IMBROKE2 1990 - 2008

So this summer my Dad had to say goodbye to his 1990 Toyota Corolla. After 18 years of service, it finally had to go (16 years if you don't count the 2 years it spent sitting in the driveway). The car is an institution in the Capital District, with it's many distinctive features: Rust Holes the size of your foot, a back bumper that has been hanging down, seemingly about to fall off, for the past 10 years, an ugly, discolored hood and of course the famous IMBROKE2 license plate.

Reaction to his loss was varied:

• His coworkers suggested having the car mounted on top of building in Albany, replacing the U-Haul truck.
  
• My brother Frankie's friends, having been the recepients of many a 3:00am sober ride home, desperately tried to convince him to keep the car.
  
• Bill, the manager at the Tire Warehouse in Troy (where most of the nearly weekly repairs and maintenance was done) wept for three days at the loss of his biggest cash cow.
  
• The neighbors cheered at the removal of the neighborhood eyesore.

Those aren't rust holes, it's just extra ventilation.

The bumper sticker reads:
"This Car Is A Status Symbol. It Symbolizes Me Being Poor."

My favorite story about the IMBROKE2 takes place just a few short months after my Dad bought the car...his first brand new car since 1972. He got it in the late summer/early fall of 1990. That November he was driving home from work and on his way to pick up my brother at the YMCA after school program. He was going over Burdette Ave when a Troy High School student pulled out of the THS parking lot in front of him. Did I mention that it was freezing raining?

As he pulled into our driveway my mother and I looked out at the car. The hood was crumpled and bent nearly in half. Both headlights were still working but one was now pointed up at the sky. He was so angry that for almost 30 minutes he could only say "Not now" in answer to our questions. The worst part was that he had to use his old car until the Corolla was fixed so it was back in the school bus for me.

Anna the Spelunker

Anna had a team building exercise one day after work last week at the Palvolgi Caves. These team building exercises usually involve some activities after work followed by dinner. The Bonus was that the caves are literally 4 minutes from our house.

Anna had two choices for stuff to do: go into the caves for the main exercises or opt out (due to claustrophobia or limited mobility) and play the Wii and drink. Anna of course chose to go into the caves, a decision she would come to regret.

Anna went into the event thinking that the Palvolgi Caves would be something like Howe Caverns in New York. For those of you not familiar with Howe Caverns, you ride an elevator down to the caves where there are lights, walkways, handrails and even a boat ride.

She admitted to me that her first clue that Palvolgi Caves were not like Howe Caverns should have been when they handed her the coveralls to put on and asked if she had brought any hiking shoes. Missing this clue, she then spent the next 3 hours alternating between walking and crawling through the caves. In the dark with only the light from her helmet available. You can see why the guy is handing her the wine glass before she even changed...she needed it.

A week later she'll now say that she had fun, but for the first 3 days after she could barely walk she was so sore.

Moral of the story: when one of your choices is to play a videogame, you play the videogame.

Pictures from School

Not much going on over here. The kids are enjoying school. Vito had no problems adjusting to the new school and has made several new friends. Katie, of course, is back with the same kids and teacher as last year.

Here are some pictures of them at school that I got from the school's website. Only a couple of Katie's class as her teacher hasn't set up the class's web page yet.

They look like a nice group of 2nd Graders...

...but they're really a bunch of goofs!

Having fun in Music Class.

Vito's Pre-K class.

Vito & Océane.

Vito and Océane outside at the playground. I look at the picture and have a nightmare flash forward to VJ with some chick on a motorcycle.

Playing in class.

Everyone made bracelets in the colors of the Hungarian flag for Hungarian Week.

Working on Math.

Acting out the play “Brown Bear Brown Bear , What do you see?”

Smiling in Music Class

More fun in Music Class.

Katie starts After School Activities today. She has Swimming, Arts & Crafts and Soccer this trimester. Vito & I will have to wait for her to be done each day, but that's OK since that means more time spent at the school playground (hopefully with lots of friends who are also waiting for older siblings).

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy 60th Birthday to my Mom! In honor of her Birthday, I've decided to post a bunch of pictures that I scanned in while I was home this summer. (Special thanks to my Aunt Sissy who let me borrow her Big Box of Old Photos).

Baby Barbara

When the world was still in Black & White

4th Grade

The picture I was told never to show anyone.

Troy High School

1967

July 2008 with Baby Ava

Happy Birthday Mom!