Official Minutes – HVBS Meeting on Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Climaxing an uneventful trip, PC Wiz brought the Upstate Upstarts to the Hoffman House rendezvous at a respectable 11:17 AM, Geronimo arriving promptly at 11:21 AM. Entering the premises we greeted the staff and bartender, with a special welcome from Hostess Ginny Bradley. PC Wiz commented on the shiny new floor finish done in the traditional Winter rehab and Shadow, mentioning the Hoffman House web site, asked if the coming 30th Anniversary of their opening in June, 1977 would be celebrated in any manner. Ginny thought it would be nice to have a month's observance and HVBS members said they would try to be present in June. Our waitress, Erin, introduced herself. We learned she is married to a NY State trooper and has a young child, recently returning to work. Members ordered three Cabernet Sauvignons with Geronimo opting for a Coke and lemon.
After a toast to health, HVBS members expressed their interest in the results of Geronimo's doctor's consultation on the previous day. He stated his confidence in his present doctor, not available for the operation but now returned to his health networks list of approved physicians. Geronimo is slated for an MRI on March 28th when a course of action will be determined. It may include injections, compression of the nerve or, perhaps, an operation with an incision for the surgeon to actually feel the injured nerve area and determine future actions. Shadow again asked Geronimo if he had considered amputating the offending foot. He replied that he had suggested, obviously in jest, just that to the startled doctor - obviously not something patients often proposed.
Shadow
then informed us that he was scheduled for a "procedure" (colonoscopy) on Friday the 23rd, it being five years since the last. PC Wiz reported on his results - one benign polyp - the same as Deliberator's recent test. Geronimo remains the last member not to have participated in this increasingly popular test. Deliberator updated us on the results of his stress test - supervised by the same Doctor Cospito that had done PC Wiz's. He easily passed the test with flying colors - congratulations.
Waitress Erin returned for our luncheon orders. Geronimo and Deliberator ordered Reubens, PC Wiz's long-standing favorite. However, Deliberator asked for a substitute for the French fries and was offered, if available, a baked potato or a cheese-stuffed potato. He opted for the stuffed variety with Geronimo quickly seconding the choice for his selection. With his impending test, Shadow wisely chose the fish and chips with PC Wiz selecting, from the special tablet, the Pasta Salerno with artichoke hearts and dried tomatoes. Deliberator then brought us up-to-date on his family news. Grandson Ryan, who will soon be 18 and eligible for his inheritance (from the insurance settlement), will have to get a court order to legally transfer the money. His Mohonasen team recently took part in a bowling tournament held in Buffalo, finishing in 2nd place! Deliberator told us they had dinner at the Anchor Inn in Buffalo, the hotel that invented the famous "buffalo wings". Naturally they tried the tasty treat. Grandson Ryan is being "scouted" by the Utica based Mohawk Valley Community College; he is interested in hotel management and is actively considering the college. Shadow suggested it would be very convenient for Ryan to travel the 80 miles to school via Amtrak.
Geronimo
then gave us the news on Danny. Shadow pointed out that he has been about a year on his new job and Geronimo stated that he is very happy working in product development. Recently he has been travelling for Boston Acoustics to Amsterdam, Budapest, Taiwan, Hong Kong and back to Boston - qualifying for a "round-the-world" flight. He also reported that wife Chaco has "finally" gotten her driver's license, considerably easing the transportation problem but they now probably will have to purchase a second car for her. To Shadow's query about how Chaco's English is, Geronimo stated that "her English is better than a lot of peoples' language". Shadow volunteered that young Christopher has gotten his orders for Iraq some time in this Spring.
PC Wiz
raised the perennial issue of the PCB problem with a report of an interview by Fred Dicker of the New York Post of RPI professor Donna Bedard who has succeeded in identifying the microbe that can remove a chlorine atom from PCB's so that others can decompose them completely. It was her opinion that the Hudson Falls and Fort Edward deposits are probably already degraded but that the Housatonic PCB's, with more chlorine atoms in the outer ring will be more resistant to the process. Concerning the Rotterdam re-evaluation Deliberator is quite satisfied - his assessed value has actually gone down. PC Wiz quietly stated that his has doubled. PC Wiz asked Geronimo about his recent "computer refusing to start" problem. Finding out that the Geek Squad didn't make house calls for hardware problems, Geronimo carried it back to Best Buy. Diagnosing it as a failed power supply, they promptly replaced the faulty unit with a new power supply. Admitting he missed use of the computer, Geronimo mentioned the problem of disconnecting and reconnecting all the myriad wires - in the process leaning on and breaking a support shelf. The question of back-up came up and Geronimo said he was concerned about his 3 GB of photos, with burning CD's his only option. Shadow suggested a USB flash memory device; theirs has 2 GB capacity, modest cost and is extremely useful for backup or storing information. Shadow asked Geronimo how long the batteries last on his wireless mouse and keyboard since he has had a battery problem. It seems that Geronimo's outfit has a re-charging dock with re-chargeable batteries.
On the subject of newspapers, Shadow reported successfully terminating deliveries - after three weeks of effort. While Deliberator gets the paper for the obituaries and "a couple of comics" Geronimo likes his for sports, the obits and local news. Deliberator noted his paper is next to the door while Geronimo finds his out in the driveway - Shadow being never sure of its location due to turnover of paper boys. On TV, Geronimo has turned away from his New York stations with their daily rapes, muggings and murders and now prefers Channel 10 news. In our last snow storm Geronimo easily held the record with 18", Deliberator and PC Wiz at 15" and Shadow with 11 1/2". Shadow complained about the snow measuring stick Geronimo gave him - it giving too accurate an account of the accumulation of the white s---.
In sports Shadow reported the Rangers are playing well and should win their next game. Geronimo said all he hears about is the Albany River Rats on his Albany station. Stating that he hates the pro NBA, members made predictions in the NCAA series: Shadow backing Georgetown, Geronimo (Duke) and Deliberator (Duke and NC) figured Kansas would be in the final four. In baseball, Bernie Williams rejected a "non-roster invitation" this Spring. Geronimo felt he is a detriment in the field while Shadow thought the minor league offer degrading. HVBS members then batted around the question, raised by Shadow, of what will happen when Barry Bonds breaks the home run record - with a diversion to Albany District Attorney David Soares involvement in the Miami steroid supplier scandal.
With our final coffees - and PC Wiz's Bailey's cheese cake - Deliberator, HVBS Official Scheduler, proposed Wednesday May 2, 2007 for our next meeting, which will set us up, per Shadow's suggestion, for a confab in June, the Hoffman House's 30th anniversary month. The date was ratified and this busy session was adjourned.
Thanks to Deliberator for the Anchor Inn correction; per Geronimo there will be a "new topic" item in the agenda.
