June 2, 1992

Photo credit:  Museum at the Portage

Home of the Portage Public Library from 1946 to 1994.

Portage hosts the PLAC meeting this month.  I arrive in town with some time to spare.  I walk up and down the main street looking for places to buy postcards.  It's obvious that the same cards depicting Portage have been sold out for at least two decades.  It's also obvious from my casual study of the various storefronts that Portage has not yet been malled.  If I recall, there are a number of businesses located on the north side of town on business 51, but it hasn't been enough to such out all of the vitality of downtown.

The meeting is routine.  Surprisingly, this is my first visit to the Portage library.  The city certainly needs a much larger facility.

I drive back to Middleton via a winding 78 and a heavily traveled 12.  The rest of my day is rather nondescript.

May 5, 1992

#5 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week

Ordinarily, I'd be at the SCLS Public Library Advisory Committee meeting.  This is the second one in a row that I've missed, and both times I've been slated to be the recorder.  My reason this month for not going:  a visit from a group from Neenah for a tour of the library.  Steve Proces claims to be 5'9" and can't be much more than 140 pounds.  He reminds me of an educated Dave Bush with a haircut and gray hair.  I take a couple of hours off during the afternoon.  The council meeting provides none of the expected fireworks.  Everyone is surprisingly civil before going home.  Before going home, I photocopy some L.A. riot news articles.

Tuesday, March 3, 1992

TIME

Middleton hosts the SCLS Advisory Committee meeting.  Shirley May represent Peter and her blowhardy flatulence is the only reason the meeting lasts for an hour.  We should have skipped this month.

I spend the day expecting a call from Eddie's daycare, but no messy poopers today.  A couple of hours at home breaks up a long day.  Deb takes her dinner break from 6:30 to 7:30 and normally that's the busiest time of the evening.  With Chris out sick, .Maria and I are spread very thin trying  to keep up with the rush of business.

Tuesday, December 3, 1991

After a brief stop at the library, I drive to the system office to attend a very routine and comparatively brief Advisory Committee meeting.  (I just automatically start writing in the present tense.  So much for a change of pace.)

On the drive back to Middleton, I groove on a collection of 80s tunes that I recorded onto one tape and stop at Hilldale to buy JoAnna a special birthday present, a pearl-drop earring and necklace set at Marshall Fields.  At Moseley's, I buy a blank book for myself, into which I hope to start recording some meandering thoughts about my life.  Soon.  But not this week, I suspect.

I attend the council meeting that evening, and the budget passes without further change.  Julie Brunnette addresses the issue of reimbursement for nonresident use, which I amplify during the reports from city officials.  Sandy Allen is assigned to the library board.  The good news is that her mom is a big library supporter.

November 5, 1991

I drive the van to Russ Darrow as it's tune-up time.  Instead of waiting for JoAnna and Andy to pick me up there, I decided a little exercise won't hurt me, so I begin to walk back to Middleton.  Opposite Memorial High School, I see the car approach and wave my arms frantically just in case she's too focused on the road.

Advisory is scheduled to meet at Middleton and the expected confrontation over public-performance videos never happens.  Barb Huntington's feelers must be mangled.  In the meantime, Sharon wastes no time, preparing a one-page justification of this format, and I waste a lot of mental energy rehearsing nasty tirades.

I take the afternoon off and walk through a mini-blizzard to pick up the van.  The dueling Derek & the Dominoes/Allman Brother Band tape keeps me trucking.

Due to the weather, it's a quiet evening at the library.  I pack up six boxes of various reference materials for tomorrow's workshop and start to worry about the drive.

October 1, 1991

I drive Andy to daycare and then stop at the South Madison McDonald's for breakfast before a short road trip to Brodhead for the Public Library Advisory Committee meeting.  Jo Zipsie's near-apoplexy over automation makes her an even stronger candidate for retirement in my mind.  And then Peter Niemi starts opening his mouth with engaging his brain.  He suggests that since Madison may have to cut staff and the book budget to fund automation, other libraries should so likewise.

"Peter, that is absurd," I respond vociferously.  "That's ridiculous.  Why should those of us who have done our homework be penalized?"

It seems that my outburst brings him back to reality.

I take the scenic route home, meandering along the lonesome roads of Fitchburg.  I browse through the record bins at Half Price Books where I locate a clean (or so it looks) copy of Elephant Mountain.

The evening is very slow, and once I get home JoAnna's still out at volleyball.  I read a couple dozen pages of Rabbit at Rest.

August 6, 1991

No freedom to do what I want this morning.  Advisory meeting at Sun Prairie, and as I walk back to my car, I focus on Niemi's ponderings regarding Madison's '92 library budget.  No money for automation.  What does this mean?  I leave a message with Julie, and she calls me back when I'm in the middle of a meeting with Sharon and Liz.  We touch base shortly before 5, and she volunteers to investigate.  Now that Middleton's city budget process has been officially announced, I focus my energy on the final draft of the long-range plan and a first draft of a 1992 budget proposal.  Photocopying chores delay my return home until halfway through Green Acres.  Everyone's in bed, waiting for Daddy to come home.  What fun to be a family

June 4, 1991

Barb must think I have the morning off, because when I need to use the bathroom, she's taking a shower.  I am annoyed.  JoAnna leaves for work early, so I need to drive Andy to daycare and myself to Baraboo for the SCLS Advisory meeting.  I'm a few minutes late, but not enough to miss out on taking minutes.  I decide to work a split day since weather conditions are good for washing the mildew off the exterior of the house.  And here I thought I had taken care of the problem last year.  How disconcerting to discover its reappearance.  I spend most of the evening typing up the minutes for Advisory.  All these Dane County concerns.  JoAnna's not home when I return.  The boys are in the TV room watching baseball (Mets vs. Reds) with Auntie Barbara.  I feed Eddie and watch a different baseball game.  The boys are still up when JoAnna returns at 10:30.

May 7, 1991

I think I'm going to get some work done before the Advisory Committee meeting, but JoAnna calls to inform me she forgot her purpose and -- naturally, there's a second part -- to ask if I'll drop it off at the office.  So I make a big loop through Madison on my way to Lodi.  The meeting is eventful.  I return to Middleton just in time for the volunteer luncheon.  When asked, I deliver some off-the-cuffs remarks about the first year in the library that are smoothly delivered and apparently well-received.  During the afternoon, I drop off my 50-page syllabus to Kathleen Weibel's office, stopping at Prangeway on the way back to Middleton to look for specific songs from 1969 for my latest taping project.  The evening is middling.  I talk with Jim Wexler after the council meeting.  The parking lot change order was approved -- that's the good news -- but the bad blood between Julia and the "chamber" wing of the Council could place the library in a precarious position at budget time.