The Christmas cards went into the USPS today from Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Each contained a copy of our annual family newsletter which is available here in PDF format.
My great-aunt Lucille Madden Walker passed away the morning of Sunday, 14 December. My father's aunt, his father's sister - the last of three brothers & two sisters. Here is her obituary.
Last evening, after a l-o-n-g time in traffic, rather than return to the Candlewood Suites and cook my own supper, I decided to patronize Casa Carollo Italian Grill. Also in my mind was the thought the traffic might clear by the time I finished my repaste.
Definitely a locally-owned operation, I found the wait staff to be attentive and friendly. I considered their steak offerings but was put off by the grades of cooking offered: rare, medium rare, well-done - no others considered. So, I opted for the "usual": spaghetti bolognaise. Salad and bread was included; iced tea, unsweetened, no lemon was additional.
The bread plate contained two mini-Italian bread loaves topped with sesame seeds, an end piece of French bread, and a dozen mini-bread "knots" with some sort of glaze containing very powerful minced garlic. I emphasize the word "powerful".
The salad was a little lettuce, several wedge slices of tomato, sliced onion, green & black olives (one each but they were big), a cheese triangle (thick), and that green, pepper-looking thing with the stem (removed to another location). The bleu cheese dressing seemed to me to be mostly mayonnaise but I did find two medium-sized lumps of cheese (assumed to be bleu because I didn't wipe them off to see). I sort of tasted like bleu cheese but was thick ... more like mayonnaise. Well, it certainly didn't drip off the salad parts as they were moved to my mouth.The spaghetti was spaghettini (Yea!) with a "heavy" meat sauce - more meat than sauce (2nd Yea!). The waitperson asked if I would like grated cheese and brought one of those screw-top shakers (3rd Yea!). With the screw-top off, you can get the cheese out more easily! And, the cheese was freshly grated with lumps that would not have passed through the perforated top anyway. So, with half the available cheese on the spaghetti, I began consumption ... which did take a while.
For those of you who would like wine with your meals, they "Proudly Host Valenzano Winery as a Retail Outlet. Valenzo - one of Southern New Jersey's fine wines."
Earlier in the year, we had received a brochure from Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) promoting, among other items, a re-positioning cruise from Boston to New Orleans, aboard the M.S. Dream, 22 October to 02 November. "Re-positioning" means they were finished cruising from Boston and would start cruises out of New Orleans so the ship makes a sort-of one-time trip from one port to the other.
It was an offer we couldn’t resist. We stopped for eight hours or less in the following three ports: San Juan, Puerto Rico; Oranjestad, Aruba; and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We were at sea the rest of the time – it was great!
If you'd like, visit www.johnjbates.com/NCL to see a lot of photos from the cruise. John had a fish-eye lens on his digital camera and documented everything!
Possibly to be continued ...
Hurricane Season 2003 Wrap-Up
By Jake Skellett, WBRZ Meteorologist, Monday, 01 Dec 2003
The hurricane season of 2003 ended on November 30. These are highlights from this year's season:
• A "normal" tropical season consists of 9.6 named storms, 5.9
hurricanes and 2.3 intense hurricanes. In 2003 we had 14 named
storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 intense hurricanes.
• Here are the systems that developed this year:
(S=Tropical Storm, D=Tropical Depression, H=Hurricane):
S-ANA, D-TWO, S-BILL, H-CLAUDETTE, H-DANNY, D-SIX,
D-SEVEN, S-ERIKA, D-NINE, H-FABIAN, S-GRACE, S-HENRI,
H- ISABEL, D- FOURTEEN, H-JUAN, H-KATE, S-LARRY,
S-MINDY, S-NICHOLAS.
• Two intense hurricanes (category 3 or higher) developed -
Hurricanes Fabian and Isabel.
• Isabel was the 3rd longest lasting MAJOR hurricane (category 3
or higher) on record since 1950.
• US Landfalls of 2003:
o 4 on Gulf coast
+ S- BILL - Southeast LA (30 Jun) 50 kt. max
+ H-CLAUDETTE - Port O'Connor, TX (18 Jul) 70 kt. max
+ S-GRACE - Port O'Connor, TX (31 Aug) 35 kt. max
+ S-HENRI - Western FL
o 1 on Atlantic coast
+ H-ISABEL - Ocracoke Island, NC - (19 Sept) 85 kt. Max
Tropics! - Friday, 05 Dec 2003
A rare December tropical storm, Odette, developed in the Caribbean. The last time a tropical system formed in the Atlantic basin during the month of December was 1974 - Hurrican Lili. This is the first December storm that actually formed in the Caribbean itself.
UPDATE - 10 December 2003
Tropical Depression Peter
Tropical Storm Peter formed yesterday in the far eastern Atlantic. This is the first time since 1887 there have been TWO tropical systems develop in the Atlantic Basin during December. The storm weakened overnight to a depression and will probably become extratropical today. There is NO threat to the US coast.
Subject: Re: 19 Sept 2004 ?
Date: 12/08/2003
From: capnslappy@talklikeapirate.com
To: JRMadDog@aol.com
CC: webmama@talklikeapirate.com
> Ahoy, mates,
>
> Is International Talk Like a Pirate Day on for 19 September 2004?
>
> Yours truly,
> J. R. Madden
>
Ahoy J.R.!
Aye, that's the OFFICIAL day, but because it lands on a Sunday this coming year, we will be encouraging all of our "Mad Dog" friends out thar to celebrate "Talk Like a Pirate Day Weekend!" So, starting at the office on Friday through the last NFL game on ESPN, there will be pirate talking, pirate parties and general piratical mayhem.
Have at it!
Cap'n Slappy
Check it out at
http://www.talklikeapirateday.com
or
http://www.talklikeapirate.com!!
On 09 November 2006, I officially began employment with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), specifically CSC-Consulting. On Monday, 10 November, I visited CSC offices in Berwyn, Pennsylvannia to begin New Hire Orientation, receive my company IBM notebook computer, and complete filling out various required forms.
My initial assignment will be in Moorestown, New Jersey working on a project for the U.S. Army involving its Logistics Modernization Program (LMP). So far, I have visited the Letterkenny Army Depot near Chambersburg, Pennsylvannia for four days and took notes during all the workshops I attended as part of my familarization.
Starting about 0530, Friday, 05 December, the snow began falling outside my window at the Candlewood Suites in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. [5-sec Snow Movie: 01, 02, 03]. It continued well into the afternoon of Saturday. Apparently, the snow was quite a bit earlier this season than the locals were expecting.
Tonight, I am planning on watching the LSU-Georgia game on CBS starting at 8p ET. Perhaps, I'll be able to stay awake until the end for a change!
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Update: LSU 34, Georgia 13
