Jan 2004

Time to dust of the old press!

Volume XIII Issue I January 2004

Wow, I almost forgot where I kept this template! It has been too long since I have written one of my award winning newsletters, I apologize. I will make sure your subscription dues are credited properly!

So much has happened these past couple of years, a couple marriages, a divorce, death of loved ones, new jobs, lost jobs, etc. I may miss some of it, please forgive me if I do.

You’ll have to forgive me if a lot of this is dated; I started writing it in February of 2002!

On September 2, 2001, Courtney Cannata was married to her longtime boyfriend Patrick Bishop. The two were married in Napa and are now living in Northern California.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Patrick on few occasions and he comes across as very likable and you can see that the chemistry between he and Courtney is very strong.

See more pictures of her wedding here, these were with my old camera so they are not that great.

After hitting a high of 260 lbs (Yikes!) this year and many failed diets, I decided I had to do what worked for me in the past; I went back on the Atkins Diet. Since June I have lost over 30 lbs and am aiming to lose 25 – 30 more. I am not as anal as I was in 1997 with it, I will have a meal off the diet for “special” times, etc… But I do stick to it 98% of the time.

Lee gets married! That’s right folks, Lee a.k.a. Leisure Suit Larry (among half dozen a.k.a.’s) has settled down and gotten himself married!

Kollette and Lee met several years ago thanks to my sister. Jackie “The Match Maker” Nelson invited them both over for a “pre-houseboat” planning session. They never made the houseboat trip but began dating right away and were married in May of 2003.

I was fortunate enough to be chosen as Lee’s Best Man, despite all that I have written about him in this rag sheet over the years.

They had a wonderful outdoor wedding in Sacramento and were graced by beautiful weather and a strong turnout of friends and family. Congratulations Lee & Kollette!

I have known John Cannata for roughly 16 years now and have been friends of his and his family for about 13 or 14 of those years.

The Cannata family is one of those families you fall in love with the minute you meet them, two great kids, an active and fun dad and a mother that exudes sincerity and love.

About three years ago I was shocked and saddened to learn that John and Claudia were splitting up. I love both of them and this really rocked my world as I am sure it did Jeff and Courtney’s.

Most divorces end in ugly fights and bad feelings among the two, rarely do they remain friends. I am glad to see that John and Claudia have taken a higher road and that they do remain friends and both are able to attend the same social gatherings.

John and Claudia, I am so glad to see that both of you are doing well and that you have taken that higher road. Both of yours friendship are important to me! – Thank you!

So as I was blowing the dust off of this old keyboard and began to write about Courtney’s wedding I began to wonder how John Cannata had met Mary Kathryn, especially since she is from the East Coast and the only thing John knows about the East is that they eat their pizza funny over there.

It was not until the annual crab feed in January did I get a chance to meet Mary Kathryn. After the event we all went back to John’s place for desert. Yvonne and I ended up staying later then all the folks, but this allowed us to talk to Mary Kathryn for the first time.

We talked a lot about the differences in the two states (NJ and CA) and about her new job as a teacher out here. She had heard a lot about the “Spiketimes” and about myself and we carried on for some time and I felt very comfortable with her.

A few weeks later I sent John an e-mail asking him how they met. John kindly replied back with all the details and I found it all very fascinating.

In October 2000 prior to the presidential election John received a political e-mail to his yahoo mail account. John happened to agree with the context of the message but he found that it was not meant for him, but to someone else whose e-mail address was similar.

John replied back letting the sender know he received it on accident, but that he agreed with their political point of view. Mary Kathryn replied back with apologies and thus began a regular exchange of e-mails, focusing mainly on politics in the beginning and then on each other as time evolved. In February of 2001 the two of them decided that they needed to meet in person.

Would John go to NJ or would she come here? It was her daughter that pointed out that she should come out to CA as it is a great place to visit and well NJ is… (errr, sorry, my injection)

So in April 2001 Mary Kathryn flew out here and John showed her around the Bay Area and what it has to offer. Later, in May he made it back there and had a great time.

In June the two decided that they needed to give this a try and she flew out here for a month to line up a job then she flew back to sell her house and make the arrangements to move out here.

In August she returned with her belongings and has begun a new life out here in beautiful California with John.

My thanks to John for sharing this with me (and of you!) and best of wishes to both of you!

Jissy was my beloved truck, she and I paired up in late 1990 and she had been nothing but a trouble free vehicle up until this past year. Age began to get the best of her as it does all of us and with 203,000 miles she had outlived dozens of tires, a few sets of brakes and many cars and trucks of her age with that kind of mileage.

She began leaking oil as her arteries had spurred a leak, moldings were dropping off, short circuits were rampant. Working as a contractor I did not want to have to buy a new vehicle but the estimates I had to fix her up were out of the question.

I did what was best for Jissy; I set her free to begin a new life, see new adventures and be taken care of by a mechanically minded guy who was willing to spend the time to fix her up.