Remember When My Computer Was Stolen in San Diego?

My friend Bob O'Lary sent this to me.

"I saw this in the Tallahassee police E-News report & wanted to pass it along. sounded familiar.

I WANT TO BUY MY CAR: Two suspected car thieves in San Diego, California, answered a phone call that they should not have. Police there say that the stolen car's rightful owner dialed the number of his own cell phone hours after the vehicle was stolen October 5. The person who answered the phone offered to sell the car back to its rightful owner and arranged to meet the man later that day. But instead, the victim called the cops, who sent undercover officers to the meeting. When a 23-year-old and a 17-year old girl came up to the detectives, the pair were arrested. The stolen vehicle's keys were found on one of the suspects, and police found the car parked just around the corner."

Gasoline Prices Slide Right Before Election

Of course there is no relationship between the dramatic drop of the price of gasoline and the coming election. Bush nor his oil buddy the Saudi Prince just can't manipulate prices like that - and even if they could - smart American consumers would realize they were being duped - wouldn't they?

Here in Rhode Island and Massachusetts the price of a gallon of gasoline has dropped to $2.07. All summer it was near $3.00 - but all of a sudden Saudi Arabia chose to boost production causing the price to drop. No wonder Bush is always holding the Prince's hand when he comes to visit.

Syracuse China Highlight of Our Visit to Drew's House

On Tuesday and Wednesday - Nancy and I visited Drew and Robin's home in Syracuse. He also took us on a tour of his laboratories at the Upstate Medical School.

One of the highlights of the visit was a trip to Syracuse China. The factory has been there forever - they make beautiful fine china of all colors and patterns. Nancy loves to search the "odd lot" bins for interesting pieces at super low prices. Nancy and Drew found a set of china with a garnet and gold pattern on it. After finding 60 pieces of matching china - at prices too low to name here - they packed them in a box - ready for the flight back to Florida. I will just say that Nancy entered the factory with a 10 dollar bill and a copy of the 10 commandments - and didn't have to break either one :-)

The china will be used for many of Nancy's FSU sporting events.

The picture shows Nancy and Drew "bin diving" at the Syracuse China Factory.

Trip North to See the "Leaves" - Charlotte - Providence - Newport - Martha's Vineyard - Albany - Syracuse

Sunday we left Tallahassee for a trip north. It had 4 objectives - to visit Martha's Vineyard and Newport - to stay with Drew and Robin in Syracuse - to visit folks back home in Tamaqua PA - and finally to attend a conference in Providence RI.

We have already experienced different weather. When the plane landed in Charlotte NC - it was cold, wet, rainy, foggy. On the next leg - our plane landed in a sunny 70 degree Providence on a Sunday afternoon. We stopped in our hotel and then drove to the seaport town of Newport. We visited the docks and the beautiful summer mansions there.

On Monday morning we caught the fast ferry to Martha's Vineyard. It was the last ferry of the year from Newport. The locals said it was the nicest day of the year - sunny - 75 - breezy - and mild. The ferry took 1.5 hours to get there - and cost $70 a person round trip. When we got off the ferry in Oak Bluffs - we rented a Yamaha Zuma scooter and used it to circle the island. We stopped in Edgartown and a few other towns.

Martha's Vineyard has about 15,000 year round residents. During the summer this swells to about 75,000 residents usually with another 25,000 day trippers. Even though it was the last day of the season and the fast ferry - the place seemed crowded to me. There were lots of pretty cottages - but a visit to the local realty office showed the most sky high prices that I have ever seen. Quite frankly - I left Martha's Vineyard with the feeling that it was Key West - without the good weather, palm trees, and tropical flavor - but it did have a healthy dose of pretentiousness. Probably it is me and my attitude. I am sure it has some strong historic aura - and I am more aware of the history of Florida and the Keys.

It seems the main attraction is to visit Chappaquiddick and the place where Kennedy's car went off the bridge killing Mary Jo Kopechne. The ferry over to that island is less than 100 yards - and it can take about 3 cars at a time. The people on "Chappy" like to refer to Martha's Vineyard as "the mainland" and they call the real mainland - "America."

At 5:00PM - the last ferry was departing. We boarded quickly and slept most of the 1.5 hours back. Even though it tossed and turned a bit - Nancy slept will and did not review her lunch with me.

We departed the boat - got in our car and drove to Albany NY. We spent the night there at a Marriot that Nancy booked from the car using the addresses and phone numbers in our GPS. Our room was very nice - free internet - and we both zonked out at about 10PM. In the middle of the night - I heard a bonk - and a bunch of cranky words from the bathroom. Nancy slipped in the bathroom and bonked her forehead on the door knob. It raised a goose egg.

We got up about 9 AM - and drove to Drew and Robin's home in Syracuse. We are here now looking forward to our visit when they get home form work.

The rest of the trip will include a visit to Tamaqua and then back to Providence where Nancy will attend that conference.

We will return home Monday. Our house is being watched over by our neighbor Lee - head of the neighborhood watch.

Pictures - Nancy waiting for the ferry boat on Martha's Vineyard to take her back to the mainland - Nancy in front of America's first lending library in Newport.

Seminole Girls Beat North Carolina 3 - 0

Last night Nancy and I watched the FSU girls volleyball team beat the University of North Carolina in 3 straight games to take over second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. About 1000 people - including the FSU band that had a week off because the football team has a bye this weekend - attended the match.

Tonight the team plays North Carolina State University here at 7PM. Presently - Duke is the conference leader with a 5- 0 record. Volleyball games have free admission.

Today at 11AM - the swimming and diving team plays Clemson here.

Darrell Burke - a HIT (Hospital Information Technology)

Darrell presented his research today to the FSU faculty about using information technology in the Florida Hospital Setting. About 40 faculty members postponed their weekend exodus to see Darrell's two o'clock presentation.

Darrell is better known for his 1956 Buick - his Toyota Avalon - and also his internet car sales.

Built a Dry Dock for the Paddle Boat - or is it Pedal Boat?

When Wayne and Shirley moved down from Wisconsin - they told me about a little paddle boat they had. They were going to leave it behind. Immediately I thought it would be perfect for our little lake - "golden pond." So I convinced Wayne to load it into the moving van - and the rest is history.

Shall we call it a pedal boat because you can pedal it or a paddle boat because it has a paddle wheel to propel it - either way it is a great lightweight highly-docile sportscar of a boat. It is very light - made completely of plastic - has 4 seats - and a cooler for drinks. It is very stable and surprisingly fast. The stickers says it can haul 5 people or 750 pounds - so in my case it is good for 3 people :-)

The dry dock is made of treated lumber - 4 x 4's and 2 x 4's. It keeps the boat 2 feet off the ground - away from the rain splashing and trailing vines. The tarp will keep the inside clean and keep the sweltering sun from rotting the plastic. The boat has never had it so good.

Click Here for Coach K Commcercial

Chuck Amato Video - Must See

Click on Chuck to see video.

FSU Falls to Chuck Amato's Wolkpack - 24-20

No chance of a national title - No chance of an ACC title - No chance of a BCS bowl - a much better chance of the first losing season in 30 years. FSU is 3-2. Why do I think I saw this movie already in Pennsylvania? People all over town wanting the coach's son's head. No joy in Crackerville.

You All Remember Ed Paperman

From the Times News -

Businessman Ed Paperman says Tamaqua is "definitely moving forward" and he's happy to be part of it. But he's also concerned about safety in the community.

In fact, safety worries prompted him to take action. He recently moved his family to Hometown after his wife expressed some fear about walking outside at night in their Mauch Chunk Street neighborhood. Paperman also decided to voice his concerns at a public meeting.

"This is only the second council meeting I've attended in my 60 years of life," he said at Tuesday's regular session at the Tamaqua Municipal Building.

"I no longer feel completely safe. I'm not knocking Chief Hartung and the police force. But they only have eight full-time police officers. In 1990, there were twelve," Paperman said.

Paperman commended the police and mayor, saying that Hartung "has done everything in his power."

Paperman is owner of We R Cigarettes, a business which traces roots back some 56 years to the days when his father, Jake Kaplan, first started serving the grocery needs of Tamaqua residents. Today, drugs are one of the main problems in the borough but other crimes have impacted his business, including stealing.

"Some have grabbed cigarettes and run. Now I'm getting hit with bad checks," he said, noting that one of his enterprises is a state-licensed check cashing business.

The local problems have not soured Paperman's view of his hometown, saying Tamaqua has been good to him.

"Tamaqua is my town," he said. "I want to remain in Tamaqua. Tamaqua is moving forward and I love it. But I'm a little worried about the future when it comes to my safety."

Chuck Shuck - Playing TAPS in the Desert

Dear friends and family,

About 2 hours ago, I sat through a memorial service for a 22 year young man named SPC Robert Webber. Even though I personally did not know this young soldier, I was once again reminded how precious life really is. A young soldier got up to speak about his Army "brother" and a lump sat in my throat the entire time because I realized that could be me speaking up there of one of my friends or worse yet, one of my soldiers. The song American soldier was also played at this service and if their is one song that truly shows what an American soldier is, that song is it. The traditional TAPS was played by a lone buglar and bagpipes followed. The final respect paid from one soldier to the soldier that gave his all is the salute. As I approached this soldiers weapon, boots, helmet and dogtags, and rendered the hand salute I had so many emotions going through me at once, but as I sit here know reminding eve rybody the cost of war, I know this young soldier left this world doing what we all love doing and doing something we wouldn't trade for any job in the world and that is serving the people of the United States of America. God Bless!

In other news from Iraq, the above pictures is from an obstacle course that some good friends built for our dogs. I painted because thats as crafy as I can get. As you can see the colors represent the Copperas Cove "BULLDAWGS" from back home in Texas. The weather here is really nice and we had a pretty good sandstorm last night. Please keep all soldiers in your nightly prayers and I know I email alot but this is what keeps me sane. I look forward to hearing from you all and say an extra prayers for SPC Webbers parents as he was an only child.

Chuck and Gabe

"On The Road Again" with the Vagabond Lovers

George and Joel Dawson - our neighbors - come home every now and then to cut the grass or go to Apple Club meetings. Then - off they go again.

In the last couple of months - they have been to Argentina - Antarctica - Peru - and Kentucky. Now today - I dropped them off at the airport for a trip to Colorado and New Mexico. They will be teaching at a workshop - then visiting friends - then going to a hot air balloon festival. After that they head to Louisville for the 50th anniversary of George's brother Joe.

While they are away - it is my job to house sit for them - take care of the van - and record their favorite TV shows. It is a tough job. They have an excellent house for a party.

Our Two Days in Disneyworld

Meeting Katherine Harris in the last weekend trip to Disney World before your one year pass runs out - $229


Buying the prettiest girl in the world a candy apple at the Farmer's Market in Disney/MGM Studios - $3


Guessing who "spewed junks" on the Space Mountain Ride at midnight - PRICELESS

Welcome to Dixie

You know you are in the Southland when you meet up with this little guy. We had stopped at a Sonny's barbecue on the way home from Gary's in Miami. Upon leaving the restaurant - this Armadillo was busy "grubbing" next to our love bug coated car - oblivious to us. Sonny's - armadillos - love bugs - palm trees - warm sand - I think the transformation from Coal Cracker to Florida Cracker is complete.

Matt Fredericks and Allison Collevecchio Visit Us in Miami South Beach

Matt Fredericks and Allison Collevecchio visited us on our trip to Miami last week. They were my students when I was a seventh grade teacher back in Pennsylvania. I am so proud to say they followed me into the profession of teaching. Matt teaches seventh grade math and Allison teaches second grade in Palm Beach County. They were a highlight of our trip to South Florida. Allison's mom - Gwynn - was one of my first students and also was a my fellow teacher at Panther Valley.

Our trip started last Wednesday when we drove to Orlando where Nancy met with candidates for her LEAD project. Then on Thursday we drove to Fort Lauderdale where Nancy met with another group of recruits. Nancy is recruiting 30 teachers to fill full scholarship positions in school library media.

At the end of the week - we spent 3 days with Gary Miller at his mansion in Plantation. Gary graduated from THS with me - and has retired from the clothing import business in NYC.

Finally - we spent Sunday and Monday in the Hilton in Walt Disney Village - they now call it Downtown Disney. Our yearly Disney pass is running out in 2 weeks - so we visited the Magic Kingdom - EPCOT - and Disney/MGM Studiios.

We drove home Monday evening - arriving home around 8:00 PM. The entire trip put 1250 miles on the car and millions of dead love bugs. Folks do not realize that one can put 1000 miles one way - by going from the west end of Florida to the south end.

Pictures - Allison and Matt - on South Beach.