View from The Corner Booth
Good day to all!
This weekend, we will be observing Memorial Weekend. Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the US on the last day of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who had died in all wars.
Later on, Memorial Day has become more of an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as people visited the graves of their deceased relatives in cemeteries, whether they had served in the military or not. It has also become a long weekend increasingly devoted to family gatherings and the opening of summer homes in the northern United States.
At the Dine-ah, we will be honoring those veterans, both men and women, who so valiantly served our country by offering all veterans a 20% discount on their food and beverage on Sunday May 27th.
These past two weeks have been a busy time for the United Way of Kennebec Valley which held their 2012 Days of Caring at the following schools:
Cony High School, Cony Middle School, Erskine Academy, St. Michael's School, Richmond High School and Winthrop High School. A total of approximately 2,548 students participated in the day long event. Remaining schools include Farrington Elementary in Augusta, Monmouth Academy, Maranacook Community High School, Gardiner High School and Hall-Dale High School.
Many projects were undertaken that include the likes of painting, sweeping of parking lots, raking of lawns and fields, bark mulching around trees and flower beds, cleaning up local cemeteries to name a few. If your town or city is not involved in an activity like this, I would encourage you to contact your local United Way to see if you could get something started. The benefits are many which include teaching volunteerism to our next generation and also the completion of some very laborious projects for non-profits and municipal facilities.
The day starts at school and then the students are bussed to their designated projects with all the students returning back to school for a cook out or boxed lunch and a quick assembly. All students receive a t-shirt and 8 hours community service. Some schools have a community service requirement in order to graduate.
This past weekend, myself and Chris Russell, Service Agreement Supervisor at G & E Roofing were the guests of Carlisle SynTec Systems, a leading manufacturer of single-ply roofing materials, at a special banquet in Charlotte, North Carolina to recognize 13 contractors from the United States and Canada to receive their Perfection Award determined by historical installation quality metrics. Which means, a certain volume of material had to be installed at the highest of quality ratings. Not bad for a little roofing contractor from Augusta, Maine! I would like to thank Carlisle SynTec for being such a great business partner and Nick Shears for his hospitality.
We were also guests of Carlisle at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and watched this past Saturday nights NASCAR All Star Race from the Penske Racing Suite. Our trip also included a tour of the Penske Racing facilities where they build the cars and the engines for the Penske NASCAR Racing Team. Each car is built for a mere $500,000. So the next time you see a large crash, do the math!
Standing are John Altmeyer, President of Carlisle SynTec
& Brad Keselowski, Driver of the #2 Miller Lite Penske Racing car
Penske NASCAR Racing Shop - cars ready for track!
#2 Miller Lite Penske Racing car in Pit Garage (note Carlisle logo over rear window) This is the connection between Carlisle and Penske Racing
"NASCAR Norm" (note the banked corner on the racetrack)
We are gearing up for a busy summer season and we hope you are all a part of it. So when I am not at the roofing company, at a YMCA Board or committee meeting, or at one of my other volunteer activities, I will meet you at the Dine-ah!
As my final thought, and I apologize for the length of my article this week, I would be remiss if I did not mention last Wednesday was our final night of Trivia until this fall.
Wednesday night Trivia ran for 19 consecutive weeks and was a huge success with 77 players on our final night for the season. Many, many thanks to Jon James our host, to all of you who played and to Michelle Glidden for having the idea.
Wishing you all a safe and pleasant Memorial Day weekend!
Norm
p.s.- if you want daily updates about what's happening at the China Dine-ah on your wall, "like" us on Facebook! Click the link below:I Like the China Dine-ah!
Father's Day Sunday June 17 - Regular hours - 7 am to 3 pm
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