4/12/97-Although the web site has only been in operation for
about one month, the response and enthusiasm of the people contacted
so far has been very encouraging! The skeleton of the web site is in
place. Now all we have to do is start hanging some meat on the bones
to bring it to life. Each of us has his own unique perspective to
share to bring back and enrich those fond memories. Dig around
through your old memorabilia and remember some tales to tell and
send them on in. With your help, the web site will be a dynamic
rather than static experience and will never be "finished." We can
keep it alive by continually submitting new material as we think of
things or events happen as our lives progress. So don't think you
need to get 25 pounds of material together before you start
submitting it. Send some now and some more later. Web pages are very
easily revised to accomodate new material.
4/18/97-Mark Manrique has offered to retype the team
newsletter Foam-Fare. Mark still has the old team spirit and he
didn't even blink when informed that it consisted of over 130 pages
of legal size pages! The Foam-Fares on the web now are a little hard
to read, so this will be a major improvement. Another advantage is
that you will be able to print them out. Also, it will be possible
to make links that go directly into the body of the text. This will
mean that links can be made for each person to where his name occurs
in Foam-Fare.
4/18/97-Photos! News Clippings! The web site needs your
photos and news clippings. You have my personal guarantee and
commitment that your photos and newsclippings will be scanned and
put back in the mail to you within one week. If you trust me but not
the USPS, pack them up well and just send a few at a time.
4/18/97-If you're browsing the web site and come across any
bad links, spelling errors, etc., please report it through e-mail.
Thanks!
9/29/97-It was almost 35 years ago when Sully once referred
to Foam-Fare as "an obscure scandal sheet." Scandal sheet it may be,
but it can no longer be called obscure. Foam-Fare is now available
to over 40 million people all over the world on the Internet! The
original Foam-Fares were produced on a manual typewriter with
worn-out typefaces and duplicated on a mimeograph machine (remember
those?). They were a little hard to read when they were new and 35
years didn't help improve them (so much for evolution). I'm happy to
announce that all 130 pages have been retyped and the 138 graphic
images have been scanned and digitally edited to reconstruct the
original Foam-Fares as web pages. An effort was made to retain as
much of the original formatting as possible within the confines of
HTML 3.2. I'd like to thank Tom Sullivan for writing the Foam-Fares
and capturing the spirit of those times so well and giving
permission to reprint them on the Internet. They were a pleasure to
read in the 1960s and now in the 1990s a heartwarming joy. Also, I
would like to thank Mark Manrique who volunteered for the daunting
task of retyping them. One thing I have learned from contacting
people about the web site is that "the same guys then are the same
guys now." This is certainly more than true in Mark's case. So next
time work or life is getting you down and you need a smile, tune
into the web site and read a page or two of Foam-Fare. Take a trip
back to those idyllic days at Patton Pool where life's biggest
challenge was finding a dry towel to take to workout. Enjoy!
3/15/98-1998 Newsletter
11/20/98-Is Y2K (the year 2000 computer problem) going to
be a tempest in a teapot or a category 5 hurricane? That's the
$64,000 question. No one can say for sure and there is a
plausibility for just about every scenario from a full-on
doomsday to a few minor inconveniences.
The Patton Pool generation is with no doubt the most fortunate
generation ever to live in mankind's history. We have lived in a
place and a period of time with extraordinary
comfort, opportunity, and security. Having never
experienced a lot of the disasters and sufferings that have plagued
people living at previous times or even at this time but in other
parts of the world, we tend to be skeptical of any information that
runs contrary to our own personal myopic experience. Probably the
worst thing we've experienced in our life times is the gas lines of
1974. It is hard for us to imagine that anything but the
uninterrupted, progressive movement of civilization is possible. We
are inclined to dismiss the Y2K threat because of our frame of
reference and the possible unpleasantness of its consequences.
In my opinion the year 2000 computer problem (Y2K) is something for
us all to keep a very close eye on and to factor in when making
plans, investments, etc during the coming 13 months or so. The
Internet is about the only place at this time to get information to
make informed decisions on the level of preparations you might want
to make for you and your family. To promote Y2K awareness and
preparedness, I'm listing a few of my favorite Y2K sites and also
plan on posting links to interesting information I come across on
the Y2K topic on a regular basis. Like the Clint Eastwood character
"Dirty Harry" Callahan, Y2K looms over us and looks us in the eye
with a .44 magnum pointed at our heads and asks, "Do you feel lucky
punk, do you punk?" Is he out of bullets or did I count wrong? Each
of us as individuals will either benefit or suffer from the coming
crisis based on our own accurate understanding of the problem and
instituting appropriate preparations required. I believe and
recommend that everyone take personal responsibility for getting
their own information on the Y2K problem and evaluating it and not
wait for it to come to you. A question I keep asking myself when
trying to make some sense out this whole complicated mess and
deciding how much to prepare is: Will I have more regrets if it is
worse than I prepared for or better than I prepared for?
3/5/99-1999 Newsletter
9/10/99-I have just installed a unit in my computer that
makes CD ROMs. A CD ROM is capable of holding as much information as
over 600 floppy disks. The entire Patton website could probably be
contained on 4 floppy disks. Many of you know, there is a Patton
reunion being planned for next August. As part of the reunion, I am
planning on transfering the entire website to CD ROMs and bringing
them for the attendees at the reunion and after that they will be
available by mail for the cost to make and send them. Probably less
than $5. Anyway, when the CDs are made, I would like to have as much
information as possible to put on them. So if you have been
procrastinating on sending any memorobilia (photos, newspaper
articles, memories, etc), please "GET OFF THE BOTTOM!" (as Harry
would say) and send them to me. This is your chance to add your part
to the history and memories of swimming at Patton and make a nice
durable keepsake for you, your kids, and grandchildren to see what
it was like to be a kid way back in the 1960s. Thanks!
3/31/00-March 2000 Newsletter
4/21/00-The Patton Website is about to take a quantum
leap! You've heard rumors about the mother lode of Patton photos in
the Caribbean. Well, the rumors, as you're about to find out,
were all true and very under exaggerated. I just counted
them up and there are (Are you ready for this?) 131 of them! I've
been dreaming about finding the old photos we used to see in the
showcase at Patton, on Harry's office windows , or used in newspaper
articles, for about 3 years. Rarely are one's expectations
exceeded, but mine certainly were. Today the first 7 of the photos
are being published (Only 124 more to go!). Thank you Harry and
Caroll for taking the time and trouble of removing them from your
scrapbooks and sending them for us all to enjoy. (Note: The photos
on the Internet are very low resolution (only about 75dpi). I am
planning to scan them in a higher resolution and put them on the
Patton CD, in case you want to print some of them out.)
8/18/00-The Patton Reunion has come and gone, or has it? I
hope everyone felt as I did, that it greatly exceeded my
expectations in every way but one: Not enough time to meet and talk
with everyone or take all the photos I wanted! Not to worry. Besides
having the reunion professionally photographed and video taped by
Harry Hauck's brother Kenneth, (By the way, we'll let you know when
his tape and photos are available.), there were many amateur
photograpers such as myself roving about and taking zillions of
photos. Wouldn't it be neat if we could share all our reunion
experiences and photos? It would be especially nice for all those
who could not attend. Starting next week, a new section of the
Patton Pool Swimmers website is being created. It will be called
"Reunion 2000 Scrapbook." Please send me any photos you took at the
reunion, experiences or impressions you had, stories you heard, etc.
and they will be added to the Reunion Scrapbook. Of course, any
photos you send will be scanned and promptly returned. The drugstore
(Longs) I took my film to has a new option. Instead of getting
double prints of everything, you can get one set of prints and a
floppy disk with the photos on it. I found that much better results
can be obtained by scanning the prints myself instead of using the
ones off of the floppy disk. The reunion photos will be included on
the Patton CD now set to be released at the end of the year.
8/25/00-The "Site Info" webpage has been replaced by one
called "Questions." 5/12/2001-2001 Newsletter 10/27/2015 - It's been
awhile since an editor's note has been added to this site. Well,
the stalwart Ed Picard has decided to "retire" from maintaining
the site. He asked for volunteers to take over his
job. I volunteered. This may not go down as one of the
brightest things I've ever done but I owe the team a lot and I'll
try to do a good job of it for as long as I can.
For those of you who don't know me I'm Steve Waszak and I
was team captain in 1967 and I swam the butterfly. That was
a long time ago. Now I'm a semi-retired, 66 year old, practicing
physician who plays a good deal of tennis. One of my many hobbies
is messing around with computers. I have a modicum of
website maintenance knowledge. I'll try to apply it here.
Any suggestions any of you have for improving the site let me
know. We'll see how this turns out.First
thing I'll try to do is improve some of the photographs on the
site. There are a lot of old photographs so this may take
some time. My email is:
waszak@womensclinicseattle.com