Layton Boulevard

You'll have to excuse me, as the next few posts will be all out of order chronologically.

Today the Mrs. and I took Middle Child and Parker (YaYa was overnight at a friend's house) on a walk down Layton Boulevard.

Layton Boulevard is the name of a southern strip of S. 27th Street aka US 41, a street that bisects the city and has the longest continuous strip of businesses in Milwaukee. Why the name change for a mile or so? Ask someone else, I don't know.

What I do know is that Layton Boulevard features some of the most amazing single-family houses in Milwaukee. A shame really, as they're located in a 'changing' neighborhood, or, if you are less charitable, an 'almost ghetto'.

I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

The basis of the walk was exercise, but I always wanted to photgraph the houses on that stretch. So bear with me as I post some of them here.

I love the arches on this next one. Note the window AC unit tho' - very few of these houses have central air.

I like the trim on this one.

 

I think this one is gorgeous. I have a fetish for dark green awnings, and I adore the brickwork.

 

These next few are of my dream house. It even features a pair of pineapples on the front steps - the logo of my employer.

Nearby are several houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, including one I've heard is the only creation of his to feature a garage - because he designed it for a buddy.

 

My Goofy Dance

At YaYa's request, I performed my patented dance for her picture taking experiment

Ain't I pretty?

YaYa Update

I think I mentioned UWM's College for Kids in a previous post. YaYa wrapped up her second session, a two week class entitled Musical Madness, with a performance of a children's musical, held in one of the university's theaters in front of about 50 people.

Now we'd assumed that was just a cutesy title for a musical appreciation class, but the whole gig involved prepping for the musical.

Here's what blew me away. Before the show, the kids had a chance to stand up and perform solo.

YaYa stood up and sang "Somewhere over the Rainbow" - acapella. She coulda had music, but chose instead to keep her song a surprise. :)

I wouldn't have had the ba**s to do that at age 4. Heck, I wouldn't have the guts now.

Parker and I in the audience

Oh, her big line from the actual show: "It's goofy dance time!"

Afterwards I kept a promise to return to Downers Woods and see 'Eeyore's House' with her.

YaYa displays an interesting combination of talents and interests. She LOVES performing, be it singing, dancing, or doing that radio commercial for my work. But she also loves science and bugs, creepy crawlers and science in general.

Maybe she'll be the Bill Nye The Science Guy for the 2030's.

Oh, here's a SPECTACULAR drawing she did on a dry erase board. When I first saw it I assumed my wife had done it in 'kid style', not our four year old daughter. But nope, it's all her:

Company Picnic

Sometime in July - the 10th I think - my company held its annual picnic. Despite working there since '98, this is the first one I attended. The kids had a blast with a jumping castle and a cotton candy machine, and I greatly enjoyed three games of volleyball.

YaYa and LadyBear

Parker took the opportunity to lie down on a blanket when he got tired and hump his hips to his heart's content - an everyday occurrence that looks a lot naughtier than it is :)

It ain't always roses. .

I wrote this two or three weeks ago and didn't get a chance to post it

 

Well, it's been a sh**ty summer, and as you know it started early, with May approaching a mythically lousy standard that I hope is never duplicated.

 

Then, after a reasonably decent June, my Grandma and my wife's Grandpa died within two weeks of one another in July. The funeral for my in-law was fraught with family drama, and my wife had to bear the local brunt of a misplaced argument related to the events.

 

To boot, on Sunday the 23rd she and Middle Child were T-Boned at an unmarked intersection. No one was hurt, thank God, but it totaled our van and we spent a lousy two weeks in a rental until we received word that the other driver's insurance took 100% liability.

 

We replaced the van with a Plymouth Voyager. It's the first time I've owned anything but a Ford, and I feel like a dirty rotten traitor :)

 

At work I'm ready to scream as the stress behind the scenes continues to build . . and I've had to let a few people go lately to boot. . .

 

At home, while the kids are great 85% of the time, the remaining 15% of the day - mainly at nap and bedtime - they're devils.

 

1. Middle Child has a natural potty mouth. Now no doubt she's learned the verbiage from us, but it flows so smoothly off her tongue you'd think she was a sailor. And that girl can fight for a 3 yr old  - I saw her take down YaYa and jump on top of her faster than Hulk Hogan in the day.

 

2. YaYa is the most stubborn, strong-willed kid EVER, especially if it's something her Mom wants and she doesn't. She also has the God-given ability to manipulate and/or convince others to get her way. Yikes. My wife and her butt heads a lot, and it ain't pretty.

3. Parker is still the most cheerful, happy kid I've ever known, and causes no problems, but he doesn't know what 'no' means. In the words of the Mrs. "Parker thinks 'no' is another way of saying 'go faster'" when he's grabbed something he shouldn't.

To try to stem the tide we created a detailed expectations chart. There are two Disney princesses who move up and down a staircase depending on the girls actions. It works, but we are still working out the kinks. Right now I'd say it does the job 50-60% of the time.

One perk they get on a good day is a guaranteed story at bedtime. We've literally read every book in their bookcase so often the girls are bored, so we've moved on to chapter books. The Mrs. is currently reading them The Wizard of Oz and Henry and Ribsy. The latter was the first 'book' I ever read, back in 1st grade, and remains one of my 10 favorite books of all time. It's a joy to hear the girls enjoy the story.

* * * *

One day with the rental we took the kids down to the Jelly Belly factory down near Illinois. To my regret, I forgot the camera. Parker was very good during the tedious tour, but I'm afraid there's not much more to say. On the way home my niece, who'd gone with us, lost a baby tooth courtesy of one of the jelly beans.

 

My Gripe

I don't have cable. Well, I do, but the basic basic package, which amounts to local broadcast stations, a bushel full of home shopping networks and christian stations, and Bravo.

Woo-hoo.

So I look forward to those rare Saturday afternoons when I can waste a day watching Fox's Game of the Week.

Enter my gripe:

Do I get to watch Yankees? Mets? Dodgers? Any bleeping team that doesn't call the midwest home?

Hell no.

Time after time, this is what I get: Cardinals and Cubs.

The Cubs suck, and not just because they're from Illinois. They really suck this year.

The Cardinals are good, but are bland and boring to watch, the baseball version of C-Span.

But lawsy, Fox does love 'em.

Now I'm not sure if this is just their obsession with matching the games with their 'natural' geographic audience, but give it up.

I see the bleeping NL Central all the time. If I wanted to I'd waste the day in an actual stadium and see the same thing.

Television is about escape, people.

Even MLB is annoyed. Here's a snippet of an article advertising the game on their website: "It may look like a mismatch at first, but . . "

But what? There's no point in watching a kick-ass team wup on a loser. C'mon, give me something that validates the inevitable arguement with my wife for control of the remote.

And while we're at it, enough Albert Pujos. Great player, but has anyone been sooo overrated so early in his career? You'd think the guy was the progeny of Ruth and Cobb.

Talk to me in ten years, when Albert is a few years shy of fifty (baseball fans might pick up on the joke. Doubtful, but they might) and I'll tell you if he's worth the hype.

 

 

Grandpa's Day 2006

Grandpa's Day is a more-or-less annual road trip I make with a special someone to recreate (in spirit) a trip I made with my Grandpa in 1983, two weeks before his death.

Today the whole family went to the cemetary to visit his grave and my Grandma's (whose tombstone I saw for the first time) then journeyed up to Sheboygan, some 57 miles north of Milwaukee, to look at houses.

Because of the great housing prices and quality of living there, we just wanted to get a feel for the city and view some of the houses we've seen for sale online, to see if they were worth our time at all.

Well, they were - it's a great small city of ~50,000.

I wish I could say the kids were great, but they weren't. They were whiny, noisy little complainers almost the whole time.

One house up for sale had a rummage sale going, so we took the opportunity to look around the house, and picked up a solid window air conditioner for $25. There were also two good used bookstores in town, at one of which I picked up a score of AA Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner's pen name) books for a mere $5.

Sweet.

We ended on a high note, stopping to eat at Subway. For those of you who don't know, the national chain now makes there own pizzas.

You heard me right. You would assume they suck, but on the contrary the two times I've eaten them they are downright delicious. Made to order, I love mine with lots of spinach and tomatoes, no meat.

One odd note: at the Subway I took middle child to the restroom. When I poked my head in, she was seated on the toilet licking  the handicapped rail.

I thought it best not to mention this tidbit to my fellow diners.

After getting a short nap in at home (the rest of the family slept on the way back) I took YaYa to see Superman Returns. She was ecstatic, thrilled that I had not only kept my promise (which I almost always do; God forbid she forget that I failed to get her into Narnia before it left the theater) but that we were going together.

She was an angel, quickly overcoming a few talkative moments in the first few minutes. The rest of the time she was quiet, or spoke only to ask pertinent questions (like what something in print said onscreen), and went to the restroom only once. For the last 1/2 hr of the movie she was curled up on my lap, throroughlyinto the story.

Two quotes: When Lex Luthor appeared onscreen: "He looks just like Daddy Warbucks!" and afterwards "That was a really great movie. I want to see it again - it was sooo much better than Cars"

After seeing a preview for Spiderman III she also made me promise to take her to that.

Then to wrap up the day we got a Happy Meal, complete with Polly Pocket toy, apple dippers, and milk.

Not a bad Grandpa's Day after all.

* * * * *
BTW, Superman was an excellent movie. It was beautifully filmed, ably scripted and showed off some impressive effects.

Now I've always been a DC guy, even though Marvel's Spiderman has eternally been my favorite character. Of the two DC hero's, I prefer Batman to Superman in the comics, but hands down believe the Superman movies are superior.

I believe this is because Superman is, by definiton, a superhuman character. The scriptwriters have to work all the harder to make him vulnerable, physically and emotionally, and three times out of five they've pulled it off on film.

I also like that unlike Batman, the Superman writers don't feel it necessary to kill off the villian, leaving Lex around to do battle in the future.

Kudos, btw, to the filmakers for retaining the classic Superman theme music from the Reeve's films.

It's wonderfully inspiring, and a tad nostalgic now too. Those notes brought a grin to my face, and time after time when the music gave rise to another heroic act, I dang near teared up.

That is, if, you know, I cried at that sort of sappy Americana.

:)

 

My Mother In Law's Retirement

On June 22nd my Mother-in-law threw a combined retirement/60th birthday party. As part of the party she rode a Harley for the first (and last?) time, echoing her 50th birthday where she rode a roller coaster for the first time.

As I said, I don't have ANY good pics of the day, but here's a scanned photo:

World Trade Center - the movie

My wife and I took a rare break from all the kids and saw World Trade Center.

Not exactly a relaxing evening.

I entered the theater with dread, fully expecting one of the most emotional- and disturbing - movie experiences of my life.

That didn't happen, and I left a bit disappointed.

Oh, it's a very good movie. Despite being made by Oliver Stone it eschews any controversial stance and avoids politics, and whatever the man's faults he is a powerful filmaker. It's masterfully done.

But the movie focuses only on the story of two Port Authority cops trapped beneath the WTC, and to a lesser extend their wives. They didn't see the planes hit, so you don't see that happen; they were inside the buildings, so the collapse is not shown. They don't realize the scope of the attack, or that it was an attack at all. In fact, throughout the movie they believe the report of a plane hitting Tower 2 was nothing more than a mistake.

There are some stories that are so large, so grandiose, that we can only grasp the scope of the tragedy when its broken down into manageable pieces  Titanic springs to mind. 

But we're not 90 years removed from the event . There are few days in history that have left such an indelible mark on an entire nation. It isn't New York's story, not alone at least; and giving the movie such a narrow focus limits its ability to move us.

Had it shown, as I feared, the impact of the planes, the terror of those trapped inside, the frantic escape down the stairs, the collapse - well, it would run the risk of overwhelming our emotions.

But it would be honest, and it would stand as a worthy document of that horrible day.

As it is, I think it'll be something that will be pushed aside over time, supplanted by movies that dare to acknowledge how widespread the fear and chaos and distress were on 9/11.

* * * *
In a disgusting bit of ghetto-ness, a couple brought there 18 month old, and a four year old to see WTC. Nothing like mentally scarring a child before she can even talk in sentences.

I've just about had it with movie theaters lately, and I LOVE GOING TO THE MOVIES. But I can't stand the lousy clientele that seem to favor them in the last few years.

Misc Shots from June

Here's some shots of Parker, Middle Child and moi, at my nieces birthday party in early June. No real reason for posting them, 'cept to show off.

Here's a pic from my mother-in-law's retirement party, which I mentioned in an earlier post. I don't have any decent shots from that gig at all, but I wanted to include this just ' cause Parker looked so smooth.

 

My newest 'favorite' author

A few months back I saw a paperback copy of Rex Stout's  "The Golden Spiders" at a local pizza joint. I asked to take it home and it got me hooked on Stout's overweight genius Nero Wolfe and his wisecracking sidekick Archie Goodwin.

I love the writing style, and there are some wonderful desciptions and phrases in the first person narratives. The only drawback seem to a staunch Anti-Communist slant that dates some of the novels.

 Stout, btw, didn't publish his first Wolfe novel until his late 40's.

So far I've read: 

Black Mountain, The

Death of a Dude

Before Midnight

Fer-de-Lance

If Death Ever Slept

Golden Spiders, The

Plot It Yourself

And Be A Villain

Three Doors to Death

 

Pick up any of them - you won't be dissapointed.

The 3rd of July

The day before my Grandma died the whole family and I, and my wife's friend and her kids, headed down to the lakefront to watch the fireworks.

[I'd spoken to my Grandma that day, but it was an incoherent conversation. She sounded awful and on death's door, but the nurse explained that it was simply a panic attack. At least I got to tell her I loved her.

One more thing - when we dropped off Parker at my Mom's house my wife mentioned a concern that my Grandma was dying. I had a gut feeling she was right, but didn't act on it]

We passed nearly 5 hours at the lakefront. Three adults, four kids, and one picnic basket complete with a Nero Wolfe novel :)

After awhile I took the kids for a walk down to the nearby Art Museum and its surroundings.

My kids, as always, are as nimble as monkeys:

As far as the fireworks go, they were stereotypically spectacular, launched both from the top of the ~50 story US Bank building and somewhere on the horizon. The annoying part was that the show was staggered, with several minutes of empty air between 15 minute shows. The heck with that - you were never sure when it was truly over. In fact, we left, then realized there was another round and sat downtown watching it.

The most unusual and original sound I have ever heard: the windows on the skyscrapers reverberating in protest to the incredible concussions of the blasts.

All in all, a pleasant and happy experience. I went to bed content with my life, not realizing my Grandma had only hours left to live.

Sorry, didn't mean to be a buzzkill :)

Oh, one more shot, a self portrait I took early in the long wait:

Snippet of an IM from August 1st

T*** [11:52 AM]:  u there this is lisa now
T*** [11:52 AM]:  (YaYa) shoved a nugget of toilet tissue up her nose
T*** [11:53 AM]:  very far up her nose....took a couple times to get it w/ a flashlight and tweezer...goofy a** kid, you'd think she'd stop doing that after the raisin incident

For those who don't know, about two yearss ago YaYa stuck a raisin so far up her nose we needed a doctor to remove it.

Nice to see she learned her lesson ;)

My 2nd Submission piece

 

Okay, hello again. I notice that I popped online after a long absence, bombarded you with a bunch of posts, and disappeared for a month.

I'm probably about to do it again, lol.

First things first: I didn't get that Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel job, and it was no suprise to me. My submission sucked, and even if it didn't the Journal isn't looking for a guy like me. To quote the rejection letter:

 We have tried to choose a group of quality columnists who will be representative of the public we serve – politically, geographically, racially, ethnically, by gender and age.

As you can see, they were eager to hire a 32 year old straight white guy.

The vastly embarrassing thing is that they chose 25 other writers - poor submission or not, no way I'm the 26th best undiscovered writer in Milwaukee.

Oh, and since the subject of this piece (one of the two I sent in) was smoking, please note: nearly five weeks into life as a non-smoker, I'm still doing well. I fell off the wagon for a day or two last week, sneaking smokes during a high stress day, but I'm back to clean and phlegmmy :)

********************

Unless you enjoy being seen as a social outcast and a proponent of all things Evil, it’s best to just smile and nod your head when people bring up the idea of a smoking ban in Milwaukee.

Now personally, I think a citywide smoking ban will hurt local businesses, and more importantly I see it as yet another erosion of our dwindling individual rights.

After all, if the customer demands it, a business will ban smoking on their own. Why mandate it?

In other words, I’m as social outcast and a proponent of all things Evil.

But I’m also a realist, and I can see far enough down the road to know the days of public smoking are numbered. I could live with a smoking ban.

I wouldn’t like it, but I’d deal - in part because I believe that it would be enacted with genuine concern for public health, even though I know it was pushed not by the citizens of Milwaukee, but by special interest groups .

There’s no such saving grace behind talk of a citywide tax on cigarettes. I’ve heard the reasons behind it, and I don’t believe a single one of them is the true reason behind the tax.

According to the Council, cigarettes allegedly account for 1/3 of the city’s litter, adding to the cost of street cleaning and sewage treatment. They cause accidental fires, add to the cost of health care for government employees, and increase water and air pollution.

(No word yet on whether they contribute to tooth decay and global warming, but I’m sure our enligtened Council will educate us soon enough)

Tacked onto the end of the discussion is the one true reason for the tax: the need to fatten the city‘s wallet.

In 2004, 40,730,000 packs of cigarettes were sold in Milwaukee. If as hoped, cigarettes were taxed at an additional $0.25 a pack, $10,182,000 would be raised to ‘help pay for the above mentioned city costs’.

It’s not a unique idea. Cook County and the city of Chicago both tax cigarettes. and we all know how healthy and financially sound the folks in Illionois are.

Oh, and, um, naturally property taxes are currently used to pay for those costs in Milwaukee. If you read between the lines, the idea is the tax would lower that burden for homeowners.

Riiight.

Sewage treatment, street litter, careless house fires? C'mon, give us some credit!

And the bit about property taxes - implying the cigarette tax would lower them - is laughable.

[full disclosure: I am a smoker, albeit one that resents my own addiction. Sure, I don’t look forward to a cost increase, but unless I’m completely misreading my own heart, financial self-interest doesn’t play a role in this debate]

I just find it revolting that the council would try to increase the city's bank balance in the guise of an anti-smoking measure. Isn’t it a tad ghoulish to profit from something you yourself label destructive and deadly?

Not an ounce of me thinks that money will go to anything related to tobacco related costs, save perhaps for a token school program or two. The rest will go to fill whatever shortfalls the budget creates.

Years from now, when smoking is passe and the tax peters out, the people of Milwaukee will be left scrambling to meet the reduced revenue. What will happen then is self-evident - another tax will be created to take its place, only it won’t be as easy to find a willing victim.

Next time, everyone will pay.

I say, if your goal is to ban smoking, then do it. Do it on the basis of public health, do it because it means it will be that much harder for my kids to pick up my vile habit in the years to come, do it on principle or because it gives you more federal funds to repair the damage cigarettes caused.

Heck, do it with the long disproved reasoning the increase in price will reduce demand and limit smoking.

Just don't hide your motives behind some ad campaign - you're trying to profit off of someone else’s pain every bit as much as the tobacco companies you despise.

 

Random Thoughts

It's crazy, but I'm reluctant to post again because it will bump my Grandma's obit from the top slot . .

Anyhow, I quit smoking 142 1/2 hours ago . . yes, I'm counting the hours. Heck, I'm lucky I'm not counting the minutes. It's been tough, sure, but overall it's much easier than I anticipated (knock on wood) - so much so that I don't have all that much to say about it.

* * * *

My wife's Grandpa passed away on Saturday night. To an extent it was unexpected, even at 86, because he seemed so sturdy. I'd have given him a fair shot at 100, but early in the week we received word that he had terminal lung cancer. (no, this had nothing to do with me quitting smoking - my Grandpa died of lung cancer 19 years ago too)

Anyhow, in the wake of my Grandma's funeral my wife had bemoaned the fact that she hadn't seen her Grandpa in awhile, and was set to call him and invite him to lunch. Sadly, the call came the very next day - had it been delayed by a single night, she'd have taken him out; instead, he was transfered to a hospice.

On Wednesday she went to see him and he was bright and alert. He delighted in the fact that she remembered he liked his coffee "hot and black, like my women" and that he called deuces 'ducks' in Yahtzee.

By Saturday, when we took the kids to see him, he was unconscious and near death. The girls prayed over him, and he passed away that night.

He'll be missed. In the weeks or months to come I'll try to post some of the transcript  of an interview I did with him years back, concerning his service on Guadacannal and other battlefields of WWII.

Man, what a lousy month so far . . .

* * *
Just because I forgot in a previouos post, on Father's Day the wife and I went down to Chicago overnight and saw Madonna at the United Center. It was a good concert, tho' it was tipped too heavily in favor of her newest album. I'll say this for her - she's much hotter on stage than I imagined based on the ghastly pics of her you see online.

* * * *

The one good thing (?) to come out of my Grandma's death was the re-emergence of my once formidable circle of friends. After a four year absence my cousin/good friend Jon and I reunited. Ditto Erv, my friend since 5th grade.  And only a few days later, at my 3rd annual All-Star game barbeque, friends like Roy and Emo came out to say hello.

It was nice to see them all (and my ever faithful friend Tre).

Here's hoping it wasn't all a temporary reunion.

* * * *

On a baseball rant, kudos to Mariano Rivera on his 400th save, which I watched on TV. I wish A-Rod would relax and start hitting, but the NY press and fans seem to be getting to him, as I heard him commit 3 errors today on XM's broadcast.

Speaking of TV, the local cable company bumped the Disney Channel, which has led to much agony among my little ones . .

* * * *

On a political note, I've followed the worsening situation in the Mid-East with awe and dread. Amazing how quickly a (relatively) minor tragedy has spawned the brink of WWIII . . . .

Here's my solution: return the kidnapped soldiers, quit firing rockets into Israeli towns, and everyone goes home happy.

Somehow I doubt that'll happen.

* * * *

We're finished with TeeBall for this year. Grandma's death led to more missed sessions, and now with YaYa's last remaining Great-Grandparent dying, I'm throwing in the towel.

We'll try again next year, but you know what? With as quickly as this summer is passing, I'll enjoy the extra evenings at home.

 

 

Clara Zolinski, 1923-2006

 

My Grandma passed away on July 4th. I'm sure I'll have more to say on her in the near future, but this is what I wrote the night before the funeral.

On the morning of July 4th I woke up to a phone call from my youngest sister.

"Danny," she said. "Come over. Grandma died"

I don’t try to live up to many macho ideals, but for whatever reason I don’t cry. My wife likes to remind me that the only time she’s seen me shed a tear was when the Yankees lost the World Series. But on the way to my Mom’s house that morning I couldn’t stop the tears. I could barely make out the road in front of my car.

My Grandmother did not raise me – I had a Mom and Dad for that, and I thank them for a job well done. But we lived with my Grandma most of my childhood, and she had a big part in many of my memories.

I remember Grandma making oxygen tanks out of empty bread bags for a little boy obsessed with being a firefighter.

I remember her subscribing to National Geographic because she thought it would help us in school. I don’t think I ever opened a single issue, but even at the time I thought it was sweet.

I remember her obsession with collecting recipes and watching cooking shows; this, despite the fact that she never cooked anything but the same 6 meals in rotation.

I remember her sitting patiently every weeknight, watching Dr. Who with her grandson and pretending to be interested.

I remember her pitching soft toss in the backyard to a baseball obsessed young man who should have known better than to be proud of hitting a 70 year old’s pitching.

I remember how much she loved pork chops, and how happy I was to bring her a plate of them from a restaurant where I worked.

I remember her constant attempts to slip cash into your hand whenever you did her a favor.

I remember when she was the only person, other than my wife, to flat out tell me that I wasn’t living up to my potential when I had a dead end job.

I remember how she never kissed anyone but her husband with her lips, sucking them in even for a kiss on her great-grandson’s cheek – and how that very same woman jokingly announced at a Thanksgiving dinner that her husband had gone bald because he kept bumping his head on their headboard.

I remember how she claimed for decades that she and my Grandpa had never fought.

And I remember how she recanted that stance when counseling me after a fight with my wife, because her grandson was more important to her than an idealistic memory.

In a lot of ways my Grandma was overshadowed by the memories I had of my Grandpa. He died when I was nine, and I remember all of the good times and very few of the bad.

I lived with Grandma for 17 years, and I know her faults every bit as well as I know my own. I like to joke that Grandma was the 2nd greatest arguer our house ever produced – almost as good as me.

But in hindsight, I’m grateful that I know the good with the bad.

My Grandpa gave me an exaggerated ideal to live up to, but my Grandma gave me a greater gift: the chance to see that even the best of people make mistakes, fail, and never reach perfection. She taught me that even our hero’s are made of flesh and blood, and that gave me liberty to forgive my own faults and try again.

For that – and everything else she did for me – I thank her.

And I miss her already.

MJS Entry

Ok, what follows is a lesson in how NOT to audition for a writing job. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel held their second annual open audition for columnists. Unlike last year, when I did my dangdest and still feel miffed at losing out, I barely paid attention to the contest. My wife and Dad kept encouraging me, but until the last day I didn't even have a word typed out.

And this, my friends, is one of two sorry a** examples of how rusty, unmotivated, and lousy I can write when the mood strikes me.

Like most Milwaukee natives, my opinion on the Parks system is strangely contradictory.

On one hand, I’m proud of the vast expanses of green and timber that help break up the monotony of city life.

More often however, I take the parks and what they mean to the city for granted. To be honest, most days I tune them out as I drive by, almost as if they didn’t exist at all.

Judging by the current state of the parks, as detailed in the recent Journal-Sentinel series on their future, that last part might be dangerously close to reality.

You’d think I’d pay more attention, since almost every memory I have involves a park. I grew up across from Pulaski, saw concerts in Wilson with my grandfather, played in Kosciusko (and like many kids, argued about the pronunciation. To me, it’s Ka Shoe Ko. Sue me.).

I marched in parades at Humboldt, proposed to my wife at Sheridan, take my kids to play at Copernicus and Burnham, used Washington as a landmark daily for a year, and camped at Whitnall.

And yet, other than noting my wife’s complaint that the restrooms at the park were locked last weekend, I didn’t have a clue they were in trouble. If you’d asked me, I’d have told you the biggest crisis facing our park system were the blasted geese and the droppings they left behind.

(note to the reader: once this current crisis is over, we have to talk about the geese. I genuinely hate them. If I was a vegetarian, they’d make me want a steak).

Ponds are full of lime and weeds, windows are broken, pavilions are locked, attractions like the Domes are curbing maintenance, pools are in danger of closing, and the only real publicity of late has been the horrifying shooting at South Shore.

So what to do?

Money. The Journal-Sentinel proposes a quarter of a percent sales tax with revenue to go directly into the park system.

If the parks were new, or looking to expand, I would welcome the tax. It would be well worth it, for myself and the community.

And yet, as columnist Patrick McIlheran points out, only 8% of my county taxes - taxes paid in one of the most heavily taxed cities in one of the most heavily taxed states - goes towards the park system.

As recently as 20 years ago, a full 29% went to the parks.

No doubt social services have eaten part of the missing 21%, as Milwaukee’s population continues to fall victim to the suburbs, and those that remain share more of a burden with less ability to pay.

But I too have to look to the County pension scandals of recent years and wonder if this is a case of shifting priorities - or just shifting the blame.

Would adding to our overwhelming tax burden genuinely help the parks, or help the next round of crooks line their pockets?

If you think I’m paranoid, then you haven’t lived here long enough.

Mayor Barrett has already publicized his belief that any tax increase must do more than help ‘only’ the parks. To my biased ears, that reeks of more than just ‘mission creep’; it says to me that this is just another hackneyed attempt to fuel an oversized, unproductive local government.

It’s one of the few reasons that this life-long Milwaukeean would ever consider leaving the city.

That and, you know, the weather.

And why an add-on to the sales tax? Recently the Common Council spoke of taxing cigarettes to pay for ‘costs’ incurred by the city. It was, to put it mildly, a ridiculous and hypocritical idea, with most of the ‘costs’ sounding suspiciously like poppycock, but if there is going to be a park tax why not make take it from this (or any of a hundred) other tax ideas our politicians spend their career?

If there is to be a sales tax, fine. But prove it to me.

Prove to me that there’s no other way, that union raises, managerial incompetence, and political whitewash play no part in the decay of a once proud institution.

Prove it to me, and I’ll gladly pay the tax.

 

Long Ramble

So where was I? A lot happened over the fourth of July - good and awful - but I don't feel up to writing about that yet. I'm gonna try to keep this post coherent, but I warn you: it may ramble in places.

After Middle Child's party, the month was pretty hit and miss. School let out (hard to believe YaYa is finished with TWO years of school already) and we made sure she had a week or two to just mosey around before starting any activities.

We had a freak hailstorm - actually, that might have been in May - and got these neat shots.

Awhile back I'd called to get YaYa into TeeBall, only to be told registration was closed and I'd have to register her in person on the first day. So I show up and naturally, the class is full. Nevermind that the lady on the phone said there were 23 openings left when I was turned down. That was not only frustrating but embarrassing - I had to walk YaYa away and explain why she couldn't play with the kids. And I'd splurged and bought her a brand new pink batting helmet too!

So we played on the swingset for a bit, then stopped at a nursery to buy some flowers which I then planted in the backyard.

Whoo-hoo!

Parke continues to wreak havoc everywhere he goes. Mind you, he is the happiest, most pleasant, easy to take care of baby in HISTORY, but he does LOOOOVE trouble. While (at this early point) he doesn't appear to be the brightest of the offspring, he seems to have an affinity for anything mechanical. He loves to take things apart, put things in their place, and generally fiddle with things.

This has its downsides: we had to replace our toilet because he jammed a shape-sorter so tightly into it that it couldn't be removed without breaking the toilet and flooding our bathroom . .

He doesn't talk much. 'Dada' is about it. He's a massive eater, downing amounts of food that rival his Daddy - and he's less than a 10th my size. Naturally, unlike his sisters he refuses to eat any vegetables. Basically, he walks; he poops; he smiles; and he eats. :)

 I can sum him up in only a few words: cheerful, with a wide smile he gives freely for any reason, and awesome size. In my words, he's 'a monster' lol . . . his shoulder span and frame hint at a giant full-grown man down the road. Heck, he's already wearing a size 5 diaper, a size his sisters NEVER reached, 'tho I concede that has more to do with his boy-parts making the smaller size leak than anything. What more could a guy ask for in a son? After all, as I've always said, "I bred for size".

 I do feel a slight disconnect with him tho'. Why? A bit of initial awkwardness after raising two baby girls, the fact that I've never been able to gel with a kid until they turn one, and the new(er) job all played a role. So did his aversion to cuddling or being held. I've said that I think all I am is the guy who puts him to bed, because it seems like the only time I hold him is to walk him to the crib. :(  

But, I'm working on changing that, and have made a concerted effort to reconnect with the kids, especially Parker.

Middle Child is just a doll. She continues to be generous and very vocal (her favorite thing lately is to call Mrs. 'Mamacita', and me 'Daddycita'). She is also very mischievous and enjoys taunting her sister, and while still doting on Parker has become annoyed with some of his actions. "Naughty Baby!" she yells, pointing her finger dramatically while scowling and squinting.

YaYa alternates from darling, intelligent angel to spoiled selfish 4 year old in the blink of an eye. Always athletic, she adores her ability on the monkey bars and is always in a state of motion.

Oh, I did eventually get her into a TeeBall program, only instead of Saturday mornings it's Tuesday and Thursday evenings - right at her bedtime. The results were predictable, with her wigging out and asking to go home midway through.

Oh yeah - I also got drafted into being a coach. Normally I'd love it, but it's hard to instruct the kids when your own four year old is lying on the ground yelling "Daddy take me home!"

Other than that . . .hmm...we went to see Cars for their cousin Sam's birthday. I thought the movie was boring, and Middle Child was asking 'is it ova?' ten minutes in. Afterwards we attended a birthday partty for the boy next door, and the girls took nice looking swipes at the pinata. Heck, one guy asked if YaYa was in baseball, she swung so nice.

Cripers, I almost forgot. My mother-in-law retired from the IRS midway through the month and we had a big gala. The mild mannered Grandma even rode a Harley around the parking lot for the occasion!

I'd post pics of it, but no one has sent me any and my own camera was low on power ...

The arrival of my kids out of state cousins for the events let to a week of fun with the extended family, but also caused YaYa to miss the first week of UWM's College for Kids Young Astronaut class.

She did attend the second week on campus, and she really did enjoy it. I attended the creative writing class when I was a kid, but YaYa seems very science oriented. She made crystals, launched a bottle rocket, and learned a lot.

Example: "Daddy, what does I-S-S spell?" she asked me. "Nothing" I said,  "No, it spells International Space Station," she stated proudly.

The first day of her class I had off, and the family and I wasted the two hours perusing my old campus. A lot has changed, and a lot remains the same. We played at the fountain - the same fountain I remember my Dad taking me to when I was in College for Kids - and walked through the 11 acre Downers Wood Preserve.

Neat fact: in the woods is a house made of sticks. "Eeyore's house!," we all declared.

My niece Caitlin also spent a few weeks with us over the course of the month and was a big help with the kids.

TTFN

Dan