Getting back to my roots

I can't believe it is already midnight and my last day has begun. I really would like to spend a few more days here. Maybe make another trip in the fall???

I lazed a bit this morning. Got up at 8:30, left the hotel about 9:45. I needed to find a store with artificial flowers as it was cemetery day. Going to the Southwest side, I spied a Wal-Mart in Hodgkins, actually a new shopping center just down the street from where my aunt used to live. And their cemetery arrangements were half-price! So I got three flowered crosses and four bouquets of silk flowers. So I followed LaGrange Rd down to 79th Street and cut across to Lithuanian National Cemetery.

At Lithuanian National I stopped in the office to ask a few questions, namely, how much are graves? I like that cemetery and wouldn't mind being planted there. The guy said about $550-$700 each. Not too bad a price! I wound my way around the roads and stopped to see my Grandpa Wozgard and Grandma Sophie. Used a cross and bouquet. Cleaned the stone a bit and cleared some tufts of grass. Also stopped to see Pete, Sophie's son. He was killed in Korea in 1951. Drove to the other side of the cemetery to visit Aunt Priscilla and Eddie Moss, her son. Aunt Priscilla is my great-grandmother, Edna Taylor (Kriauciunas)'s, sister. She had plenty of flowers, so I pulled some more weedy grass and threw away the faded flowers. Eddie has some flowers too, and his plot was well taken care of.

Left National for St Casimir's at 111th and Cicero. Used the other two crosses and two bouquets for Grandma Wozgard, Grandpa Grigal, Uncle Mike and Aunt Dolores. The grass was starting to overtake the flat stones, so I did some more work. Also stopped to see my old dentist, Dr Kloris; Grandma's neighbor Mitchell (Mecislovas), my childhood friend Lenny's dad; and her friends Marie and Adam. Also stopped to see Grandpa Grigal's family. He came over from Lithuania in 1912. He had a brother John and three sisters, Anna, Petronele and Mary Ann already in the US. They are all buried at St Casimir's too within a hundred feet of each other. Had one more bouquet, so I gave it to Mariute (little Mary). I remember her so well from Grandpa's funeral...this little old lady so sweet and so sad. Gosh I was 10 years old and I still remember... Her family are all in Wisconsin now, so I know no one ever comes to see her and her husband Martin. So, in all, it was Lithuanian day at the cemeteries...Wozgard's, Grigal's, Vilutis', Zeimys', Liakes', Dybala's, Kloris', Kavalauskas', Grigalavicius', Gribauskas', Pranckus' and Waleski's.

Then I was off to my hometown of Midlothian. Stopped at the post office and then wanted a photo of my school St Christopher's. Went into church and prayed for everyone too. The church is still nice and they moved the tabernacle to the center behind the main altar....where it should be! Also drove to the old house and took a pic, as well as one of my first residence on 147th Street.

I then trekked all the way back into the city to go to Draugas, the Lithuanian Publishing House. I bought some books and a DVD on the Pazailis Monastery which has been re-done. I visited there when I was in Lithuania in 1993. Also got Staurday's and tomorrow copies of Draugas newspaper, the only US daily newspaper in Lithuanian.

Then I went to Mabenka Restaurant for dinner. I wanted to stop there on the way in last Tuesday, but traffic was really bad and the traffic lights were malfunctioning in that area and it was a parking lot. So today I got my Lithuanian Combo... good rye bread, raisin bread and coarse rye bread; pickle soup; Lithuanian sausage; sauerkraut; cepeliniai (large meat-filled potato dumpling); kugelis (my favorite grated potato pudding); salad; rice pudding and Pepsi! I'm still stuffed!

Headed on back to the hotel to beat the traffic and was nearly successful, but got stuck for the last few miles. I paid $2.98 a gallon for regular unleaded. Looks to be the average price. Some places are still $3.09 and higher!

Laid on the bed to read the paper and 45 minutes later, I woke up! I went up to the bar and got a few Pepsi's to wake up and see some people. And now, here I am! Did some genealogy looking and was partly successful. Also called my cousins and got the answering machine, and called and talked to my Aunt Slish. She is recuperating from surgery so I didn't get to see her. She said the next trip we'll catch up.

So now all I have left is food shopping and then the trip home. I really don't want to go yet. Really don't want to go...

You know, it would seem so easy to live back here again. I know all the streets, know all the places. But yet, it's so different than it was. I feel so good when I am here...like I am supposed to be here and nowhere else. When I am here, I am home. When I am in Nashville, I'm at my house, but not home. I have so many thoughts bumping into each other in my brain about this. I guess I have 7 more years to decide.

"Take me back, to Chicago, and lay my bones to rest...." "Things were so much simpler then, street corners and Tastee-Freez..." That old Chicago song keeps running through my brain.

Well, I need to get some sleep before melancholia totally overwhelms me!

Peace!

Mark

Sunday in Chicago

Well, I guess I owe two posts tonight. Got back from the Sox game late and was totally exhausted. So I'll do two tonight.

Woke up in the morning Sunday and started getting ready for church. Checkout time was noon, so I wanted to go to Mass early and then relax a bit before packing up and going to Oak Brook.

I went to Mass at Our Lady of Hope in Rosemont. It was a few blocks down Higgins Rd from the Giordano's I went to last Wednesday night. Had a celebrity priest...Msgr. Kenneth Velo. He is in residence there. Msgr Velo was Joseph Cardinal Bernadin, former Archbishop of Chicago's, confidente and right-hand man. He even gave the homily/eulogy at the Cardinal's funeral in the mid-1990's. He was also the head of the Catholic Extension Society. So I was shocked that he was out in Rosemont.

The church was very modern...ugh! I still wonder where they hid the tabernacle! I never saw one! No pews, just the chairs with the individual kneelers that fold down.

Coming back to the hotel from Mass, I walked into the lobby and almost ran right into another celebrity. Jesse Jackson was standing there talking. His Rainbow Coalition/Operation PUSH group was having their conference at the same hotel starting Sunday morning. I was not thrilled!

I went to breakfast at the hotel...waffles and coffee. There he comes again, glad-handing through the hotel restaurant! He looked over, but didn't come to my table.

Checked out about 11 am and started the trek to the South Side! Took Mannheim Rd to Cermak Rd and headed due west until Spring Rd and the Renaissance. I got a room quickley, eventhough it was 3 hours before check-in. Answered some email and then went for a stroll. The weather was very cool and I was a bit worried about how cold it would be at the ballgame.

I left about 4 pm for the train station. The closest one to here is in Forest Park at Lake St and Des Plaines. This train is still the Blue Line, but it follows the Eisenhower Expressway, whereas the one from Rosemont followed the Kennedy. It was a quick trip and was at the ballpark by 4:45. I decided to go to GrandStand at the corner of 35th & Wallace to do some White Sox shopping. I bought a thermal shirt! Also walked across the street and looked at McClellan Elementary School. Mom went there in the early 1940's. Still in great shape. The I decided to walk to 35th & Lituanica and walk the streets around my grandmothers old house. It hurt my heart. I don't think I can say anymore to describe how that neighborhood looks. Halsted Ave was the major commerce center in Bridgeport. Now, whole blocks of the old stores are torn down and vacant. They are building some condos there...amazingly on the corner of Lituanica where the hot dog stand was. Prices...starting in the mid $300's. Walked back to the park and found my seat.

Since it was cold, there were some open seats. My view was great...upper deck behind third base. There was an Asian sitting next to me. We chatted a bit and he said he was from China. His first baseball game! And he asked if I could explain some of what was happening so he could understand it. So, that gave me carte blanche to have free rein over the whole game and conversation! He thanked me at the end and said that without me, he wouldn't have had any fun! I found out he is a surgeon in China and is spending a year in the US at the University of Chicago learning new techniques. He has been here only 10 days and took the bus to the game. I hope he made it home safely..some of the neighborhoods between Comiskey and UC aren't the greatest.

Well, the Sox jumped to a lead, then lost it. Starting the bottom of the ninth, the Sox were down 10-2. I stuck it out as it would be my last game for awhile. Glad I did! The Sox came back with 6 runs and although they lost 10-8, they didn't just give up! There were two HR's in the game, so I got to see the scoreboard go off. Being a full ninth inning, I finally made it back to the hotel about 11:30.

I sat a minute to plan out Monday's activities, then chucked the paper and pen aside and went to sleep.

It was a great Sunday...and yes, the pattern continued...win win loss, win win loss.

Mark

Alas, the end...

Hello friends!

Today was a sad day. The genealogy conference ended this evening at 5 pm. A lot of people have already left, so there are few lingering around the hotel like me. I really learned a lot at this conflab and I know I'll be busy the next months going over everything I have and trying to get more.

I woke up this morning and it was overcast and raining. The rain finally quit about 10 am, but the temp never did go up. At 12:15 it was only 57 degrees. If it made it past 60 today, we're lucky. Supposed to be in the mid-40's tonight. Talked with Mom and she said Nashville was in the mid-90's! What a difference 500 miles makes.

This morning started with Irish Emigrants to North America Before, During and After the Famine. I got a lot of notes on that one, but the biggest piece of info I got was that most Irish left Europe from Liverpool. They took a ferry across to England and left out of Liverpool.

Next was Deep Linking and Deeper Linking: How to Get the Most Out of Existing Search Applications. Stephen Morse, the guy who spear-headed the Ellis Island passenger list search, did the session. It was all technical and somewhat slight of hand! He has made some websites mad at him. What he does is take the search query on the URL Address line and change the parameters. He includes some fields which are in the data, but not searched on by the website, and searches on them. He does Middle Man searches and reformatting info through other peoples servers. Not something I want to do!

Third session was another great one! Finding Your English Ancestors: The Big Four, with the big four being Census, Church Records, Probate Records and Civil Registration. Paul Milner taught this as well as the Irish Emigrant class. He is from Cumberland County in England, but lives here now. He has had a lot of experience with English records and the people who hold them. He talked about the Canterbury Court Wills. Up until the mid 1800's, wills and probate were in church courts, not civil. Canterbury, being the chief Archdiocese of the Church of England, controlled. If a will was presented that had property in more than one diocese or foreign country, it was probated through Canterbury. AND THE INDEX IS ON-LINE!! So when I got back to the room, I pulled up the website and keyed in Maule. I found a good number, including one who I think is a direct ancestor back in 1713! The search is free but it is
£3.50 for the actual will copy. I'll have to see who else is on there!

Lunch was another one of the Hyatt's great sandwiches and fruit tray! This one had more grapes and watermelon. I did some more shopping in the Exhibit Hall and talked with a few vendors about software and trips. Yes, getting the travel bug. I think I may go back out to Salt Lake if I find enough 'wants' as a result of this conference. Also talked to a guy about a new software package that is web-based and can be shared with other users. It's called PedigreeSoft. It has all the bells and whistles, but resides on the web and you can designate who else can work on it or add to it. Sounds interesting!

The first afternoon session was the British and Ireland Forum Roundtable. We got to hear two speakers about the Irish Ordnance Survey maps and a Trinity College project. Then questions...questions...questions!

I finished out the conference with Coal Dust in Your Veins. A majority of my ancestors were coal miners. This was a great class detailing sources and references to check for information. I never knew all that was out there!

White Sox won again this afternoon. So, I see the trend developing more...win win lose win win lose...with the lose being tomorrow again when I am at the game! I hope not!

I had an ultimate feast this evening. I wanted ethnic food! After all this genealogy talk about Germany, Central Europe, Ireland, England...I wanted something ethnic! So I asked where a close German restaurant was. Did get a German response but was told Old Warsaw Inn is at the corner of Lawrence and Harlem, about 15 minutes from here. So off I went! Man was it good! I've been to others on the SouthSide, but this was just as great! It is a Polish buffet. Being Lithuanian, the foods are somewhat similar. I sampled from about half the buffet. Here is what I had:

Marinated onions
Cole slaw
Slaw with beets
Pickled herring
Cucumber slices
Košelina (Lithuanian jellied pork with vinegar)
Liver pate
Meat with egg (a cold meat loaf with hard boiled egg in the middle)
Potato dumplings
Potato pancakes
Potato pierogis
Kasha (buckwheat)
Gołumki (cabbage rolls)
Roast pork
Polish sausage
Roast beef
Baked fish
Cheese blintzes
Layered jello
Paczki (cherry filled doughnut)
Rum balls
Chocolate cake roll
Coffee.

I am stuffed like a pig! And I even passed up the chicken, turkey, ribs, ham, potato salads, many types of pastries and cakes, sauerkraut, and too many others to mention. I know I am set for the night!!

So here I sit--fat, happy, full of knowledge and Polish food! I think I'm going down to the bar to rub some elbows with whoever is left and try some local beverages. I did see a bottle of Blueberry Stoli the other night. Maybe have some of that to finish the Polish feasting.

Tomorrow, off to Oak Brook. Auf wiedersehn to the Hyatt. Getting back to the South side of town.

I'll post tomorrow after I get home from the game. It's a 7:05 pm game, so it might be on TV as ESPN usually has a Sunday Night Game.

Signing off from the Northern 'burbs! Have a great evening!

Mark

Happy Friday!

Hi!

It’s Friday! Can’t believe I’ve been here 3 ½ days already. It’s gone by so fast.

Boy was it rough waking up this morning. Guess things are catching up with me. So tonight I actually stayed in and did some class homework for one of my BYU classes. I listened to the Sox game on the radio…they won 5-4. So what is this??? They win Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Friday night and lose Thursday night when I am there! Well, going to give them another chance on Sunday night. Game is at 7:05. I’m switching hotels to one in Oak Brook, so I have to find out where I can catch the train again.

Today was German Genealogy Day for me! And boy did I get my fill! The one primary requirement of German genealogical research is that you definitely need to know which town your ancestor came from. Most records are local. Good thing I know that Johann Schramm, my great-great-grandfather, was from Redwitz am der Rodach, Bavaria and his wife, Barbara Schwemmlein, was from Gundelsdorf, Bavaria. Even have their parents’ names…Johann and Kunigunde Kohles Schramm and Adam and Katharine Predinger Schwemmlein. Now to find out more!

The first session was Beginning German Genealogy. It was good to hear the basics again, plus he gave a list of good sources.

The second session was entitle German Migration to America. That was more in depth in the passenger lists and migration paths the Germans took, and where they went. I have already found that Barbara, Maria Anna (my great-grandmother) and Maria Edna Schramm, Johann’s younger sister, came over in 1887 through Baltimore. But Johann was not with them. I haven’t been able to find him yet. So I need to look some more and more and more!

Third session was German Ahnentafels or Ancestor Tables. There are thousands of reels of microfilm at Archives in Maryland that are files found during WWII of the proofs of German descent for SS officers. It is estimated close to 240,000 individual files containing anywhere between 31 and 63 ancestors back to 1800 at least! The officers had to prove they were of Aryan extraction. Medical histories are also with the tables. I know Johann Schramm’s obit says he had a surviving brother, Franz, in Germany in 1925, so there may be some value in looking for these files. Maybe other Schramms and Schwemmleins, Kohles and Predingers could tie in as well. That would be a find! But it would also mean I had SS officers in the family.

Lunch was low-key as I just grabbed another sandwich like Wednesday and some fruit and came upstairs and ate. Plus I sorted out that big stack of stuff I have accumulated over the conference…I have a lot of reading to do!

The afternoon started with another Roundtable Forum, this one being…yep…German. It was a question and answer session that covered a wide range of topics.

The last session was the best yet! The Keynote speaker from Wednesday presented the topic Problem Solving in the Passenger Lists. Dr Colletta is a very energetic and animated speaker. The hour + went by quickly and I have pages of notes. He gave many sources to check as well. He said there is a project ongoing out of BYU to digitize for the internet the various lists from the departure ports in Europe. So if you can’t find in the US lists when they arrived, you could check the various departure port lists, add some weeks for the voyage and then look in the arrivals for the ship and date. Many problems of not finding comes from the indexing. They are in the lists, but names could be spelled wrong or different.

Went for a walk after class…got cold and came back. It is chilly here today, probably mid 60’s if that. I know it is about 54 out right now at 10:45. I ate supper at the hotel restaurant. I wanted some fish and they had Broiled Tilapia on the menu. Sounded good. But they also had a buffet for $2 more that had the tilapia, chicken, clam chowder, salads, veggies, and all the makings for a killer Greek salad…anchovies as well! So I got the buffet and lucked out when the dessert was a bourbon laced pecan pie. Damn that was good! Everything was good! Even the clams in the chowder were tender and not like rubber.

So now I am looking for an early evening and a bright morning tomorrow. Can’t believe tomorrow is the end!

I haven’t kept up too much with the news. I did see about Zarqawi still being alive when they found him. I guess he did have some suffering to go through before he took his exit.

The World Cup started today. I see Germany beat Costa Rica and Ecuador beat Poland. Not the cream of the crop matches as yet! I think they said the US plays on Monday against Czech Republic.

For the past few weeks, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading two other on-line weblogs. Of course they are Catholic in nature, but they are very down-to-earth and easy to read. Both are done by guys in their early 20’s--one from Philadelphia and one from Michigan. Rocco Palmo writes Whispers in the Loggia www.whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com and Thomas Peters does American Papist www.americanpapist.com/blog.html. I really think these guys are bringing a lot of the fallen-away younger people back to the church and it seems like these younger ones are more conservative in their beliefs. Yay!

Well, enough for now. Let’s see if this will post. My wireless connection has been extremely slow this evening.

TTFN

Mark

Thursday's Doings....

Hello all!

I couldn't post this last night because the whole site was down for maintenance.

Thursday is Central Europe Day! Four out of my five sessions for the day deals with Central European records. Important fact---Central European = Austro-Hungarian Empire. When the empire was split after WWI, it became present-day Austria, Hungary, Czech Rep, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and parts of Poland, Italy and Romania. My Kotzman and Majdic families were from Slovenia, so I had a lot of ideas for further searching for more relatives.

The day started with Beginning Central European Records, then Catholic Church records in Cent Eur, Cent Eur Military records and finally a Roundtable Forum discussion. The instruction was Richard Camauer from Fairfax, VA who also has Slovenian ancestors. I met him afterward and he is interested in helping me do some research!!

The last session was Seven Techniques to Jump-Start your Research. Gotta think like a Dr., detective, farmer, investigator, etc.

Had left over Girodano's pizza for lunch. Even good cold!

The other big event is the White Sox/Tigers game. I left the hotel at 5:30, took the train (Blue Line) downtown and transferred to the Red Line to get to US Cellular Field. Got there at 6:30. Beat the traffic, parking, gas...what a great way to travel around town. Got to see some areas I haven't seen in a long time as the train was above ground until close to the Loop.

Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run Homer by Paul Konerko. I was on the phone to Mom so she got to hear the fireworks and crowd too. Good planning! I remember so many of those boom-boom's in years growing up when I was by my grandmother's. She lived about a mile from Old Comiskey Park. They used to have fireworks shows every Friday and Saturday nights with home games and it was a perfect view from her back porch window.

Alas, the Sox fell during the game and wound up losing 6-2. It was hot dog night, so I got a big Kosher for $2.50. Filled me up nice after the pizza at lunch.

Since I was riding the train, I left in the eighth inning to beat the crowd and got back to the hotel at 10:30. Stopped at the bar downstairs for a beer and then headed to bed.

It was a full day!

Friday is German Day. Beginning German Research, German Migration, German Ahnentafels (Ancestor Tables), Roundtable Forum and then the day ending with Problem Solving in Passenger Lists.

So read the next blog for the high points for today.

Yesterday during one of the Central European sessions I met a guy whose ancestors were also Slovenian. His family was from near Ljubljana, the capital. Mine are from the area around Celje and Konjice. He asked where mine settled and I said Southeast Kansas. His eyes got wide. I said around Pittsburg and he smiled. His great-grandfather also settled there. The surname is Strukel, and that name does sound familiar. Now the guy, Michael, lives in Granger Indiana.

Well, need to go and get myself together before the 2:30 session.

Catch you later!

Mark

Conference Day One

Hello from Day 1 of the ‘National Genealogical Society’s Conference in the States Gentech 2006 Chicago--They Passed This Way’!

Long name ain’t it?

I got my lazy butt out of bed promptly at 5:45 am. Needed to be in the registration line when it opened at 7 am. I got ready and was down stairs at 6:50 and was # 3 in line. Unfortunately, the key to the storage area for the conference registration materials didn’t fit, so it was 7:15 by the time I got to the counter. It was a breeze! I got my seat in the Ballroom and was ready to listen to the Opening Remarks and Keynote speech.

Dr. Allen Weinstein gave the Opening Remarks. He is the Archivist of the United States. He’s been on the job only 16 months, so he said he is still new at it. He said the biggest task at hand is preserving and maintaining electronic records! It’s hard to keep up with technology…an example he gave—floppy disks! He said, “You have them? Throw them away! They’re obsolete.” He also is an amateur genealogist. He said 3 out of every 4 researchers at National Archives are now genealogists. So we are his main constituency.

John Philip Colletta gave the Keynote on The Erie Canal and Peopling of the Midwest. Not only did the canal transport cargo, but people! Many went on from the terminus at Buffalo to cross the Lakes and go to Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee and others places west. He figures about 3,000,000 came down it going to another life in its 100 year history. He covered how important it was in the economy of New York…what jobs were associated with the canal. Working for, on and along the canal was a lifeline to New York State.

Then we had a break because the Exhibit Hall opened. Booths with everything from books to maps to software to travel to demonstrations are set-up. Of course, I found many things I want, I need, I bought! Still going to go back for more tomorrow.

My first class session was the Immigration and Naturalization records at the USCIS. The USCIS used to be the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The important point from this session was to apply for ancestor’s, who naturalized after 1906, records from USCIS. You could get the naturalization certificate and form from the court in which they petitioned, but that’s all. There is a great chance that the supporting documentation and other vital information sits in their file with the USCIS. So, guess I’ll be sending some requests off to DC!

After a great two hour lunch break, the second session I had was Illinois Digital Archives. I thought this would be a hands-on description of what was included and how to navigate through it. WRONG. He was the programmer so most of it was the programming side and scanning of documents, etc. Interesting, but not what I had hoped for.

The last session of the day was fantastic! The hour and 10 minutes flew by quickly. It was Five Proven Techniques for Finding Your European Ancestors. He was a very good speaker, had actual cases to prove the techniques and you could tell he really knew had the experience of using all five! He gave me some good ideas to use to track down the location origin of my Kriauciunas and Vasiliauskas families in Lithuania. He said a lot of the time in these tough cases, you have to research forward in order to research back. You have to cast a wide net and search for the group, not the individual. He said people migrated in groups, rarely alone. So there would be people in the same neighborhood, town, church, workplace that came from the same locale in Europe. Makes sense!

So after my pea-brain was overflowing with all this knowledge, I had to relax. So I went to the bar and had a beer. It was good—Sunset Wheat by Leinenkugel. Met a guy at the bar and talked about baseball and hockey. He is the archivist for the Detroit City Library System. We’ll meet up again sometime and chat some more.

After a great lunch of roast beef and swiss on a Kaiser roll and a fruit mix (with grapes, strawberries, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and pineapple), I was a bit hungry at 6 pm. So I went to Giordano’s Pizza on the corner of River Rd and Higgins, about 1.5 miles from the hotel. It was beautiful weather, so I walked. Giordano’s is noted for Chicago Stuffed Pizza, so I got a small cheese with sausage, mushrooms and anchovies (yeah, I’m an anchovy lover). I could only eat half of it. So you can imagine the size of the thing, a small, if I could only do half! The other half will be lunch tomorrow.

Got back to the hotel and finished up all the reports I had to do for work. I got them done and emailed and am finished with work items for the rest of vacation!!!

So here I sit and catalog the events of today. I’m going to sign off and go peruse my genealogical treasures I purchased. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their week.

Tomorrow’s schedule is almost solely Central European records with 4 sessions on Beginning Research, Catholic Church records, Austrian military records and roundtable discussion closing out with the last session entitled Seven Ways to Jump Start Your Research. I really need that for some families!

Special hellos go out to Laura Lee, Suzanne and Will.

Oh, and the Sox beat Detroit again tonight 4-3. Tomorrow night, I’m there!

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Mark

Hello all from Chicago!

Well, actually Rosemont IL. If you look at a Chicago city map, the city ends at Cumberland Ave., but O’Hare is part of the city and is disconnected from it. I’m at the Hyatt, right in between.

I made it here about 6:25 pm. I left the house about 9 am…a bit later than I wanted, but I didn’t wake up until 7:15. Felt good to sleep in a bit.

Had a wonderful trip. Hit a few raindrops along the way…in Champaign and then again near O’Hare. It’s rained on and off tonight as well. It started to pour as soon as I started getting the stuff out of the car. By the time I reached the door, it stopped…figures!

Stopped and ate at one of my favorites, Steak n Shake, in Mt Vernon IL. Then grabbed an Italian Sausage and beef combo with fries at a quickie restaurant near the hotel. It really hit the spot!

Gas is anywhere from $2.93 to $3.19 for regular unleaded. I still have about 3/8 of a tank from filling up in Mt Vernon at a Huck’s for $2.76. It was funny finding a Huck’s as that was always the beer run place during my college years at UT-Martin. Friday and Saturday nights always had at least one trip to Huck’s in Martin. So I was glad to see it again!

A note for my friend Kyle…this Hyatt is across the street from the place we stayed when we flew up back in the mid 1990’s. When I was driving down River Rd., I thought it looked very familiar. Although those days have always been hazy to me. I really must have been drunk for me to go to Wrigley Field and watch the Cubs. I remember the batting cages and then Cubby Bears. And after the game we stopped somewhere and watched the football game…I go foggy after that.

I drove through my old hometown of Midlothian on the way. I got off I-57 at 159th St, turned north on Crawford to 147th. It felt good to be on those streets again. Unfortunately, passing Hickey’s Funeral Home, I looked at the board outside and I think one of the girls I went to school with Dad died. Hickey’s posts the wakes on the board. I’ll have to check the Trib for an obit.

Spent most of the evening working on some State work and listening to the Sox/Tigers game from Comiskey. Sox won 4-3 on a 3 run home run in the eighth inning Woo-Hoo!!!

On the drive up I listened to a varied selection of music. As some of you know, my music tastes are really weird. So, here’s what was playing in the Intrepid CD player…Andrea Bocelli, Simon & Garfunkle, B’avarija (a Lithuanian group) and John Mayer. Still have Fleetwood Mac, Hiroshima and ELO in the bag somewhere.

Well, I’d better get this posted and get some sleep. With registration beginning at 7 am, I want to get my stuff since the Opening and Keynote starts at 8 am. The Opening remarks will be given by Dr. Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States!!! The Keynote will be done by Dr. John Phillip Colletta. I actually have one of his books that Suzanne gave to me They Came in Ships. He is speaking about the Erie Canal and how it channeled people to the Midwest.

My sessions for tomorrow include Immigration & Naturalization Records at US Citizenship & Immigration Services, Illinois Digital Archives and Five Proven Techniques for Finding Your European Ancestors. And I will definitely be visiting the Exhibit Hall and look for some genealogical goodies!

I feel great right now…wanna feel?? HA! And actually forgot to take my medicine this morning! But still feel great. Maybe I need to come back to Chicago to get rid of my blood pressure…right!

Forgot to mention yesterday about it being the feast of St. Boniface, Apostle to Germany. And today, the 6th, is the feast of St Norbert, founder of an order of priests and Bishop of Magdeburg, which is a sister city to Nashville.

See youse guys later.

Mark

I'm BACK!!

Been a long time since October and my last post! Change of seasons, change of attitudes, change...change...change!

Today is the first day of vacation. So I thought I'd start this up again and you could be with me on my journey. Hopefully I'll find time to keep it going even after vacation. Why is it so hard to sit down, relax and write about the happenings of the day?? I just can't seem to follow through with it. Lately, my life has been that way...never seeing anything through to completion. Damn, I hate it! I think that's what causes stress...incompleteness!

If you are reading this, then that means you have followed my invitation. Most of you may have visited this site before, some are newbies. To the newbies, click on the Archives and read what I've written before. I started in August 2004 and ended in February 2005, except for Easter 2005 and the event of the century in October 2005. To my new friends, you'll find out some more about me, whether you really wanna know or not!

Saturday I worked in the yard...and worked ...and worked. Looks pretty sharp, until all the crud grows back! Went and bought a bottle of Beringer White Zin to celebrate and also picked up a bottle of beer...from the shelf spot marked LATVIAN. It's named Biržiečiu (I am testing this to see if the little birds show up over the z and c) and I thought that almost sounds Lithuanian. SO I bought it and just opened it this afternoon after washing the car. I started reading the bottle and WHAT! It is Lithuanian!! It's a dark beer with a heady flavor. I like it...can't have too much of it as it really does feel like liquid bread. I bought it at Frugal's here in Nashville. I'll have to go and see what else is on that shelf!!

So today I had to go back to the office for a meeting. Not too bad, since I knew I was leaving right after it! Too bad all days can't be like that. After a trip to Target and a stop for lunch at White Castle (I just can't pass them up), I came home and washed the car for my trip tomorrow. Now washing clothes and packing.

I'm going to spend a week in Chicago. Yep, back to the old home town and stomping grounds. I am attending the National Genealogical Society Conference at the O'Hare Hyatt starting Wednesday. It runs through Saturday. Pretty excited about it as the sessions are very ethnic in subject with Central Europe, England and Germany being discussed too. Since I need to have a research class for my certificate from BYU, this counts as 2/3 of a 3 credit hour class. So I have to write an outline and short summary of each session I attend. Most of them run an hour plus, so it won't be bad.

I'll have my laptop with me, so I'll post from the road! Yeah, another Kerouac! I will try to include some pics as well, but I'll be using a wireless card, so I don't know about the speed. I'll try! I'm going to be hitting some of the old places and hopefully document some of my life in photos. One task I want to do is take a picture of all the places I've lived, so that'll be three in Chicagoland. Maybe even try to get one of Mercy Hospital where I was born.

So, hope you'll join me on my adventures. OH, and I will be doing some extracurricular activities as well...the Tigers and Indians are in town and I have a tocket for Thursday and Sunday night. Good guys wear black!

Well, sudiev (Lith. goodbye) for now (get used to either German, Italian or Lithuanian being peppered through these blogs). Check back again soon!

Mark