¢¢ OUR ANNUAL PICNIC DAY!¢ by ALEX PIGNATO¢-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-¢¢ The summer doldrums are on us and it¢is hard to sit at the computer when¢there are so many activities that¢take your time and energy, (including¢your work). One activity that¢just passed was the THIRD ANNUAL¢OL' HACKERS PICNIC. I wish all of¢you reading this were there. The¢weatherman had promised VERY HIGH¢HUMIDITY and in the 90's, instead,¢it was cool and comfortable,¢and none of us missed our¢computers, we just talked¢computerese all day, while, our¢wives, as usual, put up with it. My¢wife and I had planned to save¢ourselves the effort of grilling¢food, so she made delicious steak¢ and pepper sandwiches on soft¢FRENCH BREAD, (makes my mouth water¢even now), which we could eat as¢soon as we got to BETHPAGE STATE¢PARK. Ah, but the gremlins had¢othe ideas, because one of them¢loosened the cover of the¢container with water in it, and it¢made part of the sandwiches SOGGY.¢ Did you ever eat SOGGY bread?¢UGH! Fortunately STAN SCHENFELD¢brought his brickets for¢barbecuing his franks (they smelled¢real good STAN). So, using his¢fire, I rebaked the sandwiches¢which were covered with silverfoil,¢and you know what, they tasted¢great! JACK GEDALIUS, brought his¢three lovely children, and we all¢enjoyd playng FRISBEE, which was¢ only one of the many activities¢that they had brought. HORST¢DEWITZ came dressed fit to kill,¢not a hair out of place, but he¢ had eaten at home, so all he lugged¢ around was a small styrofoam¢container for his beer. Some¢picnic'r he is! Would you believe¢it, CARLOS HURTADO showed up in¢spite of the fact that he had¢told me he had three commitments¢for that day. He came with three¢friends who remained in his car¢while he spent a little time with¢us, and then they all continued¢on to his second appointment. A¢good time with good friends, good¢food and good weather, and about¢one hour before we left, suddenly¢ both my two daughters showed up on¢their bikes. They had parked their¢cars in MASAPEQUA, and had¢pedaled all the way to the park,¢ about seven miles. After a while¢we started to pack to go home when¢ a few (you could count them)¢drops fell. This had me worried¢because my daughters had to pedal¢back to their cars. We then¢removed the two front wheels and I¢tried to squeeze two bikes in my¢trunk. NO WAY JOSE! At this point,¢ol reliable AL ATKINS said he was¢sure the bikes would fit in his¢car and sure enough they did,¢front wheels and all. Then to top¢it off he offered to drive my¢daughters back to their cars.¢What a guy, quiet and reserved, and¢always there when you need him.¢THANKS AL, and my girls also wish¢ to publicly thank you too. Oh, by¢the way, as far as we know, it never¢did rain! P.S. Today on the phone¢ when I thanked him he said he¢bet that in spite of going first¢ to MASSAPEQUA, he probably got¢home before I did, and he was right¢too! So, now the THIRD ANNUAL¢PICNIC is but a memory.... and¢I'm already looking forward to¢NEXT YEAR, hope to see you there. ¢¢ THATS ****¢¢ ALL ****¢¢ FOR ****¢¢ NOW !!!!¢ ¢
