Official Minutes – HVBS Meeting on Wednesday, August 23, 2006
On a bright, sunny morning Shadow ably piloted the Northern Nabobs to a special venue in Poughkeepsie. We arrived at precisely 11:20 AM at Mahoney's at Dooley's Square, facing the parking lot for Amtrak and Metro North commuter trains. Geronimo appeared shortly and emerged from his beloved Acura sporting a supporting cane. Entering the premises, formerly a plumbing warehouse converted to a very appealing restaurant, we selected a fine table with Shadow seating himself at the end with a great view of the train station and tracks. Our perky young waitress, Kim, took our beverage orders - beers except for Geronimo who had a soda because of the antibiotics he has to take. HVBS members toasted to Geronimo's forthcoming trip and good health, while Geronimo offered an additional toast to the Yankee 5-game sweep of Boston - Shadow adding a toast to the Mets on beating the Cardinals 8-7 after being behind 7-1.
About his operation Geronimo opined that it was "not as good as the brochure" in being more painful and a slower recovery. Members noted that the Greek trip will require a lot of walking - in just 2 1/2 weeks. Geronimo recounted that the operation could have been performed three weeks earlier if the surgeon had not been going on a vacation - with much better time for recovery. Shadow strongly advised Geronimo (he and Kay going to JFK in a limousine included in the gift) to take advantage of wheel-chair service at the airline to board the plane. Geronimo added that his brother's condo is up for sale; it is too expensive and he intends to go into a senior housing apartment. Latest news is that Dan is in Germany and, driving on the Autobahn, was much impressed by its construction - no cracks or pot-holes. Members noted our Interstates are in poor condition and PC Wiz remarked that the Autobahn was constructed to last 50 years while the Interstate's planned life was 20!
The discussion continued on sports with a printed article from Shadow stating that the Yankees are losing money on the franchise. Geronimo, commenting on the new Yankee stadium agenda item - "it won't have a roof". Shadow approved the construction with PC Wiz noting Yankee Stadium was built in 1923 and the new one will have vastly improved parking facilities. Geronimo stated that it was being built "for the big shots" (more profitable sky boxes) while Deliberator lamented, reasonably, that undoubtedly prices would be raised (for admission and food). Geronimo declared that he no longer had any desire to go to any ball park while Deliberator said he was inclined to take his grandson - preferably going by bus although the seats were "not very good". On the subject of players, Shadow opined that he liked Robinson Cano at 2nd base and that Bobby Abreu was a real professional hitter.
In our Tech Review section Geronimo informed us that he has had to replace his cable modem, having lost his connection repeatedly. The Toshiba was replaced by an RCA (Thomson) which seems to be satisfactory. Deliberator confirmed that AOL is now offering free e-mail; he is sticking with the service rather than selecting a new ISP provider. Geronimo renewed his complaint about voluminous "spam". Deliberator (who only opens attachments from people he knows) had no problem while Shadow and PC Wiz have a minor problem. Geronimo asked HVBS members about their "back-up" practices. Shadow does not have any financial records on the hard drive (ditto Geronimo), using CD-RW disks while PC Wiz installed a second hard drive for backup using Microsoft's "SyncToy" program and burning an occasional CD. Deliberator, although not having any significant back-ups, does make hard copies of key items. Our opinion was asked concerning a lens for Geronimo's new Nikon digital camera. Geronimo is considering purchasing either an 18-135mm lens which would probably replace the 18-55mm lens that came with the camera or a 55-200mm lens that would supplement the 18-55mm lens. The latter lens would obviously require the changing of lenses, but would also provide a longer zooming range. All three lenses are specially designed for digital SLR cameras. PC Wiz, not comfortable with modern extra-long zoom lenses (heavy, complicated), said he would probably opt for the 55-135mm lens and change to the 18-55mm when needed. Geronimo said he leans to one all-purpose lens but has not decided.
Deliberator
, observing the trains from our window, asked Shadow why Amtrak went to Pennsylvania Station and Metro North to Grand Central. Shadow explained that the Spuyten Duyvil (devil's whirlpool in Dutch) swing bridge to Manhattan Island was in the open position for a number of years due to fires which burned the wooden fender system protecting the center and rest piers. The steel superstructure of the bridge was also compromised. Before the fires, which shut down the bridge, this was a freight only line into Manhattan. All trains, Amtrak and Metro North terminated at Grand Central following the east shore of the Harlem River. When Amtrak decided to run their trains to Penn Station a major renovation of the Spuyten Duyvil swing bridge and approximately 15 miles of track along the east shore of the Hudson River was undertaken costing many millions of dollars. This allowed passengers heading west or south easy connections at Penn Station. Geronimo commented that we were getting a "geography lesson".
In our Current Events section Geronimo predicted Joe Lieberman would win the Senatorial election in Connecticut - depending on the "independent" vote to put him over the top. Deliberator waxed eloquent on the subject of independent voters; PC Wiz admitting he had considered registering independent with Shadow asking "what is an independent"? Geronimo replied an independent was neither a Democrat or Republican. Deliberator then went on to endorse Evan Bayh or Rudy Guiliani for President in 2008 with Shadow retorting, "I knew that was coming"! PC Wiz noted that Senator Lieberman was on both lists Geronimo had e-mailed - voting against English as the official language and for giving illegal aliens Social Security (along with Dodd, Clinton and Schumer).
To PC Wiz's "Spitzer will most likely be our next Governor", Geronimo replied that, while publicly for "lower taxes", he predicted Spitzer would raise them (also predicting the "Big Prick in Albany" would probably become an ambassador after his Presidential quest fails). Deliberator suggested that we access Spitzer's web site to see how he plans to reduce property taxes, and not automatically assume he will increase them, even though he might. On hearing John Faso, Republican candidate for Governor, Geronimo found him "impressive". Referring to the last HVBS meeting, PC Wiz asked Geronimo the results of the nine defeated local school budgets. Seven passed reduced budgets with the remaining two adopting contingency budgets. On this subject HVBS members unanimously agreed the school systems would be more uniform with better student results under a Federal system. With this Deliberator commented that we had "covered the whole agenda".
Waitress Kim arrived asking about desserts. She said she would bring the "dessert visual presentation" for us. It consisted of a tray with all the desserts on it. Suffice it to say all HVBS members ordered desserts and coffees on this rare occasion. Shadow ordered the most exotic - a chocolate chip cookie baked to order on a cast-iron pan with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!! Most tempting. HVBS Official Scheduler Deliberator proposed Wednesday, October 4, 2006 for our sixth session - destination to be determined by PC Wiz. It was approved and this most enjoyable meeting was adjourned.
Thanks for the detailed corrections to the minutes by Deliberator, Geronimo and Shadow.
