The Birth of the West Saint Louis Forum

I had this idea for a while.

Let's see if how you respond to an Open Forum dedicated to West Saint Louis.

Free to sign-up.

Follow the link.

TAKE ME TO THE FORUM

See you on the Forum!!

The New Year Resolutions

Christmas....Always an exciting time of the year.

2009 is coming to an end and you are pumped up to start 2010 with a bunch of resolutions you will forget by March unless you put them on paper. My friend Matt Witte has a wonderful system for his entire family to be successful with commitments - I won't elaborate today, after all it is personal, but I might ask him to write an article about it that I would post here.

In the meantime, here we go... the 2010 resolutions I am going to start hearing in the upcoming Parties...until December 31st.

I will be a better Husband:

I will stop procrastinating at the office:



I will take care of myself...



...and go to the Gym every day:


I will stop cursing while stuck in traffic:



I will stop looking, at least when going out with my wife:



I won't party until the early morning hours. After all, I am not in College anymore:



I will stop making bad jokes that hurt people's feelings:

And finally, as a man, I will always lift up the cover seat when going to the bathroom out of respect for my wife:

Thanks for the thousand hits (closing on 7000!) this Blog has been getting over the past few months - although you could help me a little by posting comments or leaving me feedbacks or even throwing some ideas for upcoming posts.

Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Trot Thru the Woods 2009 - Newsletter

Ready, set, go! The newly formed Warson Woods Running Club took off with their first organized race. The “Trot Thru the Woods” was held November 28 and featured 5K run and a ½ mile walk. The event hosted 230 participants and 24 volunteers. Mustering community spirit with many local businesses’ support and sponsorship from the law firm of Behr, McCarter, and Potter, PC and Rohan Woods School, the run achieved its goal of encouraging youth exercise by including more than 50 young racers (under 12 years). In addition the “Trot Thru the Woods” was able to make a nice donation to “The BackStoppers”.

Below is a picture of WWRC President Ed Crites (left) and Vice President James Lambert (right) presenting BackStoppers Executive Director Col. Ronald Battelle with the check.

2010 - Election Year in WW.

This is our current Board of Aldermen and our Mayor Mr. E. William Bergfeld.

If you are interested in running for an Alderman Seat, you have until early January to declare yourself at City Hall. The Elections will be held in April.

Men with Balls - The Ste. Gen. Men suffered another loss - We need you!

14 Teams in our league. We are ranked 13 out of 14.
We are 0-5 so far with 9 goals scored and 40 goals scored against us.
Next week, on Sunday at 2.50 pm, we are facing the team ranked 14. With only 2 games left in the season, this is our best chance to finally win a game.

So if you have nothing going on, join us at the Vetta Soccerdome in Brentwood and cheer for us.

Our men have been playing hard against tougher and younger opponents but we have been showing pride and courage.

So hopefully see you on Sunday. We need your support!

Restaurant Review - Cardwell's at the Plaza Frontenac

We went to Cardwell's last saturday night with another couple for Dinner. I give you my + and my -.

Location:
+ Right on Lindergh and 40, very easy to get in and out.

Greeting:
+ Although it was a busy saturday night Crowd, we received a very warmth welcome from a dedicated hostess willing to help us.

The Menu:
+ Very easy to read, good wine selection.
- I couldn't get a theme. I spotted only one pasta dish and a little bit of everything from a French Dish to a Chinese Dish + a few American ones.

The Atmosphere:
+ Nice layout, I liked the private rooms. Sitting at the bar seems fantastic. Even, the main dining room gives you a nice feeling. Great place to see and be seen. Trust me, we ran into at least 5 parties we knew.

The Service:
+ Fast pace.
- I ordered a coffee that came with no spoon. Both our waiters were not very friendly. When I complained about one of our entrees - see below - I felt like I was annoying my waitress and she didn't seem to care that much about the situation.

The Food:
I was really disappointed with the Food.

The presentation lacked creativity. The white round plates are boring and bland. My fried calamari showed up on one of these white plates with a tartar sauce (white as well) The dish lacked color and appeal. The Calamari were chewy and the fried part was more gooey than crispy. Of course the portion was enormous but I ate barely half of my plate and none of my friends wanted to try that dish.

Then, 2 of us ordered the Grilled Shrimp Dish. One plate came with 3 superb size Shrimp, the other plate came with 3 medium to small Shrimp. The 2 plates next to each other looked odd. My friends were shocked. How can someone looking at the food in the kitchen could let these 2 plates be served on the same table? I complained to our waitress and see if we could get 1 or 2 more shrimp, she apologized vaguely but didn't seem to really care. We were done eating our entrees and almost ready to go when she showed up with another full Grilled Shrimp dish. She noticed we have been done for 30 minutes and wondered if we wanted that dish wrapped to take home. Give me a break, all she had to do was rushing back in the kitchen as soon as we complained and bring us a couple of shrimp on a plate.

My dish was the Lobster Ravioli. Well, here is a hint when you order Lobster Ravioli or Crab Cake. It has to taste like Lobster or Crab. What I mean is in my raviolis, I had a tiny piece of lobster and the rest was a heavy filling of some kind. I had some Crab Cakes in the past when all you taste is the Mayo. The lobster was an afterthought. I couldn't finish my dish, it was so heavy + it was soaked in heavy cream.

Overall:
I know it is a very successful place and it is a great social meeting point. I am always concerned when Big Time Chefs lose track of what is going on in their own kitchen. Look at what happened in New York to Bobby Flay- lost of Stars at Mesa Grill - and Jeffrey Chodorow - Horrid reviews on the New York Times of his 2 new restaurants: zero star and 1 star - and the fall out of their restaurants after spending too much time promoting themselves and their brand and not enough time in their kitchens.

You can't cheat the customer anymore with what you put on the plate especially in a rough economy. People travel, they know the good from the bad. Don't hide behind huge portions to justify an below average dish. Yes I want to feel that I am getting some bang for my bucks but I still want to remember my dining experience.

Well, in that case, I would rather forget about it.

The Realtor Corner - Houses for sale in WW.

Bonus Pix of an underground house in Switzerland

From the most $$$ to the least $ -click on links to go to the House Page - here we go:

1111 Timberlane $675K

1616 Dearborn $474.5K

555 Flanders $449K

1021 North Drive $399.9K

570 Gederson $375



522 Flanders $374.9K

824 Edlin $345.9K



1474 Forest View $315K

1445 Andrew $249.9K

News Flash on a local business

The Tuesday Morning in Warson Woods is closing at the end of the month and will be moving next to Stein Mart.

Thanks Sylvia for the tip on this one.

I know it is not Warson Woods but...

...but I just heard that Michael Vick could be the next Quarterback for the Rams...

Hum...your thoughts...??

Chasing the Barbie Pink World 3-Story Dream Townhouse

Aargh, although it seemed to be an easy find, the Barbie Dollhouse is out of stock everywhere. My poor little Charlotte is looking for one for her upcoming birthday. My back against the wall, I am turning into an Ebay consumer. Are you buying on Ebay?

With over 130 Barbie Dollhouses listed, I thought it would be a piece of cake to get one, but I guess there is a whole lot of strategy involved in order to get your prize item. With the clock ticking, I got outbid numerous times. This item with a $139 retail price goes for over $250 on Ebay. Ouch!

Anyway, wish me luck in my quest to find this Dollhouse. Of course, if you know anyone who knows anyone who has an extra one, please contact me....

A joke for those of you who go out this week-end

click to enlarge

Just to give you some ammo to get the party going....here we go:

Husband Store

A store that sells new husbands has opened in New York City , where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates:

You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the value of the products increase as the shopper ascends the flights. The shopper may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to go up to the next floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!

So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. On the first floor the sign on the door reads:

Floor 1 - These men Have Job.

She is intrigued, but continues to the second floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 2 - These men Have Jobs and Love Kids. 'That's nice,' she thinks , 'but I want more.'
So she continues upward. The third floor sign reads:

Floor 3 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, and are Extremely Good Looking.

'Wow,' she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 4 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good Looking and Help With Housework.

'Oh, mercy me!' she exclaims, 'I can hardly stand it!'
Still, she goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 5 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, Help with Housework, and Have a Strong Romantic Streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store.

PLEASE NOTE:

To avoid gender bias charges, the store's owner opened a New Wives store just across the street.
The first floor has wives that love having fun - (you know what I mean).

The second floor has wives that love having fun, have money and like beer.

The third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors have never been visited.

Trot Thru the Woods - Videos

Our Alderman Gordon Gosh was the starter of the race. Michele Motte was our singer. And what a singer! Michele, you gave me goosebumps during your performance. You have an amazing voice - Wow - like Simon Cowell would say, actually like Randy Jackson would say: "You nailed it, Girl!".

Now it is race time for the Grown-ups! Although, on a side note, Annie Mullenix finished 13th and she is only 10 years old. Way to go Annie, great job!

How fun was the kid's run! The movie jumped a bit because as I was stepping back to avoid the flow of the runners, my head bumped into Macks'camera. I really want to add that having Shelley Pruett participating and finishing the race was a tremendous emotional, uplifting and inspiring moment. We pray for you, Shelly, and your amazing family!

I have few more videos including Michele singing, let me know if you are interested in me posting them.

Why was my street named that way?

My friend Brian posted a comment on the Blog about a spelling mistake found on our Street Name - Bennett, spelled Bennette on a sign at the Corner of Manchester and Bennett. Here is his comment: Brian

Well, it gave me an idea to look for the origin of some of our streets around Warson Woods. It is quite fascinating when you start digging. Here are a few:

Manchester Ave:
Originally known as Fox Creek Road, this old state road was renamed Manchester early in the 19th century since it was the road to the St. Louis County town of that name. "Old Manchester Road," the original connecting link, is now Vandeventer. For a time in the late-19th century, "Old" and "New" Manchester Roads existed at the same time. The name Manchester, beacuse of its assocaition with Manchester, England, always suggested commercial and industrial prosperity to those who adopted it in America. (Central West End) (Oakland) (Shaw)

Clayton Road:
So named because it was a direct route from St. Louis to the farm of Ralph W. Clayton in St. Louis County during the 1860s. Part of his farm became the site of the county seat of Clayton in 1876. (Central West End) (Kingsbury) (Oakland)

Olive:
Did not receive its first official name until 1821 when it was called North "C" Street. Five years later the city named it for the olive tree, the small evergreen native to the Mediterranean region. West of Eighteenth Street, it was called the Olive Street Plank Road during the 1850s. (Central West End) (Downtown) (Midtown)

Delmar:
A coined name combining the first three letters of Delaware and Maryland, those being the home states of the owners of two abutting tracts of land along the street. The section of Delmar between the wharf and Grand Boulevard was known as Morgan Street until it received its present name in 1933. The section west of Taylor in the Central West End was known as Olive Street or the Central Plank Road until 1881.

As for Bennett, Brian, it seems the name is derived from "Benedict" and like it means "blessed."

Source: Dr. Glen Holt and Thomas A. Pearson (1994)

The Elf on the Shelf

Do you know the Elf on the Shelf?

The other night, we were attending a Dinner Party and every couple was talking about it.

A little Elf who comes to your house and reports to Santa every night on how good/bad the children were that day. Every morning the Elf magically moves to a different spot and the kids try to find him in the house. They can't touch him or the Elf would lose his magic power. It teaches discipline and good behavior to the children.

The following day, I rushed to Borders to get the combo Book/Elf. As I am getting ready to check out, I noticed that a guy right behind me was holding one as well. We smiled at each other.. "social pressure", he said..." great marketing idea.." I added...


Back home, I dropped the Elf on the front door, rang the door bell and ran back in the house through the back door. My kids opened the door and we brought our Elf inside. We read the book and my kids started to talk to Samba - we had to give him a name.

Reminder to all parents:
- Do not drink too much at night since the Elf has to be moved to a different spot every morning - the Elf goes back to see Santa every night and then returns to your house. If you pass out and you forget to move the Elf, it will be panic mode in the early AM.
- If one of your kids is kind of suspicious about a puppet being able to move by itself, tell him/her that he/she has nothing to lose in talking to the Elf and believing in the Magic of it. After all, if the Elf is really reporting to Santa, it is all benefit to the child to behave until Christmas.(you should have seen the face of my 5 year old, the first morning when he saw the Elf sitting on the curtain Rod. He looked at me with his smart face.."Dad, how did a stuffed puppet fly up there by itself?")


Anyway, I love the idea... if you have an Elf at home, feel free to share your tips with us. If you don't have one, hurry.. It seems like all the kids are starting to talk about it...

The best Christmas Lights in WW.

This is the time of the year. You drive home, it is getting dark and you look forward to certain houses of your neighbourhood knowing their Christmas Lights will give you this extra smile before pulling in your driveway.

My kids and I love the Tim and Susan Robben's display. First, it is right at a stop sign, so we can get an extra few seconds of "Wow and Ha" from my kids and be safe. It only works if you actually stop at the stop sign which is still one of the things some drivers seem to forget in WW. Second, it has all the ingredients of Christmas and it feels warm. Thanks guys, you touch people's life and we appreciate that!

How about you my beloved readers? Any particular house you like in WW.?

Men with Balls - The Coach's Answer -

The article I posted this morning about our game last night got my coach, David Fritsch, all fired up. I am just exaggerating a bit but a good controversy should spike the traffic on my Blog: "Did you hear that Lambert and Fritsch went nose to nose after last night soccer game?". Of course I am just kidding, all we have is a mutual respect for each other and we are good friends - but we both hate to lose even if we played better yesterday than a week ago.

Dave loves his men, his team...so he asked me to post this reply:

"James,

Please speak kindly of us this week, I think the team played 100% better this week. Garza was an animal; Carse is on the verge of breaking out on scoring goals, he had several good chances last night; great leadership and coaching by the Mikes; Simon played well for a man with a strained crotch; Randy and Imran continue to play better each week, even through injuries; For the Glory of France WILL score this week.

One thing to talk smack about: Bryce fell asleep watching the Steelers game at home last night and missed the game, waking up at 230 in the morning.

Favazza has swine flu, so that is why he did not play last night. He had let Bryce know, but since he slept through the game, he could not provide the update.

Big game this week as we play for the Pride of our Kids, as many of the families are making plans to come watch.

Overall, I am having a blast! Other than feeling like I was run over by a truck last night, I am already looking forward to next week. Thank you for your help with the team.

David Fritsch"

Dave, your reply is hilarious. It looks like we will all be ready to play next week for our third game. In the meantime, let's heal our wounds and let's not forget to stretch to prevent injuries!

Looking forward to start a Coach's Corner on the Blog every monday.
God Bless you Dave, you are a good Man!

Men with Balls - Ste.Gen. Men vs Big River Running Store

Game time was last night at 10.20 p.m. Our opponents were a bunch a strong runners from the Big River Running Store Company. With our regular Keeper Roderick on his way back from Atlanta and unable to attend, Garza decided to take over the tough duty of Goal Keeper.

Once again, the pace of the game was intense from the get-go. After our crushing loss last week on Opening Night, our team was very motivated.

Big River 1 - Ste. Gen. Men 0

Big River is pressing on offense and Garza is already doing an outstanding job with some amazing saves. I can't believe none of our opponents are sweating! Our side is struggling with cardio. Niederer who dominated the 5K Trot Thru the Woods with a 18Th place is still sore from Saturday's effort. Zoberi hurts his hamstring before the half. Lambert and Simon start to argue on the field about strategy.
The Ste. Gen. Men are getting frustrated and it shows.

Big River 2 - Ste. Gen. Men 0

But then Carse, Zarrili and Andrews start to push the tempo. Great ball movement in midfield. Fritsch is controlling our defense. We are taking over the game. But we miss great opportunities to score. Not once but several times. One on one with their keeper but we can't get one in. And, right before half-time, Big River sneaks one more in.

Big River 3 - Ste. Gen. Men 0

The second half shows both teams' limits. Ours is definitely the conditioning. We are gazed. Big River is getting sloppy as well and with a great Garza on our side, they wouldn't score but only one more time.

Big River 4 - Ste. Gen. Men 0

As time is expiring and with 5 seconds on the clock, Simon finds himself alone with the ball, 12 feet from their Keeper, but shoots wide right as the whole place is cheering for us. Maybe we should change the name of our Team to the......

Midnight already... time to go home and get some Tylenol and Ice Pack!

Trot Thru The Woods 2009 - The 5K Results

Here is the link to the Trot site: Trot Thru the Woods 2009

Andrew Person - Winner of the Men's 1st Annual Trot Thru the Woods


Men
1 Andrew Person St.Louis 17:01
2 John Jackson St.Louis 18:57
3 Tom Eckel Milford,OH 19:08
4 Sam Berg St.Louis 19:40
5 Joe Buffa St.Louis 20:54
6 Kevin Jackson St.Louis 21:00
7 Tom Berg St.Louis 21:23
8 Dave Farmer St.Louis 21:30
9 Roger Bautista St.Louis 21:45
10 Mark Stolzer Fenton 22:13
11 Tim Dolan St.Louis 22:15
12 Jeff Adams St.Louis 22:39
13 Kyle Vasel Greenville, IL 22:51
14 Jimmy Mack St.Louis 23:02
15 Michael Normile St.Louis 23:49
16 Randy Koning St.Louis 23:53
17 Chad Wrinkle St.Louis 24,00
18 Randy Niederer St.Louis 24,01
19 Tom Dell'Orco St.Louis 24,23
20 Richard Sporn St.Louis 24,25
21 Jim Malik St.Louis 24.46
22 Mark Hannah St.Louis 24.52
23 Kirt Ormesher Waterloo, IL 25.16
24 Micheal Zarrili St.Louis 25.45
25 Kevin Foy St.Louis 26.07
26 Bob Cerame Chesterfield 26.14
27 Michael Donelly St.Louis 26.33
28 Danny Barry St.Louis 26.54
29 George R. Zimny Columbia, MO 27.09
30 John Halliday St.Louis 27.14
31 Keith Mote St.Louis 27.36
32 Chris Reed St.Louis 28.01
33 Brian Bergman St.Louis 28.17
34 Bob Heaney St.Louis 28.20
35 Cameron Zimny Dallas , TX 29.34
36 Tim Sauer St.Louis 30.18
37 Jeremiah SodomkaSt.Louis 30.19
38 Ron Woodruff McKinney, TX 30.29
39 Gary Zimny Dallas , TX 30.40
40 Michael Adrio St.Louis 30.48
41 Alex Garza St.Louis 31.36
42 John Mozeliek St.Louis 33.18
43 Will Mozeliek St.Louis 33.39
44 Mike Dell'Orco St.Louis 33.56
45 John Garza St.Louis 34.51
46 Jerry Cole St.Louis 35.48
47 Paul Lottes St.Louis 37.18
48 Jim Lager St.Louis 37.23
49 Paul Bussman St.Louis 39.46
50 Mark Brennan St.Louis 41.16
51 David Fritsch St.Louis 41.57
52 John Lord St.Louis 42.06
53 Brian Hansen St.Louis 42.19
54 Tony Behr St.Louis 49.09

Laura Kennedy - Winner of the Women's 1st Annual Trot Thru the Woods

Women
1 Laura Kennedy Charlestown, MA 17:41
2 Dani Dell'Orco St.Louis 22:25
3 Kelly Dolan St.Louis 23:26
4 Tina Dell'Orco St.Louis 24,21
5 Katie Miller St.Louis 24,30
6 Katie Behr St.Louis 25,02
7 Havens Collins Ballwin 25,17
8 Kerry Donelly St.Louis 26.34
9 Kate Milner St.Louis 26.46
10 Susie Niederer St.Louis 27.04
11 Lexie Linblad St.Louis 27.05
12 Alissa Czyz Ballwin 27.07
13 Annie Mullenix St.Louis 27.10
14 Leslie Halliday St.Louis 27.12
15 Erica Mote St.Louis 27.35
16 Lana Fitzgerald St.Louis 27.39
17 Katherine Lager St.Louis 27.57
18 Sidney Carr St.Louis 27.59
19 Jacquie Lager St.Louis 28.05
20 Maureen Shreppe St.Louis 28.09
21 Haley Bergman St.Louis 28.16
22 Stephanie Lasley Columbia, MO 28.18
23 Ann Marie Barry St.Louis 29.26
24 Mary Grace Barry St.Louis 29.39
25 Laura Wassilak St.Louis 30.11
26 Missy Lewis St.Louis 30.16
27 Elizabeth Collins St.Louis 30.19
28 Alison Miller St.Louis 30.31
29 Berkeley Adrio St.Louis 30.48
30 Ally Mozeliek St.Louis 33.09
31 Emile Garza St.Louis 33.18
32 Julie Mozeliek St.Louis 33.38
33 Lindsay Berge Ballwin 33.54
34 Kelly Waller St.Louis 34.02
35 Tracy Bautista St.Louis 34.05
36 Donna Garza St.Louis 34.51
37 Anna Moylan St.Charles 35.44
38 Deanna Moylan St.Louis 35.47
39 Heather Reissner Waterloo, IL 35.49
40 Angela Kloepel Waterloo, IL 35.49
41 Kathy Chitty Waterloo, IL 35.49
42 Erin Sullivan St.Louis 36.29
43 Michele Koerner St.Louis 37.01
44 Emma Lager St.Louis 37.23
45 Judy Zimny Dallas, TX 38.16
46 Susanne Blackwell Omaha, NE 39.46
47 Amanda Sodomka St.Louis 41.58
48 Alexandra Sodomka St.Louis 42.05
49 Caitlin Hansen St.Louis 42.18
50 Nicole Hansen St.Louis 42.19
51 Liz Hansen St.Louis 42.19
52 Peg Lord St.Louis 42.42
53 Anna Simonson St.Louis 42.55
54 Ava Bussman St.Louis 47.51
55 Shari Bussman St.Louis 47.52
56 Susan Heaney St.Louis 48.49
57 Patricia Flood St.Louis 49.24
58 Emily Kindsfather Blue Spring,MO49.44
59 Courtney Kindsfather Rolla, MO 49.44
60 Amy Nash Blue Spring, MO 49.44
61 Claire Lord St.Louis 49.44
62 Anne Lord St.Louis 49.44

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I want to thank you all for supporting the Blog.

This is my favourite time of the year when family from far comes to town for a one time special Week-End.

Let's all pray for the ones not as fortunate as we are..

The ones with no shelter... click the picture to enlarge...

The ones with challenges like the amazing Cody... you are a true inspiration Cody!





The ones who won't have the chance to be among families today...



The ones we would love to have around but left us too soon...


This is the funeral of Private Kevin Elliott who was killed during a battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The ceremony was held in Dundee, Scotland. His best friend Barry Delaney wore a green dress to honor a long time agreement that if one of them dies, the other has to wear a bright green dress to the funeral.
Barry said:

“Kev was like my brother – we would have done anything for each other.
We said that whoever died first, the other one had to wear a pink dress with green spots to the funeral – and we shook on it. It was mainly his idea and the more I think about it, I’m sure Kevin knew something was going to happen.
I looked for the exact dress but couldn’t find one anywhere.
I eventually picked up the green one in Primark and bought the pink pop socks to make it look even sillier. It’s what Kev would have wanted.
Kev told his whole family about the pact, so I couldn’t back out. I had a word with him at the graveside and asked if he liked the color – I’m sure I could hear laughter coming out of the ground.
Kev was a true hero and someone I’m proud to call my best mate.”



God Bless you All!!

Mom, why did you throw my drawing in the trash?

click on picture to enlarge

Every day my adorable children bring home tons of Daycare Projects. How lucky they are that their teachers spend lots of time trying to stimulate their creativity.

But then, as the years go by, one can't possibly keep each and every single piece of art our lovely kids produce.

So what is your strategy? How do you decide which ones to keep and which ones to throw in the recycling bin? There is nothing more heartbreaking than your son finding one of his drawings in the trash and coming to you with a sad look on his face, holding his soiled creation, and sobbing: "Mom, why did you throw my drawing away?"

Touche!

As a rule, I get rid of all the ones made out of food -aka M&Ms, Cereal, Marshmallows etc... I discard the ones with no name on it - usually my kids write their names in the back of each drawing. If I can't figure out if my son or my daughter is the author of the piece, it is an automatic "out".

How about you? And for those who have older kids, do you still have a box of their artworks from back in the days?

Men with Balls - The full schedule

For those who want to come and cheer for the Ste. Gen. Men on Sundays, here is our full schedule:

Sun 11/29 10:20 PM 50 minutes Big River Running Company Soccerdome, Field One
Sun 12/6 2:50 PM 50 minutes at SBABA Soccerdome, Field One
Sun 12/13 5:20 PM 50 minutes at Spotless Soccerdome, Field One
Sun 12/20 7:00 PM 50 minutes Bosna F.C. (Yellow Shirts) Soccerdome, Field One
Sun 1/3 2:50 PM 50 minutes Steve Wiebe All-Stars Soccerdome, Field One
Sun 1/10 2:00 PM 50 minutes at The Has Been's (Black Shirts) Soccerdome, Field One

W.W Swim Club: The Pool Board/Members Meeting

It was last night at City Hall... Highlights:

- End of the year 2010 balance: our bank account is in the green. Combination of having an influx of new members, smart spending and most importantly no flooding at the pool.

- Membership: is up! Over 20+ new families joined last season and we barely lost a family or 2. Let's keep it up.

- Baby Pool: One of the main projects is to redo/upgrade the Baby Pool. So far the bids we have are very high. It is a work in progress. No decision has been made yet.

- Member's Comments: Jim Lewis thanked the Board for all the work that has been done last season. Thank you Jim for thanking us. You did your share of work on the Pool Board back in the days and we simply try to follow your tracks of excellence.
Jim brought also an important point: do we want to keep our local Life Guards under Pro Pool Management supervision or simply have the Pool being run by a team of complete strangers? We need the Lifeguards to be more accountable and they need to keep themselves busy. One idea is to have a sign posted at the Pool - with Pro Pool phone number on it, for Members to call and report anything that they would dislike.


- Election of New 2010 Board Members: We welcome 2 new Board Members - Elizabeth Locke and Darryl Austin. Thank you for contributing.

- Election of 2010 Officers:
President: Dede Nigh
Membership: Katie Martin
Facility: Anthony Hasek / Chuck Abegg
Treasurer: Sean Fitzgerald
Social: Julie & James Lambert
Secretary: Mike O'Shea

- Anthony Hasek: As you see, Anthony Hasek is passing the torch to Dede Nigh as President of the Pool Board. Anthony will remain on the Board. Now I must give Mr.Hasek his Props here. This guy is phenomenal. Speaking of volunteering.... Anthony has been putting more hours of his life on his own personal/family time for the past 2 years to insure the well being of our Pool than you can imagine. We have been so fortunate to have someone like him running the show, who CARES so much about our community. I know we are in good hands with Dede Nigh at the wheels now and I am glad Anthony is still in the picture for the upcoming season. Kudos to you Anthony and feel free to keep feeding me with some beautiful pictures to refresh our W.W Swim Club Web-Site for the upcoming 2010 season!