Thursday, May 31, 2007

Lower Burrell's Memorial Day Parade 2007

New Ken Fire Department carrying flags in Lower Burrell Memorial Day Parade, 2007The Memorial Day Parade in Lower Burrell took place Monday at 11:00 AM.

This was a somewhat larger parade than the one in Tarentum on Sunday, and it travelled along a wide and generally straight section of Leechburg Road.

Lower Burrell American Legion carrying flags, May 28, 2007

At the head of the parade representatives of the Lower Burrell American Legion post carried flags and marched to cadence calls.

Burrell Band, May 28, 2007

The Burrell Band from Burrell High School shared their music.

Lower Burrell Mayor Donald Kinosz, May 28, 2007

State Representative John Pallone, May 28, 2007

A handful of local officials appeared in the parade.

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The Red Hat Society was in the parade. At the far left of this picture is Central Presbyterian's Fran Jones.

Lower Burrell Fire Department, Kinloch, May 28, 2007

Lower Burrell Fire and Rescue, May 28, 2007

Upper Burrell Fire Department

Markle Fire Department

West Leechburg Fire Department

A number of local fire departments were on display in the parade, headed by Lower Burrell's own fire companies.

New Kensington Top Hats

The New Kensington Top Hats add something special to many local parades.

New Kensington Fire Department

The New Kensington Fire Department marched with flags ...

New Kensington Firemen's Band, May 28, 2007

... and brought their band.

Ridge Runners' classic cars, May 28, 2007

The Ridge Runner's car club was represented by a large number of classic cars.

Beer truck from LaRusse Distributing, May 28, 2007

LaRusse Distributing Company from Tarentum sent a huge beer truck to be part of the parade. (Although none of the LaRusse trucks were in the Brackenridge-Tarentum Parade the day before, Budweiser still received good product placement in one of the speeches given in Riverview Park.)

Arnold Fire Department with Band, May 28, 2007

The Arnold Fire Department and Band also appeared in the parade.

Extreme Limousines, May 28, 2007

Extreme Limousines, a Lower Burrell business, put a number of their stretch limos in the parade, including this extra long Hummer.

I was a bit dismayed by the quantities of candy being thrown in Lower Burrell. Little of it actually reached the sidewalk where the observers were sitting, leaving lots of candy to tempt toddlers to run into the road before the candy would get run over by the vehicles in the parade. Fortunately there were adults who would try to move the candy safely to the edge of the road at times when the parade's forward movement stopped.

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Tarentum's Memorial Day celebrations 2007

photo of bench with american flag hanging behind itI did many of the traditional things this Memorial Day weekend, taking advantage of the parades and ceremonies available locally. The VND on Saturday carried a story about the difficulty many communities are having in organizing events for Memorial Day. I would not have drawn that conclusion from what I saw happening in Tarentum and Lower Burrell. It is obvious that organizing these events takes a lot of work, but the local veterans groups put them together well.

The Brackenridge-Tarentum parade was organized by two veterans groups, the American Legion Post 226 in Brackenridge and the Tarentum Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5758. The parade started in Brackenridge and ended in Tarentum at Riverview Park. where the two groups conducted a ceremony.

Allegheny County Police Department horses

The Allegheny County Police Department was present with horses to lead the parade.

color guard

And flags headed the parade.

Iraq war veterans

Among the veterans who appeared in the parade were a Peral Harbor survivor and this veteran of the Iraq war.

Highlands Varsity Marching Band, May 27, 2007

The Highlands Varsity Marching Band was there.

Herbert Pfeil, May 27, 2007

Herbert Pfeil, a WWII veteran was also in the parade.

Brackenridge Fire Department

Fawn Volunteer Fire Department

Eureka 281

Summit Hose Company, Tarentum

Many local fire departments were represented in the parade: the Brackenridge Fire Department's Pioneer Hose Company, Tarentum Fire Department's Highland Hose Company, Eureka Fire and Rescue, and Summit Hose Company, Fawn Township V.F.D., Frazer F.D., and the Hilltop Hose Company from Natrona Heights.

Dan Wolfe, Tarentum, May 27, 2007

Following the parade, Dan Wolfe of the Tarentum VFW post was the master of ceremonies for the Memorial Day Service.

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Tarentum Borough Council President Carl Magnetta spoke about why Memorial Day was his favorite holiday.

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The keynote speaker was Greg Malnick, a representative of Congressman Jason Altmire. Mr. Malnick, a veteran, reminded us that his own identity was not important on a day when we remember those who gave their lives.

There were a number of ceremonies involving the placing of flowers and wreaths. One of the moving parts of the service was a reading of the names of 46 members of the two sponsoring groups who had died since Memorial Day 2006.

In the many remarks that were made the speakers asked us to remember that the conflict in Iraq was still going on and that soldiers were still giving their lives. There was a unanimous desire to support the troops even as some of the speakers acknowledged their own disagreement with the decision to go to war in Iraq.

War Memorial in Tarentum

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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Book review: I didn't do it for you by Michela Wrong

I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation (P.S.)I recently finished reading I Didn't Do It for You: How the world betrayed a small African nation by Michela Wrong.

When I started reading the book it was with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism. I was curious to learn about the history of Kagnew Station and of Eritrea, where I had lived for two years of my childhood. I was skeptical because of the subtitle; I did not know whether this book was going to be simply another exercise in America-bashing, and I was wondering wherein lay the betrayal to which it referred.

My journey toward understanding the meaning of the subtitle required me first to come to understand the meaning of the title itself. This is a book about the interaction of many nations with the land and people of Eritrea from the end of the 19th Century to 2005. Ms. Wrong tells the story through descriptions of major historical events, but also through her conversations and interviews with people who lived in various periods, or otherwise shed light on how the world related to Eritrea.

The phrase "I didn't do it for you" refers to an anecdote she tells (pages 98-99) about an event after the strategic 1941 battle of Keren, the key - and costly - battle after which the British were able to move on to Asmara and ultimately Addis Ababa where they would restore Haile Selassie to the Ethiopian throne.
Popular legend has it that a British captain leading his weary men on the march from Keren into Asmara was met on the road by an old Eritrean woman, wrapped in the ghostly white shroud of the highlands. She was ululating in traditional greeting, celebrating her country's liberation from Italian Fascist rule and the start of a new era of hoped-for prosperity. Perhaps that high-pitched shrilling irritated the captain, extenuated by a campaign he thought he might not survive. In any case, he is said to have stopped her in mid-flow with one throwaway line designed to crush any illusions about why he and his men were fighting in Eritrea. 'I didn't do it for you, n----r,' he said, before striding on towards Asmara.
The main idea Ms. Wrong develops in each chapter of this book is that the impressive, costly, and even heroic acts done by outsiders in Eritrea did not spring from a sense of altruistic concern for the people of Eritrea. This lack of altruism took many forms. The extravagant Italian infrastructure was not intended to benefit the Eritreans but to establish a self-sustaining colony for Italians. The 50,000 lives taken in the battle of Keren were expended by the British not to accomplish anything for Eritrea, but as a necessary initial step toward defeating Italy and eventually Germany in WWII. The post-WWII negotiations over the status of Eritrea had little to do with what would be good for Eritreans, but everything to do with realigning world power. The expensive U.S. presence at Kagnew Station was not intended to accomplish anything specifically for the Eritreans, but to maintain a prime location for electronic spying on the U.S.S.R. The massive quantities of military aid the U.S., and then the U.S.S.R., sent to Ethiopia had nothing to do with the well-being of Eritreans (and in fact were being used to oppose their struggle for independence), but had everything to do with playing out the Cold War.

Ms. Wrong develops this theme of the lack of altruism well, but the theme of betrayal is the second theme she develops. Acting in one's self-interest does not alone constitute betrayal, but there were numerous times when other countries took advantage of special positions of trust and the world did nothing.

For example, during the British administration of Eritrea after WWII, Britain stole massive amounts of the infrastructure the Italians had transported and built in Eritrea, but the United Nations never called Britain to account for this theft. Or, when the U.N. federated Eritrea with Ethiopia, the Eritreans were told that any change in the relationship would come straight back to the United Nations; but when Ethiopia ended the federation the United Nations stood by and did nothing about this violation of international law.

The history of betrayals sheds some light on the intense Eritrean frustration with the failure of the United Nations to demarcate the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia. After a horrendous border war with Ethiopia, both Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a peace treaty and submitted their border dispute to final and binding arbitration. Ethiopia does not like the result and has not accepted it. It is a no-brainer that the result is correct, and that Ethiopia should immediately have acted consistently with its submission of the dispute to the commission. Meanwhile, the world, the United Nations, or the United States, have not taken actions to enforce the outcome of the arbitration.

I must warn that Chapter 10 concerning the Kagnew Station period is not for reading by young people. Susan Rice of the Washington Post writes:
But Wrong takes her storytelling off on a bizarre tangent when recounting the perversions of "the Gross Guys," a band of Americans based at Kagnew Station in Eritrea, a massive Cold War listening post from 1953 through 1977. Her chapter -- whose title cannot be printed in a family newspaper -- delves in lurid and gratuitous detail into the drunken sexual exploits of these servicemen. Indeed, this chapter seems misplaced -- however accurate its depiction of some Americans' lewd behavior may be.
That being said, I would recommend this book to any adults who want to start filling in the gaps in their knowledge about Eritrea, a young African nation that is celebrating sixteen years of independence today. It is far short of a complete history of Eritrea, but it illuminates part of Eritrea's history that people in the rest of the world need to hear.

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

It makes me look active

Me exercising on the stationary bicycleLast week one of the participants in the cardiac rehabilitation maintenance program took pictures of the rest of us exercising. Today he gave me a copy of my picture.

My first reaction was to say that it makes me look active. My self-image is that I am a rather sedentary person, so this is a good picture to have to remind me that there is more to who I am and what I do.

People have been asking me lately if I am losing weight. The last couple of weeks my weight has been pretty stable at 207, which is an improvement from being over 220 in the early part of this year.

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Monday, May 21, 2007

Development and safety are concerns of Tarentum Council at May meeting

The development of Tarentum and traffic safety were the concerns expressed in the meeting of the Tarentum Borough Council tonight.

Looking from lower Wood Street uphill to the Grandview Elementary School. Choppers Bar and Grill will be in the pink building on the right side of Wood Street; the Gatto Diner is on the opposite corner, directly across Wood Street.A special item on the agenda was the request of Stumbles, Inc. to move its liquor license from Glassport into Tarentum so that the corporation could open a restaurant to be called "Choppers Bar and Grill". The new restaurant is to be in the building where "Hog Heaven" used to operate.

Council members and residents had many concerns because of the bad reputation of the former bar at this location. The owners of Choppers intend to attract a "suit and tie" clientele to an atmosphere where a professional would feel comfortable bringing the family to dinner. They would fill a gap in Tarentum by being open seven days a week; at present there is no restaurant in the borough serving dinner on Mondays. They would like to take advantage of the broad sidewalk in front of their establishment to offer al fresco dining. It was felt that an appropriate barrier around the outside dining area would also prevent a repeat of the practice at the former "Hog Heaven" of bikers riding their bikes into the bar.

Council voted 3-1 to approve the transfer of the liquor license. Council member Michael Gutonski, from the First Ward (where the restaurant will be), was the sole vote in opposition.

At the time of citizen comments, there were strong concerns that a child was struck by a car last night at the uncontrolled intersection of East Tenth and Mill Street. Neighbors have been concerned for some time about the speed of drivers navigating that intersection. At the end of the meeting, at Mayor Wolfe's request, the Council declared that it was an emergency to control this intersection and approved a stop sign. The council should still go through the steps of adopting an ordinance for the stop sign, but the council's action tonight is sufficient for the stop sign to go into place immediately.

Other citizen concerns had to do with the location of seating for parents watching baseball games at Dreshar Stadium, signs posted on telephone poles, the lack of maintenance of the First Avenue site for The Landings, a similar concern about a lawn on East Tenth, and the chaining of newspaper boxes to telephone poles in the borough.

Police Chief William Vakulick reported that the Memorial Day parade will be on Sunday afternoon at 1:30. He also reported that the Nuisance Call ordinance is being used effectively.

In other actions, the borough council approved motions from the agenda meeting: to buy a new telephone system; to cancel the June, July, and August agenda meetings; to accept a bid for demolition of three West Tarentum structures; to approve Ordinance 07-06 regarding Property Maintenance Penalties; and to purchase a 16 by 9 foot screen and projector to show movies in the park.

[Update 5-22-07] The Valley News Dispatch has a story about this meeting.

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Sunday, May 20, 2007

A-K Valley odds and ends

Over the last nine days there have been a few pictures I took that may be of interest to somebody.

Giant cow at the New Kensington Giant Eagle - May 11, 2007As an advertising event for a new Turkey Hill ice cream, there was a giant cow at the New Kensington Giant Eagle on Friday, May 11. They gave out free samples of the new ice cream called Duetto, which is a swirl of Venice ice and vanilla soft-serve. They also were announcing that Turkey Hill ice cream is new to Giant Eagle.

Tarentum First Ward polling place - 051507Tuesday, May 15 was primary day in Pennsylvania. I would not have recognized my own polling place in Lower Burrell as such due to the low level of activity and the absence of any signs outside.

The First Ward in Tarentum had an interesting race among Democrats for the First Ward council seat, and that polling place did have some moderate activity outside.

The Wiz at Grandview Elementary School, Tarentum, May 17, 2007On Thursday, May 17, the Grandview Elementary School held its Spring Chorus Concert. Mrs. Taube directed the 4th graders in a medley of selections from the "Wizard of Oz." She directed the 5th graders in a series of songs from "The Wiz." The rainbow of banners decorated the stage for both performances. They also had posters announcing "There's no place like Grandview."

Art work from a number of the elementary school classes was on display in the hallway. The projects from the science fair were on display in an upstairs room. I was impressed by one youngster's project showing the effects over time of various beverages on teeth. But I was really curious where he got the teeth for the experiment.

Lee Lynn and Frank Lynn playing for the Family and Friends Celebration, May 20, 2007On Sunday, May 20, Central Presbyterian Church held its Family and Friends Celebration at the Clarion in New Kensington. This event was replacing the annual "Mother, Daughter, Friend Dinner" that used to happen on Mother's Day Weekend and the "Men's Breakfast" that used to happen on Father's Day Weekend.

The entertainment was a pleasant surprise. Lee Lynn and Frank Lynn were playing the saxophone and drums. They last played for Central at our Christmas Eve service.

butter balls at the Clarion, New KensingtonThe meal was good too, but I was surprised when I saw the butter balls on the buffet table.

They were almost as big as tennis balls.

I hope they were low cholesterol.

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Friday, May 18, 2007

Blue and green

6:19 AM, looking across the Allegheny Valley from Lower Burrell

Early this morning I noticed an interesting contrast between the bright green of new spring foliage and the bluish-gray overcast sky. I don't think I have ever noticed the sky that color before. Maybe the rising sun behind me was illuminating the bottom of the cloud cover.

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Thursday, May 17, 2007

Realizing the duopoly does not work

Tuesday was primary day in Pennsylvania. As I stood at the electronic voting device I had one of those moments of realization that there was something seriously wrong with our two-party system.

I had to vote on two screens of items, the majority of which were selecting my party's candidates for various offices. In a large number of instances my party had no one to offer as a candidate. No one. Not even a chance for me to throw some support behind an inexperienced volunteer who might have views that vaguely overlap some of my own.

The error-checking software on the voting machine made me painfully aware of how few choices I was actually able to make. It kept telling me that I had not made some choices, and I kept re-checking my ballot to make sure that there was not some place on those two screens where I had missed an actual chance to say yes to someone's willingness to stand for public office. I had not missed anything.

The two-party system that produces mediocre choices for high offices apparently produces no choices at all for many local offices. It disempowers public participation.

And, speaking of disempowering, yesterday's VND print edition had a story ("The Old Switcheroo" by Jenni Easton) about a badly publicized change in a polling place over in Arnold. Westmoreland County met the minimal notice requirements by publicizing the change in legal notices in papers in Greensburg and Ligonier. And it appears they did not go any further, not even to inform the poll workers ahead of time.

The stuff Dimitri Vassilaros has been saying about the duopoly limiting our choices is starting to make sense to me. The "major" parties often don't even produce candidates, and get embarrassingly low voter turnouts for the candidates they do find. Why should those parties have special privileges when it comes to putting names on the official ballots?

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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Three GA PJC decisions and a consent order

On May 7, 2007 the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) rendered three decisions and a consent order, which have just been published.

The consent order in The Session of the Palos Park Presbyterian Community Church, Complainant, v. The Advisory Committee on the Constitution of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Respondent (Remedial Case 218-03) came through extensive mediation after an October 16, 2006 decision of the GAPJC to deny Respondent's motion to dismiss. This case involved actions of the Advisory Committee that were its constitutional responsibilities, as well as the application of the General Assembly's Open Meeting Policy to the Advisory Committee on the Constitution. The parties reached an agreement on how the ACC will give advice on plural, overlapping, and related questions, and on how the ACC will ensure that it complies with the Open Meeting Policy. The GAPJC adopted the agreement between the parties as part of its Consent Order.

In Remedial Case 218-04, George R. Stewart, Complainant/Appellant, v. Mission Presbytery, Respondent/Appellee, the GAPJC dismissed the case as moot. Mission Presbytery had received as a candidate for Ministry of Word and Sacrament an inquirer who stated that she was a lesbian and was living in a committed relationship. While the case was awaiting a hearing before the GAPJC, the candidate wrote to Mission Presbytery to ask that her name be withdrawn from the roll of candidates, and the presbytery did so on March 3, 2007, thereby making the case moot. After conducting a hearing on the question of mootness, the GAPJC noted in its decision that a headnote in the Annotated Book of Order misstated the holding of Sheldon v. Presbytery of West Jersey, (Remedial Case 212-12). Four members of the GAPJC filed a dissent from the finding that the matter was moot, in all other respects agreeing with the majority.

In Remedial Case 218-05, Douglas J. Essinger-Hileman and Sandra D. Essinger-Hileman, Complainants/Appellants, v. The Presbytery of Miami, Respondent/Appellee, the GAPJC affirmed a synod decision to dismiss the complaint of co-pastors whose pastoral relationship had been dissolved by the presbytery under G-11.0103o (i.e., "when it finds that the church's mission under the Word imperatively demands it").

Of the three specifications of error, the GAPJC did not sustain the first and third, giving very brief explanations. The second specification of error was sustained in part and not sustained in part. The Synod PJC had erroneously said that the Book of Order's requirements for due process were not applicable in this instance. As I read this decision the GAPJC says that the requirements of due process that are applicable are reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard. The pastors had notice of the presbytery meeting, knew that matters concerning a dissolution process would be discussed, and would have been able to speak if they had been present. Although the GAPJC opined that the Presbytery could have followed a better process, it held that the process the presbytery followed did not fall short of fundamental fairness.

Disciplinary Case 218-07, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Through the Presbytery of Redwoods Prosecuting Committee v. Jane Adams Spahr was a request for reference from the Synod of the Pacific. At issue in this case is a charge against Rev. Spahr alleging that she officiated at a same-sex marriage. (See Charge filed against the Rev. Jane Spahr) Redwoods Presbytery PJC had acquitted Rev. Spahr in March of 2006. The Prosecuting Committee had decided to appeal to the Synod.

The Synod PJC was asking the GAPJC to hear the Prosecuting Committee's appeal from the acquittal decision of the Redwoods Presbytery PJC. The Synod PJC stated that this was a matter of first impression, that appeal from any decision rendered by the Synod was inevitable, and that the expense and delay of hearing the appeal at the synod level would be extraordinary. The GAPJC refused to accept the case on reference, stating that "[t]he complexity of the issues invites consideration through the full judicial structure of the PC(USA)," and observing that "[a]cceptance of this reference would deny the parties one level of review."

It must have been a very busy week for the GAPJC.

[UPDATE 4:16 AM] Oops, that came out wrong. I meant that the number of matters the GA PJC had to decide was substantial, not that they were too busy to reach the ultimate question on the case I described last.

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Monday, May 14, 2007

Recreation and maintenance of properties to be concerns of next Tarentum Council meeting

Entrance to the Tarentum Borough Building, 318 Second Ave.Tarentum Borough Council held a twenty-five minute agenda meeting this evening. At the agenda meetings the various borough committees publicly discuss and decide on the matters that will be presented for action at the next Borough Council meeting. The open committee process is a way of ensuring that the public is able to participate in the formation of policy.

At the time for citizen comments the sole concern raised was the absence of a council member. Four of the council members were present and four were absent. In addition to the borough officials present ex-officio there were about ten observors present.

The Administrative, Employee Relations, Finance Committee discussed two matters. The first had to do with the telephone system for the borough offices; the system is in need of expensive repairs. The committee will bring a motion next week to accept a bid for a new phone system for $5200, an amount on the same order of magnitude as the cost of repairs to the existing system.

The committee will also bring a motion to cancel agenda meetings for June, July, and August.

The Property and Zoning Committee discussed two matters. The first item was the demolition of three properties in West Tarentum. The committee will recommend accepting the bid of Tony Perry Contracting to demolish all three for a total of $29,998. Two of the properties are on West Seventh (the old auto parts store and a house next door to it), and one is a burnt house on West Sixth.

The second item was Ordinance 07-06 regarding Property Maintenance Penalties. This ordinance will increase the fine for not maintaining property to $600 and provide for jail time as well. This ordinance will be in addition to the bills and liens for borough maintenance of private properties already in effect.

The Parks and Recreation Committee discussed two matters. The first was purchasing a projector and screen to show movies in the park. The borough has received a grant for $7,000 for this purpose, but has also received a recommendation that a larger screen than originally proposed would be more suitable. The committee will recommend that the borough purchase a system with a screen that is 16 feet by 9 feet for $8384. The additional money needed is available in the budget for the Recreation Committee. The Borough is seeking funding from other sources for the movies, which may cost $250 per showing.

A crowd at the Tarentum skate park at 7:30 on a spring evening.The second item had to do with a request from Blank Skate Supply for an event proposed for the James E. Wolfe Skatepark. June 21, the first day of summer, is recognized by skateboarders as "Go Skateboarding Day". The proposal from Blank Skate Supply was to provide a series of free special events at the skate park on June 21, including free lessons, free food, and contests. The committee will bring a recommendation that the borough council turn down the request. The rationale seemed to be a concern for the problem of crowd control. Police Chief Vakulick stated that the skate park is already very well-attended.

The Parks and Recreation Committee will report the 2007 summer concert schedule to the Council at next Monday's meeting.

There was no report from the AVN/COG Committee, but the Council was reminded that May 25th will be the deadline for any CDBG applications.

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Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Is it art or is it craft?

quilting mural along Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA

For a couple years I have been admiring this mural along Penn Ave. in Lawrenceville whenever I drive back from hospital visits at West Penn Hospital. Yesterday I made a point to stop and try to get a decent picture of it.

So, is it art, or is it a craft? Or is it art imitating a craft?

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The food court of the Allegheny Valley

This Saturday, May 12 three different organizations will have fundraising meals in Tarentum. None of the meals are scheduled to overlap or compete with the others. So, if you are hungry anytime between 8 AM and 6 PM, one of the meals will be open.

entrance to Pollock Lodge 502, Tarentum, PAYou can start the day with the pancake breakfast at Pollock Lodge (no relation). They will serve breakfast from 8 to 11 AM. This is their monthly breakfast of pancakes and sausage, and mush. Funds raised support a number of charities.

First United Presbyterian Church of Tarentum with sign for Chicken Barbecue at the streetThen for lunch you can pick up barbecued chicken at the First United Presbyterian Church of Tarentum. A group of men at the church cook the chicken outside and prepare the meals for pick-up in the church parking lot. The meal is served take-out only. It is $4.50 for a half-chicken. Funds raised go to missions. The event runs from 11 AM to 4 PM.

Central Presbyterian Church of TarentumAnd then for supper you can have the best ham loaf in the Valley at the Central Presbyterian Church. You can eat the meal as a sit down dinner or take a meal home. It is $7.00 for a meal. This event runs from 4 to 6 PM.

Just call Tarentum "The Food Court of the Allegheny Valley".

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Thursday, May 03, 2007

Heart progress

I am continuing to make progress in my cardiac rehabilitation maintenance program. I am very sensitive to how I handle transitions that might put me in a frame of mind to lose the habit of exercising three times a week. For example, when I got back from vacation I was aware of the risk that Monday morning I might tell myself that I had too much to do, so I could skip it just once. So far I am hanging in with it, and it does feel that I continue to make progress.

Last week they started introducing me to new exercise equipment for weight training. I am doing a set of eight exercises with weights: chest press, leg extensions, abdominal crunch, tricep extension, lateral row, lateral pull down, bicep curl, and leg press. These are all new exercises to me, and I understand them as exercises to build strength, while the work I did earlier had more to do with stamina. I continue to do about 45 minutes of aerobic exercises in each session.

doctor's examination roomI also had my second checkup with my cardiologist this week. I seem to be making good progress, and can switch from the large enteric aspirins daily to a baby aspirin. I don't need to see my cardiologist again for another eight months.

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Wednesday, May 02, 2007

I just have to blog about that.

Yesterday's Bizarro cartoon helped me realize that sometimes there are very good reasons for procrastination.
Bizarro cartoon for May 1, 2007. Cartoon of a man about to be executed by a firing squad. Officer asks him "Any last requests?" Blindfolded man replies, "Can I put one last entry in my blog about this?"

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