Mikey's Bio
Let's start at the beginning....
First there were dinosaurs... then I was hatched 3/11/48 at Mount Vernon
Hospital in NY. We moved to the Town of Eastchester, NY in the early 1950's. My
sister and her family still live there. I'm the second of four kids. No need to go into their
bios. This is MY story!
During my school aged years, I had a paper route, worked in a stationary store
putting together the Sunday newspapers, worked in a competitor's
stationary/candy store, and pumped gas at two different gas stations, flipped
burgers one summer at a beach in Stamford, CT. It was a normal childhood... was
in the Boy Scouts for two weeks - until they made me make an Indian headdress. I
was gone! Bar Mitzvahed at 13, and never looked back. Growing up in a great
middle class neighborhood with the likes of neighbors Diane, Paul, Jimmy, Bobby,
Joanne, etc. I learned basic ice skating in Mark Williams' backyard - his dad
used 4x4s to create a rink!
Random memories:
Going with brother Paul to Dover Drag Strip (I loved the Corvettes & dragsters)
I was a good skateboarder - real good for the times
Getting the old lady of Huntley Farms Ice Cream Parlor pissed off
Pea shooters
Playland skating rink
Egging the old lady in the next neighborhood who hid in her bushes and tried to keep us from ringing her doorbell by blowing a whistle
Fighting Jimmy Striker after he bullied me
Driving the neighbors nutz with my CB radio
Sunday morning B'Nai Brith bowling league with Dad and his buddies
Cops dumping my paperboy sack out onto a lawn and finding firecrackers
Welding "dumps" on Dad's car with Carmine Porrazzo - and Dad catching us!
Shooting a .22 rifle with Diane Mauritz up at the country house
Mrs. Kahr (in their deli) selling us a pickle in a slice of white bread for a nickel. Don't tell Mr. Kahr...
Having the next door neighbor (Mr. Flanagan) drive me to doctor's office a couple of times for stitches
Clearing the lot on Joyce Rd. to make a ball field
Me and Diane Mauritz co-driving her Dad's '57 Ford
Mike Greenfield threatening to kill me with his knife!
Tony & Ralph of Big Top Stationary, and Sid of Huntley Stationery
Throwing Miss Viggiano's keys in one-hand Tony's woody on Fisher Ave.
Chickening out from playing Profidia on my trumpet with Steve Blum at a party
My blue (spray can painted) '60 Ford - 3 speed Hurst on the floor, 1st & reverse blown, no headliner..
Squashing pennies on the train tracks in Crestwood before Hebrew School
more to come!
OK... OK... I know you're dying to say it... Hey Mikey! He likes it!
I was called down to beautiful downtown NYC (Whitehall Street in
the Bowery, to be exact) for my military physical for the draft. I was not
inducted because I had braces on my teeth, would you believe? Billy Brown had
come back from his tour of duty in Viet Nam and told me I really don't want to
go there! So, the next time I was called down for a physical I was not inducted
because I was 1 lb. overweight! I don't think I'd have done well in the
military.
I usually attended summer school - wasn't the best student. My 11th grade
Spanish summer school class introduced me to Donnie - who sat next to me... will
continue with that in a bit. I had real problems with Maria Carrera, my Spanish
teacher! OK, I also had problems with Miss Conte, my homeroom teacher. I told
you I wasn't a good student!
After graduation, I worked in Tuckahoe at 3 places... a liquor store, a place
that made seals for everything and finally driving cabs at Tuckahoe Taxi. During
that time, guess who I bumped into at the local pizzaria? Donnie! We became
friends. And our respective other buddies started melding in. Geezus, one time
he even got me to dress as Santa for his family! Our bunch used to hang out in
the evenings at Eastchester Esso and the Carioca Bar, and many of us played high
pitch softball for many years. It was a great bunch of guys...
In 1969, I signed up for computer school. I told Donnie about it, and since his
direction was as poor as mine at that time, he joined me. My first computer job
was at Esso's northeastern regional headquarters in Pelham, NY... sorting a
rolling rack of cards first thing each morning! What, you never heard of 80
column punch cards?? Damn! Here's one, then!
In 1971, Donnie was working at Westchester Community College and
told me there was an opening. Another saga of my life started.
While working there, I met Linda, who has been my wife and soul mate for the
past 40 years. We have one son - Jimmy! These two are the core of my existence.
Both brilliant... both strikingly gorgeous, both extremely fun loving! Better
get back to the story line before I carry on for a few paragraphs of them!! When
Linda and I got married, we moved into a garden apartment on Tuckahoe Road in
Yonkers. After two years, bought a cape cod house in the Homefield section of
Yonkers. We lived there for eight years. In 1982, Jimmy appeared! :)
During the day, our house was a coffee stop for the Yonkers PD plainclothes
guys. Linda's brother-in-law was a cop. Lots of iron in the house! YIKES! It was
a good neighborhood to start a family. Linda's sister and her family lived
nearby as well as her parents. She was content.
I worked with Donnie for 15 years at the college. He left in 1985 or 1986. I
became manager of the programmers... but didn't care for the other management.
I decided to leave and get a job in an IBM environment rather than the Univac
world. Took a job in Rockland County. We bought a house in Rockland in 1986 and
moved in April 1987, when Jimmy was four. We paid 2 mortgages for 8 months -
learned a lesson, sell FIRST! Linda stayed home raising Jimmy while I was
learning & earning new technologies as a manager in development.
I belonged to a company bowling league while at ISO. I became a decent bowler,
maintaining a 190 average for a couple of years. Not bad for once a week! Got
some ABC patches, had a 743 series once. Life was going along pretty well at
that point. Made some very close friendships while at ISO. It was heartbreaking
to get released in 1998.
Time moves on... Watching Jimmy go through school was quite interesting. He had
a stubborn streak sometimes, which I'm SURE he got from his mom! Linda was the
one responsible for keeping him on task with school. She did a terrific job with
it. He achieved entry into the National Honor Society, Who's Who in American
High Schools, etc. The big thing was getting his scholarship to attend Pace
University. Some time during those years, Linda decided to go to school herself
to get her B.A. in teaching. She has dual certifications; one in HS English and a second one in HS Business.
She got the B.A., Masters and Post
Masters with no grade less than an A! Holy GEEZUS!! I married MENSA! She has recently retired from
teaching English (to 9th & 10th grade "at risk" students) at Sleepy Hollow HS. Not bad, huh? Jimmy is a chip
off the old lady's block! He was dean's list every semester at Pace and
graduated in 2004 summa cum laude. He currently is a Director in development working in a
premier hedge fund in Greenwich, CT. He will becme a Daddy in 2 days (July 2023)!!!
Linda & I bought a condo in 2018 in Myrtle Beach that is a 5 minute walk to the beach! Actually, the beach entrance is right across the street from our place. It's our Happy Place!!! We love it there.
Here's a kick in the butt... My son thinks I'm this guy's mirror image...
Go
figure!
You can email me at: mikey@mikey51s.com
Mikey