Category — Life in PA

I just took some placemats over to the County Seat Restaurant and had a turkey stacker and cherry-flavored beer while I was there. Terry recommended both and I’m glad he did – THUMBS UP x 2!!

Yesterday was a good day, not that any day isn’t good when you can wake up, put your shoes on, and meet the world outside. Even during the worst of the snow storms in February, I needed to either be out or connect outwards through the phone or computer.

What were the highlights? Besides the beautiful weather, it was “people”.

Sandra Larsen posting pictures of the fire at Grove City’s Wendell August Forge (#waforge) and Rich _______, a Grove City Borough councilman who posted pictures of the cleanup. A slew of “people” posting supportive comments on their FaceBook Page and saying what a blessing it was that nobody was hurt. A later post saying they had found a place where their workers could resume production THIS WEEK! God is great.

One thank you goes to Paul Simpkins of Paragon Printing who called me to say our CSLB placemats would be started early Thursday AM so they would be ready for BUD Transport to pick them up and get them to Kittanning by Friday morning. CSLB is really running low and I ran a mini-route yesterday so everyone had enough to tide them over until Friday’s delivery. Thank you Bill Crytzer of BUD Transport for being reliable. We sure do appreciate it and thank you from our restaurant owners too.

Another thank you goes to Paul of Clementine’s Family Restaurant for trusting me to get him covered instead of running out and buying a box, the same to Alan at Hometown Restaurant in Tarentum. Mogies had a few extra so I pulled 200 which went to Clementine’s, Burrell Inn was ok so I left them alone… Creighton Hotel was low (Thank you Cary for calling me Monday – three days advance notice was GREAT!!!) and I gave them an extra 300 FNS mats to carry them to Friday.

NEW RESTAURANT OPENING! The Deer Lakes Diner was a mess but that’s a phase restauranteers go through when opening day is only a couple of weeks away. Watch for more about them later.

Special! I’ve enjoyed paddling out from River’s Edge Canoe & Kayak and yesterday I found Neill and Evelyn there getting ready for the upcoming season. Hooray, that’s as good as seeing robins in the yard – summer is coming! I really enjoy talking with both of them.

And then there’s you, my esteemed visitor. Never sure what you might find here because I have such a variety of passions and appetite. THANK YOU for visiting and feel free to leave a comment even if just to say hi.

Thanks,
Carl

Hello, all, and welcome to the month of March 2010. It seems like just yesterday I was putting new calendars on the wall for Jan 1st, has it been two months already?

Re Olympics, I want to congratulate all the Olympic athletes and their coaches for all the hard work getting ready for what might be the ultimate moment in a person’s lifetime. Not winning a gold, silver, or bronze… COMPETING on a world-wide stage!

Beyond the athletes and coaches, congratulations to all the Moms and Dads who put up with crazy schedules, scraped up knees, and broken bones to get their kids ready for a momentous time – representing their country.

And one more mention…. kudos to Procter and Gamble for their advertisements focused on Moms. Simply a great choice of theme.

I just had a chance to install FireFox for Linda of Lingrow Farm. First we had to capture some photos from a persnickety CD and copy them to her hard drive. Then it’s off to wherever we want, but we bring up her slide show whenever folks drop by.

The Beatty’s were just here and said hello – been married for 54 years and I suggested a party for all happily married folks in the area… at Lingrow Farm, of course.

Location map: m301.local4all.com
Quality: Excellent!

Only one question mark?

Hey, Carl here and I need your eyes, mouse clicks and feedback on anything that doesn’t work right on this blog.  Here are some things that I know need to happen.

1. Create community-based header images
2. Get Neill to post his Grand Opening information on Local4All so I can repost it on my blog.
3. Make sure I get to the HomEXPO on time (might tweet about some of my StrongLand Chamber friends using my Blackberry (battery charge is at 3 bars, cool!)
4. Review the tags on my blog – do I need all of them?  Is there a Wordpress (“WP”) plugin that would make them look nicer?
5. Continue this list another time, maybe even from HomEXPO itself (Thank you, Panera Bread and Borders Books for having free WIFI at Pgh Mills!)

According to Allan Walzak’s count, nearly 40  StrongLand members and one guest attended the StrongNet meeting… interesting, some of the services being offered and products on the market.

Tony Colecchi of Minuteman Press is talking about how the business printing industry has evolved to short runs, typically less than 5000 sheets compared to 100,000 or more in years past.  The technology that makes short runs possible is a plate-maker that takes a digital file and creates a plate for the printer in fifteen minutes, mostly automated.  It’s amazing when you consider how far we’ve evolved since the Gutenberg Press was invented in 1436 (Thank you, Wikipedia).

Check out Minuteman Press in Lower Burrell.  Out of 780 sister companies in the Minuteman, only 18 awards were given in 2009 for outstanding quality… Tony’s company received one of them here in the Kiski region.

Location:  m425.local4all.com

Just sitting here munching on a very good Philly cheese steak pizza and checking out my blog at the same time…. ah, let the good times roll!  Kudos to Nite Courts for being one of the first in Armstrong County, PA, to offer free WIFI.

While wishing everyone well, there are a few we want to point out as especially deserving of your consideration for volunteer efforts, donations, or _____????

• Armstrong Habitat for Humanity – it’s been 8 years since I was elected to their Board of Directors and, according to the rulebook, I have to take a year off.  As of today, AHFH still has a couple of seats open on their new Board and there’s always a lot of ways you can help as a volunteer.  When their ReStore opens in downtown Kittanning, there will also be a place where you can buy building materials for CHEAP and proceeds go to a good cause.  Website:  www.armstronghfh.org
• Allegheny Valley HFH – Best wishes for a great 2010 for Diane Belitskus and her volunteers, staff, and partner organizations.  An EXCELLENT place for college students to help out in an ‘alternative spring break’.  I met students from Buffalo, NY, last year.  website: www.habitatav.org
  

  Allegheny Valley Habitat for Humanity, a good organization

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  HomEXPO - come see us there

  StrongLand Chamber of Commerce – Working to help not just member businesses but the Kiski Valley and surrounding region as a whole.  From a survey of the members that is still ongoing, it seems that their student incentive program, the Math League, and Quiz Bowl are popular ways for the Chamber to interact with our region’s future, one teen at a time.  Volunteer opportunity:  You can sit in on Economic Development Committee or other committee meetings if you really want to help us help the Kiski region get going again.

• Our Local4All partner restaurants – you can see a list at placemats.local4all.com.  Know a good family-style restaurant that’s not on our list?  Check our service area map and earn a $20 finder’s fee if you can help us get our placemats on their tables.
• Our Local4All advertisers – thank you for your loyalty and please let us know how we can serve you better.   To newcomers, did you know about our free tools for self-publishing?  Check out http://free4all.local4all.com and let me know if you need help with anything.  New ideas on how we can improve are always welcome.
  

  Posting on Local4All is 100% free, almost always as simple as 1-2-3

• Our Local4All volunteers – to Darla, Neill, and everyone else, thank you for helping us get the word out about local organizations, their events, and success stories. Darla publishes information for Armstrong Co Mem Hospital, the Ford City Library, and her church.  Neill covers the Roaring Run Watershed Assoc, F.L.A.G, StrongLand Chamber events, his own business River’s Edge Canoe & Kayak, has posted photos from River’s Edge Bait Shop and more.  Many thanks to ALL volunteers everywhere!

The Pens looked good as they helped the Atlanta Thrashers continue THEIR losing streak.  Sorry to hear about Chris Kunitz injury, hope to see him in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

In a word, YES!  Consider how far they went down when we had so many guys injured – well, the same rebound can happen when things start coming together again.

Go PENS!