| Author | Message | ||
     Lucy Supporter Username: Lucy Post Number: 3256 Registered: 5-2005  |
Sounds wonderful milk or lemon? I hope to see you at Las's party and it's Valentino! | ||
| Jersey girl Citizen Username: Critterlover Post Number: 17 Registered: 2-2004 |
Hiya, everybody! I already jumped in and started posting, but I don't really know anyone here, so... figured this might be the place to say hello ! I live here in so/maplewood, which I view as pretty much one large community. I love it here! and the MOL website has become a fave to browse. People seem very helpful, and also very humorous. Thanks for being such a welcoming group. As for myself.. I luv animals, I enjoy meeting people and listening to different life-stories and points of view... I like rock music and all sorts of theater, luv da movies, seeing them on the big screen... watching a dvd is so much less dramatic. and I go for the drama, LOL! I enjoy gardening, although I am a veritible open buffet for mosquitos, which limits my time out there. Can't really think of anything else to offer about myself. Obviously, I lead a pathetically boring life, hahaha! Which brings me back to enjoying the MOL posts. I can lose a lot of hours in a day, reading here! and oh yeah, one more thing.. I am the world's worst and laziest typist. Does it bother anyone if someone uses all lower case? I do use punctuation, but since I do the two-finger hunt-n-peck method of typing, I often forego the caps bit. I hope I do not offend by doing so. That's it for me, for now... peace out, my new friends. Jersey Girl | ||
| Lucy Supporter Username: Lucy Post Number: 3396 Registered: 5-2005 |
Hi Jersey Girl welcome to the boards. You will meet some of the kindest people here. I have seen people just ask for help and miracles can happen. We laugh alot and more than one of us have shed a tear or two. Can't wait to hear from you.  | ||
| Jersey girl Citizen Username: Critterlover Post Number: 19 Registered: 2-2004 |
Thanks for the welcoming words, Lucy. I am loving this virtual world of MOL. I look forward to meeting everyone and participating in the topic discussions. hugs, jersey girl | ||
| jersey Boy Citizen Username: Jersey_boy Post Number: 472 Registered: 1-2006  |
Welcome Jersey girl. You look so familiar.  Jersey Boy | ||
| Genki Citizen Username: Genki Post Number: 2 Registered: 3-2006 |
Good morning all, I thought I should introduce myself. I've been a reader of MOL for about 6 months, shortly after moving to beautiful Maplewood. I'm another expat from Great Britain so the advice and suggestions from the MOL community are incredibly helpful for a newbie like me. Now I've finally plucked up the courage to begin posting so hopefully I can return the favour and share what I learn. I agree with Jersey Girl, it's great to be part of such a warm & friendly community! | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 7248 Registered: 5-2001 |
Welcome, Genki to Maplewood and MOL. | ||
| Pizzaz Supporter Username: Pizzaz Post Number: 3470 Registered: 11-2001  |
So many new posters.... isn't it grand! Welcome, jersey girl and genki... to the world of MOL!  | ||
| mbb Citizen Username: Mbb Post Number: 8 Registered: 4-2006 |
Hello Everyone. I have lived in South Orange for 15 years and thought of it as just a bedroom community UNTIL ... a neighbor introduced me last month to maplewoodonline.com. Such a nice virtual community! | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 7260 Registered: 5-2001 |
mbb: The IRL community isn't so bad either and it is no accident that many people who become active on MOL soon become much more active in the SO/M community. Welcome to MOL! | ||
| mbb Citizen Username: Mbb Post Number: 9 Registered: 4-2006 |
Thank you Joan. What is the IRL community? | ||
| Lucy Supporter Username: Lucy Post Number: 3453 Registered: 5-2005 |
Hi mbb welcome to our virtual world can't wait to hear from you | ||
| sac Supporter Username: Sac Post Number: 3368 Registered: 5-2001 |
IRL = "in real life" | ||
| mbb Citizen Username: Mbb Post Number: 10 Registered: 4-2006 |
Thanks for the welcoming words Lucy, and SAC thanks for the info. IRL, I am a [lady] engineer and an inventor -- but I don't think you want to hear from me about that. My hobby is watercoloring. I would be curious to know if there are any watercoloring groups in town that show/critique their members' work. | ||
| Pamela Tyler Citizen Username: Peejay Post Number: 1 Registered: 4-2006 |
Hi to all the folks in Maplewood! I'm currently residing in the Midwest (Ohio) but started gathering info about Maplewood when I came across a job posting for a position in your community. I am in my early 50s and just finished a Ph.D. program in Gerontology in KY. I've long dreamed of living in the mountains/hills in places like Tennessee, North Carolina, or Virginia but after discovering Maplewood, I was especially drawn to the diversity of your community...not only in regard to race/culture but also in age. It seems like the ideal place for intergenerational activities that would compliment the goals of someone in my line of work. I have been looking at the local job market and although I realize that Maplewood appears to be primarily a commuter town (I love the idea you are so conveniently in close proximity to NYC). Are there many opportunities for a gerontologist who prefers practice as opposed to teaching full-time in a community where the the young so overwhelmingly outnumber the elders? Just wondering.... Thank you in advance for any info on your town and opportunities there. BTW, my dissertation research was on older adults living with HIV/AIDS so I imagine that I may be able to find some career opportunities in NYC also, right? Thanks again! | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 7307 Registered: 5-2001 |
Due to a sharp increase in real property taxes in recent years and a revaluation which placed added tax burden on quite a few seniors who had hoped to age in place, we have been experiencing a significance exodus of empty nesters in recent years. There are still some seniors around but not nearly as many as there used to be. The town's major component by far is now young to middle aged couples most often with children in the school system. | ||
| Jersey Boy Citizen Username: Jersey_boy Post Number: 565 Registered: 1-2006 |
Pamela Tyler, You may also find some people with HIV/AIDS in Newark. There are also multiple assisted living facilities in the area. In Maplewood itself, Winchester Gardens: http://www.winchestergardens.com/ Good luck and welcome! J.B. | ||
| Pamela Tyler Citizen Username: Peejay Post Number: 2 Registered: 4-2006 |
Dear Joan & Jersey Boy, Thank you for providing more information. I appreciate your assistance. I'll continue to follow such leads in my quest to find a great place to live and work...and maybe someday I'll land in Maplewood! :-) P.S. The search for more information about Winchester Gardens is what led me to Maplewood's site...It looks like a beautiful CCRC community! | ||
| Pizzaz Supporter Username: Pizzaz Post Number: 3544 Registered: 11-2001 |
Pamela, you hit a home run. Welcome to some assited living... courtesy of MOL. | ||
| Casey McDougall Citizen Username: Caseymcdougall Post Number: 1 Registered: 4-2006 |
Hi all. New poster. About to send first child to Tuscan and trying to get a handle on the town/school system. this seemed like a good place to start. | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 7313 Registered: 5-2001 |
Welcome Casey: For a handle on the town, you can check out just about any section of the message board depending on your area of interest. If you have specific questions, post them in Please Help. For a handle on the school system, check out the Education Section. Welcome to MOL! | ||
| buddybak Citizen Username: Buddybak Post Number: 1 Registered: 4-2006 |
Hi I'm new to this board and I hope that the will of the people of the village of South Orange get what they want | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 7316 Registered: 5-2001 |
Welcome Buddybak. Check out the South Orange Specific section for discussions on issues specific to South Orange. | ||
| buddybak Citizen Username: Buddybak Post Number: 2 Registered: 4-2006 |
Hi:I hope Pizzaz and Lucy like this newcomer to the board | ||
| Jersey Boy Citizen Username: Jersey_boy Post Number: 592 Registered: 1-2006 |
Buddybak, Don't get too down reading the South Orange section. I live in So. O. and when I read that, I feel horrible. Then I get on my bike and ride around and I feel great. We should be aware of and involved in our local politics, but this is a great place none the less. At least that's what I think. Welcome. J.B. | ||
| Lucy Supporter Username: Lucy Post Number: 3585 Registered: 5-2005 |
Hi Buddybak welcome to MOL it's a wonderful community have fun at the FTF.Buzz & the Mayor await your posts maybe Monster too. | ||
| buddybak Citizen Username: Buddybak Post Number: 6 Registered: 4-2006 |
Thank you; Lucy hope it can be fun with all that goes on Maplewoodonline. | ||
| Frederick Schmid Citizen Username: Carlfrederick Post Number: 42 Registered: 3-2006 |
buddybak You expressed a wish that the people of SO get their wishes. They do. In spite of what you read sometimes on MOL a good number of people are looking forward to the TAU sculpture and the Performing Arts Center. I just returned from SO scouting properties for an office and the reception was quite good. Yes, SO is going through a bad patch, but it has the ability to rise above it and will do so. When I was young SO was vibrant and it will regain that luster. welcome to the area. | ||
| ajc Citizen Username: Ajc Post Number: 5039 Registered: 9-2001  |
Hey Frederick, how have you been? I see you're building your post number count. I guess I've missed most of your comments recently. FWIW, as a guy who's been around our town and looking to come back, why don't you take a look at the thread at “Mostly Maplewood” about Kathy, Ken, Nancy, and Lester who are running for Township Committee. They have not joined in yet, and we've moved on to an interesting political issue regarding parking and office space that you appear to be looking for. I’d love to get some additional input from someone who is actually looking for space, and at this point it’s not that important whether it’s one way or the other? | ||
| Frederick Schmid Citizen Username: Carlfrederick Post Number: 44 Registered: 3-2006 |
Art, Hi. Have been busy, but I do follow the threads quite a bit. Some of them are questionable. I believe in robust debate and comprehensive discussions covering all views are useful. The personal attacks just are non starters for me. On one occasion I spoke up in favor of TAU by mentioning the public sculpture projects were about public debate. Wow. Did I get attacked --. But, I stuck to my position. My wife and I bought a house in Maplewood and now we are going through the selection of an architect and rebuilding. My wife can be picky, so my estimate for completion is a minimum of one year if not 18 months. My problem is reorganizing my publishing company so I can move about 20-25 employees east and setting up new offices for about 25 people plus a showroom gallery. I will admit that there is pressure for me to have the company in NYC. Sometimes I think about selling the company completely and returning to graduate school. What is this talk about merging South Orange and Maplewood. I don't know what your thinking is on this subject, but I don't like the idea. I like South Orange -- I went to SO Jr. High and all of that, but these are actually two different communities -- wonderful communities, but different. I hope that this remains idle chatter. I am still interested in helping on the 50th reunion. Frederick | ||
| Astoria Mover Citizen Username: Astoria_mover Post Number: 1 Registered: 5-2006 |
Hi -- Hope it's okay to ask this sort of thing here. We're considering moving and I'm trying to get more of a sense of what life is like in Maplewood. We live in Astoria in Queens and I work all the way downtown. My husband is a stay at home dad (at least for now) and our kids are 6 and 8 (1st and 2nd grade). Things that work for us where we are: a real sense of community, a diverse neighborhood with a lot of immigrants, people around that are from same area and speak same language as DH (former-Yugoslavia), kids' school. Things that don't work so well: since my company moved all the way downtown, commute has gotten rough for me; not enough space in our house; not a lot of open space or feeling of fresh air. A lot about Maplewood seems very appealing. We could get a significantly bigger house and more outdoor space for a price we could afford (especially with amount of equity in the house now). The schools look great. The commute would be pretty good for me -- not any worse, a bit better in some ways. There seems to be a real sense of community, etc. Hodge-podge of things I wonder about: Would DH as a SAHD feel comfortable? Is there any significant immigrant population -- particularly from former-Yugoslavia, other Balkan places, Greece, Russia or other Eastern Europeans that he'd relate to? Kids so far have been raised tri-lingual: English, Serbo-Croatian, Greek (school) -- where we live it's a commonplace for kids to speak multiple languages -- will it be a weirdness in Maplewood? We (me not for whole time) go to DH's home country every summer -- again, that's a commonplace where we are now because there's a real commitment to keeping kids connected to culture of home country, will it be a weirdness? I guess it all boils down to hearing Maplewood described as Park Slope or UWS atmosphere, but is it diverse in the ways that would make a family like ours comfortable? Probably unanswerable, but any thoughts would be most, most welcome. Thanks, Rebecca | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 14011 Registered: 1-2003  |
Rebecca, yes, yes, yes. Please repost your message in the Please Help section. You will get many responses there. Also, you should know that Maplewood and South Orange used to be one town, and it's still one school district. The two towns are basically the same, so look for homes in both. There are several SAHD's and people of a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. But our schools don't teach Greek. | ||
| Astoria Mover Citizen Username: Astoria_mover Post Number: 2 Registered: 5-2006 |
Thanks, Tom. I'll repost -- wasn't sure whether prospective residents might be a nuisance on what's really a community board. Rebecca | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 7368 Registered: 5-2001 |
Rebecca: There are a number of stay at home dads in Maplewood. From time to time one of them will post about the possibility of forming a support group for stay at home dads. I doubt your husband's stay at home status would be a problem. Traditionally, Maplewood has had a large Ukrainian-American population and a number of these families have remained in town. I can't speak first hand about the other ethnic groups you mentioned. There are a lot of children in our school system whose parents were born in other countries and who have been raised as bilingual. Nobody should consider this weird. Comfort level is very subjective. You really have to come out here, wander around the community for a while and try to determine for yourselves whether you think you would feel at home here. If you will be in the area over Memorial Day weekend, I hope you can come out for the Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony which starts at 9 AM on Memorial Day and then stay for the Duck Races which begin shortly after the parade is over. This will give you a good opportunity to speak with a number of your prospective neighbors and get a good feel for our town. | ||
| Pizzaz Supporter Username: Pizzaz Post Number: 3568 Registered: 11-2001 |
Rebecca, this board is a true representation of America. The land of the free and the home of the brave. Welcome to MOL (many other languages) spoken.  As for english speaking ... we find some comedians on occassion to assist in the learning.... http://new.wavlist.com/humor/001/who1st.wav | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 14028 Registered: 1-2003 |
We have a local fathers' group that meets approximately every month. It's not just for stay-at-home fathers, but there are a few of them in the group. Tell your husband to visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/popculturedaddies/ if he is interested in joining or even if he just wants to read the email. | ||
| Bajou Citizen Username: Bajou Post Number: 153 Registered: 2-2006 |
As ususal I was rude without realizing it. I have been posting now for almost a month and never introduced myself. By now I think there are some people who don't like me very much so maybe I can post a pre- apre- blanket apology should I offend you. I happen to be a very compassionate person and sometimes it gets the better of me. My friends know that I am direct and what you see is what you get. Hope you like it and if you don't..kind of too bad for you but you will live. To lively debates, mutual respect and shall we never get caught typing by the boss. Bajou | ||
| Ned Lindsay Citizen Username: Longheadself Post Number: 1 Registered: 5-2006 |
Hey there, Just introducing my self, longheadself. Thats what I was sometimes referred to in grammar school, many long years ago. I look forward to posting on MOL, and promise to behave myself most of the time.... | ||
| Jersey Boy Citizen Username: Jersey_boy Post Number: 705 Registered: 1-2006 |
Ned, Why the long face? Did you ever get that, Longheadself? J.B. Welcome! Behaving isn't a requirement, but you might want to get rid of the "Ned Lindsay" if that's your real name. Go to "my profile" to change it to something more, um, long headed. Then misbehave with anonymity, within the rules. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 14069 Registered: 1-2003 |
Ned, I couldn't help noticing your name is ripe for anagrams: 1 deadly inns 3 dandy liens/lines 4 sandy lined 5 days linden 7 deny/dyne island 8 dyad linens 9 dyes inland 10 lady sinned I know it's weird. I can't help it. |
