly started to think about other things.

That was, apparently, a mistake.

By the time I got to work there were all kinds of Facebook posts and pictures about the tour. I had to do a newspaper interview about it. I had to do an online interview about it. And I had to do a TV interview about it. I've had some surreal mornings in my life, but yesterday came pretty darn close to being the most surreal of them all.

Wow.

I'm kinda overwhelmed by the response to it all. I do a lot of these history things, and you never know which ones will connect with people and which ones won't. And when there's this...rush of nice comments about the tour and how much people enjoyed it or about how they missed it yet heard such good things about it; well, it just kind of blows my mind.

In a good way, mind you, but it still blows my mind.

And as for the three interviews about the walk I've given since it wrapped up? Well, I'm just guessing that media in Marquette has run out of interesting and/or important people to deal with. That's pretty much the only explanation I can come up with. I mean, sure...there may have been a news angle to the story, in that we did indeed clog a few South Marquette streets for a few minutes, and that's all on me, but other that that...

It must have been a slow news day. That's the only explanation I can think of.

Nonetheless, it's nice to know that everyone had a good time. I do put a fair amount of work into all of these tours and programs, and to hear nice comments about them (like the lady who said I was “smart, funny, & knowledgeable”, three things we all know I'm not) is edifying.

Even if it still blows my mind.

So on that note, have yourself a great weekend. Enjoy the sun we've been promised, and if you see me wandering around not actually paying attention to anything, realize that I'm still just trying to comprehend it all. After all, it's not every day your world gets tossed around like that.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 8/22

Yay. No one got into a fight last night.

The Jim Koski ™ tour of South Marquette was a smashing success. Don't believe me?

Photo courtesy of Amy Rickard

That's just part of the crowd of around 200 people strolling the streets of SoMa. It seems like everyone had a good time, there were a lot of laughs, and even though some of the people did disagree on where South Marquette actually begins (see yesterday's entry for more), everyone was civil about it.

Apparently, people don't get quite as passionate and/or mean about stuff when they're face to face with others and not hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet. So thanks to everyone who showed up, and thanks to everyone who kept it civil. Hope you had a good time.

Oh, and we apologize to anyone who had trouble driving through the area.  We didn't mean to block that much of the street with what someone called a "zombie horde"...really, we didn't!

8-)

Now, that leaves just one event left in my “Summer of History”, and that's my portion of the “Beer History” program at the History center on September 4^th. My task is to tell stories of stuff people do while drunk; my problem is trying to cut enough of them out so that I don't go over my 20-minute limit.

I'm going on last in the program, after everyone's been drinking beer for awhile. That should be a blast.

However, there is one thing I'm lacking, and maybe you can help. One of the places about which I'll be telling stories is the Alibi, and there's something rather strange about the Alibi. What's that, you ask? Well, I answer, I have never been able to find a picture of the Alibi when it was the Alibi, inside or out. You can get a picture of as it is now; you can find high school yearbook (!) ads for it, but in all the shows I've done about Marquette bars I've never, ever come across an actual picture of it.

I know. Everyone who went there was too bust doing other things to take a picture, right?

So, I'm putting the word out. If you have a picture of the Alibi, inside or out, or know someone who does, please let me know. I'd like to use it on the 4^th. Based on past experience I'm not expecting anyone to have it, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right? And if I could find one, it would go perfectly with the stories about dancing the Alligator and the tales of Jell-O wrestling that I'm getting ready.

It should be fun night. That's for sure.

(jim@wmqt.com)