1. Ably piloted by the Shadow in his snazzy Dodge Stratus through rain showers and the occasional cloudburst, the indomitable Upstate HVBS Contingent arrived at the Hoffman House Official Parking Lot at 11:15 AM, closely followed by Geronimo at 11:20. A disorderly retreat to the patio through the rain drops revealed that Geronimo was carrying a rather ostentatious red folder instead of the usual low-key manila envelope. After Geronimo retrieved the keys he had left in his car, the group then proceeded indoors. Since the weather had decided the meeting location we entered to a friendly welcome by the staff. We were escorted to "our usual table", which had been reserved for us, by Jen (Official member and waitress asked by the Shadow to serve us). As Jen was taking the initial order for drinks, the Shadow pointed out Item 2 on the Official Agenda suggesting a possible apology to her for missing our original May 9 date. Jen graciously said she remembered a Wednesday in May but not the precise one. Shadow then gave Jen his copy of the agenda, which she was very appreciative of, as a souvenir since it mentioned her name. Members then split in ordering the drinks, with Geronimo and PC Wiz having Killian Red’s and Shadow and Deliberator opting for Glen Ellen Merlot’s.
2. A toast to the future opened the meeting. Geronimo mentioned his anxiety over his Mother’s condition. The membership deeply sympathizes with his problems. The talk of the table then revolved around the new "round about" (per Geronimo) or traffic circle abortion perpetrated on the Kingston exit. PC Wiz stated that he hated small traffic circles in particular and especially the mound in the middle of this one which restricted line of sight for approaching traffic. Shadow wondered how it had been approved and Geronimo explained that engineers only consider "phases" of a job and not the complete project. He then opened the red folder which contained a file of jokes, particularly of the "red-neck" variety. Most were uproarious (after Geronimo managed to suppress his own laughter and deliver the punch line). Noteworthy were the "fast food" and "cotton balls" stories which were duly relayed to Jen for critical review.
3. Per Item 3 of the Agenda: The Shadow and PC Wiz told of their experiences in attending the recent Norfolk Southern stockholder’s meeting. Shadow described our acquaintance of several sessions, the 81 year old Mr. Robert Hord of Richmond, Virginia, who sat immediately behind us. David Goode, the CEO, stopped to greet and speak to Mr. Hord and shook our hands also. Shadow then asked him for particulars concerning possible acquisition of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. He replied that they had no plans for such a move. To Geronimo’s question of the value of attending since the voting was pretty much cut-and-dried, Shadow stated that the informal question period following was worth being there for him and detailed some of the interesting questions brought up .
4. Grilled for the details of his ill-fated Acela trip Shadow related his trials and tribulations in finally reaching Newport News thirty minutes later than scheduled. He had to take the 11 AM Metroliner to Washington instead and, after an e-mail and follow-up telephone call detailing his view of Amtrak’s problems, received a compensatory $100 certificate for future use. Geronimo then brought up the numerous train wrecks and the CSX runaway. PC Wiz produced a Trains Magazine News Wire report on the details of the runaway to update the membership.
5. PC Wiz brought up the issue of the pending Federal tax cut opining that it didn’t mean much since it only involved an immediate $300 (single) and most reductions in the distant future. Deliberator demurred. In his case, because of his grandsons, the increase in the deduction will be very valuable immediately. Geronimo mentioned the controversy of Governor Pataki’s leased aircraft ("no bid" contracts with companies owned by influential Republicans) as well as his other numerous flights. PC Wiz recalled Pataki’s election gambit of criticizing "Air Cuomo" and now exceeding the previous Governor in family flights at the taxpayer’s expense. School taxes were the next topic since this is the school board election season. Mention was made of the Arlington rise (mostly because of benefit and salary increases every year) of 6% while Deliberator’s (and PC Wiz’s) district went up a more modest 4%. Geronimo stated his opinion that it is impossible to run for school board because of collusion between the school and PTA groups. On the Federal level Deliberator said that he judged President Bush’s biggest problem was that he is not a good communicator. This met with general agreement. Geronimo asked if everyone knew why Ted Turner divorced Jane Fonda. Because she became a Christian without asking him first! PC Wiz was especially incensed because of the generally hostile press reaction to President Bush’s "faith initiative" – which involves the social programs of all religions. (Incidentally, Jane Fonda later said she didn’t ask her husband first because "he would have talked me out of it").
6. Deliberator was asked the agenda question concerning the long-awaited installation of his scanner. His direct pithy answer was "Of course not!". We were somewhat mollified by his comment that he does dust the box regularly. Geronimo regaled us with his story of attempting to authorize a second e-mail address. After many frustrations he was told by the tech rep that passwords had to have eight characters – not seven! Voila!! It just proves that computers don’t (or do they?) have a sense of humor. The issue of direct or on-line payment of bills was raised with Shadow and Geronimo opting for payment by check. PC Wiz stated his satisfaction with direct withdrawal from his checking account while Geronimo wanted control of the payments.
7. Members participated in a general discussion of sports. In basketball Deliberator thought the Spurs "had the best shot" while Geronimo opined "Lakers all the way". Shadow thought the Knicks were a schizophrenic team with inflated egos interfering with their performance. Also discussed was the division on football into four regions of North, East, South, and West. The subject of bowling came up with Geronimo finding that older bowling balls had no value. A discussion of the new variable density balls ensued with Deliberator stating that grandson Mark owned three bowling balls for differing alley conditions. Evidently some perfect 900 games have been bowled but it was mentioned that one recent 900 score was in an officially sanctioned series so it is on the record books!
8. With the serving of coffee and dessert, Deliberator proposed July 25, 2001 for the date of our next regular meeting. Because of a schedule conflict, the final ratified date for our first Summer meeting is Wednesday August 8, 2001. This historic meeting of HVBS adjourned at 1:50 PM and members parted in the still rainy parking lot.

Thanks to Shadow and Geronimo for comments and corrections. (Sorry, Geronimo, I can’t change item number 5 to black to properly represent the seriousness of taxes – MS Word won’t let me!)