Romeo Lunch 4-18-12

The Romeos had lunch today (4-18-12) at the Café Escadrille in Burlington at 12 noon. Go to www.cafeescadrille.com for information and directions. The nine Romeos attending were Paul Girard, Mark Ryan, Ed DeSchuytner, Joe Lapiana, Joe Pignatiello, Steve Winter, Mike Zapantis, Brother Tim Paul and Jim Terlizzi.  Although John Tweedie had recommended the restaurant, he was unable to attend since he was in Florida for the week. You can see some photos of the group at the link below  …… (I think Paul purposely hid his Photogenic Puss which is missing from the group picture) .  https://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/Romeo41812?authuser=0&feat=directlink

We were all seated at a long table in the upper part of the restaurant. The waitress told us about the specials and then served fresh rolls and water. We then ordered drinks which consisted of beer, soda and margaritas. The waitress then took our meal orders which were chicken and broccoli, seafood Diablo, baked shrimp, Rueben sandwich and beef stroganoff.  The food came quickly and was very good with large portions. After the main meal, we ordered two desserts with spoons to share and coffee or cappuccino.

The conversation was lively as it traveled around the table. Brother Tim talked about his flying adventures. He flew to Portland and had lunch with his mother and brother.  He also talked about a History of Flying course that he organized. It runs for one week, 9AM to 5PM and the class of about ten, travel around the area visiting airports, towers and hangers. It is a real grassroots learning experience. He also told us that the average salary for beginning pilots is low, about $30,000 for the commercial pilot. It only jumps to six figures when you fly the jumbo jets.

Jim and Paul talked about the closing of the Salem Harbor Coal Fired Electric Plant. The Salem News said it would completely close by 2014. There are several plans on what to do with the property such as make it into a Gas Fired Electric Plant or a Shipping Port for large cruise ships. I then saw a cartoon in the Herald that seemed related and funny. You can see more info on Google about Salem. See the cartoon at left …….

Paul also bought a new iPhone this year and is having fun using it. While we were at lunch he was looking up all kinds of baseball information on Google as well as the number of degree programs at Salem State. I then showed Paul and the others how I can look up my Photo Albums at the Picasa Web Site right from my iPod with a Wi-Fi connection. Later Joe L. called me at home and talked about the new Picasa photo album software.

Ed talked with Brother Tim about the online courses that Ed teaches at Northern Essex. They also talked about the honesty of students taking online tests. Ed said there are a lot of ways to check on the student honesty.

I talked with Joe P. about the warm weather and how cute he looked in shorts. He said he has been wearing them during the warm days and attended the Boston Marathon by riding his bike from his house through Harvard Square and then over to the Copley Square.  He rides the bike a lot and a few years ago rode down to the Cape with a bunch of friends.

Jim said he attend a recent Red Sox game. A friend gave him some tickets and he really enjoyed it. I think he likes taking the train into Boston. Later he went to dinner with his wife at the Adriatic Restaurant in Salem which serves Mid Eastern food and was pleasantly pleased.

Of course I try to listen to all the conversations going on around me and remember most of what each person said. Please excuse me if I got some of the conversations wrong. The other problem is that I have been losing my hearing over the past few years and end up reading lips most of the time. Last year I got hearing aid to help with the hearing loss. My type of hearing loss involves not being able to hear high frequency sounds. In addition I have a hard time distinguishing consonants like the letters N, P, S, T or V.  So I have to be careful interpreting the words you said like “SIT, PIT, NIT, or SH…..T. So the next time that you talk with me, make sure you face me and speak loud and clear.

We then decided to meet for lunch next month on May 16th at the Longhorn Steakhouse in Reading. Jim will send you the info.

Comments always welcome…..  markryan82@comcast.net