March 9, 1991

JoAnna makes pancakes for breakfast and continues to lobby for a furniture rearrangement.  Sometimes I think she just wants to limit the traffic flow in the house so as to avoid prolonged contact with Barb.  Not a bad idea, if I may say so myself.

After a visit to Techline, where we decide that $578 is within our budget, JoAnna drops me off at the library where I await a group tour from Waupaca.  A former student of mine at Oshkosh is among the group.  Naturally, I can't remember his name.

Back home, JoAnna suggests we paint the bedroom, but all I can do is growl at her.  Later on, I agree it's the perfect Sunday project.  A slow night, TV-style, follows.

March 8, 1991

It's the end of the work week.  I feel as though I need an extension.  Most of my time at the information desk is spent revising notes for the next ETN session, ignoring such tasks as preparing an annual report and preparing evaluation reports for the library's four other full-time employees.  Hey, folks, I need more offdesk time; the library needs more staff.

JoAnna talks about supper-to-go in the morning before we leave for work, but when I return home she's preparing a tuna noodle casserole.  Explaining that she's already had tuna for lunch, Barb asks for a ride to Crandall's.

"Cant's she drive there herself?" JoAnna inquires.

With a touch of exasperation, I'm ready with excuses -- she's just getting used to driving again, she's not familiar with Madison -- but they remain unexpressed.  JoAnna continues to push for the bedroom-family room flip-flop.

March 7, 1991

I meet with Don in the morning to negotiate an extension of the cleaning service.  He's not even gonna raise the price.  Area Leaders is mostly a futurescape discussion.  I leave early as I have an appointment with Techline for a measuring and estimate of the current project.  While Barb is taking a walk, I play with Eddie and then reorganize my closet and drawer space.  Then I peel some potatoes and put them on the stove to boil.

1940s Downtown Rolla Missouri (Postcard)

Then....

...and now.

Downtown revitalization project finalized.  (10/1/2009)
More investment coming to downtown Rolla. (1/31/2011)
Rolla awarded $296,760 CDBG for downtown revitalization project.  (7/29/2011)

March 6, 1991

Andy and I stop at the library so I can inspect how well -- or poorly -- the rug has been vacuumed and pick up my materials for the LSCA reviewers workshop at the Concourse.   The rug looks fine, especially considering all the debris left behind the previous day.

After escorting Andy to the Puffin Room, I park the car in the McCormick ramp and then walk to Cleveland Lunch, picking up three newspapers along the way.  I order the usual:  ham and cheese omelet, American fries, bran toast, and coffee.  The waitress could have been Roseanne's retarded kid sister.

The LSCA workshop is informative.  Now to find time to review the 18 proposals.

Back at the library after a stop at Techline, I tread water until 6.  JoAnna and I are both beat, but Eddie won't let us go to bed as early as we'd like him.

March 5, 1991

Session number 5.  I go into it feeling confident and I suppose once it's over I have no major criticism of my performance.  I crave perfection, smoothness, articulation of library ideals beyond anyone's belief.  What are they thinking, I wonder.  If only I had the opportunity to be a full-time instructor.  Darlene, where is my offer?  Sometimes I think I just want to get away from the increasingly frantic pace of public library that's on the verge of becoming a teen hangout.

Part of today's list of things to do includes a review of my notes of next week's ETN session.  Dream on.  I barely have time for a review of the latest LJ and Booklist.  Have I created a monster or am I just the best public library director you could ever imagine?  Like the tour group last Thursday asked, "Do you have any openings?"  We are coveted.

March 4, 1991

A new work week and the focus is ETN, compiling new notes, revising old notes, reviewing everything I've put into print for session 5.  I stay late at the library, not to grab some additional planning time as intended, but to fill in for Liz, who is emphatic about some offdesk time to complete an unspecified project.  Just ask, Paul.  After all, you're the boss.

JoAnna's a late arrival, which helps to set up a 7 p.m. spaghetti dinner.  I eat a lighter-than-moderate portion, worried  about the 203 I registered on Dr. Meyer's scale last week.

March 3, 1991

At first I think about staying home, sitting at my desk, reorganizing my personal materials.  But I crave a change of scenery, so I decide it'll be a family road trip to Milwaukee.  A sunny day is enough to give me the fever.  Listening to 50s and 60s Atlantic soul, JoAnna and I discuss our plans to flip-flop rooms.  We even decide to eliminate the pantry.  Less than 10 miles from our destination, I'm ready to make an 180 turn, race back to Middleton, and begin moving furniture.  It's only a fleeting thought.

Once I drop off JoAnna and Andy at the Bradley Center, I drive to a parking ramp just south of Grand Avenue and meander my way to the third or fourth elevation until I find a satisfactory writing place.  I change Eddie's diaper and then carry the fussy guy to the Spiesgarten, or whatever it is the food court is called.  I find a rest room, fill a plastic bottle with water and three measured scoops of formula to the six-ounce line, and find a seat with a dizzying view of the main level 60 feet below.  Once Eddie drinks his fill, he scopes out his unfamiliar surroundings with the most endearing set of bugeyes.  I strap on the chest carrier -- it obviously has a more descriptive name -- and circle the food court, stopping at Orange Julius to satisfy my thirst.  At this point, I begin to lose my enthusiasm for the day's developments.  Walking along level 3, I feel as though Eddie isn't enjoying our time together.  We return to the van, and I struggle to get him back into his car seat.  I suppose there were any number of more constructive ways to spend the afternoon out.  I decide to see what the planned city of Greendale looks like.  I drive west on Greenfield Avenue through West Allis, realizing the closer I get to I-894, the farther away from my intended destination I am.  I eventually discover a most interesting and unique community -- gotta read that book -- and even check out the new public library, all the time listening to the Bucks game on the radio to time my trip.  I return downtown with slightly more than a minute of game time left, find a parking place across the street from the Bradley Center, and scan the crowd for a familiar mother-and-son combo.  Earlier we had made arrangements to reconnoiter at Turner's.  When Eddie and I enter this place, I'm assaulted with a bass beat that would singe the hair off anyone unfamiliar with Stray Dog.  (Hey, Eddie's my son.)  I lose it anyway.  Andy's bouncing off any available surface, and JoAnna has obviously been pushed to the limit.  Surprisingly, the drive home is relaxing; our boys sleep peacefully while we listen to my Motown pick hits.

Once we get home, it's renovation time.  I remove the pantry cupboard and reorganize the kitchen cupboards.  JoAnna takes care of the utility room.  We are serious about regaining some privacy in our lives.

March 2, 1991

JoAnna has a meeting that takes up the morning and a part of the afternoon.  I fill in for Liz at the information desk for 2 hours, reviewing my ETN notes when I'm not helping patrons.

Otherwise I spent a lot of time reorganizing my correspondence and other writings.

JoAnna suggests we make the family room our bedroom and the bedroom into a TV/play room.  Initially, I'm lukewarm to the idea.

The major event of the day:  a call from Paul Stearns.

March 1, 1991

I remember the visit on this day SO clearly.

Andy [3 1/2 years old at this time] and I take the day off.  We spend the morning jumping in and out of the car to avoid the raindrops.  Our itinerary includes Walgreen's drugstore on the Square (more white ringbound notebooks), the credit union, GEF 3 (to drop off LSCA grants), Pic a Book, Lane's Bakery for a coffee break, and the Walgreen's store at the Westgate Mall (I reluctantly leave Andy in the car to look for more notebooks; he's in the driver's seat when I return), and Apollo Liquors.  After 2 1/2 hours of errands, Andy's on the verge of sleep once I pull the car into the driveway, but as soon as we're inside the house, he revives.  Take a nap?  Not today.  During the afternoon, I sack out, do the laundry.

Waunakee is Movin' On Up!

Downtown Andrews, North Carolina, in the early 1950s (Postcard)

Andrews, NC:  Improvements/Downtown Renovation

Andrews and Cherokee County have not shared in the general prosperity and dynamic population growth of the state and the nation in the post-war years.

Andrews, NC:  population, income, housing.

February 28, 1991

Middleton hosts the South Central Library System's Summer Library Program workshop.  Approximately 120 attendees are squeezed into the basement meeting room.  Despite my fears, the day seems to go well.  Shortly before noon, I serve as a tour guide for a group of 25.  What do I hear when I ask for questions?  Do you have any job openings?  The library makes a strong, very positive impression.

Since Sharon is not feeling well, I volunteer to work the evening shift at the reference desk, which results in a 12-hour workday.  At first, I continue the gratifying progress  I made on the long-range plan revision during the afternoon.  Before leaving the library, I transcribe calendar notes, mostly from a few days before the wedding to July 1986.  What dramatic changes:  new lifestyle, new job, new home, new realizations.  

1940s Downtown Melbourne, Florida (Postcard)

Wikipedia

LINK

Laird Gann of Melbourne Main Street

LINK

.

February 27, 1991

The Finance & Governance subcommittee meeting, scheduled for a full morning and afternoon of torture in Middleton's conference room, lasted less than 90 minutes, to everyone's surprise.  Some of us were expecting a contentious day with Peter Niemi, but since our last meeting, the Madison Public Library board has seen the light.  Suddenly, I have a freed-up day, but I'm not in the mood for work.

The library bandit was apprehended earlier in the day, just after midnight, to be exact.  Turns out to be just the person I would have fingered, Don's son-in-law, a surly, swaggering son of a bitch.  Considering I saw him only once, that's a pretty strong opinion.  I keep wondering if my feelings were based on latent racism or if I simply had an encounter with a walking, walking, make that mumbling, stereotype.

With this 6/18/2000 line-up, no wonder the Brewers were 28-40

From a time when the Brewers baseball seasons were long, frustrating, and uneventful.

February 26, 1991

Instead of leaving the house early, I decide that exercising is more important than a thorough review of my lecture.  The result:  the rockiest session to date.  A few times I feel as though I'm performing without a net.  I may have even been incoherent for the briefest of times.  The mouth was running and the brain was racing to keep up.  I do admit that session 4 is my least favorite lecture and one that will be completely revamped between now and 1993.  At least from this point I nowhere to go but up.

I stop at Madison Public to photocopy some pages from the U.S. Code.  Great machines they have there.  One accepts only nickels and produces almost illegible copies.  Another accepts dimes, but the change machines spits out only quarters and nickels.

During the afternoon before going to the library, I respond to my wife's nagging by getting a haircut and a physical.

1940s Downtown Marion Virginia (Postcard)

Downtown Historic District

February 25, 1991

I spend the morning at the reference desk working on a project that will allow me to kill two birds with one stone:  a chronology of library happenings in 1990.  It's this week newspaper column as well as a page for the community annual report.

I pick up Andy at daycare and tend to a fussy Eddie-guy as soon as we return home.

February 24, 1991

A day to rest, to stay in and accomplish nothing outside of taping some tunes.  I venture outside of the house only once -- to drive to a TYME machine to get money to pay Barb.  I attempt an early afternoon nap, but the TV in the bedroom is too intrusive.  A few hours later, I sack out to no background accompaniment.  Problem is, Andy wants to play and interrupts my sleep a couple of times.  Once I get up, though, I feel extremely rested.