Chugging right along...............

It appears that our project to restore the USS Zuni is picking up steam. We've had several inquiries since we had a presentation in Virginia and 4 more people have joined the message board. Right now, she's docked at Little Creek. We picked up a webmaster which we sorely needed to freshen up the site.

Within the last several days, we have received 4 more memberships at the Yahoo Message Board and one fellow will be sending me photos from the 80's to scan to our Photobucket site.

Perhaps the best news is that we finally arrived at a decision about selling adoption certificates for the old girl. That should help bring some money in for maintenance.

I've collected over 200 photos of the ship for our photobucket site spanning 6 decades. A lot of interesting photos are there. check out http:/photobucket.com/zunitam.

Bill

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGELA & Other Stuff

We had a nice weekend, Ange celebrated her birthday with Friends on Friday and Saturday, we got to babysit Angela's dog - everyone's favorite Beagle, Shenny. She's great to babysit for because mostly she sleeps interrupted by an occasional ROOOOO!!! I also rented the last half of the 6th season of 24, a TV show to which I am hopelessly addicted. That's not a good thing when your TV's not hooked up. I have to wait until season 7 comes out now on DVD.

Then to complete the weekend we celebrated Angela's birthday by going out to dinner at the Lemongrass Thai Restaurant. The usual suspects were there Regina, me, Danny, Sasha, Angela.

We're still looking for a car for Regina. She want's a Sonata. I like them but I'd also like her to try out a Ford Fusion before we commit.

Zuni-Tam, Turning the Corner, maybe???

Recently, things have started to fall into place regarding the Zuni-Tam. The photo of her is at Little Creek, Virginia, the Marines have started to voice an interest in her, civic groups in the area are taking note of us. We still need to figure out ways to generate more money. But at least publicity is beginning to spread around about her. She is the last surviving ship that fought at Iwo Jima so that in itself deserves some mention.

Anyone interested in our progress please visit http://www.zunimaritime.org/.

Thanks,

Holiday Blahs..................

Except for two days, Christmas Day and New Years Day, when I spent time with the family, the rest has been pretty much a bore and a bummer. Normally, I have the week between Christmas and New Years off. However, this year I switched with my assistant so he could do the reunion thing in Chicago with his family.

Jorge told me he likes this time off usually. Well he can have it. The phones rang off the off the first three days before Christmas Day, then everything fell silent. I aggravated a lot of people, because even though it was dead, I still needed to staff the place, just in case people came in and asked for the normal services. So as quiet as it has been, I've still had a nearly full crew. People were begging for things to do it was so dead.

I want to get home and finish watching the 4th season of 24. I got hooked on that show something fierce. It's not the greatest Television in the world but as Regina says, it sure is "addictive". I went to bed at 12:30 last night and woke up for work at 4:30. Got through the first 8 hours of the day. Poor Jack, that guy has the worst luck.

Excitement is also building regarding our USS Zuni project. Now that we are docked at a great pier and have access to the ship, we can start working on it again. In the worst way, I want to sail her back to New York and dock next to the Intrepid during a Fleet Week not to distant in the future.

Merry Christmas & Zuni Tamaroa towed again.............

The family got together for a nice Christmas. Dan, Ange, Sasha, Regina, Judi and Lyra a friend of Ange's showed up. Good food and company made it a nice holiday. Plus we took it easy on the decorating front too, which I like.

Regarding the Tam:

We have been towed to the Navy amphibious base in Little Creek, Virginia. Hopefully we'll now have more access to the public. No one could reasch us where we were moored before. Right now we are easy access, phyically speaking; however we have to make arrangements with the Navy to allow people in and out of the base when we do maintenance on her. This girl has more lives than a cat.

I've been so busy, I forgot to do to do the newsletter. Have to bust my butt to get it out.

Moving.....................

The last week and going on to this week has been pretty busy. We are doing a lot of consolidating and moving people around and out of the building to vacate 4 floors and sublet them. People are going to other spots in Manhattan, Weehawken, etc. We are on 11 and will be moving to 37 on Friday. God how I hate moving. I've sat in the same location for almost 8 years. Now I am to be uprooted and moved to a more cramped space. The one nice thing is that from 37, you can see both the East River and the North River from the building...so its a decent view. Some of the folks don't like going to 37 because they are still thinking about 9/11 and the long haul down the steps.

I'm throwing out half of what I've accumulated over the years to make it a little easier to move upstairs.

End of the year is pandemonium as usual

Its been a heck of a year. At work we are closing the books and preparing for the 2009 budget, we're working on targets and success stories for ISO14001 to which we are signatory and trying to come in under budget all at the same time.

On other fronts, the Zuni Maritime Foundation, the organization dedicated to restoring the USS Zuni to her 1944 days is continuing, though at a slower pace than we would like. The economy is really putting a crimp in our ability to raise funds.

and last but not least we had a great Thanksgiving, my Daughter Angela, son Danny and Sister Judy showed up to a feast that as usual Regina outdid herself. Everything was delicious and the company was great.

Ange has recently moved back to the east coast from Oregon. Its good to have her back home again.