My new book Microbreweries, Nanobreweries, and Brewpubs: Histories of 241 American Craft Beer Companies (ISBN: 978-1-4766-9085-8) is now available.
Yesterday, I noticed my Texas Instruments TI-30 "electronic slide-rule calculator" in a drawer in my house. I took it out of the simulated-denim case, and put in a fresh 9-volt transistor battery. I pressed the "ON/C" button, and it came on. For old-time sake, I took the square root of 2. As an Electrical Engineer, I took note that the first four digits "1.414" were correct. Therefore, I concluded that it still works. I purchased my TI-30 at Sugerman's in Eynon, PA. This store had been called "Sugerman's Eynon Drugstore", but many locals referred to it as "Up the Eynon." I made the purchase in September of 1979 after I began to study Electronics Technology at the Lackawanna County Area Vocational-Technical School - North Center on Old Plank Road in Mayfield, PA. That year, I attended "Vo-Tech" in the morning, and Mid-Valley Senior High School in downtown Olyphant in the afternoon. "North Vo-Tech" was closed many years ago. "South Vo-Tech" on Rockwell Avenue in Scranton is now called "The Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County." The Mid-Valley Secondary Center is in Throop. The little handle on the case came loose and fell off. I turned the case inside-out. While I was studying Electrical Engineering at the Worthington Scranton Campus of the Pennsylvania State University in Dunmore, and working on some problems a classmate asked me why my calculator case looked that way. I replied that it was my great-grandfather's calculator case. He brought it over from the Ukraine when he immigrated to the United States in the late 1890s. One classmate said, "Oh, how sweet." We all grinned and continued working on our problems.
My new book Microbreweries, Nanobreweries, and Brewpubs: Histories of 241 American Craft Beer Companies (ISBN: 978-1-4766-9085-8) is now available.
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AuthorJoseph Peter Klapatch is originally from Olyphant, Pennsylvania. He currently resides in the urban forests of Galloway, New Jersey with his wife, Margi. They have five children. Archives
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