The Scripps Howard Spelling Bee was on TV last night..and as I watched and cringed at Tom Bergeron’s attempts at humor, I also winced as I recalled a spelling bee of my own..a long time ago in a county far, far, away.

When I was growing up I was the best speller in my school, and pretty proud of it. So I was thrilled when I heard about a spelling contest sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Now, they’re no Scripps Howard..so a trip to the nation’s capitol was not on the line. But there was prestige and honor involved.

The first part of the contest involved going to the local Catholic high school and taking a written test and also a 10-word oral competition. I tied with another girl, and we both moved on to the diocese level (the Knights of Columbus is a Catholic organization.)

When I walked into the room where they were holding the competition, I saw the trophy and WANTED IT. I was probably a little bit too cocky and annoying when I marched right up to it and said in a loud voice, “Oh, that’s the trophy I’m going to win.”

Well my comeuppance didn’t come that day.  That’s because I won, and advanced to the state competition, which was held in my hometown of Stevens Point.

That’s when my little world crumbled. The written test was difficult, but nothing compared to the oral part of the test. I think I got only five of the ten words right. Of course I don’t remember the words I nailed, but here are some words that I never spelled wrong after that day. Rapport, asphyxiation, and repertoire.

The last one I spelled this way: repetwa.

I remember I went home and cried and cried and cried. I had never faced the agony of defeat before, and I didn’t like it. I felt a lot like that skier on the Wide World of Sports.

But at least they didn’t rebroadcast my defeat over and over again every weekend on ABC-TV.

For the weekend of May 29

Dear August at the Capital Brewery Beer Garten, Friday from 6-9. Can you think of a better way to start off the weekend than with a tall mug of locally brewed beer and free live music?

Pupy Costello and His Big City Honky Tonk at the High Noon Saloon, Saturday, 9pm. With Cash Box Kings with Joel Paterson and Jimmy Sutton.  Gotta love Pupy’s URL: www.upyourdinger.com/

The Felice Brothers at the UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9pm Saturday, no cover. Folk rock that features fiddles, washboards, accordion, and sometimes horns.

Freaky Band Name of the Week: Dead Sparrows, 9:30pm Sunday at the Frequency. Hailing from Brooklyn NY these days..they played as The Cummies when they lived in Madison.

So, I’m starting to layout my game plan for each day of Bonnaroo. What I didn’t consider until right now is that I’m going to be up incredibly late each night. Waaaay past my bedtime! For example, Ben Harper doesn’t start until 1am. The good news is that the days won’t begin until noon, so that leaves plenty of time to sleep in (and blog of course).

I know I said I was going to blog about Andrew Bird, but well this is just slightly more crucial. Now that I’ve been working on the lineup it got me to thinking that this game plan needs to be just right. Fasten the thinking cap and sharpen the pencil. Every detail must be in place. The first couple of days will be relatively calm, but if you look ahead to day 4, I’m going to be sprinting from stage to stage to catch all the bands I plan to see! You know what, Erykah Badu is just going to have to wait because I need time to schmooze with Citizen Cope. They are giving me no time to do so! Don’t they understand a girl needs some time to work it?! Citizen Cope ends and Erykah starts at 3:30pm. Come on, who planned this?! Can I talk to someone in charge here?!

And then (here’s the part where I mention Andrew Bird) I will either have to miss 45 minutes of Erykah Badu to catch Andrew Bird’s opening, or miss poor Andrew. Luckily I’ll have a 15-minute gap between Andrew and Snoop Dogg. Whew!

Who am I kidding? Knowing me, I can do all of the planning in the world and the minute I get there and begin consuming adult beverages I’ll start to flit about from stage to stage and disregard the original plan. Forget any help from my partner in crime since his musical choices are completely different from mine. No worries though. I’ll make plenty of friends. And plenty of memories.

–posted by Trish

For the last several years it’s been a tradition for me to go to Opening Day for the Chicago White Sox.  Win or lose, it  signals the start of another baseball season and the end of winter.  This year I had my ticket for the first game, but it was snowed out and the make up game was scheduled for the next day.  Since my job is to wake up Madison every morning, it wasn’t possible for me to go to the next day.

However, I got to go to my first game over Memorial Day weekend.  In fact, I took Lindsay to the game.  I was excited to get back to the park despite the fact that the White Sox have been struggling so far this season.  I was also excited because over the winter I shelled out some cash for a brick with my name to be installed outside the stadium.

For those of you unfamiliar with White Sox history, the team won a World Series back in 2005, but that was the first championship in 88 years!  World Series wins are rare in Chicago so a giant shrine was  installed outside the park honoring the 2005 champs.  Suckers like me could pay good money to have a brick installed around the shrine.

Here’s a picture of my brick:

So when we got to US Cellular Field I was excited to see the brick and to show Lindsay how cool I was to have my very own brick.  I have a feeling it is something that probably impressed me more than her.  I can’t imagine she’ll be saying to her friends, “Did you know Jonathan has his own brick at U.S. Cellular Field?!”

She doesn’t have to tell anyone yet because there is no brick…yet.  Apparently the bad weather over the winter made it difficult to install the new bricks so mine wasn’t in place.  The picture you see is of the “copy brick” that was sent to my apartment.

I was slightly disappointed the brick wasn’t there, but it was still time for baseball!!  Lindsay and I had great seats behind home plate and she seemed to enjoy the game.  They were playing the Pittsbugh Pirates and there were quite a few Pirates’ fans sitting around us.  I got a little tired of making small talk with Pirates fans about the rivalry between the Cubs and White Sox or how could voters have elected Rob Blagojevich as Governor of Illinois.

However, the game moved at a pretty decent pace and suddenly it was already the top of the ninth and the there were two outs.  The White Sox were leading 3 to 2 and the fans all jumped to their feet to cheer for the final out.  Then the White Sox ace reliever, Bobby Jenks  gave up a home run and then a few more hits and suddenly it was 4 to 3 Pittsburgh.

They ended up losing the game!  I’ve been a White Sox fan for about 27 years and honestly most of those  years have ended in disappointed.  So to steal another sports term:  I guess my first visit of the year was “par for the course.”

I’m ticked off at NBC. They’ve canceled the best show featuring a cheesy mustache since Evening Shade!*

That’s right..they’ve dumped My Name is Earl. A show that was so smart at being stupid that the network execs weren’t smart enough to understand!  (Huh?)

Some of the things I loved about Earl:

1. Perfect use of classic rock music (and no songs by the Fray were ever played!)

2. Super-cool guest stars (Betty White as a crazy homicidal lunatic!)

3. Outlandish plots (Crab-man’s identity is blown so the witness protection program gives him, Joy and the kids new ones…and sends them somewhere worse than Camden County!)

4. Love for our tiny animal friends (the bond between Crab-man and Mr. Turtle knew no bounds!)

5. Great cliff-hangers. Who was the father of Joy’s youngest boy if it wasn’t Crab-man? Now we will never know!

There’s an effort to save Earl on Twitter. If you’re into that whole Tweeting thing, check it out and sign the “twitition” here.

*Evening Shade: 1980’s sitcom featuring Burt Reynolds. How could you forget?

First the Good- I did a solo century ride yesterday.  It wasn’t fast.  It wasn’t pretty.  But I did it…100 miles, unsupported, all by myself.  I felt pretty good through the first 60 or so miles- from my house out to Cross Plains where I jumped on the Ironman route and rode that loop.  There were a few tough areas- the wind was strong, so when I was riding into the wind, I wasn’t exactly setting and speed records, but when the wind was at my back I felt like Superman!  When I got to Verona on the second loop I was starting to tire a bit.  But I was determined to finish it, even if it took me all day.  I called my wife and we decided to meet for lunch at the Grumpy Troll in Mt. Horeb.  So I had a nice break before finishing things out.  So, the solo century was the good, and that came about because of the bad…

The Bad- the aborted century on Saturday.  This was to be a group ride- me, Mike, Michael and Susan.  We were starting at 6:30 on Saturday morning, so Susan picked me up at 6.  About 2 minutes later I remembered that I had failed to finish up a project at work on Friday.  A project that absolutely had to be done right away, so Susan dropped me and the bike off at the station- I said it would take about 15 minutes and then I would ride from here to Verona and meet the rest of them who were riding from the boathouse just off John Nolan Drive.  Ten minutes later my phone rang, it was Susan- we’re bagging the ride because of the rain- maybe we’ll go out later today.  So she picked me and my bike up, took me home, unloaded the bike again and I decided to go back to bed.  As I was getting ready for bed I decided my time was better spent by going back into work to finish up the rest of what I had to do for the weekend.  I’m half-way through those projects when the phone rings again- it’s Susan, we’re riding- ready to go?  So I drove home, changed again, grabbed my bike and loaded it back onto her car.  This time we all met in Verona and the plan was to do two loops of the Ironman coarse- so about 80 miles.  About 5 miles into the second loop I bonked.  Bad.  Really bad.  So I turned back, loaded my bike back onto her car and drove myself home.  Susan finished the second loop and then rode to my house to pick up her car- so she probably did a full century.  So after that, I had to prove myself- that’s why I did the solo century yesterday.  Which leads me to…

My Spin on it all.  Here’s what I tell everyone I did this weekend- On Saturday I did a Metric century (100k or about 60 miles), I rested on Sunday and cheered some friends in at the Madison Marathon, and on Memorial day I did a good old fashioned AMERICAN century (100 MILES).

As your friendly neighborhood morning show guy, I get asked to host various events around the community.  I enjoy doing them all except for the “Help Mayor Dave Clean His Basement Event” which apparently no one but me attends each year. 

One of my favorites is the “Fashion for All Abilities Show”.  It’s put on by the UW Waisman Center.  The idea behind it is to remind business owners around town that those with physical and mental challenges are still valuable customers who are ready to buy, buy buy!

All the models I get to work with are dressed up for the event and look great.  The energy level of the models and the crowd is intense.  Everyone is cheering and all the models take to the stage like they’ve been models for years.

It may be a simple show that lasts about an hour, but for that hour I tend to forget about all the day to day stupid stuff happening in the world and I just have fun.

For Memorial Day Weekend

Westside Andy/Mel Ford Band at the Capital Brewery Bier Garten in Middleton.  One of Wisconsin’s best blues bands opens up the beer garden in style! 6-9pm Friday. FREE!

Mighty Short Bus at the Great Dane downtown. A chance to check out some songs from the new album they say is coming out soon. Sunday night at 10. FREE! (And you don’t have to work Monday..so you have no excuses.)

Monona Memorial Day Parade. 10am Monday along Monona Drive from Monona Grove High School to Owen Road. A great way to remember what this holiday is supposed to be all about.

Freaky Band Name of the Week: Taj Motel Trio with the Socialites and the Invaders, 10pm Saturday at the Frequency.  $5. Ska/punk  from Cornelia, Georgia.

Three day weekends are much anticipated, but often go by way too quickly. Use this guide to determine if you’re making adequate use of the extra time off. You may want to print this and bring it with you to your Northwoods getaway!

1. Leave work at 3pm to get a headstart on the holiday traffic. Give yourself 100 points.

2. Realize at 3:30pm that every one else had the same idea as you. Resist the temptation to swear at those pesky Illinois drivers, and deduct 50 points.

3. On the drive up, you stop at your favorite fish fry joint, and you don’t have to wait for a table.  Add 50 points.

4. On the car radio, you find a cool radio station that plays Coldplay, and Merle Haggard. Add 100 points.

5. Arrive at the campground, and remember you forgot to make a reservation. Check into a nearby motel. Add 50 points.

6. The guests in the next room yell at you to turn down the music, because they’re going fishing in the morning. Subtract 50 points.

7. Your Saturday morning fishing trip is delayed when you realize you forgot the nightcrawlers at home in the fridge. Minus 50 points.

8. Catch a walleye using cherry flavored Gummi worms. Give yourself 50 points.

9. Find yourself checking Facebook to see if your work friends are having more fun than you. Subtract 50 points.

10. Aunt Helen brought her delicious Double Fudge Chocolate Ecstacy cake!  Add 75 points.

11. Your Uncle Phil ate the last piece. Subtract 75 points.

12. Realize water skiing is best enjoyed as a spectator sport. Add 50 points.

13. Some one you like slathers you with sunscreen. Add 100 points.

14. Oops..missed a spot. Where the heck is the Solarcaine?  Subtract 50 points.

15. Pause and reflect after you recall what Memorial Day is all about. One Million Points.

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day Weekend Everybody!