June 3, 1992

I'm away from the library all day.  During the morning, I drop in at Radio Hall to participate in an ETN on the Americans with Disabilities Act and its implications on programs and services for public libraries.  Afterwards, I visit the library school library and find just the book I need "Reference Services for Children and Young Adults".  Linda Mundt checks it out on her card for me.  Now I can start to make some progress on the September workshop I agreed to do for the Lakeshores Library System.  Right now I have very little in the way of prepared materials.  I spend about an hour at University Bookstore noting titles to add to the classic paperback collection.

The OPAC subcommittee takes the entire afternoon to review three of seven proposals.  It's not as tortuous a process as I thought it might be.  I pick up the boys at daycare.  As soon as I get home, I notice that Ganser has left stacks of materials on the roof.  The project must be set to begin tomorrow.

Strange evening.  Although the weather is ideal, we don't venture outside.  Andy's content to veg out watching cartoons for awhile.  I can't get him to eat much of a supper, though that's not a problem with Eddie.  With outdoor play an extended activity at daycare now, baths have become a nightly ritual.

May 20, 1992

Considering how much I'm cutting into library time with personal business -- taking care of a sick Eddie last week for example -- I'm surprised I can find time to continue weeding the fiction.  I do find time to review the long range plan, where I feel that changes can be kept to a minimum (i.e., I can save myself some work here) and the overdues section of the circulation policy.  Now if I could just find time to revise my basic reference syllabus and start coming up with a structure for the children's reference workshop.

I get a lot of exercise today since my threat to have nothing to do with getting the van tun ed up proves to be nothing but hot air.  Big surprise.  I'm first in the service line at Russ Darrow.  I walk home without stopping for breakfast at IHOP or Denny's, not wanting to risk a violent case of IBS along Gammon Road.  A minimal staffing level at the library forces me to postpone a planned return walk after lunch to the late afternoon.  I pick up the boys, Eddie first.  When JoAnna returns home, the boys and I are playing on the hammock.

April 1, 1992

Wednesdays on NBC.  

Last week I rose to the occasion on Monday and Tuesday, the Nuts and Bolts workshop.  Next week I'm hoping I can do the same.  And why shouldn't I be able to ?  It's 90 minutes compared to a full two days.  Actually 90 minutes X 2 but a week apart.

Wednesday, March 4, 1992

I cruise through the day, taking a little side trip thru the first two sections of my Nuts and Bolts notes and relieving the anxiety of being insufficiently prepared for March 23 and 24.  I still need to spend a lot of time meditating, becoming more familiar with the main points of each of my five or six sections.  I may be doing some major cramming that last weekend.

After work I pick up the boys at daycare.  Today is the first chance that Andy has to see Eddie's new place.  He doesn't seem overly impressed, and the more I see of this Steppingstone location, the less impressed I become.  After turning onto Vernon Road, I realize that I've forgotten Eddie's coat so we circle back.  After supper, Eddie goes to bed early and Andy and I watch Dick Van Dyke on Nick at Nite.

Monday, January 20, 1992

Yesterday I stopped at the library to pick up the rest of our computer.  I also went through my mail so I could jump right into more important tasks today.  Business booms during the late morning and into the early afternoon.  The phone rings constantly.

"Are you open today?"

(It's Martin Luther King Day.)

We expect to be inundated throughout the day, but the great mass of humanity never appears.  From midafternoon on, the library is unusually underpopulated.  I stay until nearly 8, working on too many different things at one time.  Mostly I want to get my Nuts and Bolts handout materials organized.  Unfortunately, I make very little forward progress.

Friday, January 10, 1992

I meet with Donovan at his office in the morning.  With 2 1/2 months to go until our workshop, it appears to be in good shape as far as preparations are concerned.  We review our notes for each of the dozen or so sections of our 2-day presentation.

During the return trip to Middleton, I'm tempted to make a stop at Half Price Books.  I resist; I still have enough music to tape without adding to it.

The afternoon at the library is relatively quiet.

The family goes to Pizza Hut for supper.

November 15, 1991

Andy runs into the bedroom at 6:30 to watch Ninja Turtles.  We leave the house before 8, which means that I get to the library before 9.  I reprogram our voice-mail message to stress the point that we are if they have called during our regular hours, which are stated at the beginning of the message.  I continue to work on my Nuts and Bolts notes.  During the afternoon, I think about slacking off, but the upcoming magazine project requires my initial attention.

Andy and I go grocery shopping after a visit to the brown store.  Supper is pretty casual for the two of us.  Andy insists on sleeping in my bed, his privilege whenever JoAnna is not home.

November 13, 1991

Requesting a copy of "Moving a Library", which I never read when I originally headed up such a project, has provided a much-needed spur to my Nuts and Bolts note-taking.  Why do I picture myself carrying Donovan during these two days in March?

Midafternoon JoAnna calls to ask if I can pick up Andy.  She has a bunch of work she wants to get done before her San Diego getaway.

November 4, 1991

I see a big hump this week.  Wednesday's workshop in Green Bay is today's central focus, even though I am able to take care of my routine Monday duties.  There is a minor interruption when Tim calls to ask for the payroll summary.  I can't find any evidence that Sheila has prepared it.  Turns out that Liz is holding onto the sheet.

October 25, 1991

I drive JoAnna to her meeting at the Radisson on Odana Road, Andy to daycare, and myself to Durrant, holding off my arrival at the final destination after cashing my check and buying a few items at Pic-a-Book.  Donovan has adjusted the schedule, and I have no objection to his changes.  Sometimes though I just have to wonder how effective a presenter Donovan is going to be.   I remember so clearly how mealy-mouthed he was in front of the Plan Commission.

After a visit to Second Hand Books, where I buy some records and tapes, I make an appearance at the library.

Until it's time to leave, I pack the van and do some calendar squares.  I'm a little bit late leaving the house to pick up JoAnna and Andy on our to Two Rivers.  Eddie sleeps until nearly 4.  While I'm sitting at my desk, Barb presents Eddie to me as is.  His one-piece outfit is soaked around the middle.  Just one more reason to get Barb out of the house before Christmas.

Sitting in Larry and Alice's basement, I quickly turn invisible.  JoAnna's friends arrive and she neglects to introduce me.  I get the message and join her dad upstairs.  He's watching a couple romp all over someone's apartment.  We never catch the title of the movie, but it's obviously some Fatal Attraction clone.

At midnight I decide to go to bed so I'll be able to get up with the boys.  Somehow. though, I manage to sleep in.

October 22, 1991

I spend the morning taping tunes and otherwise putzing around.  During most of the afternoon, I stare at my workroom computer and continue to my nuts and bolts notes.  I've been ignoring this project for the past three weeks.  I take an early supper break so I can be at the reference desk from quarter of 5 to closing.  Chris Robbins just about drives me berserk.  Then the senior teen queens take their turn.  I walk home feeling exhausted and trying to bury the thought that I'm overpolicing the library.  I watch the final innings of the World Series (game 3) before going to sleep.

August 9, 1991

Donovan and I meet at the Durrant office to review our notes-in-progress for next March's workshop.  Then I go out for breakfast and enjoy a leisurely meal at Original Pancake House.  Once again, there is a long wait from order to service, but calendar notes keep me occupied.

I work at the library from 11 to 2.  JoAnna and I leave for Tomahawk at 3 -- another weekend away from our boys, two in a row -- and arrive at Chuck's cottage at 6, making great time.  We follow last year's itinerary and have dinner at the White Stag, a 45-minute drive from the cottage.  The sliced heads of iceberg lettuce always get a laugh from us.  The steaks are great.  I opt for the "pound of pleasure" once again.  We stay up until midnight and chat.  Dave, Chuck, JoAnna, and I play sheepshead.

June 19, 1991

JoAnna is able to get Andy out of bed early enough so that I don't have to drive him to daycare.  I take care of a number of continuing education teaching activities that I have been regularly postponing:  reviewing the final batch of ETN assignments and composing the brochure copy for the Nuts & Bolts workshop.  Otherwise...phbbt!  Andy and I go shopping.  I buy him a couple of pairs of shorts at Kohl's and replenish by beer supply at Apollo.  I promise him dinner at McDonald's, but he will not settle for drive-through.  After Andy eats his cheeseburger, he wants to hit the play area.  He can't understand why he has to take his shoes off, so we leave.  JoAnna is home when we return.  A surprise.  I water the garden , play catch with Andy in the driveway (his ability to field high pop-ups is amazing),

June 7, 1991

First I stop at the library to pick up my paycheck and photocopy newspaper clippings.  Then I drive to Durrant via the credit union.  Donovan and I spend about an hour reviewing our workshop syllabus.  Instead of returning directly to the library, I go shopping.  My itinerary includes Best Buy, Pic-a-Book, Lands End, and Apollo.  It's such a beautiful, bike-ridin' kind of day that I'm tempted to announced a quick vacation decision as soon as I get back.  I decide it's better to stay on.  Due to Joint Finance's weird scheduling, JoAnna's able to rearrange her schedule so that she can pick up Andy and play softball.  The boys and I accompany her to Orchid Heights park, but the three of us spend most of our time in the playground area.  Andy approaches some older boys who are playing basketball.  After her game, JoAnna returns to the Capitol, and the boys and I go home via McDonald's.

May 21, 1991

My only full day at the library this week.  With tomorrow's full-day workshop staring me in the face and the need to do some fine-tuning based on yesterday's helpful evaluations, I don't have time for regular chores outside of looking through my mail.  Kathleen picks me up at 5:30, one-half hour past our agreed-upon time, but in the short time that I've known her, punctuality does not appear to be one of her strong suits.  During the drive along U.S. 14 to La Crosse, I learn the reason for the John Nichols connection.  Outside of a slight, and it's a very slight, physical resemblance, they are both Irish and from New York City, Kathleen from Manhattan's Upper West Side, John from the Bronx.  Once in La Crosse, we drop off my boxes at the public library.  Then I check into my motel room, which is located just a few blocks from the library.  I walk to a nearby Country Kitchen for supper and watch baseball on TV before going to sleep around 11.

May 17, 1991

The final day to fret over next week's reference workshops.  Soon I'll be able to focus on regular library projects:  the long-range plan revisions, the weeding guidelines for Alice.  There's more, but why waste ink on it now.

JoAnna and I attend the Special Edition banquet on the Concourse, an occasion to roast Ody Fish.  JoAnna is so much in her element at these functions.  I struggle to make the simplest connection with people I don't know.    I need to loosen up, feel less self-conscious.  Part of the problem is my inability to follow the conversation of the group I'm mingling with.  With my height, I pick up a lot of surrounding noise.

Back home (by 10:30) we have some outrageously good sex.

May 13, 1991

I wake up and am soon thankful that it's not a week from today.  I feel sore, but I also feel sick, almost as though I've been poisoned.  I continue to prepare a disproportionate amount of time preparing for upcoming workshops. I pick up Andy at daycare and spend most of the evening looking forward to sleep.