Matt's Graduation

Saturday, 17Jun06 - My oldest younger brother graduated from Drexel University's College of Engineering, Masters in Mechanical Engineering. The ceremony was to start at 4pm, so Mom wanted to have everyone over before the ceremony to have a brunch/pre-party. Who knew it would've turned into a tailgate party. Actually, I could have predicted it. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves on this one, I'm not going to tell the story and incriminate anyone. Matt, we're so proud of you!!! Finally finished. Good luck, man.

June Festivities

Friday, June 2nd was the Gloucester County Institute of Technology Junior Prom at The Mansion in Vorhees, NJ. My brother, Shawn and his girlfriend Fallon were dressed to impress. I rushed home from Maryland to make it to the picture taking.

Saturday June 3rd we were supposed to run the Larry Thomason Open in Vineland but the rains came in torrential downpours. We went down to the pits and got caught under a tall tree waiting for the rain to stop. The next tournament in Vineland is July 8th. I'll be on vacation so Cookie and Mel are running that one, but I'll be at both tournaments in August and our September tournament. See the schedule here.

Sunday June 4th was the family christenings. Jimmy, Samantha, and Doug. We met in Gloucester City, NJ at the church. The ceremony was nice but the actual baptisms were disorganized and crowded. Samantha looked like a little princess.

Saturday June 10 was a BEACH day. I loaded the bike on the back of the truck and headed to Jersey. The Black Widow ramps worked wonderfully. I can load it and unload it by myself. The truck performed well, and there were no incidents with the tie-down straps. Saturday morning was sunny but chilly. I rode the bike to Mays Landing, to Emari's apartment on the shores of Lake Lenape. We left her house and made it to the pancake house by 9am. Good ole Ocean City. God how I've missed it. The day was a little too windy to lay out on the beach, disappointingly, but we did walk the boardwalk several times to search for the bubble tea shop. Finally found it on the 3rd trip back down the boardwalk. We caught up and talked about old times and talked about the future. I miss her and I miss the shore. Saturday night I met Kristen and Kara at Sharky's and we schooled the guys on the pool tables and kept the jukebox playing all night.


Sunday June 11th - Happy Birthday Shawn! Today my middle brother turned 18. Marianne and I took the pugs for a long walk in the morning. Then my dad and brothers and I spent some time on the bike. We all went out to dinner for Shawn's birthday at Carrabas. Then I made the drive back to Maryland. That's my dad and Marianne on the bike (geez dad, where'd you get the gumball helmet?) Marianne, lookin good!! Like a biker chick. What a beautiful bike.

Monday June 12th. Today Pittsburgh Steelers super bowl champion quarterback Ben Roethlisburger was in a serious motorcycle accident. I know all of Steeler Nation and the rest of the civilized world (which doesn't include Ravens fans) is wishing for his complete and quick recovery. The classless Ravens fans that I work with are filled with glee and delight that the superbowl champion quarterback had a life-threatening accident. Just goes to show how desperate and pathetic that team is that their fans have nothing positive to be cheerful about. As a biker and a Steelers fan, I will say this. Ben shouldn't ride bikes at this time in his life because he has a higher calling and a greater responsibility to mankind to win superbowls for the Pittsburgh Steelers. With great talent comes great responsibility. However, Ben is entitled to some enjoyment in life. Even though I'm sure Ben is a cautious rider, Ben should know that others are idiots and that he should protect himself from the stupidity of others. A helmet would have prevented his most serious injuries. Hindsight, of course, is 20-20. The accident could have been the type that a helmet wouldn't have helped. But the odds were strong enough that a helmet could have saved him some teeth. What is lost in all the finger pointing and self-righteous judgements the past few days is that the driver of the car was the one who was at fault in this accident. She should be held accountable for her inattentive driving and perhaps for her poor eyesight. Luckily for us, Ben gets tackled by big linebackers all the time and a tiny little Chrysler isn't going to affect him much. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Hopefully he'll retire the bikes for a while until he's ready to pass his legacy on to the next leader of the team. If he doesn't, maybe at least he'll see the prudence in wearing a helmet. Get well soon, Ben. And to all you Ravens fans gleefully gloating - have some class.

For those of you who are wondering if I'll stop riding - only if I'm paralyzed. And only then if they don't have bikes for the disabled. I appreciate your concern, but I'll only learn the hard way. Just the way I am. Sorry you have to deal with it, but you do.


After the baptism, we had a family get-together. This is one half of my family - my 3 sisters (of four) and 2 brothers (of three) and two parents (of four). In the second picture, someone(s) was grabbing my ass. You can tell the guilty parties by the ones who are laughing the most.