Category → Uncategorized
Date Night @ Esme Bistro
Trish and I went to Esme Bistro in Teaneck last night. Esme is what I would consider a “fancy restaurant”, or as I would have called it in my youth, an “André Bujere”. There are two metrics that I use to determine whether a restaurant is fancy, namely:
1) The restaurant must have table coverings of some kind, and
2) The restaurant does not provide crayons to draw upon said table covering.
Anyway, we had a wonderful time, and I’m pretty sure it was the most expensive dinner we’ve ever had. We ordered the “Roasted Lamb Riblets” as an appetizer. Trish had the “Esme Bistro Fillet” and I had the “Reserve Cut”. I had an amazing chocolate cake-and-ice-cream-type-thing for desert. Who knew one could spend $110 on a dinner for two? The steak was amazing. In fact, upon eating it I realized that the steak desired, nay, demanded a glass of wine, but alas, for Esme doesn’t yet have it’s liquor license.
Actually, the price isn’t bad when prorated, as we spent almost two hours at the restaurant. André Bujere indeed!
Youth Redux
No Idea how we got on the topic, but I was speaking with someone about games we used to play, and this handheld game I used to play popped into my mind. It was a real life-saver on car trips.
Anyway, a quick google search helped me find it:
It was released in 1978. I probably bought it at a garage sale.
I don’t know how it did the second time around, but it was re-released in 2002!
Fun drive
This morning I was driving South on Route 303 when four police cars passed me going North. They were driving very fast. A few seconds later, a Black Crysler 300C passed me at over 100 miles per hour. He disappeared over the rise just North of Oak Tree Road. I knew that if anything was in the intersection when he got there it would be a big mess – there was no way he would be able to stop in time.
A moment later, I heard sirens, and saw about 40 police cars in my rear view mirror. I pulled over, and they all raced by. After the last one went by, I continued down to Oak Tree Road. The Crysler was no where to be seen, but there was quite a bit of congestion, what with all the police cars being there. Most turned right on Oark Tree. As I was turning left, a Corvette Police car went zooming by.
In the end, they caught the guy in Fort Lee, NJ. UPDATE: Here’s the final article from the Journal News:
NANUET ? A Bronx man accused of buying a $52,300 Chrysler with a phony name and forged financial documents led officers on a 30-mile chase through Clarkstown and Orangetown and into New Jersey yesterday, police said.
The 24-minute chase ended when, police said, Alexis Santiago crashed the new Chrysler 300 into a Fort Lee police car near the George Washington Bridge.
Santiago, 35, is accused of trying to run down at least two police officers, including a Clarkstown officer in the parking lot of a Chrysler dealership at 60 Route 304, police said.
Among nine charges in New Jersey, Santiago faces an attempted murder count, accused of trying to run down a Teaneck, N.J., police officer, police said.
“Due to the fact two officers were almost killed, we had the right to chase the vehicle,” Fort Lee Police Chief Thomas Ripoli said during an afternoon news conference at his police station.
“The car became a weapon,” Ripoli said.
The chase started at 9:15 a.m. when Clarkstown police and a state Department of Motor Vehicles inspector attempted to arrest the driver of a black, four-door Chrysler 300 in the dealership’s parking lot.
A man using the name of “Tirso Tavarez” of the Bronx obtained a dealership loan of $52,300 on May 6 to buy the car, Clarkstown Detective Sgt. Bernard Cummings said yesterday. A state DMV investigator determined that the buyer wasn’t Tavarez and on Friday told the dealership and police. The investigator noticed “Tavarez” had given the dealership a phony driver’s license, Cummings said.
The buyer was to return to the dealership yesterday morning for his car registration.
“We were sitting there waiting for him to show up,” Clarkstown Detective Gerard King said. “We had him boxed in at the Chrysler dealership. He decided he didn’t want to surrender.”
In escaping, the driver nearly ran down Sgt. Gerald O’Connor, forcing the officer to jump out of the way as the Chrysler came at him and dented a police car, police said.
Clarkstown officers chased the Chrysler south on Route 304 but called off the pursuit.
“We felt that for a stolen car, there was no reason to put the public in danger with a high-speed pursuit,” King said.
With the incident broadcast on police radio, Orangetown police picked up the chase on Route 304, but also stopped for safety reasons.
The chase continued with New Jersey officers in Closter, Teaneck, Hackensack and, finally, Fort Lee. The driver tried to fool police by pretending he went over the George Washington Bridge, said Ripoli, the Fort Lee police chief.
“He tried to outmaneuver everyone,” Ripoli said. “At one point, some thought he crossed he bridge. He tried to hide and came back around into Fort Lee.”
A Fort Lee officer picked up his trail, and the driver crashed into a police cruiser at Lemoine Avenue at 9:39 a.m., Ripoli said.
“We boxed him in, and he hit one of our vehicles,” he said. “We heard he was coming, and our officers were prepared as best as possible.”
Neither the officer nor Santiago was injured in the crash. He was arrested after a short struggle, police said.
Santiago was being held without bail in the Bergen County jail in Hackensack, pending hearings in Bergen County Superior Court.
Besides the New Jersey charges, Santiago faces a fugitive-from-justice warrant from New York City on a gun-possession charge, police said. Clarkstown police and the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office have not filed charges. Cummings said the charges could include grand larceny, identity theft and assault in connection with trying to run down an officer.
The charges
Charges against Alexis Santiago, 35, of 643 Beach St., the Bronx:
In Teaneck: Attempted murder, resisting arrest, eluding and aggravated assault.
In Fort Lee: Aggravated assault, eluding, hindering apprehension, receiving stolen property, resisting arrest and a fugitive-from-justice warrant out of New York City on a felony weapon-possession count.
In Clarkstown: Police are preparing felony charges for grand jury consideration that could include first-degree grand larceny, second-degree forgery, first-degree identity theft and first-degree attempted assault.
Quite the morning!
RIP, “Captain” Ed Immler
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel :
Died unexpectedly May 8, 2005 while bicycle riding in his beloved lake district at age 56. Dear brother of Kathryn “Kai” Parry Immler. Also loved by his extended family, Bunny Raasch-Hooten and William Raasch and their children and many friends.
He attended Lawrence University then served in the Marines during the Vietnam War and retired from the Army. He returned to Lawrence graduating in 1995 with a degree in chemistry, then taught and worked at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy for Homeland Security.
He won several awards for his articles. He was a member of Freemanson’s Lodge F&AM; #363, DeMolay, Mensa and several Historical Societies. He served on several REACT teams and did extensive volunteer work for the American Red Cross, German Boy Scouts, March of Dimes, Lawrence University and others.
Ed, also known as “Dutch” was a patriot, a banjo player, a kind and generous friend and a life-long lover of learning, happiest when he was outdoors. His was a life of service to his country, community, family and friends.
From the Lawrence University Press Release:
With sadness, we report the unexpected passing of your former Lawrence University classmate, Edward “Ed” Immler, on Sunday, May 8, 2005.
Ed first came to Lawrence in the late 1960s, then left to serve with the Marines during the Vietnam War. Ed returned to Lawrence in the early 1990s, and was often seen on campus carrying his Army-issue rucksack, drinking his coffee, and even playing his banjo a couple of times at open mic. He lived off campus but was adopted by Plantz for the annual Trivia Contest. He graduated with a chemistry major in 1995.
After graduation, Ed continued to be a loyal Lawrentian, generously volunteering his time in a number of different efforts. Most recently, Ed served on the Class of 1995’s 10th Reunion Gift Committee. Prior, Ed was an admissions volunteer and a member of the Viking Gift Committee. Ed was also a generous donor to Lawrence.
Ed also worked for a time at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy, where he’s mentioned on the homepage.
Ed was presumably the author of this article for FrontPageMag.com.
Ed was a great guy. Even though he was 25 years older than the other members of the Class of ’95, he seemed to fit right in. My two strongest memories of Ed are playing the Trivia Contest with him in Plantz Hall, and the cheering and applause that erupted when he received his diploma.
So long, Ed. You’ll be missed.
Wedding at 770
Tonight, Trish and I went to the wedding of Moti Wilhelm, the eldest son of Rabbi and Rebbetzin Wilhelm, the Chabad Shluchim in Portland, Oregon. We were a little slow leaving the house, so we got to Crown Heights right before the wedding started. Unfortunately, we were a little under-dressed, as this wedding was held outdoors.
Did I mention it’s February? It was in the low 30s. Thankfully, we all seemed to have enough cold weather gear to stay warm.
Here’s the Chuppah from a couple angles:
 |
 |
Moti and his wife-to-be. Chabad women use a really thick veil:
The chuppah ended around 6:30. Since the kids usually go to bed at 7:30, we decided to head home. Although Trish didn’t get to say hello to the Rebbetzin, I did see the Rabbi, and Trish saw two of her former coworkers from the Chabad school.
Some things just don’t mix
What happens when you put together a Redneck, some firearms, and a broadband Internet connection?
A website that lets you fire a gun mounted on a motorized platform at passing animals from the comfort of your home, of course.
The idea came last year while viewing another Web site on which cameras posted in the wild are used to snap photos of animals.
“We were looking at a beautiful white-tail buck and my friend said ‘If you just had a gun for that.’ A little light bulb went off in my head,” he said.
Here’s the rest of the story.
So sick….
Trish and Mechel got very sick over the weekend, with both vomiting and diarrhea. I seemed to have picked it up as well. It started around 2pm, and got worse and worse. Right now I’m in bed trying not to move too much. I’m typing this on a Windows CE tablet using remote desktop to control my PC (and in this case typing into Bloggar). If only the on screen keyboard were 25% bigger….
Since remote desktop routes the audio to the remote desktop client, I’m also listening to music via RealPlayer.
Neat!
Farewell, Yonah and Yaacov!
A couple of guys from Yeshiva left this week. Yonah and his family moved to Long Beach, California to run the Hillel there, while Yaacov and his wife are moving to Phoenix, Arizona. The Yeshiva had a going-away get-together last Thursday.
Yaacov and Avi
|
Yonah
|
The Rosh Yeshiva gives chizuk (words of encouragement) to Yaacov and Yonah
On Sunday, Yonah had another get-together for families. While there, I spotted an insect eating a fellow bug:
 |
 |
Infocomm pictures
The product I’m working on, the TPMC-10, was shown at Infocomm a couple weeks ago. Here are some pictures:
 |
 |
 |
 |
