Thursday, August 24, 2006

A Positive Person Who Motivated Others -- Nicholas W. Brandemarti

Well, I joined the 2996 website and was assigned Nick as my person to commemorate for the September 11th project.

Now, we're not supposed to post our tributes until that day and then bloggers all around the world are supposed post our stories on that day. The only problem is that we are short members (we need more bloggers to fulfill the 2,996 names on the list and, as of the time I signed up, we are short 800 people) so if you are reading this, and are a blogger, please go to http://www.dcroe.com/2996/ and sign up so you can participate too.

My memorial is for Nicholas W. Brandemarti, a young man who lost his life on tower 2 on September 11, 2001. I've researched him and found that he had a very loving family: His parents, Nick and Nancy, and his brother and sister, as well as extended family and friends that loved, respected, adored him and miss him very much. The following was written about Nicholas after the towers came down:

December 31, 2001

After recently finishing Pat Croce's "110 Stategies for Feeling Great Every Day," and countless other books on motivation and leadership over the years, inspiration, guidance and just being a friend came easy to Nicholas Brandemarti.

Appointed a student coach of the Fordham University football team in his senior year, the former fullback who was sidelined because of numerous concussions used his new position to help teammates who needed academic tutoring or advice, his mother, Nancy Brandemarti, said. "He would always be there to offer help, and was always so compassionate," she said.

Brandemarti, 22, of West Deptford, N.J., an analyst for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods on the 89th floor of the south tower, is presumed dead in the terrorist attacks. He was last heard from shortly after the first plane hit, his mother said.

He had called home out of concern for his father, who had undergone triple bypass surgery a few weeks before. "He called us to find out how his father was, and to tell us that he was OK," his mother said. "He said they were waiting to be evacuated."

He was born in Voorhies, N.J., in 1979, and his family moved to West Deptford when Brandemarti was still a child, his mother said. He graduated from West Deptford High School in 1997. Elected captain of the football team in his senior year, Brandemarti took the job to heart, his mother said. "He really used it as a way to motivate people," she said. She credited her son's high school football coach, Clyde Folsom, with teaching him how to balance academics and athletics early on.

Always the youngest in his class, Brandemarti graduated from Fordham's College of Business with a bachelor's degree in finance in May, at age21.

Brandemarti was like a sponge, his mother said, absorbing as much as he could about everything. He took scuba diving lessons, juggled a successful academic and athletic career, and read voraciously.

She said she misses her son's smile.

"He was always a really positive person," she said. "And it rubbed off on everyone he met."




I did not know Nicholas, and I will, most likely, never know his family or friends, but I can tell you this... he is missed and he is thought about, even by strangers. You cannot be the type of person he obviously was and not be missed. He was special and who knows how far his talents would have taken him. He was a life cut short.

We have a Jewish saying... may you go from strength to strength. That is my wish for those of you who knew and miss and mourn for Nicholas. May you be blessed with love and knowledge that you did a great job with this young man and may you find peace.

Friday, August 18, 2006

I bow to the G-ddess... (well figuratively, anyway)...


...that is my sister. She is always there for me, no matter what time of the day or night, no matter what my questions are. She can talk me through anything computer oriented or knitted when I can't conceptualize what it is that I'm trying to do. She makes me believe all things are possible. I adore her... and she's mine... all mine... nyah, nyah, nyah!!!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Wanting to get a little artistic on my blog...



Well, I added buttons to my blog just for more interest (I think they are so cute!) and, thanks to my sister (see above) was able to make them go where I want them to. I tried and tried to figure this out on my own but was unsuccessful... Do you have to be a programmer to do this?

I found these really adorable buttons and they were free and I wanted to use them, so here they are (see left hand side bar).

Thanks!

Friday, August 11, 2006

Well, I'm baaacckk...


Sometimes I'm an Idiot!

I don't post for such a long time that I forget how to do it (just click on blog this! you dope!) and then, after I do this long winded post, I forget to post my picture in the same post, so I have to go in and do another post...

Oh well, here's the picture (cute knees, huh?) but it's so fuzzy, you can't see that the top yellow square has a sailboat on it, and the bottom yellow square has a leafy tree... huge sigh. I tried. It was a really cute blanket though, and did not take a long time to make at all. I may make another one, one day, with better colors, for me.

Digging out from under

Can't believe it's been so long... again...

Well, here I am, almost the middle of August, and here I'd promised, back in the beginning of July, that I'd post more frequently.

Well, the hugs and kisses sweater picture won't be posted because I don't have it anymore to show you. I gave it away to my friend's husband (out of disgust when I realized how very large I'd made it... I know, I know... gauge swatches and all that... huge sigh). Anyway, when I'd finally tried it on, the sleeves came down past my finger tips and the body just about reached my knees... not bad if I was going for the look of a dress with really long sleeves, but really!

Anyway, I am working on a couple of new things lately... I finished a baby blanket in primary colors for one of my grandnephews (probably never see him again due to problems I have with his grandfather, but c'est la vie... at least he's warm... hahahahahaha. The picture is below (I hope, once I upload it).

I'm working on a matching baby sweater (complete except I have to sew on the buttons) and blanket. I just love the way it's coming out, but the blanket is taking forever! Instead of working on it in 3 panels (it's a 72 row repeat 3xs with changing stitches on almost every row... talk about tedious...), I had the brilliant idea to throw all of the stitches on the needles and work all three panels at once! Well, let me tell you, I'd be a panel and a half (1/2 way) through the blanket by now if I had worked the panels separately, but NO! I didn't want to sew the danged thing together once I was done, so here I sit, 43 rows into the 72 rows... plodding along, perhaps doing two rows an hour. I'd like to stick a needle in my eye right about now, 'cause I've got all this gorgeous, glorious, lustful, outrageously beautiful stash of yarn that I've just been itching to get at for months now, but I won't let myself start anything new until I (1) finish this baby blanket so it can wind its way to Florida; (2) finish my daughter's striped sweater that I started for her 2 years ago and should fit her this season that's coming, and (3) finish my daughter's denim cabled sweater that I started for her 3 years ago that I had to upsize mid-way so it COULD fit her this season, hahahahahaha... oh well.

On the other hand, I want to make myself a new afghan for my new bedroom in my new house; I want to make myself a felted purse (or 2, or 3), and I want to make myself a sweater that I've been drooling over since the spring when I bought the pattern... I'm hoping, by the time I finish my three current projects, I'll still be interested in knitting for me!

I leave for Mexico mid-September for 10 days (my close friend will be having surgery there, I'll be her moral support)... do you think I'll be able to knit on the plane in both directions? I hope so... that's 8 hours in airports and planes in both directions going to total waste if I can't knit onboard, but now they're not even letting us bring bottled water on board, how will they feel about knitting needles (any terrorists around that I can stick needles in the eyes of?)

Anyway, I'm off now to upload the picture of my blankie...

Until next time.