Day at the Office

James knows his way around IUN’s campus and walked from the library to his Kids College classroom in Raintree Hall although I observed him until he went in the back door. He also announced that he could walk by himself to the Archives after class. Yesterday he forgot his water bottle after class and the other boy in the class, Xavier, ran after him and caught up to us. My Pet detective Agency story for the day featured their pet cockatoo Razz. In Canberra, Australia four years ago I saw an entire tree full of them. What a pity to take them out of their natural habitat.

I told secretary Vickie Milenkovski, in charge of signing up to county fair volunteers, to put me down for Porter County a week from Sunday. I’ll get a free pass plus an IU Northwest t-shirt. Last time I got a classy crimson one. I chose the noon to three shift even though it will cut into gaming because my partner will be Stela Pudar-Hozo, whom I had such a good time with two years ago. The Fairgrounds are quite close to our condo, just a few miles south on Route 49. Chris Young, happy to get my critique of his article on Haym Solomon, has a son in three Kids College classes with a lunch break between the second and third. Like Boston Tea Party casualty Crispus Attucks and Polish patriot Thaddeus Kosiuszko, Solomon’s importance is largely symbolic of Jewish support for the Revolution.

Archivist Steve McShane was back from vacation and three volunteers were doing their thing. John Trafny, author of several photo books on Gary neighborhoods, was looking through a folder documenting when the Senior Little League World Series took place in Glen Park’s Junedale subdivision. I attended a game in 1971, and hundreds of Chinese-Americans were cheering for the team from Taiwan. A few white fans booed Mayor Richard Hatcher when he threw out the first ball. Trafny had started researching and gathering photos about Glen Park a few years ago, but all the files on his computer were destroyed when his basement flooded. Bummer.

I picked up Chicago style hot dogs loaded with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers - the works - from Depot Dog on the corner of Route 20 and County Line Road. Nephews Bobby and Joe loved them when they visited. The owner has beautifully manicured a once shabby corner lot. At Maple Place Toni packed Christmas decorations into two big Kmart tubs while I cleaned square plaster molds that grandkids gave us six years ago. We found a place for them at the condo and did some weeding.

Ensconced in my basement “cave,” I listened to the Romantics’ 1980 breakthrough album featuring “What I Like About You” (voted one of the best songs to dance to of all time). At the time of my twentieth reunion, I gave it to Terry and Gayle while staying overnight with them. I saw the Romantics at Valparaiso University after they had faded from sight and their power pop style was no longer in vogue. Playing before a few hundred people, they were terrific and played like they were entertaining thousands. Opening for them was Digital Hair, whose frontman Chad Clifford, a former student, is now with the band Crawpuppies.

Fell asleep in the sixth inning of the All-Star game with the AL ahead 1-0. I was happy to learn that the National League won and that Cubbie Marlon Byrd not only scored a run but made a brilliant play in rightfield, catching a bloop hit on a bounce and throwing out David Ortiz before “Big Papi” could lumber from first to second. As a result, if the Phillies can get in the World Series for the third straight season, they’ll have home field advantage.

In the news: seven year-old Kyron Horman of Beaverton, Oregon, is still missing more than a month after mother-in-law Terri supposedly dropped him off at a school science fair. Terri, a body building 40 year-old narcissist, has become the chief suspect. She allegedly tried to hire a guy to kill husband Kaine and has been sending a paramour nude images of herself. Sexting, I think it’s called and normally involves teenagers. The press is salivating. Also Bristol Palin is engaged to Levi Johnston, the father of baby Trip, who angered mama by posing nude for Playgirl magazine but is the father of Bristol’s baby Trip. Bristol announced that she is not pregnant again and is practicing abstinence until the marriage. No word yet is Sarah will attend.

Post-Tribune columnist Rich James wondered who came up with the city of Gary’s official motto “City of the Century.” It goes back to the early days of boosterism and is also an oblique reference to having been founded at the beginning of a new century (the twentieth). We also talked some politics as is our wont, and I suggested that he interview IUN’s new chancellor William Lowe.