Michael Salerno:
CLASS OF 1970
Binghamton Central High School (thru 1982)Class of 1970
Binghamton, NY
Dover High SchoolClass of 1986
Dover, DE
Panama Canal CollegeClass of 1980
Balboa,
Balboa High SchoolClass of 1980
Balboa,
Windsor Central High SchoolClass of 1974
Windsor, NY
Michael's Story
Apr 12, 2015. I am so happy here I don't even complain about taxes. The wife got a nice job related with her degree in environmental sciences and she gets to be on tv to talk about it. Daughter going to college next year at FGCU. My sons are 26 and 28. Hoping to keep working another 7 yrs. That reminds me...gotta go check my lottery tickets.
Oct 20, 2013. Did I mention that my wife thanks me everyday for moving us to Fort Myers. Went to the beach yesterday even though it wasn't my day off or the weekend. And its almost november. It's just that the beach is so close. It was nicely in the 80's and the water was choppy but with some waves as we stood on a sand bar 30 yds from shore watching all of those ever shrinking bikinis walking by and my wife trying to cover my eyes. I definitely do not miss georgia at all. Much better here in fort myers. We have a golf course, kayaking, cycling, tennis, gym, 5 pools, 2 club. houses, 3 nature trails, and 10 minutes from the beach in our community. Haven't gone anywhere because everywhere we went is here.
OH and I did lose 45 poiunds in the last year. so there.
Well in 2012 we didn't do much of anything. With all the bad news from all those useless politicians in wahsington screwing up the economy we just stayed close to home and complained about having to pay bums for representing the country. We did go to atlanta again and did more of the same but we got a hotel room on the 65th floor. There were airplanes flying lower than our floor. But the best news is that I got a reassignment to Fort Myers in Florida and I will be leaving my redneck home in Augusta in a couple of months. FIGMO. I can't wait. 24-7 beach only ten minutes from the house.
October 2011 we went to Atlanta to visit some family and friends. Mostly we went shopping and to eat. they have all kinds of restuarants there to choose from and just about anything you want to see or do also. We've gone there to the nascar races, the zoo, braves games, but mostly shopping and eating. We especially like the Colombian food and they have a latin super market next door so we take a huge cooler and buy a bunch of stuff to hold us over till the next time like arepas and colombian coffee. But mostly I like to eat mondongo at the restuarant. The hotel selection is also very good and this time we got a 32nd floor with a great view of the city. The pool was indoors on our floor so we got to use it and it had windows all around so you could see everywhere while swimming in october.
August 2011. Went to Myrtle Beach south carolina. It was nice. not as big as panama city beach or miami beach but the weather was great and I did eat everything in sight. the sheraton hotel was nice and we hung at the pool at least once a day just watching as we used to do in the sixties and seventies. The town is really small and there is really not much to do except eat and go to the beach. I enjoyed it. We got some really good waves just before the hurricane brushed by.
June 2011: Went to Orlando again. This time we spent more time at the water parks, Typhoon lagoon and Blizzard beach. Also to Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and the Animal Kingdom. Had a great time. Got very sunburned. Only gained 10 pounds in a week. On the way home we went to the outlet stores in St. Augustine. I was going to go in with my wife and just grumble and say we really didn't need anything but I was the one who went absolutely nuts spending when I saw the deals. It would be worth the trip there just to save on clothes and whatever else you need. We are thinking about going to Panama city beach one more time this summer. Just waiting to hit the lottery. I really can't afford myself.
March 2011: We went to Panama City in Florida to visit some friends for a week and it just happened to be the start of spring break. Our friends are the parents of a girl I dated back in the mid seventies in Dover Delaware. Oh, she was the nurse in one of my pictures. We had a great time. I took something like 400 hundred pictures. My wife told me to go ahead and look at all the girls in bikinis walking by on the beach that I was gona look anyway. Then I told her that I had no reason to look at them because I had the best looking girl right in front of me. She laughed and said yeah right. I said no really, why do you think I've taken more than 300 pictures of you. I won several brownie points with that one. Have to put some pictures up soon. hope to go there again soon.
January 2011: It snowed again this January. We had 7 inches and I fell down trying to play in the snow in the driveway at 5am. I stayed at home for 5 days with a bruised hip and twisted knee. I don't remember those things happening when I was younger.
2010: The wife and I had a two month vacation when the daughter went to stay with her grandmother in Pereira Colombia for two months during summer vacation this year.
January 2010: We finally got some snow. We had six inches fall last week. The wife and daughter had never been in snow so it was a big deal for them. I just looked out the window and hoped for two feet of snow. The wife's 5 year vacation is finally over and she got a full time job that pays well. I hope to go to Panama this year and visit. Haven't been there in 8 years. I'm also hoping to go to Orlando and Panama city in florida this summer.
July 2009: This year we went to Miami for four days and stayed at Don Shula's hotel in Miami Lakes. If you've never been to Miami Lakes,then just Imagine going to the "Truman Show" on vacation. Everything is so neat and tidy. The hotel is one block away from where we used to live before we moved to Georgia in 2006. Across the street from the hotel Shula's gym is about the biggest gym I've ever seen. They have everything including tennis courts. I can't believe how little they are charging for rooms these days, less than half of what they were in the past. The rooms were very nice, pool side, and the restuarant was first class. The breakfast buffet was incredible. It put every hotel's breakfast I've ever had to shame. The hotel is located on Main St. in Miami Lakes where there are shops and restaurants for he entire length of the street. On top of those shops there are apartments with balconies overlooking main street where crazies from college rent because their parents have money to pay for it. They have a great view of parades and festivities like Christmas. We spent three days in different pools getting a good sun burn just visiting with the wife's friends from Miami. Next we went to Orlando for 6 days and spent some time at Uni...Expand for more
versal and the hotel pool, but mostly we went out to eat and watched the shows because it rained the entire time we were there. We saw the Medival Times restaurant/show where the Green Knight was getting too friendly with the wife and she was all smiles and giggles. I guess I shouldn't complain seeing I was getting all smiley with my table wench (that is what the green knight called our waitress). We also ate at a couple of Colombian restaurants in Orlando making us feel as if we were back in Colombia in Pereira or Cali. I've got some good pictures and I will post them up in a few days. We went out to watch the space shuttle launch twice but it didn't go either time because of lightening. The lauch pad is about 1 hour speeding from Orlando to the coast near Cocoa beach. You have to speed because if you don't, you'll get run over. Next we went to Panama City Beach where some friends live and finally some sun and beach weather. We really enjoyed it there. They have built a new shopping mall right there on the beach with restaurants and surfing stores. They've also built a couple of new hotels almost in the water. We went on a helicopter ride along the beach. I've been in military helicopters a lot but the wife had not been in one ever so I had to give in and fork over the big bucks for a 20 minute ride. Finally we went to Atlanta and spent 3 days there sightseeing, shopping, eating, and visiting some relatives. I like going to Atlanta because that is where the only normal people in Georgia live and you can dress casually and no one will care. Now I'm at home and looking out at the lawn wondering when I'm going to mow it. So far I figure if I don't water it, I will save on the water bill and it won't grow any more so that I don't have to mow it. I'm ready to go back on vacation.
I was just up in Binghamton NY this past summer of 2008 and also to Dover Delaware for the first time in 25 years and it was great seeing everything just the way it was before. Just that the trees grew a lot taller. We had a great time and want to go back soon. Maybe when it's really cold.
After escaping from Binghamton in 1971, I went to the Republic of Panama. I joined the USAF in the Panama Canal Zone in 1973. I attended the Canal Zone College and learned spanish. Spent a lot of time in the mountains and on the beaches there in the Republic of Panama. One beach in particular had black sand. The seafood and chinese restaurants were fantastic. Out of all the countries in central and south America I went to(Mexico, Honduras,Panama,Costa Rica, Columbia, Peru), Panama had the best food. Also deep sea fishing or the beach was on the list for almost every weekend. I was in Mississippi for most of the year in 1973. The gulf coast was excellent. lots of sand and close to new orleans and the florida beaches. Texas and san antonio were just nuts for the short time I was there best thunder and lightening storms I'd ever experienced but the food was great. afterwards I went back to Panama for 2.5 years from 1973 to 75. From there I went to Dover Delaware for 5 years until 1980. I think they had the most fun people in Dover and the best party people than anywhere I had been until I went to Colombia in South America. In Dover they liked to celebrate every holiday and evey weekend. I played in softball leagues, bowling leagues, went to the beaches, and had two motor cycles while I was there. I don't know why I ever left Dover. I guess for my sanity. I've been to Bogota Colombia twice, Pereira three times, Medellin once, and Cartagena twice. at Dover AFB they have the C-5 Galaxy aircraft. They were the largest aircraft in the world until the russians built a monster just to have one larger. Then, on to Merced California, *(80 to 83)earthquakes, wild fires, and B-52's and C-135 tankers for 3 years. I was in California twice for three years each time. While there I went to San Francisco (SF was nice), L.A., San Diego, Reno, Las Vegas, Mexico, Okinawa, Hawaii, and the indian ocean BIOT. From there I went back to Panama for another 7 years. (83 to 90) spending 5 years at Howard AFB and 2 at the Inter American Air Forces Academy at Albrook Air Force Base teaching Air Force electronics in Spanish to students from other countries. while at Howard AFB I went to Colombia, Iquitos Peru, Costa Rica and Honduras twice. After the invasion in Panama, I left there for San Bernardino California and the first Iraq problem. (90 to 92) after that I went to Little Rock Arkansas where they have 100 C-130 (92 to 94). I finally called the military quits and went to Miami Florida in 1994. The day I retired from the Air Force and left Little Rock was the best day in my life. In Miami I worked for Motorola and I spent lots of time on the beaches and the bars stay open every night of the year until 6 am. I was accepted at the University of Miami in Electronic Engineering. Since then I've attended Florida International University for Management of Information Systems, Miami-Dade comm college for Accounting, and also I have degrees in Electronics from San Bernardino CC and the Comm College of the Air Force. I currently have 35 years of federal service and I now live in the great state of Georgia and well if you like ribs and bbq's, and nascar, then it's a nice place. I have one son at Georgia tech. the other is in miami at florida international university and is transferring to the University of Miami. We live in a small town in georgia. Probably less than 5000 people. It was a big change from Miami but at least I don't spend the whole year watching the weather channel and hurricanes. My wife still has not forgiven me for moving us to this outpost from society. but the elementary school is great, lots of trees and nature, the savannah river close by where we ride our bikes on sunday on a path along the river. plenty of birds and a snake, deer, and rabbits in the back yard of our house, and great neighbors have made it bearable for her. a great church too. I just like it because there are not as many people and traffic like in Miami and California. I'm looking for somewhere else to move in a few years. I still have another 10 or 15 years of service I could do. I was considering scottsdale arizona, huntsville alabama, Atlanta Georgia. but probably I would move to colombia in south america when I retire or get tired of it all and buy a nice farm. I was even considering montana or canada until the price of heating oil went up. Good grief. we just went up to binghamton and the wife and daughter really liked it there. oh well, back to the drawing board.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
Register for Free to view all photos!