Takin' the Blog for a Walk

I'd forgive the mayor if he were mad at my son. After all, my son kicked his son's butt. In basketball. Turns out my son's WCSS eigth grade "B" team played at St. Sebastian's in Milwaukee yesterday. And who did we see popping popcorn? That's right, Mayor Tom Barrett! Thought he might be working odd jobs to get to know his constituency better, but really what he was doing was the same thing I did last weekend; he was volunteering his time at his son's game.

My son Nick was having a great day Saturday and my mom, sister and I were there in the small gym to cheer him on. We had front row seats and were just inches away from the court and the action. It admittedly was a low scoring game to begin with but, not to brag or anything, my son scored more points than the entire opposing team. Did I happen to mention that my son is bigger than me?

It was a sweet victory and the popcorn wasn't bad either.

Hors d'oeuvres and Bacon. There was plenty to sink my teeth into at the Art Museum after work yesterday. I went to the member-only preview of the Francis Bacon exhibit to kill time before a 6:30 blogger meeting.

Bacon's paintings supposedly "expose the rawness of humanity." Maybe that's why I didn't care for them. Sometimes people who think they know art try to explain in big words what they think the artist was trying to convey. He "developed his evocative style" during an "intense period of eclectic experimentation, offering rare insight into his iconic imagery." I'm just glad I got out of there before the "eclectic jazzy sounds of Mrs. Fun" started.

By far, I enjoyed the display of award-winning student art more than the "haunting visions of a master painter."

I was very pleasantly surprised by the Bradley collection on the third floor. I'd seen it before but not since a massive remodelling completed last April. The space is much more open and airy even though they walled up windows to increase the useable space. The most amazing new thing is the living and dining rooms Peg Bradley used at the Museum are now open to the public. She wanted to share her art with us while she was still alive, so she spent a lot of time at the museum enjoying it herself. It is a very brightly colored, beautiful space.

There were a lot of nicely dressed people and I felt a little out of place in jeans and tennis shoes coming right from work, but art lovers come in all shapes and "eclectic" styles. I survived.

From the Art Museum to the Journal Sentinel Building to meet my fellow bloggers and have a tour. We talked about now having a little over 80 bloggers on 25 sites. About making it easier to post photos and spell check. There were a few awards handed out and I even won a door prize. I don't know what got into me, I turned down the door prize. Isn't turning down a gift kind of like... turning down a gift? I know people who would never turn down a gift but I just couldn't get up the courage to accept tickets to a golf show. Sorry Mark.

Meeting fellow bloggers and talking blog was great but I probably got more out of the tour. I left my employment of twenty years with the Journal less than a year ago and, I'd have to say, have wanted to tour the building for nineteen of those twenty. I wanted to see where the paper was produced; hear the roar of the press, smell the ink and paper, feel the grime. The presses are in West Allis now and I was Downtown but was still able to see where the paper's produced - we toured the newsrooms. I strained to find a recognizable columnist but instead found a great group of hard working individuals including the publisher and the editor. You want to see a messy desk overflowing with paper like the reporter in the comic strip"Shoe" or see a great collection of cubicle toys? Take a newsroom tour.

Walked a block north with several hardy bloggers after the tour for a visit to Buck Bradley's and the longest bar east of the Mississippi. Since all I had for dinner was a couple delicious cookies from the meeting, I limited my refreshment intake to two beers. One of the best conversations I had was with someone who shouldn't have even been there, BrookfieldNOW blogger Shawn Matson. Shawn is only 17 and wasn't there with a parent. Sorry I didn't offer you a soda, buddy. Forgot my manners.

Remember, toast with upper crust not my cup of tea, but beers with peers are better when they're free.

The sign wars have begun. The first aldermanic yard signs are up in my neighborhood in advance of next month's primary. My next door neighbor's sign got me thinking about what I'd do if I was asked to place one in my yard.

My neighbor on Easy Street is running, as is the former alderman. I signed the current alderman, Joe Pieper's nomination papers.

Because we endorsed Joe, should we place a sign for our neighbor, if asked? I really don't think so. Even though no one would know except Joe and us I don't think it would be right. I remember six years ago a neighbor placing not one but two signs for a candidate when I knew they endorsed the opposition. It didn't feel right to me then and still doesn't.

So, four people are running in the Fourth District and I've met three of them. Maybe no one will ask me about a sign so I won't have to worry about it.

A gentleman stops me after Sunday mass yesterday and I can't quite place the face. It's Joe, my alderman, and he's with his lovely wife. Told him I saw the sign he placed next door. He told me they were joining my parish that very day. I gladly told him he could place a sign in my yard.

I have a good feeling I did the right thing about the sign and I have a good feeling about Joe leading the Fourth District into the future.

****************** 1/24 update ********

Read it today's paper that my neighbor has left the aldermanic race. I feel better about my sign now.

I called dibs on the emergency room today. Fortunately didn't need it but was comforted to know it was just the next hill over.

Finally decided that this was the year we were going to shoot down, at break-neck speeds, the glorified log chute they call a toboggan run.

I checked out some less dangerous Janboree venues at the Wauk. Museum and Schuetze Rec Center, though the hot chocolate at the museum REALLY was HOT, but the best time was had on Lowell Hill.

My son, a neighbor and I all piled on the toboggan that's sat unused in the rafters for years for our first ever run down the run. Both chutes were open and there was almost no waiting, surprising because the weather was great, and it because it was free, thanks to sponsor Don Belman Homes.

The bumpy, fast ride made it difficult for us to keep a steady course but we managed to keep it upright and celebrated that we didn't break anything. Just as we were debating doing it again, the very next riders down wiped out. Bad. Lots of tears from one of the kids. We decided to go several more times but never took our safety for granted.

All three of us had a great time.

We have a great toboggan hill near our house, and it even has a great toboggan hill name. Easy. But some fool had to go and pave it and put up houses all over it. Easy Street is, like Barstow, a hill you have to have good brakes on. I wish I would have thought of that when I rode a wagon down it years ago - not "easy" to steer and not "easy" to stop with bare feet. Ouchy!

I believe in "This I Believe".

Every Monday morning around 6:45, or Monday evening around 6:00, if I'm near a radio I try to tune to 89.7 WUWM. If I'm lucky I'll catch a short radio program, usually less than five minutes, that I fully absorb and savor. This I Believe is a popular 1950s program recently revived in 2005. The normally emotional segments are made even more so by the inflection in the author's voice. I get teary just thinking about it. The writers share their innermost thoughts with us strangers as they explain what it is they believe in most.

Some "beliefs" are a little bizarre but they're all creative and I've enjoyed them all. I don't have any particular favorites but the one I heard last Monday, January 15, was pretty good.

About a month ago the Journal Sentinel did an interesting story on Wisconsin authors of This I Believe. A gal in Menomonee Falls wrote the second most viewed essay in the This I Believe 20,000 essay database.

Do I have any particularly strong beliefs? You know I do. But that's another blog.

What is your belief?

My first ever CAT scan went well Tuesday. The most elaborate, high tech machine I've laid eyes upon took 16 images per second - of my eyes. It was remarkably easy for me. I basically laid down in my street clothes on a narrow, movable table which advanced my head into a large white donut-shaped device. There were interesting sounds and spinning things but no bright lights, even though the warmth on my eyes felt like it.

After maybe five minutes in the machine without it, I was injected with a clear dye for better imaging, which also made me feel warm. Another five minutes in the machine. It all was actually pretty relaxing.

Fortunately the tests were negative but am still taking eye drops for an infection. As I suspected, the drops prevented me from donating at Tim's blood drive Saturday.

On another matter... I'm too self-conscious. I've tried to limit my insignificant or inconsequential bloggings knowing that many people I know have access to them via the internet or Waukesha Marketplace. My feeling is that putting too much thought into blog posts takes away from the natural appeal of writing. It's still fun for me though.

This weekend I thought I read that the paper that prints WaukeshaNOW blogs will soon be distributed inside Journal Sentinels on Thursdays. I was starting to feel self-conscious just thinking about it (and hoping they'd finally get my blog title correct), then I read the front page of Sunday's paper. For some reason Waukesha is not one of the 26 communities listed to receive the free weekly. We'll wait and see.

* * If you're reading this in "Marketplace" I encourage you to check out WaukeshaNOW online. One of my favorite features of blogging is the web links often found in the posts but not in the paper.

Unread newspapers have been piling up here lately. Two weeks ago, a few days before Christmas, I woke up with blurred vision. I suspected an infection because one lid was swollen, but it could also have been stress or cold related or maybe I wasn't hydrated enough. Whatever the reason, I still had blurred vision the next day. I didn't know if my condition was going to get worse and wasn't sure I'd find a cause before our trip to Kentucky the day after Christmas.

I made a call to a registered nurse to see if there was anything I could do before the busy holiday weekend. She reassured me and suggested my situation didn't warrant a visit to a busy urgent care clinic, but if my symptoms continued I should call my family doctor.

A week later, back from our Kentucky trip, my vision hadn't worsened but hadn't improved either. Decided to call family doc as there was still time to be seen, if need be, before the next holiday weekend - New Year's. My doctor's triage nurse recommended I see an eye doc so I made an appointment with an optometrist.

I patiently waited for my Wednesday optometry appointment, doing pretty well at work in the meantime, but was increasingly concerned about infection. My mom wanted to offer me her Wednesday appt. with her eye doc and, when the optometrist cancelled my Wednesday night appt. just two hours prior, wanted to take her up on it, but by then it was too late.

I learned my family doc was on vacation when I called back to explain the situation but the attending physician made time to see me. He thought it didn't look like an infection, which was good, but two weeks after I first woke up with blurred vision I still didn't have an explanation for the ongoing problem.

Two days later I patiently waited for the appointment with the eye physician my family doc helped me obtain. Even though he was already running an hour behind by 11:00 a.m., he was willing to give me the complete eye exam he felt I needed. I had unknowingly made an appointment for just a basic exam.

The physician found a few things of concern, thankfully nothing major, and gave me prescriptions for eye drops and glasses. I was told I had too much bacteria on my lashes. The bacteria end up on my corneas and generate white blood cells there.

Today I'm applying drops four times daily, washing my lashes with baby shampoo and debating getting glasses. I have a Tuesday appointment for an orbital CAT scan, which sounds expensive but it's just to rule out a tumor -- one of my eyes protrudes a little further than the other.

I'm hoping the antibiotic eye drops I'm using don't exclude me from donating blood next Saturday. Tim, the 17 year old I've blogged about before, is hosting a blood drive at the downtown Blood Center between 9:00 and 3:00.

If you care to share a pint of blood with leukemia patients or others in need, please consider a donation Saturday, January 13th, at 18th and Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Come out and meet Tim. Walk-ins are welcome!

We were the ones with the accent after heading yonder 570 miles in twelve hours Tuesday. We were visiting my in-laws, Bob and Donna, in Central City, KY, birthplace of the Everly Brothers. Bob and Donna live in Muhlenberg County which is traversed by the Green River. They have a friend who's a coal train engineer for CSX, has never heard of Mr. Peabody, and tells me you can't steer a train like in Polar Express.

We had our choice of two routes to KY, both of which took us around Chicago and through Indiana, so we chose the third route. Even though the route we learned about two days before our trip was 400 miles of Illinois driving, we paid only one toll, avoided Chicago, the speed limit was 70 and traffic wasn't bad.

Bob and Donna's home in Western KY is a charming three bed, two bath, double-wide with lots of yard and a large garage. Their house has plenty of room for visitors, though our youngest had to share his room with SpongeBob and the oldest with Harley Davidson. Tam and I stayed in a former office the size of a one car garage next to the house. Our room had a fridge, coffee pot, videos and games, heat and A/C, but no windows. It was cozy.

Thursday, while the boys kept themselves entertained with the friendly outdoor cats and trying to injure themselves with airsoft guns, Tam and I drove to Nashville where we toured the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

After a delicious and authentic Southern meal at a small mom and pop and a roasted-marshmallow fire in the yard Thursday night, we packed up the car. We left for home at midnight and arrived in Waukesha nine hours later Friday morning.

We put 1500 miles on our rented Taurus in four days and the least expensive fuel was $2.10 / gallon. Almost all the roads were in perfect condition, though we really didn't care much for the too-narrow secondary roads in KY. We paid a total of $2.00 in Illinois tolls even though we travelled 800 miles in the state. And the worst pavement was right here in good old Wisconsin on I-43 between Beloit and home.

I was pleasantly surprised by everything; the beauty, the friendliness and hospitality, the ease of getting around. We were fortunate to have nice weather the entire time of our trip. I'd go again.

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Paradise
©John Prine

Chorus:
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away