Friday, 8/29

I would like to know the story behind the shoe.

When I was walking to work yesterday morning I saw the shoe, just as it was pictured above, on the steps of the Peter White Public Library.  When I walked past the library again on my way home last night, the shoe was still sitting there.

I want to know why.

The shoe must've been left on the steps some time Wednesday night after 930 or so, when I walked home from a show Jack & I did at the Lake Superior Theater.  I'm pretty sure I know how it got there, and in case you didn't know how I'll share a little secret with you--

On any given night something happens in downtown Marquette.  On any given night people consume alcohol in downtown Marquette.  I know it's shocking, but as someone who lives and works in and near downtown, I can tell you it's true.  And that's why I'm fairly certain that the shoe on the steps of the library probably has something to do with alcohol being consumed.

So we've established that.

What I'm a little more curious about, though, is what happened to the person who lost the shoe?  Was she carrying both shoes in her hand, had to sit down because (and I'm guessing here) she drank a little too much and just forgot to pick one of her shoes up?  Or did she somehow lose one of her shoes while standing on the library steps, then end up making her way home with one foot bare and the other in a shoe with a 3-inch heel?  I'm guessing that wouldn't have been the most comfortable walk home, but depending upon the amount of alcohol consumed that may not have mattered.

By the way, have I ever mentioned that people drink alcohol in downtown Marquette on any given night?

Now, when I walked to work this morning the shoe was gone, which means that either the person who lost it retraced her steps and found it, or (more likely) someone from the library saw a shoe on their steps and got rid of it.  While that's probably a good thing for the environment, it still does not answer the most pressing question of our time--

Just how DID the shoe end up on the steps of the library?  It's a mystery to ponder over the long holiday weekend, I guess.  See you Tuesday!

(jim@wmqt.com) 

Thursday, 8/28

The kids I saw in Lower Harbor Park Tuesday are the reason there's a meeting being held tonight.

Those of you who live in Marquette are well aware of the e-bike problem we have here in the city; especially with teenagers riding where they shouldn't on bikes they shouldn't. Many of the e-bikes causing problems are throttled e-bikes; they're basically little electric motorcycles that people who don't know how to use are using.

And causing problems by doing so.

Anyway, I spent a little time down at Lower Harbor Park Tuesday putting together commercial logs for the start of high school football on our Rockin' Eagle station, and while I was doing so a group of 4 14 or 15-year olds decided to invade the park with their electric motorcycles, riding up and down the grass (which you're not supposed to do) and weaving in and out of people who were trying to do whatever one does in a park (also something else you're not supposed to do). I think someone must have called the police on them, as a patrol car soon showed up. By then, however, the kids had ridden away, leaving a wake of angry park users in their wake.

You see what the problem is, right?

Bad cell phone picture I took of some of the kids zooming across the grass at Lower Harbor Park

Because of situations like the one I witnessed, the city of Marquette has set up an "E-Bike and Multi Use Path Task Force", which has been charged with gathering public opinion, and then setting up rules on where e-bikes and their riders belong and where they don't. It's a good idea, although there already ARE rules in regards to the bike paths and what you can or can not ride on them. I'm hopeful the task force can help curb the problem; I also know that, with kids being kids, it might take something a little stronger than that, like, you know, parents actually getting involved in what their kids are doing and letting them know the difference between having fun and being a complete jerkwad.

I mean, both you and I know that that's probably not gonna happen, but a boy can dream, right?

Anyway, the Task Force is looking for public input at several meetings they're having the next few months, including one today at 530 at the Citizen's Forum at Lakeview Arena, and you're more than welcome to help them out. If you can't make one of the meetings, they're also soliciting comments online at the city's website. So if you have an opinion on the matter, or an incident you'd like to recount, do so.

Who knows? Maybe Marquette might be a safer place because of it.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 8/27

It was something I didn't want to see, yet something I knew was coming.

As I mentioned yesterday, I got a lot of stuff done Monday on my day off. One f those things was shooting video (something I'll explain in a day or two), and while I was out shooting said video I came across something that I did NOT want to see.

Namely, I saw this--

It's always a shock when you see the first leaf (or 12) changing, even though they start to do so this time of the year. We don't want them to, and I'm guessing that if they had a choice they wouldn't want to, either, but change they do...

And change--or at least starting to change--they have.

This was actually something I talked about on TV this week; namely, about the exact day summer ended, which, of course, leads to things like the sight I saw earlier that day. It's just another one of a long list of signs that summer is, indeed, coming to an end, and now we have nothing to look forward to in the next seven or eight months except gloom, cold, rain, more cold, snow, ice, and even more cold.

That should be fun, right?

I also find it a bit ironic that as soon as the weather starts to turn fall-like the fire haze & smoke goes away. I mean, I know from a scientific standpoint that one has nothing to do with the other. But still, when you think about it...

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

Although we both know it's not gonna happen, I'm vowing to make this the last time I whine about the weather. Although, maybe just to be on the safe side, I should make a vow that it's the last time this month I whine about the weather.

Either way, the change I saw on Monday is yet another sign that, indeed, summer's over.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 8/26

Look. I'm still a freak!!

First of all, I'm back. I had a good long weekend, and despite the (occasionally) crappy weather got a lot of stuff done (which these days, is always an important thing). One of the things I did was come across a new fact that I had not yet come across.

This new fact? I weigh less than the average American woman.

I was leafing through a New York Times article about the marketing of plus sized fashions when I saw the statistic that the average American woman weighs 164 pounds, and that clothing designers are, in some cases, trying to come out with lines that reflect that fact. I don’t remember exactly what the rest of the article was about, because of the fact that I realized that I weigh four pounds less than the average woman in this country.

And it’s funny; at 160 pounds, I feel like I could drop a pound or two myself, probably because I have an idea of how I want to look (you know, like I have muscles) yet don't actually have the body type to look that way. Yet I still weigh less than the average American woman. Now, me being me, I had to look up the weight of an average American man, and what I found blew my mind--

I weigh 31 pounds less than the average American man, who clocks in at 191 pounds.

Now, admittedly, I’m somewhat small boned, and you all have an idea of my exercise and eating habits. But to be 31 pounds lighter than the average American man, or four pounds lighter than the average American woman? I don’t know if that says something about me or something about the country as a whole, but I sure know it says something.

That’s just the strange fact, one in an ongoing series, blew my mind. And it's more proof as to why, although in a much different context than usual, that my life is one weird thing after another.

It's not easy being me. Really, it's not.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 8/22

It really can't be, can it?

It's been a weird summer, as we all know, one that hasn't really felt like “summer” thanks to the fire haze, sometimes violently wet weather we've had, and the temperatures that have sometimes fluctuated 40 degrees in one day. (Although thankfully yesterday, our “ripple” day out at Lake Michigamme, was quite nice). So I'm not quite sure how I feel about something I've been working on this past week--

I've been working on high school football broadcasts on our Rockin' Eagle station, which starts next Thursday...six days from today.

Yup; one of the most cherished of American fall tradition kicks off in a mere six days when the high school football season gets into gear. I haven't really had the chance to fully enjoy summer yet, and apparently the season has just passed us by.

Why, oh summer, why???

Even though it doesn't seem like it's even begun I'm in no way ready for summer to end. It seems, at least to me, like it just started. It seems, at least to me, that I've just finally started to thaw out from the winter we just lived through. It seems, at least to me, like we should be, at the most, halfway through the most glorious season of the year.

But alas, that's not the case. The sun no longer sets at 10pm nor rises before 6am. The flowers that bloomed in polychromatic majesty are now drying up. And if you look closely, you'll notice that leaves on trees aren't quite as green as they used to be.

In fact, in some cases they're orange or red. And no matter how much you try to ignore that their numbers just keep growing and growing.

So I probably shouldn't be surprised that high school football season starts in less than a week. Pretty soon it'll be joined by a crisp feeling in the air, leaves falling, and that inevitable day when the first flakes pop up in the air. Even though it seems like summer just started, we all know we're closer to the first day of snow than we are the first day of summer.

The beginning of high school football season is, sadly, just another reminder of that.

Have a great weekend.  Due to corporate holidays I have Monday off, so back with something new Tuesday!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 8/20

Tomorrow, we get to experience a “ripple”.

It's been a while, but I think I've written in here before about the concept of a “ripple”. It's what happens when do you something, and some time in the future something entirely different comes from that occurrence, much like what happens when you throw a stone into a pond, and the ripple moves a leaf sitting on the water feet away from it.

Except, you know, in real life.

Loraine's World War II research and my history work has given us so many different “ripples” in the past two decades that we've lost track of all of them. We really appreciate the ripples, and each and every time one of them reaches our “shore” we're grateful that it made it to us.

Another one of those “ripples” will be explored tomorrow, when we're both taking the day off to head out to Lake Michigamme to visit the daughter of one of the guys Loraine's researched. We actually met her fifteen or so years ago, but she texted Loraine out of the blue a few weeks ago and asked if we'd be interested in spending the day at her camp.

And since the weather's supposed to be nice that day...why not, right?

So when you come back here tomorrow and wonder why there's nothing new, that's why. I won't be working. Instead, I'll be taking advantage of one of the great things about dealing with people, the past, and their reactions to what we find.

The ripples.

Back, though, on Friday!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 8/19

It's a good thing Kevin has a sense of humor.

It's been about a year now since Kevin Hodge took over sole responsibility for TV 19 news, and in that past year I've tried to educate him a bit on "Life in the 906", on what it's like to live in the UP and to be a Yooper (or as much as you might consider me as an authority on being a “Yooper”). So last night I gave him a little tongue in cheek quiz on stuff I've tried to teach him, and like the good sport he his, he played along, even revealing a deep, dark secret about himself that previously only he & I knew.

We'll get to that in a second.

If you're curious (and I know you are) I DID ask him a couple of weeks ago if he's be willing to play along, which he was. (We also needed the time to put together the special game show graphics for it). Bis only request was something along the lines of "Don't make Upper Michigan hate me", which I think we pretty much accomplished. We were able to play off his seriousness and my goofiness, and at least from my point of view--and, I hope his--we succeeded.

Check it out for yourself--

As for Kevin's deep dark secret? Well, after over a year in the UP, he has yet to try a pasty. Shocking, I know, but true. And this is something he and I have been discussing since the turn of the year. Our plan is to actually tape a piece for TV where I take him out for his first pasty and get his reaction to it, but between our respective schedules we just haven't been able to make it work...yet.

But it's something we both REALLY wanna put together.

So congrats to Kevin for passing the quiz with (relatively) flying colors, and for playing along in the first place. Not every news anchor would be comfortable doing that. I'm just glad this one was.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)