Mike Godesky:
CLASS OF 1977
Bayonne High SchoolClass of 1977
Bayonne, NJ
Rutgers University Class of 1983
New brunswick, NJ
Washington Elementary SchoolClass of 1973
Bayonne, NJ
Mike's Story
Life
I'm not one for posting personal stuff online, but I just discovered I couldnÂt make it to the reunion because I am scheduled to be in Florida. It can't be changed, so I decided to break my rule of maintaining privacy online and post some updates for any of my friends who I regrettably will not see at the reunion.
I looked through the yearbook and realized there are alot of people I would really like to see. I have little contact with any Bayonne people aside from Mike, Chuck and Tommy Waldron regularly. I've run into some here and there but I really will miss not seeing everyone at once.
Here goes the bio and update in a rambling kind of way...my marriage made it to 20 years this year, working on 21. Always work, as IÂm sure you all know. I posted a family shot from a long time ago and also from this Jan 2007 posted a picture of me with my 3 daughters. One a junior in Rutgers my alma mata, the other 2 in high school in Point Pleasant Beach. Nothing like Bayonne by the way. Done with grammar school, and headed toward empty nest (4 more years,,.yeah!) I got a 2 degrees from Rutgers (shout out to Betsey Kawalek and Carolyn Gnida who shared rides with me and partied at the frats and pub on college ave)-- Business and Electrical Engg and worked in the IT consulting business for 20 yrs (I even worked with Robert Reigle at Nortel) I started a couple of businesses while working full time and having 3 kids (not fun, or great for sleeping) One lost a ton of money and a couple of friends, almost lost everythingÂ
and the next few worked out fine and IÂm still running them. Right now, IÂm consulting and evolved into helping small and medium businesses get to the next level in their strategy. I still run Schoolcafeterias (canÂt mention websites on classmates) and CafeTerias, Inc. in Ocean Monmouth counties. Also, Bodyknowledge and Next Step Advisors. I worked for Morgan Stanley and became an Technical Analyst and use large corporate concepts and ideas applied to the small medium business market (the more nimble companies, which are more fun to see beat the goliath corporate enterprise---very rewarding)
Met Bill Gates when he introÂd windows 1.03 in Atlanta 1984. Great party! Hung out with Evander Holyfield on a Las Vegas dance floor. Met Bruce Springsteen a couple of times around the shore scene. Still following him around in concert, went to Barcelona in Â99, Miami, Detroit, Toronto, Boston, Albany, Asbury, Atlantic City, Philly, PNC. Still love to go to concerts my favs are Bruce, Pearl Jam, Melissa Etheridge (I get some dirty looks when IÂm dancing with my 3 girls, the female movement crowd is jealous) Bon Jovi, coming up this Oct-07 and still going out to Webster Hall sometimes and JenkinsonÂs (itÂs only 3 blocks from my house so no Drunk Driving only sometimes driking (thatÂs drunk biking) I guess when you were a lifeguard and stripper you need endorphins more often. So now working out fits the bill better, and IÂm still wrestling with high school kids at the Beach during the season and got back to my college wrestling weight this year finally. ItÂs the Yoga I think although I had to cut it to 3x a week. At 5x a week I couldnÂt keep buying the new clothes and I thought I was going to disappear. ItÂs funny about finally figuring out yourself and your life, but the common theme as you can see, for me is the dichotomy of actions and activities. ThereÂs nerd juxtaposed with...Expand for more
crazy nightlife. ThereÂs vocational electronics at Bayonne High combined with College Prep and even being told youÂre exempt from Mr EdleyÂs geometry final while on wackey weed. Then getting goofed on for getting a good grade in VOTEC. It all builds character and you can see how itÂs formed the person you are today. I have always told my kids,,,,YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT, YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ, YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO!!! What I have done is grow up in Bayonne which I really appreciate having this to reflect on, since it formed the person I am today--continued in school bio
School
I didn't think I'd run out of space but continued here.....
Some of the things Bayonne offered me as experiences:
Playing basketball at St VinnieÂs schoolyard, breaking into trains racing motocross at Global and Âdown the bay behind the hihat, building a fort in the weeds at the park, making an igloo on the boulevard. Of course if my kids ever did anything comparable I would probably have a heart attack and dismember them. From time to time I stop in at Café Bella in Bayonne and have lunch (one of the everyday lunch things), great food. ItÂs cool to see my bedroom window across the street on 50th and avenue c where I slept for 18 years. The same window I shot a bb through a bus window pretending to be a sniper. Young boys I think are very strange beings. DonÂt worry there was no one on the bus.
I donÂt want to bore you about what I eat but itÂs too healthy for most people to even imagine, except I like the Cabernets of Napa Valley too much.
What I read everyday is the Wall Street Journal and Asbury Park Press (just for local news), every Saturday and Sunday the NY Times, every week..the Economist (which by the way if I had to choose only 1 thing to read it would be this) The Harvard Business Review, Trader Magazine, Futures Magazine, Rolling Stone, actually I read O for OpraÂs mag, thereÂs the Gemini dichotomy againÂ
Gourmet, CondeÂnest Traveler, Barrons, network mag, pcworld and some newslettersÂ
.too much I know, but a little obsessive, yes. Just to clarify I use a lot of airline miles to get these magazines.
I started looking for a place in Florida to spend a couple of months every winter. Even though global warming is heating up the winterÂs here, itÂs still too cold for me. I donÂt think we capitulated and reached a bottom in the real estate market so this will wait for a year or so.
I think, as far as I can see IÂll be keeping busy to until hopefully 100 and I will continue helping business owners make more money as a consulting ÂmuseÂ, helping investors make more money with trading strategies and help protect conservative investors with hedging techniques. I love new technologies, new ideas for making companies more productive, new strategies to reduce costs whether at home or in corporate America. No matter how much money you make, itÂs still, for me, an inspiration to save more. IÂm not cheap though; usually give too much on the daily restaurant tip. IÂm unfortunately in the mode of eating out every day for lunch. In this time of less family demands, IÂm becoming more laid back and social so if anyone is going Point Pleasant Beach email or look me up IÂd love to see some people from the old Washington Grammar and Bayonne High School. I regularly walk up to Martells in the summer and check out for an hr or 2 into a pretend island fantasy with fake palm trees and all.
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