On This Date in 1998

The football game was a few minutes into the 2nd quarter by the time we arrived. Considering it was the last day of October, the weather was surprisingly mild, although jackets were in order. The score was knotted at 7-7, which is where it remained at the half. Middleton scored first in the 3rd quarter on a 60-yard pass, a play that got the fans and team fired up. This psychological advantage was quickly squandered when Wisconsin Rapids returned Middleton’s kick-off 85 yards for a touchdown. Rapids took a 14-13 lead as Middleton’s point-after kick was blocked.

The visitors should have been up by 2 touchdowns. They had fumbled on Middleton’s 3-yard line and had a pass intercepted when they were again deep in Middleton territory. Their defense was able to contain Middleton’s explosive running game. Rapids was able to avoid turning over the ball in the 4th quarter, scoring 2 touchdowns to seal a 28-13 victory and the right to play Sun Prairie, the team that is the odds-on favorite to win the title. Middleton’s soccer team is still in the run for a state title.

The Wisconsin Library Association conference was a big success. We had a great turnout. Over 1300 attendees, almost rivaling last year’s gathering in Milwaukee, the location which is typically our best draw. People were very impressed with the Grand Geneva Resort, which has been extensively remodeled since its days as the Playboy Club.

One of the perks of being WLA President is being given the best room at the conference site. (The organization gets one free room for every 50 room reservations. The other free rooms are used for the conference chair and some of our speakers.) I stayed in the Grand Suite, which has an arrangement of three sumptuously appointed rooms. A sitting area includes three upholstered couches arranged in a U-shape near a gas fireplace framed by a huge mantel, a grand piano, writing desk, and wet bar with 45 stools. A dining room is furnished with a large table, eight chairs, and a hutch. Double doors open from the sitting area into a bedroom, where I had a king-size bed all to myself since JoAnna was too busy to join me and I, of course, had no intention of being unfaithful, despite the fact that I had the perfect setting for sin! The bathroom was as big as a small trailer: double-sink vanity, Jacuzzi bath (which I didn’t have the opportunity to use), shower stall, water closet, and plenty of space to hang my clothes. If only the conference had been a week later, JoAnna and I could have combined business with pleasure.

Everything went smoothly for me. The Tuesday evening board meeting was adjourned 5 minutes before its scheduled conclusion, without having to sacrifice a full discussion of any of the items on the agenda. Russell Banks, our keynote speaker at Wednesday’s opening session, gave an excellent talk on the influence of the writer’s voice in literature. A group of us had lunch with him afterwards and found him to be a very engaging man. I received many compliments on my introduction of Banks, a four-minute speech that I had worked on throughout the month of October. Thursday’s membership meeting proceeded smoothly. Thanks to the prompting of Lisa Strand, WLA’s executive director, and a quarter of voices from the Wisconsin Women Library Workers, I was serenaded with a chorus of “Happy Birthday”. Lisa and Jane, next year’s president, took me out to dinner that evening, to a restaurant that had a rack of lamb on its menu. Friday’s President’s Luncheon was a fitting conclusion to the conference. I returned home late Friday afternoon, very satisfied with the way the conference had turned out.

Friday evening provided me with an encore birthday celebration. JoAnna took her parents, husband, and boys out to dinner at the Club, a Middleton institution that has been in business in one form or another since 1890. I continued my high living and ordered the steak and shrimp scampi special, as did JoAnna and Alice. We returned home for birthday cake, a carrot cake that Alice had baked earlier in the day, and the opening of the gifts. Thanks for the sweater; I love it. JoAnna gave me a portable compact disc player, which Andy enjoys as much as I do.

Larry and Alice left around 9 o’clock yesterday morning, and JoAnna left for work a few minutes later. I tackled a long list of chores. The house was a mess, Grandma and Grandpa either unable or unwilling to pick up after the boys. There was a huge pile of laundry to be done – five loads altogether. Plus I wanted to replace the screens with storm windows in the family room and get the garden areas ready for winter. Although we had beautiful weather a few days ago – Wednesday was picture perfect and helped to promote an almost festive atmosphere at the conference – it has cooled down considerably now that the weekend is here. So far today, it’s been cloudy and breezy, the temperature in the high 40s. And that’s what we can expect through the rest of the week.

And that’s all for now. Or at least all I have time for.

On This Date in 1998

Happy Halloween. The boys and I just returned home after nearly an hour and a half of canvassing the neighborhood for trick-or-treat goodies. There is now an extra-large Tupperware bowl filled with candy – as many as 200 fun-size bars and other assorted packaged sweets – sitting atop the refrigerator. The boys found only nine items they didn’t like: 2 Mounds bars, 4 Almond Joys, 3 Baby Ruths, candy bars that both JoAnna and I gladly accepted.

The Middleton High School football team has made it to the second round of the playoffs. Tonight they are playing Wisconsin Rapids at home. We were about to leave the house shortly before the 7 o’clock game time until the phone rang. More than a half hour later, JoAnna is still on the phone. Different caller, same conversation. From my eavesdropping, it sounds as if the get-out-the-vote effort in Manitowoc is not going well. Some people aren’t sharing information as to who is being called and what wards have been assigned poll watchers on election day. Manitowoc is a critical area for one of the state senate races.

As a result of this news, JoAnna has decided to spend Sunday, Monday, and part of Tuesday in Manitowoc to provide some hands-on coordination. She has the advantage of not being seen as an outsider. Two Rivers is located just north of Manitowoc on Lake Michigan. Earlier in the week, she had mentioned the possibility of having to make this trip, so this change of plans came as no big surprise. JoAnna will stay with Cindy while she is there.

On This Date in 1998

Although the week started off on a soggy note, the gray dome of the weekend remaining in place, we found ourselves basing in warm sunshine by Thursday. It was tempting to play hooky, but I had a full schedule: a meeting of LINK, the automation consortium of which Middleton is a member, in the morning; a staff meeting in the afternoon, and a stint as guest lecturer for a class at the library school in the early evening.

When I dropped off Eddie Thursday afternoon, the living room was sset up with lights, microphones, and a camera. JoAnna and I had offered Jon Erpenbach the use of our house to film a commercial for his Senate campaign. It was shot just inside the front entrance, a moment in the life of a candidate knocking on doors to introduce himself to the votes, Drew’s mom, Kathy, filling the role as the woman of the house. (Drew, if you recall, is on Andy’s football team, and Kathy’s husband, Brian, has been one of Jon’s best friends since high school.) The boys would have jumped at the chance to be in this commercial, but their services weren’t needed this time.

Yesterday I worked from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. without a break, but by the time I returnred home it was too late to do anything outside. Before picking up Eddie, though, I did take care of one chore on my household to-do list. I cleaned Eddie’s bedroom windows, inside and out. The two of us stopped at a fundraiser for 2nd Congressional district candidate Tammy Baldwin on the way home, where we met JoAnna. Andy, of course, was at football practice, and it was my turn to pick up the boys, so I had to leave in the middle of Tammy’s remarks, a political pep talk, for the most part.

The Middleton High School football team traveled to Beloit yesterday. We aren’t big enough fans to follow the team on the road. If Andy continues his interest in the sport and plays on the team when he’s in high school (which is only 4 years away!), then we’ll make the road trips. Middleton lost a heartbreaker, 14-10, Beloit scoring a touchdown with one minute left in the game. The loss eliminated the Cardinals from the state high school playoff picture. Last year, Middleton won the Division A championship, so for some fans, this season has been a letdown. The coach’s wife even wrote a letter to the local newspaper, complaining about callous and degrading remarks uttered by fans during the games, loose-tongued people who obviously didn’t realize who was sitting near them.

As a result of conflicting schedules today, I wasn’t able to see Andy’s game. The Orioles traveled to Sauk City, 20 miles northwest of here, to play an undefeated team that had beaten their previous opponents by an average margin of 30 points. We saw Andy’s defensive coach (and his family) at Pasqual’s last night after football practice, and he mentioned to us how big some of these kids were, about 8 tipping the scales at 140 or more. (Where do they find these kids?, is what I want t5o know. I used to think that Andy and his friend Ross Hellenbrand were big for their age. Maybe in Middleton, but not elsewhere, it seems.) Consequently, I was pleased to learn that the Orioles lost by a score of 7-0. Andy played both offense and defense today and, according to JoAnna, looked like he was really into the game. A couple times on offense, he was wide open, but the quarterback was unable to get off a pass in time. The offensive line remains the Orioles’ Achilles heel.

Eddie played in a soccer tournament today, a total of three games between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. His team, the Sailfish, tied the first one (2-2), won the second (1-0), and tied the third (2-2). With ten seconds left in game 3, the Sailfish had a golden opportunity to score, the right forward having an open shot 4 feet in front of the goal. He could have dinked the ball through. Unfortunately, he got way too much loft on his kick, and the ball bounced off the wooden frame at the top of the goal. Everyone on the sidelines groaned. The team had made a furious second-half comeback from a 2-0 deficit, and it would have been great to see them snatch a victory just prior to the game-ending whistle. Eddie played defense most of the day, a position he enjoyed and at which he excels. At Wednesday’s game, his coach raved about Eddie’s tenacity. He exchanged high fives with him as Eddie ran off the field at the end of the game. Then, as we were walking back to the car, I overheard him say to his assistant coach, “If it hadn’t been for Eddie’s defense, we would have really been out of that game.” As it was, they lost 2-0.

One of the side benefits of the Ritalin is that is has made Eddie a more focused soccer player. Last spring, and even at the beginning of the season, his head would drift in and out of the game. Now he plays with a little more intensity and with a greater awareness of where he is supposed to be in relationship to the ball. Of course, the primary reason for this drug therapy is to improve Eddie’s classroom performance, and already, during the first three weeks of his being on medication, we feel that he has made big strides. Eddie has been able to stay focused while working on his nightly homework assignments. We haven’t had to deal with any outburst caused by his frustration when something doesn’t come easy for him. I should probably call his teacher ext week to see if she’s noticed any corresponding improvements at school. We’ve had no reports of classroom disruptions or recess run-ins. From this evidence you can see that we’ve been operating on the no-news-is-good news principle for the past three weeks. Tammy Baldwin’s fundraiser was hosted by the boys’ pediatrician and his wife, and he was pleased to hear our report about the positive steps that Eddie had made. And it’s not just related to behavior. His reading comprehension increases each week. His special classes, 45 minutes each day with a reading specialist in a small-group setting, are really working wonders for him. It also helps him that JoAnna or I, depending upon who’s home, work very closely with Eddie each night, giving him encouragement and praising his hard work.

Surprised about the results of the second round of baseball playoffs so far? The Padres certainly made everyone sit up and take notice with their two-game sweep of the Braves in Atlanta. And now I see the Padres have a one-run lead going into the bottom of the 7th. In San Diego. With the fans tasting the possibility of a sweep. The Fox network is certainly not looking forward to a San Diego-Cleveland World Series, since those two cities represent relatively small markets. The Yankees, of course, guarantee at least respectable ratings, and the Braves have developed a national following as a result of their presence o Ted Turner’s Superstation. I’m hoping that Doc Gooden can put another nail in the Yankee coffin tonight. And you know he has to be motivated to do so, after being considered expendable by Joe Torre.

Earlier in the week, I investigated the possibility of consolidating three of our loans: mortgage, auto, and personal equity line, which add up to around $1,150 in monthly payments. Our bank is offering what they have dubbed a “Turbo” loan – faster approval, less paperwork – at an interest rate of 6.99% for anything between $75,000 and $99,000. The current principle on our debts adds up to $70,700, but the extra $4,300 will allow us to get the kitchen remodeled: new flooring, baseboard, countertop, and refaced cabinets. With a ten-year repayment schedule, our monthly payments will be $870.

Andy’s friend Matt is sleeping over tonight. Meaghan is here now and the three of them are playing games – until a few minutes ago Slap Jack, it sounded like, and now they are setting up the Clue game board right next to me in the family room. Eddie’s on the sidelines, of course, wishing he could play, but I told him to watch the first game to get an idea of how it is played and maybe he can join the second game, if their collective attention span lasts that long.

JoAnna went to her office after dropping off Andy. She probably won’t be back home until 7 or 8. It’s almost 7 right now so I should think about supper. Let’s see… we had Mexican last night, and JoAnna ordered pizza for delivery on Thursday, and I treated the boys to McDonald’s on Wednesday after Eddie’s soccer game. (This fast-food review will give you an indication of how busy this week has been.) Looks like it might be a Subway kind of evening.

On This Date in 1998

Our fundraiser for Jon Erpenbach turned out to be a big success. It was scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 Friday evening. By six o’clock the house was packed. The block between Hubbard and South Avenue was solidly lined with cars on both sides. We were lucky that summer weather has continued through late September. In order to conserve space for mingling inside our house, we placed the sign-up table in the driveway, an area where half our guests ended up congregating after Jon and others addressed the crowd. Our guest of honor was Senator Herb Kohl, who is also the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. He was introduced by County Executive Kathleen Falk, whose campaign committee JoAnna served on. Also making an appearance was Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic candidate for the 2nd congressional district in Wisconsin. Jon’s sister, Mary, is Russ Feingold’s wife, so actually both U.S. Senators were represented. The event raised more than $3,000 for Jon’s State Senate campaign.

Both boys had activities Friday evening, so I was in and out of the house. I dropped Eddie off at his soccer practice at 5:30 and picked him up an hour later. Andy returned home from football practice at 6:15, and I dropped him off at the high school football field at 6:45. The Middleton and Cross Plains youth football teams were being introduced before the start of the high school game. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it back in time for the pre-game ceremonies.

Andy and I stayed to watch the game, which was halted before two minutes had run off the clock – right after Middleton scored a touchdown. There was a lot of lightning in the southwestern part of the sky, and the officials didn’t want to take any chances. At the time, it was hard to tell if it was coming our way or not. After a half hour of waiting – and watching the lightning move off to the east – play was resumed. As they did the previous week, Middleton scored seemingly at will against a weak opponent, Madison East High, in this case. As the second quarter ended, the score was a lopsided 41-6. The lightning has also started to return, faintly visible in the east, at first, and the moving along in an arc to the north. The sound of thunder became more frequent and immediate. A very light rain started to fall as the clock counted down to 0:00. We wouldn’t have seen a second half even if we had decided to stay.

I had told Andy that we were leaving at half-time, a decision that he did not like. Fortunately, the other football parents I was sitting with in the bleachers had the same idea. Before we left, though, Andy said he had to “do something”. I watched him walk to the other end of the bleachers and wondered if he was going to try to pull a disappearing act. So I followed his trail. When I caught up with him, he was talking to a girl who is in his class at Elm Lawn. Her name is Kira.

Andy played football at 10:30 Saturday morning against a team from Stoughton. From a distance, they seemed to be evenly matched, but once again the Orioles’ (Andy’s team) offensive line could not open any holes for the runners. I think they managed only 2 first downs the entire game. They lost 13-0.

We listened to the Badger game on the way back to Middleton and then tuned it in on TV once we got home. As far as the sportswriters and fans were concerned, it was the team’s first big test of the year, a Big Ten season opener against Northwestern. Wisconsin took control of the game from the start, which made for uninteresting viewing. I had chores to do anyway. I cleaned the window s—inside and out – in the ”master” bedroom and then mowed the front yard. JoAnna did a lit drop with Jon, and the boys mostly hung out at home, although Meaghan did drop by during the middle of the afternoon. It was a warm, muggy day, just downright uncomfortable for this time of year, so I kept my chores to a minimum. Shortly after 5:00, Eddie convinced me to take him to Elm Lawn so we could fly a kite, a cheap plastic model that I bought last spring and had been collecting dust in the garage all summer. We had it up in the aira for more than 20 minutes. 


JoAnna and I went out on a “date” Saturday evening, Andy given the responsibility of being in charge while we were gone. We saw the movie, There’s Something About Mary, which has been the big surprise hit of the summer. Although we did notice a few 10 year olds in the audience, it’s a movie that I’d never take Andy to see. It’s hysterically funny – I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard – but rather crude and, at time, profane. The humor is inappropriate for pre-teens. It’s also not for adults who are easily offended. I’m sure the religious right considers it just another example of what’s wrong with Hollywood. There are no “family values” to be found here. The filmmakers obviously had their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks while making this movie. Nothing is taken seriously. It’s comedy that pushes the adjective “off-the-wall” to new heights.

I was up at 6 o’clock this morning, eager to attack a list of chores that I didn’t want to have spill over into the afternoon. But first I did 20 minutes of Walkfit and fixed a batch of blueberry muffins, from a box, for the family. Andy was up by ten of 7 and immediately parked his butt on the family room couch to watch TV. Eddie made an appearance a half hour later. By 8:30 JoAnna had hardly stirred. Once she got up, shortly before 9:00, she complained about not feeling well and went right back to bed.

So what chores did I tackle on Sunday? More window cleaning. Washing the mildew off the side of the house. (The bedroom portion of the house is what I accomplished today.) Planting crocus, narcissi, and scilla campanulata bulbs – a couple dozen altogether – in the front yard. I finished up in time to take a much-needed shower before the Packer game.

After Carolina scored a field goal and touchdown to take a 10-0 lead, JoAnna started to get nervous. “I had a bad feeling about this game,” she confessed, wrapped in a blanket as she lay on the couch in the family room, still feeling out of it. But then she always says that whenever the Packers get off to a bad start. After another interception of a Favre pass, she turned to another station and watched some old movie for awhile. I moved to the quiet of the living room but then rejoiced during the last three minutes of the game, JoAnna figuratively biting her nails the entire time. And the Panthers almost tied the game as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

So it was a busy morning, lazy afternoon. While I was doing my chores, the weather couldn’t make up its mind. It was cloudy, with a promise of rain one minute, clearing and pleasant the next. The afternoon turned beautiful, with a clear blue sky, comfortable temperatures, low humidity, and a pleasant breeze. After being outdoors for three hours with my gloved hands in a highly caustic cleaning solution for the first 90 minutes and my bare hands in the dirt the rest of the time, I just wanted to enjoy the interior comforts of home.

Andy and Meaghan played for awhile during the morning, but she had to go back home less than an hour after her arrival as it was her mom’s birthday and her grandparents were visiting. Andy spent the afternoon with Matt Ziegler a classmate and soccer teammate, at his house and out and about riding their bikes. They stopped by the house once to get a drink of water, and I could have sworn I saw a third person with them. A girl. Less than a half hour before his brief midafternoon appearance, the phone rang and a girl’s voice – not Meaghan’s – asked “Is Andy there?” I figured it must be Kira.

To take away some of the mystery of this new person in Andy’s life, I’ll tell you that Kira is in Andy’s class at Elm Lawn. I wasn’t aware of her existence until a week or so ago. According to JoAnna, she’s Andy’s girlfriend, this bit of new from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, i.e., Andy now admits to having a “special” friend of the opposite sex. Meaghan’s always been just a pal. At least that’s the way Andy sees it. Young love comes to Mayflower Drive.

As I did last week, I went grocery shopping after dropping Eddie off at soccer practice, a habit I need to break. Both this Sunday and last, the store was mobbed, people blocking the aisles with their carts every twenty feet as they have their noses pressed up against the displays as if they left their glasses at home. Fortunately, I didn’t have long to wait at the checkout line. J

JoAnna made pork chops and fried potatoes for supper. Because of our busy schedules, Sunday is the only evening when we can count on having a family meal. While I cleaned up the kitchen, JoAnna helped Eddie with his homework. He also read the first chapter of a book entitled Little Bear without any assistance from Mom.

“I didn’t lose my patience,” he told me. He does have a tendency to get easily frustrated when he stumbles over words he doesn’t know. That has been part of his problem at school. He reaches an impasse in something he’s working on and simply shuts down, unmoved by any encouragement that his teacher offers him. Although Eddie has completed just the first week of his drug therapy, we haven’t noticed any side effects. His pediatrician said there might be a tendency for him to “crash” at the end of the day, but we haven’t noticed that. We only give him the medication on weekdays, since it is the school environment where Eddie has most of his behavioral problems, although we do see examples of his impulsiveness at home. Fortunately, Eddie is a very bright kid; he soaks up information like a sponge. Otherwise, his tendency to get distracted by other things in the environment at school would leave him with huge gaps in his learning.

On This Date in 1998

JoAnna and I are navigating a split sports schedule this morning. She and Andy are in DeForest, about fifteen miles northeast of Middleton, for Andy’s second football game of the season. Eddie and I will be leaving the house within a half hour for his soccer game. Earlier this morning, he had his team and individual pictures taken at Elm Lawn School.

Eddie scored his first goal of the season on Wednesday. Unfortunately, no one from the family was there to see it. JoAnna was at a meeting of the Dane County Airport Commission, of which she is a member. I was teaching a class, as guest lecturer, at the library school. Andy, who had accompanied Eddie to his game, was off playing with some of the siblings of Eddie’s teammates.

As has been our habit on fall Friday evenings, we attended Middleton High School’s football game yesterday. Last week Middleton played at Sun Prairie, a perennial “Big 8” conference power and were manhandled in a 28-7 loss. Middleton won the conference championship last y ear, not to mention the Division I statewide honors, but this year looks like a rebuilding season. Last night, they demolished Madison LaFollette by a score of 57 to 13. Halfway through the third quarter, the public address system announcer explained that the remainder of the game would be played with a “continuous clock”, i.e. no time out for first downs, out-fo-bounds plays, dropped passes, etc. Otherwise, the game would have lasted for more than 3 hours.

Soccer has definitely cut into the quality of the Madison prep football program. The four high school – Memorial, West, East, and LaFollette – are usually at the bottom of the standings. LaFollette’s program is especially weak, their record so far this season a dismal 0-4, with no hope of a victory in sight. One of the Madison newspapers recently ran an article about the glory days of Madison high school football, which are now more than 20 years in the past.