Joe and Jamie’s Blog

This past Saturday we went to my cousin’s baptism, well actually two of my cousin’s baptism at the same time and place. My cousin Suzanne and her husband Howie baptized their son (King) George and my cousin Keri and her husband Chris baptized their son Matthew. Matthew is 5 1/2 months old and George is 2 1/2 months old. It was good to see the whole family together for something happy after the long series of sad events. Both babies were baptized in St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church at 856 Pacific St, Brooklyn, NY.

From there we went a few blocks to a very nice catering place, Giando On The Water at 400 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY. This was the same place Keri had her wedding reception, if I am correct I believe they are relatives of Chris. It is a beautiful place right on the bank of the East River with a wonderful view of Manhattan. The Williamsburg Bridge is practically right over the building (its the cool one with the train that goes in between the cars across it). You can see all the major skyscrapers from the outdoor patio. The food was great. It was 97 degrees out that day, but it wasn’t too bad in the shade.

Like usual I didn’t grab the camera, I need to keep a second one in my car I think. Excuse these photos as they were taken by my Treo, which has no flash or focus.

This clown actually stole our seats!

Very good chocolate cake with real strawberry and banana filling.

Suzanne and George(left). Carmine and Matthew(right).

Keri and Matthew.

Look at George tasting the cake!

Keri and Matthew(left). Suzanne and George(right).

Here’s Jamie and I just hanging out. I’m pretty good at taking reverse pictures like this. That’s right, I took this!

Yet again, another crappy weekend. My uncle died early this week, leaving this weekend full of trips to Brooklyn and out to Long Island for the burial. It’s sad to see him go, especially at a young age of 59. What’s even worse is that his daughter (my cousin) had her first baby just 2 days before he died. He was so sedated with medication that he never even got to see her. Such a shame and it really hits you hard when you think about it.

He was buried in Calverton National Cemetery in Long Island which is a Military cemetery. My uncle Jamie served in the Air Force when he was young, 1968-74. He officially died on April 23rd, 2008. Ironically, it was just 3 days after my grandmother’s 1 year anniversary of her death (she died 4/20/2007), so of course my entire family was already distraught. I will say that the funeral was very nice. He was given a military funeral (not the whole 21 gun salute deal, but still a funeral conducted by the military). It is amazing the detail and precision they put into everything they do. When they folded the flag that laid on his casket there wasn’t a single crease it in. The guy had proper snappy arm movements and a certain specific way he had to hold and present the flag for approval to the higher ranking person there. It was just amazing to see it in action, plus the respect and dignity for someone who served 30+ years ago and didn’t die in active duty.

Rest in piece Uncle Jamie, we will miss you.

Enough of the sad stuff, time to go eat some pasta, write a report that was due today (oopsi) and upgrade this blog to Wordpress 2.5.1 Gee, I wonder what hour of the morning I will be up to tonight….