New BLOG Format

We use BLOG software from Google (Blogspot) and updated to a new version (after making latest entries!)

One difference is that the archieves are at the BOTTOM. We also extended the number of entries that can be seen in one go.

Enjoy!

Art in Odd Places

Erin and her friend Radhika co-guest-curated "Art in Odd Places" during the month of October on 14th Street in NYC. Here is the web site: http://www.artinoddplaces.org/ and the site BLOG http://aiop2009.blogspot.com/

Carol and Pat went to the big opening night event and met lots of interesting people, including performing artists of various sorts wandering around.

The show received good local and national coverage in the press:

"This year Art in Odd Places was bigger and better than ever- taking a huge team effort to create the 14th Street festival over four weeks in October. Guest curators, Erin Donnelly and Radhika Subramaniam rose the bar significantly taking the AiOP concept to new levels."

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/arts/02spare.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Art%20in%20Odd%20Places&st=cse

Paper Magazine

http://www.papermag.com/blogs/2009/10/theres_art_in_odd_places_along.php

and more

Domus

http://www.domusweb.it/upd_Art/article.cfm?idtipo=3&id=709

Professional Dreamers
http://www.professionaldreamers.net/?p=437

NY Magazine

http://nymag.com/listings/art/art-in-odd-places/

RIO!!! THE ROAD TO RIO WITH BING, BOB...

BRAZIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rio de Janeiro is W O N D E R F U L!
Pat has business in Rio for Telcordia and it couldn't a be better location!
The hotel is right on the beach at Copacabana. This time Carol got to go because it was time for a "look around" trip and for Pat to stop and smell the roses and see the sights of the city.

It is such a beautiful and unusual sight to see the beach and the patterned black and white Mosaic sidewalks back up right into the city. People are walking around in the business district with sand on their legs and in beach clothes.
The tourist sites are SugarLoaf Mountain which you can go up in little aeriel cable cars to see the whole of the city. There is also Corcovado. We went through a rain forest then up a couple of levels to their National Park where the Christ statue looks out all over the city. Luckily it happened to be a big anniversary of the erection of the statue and many bishops, priests, nuns and just regular people were up on top of the mountain in front of the Christ statue for a celebratory Mass. That made it even more crowded and hard to get a souvenir picture of the famous site.

We went out to an Irish Pub for Fabio's birthday party as soon as we landed. That and the barbecue restaurant at Porcao was where all the Telcordia families gathered. Pictured here is the get together.

Carol got a guided tour to Nitaroi across the bay from Rio. MAC is there- the modern art museum which looks like a flying saucer!

The walls around town are painted sometimes in surprising locations.
Here are pictures of the walls in the park leading from the beach in Ipenema into the city.

l.a. meets nyc- chris and brian visit

Chris and Brian came to visit NYC for a whirlwind visit. Chris hadn't been to the city since he was about 11 years old. They had time to meet up with us at Le Loup Bistro in the Village. Erin and Esme joined us too for a jazz brunch.

LET JESUS FIX IT FOR YOU!!!

NEW YORK, HARLEM

AUGUST 2009

Angie came from U.K. and flew all around New York City seeing everything but real treat was her idea to go to Harlem to hear their gospel choir sing and rock the roof. The Abyssinian Church of Harlem is famous! for this service and welcomes visistors from all around the world.

There is a very strict protocol to follow mainly getting to the church to wait in sidewalk line for hours ahead of time. There are handlers from the church who herd you and caution you and decide if you are properly dressed -no flip flops for safety on stairs and no devilish clothes allowed. They "axe you and axe you" to follow their rules about orderly procession into the inner sanctum of the church. Once inside (a real coup- if you make the cut) you are shushed and hushed and led quietly to your seat by this army of ushers. Most of them are women of a "certain age" and their uniform is white like an old fashioned nurses uniform, white shoes, and white gloves and a BIG name tag identifying them as important ushers for the church. There are a few men ushers and they wear tuxedos- some of them with white jackets.

We were lucky to be there on Baptism sunday and five people were dunked full body in the permanent Baptism water that runs like a little pool on the sides and back of the altar.

Also, it is not like a show to hear the music but you are their guest to their church and they had members of the church sitting all around the visitors to welcome them.

The music was outstanding! There were at least 25 people in the choir facing the congregation and some of their songs were so full of emotion that people were fainting and crying in the congregation justs hearing the music. They sang many great hymns including my favorite- "Let Jesus Fix It For You" which had a almost hypnotic rhythm to it and seemed to produce hysteria.

It was a totally great experience and a once in a lifetime thing that I was so happy to see and will never forget.

and why not let jesus fix it for you once in a while?

Horse Fans Unite!!!

Here are pictures of Rebecca's horse show in late summer. Rebecca won the blue ribbon (1st prize) and her friend Alison won the red ribbon. Both girls kept one ribbon for themselves and gave the other to the horse where it is on display at Nearfield Farms.

Pictured here are Angie, Rebecca and Bridget. It was at Applewood Farms, N.J.

Bridget, Pat, Rebecca and Carol went to see the Lipinzaner Horse Show at Madison Square Garden, NYC in October. These are beautiful horses who do complicated dressage maneuvers to music.


The last picture is Rebecca riding Zach in October.

John's Visit 'Back East'

John visited New Jersey for a few days in August. We all had a really good time. John and Dad went to a SF Giants game at the new Mets Stadium, SF won. The new park is really nice.

Rebecca, Bridget, John and Dad went to a Patriots game at our local stadium. John caught a foul ball ricochet off the back wall; the announcer said it was "the catch of the day"; unfortunately John painfully jammed his finger - but held on! Good catch John.

It was really nice visit all around.

Megan and Georg in NYC

Megan stopped by on her way home from Istanbul and Georg was in town as well. Unfortunately Pat was in Brazil, but Carol was able to spend quality time with them both. Georg picked The Palms restaurant for dinner. Megan and Carol saw "West Side Story" and Megan's friend Omar joined for the big sightseeing bus tour.
Erin, CCR, Esme, Ellyn, Megan, Omer, Pat and Carol enjoed a wonderful dinner at Centocette restaurant in the East Villiage.

ahoy! for whales and lauren

Summer is the time for visiting Lauren and her WhaleWatch in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine.

On our way to see Lauren and her whales, Pat, Rebecca and Carol went to Boston first. We got a preview of what Lauren was going to show us by visiting the excellent New England Aquarium first.

We also got to take a quick tour around Boston to see all the sights and historical things.

Ipshita Nag Deepak met with us at breakfast. We know her from India and she is busy in Boston attending MIT so we were thrilled to see her again!

Lauren took us on the sea cruise of a lifetime. The boat is for tourists to go out and see the whales playing and sometimes showing off for the boats. We went to their feeding grounds.

Lauren and friend who is also a marine biologist on our boat.

Did you know that whales only eat for 6 months out of the year??? This boat is actually a scientific laboratory for studying sealife with all kinds of staff and equipment.

whale tail

We were so so so lucky and got to see at least 11 whales out there. We finally had to leave them- but what a treat and we had the BEST personal guide ever---- LAUREN.

Visiting Megan in Puerto Rico, then Cruise

May, 2009

Shown here at the airport here in San Juan are Megan, her friend Omar, and Kris. Omar took GREAT care of Megan's guests as a favor to Megan and as a tour guide for his country- and we were not exception!

Our niece Megan got a promotion with her job at Enterprise and moved to Puerto Rico to use her excellent Spanish. So we decided to meet up there with Kris who was already visiting Megan and then take a few days cruise back to New York.

We really enjoyed San Juan and seeing Megan and Kris. There were so many sights to see in Old San Juan.

They have gambling in all the hotels in Old San Juan. Kris and I spent time in our hotel dancing with the "fan club" of the band in the Casino, while Pat was at the Roulette Wheel. The Band Fan Club was made up of all native retirees who just love to hang around the Casino hearing their favorite live music.

We started the cruise in Puerto Rico on Princess Cruise Line and ended up in Brooklyn Shipyards, New York City. Stopped in St. Thomas and Bermuda along the way. Pat enjoyed the long days at sea, because the Casino was open. Gambling "baby needs a new pair of shoes!" as often as possible. Fun? si si si

Pat's New Job

Pat has returned from India and accepted a position as Regional Vice President, Americas. He will be focusing on Mexico, Central and South America in the beginning. He has already made several visits to Brazil and hired folks in Rio and Mexico City.

'Really'? Last Trip to India

Some of the Telcordia Kids with Carol Auntie and Pat Uncle

Pat was commuting to India for the first part of the year. In May, the Company held the CEO Awards in India to honor members of the India Team that contributed to our great success in 2008-2009. Carol was able to join in the celebrations.

Going Away at Qutab

The India Team also hosted an official Going Away party for Pat and Carol at the Qutab Hotel. Vandana and Arshi did a great job of organizing everything and we were very happy to see everyone from the office as well as Monty and Mark Greenquist. Of course we also saw the staff from Qutab!

The India Team presented Pat and Carol with a pair of fabulous decorative marble elephants.

Visits with Friends, especially DWCA School Staff

It was a quick trip, but we were able to see our friends and participate in the celebrations.

"The Famous Pooja" and Laxmi honored us by showing us their local Temples.

We also attended a "Spring Bash" hosted by the Delhi Network Gurgaon Chapter.

Telcordia CEO Awards

The Telcordia CEO, Mark Greenquist and Monty visited India to present awards to the members of Team India. The event had a special India flare, including a Rajastani puppet show and a wonderful meal. Indian colleagues from Gurgaon, Chennai and Hydrabad with their families joined the celebration.

Pat and his successor Anuj Kapur look on with pride.

Disneyworld With Rebecca

Granny and Grandpa were able to sneak away for a weekend with Rebecca at Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida in February. (Much warmer in Florida than in New Jersey!) We stayed at the Disney Hotel, the Swan.

Rebecca choose to go to Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom. We really had a good time. Granny looked on as Grandpa and Rebecca went on the scary rides.

Esme's First Birthday

May 3, 2009 Esme turned ONE!

Erin and Chris invited many family and friends. Pat came from India 16 hour flight and arrived just in time for the party.

Rain came too, so the backyard at the apartment party was quickly moved to East Village restaurant called Remedy.

Esme was the life of the party but fell asleep before we were able to sing Happy Birthday!