Welcome to

I Read a Book!

I've been retired since June of 2001 and I finally found time to read a book. It was an easy read, with big print and lots of pictures, but I've been so busy it still took me a week to finish it. My 5 star review is on Amazon.com.

I just finished reading Division Street Princess and I really enjoyed it. The book just came out and I recommend it to all ages. I got it at Amazon.com. There are so many things in that book that brought back memories. The Author, Elaine Soloway, lived above a Ma and Pa Grocery store at 2505 West Division. That is 2 blocks from where I went to grade school at St. Mark and a half block from the house that my wife grew up in. Elaine's Parents' store went broke in 1951 when the A&P took away many of their cash customers. The only ones left were the ones asking for credit. That is the same thing that happened to my Mom's parents' store on Paulina, when their customers stopped paying, because of the depression. My grandpa told me one customer rang his door bell a few years later on a cold winter night, when he had enough money to pay off his bill. Grandpa told him to keep the money and buy his wife a coat. Grandpa had a job at the tannery and his Greystone 3 flat was paid off with rent coming in from my parents and my Uncle.

Their Family Holiday gatherings at her grandparents house reminded me of the parties at our house. Everyone came over because my grandparents lived on the 1st floor, we lived on the second floor and my Uncle and Aunt lived on the 3rd floor, so we had a 3 level party with happy kids everywhere and one of my uncles was always predicting the end of the world with the A-Bomb. I didn't like listening to him and my Dad told me not to worry, that he didn't know what he was talking about.

Some other Memories from the book.

My Dad smoked Camel cigarettes just like Elaine's Dad. Fortunately my Dad was able to quit before they killed him.
Duncan YoYos. They made a comeback about 10 years ago while I was teaching and my students had a new respect for me when I showed them how to "Walk the doggy", "rock the baby" and "sail it around the world" Spinning tops and Marbles never made a comeback while I was teaching. That was fine with me, because I could spin a top, but I never was good at Marbles.
Clamp on roller skates with the key on a string around your neck I loved to roller skate, and the old shoemaker got a lot of business repairing those shoes that were separated from their soles.
Army-Navy Surplus store where we bought gas masks and metal cups that were covered with blue speckled enamel.
Polio (Infantile Paralysis) had us afraid to go to the pool or take a drink from a water fountain.
Her Dad worked at Blue Star Auto parts, I remember going there with my dad whenever our car stopped running.
Old Singer Sewing Machine. Mom could take my Dad's old softball uniform and make it fit a 7 year old. My brother and I ran around with "Birtman Electric" uniforms. My friend Bob Campbell had a White Sox uniform, but he only wanted a Birtman Electric Uniform, so his mom offered to pay my Mom to make one for him. She made one for no charge.
TV with Milton Berle and Sid Ceaser.

I would have finished the book sooner, but I've had busy Month of May.

May 14, 2006 Happy Mother's Day

May 5, 2006 Busy Start of May

I got the following quote from Wikipedia.org about Humboldt park.

Throughout its history, Humboldt Park has remained a neighborhood of persons "passing through," being an area in which to live while accumulating capital in order to move on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Park,_Chicago

My Mom moved into the Humboldt park area in the 1930s and never moved on.

Picture Day will be on May 19, 2006

The following is a letter from Garrett's Mom:

Let me ask a favor of you...as you may remember, Garrett was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in 2003 and was treated through St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN and their affiliate in Peoria. In early August there is a run where runners leave Peoria on Tuesday, arrive in Memphis and RUN BACK FROM MEMPHIS beginning Wednesday at noon and arrive in Peoria Saturday at

6:00pm to kick off a telethon. This is the 25th year of that run and Garrett and I are going to do it. In order to do this though, we need to raise at least $5,000 for the hospital. The run is a sponsored event so 100% of the donations go to research and treatment of kids with cancers and other diseases. In addition, the organization is a 501C3, so the donations are deductible, if someone is interested in that.

Please make checks out to: St Jude Children's Research Hospital

Could we request a collection of some sort or something to help us with our fund raising needs? If it's too bold or too much since we're new to the group & not regulars, we understand.

If you are interested in finding out more about the hospital, the site is

www.stjude.org and the run has a site too at www.stjuderuns.org.

Looking forward to seeing you all in a few weeks.

Blessings,

Donna

I will be passing the hat, for this great cause, in the locker room before the game and again in the parking lot after you have had a few beers. You may want to increase you donation if Garrett lets you score, like that time Doc gave Tweedy some investment money then scored a Hat Trick on him. In addition, you will be able to purchase a CD-ROM with all of the pictures taken that night for $5.00. CD_ROMs with all of the pictures she took of us in Peoria and last May in Bolingbrook will also be available. All proceeds will go to St Jude Children's Research Hospital fund.

Beak

Dig deep, We don't want to see Stump put on the Pads.

"A Drinking Team with a Hockey Problem" Visit the Beak's Web Page: http://www.lopatka.net

Bolingbrook, IL Friday, 5/12/06

Attendance 26 Report by The Beak


	Anvil Goes Back to Red!

Eddie took a lot of abuse last week when his beach ball picture hit Cyber Space. He put on his lucky Red sweater, stopped a lot of rubber and picked up a double header win. The Anvil had a shut out going until Donny Granato finally found an opening half way through the 3rd period. Robert Granato then added another goal for the Whites, but the Reds were way out in front with 10 goals. The following is a report by The Flea.
I had the Nipple Goal, wherein I took a shot, that hit the Brian in the shoulder, it bounced back and hit me in the nipple, then it hit the Brian in the shoulder again and dribbled into the net. My old coach would call it a "garbage goal".


	The Anvil got the last laugh after the beach ball

King Kong had one, Hitman and Beer nuts had the 2 meaningful goals. Nick had at least two, Tommy had at least two, Mike Presecky one, I think Ken Lopatka had the other one.
Have a great week, Perry

The Game Result Committee at Buffalo Wild Wings had agreed not to post the Beer Nuts goal since he didn't show up for a beer. The guys like to hear him complain. We got a complaint from Brinks, a guy that never complains. He threatened to cut Rich Storm's beer supply off for his pre game move. The Reds had 14 guys and the Whites had 11, so he sent Beak and Bill Conti over to the Whites for a player that never showed up. That gave the Reds 3 full lines, while the Whites were one shy of 3 lines, so they had to have Tommy Z and Nick do double duty. The Whites tried several guys at center, but Nick and Tom had their way most of the night. They even had Thor trying to keep up with Nick. The Brain had a hard time getting his touch back, after a week off. He would have had a the funniest statement of the night if only Koss had stayed home. He came over to the bench between periods and stated that he could have stopped the Beer nuts goal, but he thought he had help coming back. We laughed and asked him what he was smoking? He has been a Duffer goalie long enough to know that you never get help coming back. Koss had the funniest question when he asked Beak why he was changing after only a 90 second shift. He didn't learn anything by Beak's attempt to get the Mini, Super Dave Beak rhythm going, where they get 3 shifts in every 3 or 4 minutes. Koss just stayed out there for 4 or 5 minutes to make up for Beak's quick change.


	Picture day will be on May 19th Donations will be accepted for St Jude Children's Research Hospital. Let's look sharp. Comb your teeth and brush your hair.


	Maybe we can get St. Louis Blues coach, Donny Granato to get us to line up for a team picture like this.

We have to work on our team picture, look how nice Donny and the Blues look. Please help us Donny!

Ages calculated on May 12, 2006

Dikinis	Harvey	69.56
Presecky	Knarf	68.22
Pavichevich	Hacksaw	67.85
Lopatka	Beak	66.21
Granato	Brinks	64.39
Giffune	Klinger	64.34
Biernat	Beer Nuts	61.15
Cromwell	Geno	59.74
Landry	Magoo	58.64
Bobka	Fruit Cake	58.61
Miller	Thor	56.64
Heitman	Hit man	56.62
Clementson	Wheezer	52.16
Hawrysio	Anvil	51.30	Mean Age	50.26
Morgan	Buckshot	48.80
Dubreuil	Dock	47.54
Koss	Cone	47.20	Median Age
Louis	By the Way	46.87
Barczynski	Stump	46.15
Smith	Basketball Jones	45.47
Lea	Flea	45.35
Mazurk	Woody	44.78
Granato	Struuse	44.51	Mode
Morgan	Butt Head	44.24
Lopatka	Beak Jr.	43.75
Koudelka	Peoria King	41.50
Zagorski	King Kong	39.95
Presecky	Rich Storm	38.23
Sulivan	Super Dave	37.04
Oskroba	Mini Wheezer	36.64
Lopatka	Tweedy	35.98
Zagorski	Ahb	35.60
Opalka	The Brain	33.45
	Total Age	1658.45
	Average	50.26