Month: May 2006

His obituary was printed today.

Here are service details.

A viewing will be held from 3:00PM to 9:00PM on Sunday, May 21st at
Carnesale Funeral Home
202 S. Third St.
Hammonton, NJ

A second viewing will be held the following day from 9:30AM to 11:00AM at
St Martin’s Church
129 Park Ave
Hammonton, NJ

A mass will follow at 11:00AM.

If you wish to send flowers, we recommend C&J Florist. In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to the Moorestown Visiting Nurses Association.

I probably won’t have time to update this site or fix any Odd Man In problems for a while due to my dad being in the hospital. He’s fighting a tough battle with melanoma.

Thanks to everyone who has been helping out my family through this.

Update: Dad’s out of the hospital now.

Local musician Tom Gillam had 3 heart attacks last month, but is remarkably getting better. They’re holding a benefit concert for him. I’m guessing maybe because he didn’t have insurance, but I’m not sure about that. From his website:

Just wanted to update everyone on the condition of Tom Gillam. After suffering 3 heart attacks early Tuesday morning, he is taking a turn in the direction of a full recovery. He is expected to be discharged early this week. He will return home and begin a very slow rehabilitation process. At this point his doctors feel there is minimal to no permanent damage. When I visited Tom last night he wanted me to let everyone know he is surprisingly overcome with the outpouring of support from friends and colleagues. The amount of phone calls, emails, flowers and cards were unbelievable. ( I printed out each and every email sent to www.tomgillam.com as well as emails and comments left on his myspace page. I then delivered them to him daily in the hospital. He was very overcome with emotion when reading all of your get well messages). Tom promises to reply to each and every email over the next few weeks. Tom says “THANKS AND I LOVE YOU ALL”

Tom used to host the Grape Street open mic back when I used to hang out there a lot and he was always a super nice guy to me. I hope he gets better soon!

Update: Actually, he’s out of the hospital. There’s a bunch more information on the Courier Post’s website.

New Jersey is one of two states in the nation that doesn’t allow its citizens to pump its own gas. Gas stations must pay attendants to pump the gas for you. In an effort to lower gas prices, Governor Corzine wants to look into whether that would help along with lowering speed limits.

Stating that lowering oil consumption and demand is a key part of the equation, Corzine said his administration also is studying whether to roll back the state’s 65 mph speed limit. The top speed had been 55 mph before 1998.

Corzine said he will ask the Legislature to swiftly authorize a three-month trial for self-serve stations along the Turnpike and in a few other spots. He said studies show lifting the ban could reduce gas prices by up to 6 cents per gallon through “management efficiencies.”

If the trial period proved savings were being passed along to consumers, he said, he would push for a permanent statewide lifting of the ban.

Do I think NJ should allow people to pump their own gas? Yes, but will it lower prices? I don’t know. Most smaller gas stations would have to pay a guy to be there anyway and I usually only see one person working. Then again, I’ve rarely seen attendants able to keep up during busier times.