On This Date in 1999 (April 24)

The sky has cleared, the almost forgotten sun is shining, and the temperature might reach 60 degrees today. The gloomy siege of weather has ended. Nevertheless, I still feel a little bit chilled. That’s because I finished watching Andy’s soccer game not too longer ago and it was still a bit on the cool side at 9 o’clock this morning. The Barracuda, Andy’s team, won convincingly, 6-0. Now Andy is playing a game called Twisted Metal III on his Playstation as he awaits his 1 o’clock baseball practice.

Andy has been both fascinated and repulsed by the coverage of the school shootings in Colorado. 

JoAnna mentioned that he was reading newspapers articles about the tragedy the other evening. He seems to have reached the saturation point today, though.

“Why do they keep talking about the incident?” he asked me after leaving the kitchen, where JoAnna was watching the news on TV.

“To understand why it happened and figure out how to prevent it from happening again,” I told him. 

“Don’t they know it’s a bad influence on kids,” he persisted, which I found to be an interesting comment. For unstable kids who want to make a very public exit from this world, all they need to do is look at the nonstop TV coverage for an answer.

On This Date in 1999 (April 17)

Yesterday was report card day. JoAnna and I have been a little concerned about Andy’s schoolwork. Last week he brought home a “Math Progress Report” for the third quarter. 

                                                   Unit 7 Unit 8 Unit 9 
Daily assignment average (60%)         48       84       63 
Test average (40%)                            82       96       81 
Overall unit score                              62       89       70 

Unit 7 covered coordinates, area & circles. Unit 8, algebra concepts & skills. Unit 9, fractions & ratios. His final grade for the quarter: 74. For some reason, he fell down on his homework during the 7th and 9th units. In fact, midway through the quarter, Mrs. Ball, Andy’s teacher, telephoned me to express her concerns about Andy’s suddenly cavalier attitude toward his school responsibilities. He wasn’t noting down his homework each day in his assignment notebook. Consequently, he wasn’t handing his homework in on time. I started to get suspicious before this incident, when Andy always answered my question, “Did you do your homework?” with “I don’t have any.” The three of us – JoAnna unable to get away from her office in the middle of the afternoon -- met a few days later and that seemed to be all the incentive Andy needed to dump his bad attitude. 

So anyway, we knew that Andy was getting at least one “C” on his report card. JoAnna and I prepared ourselves for the worst. 

Yesterday Andy called me at the library as soon as he returned home from school. He was very eager to share the results of his latest report card. Even though I was working at the reference desk during a busy part of the day, I told him, “Well, tell me how you did.” 

No wonder he was pleased with himself. 

His other grades include: 

• Reading B+ 
• Spelling A- 
• Language Arts B- 
• Social Studies A 
• Science A-

He even read me the note that his teacher had written: Andy has made a real effort to apply himself and organize materials, finish work on time and use class time for assignments the last part of the quarter. Keeping working, Andy! Andy had an ulterior motive for his call, of course. 

“Dad, can I have my Playstation back?”, he asked with proper deference. 

“That’s a family decision, Andy,” I responded. “We’ll talk about that later today when Mom is home.” 

I’m perceived as the easier touch, so the boys are never too happy when Mom is added to a decision-making equation. If you recall, Andy’s punishment for his temporarily poor attitude at school was to be denied the aforementioned electronic game and the possibility of any sleepovers. Last night we negotiated the following terms: the Playstation will be available from Friday afternoon (as long as all homework is completed) through 6 p.m. on Sunday. I’ve been keeping the Playstation equipment in my office at the library. In that way, Andy can’t “cheat” and use it when he and Eddie are home alone after school. 

Eddie also brought home a good report card. His teachers are very pleased with his progress in reading and language arts, where he is in a modified, i.e. special education, program. In a “Project Read Assessment”, an attachment to his standard report card, he received achievement grades of mostly S’s, for Secure (child can apply the skill or concept correctly and independently.) In the two areas where he is graded on his regular classwork – Science/Health and Social Studies, Eddie received the highest grade possible: S+. In the Individual Development section of his report card, most of his evaluations are S (for satisfactory). His one problem area is a result of his perfectionism, “accepts constructive suggestions.” For the first quarter, he received an “N” (for needs improvement); then an “I” (inconsistent) for the second quarter; and now a “P” (progress shown) for the most recent grading period. At least he’s making steady improvement here! 

As I noted in my journal yesterday, Madison must have hosted a joint conference of the American Meteorological Society and NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). Snow? What snow? The feel and sounds of spring were in the air yesterday. I started to clear away some of the debris in our expansive bed of perennials along the south side of the house, serenaded by the constant buzz of lawn mowers in the distance. Although it was overcast through most of the day, the clouds had dissipated by the late afternoon so that I needed my sunglasses when I drove Eddie (west, into a blinding sun) to his soccer practice. 

Right now it’s time for me to get out of my sweaty exercise clothes and into the shower. Andy plays his first soccer game of the season this morning and needs to be on the field in 45 minutes. Later today I may decide to start my semi-annual window-cleaning chore – and that’s the best word for it, although listening to a book on tape helps the time pass quickly -- since there is only a slight chance of rain showers predicted for later today.

On This Date in 1999 (February 24)

The ground is covered with snow again, but I don’t think it will last too long. About three inches fell during the afternoon, making rush hour traffic treacherous, which, of course, was of no concern to me or JoAnna, The weather is supposed to warm up, with temperatures in the 40s by the weekend. I haven’t bothered to shovel the sidewalk, and I think I just might let Mother Nature take care of the job. (As it turned out, I shoveled the sidewalk but not the driveway, which I did leave to Mother Nature. She did a good job, too.) 

Andy brought home a terrible midterm report in math, an overall grade of 60, which is barely passing. When I returned home from work last night around 9:15, JoAnna was attempting to help Andy with his homework. He had written down incorrect answers for all of the math problems using the symbols > (greater than) and < (less than) but couldn’t be convinced that they needed to be changed. He got upset when we told him that he must have misunderstood something in class. As a result of this downfall, Andy is grounded for a week and his Playstation game will only be available at selected times during the weekend. I suggested that sleepovers be disallowed until the end of the school year.

Although Andy went to bed mad last night, he woke up this morning in a pleasant, even affectionate, mood. He corrected the mistakes on his homework assignment. The disagreement with Mom and Dad seemed to have been forgotten. 

I signed up the boys for baseball on Monday evening. Andy will again try out for a traveling team. This year, the 11 year olds will play in 5 (!) tournaments, the first one scheduled for the middle of May. I don’t think Andy is going to be playing much soccer this spring.

JoAnna made a casserole for supper tonight, using boneless chicken breasts, Stove-top stuffing, and cream of mushroom soup. It was very tasty. In fact, I should be able to have an encore for lunch tomorrow unless JoAnna has seconds once she returns from an evening spent at Shirley Abrahamson’s campaign headquarters. Both Shirley and another Supreme Court justice, Ann Walsh Bradley, have asked JoAnna to stay on until the election in April. I know she’ll stay involved, but I don’t see how she can continue to do everything she’s doing now once she starts working in the Department of Justice.

On This Date in 1999 (January 16)

Back on the computer. Andy and Meaghan are working the controls of Playstation. JoAnna just concluded a “kitchen cabinet” meeting here with Shirley Abrahamson and two other women on her campaign staff.

Andy’s basketball game was scheduled to start at 9:00 this morning at Glacier Creek Middle School in Cross Plains. The person responsibility for opening the school either overslept or forgot. The teams are supposed to have a half hour to warm up, but the doors weren’t unlocked until a few minutes before nine. Luckily, Andy’s coach knew who to call. Otherwise the game would have probably been postponed.

Middleton rocketed to a 19-0 lead over Waunakee in the first quarter. Their opponents didn’t score a point until almost ten minutes into the game. (They play 7-minute quarters.) Middleton seemed to lose its focus in the second quarter, scoring only 4 points, while Waunakee scored 7. The final score was 45-17, Andy’s team scoring 11 points in each of the last two quarters, getting into a consistent groove. Andy looked a little tentative in the first half. He said he hurt his right hand during gym class this week, and he did look like he had some trouble holding onto the ball, especially when rebounding. He looked more aggressive in the second half. I thought he scored 2 points, but he says he scored 4. Maybe I missed something, but I thought I was watching the game pretty closely.

The weather today is great. When I went outside to warm up the car this morning – the windows having been turned into frosted glass – I was surprised at how springlike the air seemed. Of course, we’ve been suffering through some intense cold, so anything above 30 degrees is going to feel almost tropical.

On This Date in 1999 (January 15)

I have the house to myself right now. Andy is at a basketball practice from 6:00 until 7:30. JoAnna and Eddie are at the health club. Until I sat down at the computer, Boxer was following me around the house, uttering a mournful meow every now and then. He’s been acting peculiar lately, especially during the past few days. Last night I thought I heard him cut loose with a howl. Was I dreaming? I asked myself, lifting my head off the pillow and waiting for an instant replay. Kitty Meowsers jumped onto the top of our armoire, then pawed at the blinds as if trying to get a better view of something outside. Did he see a rabbit hopping across the snow? Boxer seems bored and lethargic. I’ve never seen him so hungry for attention. When I was home for lunch today, he let me rub his tummy and neck and the top of his head without giving me the slightest indication that he was gettin tired of this attention.

“Sorry, Boxer, I have to get back to work,” I told him.

At breakfast, JoAnna had offered a possible solution.

 “I think Boxer needs a playmate.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if we become a two-cat household within the few months. Maybe Boxer’s birthday present will be a buddy to play with while the rest of us are gone during the day.

I got a little annoyed at Andy right before I drove him to his practice. He couldn’t find his basketball shorts. He pawed through the hamper in the bathroom, the one in Eddie’s room, and the laundry basket in the utility room and came up empty.

“Maybe the Maids put them somewhere,” he said, referring to the cleaning service that JoAnna neglected to cancel before Christmas. They were here on Wednesday. I’m not sure what they did since the house looked to be in major disarray when I returned home from work. But now that both Andy and Eddie come home right after school, they have a lot more time to trash the place.

“I had them right here,” he said, pointing to the top of the futon.

“No, Andy, your jersey was there but not your shorts,” I countered.

He disagreed.

Losing patience with yet another search for the missing whatever, I gave the boys an ultimatum, since both Andy and Eddie were guilty of the offense that was on my mind. “There will be no Playstation, no TV, none of your favorite recreational activities until you clean up your rooms each day.” What parent hasn’t had to put up with dirty clothes serving as throw rugs, beds unmade, toys abandoned. Last weekend I did a photo inventory of the interior of the house, bypassing the boys’ rooms because of the clutter. In a way, it would be nice if we had a bigger house, specifically, walk-in closets for each bedroom. Most of my clothes are in Eddie’s closet, since JoAnna completely took over our closet four or five years ago. I can just hear Eddie when he starts high school.

“Hey, Dad, can’t you find another place for your stuff?” 

But back to Andy’s basketball shorts.

Andy directed his comment at Mom.

“Dad’s not going to like it when I tell him where my shorts are.”

He was absolutely right. He brought them to school on Wednesday so he could wear them in gym class and left them in his locker at school.

I launched into a mild tirade, words that have been said, in various forms by many parents, many times before. “Andy, you know you’re not supposed to do that.” (Take his sports stuff to school, that is.) “How many times do you have to be told?”

Blah blah blah.

During this rant, a part of me was still able to act as an observer, and I had to laugh at myself. I wouldn’t want someone to talk to me like that. I was acting too much like a parent who can’t deal with childhood’s shortcomings. Lighten up, I told myself. Don’t let this get out of hand.

Andy reminded me that Elm Lawn school was still open. Even though it was closing time (5:45) for the After School program by the time we got there, a few kids were still waiting for their parents to pick them up. Andy was able to retrieve his shorts and get to his practice in plenty of time. After his practice, he had planned to stop at Blockbuster Video to rent a couple Playstation games, but I told him that was no longer on the evening’s schedule.

“I know, I know,” he said impatiently, as we pulled away from the school. He tested me just before he exited the car at the Kromrey gym. The answer was still no.

JoAnna has visited the health club now for seven evenings in a row, Eddie accompanying her the last three times. At first, she didn’t Eddie would be interested, that he would only be a bother. To her great surprise, Eddie has really taken to the various pieces of equipment that the health club offers. He going to become not only the pancake king, but the exercise king.

I just heard another mournful meowr from Boxer.

“Why are you ignoring me?” he asked piteously.

Kitty Meowsers will get his strokes later tonight. I just can’t be bothered right now. I’m in the mood to write a letter, at least for the next 15 minutes, when I have to pick up Andy.

I had an interesting day at work. I moved my office into the conference room, a space twice as large as what I used to occupy. The conference room will now be referred to as the director’s office/staff conference room. To accommodate a credenza, desk, and computer table, one section of the conference table was removed. The remaining two sections will easily accommodate eight people, enough for both board and staff meetings. My old office will become the reference and circulation office, the two staff members responsible for those library activities sharing this space. This rearrangement of staff workspace became necessary when the city approved the library’s budget request for two additional staff members (a Young Adult Services Librarian and a Library Assistant II) as part of our package to open the library on Sundays. I don’t know if I mentioned this during our recent visit but this is the first time in my 13 years as director that the library received everything we requested in our budget proposal. It amounts to a 12% increase. In the library world, Warren is the flip side of Middleton. I was so fortunate to get this job. It fits me like a glove, to try on a well-worn cliché.

For the past couple years, the library board has been trying to raise my salary. Based on what happened during a closed session with the mayor and city administrator at last Tuesday’s meeting, they have finally succeeded. The city personnel committee will recommend an increase of between 5% and 10% next Monday evening. (The board pushed for 10%, but I think fiscal realities made them have to compromise.) I didn’t get all the specifics since I don’t participate in the board’s closed sessions. This will be over and above the 3.5% cost-of-living increase that all city employees will receive this year. 

Well, it’s about time for me to pick up Andy. I still haven’t told you about JoAnna’s latest free-lancing and job-hunting adventures. She’s doing as well as I expected. It’s not amazing to me how well-regarded she is. After all, she is my wife, my partner for the past 15 years, which include our pre-nuptial era. I’m so proud of her. Sometimes I wonder if the boys realize just how special their mom is.

On This Date in 1999 (January 10)

I didn’t get much done yesterday as far as continuing this letter is concerned. And I almost didn’t get much done this afternoon. I couldn’t get the tab key to work, so I exited the Word program and started over again. Still no luck. Then I shut down the computer, but when I booted it up again I got a fatal error message. Nothing serious, as it turned out. I simply turned off the computer again and rebooted and the tab key is now working as it should be. I tried using the appropriate “Help” screens but they, of course, are written by geeks who have no idea how even a marginally computer savvy person thinks. For them, it’s all or nothing; you either understand my geekspeak or you’re on your own.

Andy’s basketball team split their weekend series. They won yesterday’s game against Mount Horeb 30-23 but lost today a thriller to Sauk Prairie, 24-23. Their offense seems to be going on a vacation. 40 points in game one. Then 30. Then 23. They missed a lot of scoring opportunities today. In fact, considering the talent they have – it’s a team with a lot of depth -- they should have won the game easily, but the boys just didn’t click. A lot of bad passes, missed free throws, easy shots in the paint off the mark. Although he scored no points in either games, Andy is probably the best rebounder on the team and had at least one steal in each game.

Andy’s basketball schedule seems to put our weekend free time at a premium. Today, for example, I got up, exercised on the Walkfit, and after taking a shower, Andy and I went grocery shopping. That took up most of the morning. At 11:30, we left for Sauk City/Prairie du Sac (the school district is combined, therefore the Sauk Prairie designation) to eat lunch at a restaurant near the Wisconsin River, where the eagles soar this time of year. The communities have a number of special events, none of which we had time for, of course. We did spent about 5 minutes in a parking lot along the river scanning the clear blue sky for signs of life. We spotted only two eagles, both of them at quite a distance from our vantage point. Andy’s basketball game started at 1:40.

It was 3:30 by the time we returned home, and then JoAnna needed to make a delivery to the east side of Madison, which took a 45-minute chunk out of her day. Now she’s in the kitchen preparing supper: pork chops, red mashed potatoes with the skins on, corn, applesauce. I’ve been on the computer for the past hour, the Wisconsin-Purdue basketball successfully competing for my attention. What an exciting game. The Badgers are leading by 4 points with about 6 minutes left. After losing their first two Big Ten game, Wisconsin came back earlier this week with a big win against Michigan State, ranked 12th, and now is on the verge of beating the 7th ranked team.

I think I’ll concentrate on the game and leave you with this rambling, but hopefully not incoherent, letter.

The Badgers won!

JoAnna and Andy went to the health club for the second evening in a row. The membership was my birthday gift to my wife and, after this weekend, I know she is going to get a lot of use out of it. I should probably go myself, but then I get my exercise each morning on the Walkfit. After that, I figure I’m done my time. Initially, Eddie was quite peeved that he wasn’t invited along. But I have to agree with JoAnna. He’d be too much of a handful. I think he’d quickly get bored, and JoAnna would have to spend all her time keeping an eye on him. He’s in a much better mood now. I told him he could help me make chocolate chip cookies as soon as the two sticks of butter soften. That helped to perk him up.

It’s been very cold this weekend. Daytime temperatures have not been able to get out of the single digits, and we experienced especially frigid wind-chill conditions today. Our only outdoor activity has been walking from the house to the van, from the van to the restaurant, from the restaurant…. We have excellent conditions for sledding but haven’t had the time to take advantage of it, with two basketball games in the middle of the day this weekend. Now that I have a warm lining for my Goretex jacket, I’d’ve probably been ready for an Elver Park excursion. That’s the location of the best hill in our area.

If JoAnna and I didn’t set some limits, the boys would become complete vidiots. The Playstation game system is a big hit with both Andy and Eddie. The hockey game and castle, unfortunately, have not received much attention. I don’t see much realism in the sports games that Andy plays. How’s this for a final score?: Arizona 82, Washington 81. On the other hand, the baseball game that Andy was playing earlier today did have a very close resemblence to the real thing. I have yet to try the system out myself.

On This Date in 1998

Today the weather was more suitable to a day in October and, consequently, I found myself doing chores that were similarly more suitable to a day in October. Like washing the windows. When I tackled this chore earlier in the fall, I kept bypassing the window in the utility room (by the dryer). That finally got cleaned today, as well as the picture window, on which the morning sunlight revealed a hazy film; the front storm door window, full of fingerprints from you probably know who; the exterior glass of the windows by the dining area and kitchen, which always dirty up the fastest since they face the driveway; the windows on the side doors; and the sliding glass door in the family room, another prime location for fingerprints. I practically worked my way around the house this morning. After lunch, I pruned some of the shrubs at the front entrance and next to the patio. While I was outside, the only additional clothing I wore was a sweatshirt, even though the temperature probably didn’t exceed 50 degrees. What helped is that the sky remained clear all day. 

JoAnna spent five hours at the State Historical Society library researching her family history, a project she’s been working on for a couple years now. Today she found her great-grandparents marriage certificate and the U.S. census with information about her great-great-grandparents. We’ll have to make sure we bring along a copy of JoAnna’ s family tree on our visit. It’s a ten-page document entitled “Descendents of Marie Bourg”, who was born in 1646 in Port Royal, Acadia (Nova Scotia). To allow her to organize the information she gathers, JoAnna uses a software program called Family Tree Maker. Do you know if any of the Nelsons or Luthgrens have done any extensive genealogical research? Andy spent much of the day at Rex Johnson’s house. Rex has a Playstation video system, which Andy seems to be pretty convinced that he’s getting for Christmas. All the gifts we bought so far are wrapped and arranged in front of the fireplace. I wonder if Andy and Eddie have done some peeking? How shocking!! Kids consumed with curiosity over what they are getting for Christmas!! Eddie spent the morning sacked out on the couch in the family room watching TV. He was in a total stay-at-home frame of mind. I encouraged him to play outside for awhile, put on his rollerblades, DO SOMETHING other than act like a vegetable. To no avail. During the afternoon, he watched The Return of the Jedi, the last of the Star Wars trilogy, simultaneously making up his own storyline with his growing Star Wars toy collection. We had a traveling supper on Saturday, i.e., Dad went to three different restaurants to fill everyone’s order. Andy wanted two tacos from Pasqual’s, Eddie his usual chicken McNuggets Happy Meal, and Mom felt like Chinese, which was fine with me. For the second Saturday in a row, the boys stayed home alone. JoAnna and I went to a surprise farewell party for a woman who worked with JoAnna and is moving to Corpus Christi, Texas, next week. We were gone for four hours and returned to a house not too much the worse for wear.