Walgreen's screwed up my photos again.

Tonight at 8 p.m. I took a bunch of negatives over to Walgreens to get them printed and put on a CD. I got back 134 prints and 4 Cd's in about an hour and a half. That seems pretty speedy...

The 4 CD's contain a total of only 67 photos. Only half of the prints made it to the CD's. I'll go back tomorrow and straighten things out.

In the mean time, I have improved the little slide show over on the right side of the blog.

Captain Kodak Strikes Again!

Photo Lab Chemistry Lesson

Potassium ferracinaide, hydroquinone, acetic acid, sodium thiosulfate… We worked with these and many other toxic chemicals every day in the lab. But that’s not the type of “chemistry” I had in mind for this blog entry. I was thinking more along the lines of the way two individuals relate to each other. There was some really freaky strong chemistry going on at Photoland BW (Before Walgreens). I remember having to make some noise (jingle my keys, clear my throat, etc.) before entering certain rooms to avoid catching the unsuspecting couple in mid kissy-face.

When Tom and Terry first started working at Walgreens, they seemed to bring some chemistry with them. That quickly changed when Tom saw Mel and Terry met Vlado. I’m sure there were many other intimate relationships that you or I might not even have been aware of.
It’s interesting how it all works out sometimes. Many married couples meet for the first time at their school or workplace. This is also true for me. I met my wife at the job I had right after Walgreens.

There’s all ways some risk involved in relationships. Hearts can be broken, dreams can be crushed, and your psycho-crazed ex might just come after you with a chainsaw. But when it works, when you find the right one, or they find you: that’s when we get an A+ on our chemistry exam. And what does this post have to do with anything?

I have been searching for my old co-workers on the internet, and last night I found four of them. That in itself is exciting (in a Dick Tracy kind of way). What’s even better is that these folks met at Walgreens and have been married more than 20 years. Who did I find? Donna & Brad, and Kathy & David. Do you remember them?

Rich and his wife get their "freak on" at the campout.

I Miss You.

Today is Sunday. My two girls went to church today. Dad slept in- but I probably should have gone along. My oldest daughter Stephanie will turn 13 in June this year. She is an Acolyte at church. She lights the candles at the start of the service, and extinguishes them at the end. That’s the same job that I had - at the same church when I was 13. I was baptized at Bayshore Lutheran church more than 50 years ago, I was married there, been a member all my life. Some things never change… and some things do change.

I remember the first day Angie started working at Walgreens. Angie is short for Angelina. I thought she was cute. I had a bit of a crush on her. Over the few years we worked together, Angie was always nice to me, we were friends, but I can’t say we became close friends. When I got a new TV, Angie bought my old one. It was 25 inch model that had to weigh a hundred pounds or more. Angie, Mary, and I worked together to move it from my 2nd floor apartment, to Angie’s house. I think that was the first time I was at Angie’s house.

Angie was diagnosed with scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disease that affects the skin, connective tissue, and internal organs. There is no cure. Sometimes the disease is manageable, sometimes not.

I don’t remember when Angie called me. I think it was sometime after the start of 1986. I don’t remember if it was while I was still working at Walgreens or after I left. Angie wanted to meet with me. We had lunch together and talked for a while. Angie had an oxygen tank with her, the kind with a plastic hose that goes under the nose. Her disease was progressing. Angie was doing her best to fight back. Angie was a rare and unique person. She was gentle and kind, that’s what I remember most about Angie.

I took some pictures back when we worked at Walgreens – I haven’t looked at them in a long time. Those pictures bring back a lot of memories. We were a pretty close bunch of co-workers. We were all friends with each other to some extent. Some friendships were closer than others. I wish I had gotten to know Angie better. I wish I had more time to talk with Angie.

Angie lost her fight with her disease on September 2nd 1994, she was 37 years old.

I’ll remember you Angie,
And I miss you.

Judy Steiner Wants You!

I just spent about 90 minutes on the phone with Judy. What a great chat we had!!

Judy Stiener (now Marino) would like to put together a reunion this summer.

Date and Location are yet to be determined.

Did you work at Walgreens Photo Studio - at the photo lab on Elm Street in Milwaukee?

Would you be interested in attending a reunion?

Contact Judy at otherearth4@msn.com and check back here at this blog for additional details to come.

With a little help from my friends.

You remember the Beatles song.
Well that's just what I need now - your help.
I will "flip the switch" and go "public" with this blog in a few days. What concerns me most is that I don't freak anyone out. I want to be careful so that no one gets hurt feelings. Most of the stuff that I'll post here happened years, decades, lifetimes ago. If you see something here that troubles you - please let me know. You be my editor.

Please be a Contributor
This blog needs your thoughts, stories, photos, comments... et cetera and so forth. Please contribute if you can. Just remember to respect each others privacy. No posting confidential junk like cell phone numbers, bank account stuff, or the location of that certain tattoo - you know what I mean. I do reserve the right to edit your contributions if they are sick, twisted, or could get me arrested etc.

Help Jog my memory
I feel so dense lately. I really need your help to remember stuff. Clue me in if I get the dates, details, or the whole story bass akwards. I'll be happy to fix, correct, or re-write history as needed. I'm also having a little trouble with some last names. I could use your help with names via email. I'll give you an example... "Vlado" short for Vladamir -was great funny guy and valued member of our team - what was his last name?

I know some stuff that might help...
Thankfully the FBI and Homeland Security haven't figured out just how skilled I am... oops well not yet anyway. Give me a detail or two and I'll share a possible phone or address - which may help you connect with your long lost co-worker etc. Likewise if you are on the lam and don't want anyone to find your hideout - clue me in , and I won't squeal.

Here's a fun riddle to puzzle over.
Ok this is not really a puzzle - I just needed to dress up this post with some photos. It's amazing, the stuff you can dig up with Google.

Young man invests his life savings in doughnuts and orange juice... Older richer man donates five large and and is elected to the Red Cross board of directors.
Question - what does that have to do with anything?
Answer - Beats the heck out of me?!?
Just look at the pictures.
















Click here then Click here and do somthing nice.

Rip My Face Off Please...

Co-workers.
This is what made working at Walgreens so great. I don't think I've ever worked with a better bunch of people. We were a tight crew. Most everybody got along most of the time. (At least that's how I'd like to remember it.) If you had an itch - sombody was there to scratch. Freaked about worms - get a piggy-back ride. Neck a little stiff... you get the picture. :)

Hold still now - This won't hurt a bit.

Crummy Slide Show

What a coincidence.
One of the items on my to-do-list is digitizing my collection of BD photos. (BD = Before Digital) I dug the boxes out from under the basement stairs a few weeks ago, and they have been sitting next to my desk ever since. There's a lot of photos, I'm not sure how many, three big boxes weighing 150 pounds total. It's going to be a big project - maybe that's why I had trouble getting started - where/how to begin?

Judy the Motivator.
When I got Judy's letter, I decided this was a perfect time to figure out a work flow for digitizing those old photos. I scaned about 25 prints, but I'm not at all happy with the results thus far.

You can see the slide show on the right side of the blog.
I will have to come up with something better, but for now it's a start. Right now I'm just using my all-in-one-printer-scanner-fax thing, and I'm looking for a better way - suggestions? There is a great opportunity for improvement somewhere in this process.

Rich Fahrow had lots of ideas to make the operation more efficient.

Do you remember? - Greg Burson.

In the 80's Greg was a manager with the Walgreens lab in Chicago. Greg often came to Milwaukee to help ensure that everything was running smoothly with our new lab.

During one visit, Greg and Rich were working on either the cine film processor, or the paper processor (I forget which one ). Greg was working on the machine while it was running. He stuck his hand in where he shouldn't have and lost the tip of his finger. Ouch!

Later Greg became a Fuji rep and continued visiting Walgreens when we switched to Fuji paper.

I remember Greg as an incredibly friendly and personable guy. He used to tell me stories about photographing president Johnson when he worked as a Whitehouse photographer. Greg helped me obtain an autographed baseball from baseball legend Mickey Mantle at a PMA trade show in Chicago. Greg is retired now and living in Arizona.

You can read more about Greg at his website. http://www.gburson.com/Greg.html

Hookin' up with Tom & Mel

Do you remember Tom and Mel?
Of course you do. Tom and Mel were a couple. Mel always had a great hair-do. Tom had grey hair – which was kinda weird cause I don’t think it was grey when he started working at Wally World. (Wally World or Nightmare on Elm Street - i.e. Walgreens Photo Studio – movies played a big part in our vernacular back in the 80’s)

10:37 p.m. Beth and Mel have "Big 80's Hair"
While a bemused Scott Sehmer looks on.

Turn right at Taco Bell - ya can't miss it.
I remember Tom lived just a few blocks from work on Vera Av. I was at his house once for some reason or another. I ran into Tom a couple of times after he left Walgreens.

I had this Red Toyota GTS with a twin cam engine – sharp little car – and I’m driving down Teutonia. There’s a slick 68’ Camaro up ahead of me. I speed up to get a better look at the Camaro. The other guy speeds up, I speed up more, then he speeds up… now were racing! What the heck – I just wanted to get a better look at his car! There’s no way I can keep up with this guy. My car is fast, his car is serious fast – and then I realize he’s just playing with me. The Camaro slows down a bit and I pull alongside and look over at the driver – there’s Tom smiling back at me. Kinda hard to have a conversation at 95 mph!

The next time I ran into Tom was at Capitol Court. I don’t remember exactly what year it was – sometime between 1988 - 90 I think. We chatted for just a bit. He and Mel are splitsville. He tells me Mel was one of the nicest girls he’s ever met. I know he’s right; Mel was a very nice girl. Tom might not have been the right guy for her. Tom tells me she is dating “some IRS Attorney”.

Mel is short for Melanie.
I remember Mel had a weird phobia – rain. When it rains, worms come up out of the ground. Mel does not want to step on the worms. “That would be so gross!” When it rains, Beth gives Mel a piggy-back ride from her car in the parking lot – into the building.

My brother-in-law is opening his own business.
A decorative hardware store that sells fancy door knobs and artsy-fartsy cabinet hardware to people that are building or remodeling their home or kitchen. (Ok so actually he purchased an existing store... but that's just details and such - not part of the main story.) I put in all kinds of crazy hours whenever I can to help him get the business started. This is back in 2004 - 05. I build him a website, and set-up his computer based inventory system. I spend some time helping in the store - waiting on customers, takin’ out the trash, cleanin’ the toilets… anything and everything to help build up the business and get him off to a good start. The economy and the housing market killed his business and he’s closing his store this year… And what has that got to do with anything you ask…

I didn’t recognize her at first.
This middle aged woman is in the store to pick up her knob order. “Scott!” “Do you remember me?” “It’s Mel from Walgreens!” She says. My jaw drops. Mel looks exactly the same only slightly more middle aged. We chat for a bit. She tells me she’s married and has two kids. I show her pictures of my two girls. She says she lives in Whitefish Bay....

Just like that stupid song I can't get out of my head...
It is a small world after all... That night when I got home, I checked my Cougar Caller*. Sure enough; Mel’s kids are attending the same school as my girls. Just for fun I Googled Mel’s husbands name. – He’s all over the Internet, an easy find. -What do you know Tom… She married the IRS Attorney guy!!!

*Couger Caller - It's a "Bay" thing.

Before it was Walgreens - Boring Photoland History

Skip this part
Before it was Walgreens, the business located at 3712 W. Elm Street was called "Photoland", a photo lab started by Bob Wodushek and four partners in 1973. Before before 1973, a start-up company named Marquette Electronics had it's business here.

I'm giving you all this boring history, cause I think it's sorta important for backstory and background and junk. Besides, I can write what I want - so there - nanna nanna boo boo. You can just skip this part if you want to... however... You might find an interesting ironic twisty ending at the end of this post. Read on if you like... or not. Feel free to comment, correct, or flame me here in public, or at scott@s-sager.net.

In the beginning.
I first became interested in photography in 1970 when I watched my older brother develop some black & white prints in the darkroom he setup in our basement.
By 1976 I was taking photography classes at MATC Milwaukee Area Technical College. I received an Associates Degree in 1979, I was 21 years old. I was living at home and wasn’t getting along very well with my father. He wanted me out of the house, but that’s a whole-nuther' other story. ("nuther" poetic license - get used to it!)

A job finishing photos.
I answered an ad in the Milwaukee Journal for Photo Lab help. Bob Benson, the plant manager at Photoland interviewed me and I was hired in December 1979. My starting pay was $3.50 per hour which was 60 cents above the minimum wage. On my first day I ran out of gas on my way to work. Fortunately this happened right in front of the gas station at the intersection of Hampton and Green Bay. Unfortunately, I was penniless, so I walked the remaining 4 miles to work, arriving an hour late. A month or 2 later I was able to move into my own apartment on Teutonia Avenue about 2 miles from work.

A cool drivin' job. - An inside joke from Dennis.
My work day at Photoland started at Noon. I picked up 20 or so bags of photo orders and drove a company car dropping off finished photo orders and picking up new film to be developed from camera stores between the north side of Milwaukee out to Mayville and back. The route took about 4 hours to complete. The company car was a stick-shift Toyota. I had never driven stick before, but I understood the basic concept. I just got in and started driving. Everything worked out. (Ok, I' ll admit - I crashed it once on a snow slick highway - but that's another story for another time.) When I arrived back at Photoland , the work continued with sorting and processing the orders.

Very cool co-workers - doomed, but cool none the less.
I worked with Ian Simpson and a fellow named Dennis. Dennis was hired about the same time I was and had the exact same birthday as me. Ian Simpson was and still is a pretty interesting guy. To this day I'm honored to have known and worked with him for the short time that I did. He raced his Saab 99 in SCCA Rally events. Ian knew how to “hack” the timeclock at work, and we often padded our hours to get some un-earned overtime. Dennis also drove a route and assisted with the sort, splice, processing work. I would love to flesh this section out with more details - and maybe I will at some later point. There is a lot more dirt to dish...

Workin for a livin' - barely.
There were about 40 employees at Photoland. Most of us were getting paid something around $4 -$5 per hour. Not all that bad for an entry level job that required no special skills or training, yet not really enough even in 1979-80 to be considered a “Living wage”. Ian Simpson had a better idea.

Be your own boss - and give yourself a raise.
There was a camera store/photo lab for sale in Muskego. Ian was ready to buy the business and become his own boss. He needed a partner. I would have jumped at the chance, but I was living check-to-check and had nothing to invest. Dennis was able to come up with some cash. He and Ian opened Parkland Photo on Janesville road just across the street from the old Dandelion amusement park in late 1980 or 1981.

There must be a workaround.
Ian and Dennis continued to work at Photoland, while operating their store in Muskego. I’m not sure how they pulled this off, but they did. If my memory is correct, they were only open a few days or weeks before they had a problem. Their Pako cine film processor was very similar to the one at Photoland. One of the electric heaters on their machine stopped working. Ian contacted Rich Fahrow, the Pako service rep for Wisconsin, to order a new heater. Unfortunately the heater would have to be ordered, and would take a few days or a week to arrive. Since his machine was out of commission, Ian brought the film from his store to Photoland for processing. I’m not sure if he was caught or was questioned about this, but he came up with a different solution to the problem. With my assistance, we removed the dead heater from their machine in Muskego, and swapped it with a working heater from the Photoland machine.

Our machine continued operating on one of two heaters, and their machine was back in operation. When the new heater arrived from Pako, the plan was to install it in the Photoland machine.

Sorry Dudes - A little white lie - to keep my job!
The next day when I finished my camera store route at 4 pm, Bob Benson met me at the door. “Scott, I need to see you in my office” he said. “Do you know anything about a photo lab that Ian and Dennis are running?” I explained that I did know of their store, but was not involved with it in any way. Bob Wodushek, the president of Photoland was also in the office. “Good” he said “I knew my Scotty wouldn’t be mixed up in this mess”.

The low temp alarm went off on the film processor today. Bob Benson called Rich the Pako rep to order a new part. (what a coincidence) Rich told Bob he was the second person to order a new heater in just a few days. “Ian Simpson needed a heater for his machine in Muskego.” explained Rich.

"We had to let Ian and Dennis go. Their lab is a conflict of interest." explained Bob Wodushek. I was on my own sorting and processing the film orders that night. The next day Bob Wodushek hired his neighbor Kathy and his nephew Greg to replace Ian and Dennis.

Twisty ironic ending.
Rich Fahrow was the Pako rep for Wisconsin. Rich also ran a small store front photo lab on Main street in Menomonee Falls. Rich's store was one of the stops on my pick-up route. Unknowingly, the comment Rich made when Bob ordered the heater is what got Ian and Dennis fired. In a wacky twist of fate, Photoland was sold to Walgreens and the business expanded greatly. There was a need for a Film Crew Supervisor. That position would have gone to Ian Simpson, had he still been employed. After helping to install a bunch of new Pako processing equipment, Rich Fahrow quit his Pako rep job to become the Film Crew Supervisor at Walgreens.



Ironically, Bob Wodushek was workin' for a livin' at the GAF photo lab in the '60's and wasn't happy with the job or the pay - so he started Photoland, where he could be his own boss, and give himself a raise.

And for the final ironic twisty turn... Mike Wodushek, Bob's son, is now the president of Photoland/Pakor in Appleton Wisconsin.
(Photoland Milwaukee became Walgreens - but Photoland's Appleton Lab lives on to this day)
In 2002 Mike Wodushek promoted Ian Simpson to VP of Distribution for Photoland.

A BLAST from the PAST!

Coming Home (Homecoming)
My commute is just a short walk, I work two blocks from home.
Every day as soon as I get home, my dog runs up to greet me at the door, my youngest daughter screams “DADDY!” and drops whatever she is doing to give me a hug. My older daughter, if she's in the room, gives me a bland "Hey Dad", and my wife usually asks "How was work?"

Today something different.
My wife says “You got a letter… up there… from some Judy chick”. I look over the envelope, not recognizing the name or the address. Nevada? Who do I know from Nevada? I tear open the envelope and pull out the hand written letter. HAND WRITTEN!!! Man – that’s a lost art form! Does anybody really hand write letters anymore. I start to read the letter dated 3/17/09 … It begins with “Hey Scott!”… Whoever this Judy person is, she seems to know me.

AH-HAAA! - That Judy!
Judy from Walgreens – it’s been like Umpteen Jillion years since I’ve thought about Judy and the rest of the gang from Walgreens. What a crazy wacky fun time we all had back then in the early ‘80s. I sense my wife talking to me … calling my name… but I can’t really even hear her. My mind is overflowing with images, memories of that time… Whoa, the colors!!! The COLORS!!!!

Ya Got Me!
Judy’s coming back to Milwaukee for a visit this summer. She would like to see some of the old gang, and is trying to locate some of us. I spent the rest of the evening and part of the “wee” hours surfing FaceBook, Classmates, and Googling names and stuff till I’m bleary eyed. The next day at work I have a hard time concentrating. I find myself jotting down notes and names and stuff throughout the day.

This is your brain – This is your brain from the ‘80’s
I’m getting old. I can’t remember anything anymore. Maybe it was all the drinking I did in the ‘80’s. I stopped drinking in 1990 when I met my wife. Now I’m having trouble with names. There were a lot of people that came and went from Photoland/Walgreens during the years I worked there. I can see the faces, I hear their voices ( no, not that kind of hearing voices…) But I just can’t remember some of the names.

Blogger to the rescue
Judy has some people to find and contact. I have some thoughts and memories to share. I’m sure, if you are reading this - You have stories, pictures, memories and other things to share too. Is the internet the “big hook up”? Will we all connect? Is anybody out there? Let’s find out.

And so the blog begins.... :)

Judy points out her favorite fly.