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February 24th, 2008 up before dawn and at Levittown Hall for the LIMARC indoor hamfest.  It was nice to renew old acquaintances and to meet some new people.  I was the official "hand stamper" at the exit door from 9:00 - 10:00.  I couldn't help but think how Adrian Monk would have handled that job.  As always I picked up a few goodies.

March 1st, 2008 and we are off to Bridgeport, CT to watch the Bridgeport Sound Tigers play the Binghamton Senators at The Arena at Harbor Yards.  We decided to make a mini-weekend of it and made our first stop at Clinton Crossings Outlet Center in Clinton, CT.  This is a cute relatively small mall.  They have a Harry and David there which just loved giving out samples.  We found out that they now carry a line of sugar-free candies which is literally just what the doctor ordered.  A few more bargains at Van Heusen, Fossil and the Jockey Store.  This center is part of the Chelsea Premium Outlets group http://www.premiumoutlets.com/ .  You can sign-up at their web site and receive a coupon book at the center as well as being directed to a link where you can print out discount coupons.  The coupons DO add up.

There were not too many eateries in this neck of the woods and we had lunch at a small Chinese take-out with tables, The Great Wall.  The food was reasonably priced, very good and plentiful.

Overnight accommodations were at the Choice Suites in Stratford, CT.  The hotel had only been open for 6 weeks and the pool and health club were still not quite ready.  The room and the hotel were very clean.  They have a free continental breakfast which included make your own Carbone's malted waffles and eggs with sausage.

Dinner was at a restaurant on Route 1 called "99".  No, it is not done in early Get Smart motif.  It did seem like a combination of The Ground Round, Applebees and well you get the idea.  The food was very good.

The Arena at Harbor Yard is a beautiful venue.  All of the seats were very close to the ice and the place has a homey feeling.  The best thing of all was that the Sound Tigers won.

March 8th, 2008.  This is the kind of day that makes you think of the Harry Chapin song lyrics, "it was rainin' hard in Frisco".  It is a stormy day here on Long Island.  There are flood advisories for heavy rain of up to 3 inches and wind gusts peaking at 60 miles per hour.  Normally on a day such as this, I would either watch one of my large cache of TIVO'd movies or play radio on 20 meters.  Today, however, we are going with the New York Islanders Booster Club to see the Isles play the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wachovia Center in the city of Brotherly Love.  The short drive to our departure point at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum went a lot smoother than I expected.  No flooding on the Meadowbrook Parkway and the access roads to the Coliseum were relatively dry.  When we got to the departure point, our bus awaited.  Being of keen eye (hey I haven't watched all of those detective programs for nothing), I noticed that the bus did not have H&J Bus Company (the official transportation provider to the NYIBC), but was labeled for Cramden Bus Company.  They have no relation to "The Great One".  He was Kramden with a "K".  I asked the driver what happened to Harry, the "H" in H&J.  I was saddened to hear that Harry had been in the hospital with an ailment unknown to Wayne, his designated driver.  As I was talking with Wayne, the winds really started kicking up in the parking lot.  Discretion being the better part of valor, I sought the shelter of the bus.  One by one, the NYIBC faithful arrived.  By 2:15 we were fully loaded and ready to head out.  Conditions on the Long Island Expressway were somewhat worse than the typical WEEKDAY rush hour.  Eventually we broke free of the bonds of the city and were heading south on the New Jersey Turnpike.  As we approached Philadelphia, the sun broke through. One would have thought that this was a good omen.  Wayne dropped us off outside the Wachovia Center and we were off to the A.T. & T. Pavilion.  The Pavilion is an overgrown food court with a bar, live music and of course, Phillie Cheesesteaks.  On our last trip to Philadelphia we had gone for the cheesesteaks only to notice hot carved roast beef at the bar.  Well this time we went directly for the beef.  $10.00 for a large sandwich with cole sole and chips is not a bad deal.  A large Diet Pepsi ran $5.00.  While I haven't been to that many arenas around the league, Phillie comes in second right behind the RBC Center in Raleigh for best food.

Our seats were behind the goal that the Islanders attacked twice.  The game after that is somewhat of a blur.  2 DiPietro turnovers leading to goals; Phillie going 4 for 4 on the power play and an EXTREMELY load horn that went off when a goal was scored.  I got a warm and fuzzy feeling when that horn went off.  It reminded me of being on the cruise ship The Crown Princess.  After that dismal performance by our intrepid band of skaters I felt like we were drifting.

Following the game our somewhat disheartened group assembled outside of the arena gates and prepared for the ride home.  This was to have been the make or break game for the season and the playoffs.  Gee, where have I heard that before?

To cheer us up, Gary put on "Miracle on Ice".  Our previous showing of Miracle was ended prematurely on a trip to Phillie last year when Harry's DVD player chose to stop functioning.  I had better hopes for this year.  On our way back, Wayne had to stop for gas.  The bill amounted to several hundred dollars.  Let's see, divided by 35 people, oh well.  This is when Groundhog Day set in.  This DVD player had no remote and no way to access the menuing system from the front panel.  When Gary fired up the DVD player again following the fuel stop, it was dejas vouz all over again. 

Traffic home was very light and we arrived at the Coliseum somewhere around 1:00 AM.  That was fortuitous on our part, had it been 2:00 AM, we would of had to turn the clocks ahead and then we would have been an hour late.  Sounds like an Abbott and Costello routine, nevermind.

As we left the bus, goodnights were exchanged and we thanked Wayne for his excellent driving.  All in all, I think it is safe to say that everyone had an enjoyable outing despite the loss.

March 18, 2008 - It's my birthday.  Technology is wonderful; I've received e-mail birthday greetings and a fair number of coupons from every site that ever asked for my birth day.  It's amazing how an e-mail can make you warm and fuzzy.  You may ask (or may not), how old I am.  Suffice it two say that I remember LBJ for the USA.

 

March 23, 2008 - After weeks of studying, I'm ready to take my Amateur Extra ham radio licensing exam.  The Extra is the highest license available to ham radio operators in the US.  For those of you who are curious, I studied using both the ARRL and the Gordon West books.  The ARRL book is the thickness of a small city phone book.  At the LIMARC Ham Fest, Ed, KC2E suggested the Gordon West book so I purchased and read that as well.  While informative, the ARRL book goes into the nitty gritty on every topic.  Some of the topics were pretty interesting while others were downright boring.  Not to digress, I took the licensing exam at the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club in North Lindenhurst, NY.  Walter, KA2RGI, runs a very nice test session and puts his examinees at ease.  While we were waiting for the test to begin, Ellen and I schmoozed with Adam, KB2TCH, a VE (volunteer examiner) in training.  Much to my amazement, in walked Ben, KC2RXV, a local ham.  He was coming for the General class license upgrade exam.  In the same manner as I had handled it, Ben told no one about this.  Cutting to the chase, I passed the exam and now have full amateur privileges in the US; Ben passed as well.

 

March 25, 2008 - The Great New York International Auto Show is at the Javits Center.  I must be getting older, as the cars no longer have that "thrill" that they did back in the 1960s and 70s.  Justin and his friend Jason were with me and they still go for the glitz and "sexiness" of the cars.  I, on the other hand, hung out at Honda, Kia and Dodge (the new Challenger takes me back).  I find that Honda owners are an extremely loyal group.  The CR-V EX-L is currently the object of my affection.  I could go on about the show, but the song has ended but the melody lingers on.

April 15, 2008 - It is tax day in the U.S.  With our taxes taken care of, it is off to the Pennsylvania Dutch Country.  We've decided to add an additional night to our stay and visit Longwood Gardens in Longwood, PA.  This is an absolutely perfect day.  The grounds of Longwood Gardens are magnificent as are the extensive greenhouses in the Conservatory.  Today is "seniors day" and there are seniors by the busload here.  They even had a senior lunch special that you didn't have to be a senior to partake of.  Following lunch, we were treated to a Dixieland Jazz concert in the ballroom by Tex Wyndham and His Red Lion Band.  They did many old favorites and a few classics.  The hour-long concert was very enjoyable.

Following our visit to Longwood, we headed to Lancaster, PA, our home for the next 4 nights.  GPS technology is absolutely amazing.  It took us 3 hours to get to Longwood from Long Island.  I expected the trip from Longwood to Lancaster to be a couple of hours.  I plugged our destination into the GPS and asked for the shortest route (having found that "fastest route" is sometimes much longer).  The GPS came back and told me that we were 48 minutes from Lancaster.  Double-checking that the data was entered correctly, we headed out.  We went through every back road, side road and main street that one could imagine.  The GPS did get us there in roughly 48 minutes.  Needless to say, I would never be able to reproduce the route that it took us on.

Wednesday was spent in Strasburg visiting the Toy Train Museum, Strasburg Railroad and the Strasburg Train Shop.  Lunch was at Isaac's Deli.  If you visit Lancaster on anything approaching a regular basis, you should sign up for their mailing list; they have some excellent coupons that they will e-mail to you.

Thursday was off to York for the Train Collectors Association Eastern Division Meet.  This is the largest toy train show in the country and probably in the world.  One can walk the parking lot looking at license plates from all over the country.  I no longer go to York in search of that elusive bargain; but rather go to see what is new, renew some old acquaintances and smell that toy train smoke.

 

May 22nd, 2008 - The new Indiana Jones movie has just opened and we caught the second show at the Bellmore Playhouse.  As Yogi would say, it's deja vous all over again.  We saw Raiders of The Lost Ark at the Fresh Meadows theater as a sneak preview back in the late 70s.  We sat through the first few minutes of Raiders without a clue as to what was going on (it was the pre-action hero films era).  The rest is history.  The latest saga of Indy brings a nostalgic tear to one's eye.  While the plot line is fairly predictable and a little far-fetched, the magic of Indiana Jones lives on.  An older Indy and Marion continue to have that rapport reminiscent of Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man films.  Considering that Indy first hit the big screen almost 30 years, both Harrison Ford and Karen Allen look great.  Henry Jones III played by Shia LaBeouf is a cross between James Dean, Marlon Brando and Ed "Kookie" Byrnes (Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb).  He played his role with great aplomb.  Some of the ILM special effects just yell "blue screen", but that is what happens when you've seen the magic of the movies once too often at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando.  I would put this movie up against National Treasure anytime.  Want a great trip down memory lane (via a land-sea duck in the rapids)? then Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is just you're ticket.  Location shooting in Connecticut, New Mexica, Hawaii and South America only enhances its visual appeal.

 

May 25th, 2008 - It's Memorial Day weekend and the highlight is the Bethpage Federal Credit Union Air Show at Jones Beach.  We are about 4 miles due north of the beach.  I DO NOT LIKE CROWDS.  That being said, the air show came to us.  The star attraction was the Navy Blue Angels precision flying group.  They circled over the house several times, low enough to the deck for me to read their marks.  One more tick on the throttle and there would have been major window renovations needed in the area.  I also saw a squadron of WWII vintage fighters as well as two WWII vintage bombers (one trailing smoke from an engine).  I took some pictures which may be post here once edited.

 

June 1st, 2008 - It's Hamfest time again.  This was the outdoor flavor held at Briarcliff College in Bethpage, NY.  I was there exactly at 7:00.  Don WB2BEZ and I fed the incoming vendor traffic to parking master Jeff N2ION.  Jeff did an outstanding job getting people to where he wanted them to be.  At this point I really don't need any additional equipment.  It was nice looking around and schmoozing with some of the guys.

 

June 8th, 2008 - This weekend is picnic time.  The first LIMARC picnic in many years was held at Bethpage State Park in Bethpage, NY.  I had never been to this park and it is a beautiful site.  Gary K2GK and I had volunteered for grill duty.  The overall production was under the supervision of Ray from Rockaway W2RFR with help from Jeff, N2ION and Richie K2KNB.  While it was unusually HOT this Sunday, the trees gave ample shade.  Gary and I flipped burgers and charred hot dogs with my wife Ellen and Gary's wife Jeri riding shotgun on salads, condiments and buns.  The N2ION Repeater Group vs the LIMARC Group softball game was a success and fun was had by all.  I have to comment that I did not hear one negative comment and everyone appeared to have a great time.   We are looking forward to a repeat engagement next  year.

June 21st, 2008 - We're off to the Train Collectors Association  convention in Burlington, VT.  The MapQuest and GPS routings ran us up through New England and back to the NW to Vermont.  Interestingly, the AAA online TripTik took us up the Northway to Port Kent, NY and then across Lake Champlain via ferry to Burlington. 

That route worked out perfectly for a shopping stop in Lake George and lunch at The Log Jam Restaurant
The Log Jam is in the motif of an old cabin right down to the sprinkler pipes which have been antiqued.  Our luncheon selections came with the salad bar.  This is a very impressive and well stocked salad bar along with bread baked in their own bakery.  I couldn't resist their raisin bread.  When in Lake George, give them a try.

After lunch we got back on the Northway heading toward Port Kent.  The Chevy Cobalt which we rented from Enterprise had a 13 gallon fuel take calibrated in eighths of a gallon.  As we got closer to Port Kent, the gas gauge kept getting closer to empty.  Choosing not to risk running out of gas,  we exited the Northway at a location that indicated gas to both the left and right of the exit ramp.  I looked right and saw nothing.  There was supposed to be a hospital to the left, so I assumed that it would be a decent size town.  You Odd Couple fans out there know what happens when you assume.  4 miles later, the gas station was located, and like an episode of I Love Lucy, it was boarded up.  Someone thoughtfully left a sign on the fence indicating that there was a gas station a mile up the road.  When we arrived at that gas station we were greeted by a group of motorcyclists.  Judging by their accents I would say that they were from French Canada.  I managed to put $20.00 worth of gas (< 5 gallons) in the tank and off we went to the ferry.  Getting back on the Northway, I found that the gas station on the other side was an eighth of a mile from the exit.  To make a long story short, we arrived at the ferry 1 minute prior to the scheduled departure time.  We were loaded onto the ferry and off we went to Burlington.  This was my first ride with a vehicle on a ferry in over 35 years.  It was a beautiful ride.

When we docked in Burlington my GPS appeared to have a problem finding our hotel.  Luckily the directions provided by the convention's PR manager Jon Brooks were excellent.  We went right along the waterfront and then up Main Street to the Sheraton.

While at the convention we met many very friendly people.  I find that the group that attends conventions is generally not the same group that attends train meets.  Most of the convention goers are more interested in going out, seeing the sights and having fun.

Our first tour was the Flying Yankee/Lafayette Dinner Train.  Although it was absolutely pouring when we arrived at the station, we managed to see a fair amount of "stuff".  The dinner train was very well run and served an excellent lunch.

The other tours that we took were the Green Mountain Railroad to Middlebury, the Mt. Washington Cog Railway, the Conway Scenic Railroad, a trip to Stowe and vicinity as well as a shopping trip to Montreal. 

Mt. Washington was quite spectacular.  At the bottom of the mountain all was clear, by the time we reached the summit, the fog had rolled in and visibility had dropped to about 30 feet. Temperatures at the top were in the mid 50s. 

Among the other activities was a dinner cruise on Lake Champlain aboard the Ethan Allen III.  The weather was just perfect and we got to see the sunset over the Adirondacks.

Rumors as to what would be served at the welcome party on Thursday night were flying all week.  The party was unique and certainly not what was expected.  There were all sorts of desserts, Ben and Jerry's ice cream bars, fondue, fresh fruit and cheese and several other "goodies".  A great time was had by all.

The banquet on Saturday night was another fun event.  The food was excellent and we enjoyed watching the auction.

Sunday morning it was time to pack-up and head back to Long Island.  We caught the 10:00 ferry and spent a few hours at Ausable Chasm.  While quite spectacular, it does not quite compare with Watkins Glenn. 

Lunch was in Queensbury at The Log Jam.

 

Want to see the pictures?  Click here:  TCA 2008 Convention - Burlington, VT

 

Time flies when you're having fun.  Here it is July 18th and we are off for the weekend to Cove Haven in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.  We haven't been to "The Cove" in over 25 years.  We generally preferred the more intimate Paradise Stream.  Unfortunately, although The Stream rebuilt the flood damage to the lobby, restaurant and night club, they never did re-build the Diana's Oasis rooms that were lost to fire.  Our last visit to The Stream in December was less than enjoyable.  The quality of the service had dropped to an all time low.  Cove Haven is the largest of the three remaining Caesar's Pocono Resorts.  It has just about everything one could ask for; indoor tennis, ice skating, roller skating, basketball and much more.  We had a room in the Champagne Towers overlooking the property.  The food was up to the standard that we have come to expect from Caesars over the years.  Friday night was Fat Paulie's Festa Italiano.  The food for the most part was excellent.  The best part, however, was the fresh made cannolis.  Mama mia!!  Saturday night was Strip Night.  The featured item was steak; not only strip steak.  There were several varieties, all of which were excellent.

 

The featured entertainment for the evening was Bruce In The USA .  This was a tribute band to The Boss.  I may be getting old, but this music was LOUD and bassy.  We were a few rings back and I could feel my heart vibrating in my chest.  At the end of the show, it took some time for my hearing to return.  I do have to say that they were better than the opening comedian, a very forgettable performance.

 

Cove Haven is located on Lake Wallenpaupack and offers speed boat rides on the lake (as well as water skiing for the daring).  We went out on the lake twice and had a great time.

 

Perhaps the most unique thing about Cove Haven is that it is the home of the last surviving "tummeler" (you can Google that one) Honest Phil.  He is a combination social director, comedian, deer caller and game show host.  Back in the heyday of the Catskills, every resort had someone like Honest Phil.  With the sale of Kutshers the last family owned Catskills resort, the tummeler has joined the endangered species list.  Watching Honest Phil in action is a pure joy.  While he stole one of his routines from Alan King, his execution was flawless.  Those who don't remember Alan King ("tonight here on our shoe" - Ed Sullivan) got a kick out of the joke.  I was tempted to yell "hey Berle, write some of your own material for a change".  Honest Phil has been at The Cove for 36 years, here's wishing him many more.

 

One of Phil's many talents is deer calling.  Every evening at 5:00 he calls the deer from the surrounding forest to dinner.  One evening he had 16 deer lined up on the first base line of the softball field.  Some of them even ate out of his hand.

 

If you are looking for a nice getaway (without kids), give Cove Haven a try.

 

Juy has gone and now we are into August.  August 1, 2008 and time for a new roof on the house.  We have been in the house for 24 years and the prior owners who installed the roof were here for 5.  Some quick math tells me that the roof is roughly 29 years old.  Most roofs are made with 30 year shingles.  Taking a look at this roof, it told me that it was time for a change.  I ended up using an excellent roofer who came highly recommended Ed Murray Roofing .  Bob Murray who supervised the job arrived at 8:15 in the morning with a crew of 12 roofers.  They placed tarps in strategic spots to protect the house and started ripping the old roof.  These men did not take a break and completed the roof and were ready to leave by 11:45.  Bob ran the roof nail magnet over the lawn and the men did a wonderful job of cleaning up.  I would highly recommend this company to anyone on Long Island looking for a quality roofer.

August 20th and we are off to South Street Seaport South Street Seaport to take the New York Water Taxi tour of the New York Waterfalls.  We purchased our tickets online earlier that day for the 12:00 sailing.  Purchasing the tickets online has two advantages.  The first is a discount for certain days of the week, the second is priority boarding at the pier.  Passengers with the online tickets wait on a separate and substantially smaller line that boards first.  This enables you to get a seat on the upper open deck which is preferable to the lower enclosed deck.  The ship heads south out of the seaport past the Staten Island and Governors Island ferry slips, the southern tip of the island then up the Hudson River to the World Financial Center.  The trip is fully narrated with a very informative guide.  From the World Financial Center, the boat turns down river past the old Lackawanna Railroad Terminal (now Liberty State Park), Ellis Island and then pauses for a photo-op by the Statue of Liberty. 

The boat had a large amount of tourists on board which is what New York in the summer is all about.  As a native New Yorker, I knew the answer to the question, what was the original purpose of the spire atop the Empire State Building?.  Look that one up in your Funk and Wagnalls.

September 6th has finally arrived and along with it Tropical Storm Hanna.  Ellen and I are off on a cruise aboard the Carnival Victory with ports of call of Boston, MA; Portland, ME; Saint John, NB; and Halifax, NS.  Click on the Carnival Victory Review tab for my review.

October 10th we are in Newark, New Jersey for the N.Y. Islanders vs the New Jersey Devils.  A beautiful arena with a great deli on the upper level.  The Islanders lose.  It's going to be a long season.

October 11th, the Islanders open up at home vs the St. Louis Blues.  Someone lit a fire under the team.  They skated well and scored several goals. 

 

It's October 14th and we are off to Pennsylvania for the Train Collectors Association train meet in York, PA.  Our destination for Tuesday is Hershey, PA.  We haven't been here in roughly 20 years.  Hershey's Chocolate World reminds me of the 1964 World's Fair.  You ride through a "pavillion" that shows how chocolate is refined and processed into various forms of candy.  At the end of the ride is a food court and sales area.  The food is reasonably priced and quite tastey.  Leave room for dessert; they have a fantastic cake selecton.  Yes, the cakes are as good as they look.  Following lunch, we headed over to the Hershey Gardens which still had many flowers in bloom.  The Japanese Garden is particularly peaceful and relaxing.

Our accommodations for the next 4 nights were at the Sleep Inn in Ronks, PA.  This is a relatively new hotel located just east of Dutch Haven on Route 30. 

Nothing that new or different at the train show.  The highlight of this trip was finding Dienner's Country Restaurant.  The reviews say it all.  Excellent PA Dutch food at reasonable prices.

October 19th is a cool day in New York.  We joined the New York Islanders Booster Club for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk at Jones Beach.  There was a huge turnout and we did the 5 mile walk.  My mouth did freeze during the walk which was a blessing for some.

November 1st, The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Islanders vs Canadiens, 19 busloads of fans from Montreal.  Start of the 3rd period, Isles up 4 to 1.  The goaltender tonight is Yann Denis, the backup's backup.  He has had quite a few lucky bounces tonight; ah, but his luck is about to run out.  The Canadiens come storming back; the blue, blanc, rouge defeat our Isles 5 to 4.  In the words of Chester A. Riley, "what a revoltin' development this is".  The Islanders played the first two periods as if they had been hypnotized and been left with the post-hypnotic suggestion "you will play as a team and guard the house".  They played the third period much like Cinderella at 12:01.  The coach turned back into a pumpkin and the footmen into mice.  Just keep telling yourself, things will get better, we are re-building.  Now where have I heard that line before?

On the brighter side, our jerseys which were dropped in favor of the Stan Fischler/Gorton's Fisherman version are eerily similar to the new third jersey.  It just goes to show that if you wait long enough, everything will return.  I guess that I better hang onto those Neru jackets and Qiana shirts.

11/21/2008 - It looks like my creative genius has finally been recognized.  Several months ago I suggested an ad campaign to the manager of the Enterprise Rent-a-car location in Bellmore, NY.  This morning I was checking out their site and lo and behold, here is my suggestion in print:

 

 

Is this merely a coincidence?  Do great minds really think alike?  I have an email in to the manager of the branch and will let you know what I hear back from him.  Anyone looking for some "talent"?

 

To back track...On Tuesday night we attended the New York Islanders Booster Club meeting at the Long Island Marriott.  The guest for the evening was New York Islander star Kyle Okposo.  He gave a very interesting talk about his life and career.  At this point in time, he is 20 years old.  I have to say that it is "scary" when an NHL player is younger than your own child.  I had my picture taken with Kyle and here it is:

 

 

November 27, 2008 and it's Thanksgiving time.  In my younger days I used to enjoy the trek into Manhattan to view the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  When I was a kid we had a neighbor Ben Rubinstein who worked for Macy's and he used to get my father tickets for us in the grandstand.  I still remember Fred Gwynne and Joe E. Ross pushing a red Car 54 down 34th Street after it broke down.  The car was red as the series was filmed in black and white and the red came out looking black.  Paul Lavalle led the McDonald's All American band one year.  Paul was also the conductor of the Cities Service Band of America which appeared at the 1964-65 N.Y. Worlds Fair.  My mother had listened to him in her younger days and had a long conversation with him at the Fair one time.  As his float passed in front of the grandstand on 34th Street one year, she waved to him, caught his eye and you saw that look of recognition as he waved back, I'll never forget that.  Among my parade photos are The Smothers Brothers (mom always liked you best) waving at my camera.  The parade holds lots of memories.  If I can find a willing "partner" next year, maybe I'll resume my tradition.  One last comment concerning the Parade.  For several years we would go to Wolf's 6th Avenue Deli located at the corner of 57th Street and 6th Avenue for lunch.  One year the restaurant was particularly busy and we were seated in a private room in the back.  As I looked up and across the aisle, there was Abe Vigoda eating a chopped liver sandwich.  I exchanged nods with him and then asked Ellen to slowly turn around and look over her right shoulder.  Keep in mind that Ellen isn't easily impressed, but knowing that she was dining "with" Abe Vigoda appeared to make an impression.

Our Thanksgiving feast was consumed at the 56th Fighter Group Restaurant in Farmingdale.  The restaurant is located on the boundary of Republic Airport just off of Route 110.  The exterior of the building replicates a WWII air group command post down to the tanks and jeeps in front.  Inside the decor is absolutely mesmerizing.  There are loads of WWI and II photos and a constant background of WWII era songs.  We had a great table overlooking the airport runway and a collection of three WWII fighter planes.  While we have been to many buffets in our day, suffice it to say that this was one of the top.  The assortment and quality of food was outstanding.  I particularly enjoyed the hot cappucino with homemade whipped cream and cinnamon stick.  The deserts (the most important part of any meal) were wonderful; they even had homemade rainbow cookies.  If you want to try something different, they had early bird dinner specials and lunch buffets.  Suffice it to say that following our 2:00 lunch we skipped lunch.

December 9th, 2008.  It is Christmas time in NYC.  It doesn't matter whether you like Andy Williams or Johnny Mathis, it is indeed the most wonderful time of the year.  Ellen and I took the LIRR into the city to explore the wonders of the city at Christmas. 

Our first stop was Macy's Herald Square.  No matter how many times I visit this store, I am always amazed by its size and the wonderful job they do with holiday decorations.  We went upstairs to Santaland and found it pretty busy.  Besides the pre-school kids, there were some who were obviously not feeling well enough to be in school.  The line moved fairly quickly and although we had seen the same displays (more or less) last year, they were still worth another visit.  No, we did not see Santa.  Ellen and I were careful not to divulge the fact that there were many Santas in many houses at the end of the line.  One of the true pieces of nostalgia in Macys are the wooden escalators that run behind the core elevators.  These would appear to be the originals and I just love riding them.  We took them from 8 all the way down to the main level.  There are a few more sets going down to The Cellar.  If you visit Macys, you MUST ride them.  Down in The Cellar we stopped for a bit of sugar-free chocolate mousee cake and a cup of coffee (just me, Ellen doesn't drink coffee).

Our next stop took us over to 6th Avenue and up to Bryant Park.  Once again this year they had a great assortment of crafts people selling just about anyting you could imagine.

Walking across on 40th Street to Park Avenue, we went to Grand Central Terminal.  This year they had the Sharp Kaleidoscope Light Show.  This production uses the vast expanse of the main waiting room as its screen.  The show was very impressive show.  Lunch was at Juniors in the lower level.  Despite the crowded dining area, the food is outstanding and the service very attentive.  The trip would not be complete without a piece of Devil's Food Cheesecake to go.

The NYC Transit Museum has an annex in the terminal   The main attraction at holiday time is the Lionel Trains layout.  While viewing the layout, I had some intersting discussions with two gentlemen.  The first was slowly amassing a train collection for his young son, while the second was reminiscing over the trains of his youth.  He told me that he still had a lot of accessories still in their original boxes.

Leaving the museum, we looked at the holiday crafts sale located on the southern end of the main waiting room.  A lot of interesting items; virtually all are unique.

Back on 42nd Street, we walked up Vanderbilt Avenue to 43rd Street and over to 5th Avenue.  The Best Buy store on 5th Avenue has been joined in the same block by Circuit City on the south eastern corner.  Talk about shades of Macys and Gimbels.

The Saks window display did not particularly impress us.  It dealt with a snowflake based character. 

Rockefeller Center was beautiful as always.  This year they are using LEDs on the tree which made the lighting a little less intense than in prior years.  To compensate for this, there were strobe lights in the tree which flashed.

Our final stop was the NBC Experience.  This is somewhat of a tourist trap, but if you are into the NBC "thing" you should stop by.  They too had a train layout on the first level courtesy of Tom's Trains of Ardsley, NY.

Thoroughly worn out, we walked crosstown on 39th street through the fabric district with our ultimate destination being Pennsylvania Station.  While the weather was not perfect, the temperatures were mild and we had an enjoyable day

December 10th, 2008 - This evening Ellen and I attended the LIMARC holiday party.  I received a beautiful plaque for my activities as the Public Information Officer for the club.  I also was the lucky winner of the 50-50 raffle.  The party was a huge success with a great turnout and excellent food and company.

 

December 12th, 2008 - This is the morning after.  We had a huge rainstorm last night and early this morning and as per usual our street was flooded.  As cars crashed through a foot or so of standing water, the waves lapped up on our lawn.  I took video of it and will post it once I get through editing it.

December 21st to January 2nd - We are on the Explorer of the Seas on a 12 night Caribbean cruise to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary on December 23rd.  Here we are with the captain of the ship

January, 2009 - I have volunteered to be the editor of the official publication of The Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club (LIMARC).  It is a good vehicle for me to "unleash" my creative talents.

January 20th, 2009 - Today we celebrated Ellen's birthday.  After being unable to decide where to go for dinner, we ended up at Famous Dave's Barbecue in Westbury.  It was a cold evening so the restaurant wasn't that crowded.  We had an enjoyable dinner.  I almost forgot to mention, the country got a new leader today.  I watched from 10:00 in the morning until 4:45.  What a great day for the U.S.  The highlight had to be when GW got into the helicopter and took off.  Now maybe we can get this country straightened out.  I could almost hear the words of Martin Luther King in the air "Free at last".

January 21st - Off to the Nassau Coliseum to watch the last in the NHL N.Y. Islanders go up against the Anaheim Ducks.  On paper this looks like a major mismatch.  Combine that with the fact that Anaheim lost to the Rangers the night before at the Garden.  As per usual, I stood rinkside at the visitors end watching them take warm ups.  They are a big team with an excellent goaltender.  It looks like an early evening.  The game begins promptly at 7:08.  The Isles quickly go up 2 zip and the goalie is pulled.  To say that he had a temper tantrum at the bench would be an understatement.  His goal stick ended up as kindling for a fireplace as he smashed it behind the players bench.  At the end of the second period the Isles were still up, but I knew that Anaheim wasn't done yet.  As expected from the second period on, they played what Bill Chadwick (The Big Whistle) used to call "Katie bar the door hockey".  Anaheim outshot them by a wide margin, but the hockey gods were on the side of the Isles.  There were several posts hit, pucks that just slid through the crease, pucks laying on the goal line, you name, it happened.  Well, the Isles weathered the storm and had their first win of 2009 and we had our first enjoyable evening at an Isles game in quite a while.

January 26th - Off to the Long Island Marriott for the New York Islanders Booster Club meeting.  This evening's guest is Jeff Tambellini, left wing for the Isles.  I continue to be amazed by the how young these players are.  What this is telling me is that I'm getting older.  When I was 27, I felt that I had arrived.  Jeff was quite well spoken and candid in his reply to the numerous questions he was asked.  Some of his stories were pretty funny.

January 27th - Although a week late (I wanted the tickets for Ellen's birthday), we are heading into the city for a taping of Late Night With David Letterman.  It is very cold in NYC today and after arrive at Penn Station we headed for The Cellar at Macy's for some sugar-free Black Forest layer cake and coffee.  Heading uptown, we arrived at Carmine's for lunch.  Normally Carmine's is packed at lunch time.  This is not matinee day and the restaurant is about 40% occupied.  This is Winter Restaurant Week in NYC, but Carmines does not participate.  We ordered lunch portions of ravioli and eggplant parmigiana.  The eggplant portion was larger than what the two of us would share for dinner.  Following lunch, we made stops at Hershey's Chocolate World and the M&M Store off of Duffy Square.  With Christmas being past, Ellen got a Hershey's holiday sweatshirt at a bargain price.  As we headed up to The Ed Sullivan Theater, we kept pace with two young women in full costume who were promoting the musical "Chicago".  I could tell whether or not their English accents were genuine or affected.  On the corner of 48th Street and Broadway there was a woman offering tickets to today's taping of Letterman.  It made us wonder how hard it actually is to get these tickets in the dead of winter.  Once at the theater, we joined the roped off line of people with either reservations or a letter that they had gotten on the street.  Members of the "Worldwide Pants" production team were distributing questionaires asking about funny stories that you might want to have discussed with Dave on air.  I have many funny stories, but none that would appeal to a national audience.  Before getting our tickets, we were checked against a guest list by two separate staffers.  Tickets in hand, we were told to be back at Roseland on 53rd between Broadway and 8th Avenue between 3:00 and 3:30.  With some time to "kill" we headed uptown to the AOL Time Warner Building.  This was erected on the site of the New York Coliseum.  I still miss The Coliseum and have many fond memories of various trade shows that I attended there.  We arrived back at Roseland shortly after 3:00 and eventually were marched inside.  The groups were broken down in five lines based on ticket number.  After standing for almost an hour, the group started to be led out and across 53rd Street to the historic Ed Sullivan Theater.  For those of you unfamiliar with this venue, this is the theater from which Ed Sullivan did his TV show back in the 50s and 60s.  On this very stage, The Beatles first performed in the US in 1964.  We ended up sitting in the balcony which gave us a fairly good view of the activities on the stage below.  Taping began promptly at 4:30 and ended around 5:40.  Being a techno-freak type, I found the production and technical aspects of the show very interesting.  At the conclusion of the taping, it was back down to Penn Station and home to await the snow...which is currently falling on Long Island this morning.

February 6th and it is off to the city to see another production in the New York City Center Encores series.  Today's production is Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Music In The Air".  To quote from the show's Web site: 

Music in the Air has been lovingly restored by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, and not been seen in its original form since its premiere Broadway engagement in 1932. Set in Munich, it tells of an aging rural music teacher, his naively charming daughter and their misadventures trying to break into the cynical, world-weary theater scene in the big city. Songs include “I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star” and “The Song Is You”.

The production featured Kristin Chenoweth in the lead role.  She was fantastic as always.  Also featured was Sierra Boggess .  Ms Boggess is currently appearing on Broadway as Ariel in The Little Mermaid.  She has a wonderful voice and is extremely talented.  The Encores productions are limited run engagements and the cast members carry the show book with them, eliminating the need to memorize the entire production.  Nevertheless, some of the Broadway veterans were able to do the show without benefit of the book.  A particular treat was the casting of Marni Nixon in the show.  For those of you for whom that name does not ring a bell, Ms. Nixon was the singing voice of Deborah Kerr in "The King and I", Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady" and Natalie Wood in "West Side Story".  I remember as a child being heartbroken when my mother told me that Deborah Kerr did not really sing "Getting To Know You".  She said that it was sung by "Marni Nixon".  My reply was, "who the heck is that?".  At this point in my life, the name Marni Nixon holds a special significance that now stretches back 50 years.  The show passed the "Ellen test".  She managed to stay awake throughout the entire presentation and actually appeared to enjoy it.  The interesting thing about the show is that the plot "passes through" the music.  In most musicals, the action stops when the score is sung.  In this show, the songs are the plot.  I couldn't help but think about the similarities between this show and the Three Stooges short "Women Haters".  The similarity being not in the plot but in the fact that the music and dialogue are integral to the action.  Women Haters is done almost entirely in rhyme.  All in all, it was a very enjoyable day.  The next Encores presentation which we will be seeing is Finian's Rainbow. 

February 21st and it's off to see the New York Islanders play the division leading New Jersey Devils.  Earlier in the day I read that the Isles had traded defenseman Chris Campoli and center Mike Comrie.  While Comrie was no great loss in my opinion (he would have been a free agent at the end of the season), I was sorry to see Chris leave.  He is an excellent player with a bright future.  It seemed that he had asked to be traded feeling that he didn't fit into the Scott Gordon "run and gun"system.  He will be missed.  With that as the prelude, I wasn't particularly looking forward to this evening's game.  As we entered the Coliseum, it was a giveaway night.  How ironic it would have been if it was Chris Campoli bobblehead night.  Alas not, it was an Islanders puck bank; the small size, just about right for these recession days.  I watched the Devils warm-up and just marveled at the wealth of talent that they possess.  Once the game started, it was all turned topsy turvy.  The Isles played a brilliant game and Yann Danis was extremely sharp in the nets.  This time around he didn't need the help of the posts.  The Isles won 4 zip and Danis was the number one star of the game.  Now there is something to cheer you up.  Maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel and not just another train.

March 18th, 2009 - My ... birthday.  For the last few years, I have wanted to purchase an Amish oak glider   .  The only problem was that delivery of this chair to New York is $250.00  (more than half of the price of the chair).  I had been toying with various ways to get the chair home.  For some reason that can only be cosmic in nature, all of the "stars aligned" on my birthday.  I was able to rent a mini-van from Enterprise for $47.99 a night which is a third of the normal price; the resort that we stay at had a bed and breakfast special for $99.00 (the exact amount of a voucher that I had from them for a free night); the price of gas dropped to something approaching reasonable; and lastly, I had a buy one get one free smorgasbord coupon from the resort as a birthday present.  With all of that going for me, how could I say no?  We picked up the mini-van on the evening of March 17th and headed out the next morning.  The chair had been ordered roughly a month before for pick-up on March 19th.  To make a long story short, we had a wonderful room (recently refurbished), as well as an excellent dinner and breakfast.  On a rainy Thursday morning, we drove over to the furniture store in Strasburg, paid the balance on the chair, loaded it into the mini-van and headed for home.  Yes, it is expensive.  Yes, it is as comfortable and well made as it looks in the pictures.

March 21, 2009 - Off to Ottawa with the New York Islanders Booster Club to watch the Isles play the Ottawa Senators at Scotia Bank Place in Kenata, Ontario.  The bus left the Coliseum at roughly 12:15 AM, yes AM.  We had a leisurely ride through New Jersey and up the NYS Thruway to Albany.  We then headed west and picked up I-81 near Syracuse.  Breakfast was at a Denny's off of the Interstate.  They received advance notification of our arrival and we pulled in somewhere around 5:30 AM.  The restaurant went from almost empty to overrun in a few short moments.  The staff did a wonderful job of dealing with a group of 47 and got us on our way in a reasonable length of time.  Heading North, our next stop was the border crossing.  Things went smoothly there.  Our customs agent did not know that the Isles were in 30th place.  Come to think of it, he didn't know that there were 30 teams in the league.  Traversing the highways of Ontario, we arrived at the Novotel in downtown Ottawa around 10:30 AM.  Our rooms were ready and Ellen and I went upstairs to change.  The hotel is in an excellent area adjacent to the Rideau Mall.  Lunch was at the Manchu Wok (yes, they are in Canada too).  After lunch, we explored Ottawa, spending a lot of time on Parliament Hill looking at the Ottawa River and surrounding countryside.  It was still quite cold in Ottawa and many areas had the stairwells and access roads blocked off due to icing.  We did get to see the Rideau Canal.  Back at the Mall to warm up, we spent some time exploring.  This has to be one of the most confusing malls I have ever been in.  Having warmed up sufficiently, we headed over the the By-ward Market.  This is a section of town that has both regular stores and a famers' market type setup.  By-ward is the original name of Ottawa. There were many appetizing food stands.  The Beaver Tail stand was particularly busy.  Ellen and I were trying to be good and ended up purchasing nothing at the market.

5:15 PM and it is off to the Scotia Bank Place, home of the Ottawa Senators.  Located in Kenata, Ontario, this is a relatively new facility in the middle of no where.  No where in this case is actually good as it affords the space for plenty of parking and easy access to the building.  I have now visited several NHL arenas and this is by far the nicest.  They sight lines are excellent as is the seatng.  We were seated in Section 228 behind the goal that the Senators defended for the first and third periods.  Prior to the trip, I had visited the web site for the arena so I had a good idea of the types of food that they offered.  I ended up with a "meat" sandwich and Ellen had Buffalo chicken wings.  When I inquired as to what type of meat the "meat" was, the preparer had no idea.  The person at the register told me that it was pork.  Whatever it was, the sandwich was very tasty.  We also purchased sugar coated cashews (not on the diet, but I won't be back here any time soon).  The Booster Club made it onto the Isles coverage of the game with C.J. Papa coming up to say hi.

Following the game, we headed back to the hotel taking the great cirlce route.  As they say, "all roads lead to Rome" and we did get back to the hotel without much trouble.

Our room stay included free breakfast.  I was not quite sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a very pleasant meal.  The breakfast pastries were fresh and absolutely wonderful (I am an expert on pastry).  They included fresh baked chocolate croissants as well as an assortment of breads, muffins and danishes.  The hot side featured eggs benedict, crepes, bacon, sausage, potatoes and everything to go with them.

Departure from the hotel was at 10:30 AM.  Re-tracing our route back to New York, we stopped at a duty free shop just south of the 1000 Islands Bridge.  Ellen and I are not really drinkers and had already made our annual liquor purchase on the last cruise. 

The crossing at the border was uneventful.

Lunch/dinner was at The 18 Wheeler, a truck stop that was recommended by our driver.  Once again, our group of 47 overwhelmed a restaurant.  While the service was leisurely, the food was good.

Arrival back at the Coliseum was at 9:45.  Ellen and I were home by 10:00.  Once again, the NYI Booster Club organized a very enjoyable trip.

March 25th, 2009 - Another Isles game at the Coliseum.  The Minnesota Wild vs the Isles.  Final score 6-2 Wild.  Enough said.

March 28th - Again at the Coliseum.  A better effort against the Flyers, but the same end result.  3-2 loss in a shootout.

March 29th - A trip into the city to see Finian's Rainbow at the New York City Center.  Dinner was at Virgil's Barbecue on west 44th street just off of Times Square.  I had the Carolina pulled pork platter and Ellen had the barbecue meat sampler salad.  We topped it off with a shared piece of key lime pie.  The production of Finian's Rainbow was wonderful.  While we sat in the boondocks, we still had a good view and enjoyed the show.

April 2nd - We didn't have tickets to the Isles game, but our neighbor Brian who is a season ticket holder didn't want to go so he gave us his tickets.  Final score 5 -1 Canadiens.  The Coliseum had a fairly large contingent of Canadiens fans.  Brian made a wise decision.  We left after the 2nd period.

March 30th - NYI Booster Club meeting at the Marriott.  The guest speaker was assistant equipment manager Richard "Shakey" Krouse.  He brought a bunch of equipment and some very entertaining stories.  I have the meeting on DVD if anyone would like to purchase a copy for their own library.

April 18th - "Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere".  Yes indeed, Paul Revere (along with William Dawes) took their midnight rides on the 18th of April in '75 (1775).  Their call was of course "the British are coming".  Well, it is now the 18th of April in 2009 and I am off to the New York International Auto Show to see the successor to their horse.  The call may now be "the Chinese are coming".  Originally known as "the horseless carriage", we now call automobiles cars or if you are really "hip" your "ride".  Unable to find a traveling companion to the city, I made the trip solo.  The weather in Manhattan was absolutely spectacular.  I arrived at the Javits center a few minutes prior to the show opening.  I had purchased my "e-ticket" (not to be confused with the Disneyworld E ticket) on line earlier in the day.  Once into the show the first thing to hit me was the Honda display.  I am a "Honda person" and have been for over 25 years.  While they no longer "make it simple", they do make a quality vehicle.  The new Insight was the focus of my attention.  It is a cute vehicle and very practicle for the solo commuter.  I found it a little too tight and was put off by the steep angle of the windshield.  So we are now back into Accord or CR-V territory.  I was amazed by the loyalty of Honda owners.  Virtually everyone at the display either had a Honda or was seriously considering one.  I ran into another Honda fan and we chewed the fat for a while looking at the Accord. 

When I was a kid, the Auto Show was where you went to see extremely attractive women.  I remember one year they had a Penthouse Pet at one of the booths.  Alas, that is but a distant memory.  The show is now run by "product specialists".  They do the shpiel about the vehicles and also work the crowd.  The bad part about this is that they are not fluent in the product line beyond the scripts and product info that they are given to memorize.  The manufacturers should staff their exhibits with people who actually sell or service the cars; they are the ones with the knowledge.  I could go on and on about the Auto Show, but suffice it to say that I had an enjoyable time.  Also absent were the free giveaways of days gone by.  The only things that I received of note were some shopping bags made from recycled material. 

April 23rd - Off to York.  This will be a short trip as we don't want to leave the cat alone for too long.  To sum up, we had a great time, bought some more "stuff".  I finally picked up Trainminder from Steven.  Now all I have to do is catch up on 5 years worth of inventorying.  Once again we ate at Dienner's and found it as homey as the last time.

April 26th - It has been over 50 years since my two grandmothers passed away.  Both Mount Lebanon and Mount Carmel cemeteries now have searchable interment records available online.  Using this facility I was able to locate both of their burial sites.  Ellen and I took a ride out to the cemeteries to pay our respects.  Surprisingly the headstones were in excellent condition.  I feel really good about having done this.

June 23rd, 2009 - We are off to Phoenix, Arizona for the Train Collectors Association annual convention.  We arrived in Penn Station shortly after 2:30 and checked our two bags ("you take the blond, I'll take the one in the turbin").  The Acela lounge is a nice place to sit and wait for your train to board.  It is available to passengers riding the Acela and those holding sleeper accomodations on long distance trains.  We boarded the train at roughly 3:30 and found our "comfy" roomette.  The car attendant George introduced himself and gave us the 5 cent tour of the roomette.  The train left on time and we began our trek up the Hudson.  Whenever I take this run, I recall the movie "North By Northwest" as Roger O. Thornhill rides the 20th Century Limited to Chicago.  But alas, Eva Marie Saint was not my travelling companion.  I had my backpacking GPS with me and I was able to monitor the progress of the train along with its speed.  It was very "cool" to watch the marker for the train moving along the graphical representation of the track.  Our first major stop was in Albany.  This is the point at which the Lakeshore Limited picks up the Boston section of the train.  The stop provides a nice opportunity to walk the train and check out the consist.  Our train had 2 Genesis engines in the lead.  The first of the two had a smashed nose; very unsettling.  Perhaps even more unsettling for the passengers who were aboard when that happened.  With our train assembled, we started the westward ride along the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal.  This ride provides some absolutely beautiful scenery.  Dinner on the train was "okay".  This train has a modified snack car serving as the diner.  The food is all served from steam trays and convection microwaves.  The quality is slightly above that found in a fast food restaurant.  Since our last trip on Amtrak, the sleepers have upgraded to larger pillows and you can have two per person.  This made sleeping somewhat easier, but it is still difficult for me to sleep on a train.  Ellen, on the other hand, can fall asleep at a hockey game with 14,000 screaming fans surrounding her.  Breakfast in the diner was again, okay.  We arrived in Chicago on time at approximately 9:45 AM.  Our connecting train was not scheduled to leave Chicago until after three in the afternoon.  That gave us plenty of time to explore the city.

As luck would have it, today happened to be the hottest day in Chicago in months with the temperature approaching 90 degrees.  I chose not to check my backpack which had my camera equipment and netbook in it.  We exited the station and walked along the Chicago river for a bit.  I really love the way the river runs through the middle of the city with the various bridges traversing it.  After studying a map of downtown, we decided to head off to Lake Shore Drive and the water.  En route we stopped at the Chicago Arts Center.  It was COOL inside and free.  We looked at a few of the exhibits including two stunning Tiffany domes.  Next stop, Millenium Park.  At the entrance to the park, we were given two hand fans promoting the Chicago production of Mary Poppins.  They certainly came in handy.  The park has a wonderful band shell and an open rehersal was underway.  We were intrigued by the polished egg also inside the park.  As the heat got the better of us, we started to head back to the station.  On our trip to Washington, DC, we had "discovered" the Corner Bakery.  There were many of these in Chicago and we decided to have lunch there.  Undoubtedly the best "bang for the buck".  Very good quality and some innovative items.  Following lunch, we went back to the Metropolitan Lounge to await boarding.  Due to equipment problems, the train would be an hour and fifteen minutes late.  Oh well, time for more complimentary snacks and beverages.  An interesting part of train travel is the comeraderie that the passengers share.  Invariably someone in the travelling party is afraid to fly and that starts the conversation.  What trains have you taken?  have you ever flown?  under what circumstances would you fly? and on and on.  Our train was finally called and we exited out the back of the lounge walking briefly along the Chicago River.  Turning right, we were led back into the station (we figured this circuitous route was probably less confusing for the passengers than going through the station) and to our boarding platform. 

We were greeted outside the train by Julio our car attendant. 


Unfortunately, our car number was never changed on the outside number board to reflect the change in destination.  East bound trains are "4" and west bound trains are "3".  Our train still showed the car number as 0430.  This caused a fair amount of confusion train-side.  With minimal turnaround time, Julio was still trying to get all of the sleepers in order.  There was also a problem with a roomette being sold to two different parties.  At this point the manager in me came out and I started directing people to their roomettes (not very hard as there was a map on the first floor entrance).  Eventually I also changed the car designation to 0330 which eliminated a fair amount of the confusion.

We had never been on a Superliner before and while impressive from the outside, I like the Viewliners better.  Our roomette had no bathroom facilities and we had to share the five in the car with other passengers.  Not a big deal unless you need the facilities in the middle of the night.  In addition, the upper bunk has no window to view the passing sights from.  Lastly it was lacking the storage alcove that the Viewliner has.  That alcove is surprisingly big and can hold a fair amount of "stuff". 

With everyone aboard, we pulled out of Chicago an hour and twenty-five minutes late.  For Amtrak, that qualifies as "on time".

Dinner in the Superliner diner was not all that much different from the food on the Viewliner.  Basically it was the same menu except that the food was not served from steam trays, it was prepared in the galley below and then apparently sent up on a dumbwaiter of sorts.  While tasty, I would say that it was somewhat below Applebees in the quality department.

Steve was the snack car attendant.  Bring money, wear shoes and throw out your garbage, that sums up Steve.  When we boarded the train he went through this whole shpiel about a box blocking the stairway down to the snack car.  After several minutes, we realized that HE had placed the box there to prevent people from coming downstairs while he was gettting set up.  Eventually we took a walk to the snack car, crime scene tape would have been more appropriate.  In all of my days riding on Amtrak (just about back to their beginning), I have NEVER smelled such a foul odor.  Even if we had thought about purchasing something, the smell would have driven us away.  Steve's ongoing announcements were amusing and made the time pass.


More details to follow.

July 17th, 2009 - Tonight we are head to the Paul McCartney concert at CitiField.  I was 12 or so when the Beatles played Shea Stadium and did not make it to that concert.  Now it is 40 some odd years later, Paul McCartney is now 67 but still rockin' on.  We took the LIRR to the stadium and were met with a sea of humanity.  The tickets said that the concert started at 6:30 with the doors opening at 5:30.  Well, it was 5:35 when we arrived and there was absolutely no movement of this mass of people until 5:45.  The large crowd had to pass through security check-points.  It appeared that the event staff was woefully unprepared to handle a crowd like this all at once.  After roughly 40 minutes, we passed through security and entered the stadium.  Having received an email that said among other things, no cameras or umbrellas, we came with ponchos.  As luck would have it, sitting in the "cheap seats" up in section 516 had its advantages.  We were under the upper balconey overhang.  When the rain started, we were perfectly dry.  The opening act for Paul McCartney did not come on until 7:25 and played until around 8:05.  They were from Ireland and we could hardly make out what they were saying or singing.  Once they were finished, a video montage was projected on the two huge projection screens flanking the stage which was located in center field.  The video continued to loop until a few minutes before 9:00 when Paul McCartney finally came out.  The performance was well worth the wait.  He played continuously until 11:30.  Each song, as would be expected was a hit.  With the wealth of material authored by The Beatles, the concert could have gone on for days with just their hits.  "Live and Let Die" was punctuated with fireworks.  One of the highlights of the evening was an appearance by Billy Joel who did a duet of "I Saw Her Standing There".  All told, the band came back for four curtain calls. 

About a minute before the conclusion of the concert, we made a dash for the stairs to avoid the crowd.  Kudos to the LIRR for their outstanding crowd management.  The got everyone on either a Penn Station of Port Washington train and had good support for riders at Woodside as well.  When all was said and done, I was in bed by 1:16 in the morning.  I have to say that it was well worth the money, the trip and some aggravation.

8/12/2009 - Off to the new Yankee Stadium today to see the Yanks play the Toronto Blue Jays (I almost said Maple Leafs, eh?).  I'm really looking forward to seeing the new ballpark.  The forecast calls for scattered storms, but perhaps we'll luck out.  Worse case scenario is we get wet.  Maybe our seats are in the nose-bleed section under the overhang.  Stay tuned.

9/09/2009 - Some Enchanted Evening.  I have finally convinced Ellen to see South Pacific at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center.  We picked up discounted tickets at the TKTS booth in Duffy Square and then did our "city thing" with stops at Rockefeller Center.  Lunch was at Cafe Europa on 53 and Broadway.  The show was absolutely MAGNIFICENT.  The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a very small venue and every seat is an excellent one.  The stage is motorized and actually come out into the audience.  The staging was very clever as well was the performers doubling as stage hands.  The score was done using the original orchestrations and the full 30 piece orchestra; not many shows can claim that anymore.  I highly recommend this show to anyone looking for a wonderful day at the theater.

10/13/2009 - Off to York yet again.  A stop at Hershey's Chocolate World and a look around the Outlets at Hershey.  Changing hotels for Lancaster, we stayed at the Fulton Steamboat Inn on Route 30.  This is a very nice hotel designed to look like a steamboat.  The rooms are beginning to show their age.  We had problems with the lamp and attached wiring in the room as well as with the toilet which kept cycling on and off.  Their maintenance was unable to fix the toilet.  Dinner was at our old standby, The Texas Roadhouse.  You are always greeted with "Have you dined with us before?".  This time I controlled myself and didn't reply "yes, and we even decided to come back".

10/14/2009 - The Toy Train Museum has it's open house today.  The mini-toy fair was held along with presentations by MTH and Lionel.  After the MTH presentation, we decided to head out in search of a suit for an upcoming cruise.

10/15/2009 - Early morning finds in raining in Lancaster.  En route to the TCA meet at York, we stopped off to visit with our friends Susan and Irwin Richman.  It is always enjoyable to visit there.  I invariably end up learning something that I didn't know before.

By the time we reached the Fairgrounds, it was raining at a pretty good clip.  I picked up a few goodies and we attended the Lionel Vision presentation in the Gold hall.  Free soda, popcorn and M&Ms.  What more could you want?

10/16/2009 - A stop at the Bird In Hand Farmer's Market and we are heading for home.  We stopped on the way to visit with Marilyn and Bernie Roher.  Marilyn is a retired NEPSC employee and one of the nicest people you would want to meet.  We followed the GPS directions through all of the twists and turns and eventually ended up right outside their door.  What a BEAUTIFUL home!!  While it doesn't look wide from the front, it is extremely deep and has cathedral ceilings inside.  From my perspective, the best feature was the full sized basement with the high ceiling.  Boy, could I put some layout down there!!  After a delicious lunch, we hit the road.  As expected, the traffic in Brooklyn was horrendous.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to get home.

10/18/2009 - It's a rainy day on Long Island.  Today is the "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" walk.  Our team consisting of myself, Ellen, Carol McNiff and Dan Schlagman brave the elements for the 5 mile walk.  By the time we start walking, it is pouring.  We persevere and complete the walk a thoroughly soaked.  It is a very worthwhile cause and we would all do it again.  Thank you to all who have contributed.

11/17/2009 - Off to the Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal for our 13 day cruise aboard the QM2.  Our driver Artie from Executive Limousine picks us up shortly before 10:00 and away we go.  We arrived at the terminal around 11:20.  Check in and security went very quickly as I left all of my pocket change as well as my MacGyver Swiss Army knives at home.  Our ID photos were taken by the check-in agent, something new.  We were given a boarding number, 58, and waited for it to be called.  We were finally called at 12:10 and headed off toward the boarding gate.  A short walk through a few passageways and we were scanned aboard the QM2.  My first reaction, WOW, what a classy ship.  As you find on most lines, everyone was smiling and very helpful.  Our cabin 6195 was a few decks up and we took the elevator.  This cabin was in an EXCELLENT location.  One level up to the King's Court dining area and 3 levels down to right outside the Britannia Restaurant.  The cabin is called a hull balcony.  If you look at the side of the ship, you will notice square cutouts below the promenade deck (7), those are the balconies.  They are nice and cozy, but do not offer a view of the water when you are sitting down.  Ellen loved the bathroom and there was plenty of storage space in the cabin.  One would expect no less from a ship that does around the world voyages.

The next stop was the King's Court for lunch.  While this dining venue takes up a fair amount of real estate, it is very compartmentalized with various nooks and crannies which don't give you the impression of dining in a huge area.  The four serving areas were the Chef's Galley which does burger, franks and deli sandwiches at lunch and cooking demos at dinner; La Piazza, which specializes in Italian; the Carvery, which serves various meat specialties; and lastly, Lotus, which has an Asia Pacific theme.  Everything looked so nice and after 13 days, I really don't recall which one we opted for.  At dinner, two of the venues are converted to table service by reservation only while the third is a buffet.  The buffet restaurant rotates nightly.  The food on the QM2 is a step up from most of the other lines that we have cruised with.

We walked around the ship a bit discovering the Lookout, the Commodore Club and the Library.  All of these being located forward.  All of the rooms had a very intimate feeling.

After our stroll around the ship, we decided to return to the cabin to give it the once over.  It was now around 2:30 and our bags and box with two cases of diet soda were waiting outside the door.  That had to be a record for receiving luggage on a ship.  On most cruises, the bags generally arrive 4 hours or more after embarkation.  The cabin had plenty of storage space, but was kind of short on hangars.  Our cabin steward Melvin brought us a bunch of wire hangars and we were good to go. 

With our clothes put away, it was back up on deck.  There was a Caribbean band Vibz on the ship and they played by the pool on Deck 8.  We explored the ship further, stopping to chat with fellow passengers and snapping an occasional photo for them.  While the weather wasn't the greatest, it is always nice to view the city from the deck of a cruise ship.

A muster drill was held prior to sailing and unlike some of the ones that we had experienced recently, there was no going out on deck and NO selling of shipboard services.  A clear and efficient operation.

Following the drill, it was time to go up on deck for our sail-away.  As the bow thrusters pushed the ship off of it's berth, an NYPD patrol boat pulled in behind us with its blue lights illuminating the water of Red Hook.  We were on our way!!

Our dinner in the Britannia Dining Room was first seating at table 304.  We were notified of this by a nice card left in our cabin with our name, the table number and a map of the dining room pre-printed.  A sport jacket at minimum is required each night in the dining room.  When we arrived at the entrance, there was quite a line up.  It seemed that many people were not able for find their tables.  I had the map and headed off, in the wrong direction.  Once I told a staff member the table number they pointed me to the port side of the dining room.  Our waiter Christopher and assistant Ferdie introduced themselves.  And so began 13 nights of gastronomical delight.

A brief talk about the ports of call.

Cristobal - this is one tough town.  It makes the worse parts of New York look safe.  I would NOT walk around here at all.  We were escorted to our shuttle bus and boarded the Panama Railroad for a ride to Panama City.  A very nice trip.  At the end of the line we were given snacks, water and a turkey hero.  On the trip back, we made several stops, the most notable of which were the Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal.  What an amazing operation.

Curacao - An absolutely beautiful port.  The terminal area looked like a scene out of a Dutch movie.  We took a tour to a museum/restoration.  It was okay.  I was more interested in seeing the island.  The one thing that you find out pretty quickly is that most of these islands start to look the same.  They were all used as plantations or sources of goods for trade.  In addition, the bulk of the population were slaves.  The only thing that differentiates one from the other is how they evolved after being granted their independence.  Some have done very well and are models of modern Democracies.  Others, still have a ways to go.

Greneda - this was our first time here.  This was one of the islands that the US sent troops to back in the 80s to help stabilize the government.  This is known as the spice island and everywhere you turn you are being offered nutmeg and other spices.  We took a tour to the Nutmeg Station.  We got to view the processing of nutmegs from weighing and sorting through to grinding.  As Artie Johnson would say "very interesting".  We tendered ashore from the ship as the QM2 was too high to use their new cruise ship terminal.  We did walk over there to look around.  They had the usual assortment of duty free shops.  While we were there, it started to pour.  Luckily we were carrying our umbrellas.  The locals were waiting out the storm and we decided to do the same.  We were approached by a local who offered to direct us to a cab that would take us back to our ship.  That was a good trick considering the fact that the ship was anchored out in the water.  Having watched a History Channel series on tourists kidnapped abroad, I decided to take a pass.  Eventually the rain abated and we walked back to the tender dock.  While Greneda appeared safe on the surface of things, there is a very high unemployment rate.  I was struck by the number of people just standing around in various spots of the island along with a large dog population.  I felt a undercurrent that any minute a revolution could break out there.  This is not one of my must return to islands.

Barbados - This is the second time that we have visited the island in a little under a year.  On our last visit we took an island tour.  I had heard wonderful things about Ronnie Carrington's photo tour of the island and we booked that excursion.  Ronnie is an extremely knowledgeable tour guide and an outstanding photographer.  We made many stops along the way for photo ops.  We saw many natural wonders including the following:


12/22/2009 - We were hit with a blizzard on Saturday night and that has pushed our plans to celebrate our anniversary at Cove Haven in the Poconos back a day.  We were scheduled to leave on the 21st, but will now be leaving on the 22nd.  As a "Forever Lover" we receive periodic special offers.  This time it was for any suite in the resort at $250.00 per night.  That is the proverbial, an offer that I can't refuse.  We chose the "Champagne Tower".  This room features its own swimming pool, champagne glass whirlpool, sauna, massage table, steam shower, round bed with starlight ceiling, fireplace, Bose Wave Radio, and flat panel TV.  What more could you want?  There was enough floorspace to set up a wonderful toy train layout (which I didn't do).  Rather than following the directions provided by the resort, I decided to go with the GPS directions taking the NYS Thruway to Route 17 to 84 West to exit 30 into Lake Wallenpaupack.  The poor GPS kept recalculating.  While the ride was a few minutes longer than their suggested route, it was a very easy drive.  There was little traffic and a multi-lane highway.  The view from the scenic look-out in Port Jervis was spectacular.  We arrive at the resort around 9:17, beating the GPS by 3 minutes (ever play "are you smarter than a GPS"?).  We checked-in, dropped off our bags at the room and went to breakfast.  This resort has a policy of giving you your room no matter how early you arrive, provided it is ready.  Cove Haven has a wide variety of activities and we had more than enough to keep us busy.  Their property is so large that they have a "chariot" aka mini-bus to drive you around the property.  You call and he comes.  The chariot driver was very nice and we chatted about everything from the weather to baseball.  During our stay we met some honeymooners, some oldly-weds, and some soon to be honeymooners.  Among them were Rachel and Bob from Flemington, NJ and Venice and Jeff from Orlando.  We had some very interesting discussions over the dinner table.  The weather varied during the 3 days from beautiful to "yucky".  With our room and travel Scrabble, we had more than enough to keep us occupied.  Throw in some games of pool, a little Wii tournaments and an enjoyable time was had.

February 2nd, 2010 - While I am not pre-occupied with death, I do have an interest as many have in genealogy.  Last year I found the graves of my two grandmothers and just this past week, I found my paternal grandfather's.  The site that I used for my grandfather was www.findagrave.com  .  Apparently someone unrelated to us photographed and cataloged the graves at Mt. Zion Cemetery in Maspeth.  The web page had a photograph of his headstone.  The date of death was correct based on information my father had told me as a child.  I phoned the cemetery and was able to confirm that it is indeed his headstone.  He passed away in 1923, 29 years before I was born.  This will be another trip for me to make when the weather gets better.



April 11th, 2010 - The season finally ends for the New York Islanders.  They came back to tie the Penguins 5-5 but ultimately lost in overtime.  Better luck next year.

April 20th, 2010 - York time again.  We get an early start having our traditional pre-York breakfast of a cup of coffee and shared bagel with cream cheese.  Traffic is pretty light and we arrive at Intercourse, PA and Kitchen Kettle Village shortly before 10:30.  Yes, Kitchen Kettle is a tourist trap, but they have a stand featuring Lapp's homemade sugar-free raspberry ice cream in a freshly baked waffle cone.  The jelly and jam kitchen is a snacker's delight with all sorts of flavors and varieties of condiments.  Lunch was in the Stolzfus Meat Market and Deli across route 772 from the village.  This place started out as a meat market, but has expanded to include a luncheonette type operation with great food at very reasonable prices.  We split a chicken cordon bleu sandwich (ala PA Dutch). 

After exploring the various outlet stores, we checked into the Sleep Inn in Ronks, our home for the next three nights.  We stay there for most Yorks.  It is comfortable and reasonably priced.

Dinner is right down the road at Diener's Family Restaurant.  Read more about them above.  There food, as always, was excellent.  They have not raised their prices in quite a while.  The following morning, breakfast is at Panera's.  After breakfast, we are off to the National Toy Train Museum for the day's festivities.  Parking at the museum was tight as construction on the sewerage processing plant was in full swing.  A short walk to the Red Caboose Motel finds the latest crop of kittens.  Five red and white "munchkins" busily eating their breakfast.  While they were intrigued by us, they were smart enough not to come over.

At the stroke of 10:00 the museum opens and we go inside to register.  Following registration, I head over to the clearance table.  The damage is three Plasticville buildings at $2.00 each, a TCA sign board for $1.00 and a microwave antenna tower for $9.00.  Grand total is $16.00.  Now that's what I call a bargain. 

Inside the museum I had an interesting chat with the Bachmann representative.  He had production samples of the Williams Peter Witt streetcar, an item which I am interested in acquiring.  He says that they are shipping from China and should be stateside in a few weeks.  Time will tell.  The Atlas folks had a few items including their new 80 watt transformer.  Very hefty and apparently well built.

We took the courtesy shuttle over to the Choo Choo Barn to check out the offerings in the Strasburg Train Shop.  One of the longtime stores there, the candy shop has closed and they were selling off their inventory at half price in the adjacent gift store.  The end of an era.

April 24th - With directions in hand, we head off to Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens to locate the burial site of my paternal grandfather.  The cemetery is just off of the Long Island Expressway at the Maurice Avenue exit.  Ellen goes into the office for a map.  There are two roads through the cemetery, one to the left and one to the right.  We head up the left road until we get to path 7.  This is quite an old section of the cemetery.  We find Gate 1 and proceed to look for the headstone.  The grass is very wet and not that short.  The headstones are close together which makes walking between them difficult.  With her sneakers soaked, Ellen returns to the car.  Determined to find the headstone, I retrace the area that we had gone through initially.  Success!!  The headstone was a lot darker than in the picture I had seen, probably due to the rain.  It is  VERY TALL.  I'm just under 6' tall and had to stand on my tiptoes to reach the top.  I stood there imaging what it must have been like for the family standing here back in 1923.  My father was the youngest of 4 children at age 13.  He had often told me that his father had died when he was 13, but it was hard to really feel what it must have been like until I stood there, as he had stood there some 87 years earlier.

6/20/2010 - We're off to Baltimore for the annual Train Collectors Association convention.  A short ride via AMTRAK brings us to Baltimore.  We took the Light Rail to our hotel, The Sheraton Center City Hotel.  During the course of the convention we went out on some very interesting tours.  Among the highlights were a visit to a live steam layout in a park as well as a visit to Tony Lash's MTH layout.  Old acquaintances were renewed and new friends made.

6/30/2010 - "So far away, doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore".  Into the city to see the Carole King, James Taylor Troubadour Reunion Concert at Madison Square Garden.  The LIRR ends at Penn Station which is directly under the Garden so it was an easy trip.  We had been to the Garden for hockey games, but never concerts.  Our seats were outstanding.  There were large video screens and audio/video effects on a circular curtain over the rotating stage.  You know that you're getting old when most of the audience looks older than you.  The concert was absolutely wonderful, it was a pleasure to attend a concert where you knew virtually every song.  While some of the group did get up to dance and sing, the required energy level was not there for them to do that for more than a few minute.  A great evening.  One benefit of being retired is the fact that I was able to sleep late this morning.

7/11/2010 - Meet the Mets, meet the Mets, step right up and greet the Mets.  We're off to Citifield to see the N.Y. Mets play the Atlanta Braves.  It is a HOT day in New York.  We have field level seats in row 18 behind the Braves dugout.  Great seats at a bargain price.  Now if only the weather would cooperate.  I got a Shack Burger and a black and white shake from the Shake Shack, while Ellen got a taco and a diet Pepsi.  This was topped off with a chocolate canoli from Mama's of Corona. 

We were roasting on the field.  Eventually, we relocated a few rows back into the shade until the sun finally moved behind the stadium casting a shadow on our seats.  With Santana on the mound, the Mets pulled out a 3-0 victory.  Their last for quite a long stretch.  To top it off, it was Jason Bay bobblehead day and we each got a really nice souvenir.







Stay tuned...