Gabriella Louise Guanciale, Class of 2010

First off: one great reason to graduate from high school in 2010? It would be easy to remember when your high school reunions will be, any year ending in a five or zero.

Saturday I was very proud to attend the commencement of St. Fracis DeSales High School's senior class and yesterday a party at my brother Dino's home, Tina and Dino had the party very well planned. Gabby was the first of four daughters of the Westerville Guanciales to graduate.

Gabby spent 13 years attending a Catholic based school, St. Pauls and DeSales High School. Her faith based education will continue this fall when she attends Wheeling Jesuit University.

Her accomplishments in high school were just not academics, but as an athlete too. We have one thing in common, we were the oldest of a "group of four" children in a family. This made her a mini mom at times and setting a good example to three sisters. She was the first one to find out about the Santa Claus & Tooth Fairy secrets, first to have a date, the first to drive a car and will be the first to leave a family behind this fall for her new adventure.

Congratulations, you have become a fine young lady.

The only thing I ask of her, once she graduates from the next level and settles into a career, don't forget to contribute to your past schools so others may receive the same quality education you have received.

Truffled Egg Toasts

Ingredients

1 teaspoon butter

3 eggs

1 teaspoon creme fraichesea

salt

4 slices of a good, fresh baguette

white truffle oil

Directions: Melt the butter in a small skillet over low heat. Whisk together the eggs and creme fraiche. Season with salt. Pour the mixture into the skillet and use a wooden spoon to stir it, making sure to cover the entire bottom surface. This will take at least 10-15 minutes, so be patient. If you do it too fast, the egg will dry and the curds won't be as silky. Toast the bread in the oven and put the slices on a plate.

As soon as the eggs have formed soft curds and are loose but not raw, spoon them onto the toast, dividing evenly. If some of the egg tumbles off onto your plate, that's fine. Sprinkle generously with truffle oil. Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt. Let sit for a minute before digging in.

Click here to read more about this recipie from Milk & Mode

THE TIME INSTRUMENT

"Gianni Agnelli wore his timepiece with such bravado (over his shirt cuff). He did this because he did not have time to pull back his shirt cuff to view it. I’ve never come across any other man that has worn his watch in such an innovative way."

Click here to read "The Time Instrument"

MEMORIAL WEEKEND CHALLENGE

Outdoor high school and college graduation ceremonies, working in the yard, enjoying a picnic, visiting the pool for the first time this year, golfing, painting the house, attending a soccer, baseball, softball match, fishing, corn hole, running, jogging, walking, bike riding, outdoor concerts, Utica Ice Cream Festival, streaking etc.

Be prepared for the strong sun.

Click here to see what can happen when you have too much sun!


HAVE A GOOD MEMORIAL WEEKEND.

ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

If my business was failing, the first thing I would review is the management, second would be if my product is competitive. General Motors is a good example of what a couple of changes can do for a company, change sometimes has to be embarrassing.

This morning via The Newark Advocate, an editorial outlined GM's success of a profitable quarter. GM is starting to pay back the government loans, no one has talked about all the funds given to GM that do not need to be paid back. I hope the celebration lasted a day and everyone is back to work making sure this quarter is just as successful.

"... One quarter does not, of course, a recovery make. It still is far from clear how long it will take to get to the point where the company is stable and profitable enough for the government to issue shares, sell it back to investors and recover as much as possible of taxpayers' huge involuntary investment in GM."

Click here to read the complete article.

STEVE LAYMAN'S WORDS OF WISDOM

Commercial real estate broker Steve Layman posted on his blog today some great words of advice regarding the current real estate market and when it will “pop” back with properties appreciating. Click here to read Steve’s blog post and Aubrey Clark’s thoughts.

THIRD BASE COACH

CULTURAL OFFERING

POST GAME CHALK TALK

I am sure Coach Tressel after a game has a very interesting post game talk with his team and does not wait until Monday afternoon's practice to go over the good and bad of the most recent game. The photo above is of Platoon #1 of the Newark Fire Department at 1:00am this past week after knocking down a difficult house fire that could have been a lot worst.

Not to pass along information that I consider private, but Chief Spurgeon could have easily release units from the scene and talked about the procedures used three days latter. He kept the units on the scene gathered them and said "This is every body's opportunity to be honest for critiquing how everyone worked together". Opportunity does not come enough in most businesses to join all employees together and for the boss to ask "How did I do and how do you think your fellow workers did, now is the time to talk about it". Once in awhile, I sure asking the questions really hurts, but sometimes the boss getting the truth helps everyone out in the long run.

Of this short ten minute meeting I was the most proud of: the firefighters were not scared to talk expressing their issues. I have known most for many years and some for a short time (probes) and once again I can not say enough about their dedication to making sure they do a good job to make sure "everyone goes home".

ARTWORK BY NICHOLAS BATE

CLICK HERE TO CHECK MORE OF NICHOLAS BATE.

SCHOOL UNIFORMS

I visited with a Newark City School mother yesterday, the first thing she brought up was her happiness about the school system deciding on uniforms starting next year. Her main thought is now my main thought about the new uniform policy "there are a bunch of parents against the new policy and they should not be mad at the school board, but at the parents who care very little of how their children look when they are sent off to school".

I believe this is the real problem: the parents not of a select few, but of a large number of students. They are the ones who complain all the time about the way the schools are operated, funded and in general use the school system as a baby sitter. They are the last person to help a child with homework, plan a visit with a teacher, become involved with the schools and never think about if they should vote yes for a levy.

Cultural Offering mentioned the new dress code, check it out by clicking here.

Maybe more parents ought to look in a mirror, then they would understand the reasoning for the new uniform policy. Millions of people pay thousands of dollars per year so their children can go to a school with a uniform on.

Several of following really hit home.................

41 Things in the Life of an Italian Child

01. You have at least one relative who wore a black dress everyday for an entire year after a funeral.

02. You spent your entire childhood thinking what you ate for lunch was pronounced "sangwich."
03. Your family dog understood Italian.
04. Every Sunday afternoon of your childhood was spent visiting your grandparents and extended family.
05. You've experienced the phenomena of 150 people fitting into 50square feet of yard during a family cookout.
06. You were surprised to discover the FDA recommends you eat three meals a day, not seven.
07. You thought killing the pig each year and having salami,capacollo, pancetta and prosciutto hanging out to dry from your shed ceiling was absolutely normal. (Wow, that's really Italian!)
08. You ate pasta for dinner at least three times a week, and every Sunday, and laughed at the commercial for Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti day.
09. You grew up thinking no fruit or vegetable had a fixed price andthat the price of everything was negotiable through haggling.
10. You were as tall as your grandmother by the age of seven.11. You thought everyone's last name ended in a vowel.
12. You thought nylons were supposed to be worn rolled to the ankles.
mama mia, thats a big meat ball!
13. Your mom's main hobby is cleaning.
14. You were surprised to find out that wine was actually sold instores.
15. You thought that everyone made their own tomato sauce.
16. You never ate meat on Christmas Eve or any Friday for that matter.
17. You ate your salad after the main course.
18. You thought Catholic was the only religion in the world.
19. Your were beaten at least once with a wooden spoon or broom.
20. You thought every meal had to be eaten with a hunk of bread in your hand.
21. You can understand Italian but you can't speak it.
22. You have at least one relative who came over on the boat.
23. All of your uncles fought in a World War.24. You have at least six male relatives named Tony, Frank, Joe orLouie.
25. You have relatives who aren't really your relatives.
26. You have relatives you don't speak to.
27. You drank wine before you were a teenager.
28. You relate on some level, admit it, to the Godfather and theSopranos.
29. You grew up in a house with a yard that didn't have one patch ofdirt that didn't have a flower or a vegetable growing out of it.
30. Your grandparent's furniture was as comfortable as sitting onplastic. Wait!!!! You were sitting on plastic.
31. You thought that talking loud was normal.
32. You thought sugared almonds and the Tarantella were common at all weddings.
33. You thought everyone got pinched on the cheeks and money stuffed in their pockets by their relatives.
34. Your mother is overly protective of the males in the family nomatter what their age.
35. There was a crucifix in every room of the house.36. Wakes would be held in someone's living room.
37. You couldn't date a boy without getting approval from your father. (Oh, and he had to be Italian)
38. You called pasta "macaroni".
39. You dreaded taking out your lunch at school
40. Going out for a cup of coffee usually meant going out for a cup of coffee over Zia's house.
41. Every condition, ailment, misfortune, memory loss and accident was attributed to the fact that you didn't eat something.
CIAO!

Thank you to Jeff Rath, this made me laugh and think of the past.

ARTWORK BY NICHOLAS BATE

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT NICHOLAS

A GOOD RULE OF THUMB

Dissolute behavior in a coat and tie

is always more amply forgiven.

Theodore Bouloukos

Special thanks to "1001 Rules for My Unborn Son"

& "Unabashedly Prep"

NINJA LESSONS

Industrial Bus Tour

Toured ArmorSource making military helmets and State Industrial Products manufacturing industrial and commercial cleaning products.

We are lucky to have both companies in Licking County, Ohio and using our great workforce!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

STOPPING FIVE "Gs"

Larry Parr sent this video to me, a new add on to your table saw stopping the saw's blade at the touch of a finger. The video explains how it works etc. Several years ago my biscuit cutter chewed a couple of fingers slightly because I was not 2500rpm fast enough to pull my fingers away from a slip of the equipment. On my workshop's chalk board I have my safety message of "No accidents since 2/4/90" to remind me to be safe in the workshop.

Click her for Cultural Offering's photo of spies breaking into my workshop.

GOOGLE MAPS

Top 10 Things You Didn't Know Google Maps Could DoA must-read article from LifeHacker.com on Google's expanded mapping features.

You might use Google Maps for the occasional directions, but in this article from LifeHacker.com, you can learn about ten other features that most people miss out on, including:

Using Starred Addresses Instead of Your Memory,

Show a "You Are Here", Marker Create Multi-Day Walking Itineraries
Fine-Tune or Report a Bad Location
Map Out a Bike Route
Provide Instant GPS Coordinates
Show Photos Taken Nearby (could be great for listings!)
Find Places Near Any Point on a Map
Provide Directions via SMS Text Message

Plot Spreadsheet Addresses On a Map

Read the detailed how-tos here: http://lifehacker.com/5525758/top-10-things-you-didnt-know-google-maps-could-do

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

WHY GOD MADE MOMS, CLICK HERE

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Saturday morning start..............

FDNY 343 LAUNCHED

Read more about FDNY's new Marine 1, by clicking here.

Guanciale Group at the Chamber's Biz Fest

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HAVE LESS, ENJOY MORE

Thank you to Really Good Thinking!

CLASS AND NO CLASS

Don't wear Homer Simpson's short sleeve shirt with a tie. Read Put This On's opinion of Homer Simpson's dress code, click here to see my past comments about short sleeve shirt's with a tie.

Steve McQueen, is one of the most notable figures to wear a Baracuta G-9 as featured in This Fits and here at Put This On. Click here to view my past post of the Great Baracuta.

RIP

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BE HAPPY

Since I now have an auto with a moon roof, I have been listening to what I think is a Central Ohio Spanish radio station. At a red light with the roof open, my eyes closed, the sun shining on my head and listening to the music makes me kind of feel like I am sitting around a pool at some tropical destination. Yesterday, finally a song came on that I recognized, breaking my language barrier.