Tag Archives: blogging with friends

Dinner at Jacobi's

Blogging, Food,

Welcome to the Northwoods! Dean and I heard about Jacobi’s from the Pasholks (who hated it but thought we might like it). We did. In fact we liked it so much we chose it for our 30th anniversary dinner (instead of a trip to New Zealand or Newfoundland). Really good restaurants are hard to come by in Northern Wisconsin, but Jacobi’s is definitely a really good restaurant. I chose it because I have history in the area and I love the restaurant. I think you will too.

It’s Saturday, August 18, 2021. The United States has a new (Democratic) president and both the House and Senate have Democratic majorities. As for COVID-19, social distancing worked and the spread of the disease slowed. There is now a vaccine for the virus as well as highly effective treatment. It’s still out there, but with the vaccine and treatment, the world is back to normal.

We step out of the 2021 Subaru Outback equipped with the time and place travel module in front of Jacobi’s of Hazelhurst in Hazelhurst, Wisconsin. The Outback stopped at each of our homes on March 21, 2020 (March 22 in NZ) to pick us up for a dinner in a better future.

The outside of Jacobi’s is unassuming, but when you walk through the door and see the beautiful (and fully-stocked) wooden bar, you know you are in a special place. We have a seat at the bar. I order an old fashioned, and encourage the rest of you to do the same. Susan, who has given up alcohol, has sparkling water (unless, because this is a fantasy, you would like an old fashioned as well?) We’re loud, we know that, but we’ve been friends for over ten years and most of us have never met.

We’re seated in the back room. The one with the fireplace. Even if this is summer, let’s say the fireplace is lit and we’re near enough to it to feel cozy but not close enough to be too hot. Wisconsin late summers can be cool. We examine the menu.

The server brings us fresh baked bread and butter along with a complimentary appetizer of fresh watermelon, feta and balsamic vinegar. She asks us what we’d like for drinks and if we want appetizers. Helen orders dry red wine (a whole bottle!), onion rings and garlic bread (to share). Mali orders spinach artichoke dip to share and a glass of California Chardonnay. IB and Bridgett both order a boulevardier. Maureen orders something, but I cannot hear her over the talking. Susan sticks with sparkling water with a twist of lime (unless, since this is a fantasy…) and Kim orders a drink I’ve never heard of with top-shelf gin. I decide to move onto wine, and order a chardonnay.

Our drinks and appetizers arrive and we talk about our lives and how happy we are finally together in the same place. The food is exquisite as always.

The server returns for our dinner order. Helen orders spinach and garlic tortellini, Mali decides on the blackened chicken pasta but substitutes the chicken with blackened shrimp, I choose the pan fried walleye because walleye is one of my favorite fish. Susan asks if the chef can make her a salad for dinner because salad is Susan’s favorite food. The server assures Susan the chef will make a special salad with berries, nuts, heirloom lettuce, blackened chicken and hard boiled eggs. Bridgett chooses the black angus ribeye — because it is unadorned except for au jus. Maureen orders the pork tenderloin after making sure there were no almonds or anything made with almonds in the dish. IB selects the shrimp and tenderloin en brochette. Kim decides on the honey ginger grilled salmon. We order another bottle of dry red and chardonnay to share.

Our dinners arrive, and a few minutes of quiet descend on us while we enjoy our meals, the only sounds are murmurs of appreciation and a sigh or two. We’re all curious about Susan’s salad, it looks so delicious and healthy.

When the server asks if we would like to see the desert menu, Mali and Helen both order the double chocolate truffle pie. Maureen and Bridgett order the blueberry pie (which contains no almonds so Maureen is safe). I convince the rest of you (except Susan) to have ice cream drinks. I order a pink squirrel and Kim and IB order grasshoppers.

After dinner we sit back in our chairs and talk some more, more subdued now. We want the evening to go on and on, but we are needed back home. We hug goodbye. We climb into the Outback and are whisked back to our individual isolations in the midst of an unbelievable pandemic.

My most *** purchase ever

Blogging, Reading

Our topic last week was your most insert adjective here purchase ever. I have not read any of the posts and I really don’t know that there is one stand-out purchase for any adjective I can think of.

Oh wait.

I think I know.

My most un-woke purchase ever

On January 30, 2020 I bought the Kindle addition of American Dirt. I’d read many articles, tweets and blog posts explaining why I should not buy the book, but I bought it anyway.

I did it because it was recommended by Stephen King. I didn’t do it because Oprah chose it for her book club. I did it so I could talk about something that I’d actually read and not just read about.

I started reading it. I thought it was well-written, at least what I read. I stopped for a few reasons: to concentrate on books I needed to read for this reason or that, I didn’t like part of the storyline, I felt guilty for buying it in the first place.

I still plan on finishing it but it needs to wait in line for a few other books I want to finish.

An annotated list of my jobs

Work,

Note, this is not in chronological order.

TL;DR

  • Babysitter
  • sales clerk
  • waitress
  • bakery clerk
  • substitute teacher
  • teacher
  • web accessibility specialist

Child care

Elgin, Illinois 1969 – 1977

I started earning money by babysitting. First for my brother, then for children of family friends and even a relative or two. It was fine, but I definately tired of it after a while. I didn’t have a set charge and let the folks whose kids I babysat give me what they thought right. It usually was about a dollar an hour if I recall correctly.

Retail

Ben Franklin, Elgin Illinois 1973 – 1974

My first “real” job was as a sales clerk at Ben Franklin in Elgin. I wanted to go to England as an exchange student and needed to earn half of the cost of the trip. I worked after school and on weekends. It was fine. I learned how to count change. I met some interesting people. I was someone’s son’s birthday present one night. I quit before I went to England and the assistant manager, a woman who could be nice, but often chose to not be, told me, “fine, shop girls were a dime a dozen.” I think the most I made there was $1.70 an hour even though minimum wage was at least $2.00 an hour in 1974. I remember the manager telling us that he knew that minimum wage had increased but he could not afford to pay us that.

Zayre, Elgin Illinois 1975 – 1976

I am not positive about the years I worked at Zayre, but I know I worked there for a while when I was in community college. I think it was only until I got enough money to go to England. Zayre was a discount department store like K-Mart. I worked at the jewelry department. I didn’t like this job much at all, but I guess I didn’t hate it. I did end up with a lot of hours though because the manager often called me in when I was not scheduled because she didn’t like to work or something (she ended up being fired for stealing money from the register, so that must be how she made money). I probably made $2.30 an hour which was minimum wage.

Work Study

Elgin Community College, Elgin Illinois Spring 1977

Looking back, this was a perfect job for me. I spent my time shelving books in the school library. I was paid to hang out in a library! I wish that I didn’t have my mind so damn set on teaching, because I think I would have made a really good librarian. I assume I was paid minimum wage which was $2.30 an hour.

Food Service

Manor Pancake House, Elgin Illinois 1977 – 1979

Once again, in order to make money for a trip to England I had to find a job. I probably started waiting tables at the Manor sometime after Jeremy’s visit in the summer of 1977. I am sure my journals will tell me, but they are in a box in a closet filled with crap and I don’t feel like going down that rabbit hole this morning. Anyway, I worked at the Manor while I was attending Northern Illinois University (living at home, commuting three days a week). My hours were long — sometimes working the night shift. I worked almost 40 hours a week while going to school full-time. I was a better waitress than I was a student. I don’t know what I made an hour, but tips in a pancake house in the 1970s in a midwestern town were not something to write home about. The restaurant was my social life, so there was that.

Giant Eagle, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 1981 – 1982

I don’t know if working in a bakery in a grocery store is considered food service, but let’s say it is. I supplemented my substitute teaching income by selling cookies, cupcakes and croissants to citizens of the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh. I liked my workmates enough. One of them had a day job working on the crew of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. I sold a croissant to Willie Stargell, but didn’t know who he was until someone told me, later. All I remember was that he was very nice and wore a fur coat and fancy brimmed hat, and that everyone stared at him. I probably made minimum wage ($3.35 an hour).

Teaching

Bartlett Learning Center, Bartlett Illinois 1979 – 1981

After trying to get a teaching job with the Elgin school district, I didn’t know what to do so I did nothing. I continued working as a waitress until one evening my cousin called and said that there was a private school for special needs kids who needed a temporary substitute teacher. I interviewed and got the job. The school was in a convent (actually an “old nuns’ home”) and run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis and I quickly became best friends with several of the Sisters who worked there. When Sister Jane, for whom I was substituting, returned from medical leave the school asked me to stay on as a co-teacher to help Sister Jane. The next year they offered me my own classroom. I might be teaching there still if Dean and I had not moved to Pittsburgh. I think my salary was somewhere in the low teens.

Substitute Teacher, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 1981-1982

While working on getting a teaching certificate in Pennsylvania I taught kids with special needs as a substitute teacher. I got called a lot. I was supposed to be up and ready to go in the mornings but I never was and was often late to the school. I didn’t know Pittsburgh that well and often got lost trying to find a school. I think I was a failure at substitute teaching. I also hated it. Pay was not too bad.

Teacher, Pace School, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 1982- 1985

I interviewed at a few private schools as well as for the Pittsburgh school system and finally landed a teacher’s assistant position at a private school in East Liberty. After a couple of months they asked if I was interested in applying for a teaching position at the school when one of the teachers left. I was game and got the job. Pace was a school for students with learning and emotional disabilities (it is still around, although not in East Liberty and I don’t know what population it serves). When I was there it was funded by the school districts in and around Pittsburgh for students that the school districts had no programs for. I received quite an education at Pace. I taught a whole lot of angry children. I was punched a number of times, had chairs thrown at me, I was tackled once from behind. I was not prepared to teach such children, but I tried. Pay was probably low 20K

Teacher, St. Ann School, Arlington Virginia 1986 – 1991

After we moved to the DC area I took a break from teaching to work on getting a Virginia teaching certificate and to look for a job. I was hired by a company called Seton Centers that put special ed teachers in Catholic schools in the area. They sent me to St. Ann School. It may have been love at first sight. My years at St. Ann were definitely the best of any job I have ever had. The whole school was welcoming, from the principal (Sister Joan),to the fellow teachers, to the parents. The kids were well-behaved. I am still friends with the mother of one of the students I taught. The only problem was the pay (probably mid-20K).

Teacher, Rose Hill School, Fairfax County 1991 – 1998

I interviewed at several schools when I was trying to break into public schools. Some in Alexandria and some in Fairfax County. I was offered a position at a school in Alexandria, but the school was going through some issues and I didn’t want a bunch of drama in my worklife. My favorite interview was along what was called the Route 1 corridor — known for being a low-income area. I know I would have gotten that job if the county didn’t have a policy that an existing employee of the county had first dibs. The principal told me as much when he called to say he was sorry he could not offer me the job. I ended up being hired by an outgoing principal for a resource teacher position. Apparently his exit caused the exit of a number of teachers. The new principal seemed fine the first year — very granola, but over the next summer she got divorced, started dating the cluster supervisor, cut off her curly hair (rumor has it with a Flowbee), and exchanged “just left the farmer’s market dresses” with corporate professional clothes. She also lost her sense of humor and any shred of kindness she possessed. She was the one who asked me if I’d planned my pregnancy. Despite her, I liked the job enough to stick around for 7 years. I left when got into grad school. Salary — I don’t remember. Probably double what I made at St. Ann’s.

Information Technology

Web Accessibility Specialist, Caliber/ICF*, Fairfax Virginia 2001 to present

After graduate school I decided to change careers and interviewed at consulting companies to work on websites. I was hired by Caliber as a web content manager, but they quickly encouraged me to learn about web accessibility. A new law was about to come into effect that mandated that all government websites must be accessible. I was a quick learner and that’s what I am doing for this company, over 19 years later — evaluating websites for accessibility and remediating electronic documents so they can be used by people with disabilities. I have mostly enjoyed this job and I feel good about what I do for a living. And I have worked from home since 2003. Salary — let’s just say I will REALLY miss it when I retire.

*Caliber was purchased by ICF around 2005