My Week that Was - January 31

A cold winter day. 1/23/2026 dwm

  The weekend, starting Friday (1/23/26) was a deep freeze with highs around zero. That made a simple trip to pick up a few things a bit more challenging.

 I was dressed warmly, but without a scarf it took only a few minutes to feel my skin get tight and cold. It's OK when you have a  warm coat and a car that starts every time, but it wouldn't take long for the cold to ruin your day. 

 After that one Saturday morning jaunt, I spent the rest of the day inside, binge-watching an old TV show, college basketball, and a movie, The Way, that I'd heard of but hadn't seen. It's a thoughtful film. 

The games Sunday surprised me. 

The Badgers lost at home to the University of Southern California, breaking a five-game streak. Thankfully they got a chance Tuesday to get back on track. 

The other games were the games to determine which teams play in Super Bowl LX (60). Denver's back-up quarterback had to start because the regular QB couldn't play. He put the Broncos up 7 in the first quarter, but they didn't score again, and lost 7 - 10 to the Patriots. New England will play the Seattle Seahawks in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX (49) played February 1, 2015. The Seahawks looked powerful in a win over the Rams. From my seat, Seattle looks like the favorite.

Mayfield Mall. 1/26/2026 dwm

Monday was our 41st anniversary. I took the day off and my wife didn't have any clients needing assistance so we took a day-trip to Milwaukee in spite of the cold.

We made several stops around Milwaukee, including Mayfield Mall (photo right). For lunch, we had burgers and onion rings at Kopp's Custard on Blue Mound Road. While it was cold, Wisconsin hasn't had snow in several days so the roads were clear. It was a nice get-away. 

I finished the Reagan book before it disappeared into the either from my Amazon Fire. For a few days I thought  was possible to renew the book for three more weeks, but it wasn't an option. I could get back on the waiting list, but I wasn't willing to wait another year before I could finish it. 

Instead, I skipped a few chapters to read about his life after the White House and look through a photo album of shots from Reagan's life starting with a portait of Dutch with his older brother and parents to pictures with two retired police officers that became his closest friends after his wife, Nancy. There will be more about Reagan: His Life and Legend, on Tuesday.  

The Badger game started slow as their poor shooting continued and they trailed by 20, at one point. The team showed up in the second half as they made up the deficit and beat Minnesota for the 11th time in a row. 

The last week of January gets busy in the office as we keep the printers spitting out gift reports to help donors with their taxes. We send reports to everyone who gave at least $250 or made more than one gift. 

The other things we worked on were Valentines for donors. All three of us are signing the cards, so we're taking turns signing big stacks of cards then passing them on to the next person. We should be ready to mail them by the end of next week.

Thursday was busy - we printed the cover letters to go out with the year-end giving statements to donors, then started putting them together and into envelopes. Thanks to team members chipping in, everything was sealed by the end of the day, and either sent out with the Post Office or placed in campus mailboxes.

That was my week, I hope your next week goes well. Thanks for reading!