Chapter 207B

4/9/2009

Ch 207B   S.U. Men's Co-op #1                                                               Robert Vitello's story

BIO

Work: Chief Information Officer NYS Dept Labor retired 2012 but started a new venture in IT

pertinent links:  Co-op Video  Of Mice and Men    and text Chapter 75    Chapter 207-2010

married daughter

living near Albany, NY

Stories

old co-op stories:

co-op contacts: lunch Terry, Pete in Coxsakie, reunion #5 for second live football game

recent decade stories: Hey, Terry! What a great idea! Thanks for putting the trip down nastalgia lane together. The last I saw John was in 1972 in london.

I haven't retired yet. Not sure why. I acquired a cardiologist last month. I thought I was having a heart attack. False alarm. But they discovered that one of the small coronary arteries was 70% blocked and I would have had one eight years from now. So they put a stent in the artery to keep it open, and now I'm working out more and eating well. I feel great. But the culprit in all this was neither blood pressure not cholesterol, but stress. So why haven't I retired? Beats me. Maybe something about the roof I have to have done, and my concern about being able to pay for it. But I turn 62 this summer. That might do it.

I've been keeping up with your video work. Great stuff!

Best,

Robert

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Robert J. Vitello

Averill Park, NY

2013 FB: Had a great time with my buddies in Syracuse yesterday. Visited all the shrines. Had burgers and beers at the college hangout. Bruce bought a sweatshirt at Manny's where a student graciously took our photo in front of the souvenir anchor store on Marshall Street. I told the student that thirty years ago she turned me down when I had asked her for a date on that very spot, and would she reconsider now? (The guys pointed out that it was almost 50 years ago, spoiling my chances again.) We strolled past all the tailgate parties. One was in front of the Sheraton, the location where the Men's Co-op, where we all resided as students, was located. Pete suggested we all stay there one year, but I pointed out that if we wanted to stay where our rooms were located, we might just as well camp out in tents on the lawn of the hotel. Another pre-game party was happening on the Quad and we joined it, listening to the SU Marching Band's spectacular performance. At the end they made a half hearted attempt to toss a band member into the air. (Current safety restrictions make it a tamer affair and Terry and I thought that we might try tossing Buzz into the air to show them how it's done.) We strolled by the statue of the Saltine Warrior that once was the school "mascot" before political correctness made the Athletics Dept. think that a plush orange with legs was more appealing than the mighty Native American we once praised in cheers and songs, sometimes changing the lyrics with off-color references that reflected our own emergent manliness. The first home game that the Orange won 54-0 was rewarding, if a little lame. Somehow i forgot that they built the Carrier Dome where Archibald Stadium once stood, and dressed for the outdoors. We all had fun relating some of the antics we pulled way back when and catching up on what all of our extended family members had done over the years since leaving SU. We have to get together again before long, and hope that more of our cohorts will be able to join us. (You know who you are. Think about it.)