The Perry Family Cemetery
The historic Perry Family Cemetery
Patriarchs David Perry and his wife, Catherine Blauvelt Perry
Perry Cemetery-Harrington Park Historical Society Old Hook Road Harrington Park, NJ 07640
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Old Burying Ground-Blauvelt Cemetery-Harrington Park Historical Society Tappan Road Harrington Park, NJ 07640
The Historic Old Burying Ground/Blauvelt Cemetery is home to many Revolutionary War veterans
Inside the cemtery
Inside this historic cemetery
Day Three-Hundred and Thirty-Eight “Lertaw Investment Inc. presents Financial Team Presentation and Gameplans” April 28th, 2025
I have never taught Personal Finance and the way it has been taught in the past by previous Professors I had no interest in following. I could not see a course that was to prepare you for your financial future that could be that dry. A course with online quizzes and tests could not possibly be the best way to learn about retirement. Having experienced investing with the stock market, CD’s and Mutual Funds, I know personally the pitfalls of investing in this current very shaky market and that’s what I wanted to teach the students. Not to be afraid to start NOW!
The logo for “Lertaw Investment Inc. -Growth comes from Within”
In the past, I have created these projects under the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. banner, the main consulting company, the Orion Malls banner, a Mall design company and the Buscomonzefi.com banner, my Tech Division. Each business does its best to be creative, forward thinking and have a thought producing presentations. I also challenge the students to top on another in their presentations and build on what they have seen others do in the past.
Professor Justin Watrel, CEO Lertaw Investment Inc.
So for my personal finance class, I got away from the traditional Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. banner that I use for my Marketing, Management and Communications classes and created Lertaw Investment Inc. Lertaw is my last name spelled backwards (okay, I thought it was clever).
So I created the scenario of the Team Project was I was the CEO of a family Investment company with headquarters in Newark, NJ, where it was founded back in the early 1800’s. This company was an offshoot of another family company that was founded after the Revolutionary War. All the students were new hires who were on probation with the company and had to prove themselves.
The Original Project and Teams with the First Task:
With so many students in this class, (I originally started with 35 students that went to 31 by the time the class was over), I broke each Team up into a Team of five lead by a Divisional Vice-Presidential and an Investment Advisor who would be their second in command. They were assigned with giving everyone a part of each week’s tasks.
For the next four weeks what I would do is give each group a series of tasks and activities that the student financial consultants had to work on as a Team. Each Team was given a budget of $25,000 and had to use this investing account to pay for client purchases and for Team expenses.
While I was doing that, each individual student had to write their own investment paper. The scenario I gave each student was that their great aunt died and left them $5,000 with the stipulation that they could not spend the money but invest it for their future. I gave a series of scenarios here as well. I figured this paper would force them to think more about the overall project. It really got them thinking.
Paper Three: Creating a Personal Financial Plan from a $5,000 inheritance from your Great Aunt:
The first Task: Opening a CD at your local bank for $1,500.
Over the next three weeks while I had the students working on their Team Project, I gave each of the students tasks to invest in for their money from their Great Aunt. The first task was they had to go to the bank and get information for opening a CD for $1,500. This way I forced all these students to talk to their banks to get a perspective on HOW to invest their money in the future.
Paper Three Task Two:
The next task was to spend $1,200 on a series of stocks that include one Tech Company, two Food Companies and one Banking Company
Paper Three Task Three:
The last task was to open a Bond for $300 (I made a math mistake and it would have been $3,000). Oh well, this way they had money left over to keep for emergencies.
While the students were writing Paper Three for the class and doing their research for the their personal papers, which was a big part of their grades, they were using some of their personal research for their Team assignment. This way each Student Investor brought their own research and perspective to the project. This way the project got five different opinions.
Task One for the Team Project included:
(This is part of the initial package that I gave the students)
Invest $4000 in two high interest CDs for a client. This is where the individual research came in handy and each student could contribute their research on this part of the project.
Buy $6,000 of stocks in Two Tech Companies. Two Energy Companies, Two Foodservice and Two Travel Stocks. The Student Investors got to pick the companies and the amount at each company that they wanted to spend.
Plan a Cocktail party with creating a menu, invitation and budget between $1000 and $1200 in our Newark Headquarters. The Cocktail Party was going for be for both perspective clients and established customers plus Corporate members wanting to meet everyone.
Task Two of the Team Project:
The Vice-President and the Financial Advisor had to take a Business Trip to Boston, MA to meet with clients. The rest of the Team will stay behind in the office. You have to set up a travel budget for your trip for Lertaw Investments for the trip. This money will be deducted from your $25,000 so you need budget. The company will let you travel First Class if you want but it will lower your investment amount.
The top executives had to book either a Railway Ticket Round Trip or an Airline Ticket from Newark to Boston and back, a hotel room for two nights (Breakfast is included in the hotel stay), meals for lunch and dinner and extra money to see the sites in Boston if you want. Please set up the travel budget for two people and how much the Business Trip will cost.
They had to buy $5,000 worth of Mutual Funds (Vanguard, American Century Investments, T. Rowe Price etc.) for the client. You need to tell me what funds you want to buy and how much. The client is leaving this at your discretion.
Their Client wanted them to buy $2,500 worth of McDonalds stock. They want to buy as much as possible with the $2,500 so you need to watch the stock price of McDonalds and what day you will buy it. Your Team needs to tell me when you bought it, how much you bought and at what price did you buy it at.
Task Three of the Team Project:
Invest $5,000 in bonds and they could choose the terms to get the best yield.
Task Four of the Team Project:
Lertaw Investments is looking for a new Healthcare plan. The company wants proposals for new Dental, Visual and Medical plans for each of your Teams
Please sell $1,500 shares of McDonalds stock and note on your account whether you had a profit or loss on the sale. Please by $1,500 worth of Chipotle and Krispie Kreme stock. You can buy whatever shares you want of the stock but the client wants the most for their money. The remainder of the $1,000 worth of McDonald’s stock will stay in the account and please monitor the profit/loss on this investment.
Corporate liked your proposal for the cocktail party and your budget for the business trip up to Boston. They have reimbursed you for the expenses so put the money back into your account. You know must buy $1,500 worth of Automotive and Airline stocks. Please pick two automotive and one airline stock. The client is leaving the discretion of the number of shares of stock up to the Team.
Task Five of the Team Project:
The Team needed to arrange a Team Dinner for the members of your Team. Please pick a restaurant in Newark, anyone you like, and tell me the name, provide menu and pictures and what your Team will order. Remember you are considered over 21 and can drink so please think of the wine and cocktail menus as well. Your budget for dinner must be $1,000 and below. Remember that tax and tip need to be included. Some restaurants have fees for parties over five so this needs to be included.
With the remaining money in their budget, they could buy stocks of their choice. The Client now trusts you and your Team can use its discretion.
To end this project, the Team should have a remaining budget of $1,000.00 left or as close to it as possible. There are always emergencies that need to be covered and there should be this amount left in your account. The rest of the money should be spent.
The final part of the project, the Team should finish their last report with a complete breakdown of how your Team spent their $25,000.00 budget as the final page of the report and I wanted to see everything footnoted.
Each class I would do my lecture on the chapters in the book which covered the topics in the scenarios and then leave them the last half hour to meet with their Teams in class. Each Team then had to submit their findings in a full report, which they had three attempts to get correct. Only one Team of the five did it correctly and even they made mistakes.
I also set up a prize for this two step process. The Team with the best report would get ten (10) points added to their Midterm (and trust me, the class Midterm results were not that good) and then that Team would get promoted to the President and SVP of Operation’s and create the Corporate website and PowerPoint presentation for the project. I swear, I have the eye for Corporate talent and the Team that won did an excellent job with both.
The pitfall with this project like any Team project, both in school and in the workforce, there are those who do not want to do their work or milk their share of the project so they do not have to do anything else. I had to ‘fire’ (i.e. fail) one student, who did not seem to care anyway (he spent the entire time in class on his cellphone texting his friends). I also had Student Investors who spent three weeks working on a simple Cocktail Party or Team Dinner (which had nothing to do with Personal Finance), so I had to grade them on this and deal with items like this.
I had to be a very proactive CEO with over thirty Student Investors doing all different types of investing and projects for their teams. The Vice-Presidents and Team Advisors had to hand in a report to me three times before their Final Team Report was due the week before the final exam and do their breakdown of how they spent their money. You see what people are made of when they had to do basic math. I had to check each report thoroughly, add up all their business expenses and make sense of everything. Only two groups got close to a professional type of report but I could see where the frustrations came in. Again some of the Team Members did not do their job properly and I had to deal with this. I now know why so many CEOs are so frustrated today and this is just a simulated project. Still I was very proud of these students who accomplished so much and learned the book’s subject matter on their own in a pace that made sense to them.
This is what learning is about especially about Personal Finance. You have to spend the time figuring it out for yourself and that is the hardest part of life.
The Project:
Here is the PowerPoint:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o-jnsPXdF2BHltZrAvcK1FOd-to7_s22/view
Here is the Presentation on YouTube:
Here is the website on the Team Project:
https://lertawinvestmentinc.wordpress.com/
Team One:
Team Two:
Team Three:
Team Four:
During the Presentation, each Team had fifteen minutes to explain how they spent and invested their money, how they planned their dinners and cocktail parties and how they researched their business trip to Boston.
I was floored by each Team’s creativity and the selection of stocks, bonds, and CDs they chose as no two Teams were the same. With the exception of the winning Team, all the other Teams got an ‘A-‘ on their projects. I found this is a better way to teach rather than trying to get them to learn it from the book.
I am constantly amazed at what happens when you challenge students to learn. We are in a new era where just reading the book and exams will not be the norm. I just love the challenge of seeing students learn and having fun doing it.
I hope you all enjoy this Team Project.
The 1740 Miller-Kingsland House-Boonton Historical Society 445 Vreeland Avenue Boonton, NJ 07005
The front of the Miller-Kingsland Homestead during the Pathways tour
I went to visit the Miller-Kingsland Homestead, which is part of the Boonton Historical Society, during the Morris County’s Pathway’s tour and discovered a beautiful little historical home situated on picturesque piece of property. I saw by the signs that the grounds were maintained by the local Garden Club, who did a wonderful job landscaping the grounds.
The Living Room in the extension on the house
The portraits of Mr. & Mrs. Kingsland
The Dining Room in the old section of the home
The historic home is filled with period furnishings and decorations, none it seems local to the home. Still you can see how the home has changed over the years with additions and renovations. The older part of the home is now part of the Dining Room.
The Pewter ware collection on the Dining Room table
The fireplace in the original house kitchen now in
Jefferson Township Museum 315 Dover-Milton Road Oak Ridge, NJ 07438
The Jefferson Township Historical Society at 315 Dover-Milton Road
The gardens on the side of the house
The gardens and patio facing the stream
Parsippany Historical and Preservation Society/Bowlsby-DeGelleke House 320 Baldwin Road Parsippany, NJ 07054
The front of the Historical Society
The historic sign of the Bowlsby-DeGelleke House, the Parsippany Historical Society Museum
Molly Maguire Historical Park West Centre Street Mahanoy City, PA 17948
Molly Maguire Historical Park at West Centre Street in Mahanoy City, PA
The historic plaque outside the park
The inside of the park
The accused
The fate of these men
Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society Museum 201 South Main Street Shenandoah, PA 17976
The Front of the Shenandoah Historical Society Museum
The inside of the museum gallery
The inside of the museum
The inside of the Miner’s home
The inside of the museum
Smith Mansion Historical Museum 101 South Main Street Mahanoy City, PA 17948
The Smith Mansion at 101 South Main Street in Mahanoy City, PA
The elegant Living Room and Dining Room
The Dining Room
The Dining Room window
The Smith Family in the 1930’s
Day Three Hundred and Thirty-Six Walking through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on the first warm day of Spring April 17th, 2025 (Again on Mother’s Day May 10th, 2025 to see the Bluebells and again for Special Events of the Summer Solstice and Jazz Nights June 20th and July 3rd, 2025)
I am ready to go back to the Staten Island Zoo and have a little conversation with Staten Island Chuck. Since he said he did not see his shadow and Spring is coming, we have had six weeks of freezing and cloudy days. I have had to bundle up just to get my yard work done and my lawn needs a good cutting but it has been too cold to do much.
Today was the first day that it finally reached 60 degrees and like everyone else, I wanted to spend it outside. I finished classes at 11:00am and let my students out early to enjoy their Easter/Passover weekend.
I wanted to decompress myself so I headed to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I wanted to see the Cherry Blossoms and then see Daffodil Hill, one of the most impressive flower displays in New York City. I was not disappointed.
The entrance on Ocean Parkway to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens
https://www.bbg.org/collections/cherries
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Tulip Garden in the front of the entrance
Tulips lining the pathway in the front of the gardens
The tulips lined the walls and paths along side the entrance
When I got to the Rose Gardens, the plants finally looked they were coming alive after a long slumber. None of the roses were remotely blooming but the tulips as and other flowers were.
The tulips and daffodils in the Cranford Rose Garden
The Cranford Rose Gardens is truly magnificent in June when all the roses are in bloom but for now, the beds that lined the sides of these gardens had tulips and daffodils in full bloom.
The Cherry Blossoms on the main lawn had not bloomed yet so they had about another week. It had been so cold out the trees probably did not want to spout. Different species bloom at different times and some trees had blossomed and the petals had come down with the rain while others especially in the Japanese Gardens were in full bloom.
The Cherry Blossom lawn just before the blooming
The first wave of blossoms
The Japanese Gardens were packed with people trying to film and photograph the gardens. It started to get a little obnoxious but I guess all of us were doing it. It was just so beautiful to look at that afternoon.
Entering the Japanese Gardens
The blooming of the Japanese Gardens
The gardens were really crowded with the warm weather
The Japanese Pond
The full Japanese Gardens
Walking along the paths of the Japanese Gardens
As I left the Japanese Gardens, I entered the Magnolia Trees Gardens and Daffodil Hill. Because of all the rain and the cold weather (it had been in the 30’s and 40’s up until today), they both reached their peak early and all that rain did not help.
Walking the pathways between the gardens
The gardens though were still in bloom. Just past their peak but still picturesque and the smells of the flowers were wonderful.
The Magnolia and Dogwood trees just past their peak
The Magnolia Gardens are breathtaking this time of year
The gardens in full bloom
Walking along the paths
The pathways in bloom
The array of colors along the paths
Some of the trees along the paths were at peak blooming
All the visitors were filming and taking pictures
The gardens got more crowded as time went on
Some of the trees had such vibrant colors
The Magnolias and Dogwoods all in bloom
The pathway was filled with visitors taking pictures
The Magnolia Garden sits just across the pathway from Daffodil Hill, one of the most spectacular displays of Mother Nature
The over thousand daffodils on Daffodil Hill
Daffodil Hill is one of the main reasons why I join the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It is one of the most beautiful displays of Mother Nature in the garden. Hundreds of different species of Daffodils grow along this hill and for two weeks out of the year this display of flowers surpasses my expectations.
The beautiful display of yellows, whites and oranges come to life each Spring
The mix of pine and flowers
The old oak tree sits as a catalyst for this display
Follow its gracious branches along the hill
The beauty of the hill
I just love looking at all angles of this garden and from every point. I never get tired of its beauty and like to sit on the bench opposite the hill and just the flowers away in the wind. I always look forward to seeing these bloom every Spring. I got to see this just after the peak.
The Lotus Pools
I then walked down the stairs to the Lotus Pools. It will be several weeks until these flower but the paths along side the pools were line with tulips in an array of colors.
The tulips were in full bloom when I was there. Mine are just waking up
The various colors of the tulips
In the middle of these colorful displays and between the pools of the historic Fish Fountain with its amusing spouts.
The historic Fish Fountain between the pools
The graceful sounds of the fountain flowing
After walking through my favorite sections of the gardens, I decided to explore the back paths of the gardens which were just starting to come into bloom. As I passed the various gardens up and down the paths, patrons started to relax on the lawns and just soak up the blue skies, sunshine and the 68 degree weather. It just got nicer as the day wore on.
The Children’s Garden was in the process of being planted and coming into bloom
The entrance to the Children’s Garden
The Watershed
The watershed
The Christmas ferns along the paths
The Christmas fern sign
The Bluebells by the Children’s Garden were coming into bloom
The first species of roses started to appear and I was lucky to get this picture in
The Rock Garden’s flowers were just starting to bloom here
People just relaxed by the watershed lawns and soaked up the sunshine while they talked
The path back to the Cherry Blossoms
The full array of Cherry Blossoms should be appearing in the next week or two and will be in bloom for about a week. For now because of the cold weather, the first of the blooms are appearing.
There are different species of Cherry trees that bloom at different stages of the season
Everyone was elbowing everyone for the pictures
The plants were all out in bloom on the warm day
It seems even the flowers were awoke with this nice day and came out of their slumber as well. It was such a nice afternoon around the gardens and people seemed in a better mood. People appeared relaxed and refreshed by Mother Nature’s display of beauty. This will continue for the next couple of months as all the flowers around the gardens start to bloom.
I returned to the Gardens on Mother’s Day to crowds I have not seen since Member’s Nights to see the Bluebell flowers at the peak of bloom. I can tell that in about three days they will be gone.
The amazing Bluebells
The flower display has grown over the years
The sign for the flowers
After my tour of the gardens, I skipped the over-priced lunches at the cafe in the gardens and headed down Washington Avenue to Bahn Mi Place at 824b Washington Avenue for a sandwich. The food here is wonderful and very reasonable.
The flowers in bloom
Just as impressive as the Daffodil Hill
The gardens were breathtaking this afternoon but this will not last.
Bahn Mi Place at 824b Washington Avenue
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on DiningonaShoestringinNYC@Wordpress.com:
I ordered on of their Pork Chop Bahn Mai sandwiches and I forgot how good they are here. The pork was marinated in soy and Hoisin sauces and then cooked to perfection.
The Pork Chop Bahn Mai with fresh vegetables
The sandwiches here are excellent
Yum!
The sandwiches here are high quality between the fresh chewy buns and the crisp vegetables. It was a wonderful lunch and the perfect way to end my visit to the gardens.
What’s nice about Bahn Mi Place is that you can eat in on the small tables inside or on a warm day, take it to the seating outside the Brooklyn Museum and just people watch. It is the perfect afternoon in Brooklyn on a warm day. I relaxed and enjoyed this afternoon after a rough week at work.
Even the fountains were amazing that day!
On the evening of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, the Gardens had a special event to celebrate the occasion.
The special Members Summer Solstice event
The event included late night walks through the Gardens and then a special musical presentation entitled ‘Afropneuma’, an African jazz sounding concert.
The concert took place on the Cherry Blossom lawn
At sunset, they started the concert with a large audience. The musical performance was enjoyable but lawn and like most people, my 9:30pm, I started the long trip home. It had been a long evening.
They set up a bar for drinks and snacks
The bar menu
We watched the concert from the Cherry Blossom Lawn
It was a very pleasant evening and a nice place to relax and enjoy the sunset.
The Garden started a series of special ‘Jazz Nights’ for members to come after the Gardens had closed for the dining. The first one on July 3rd got rained out with an impending storm approaching. So as soon as the rained stopped about a half an hour later, many of us who stayed enjoyed the cooler evening and walked around the gardens and enjoyed ourselves.
Walking around the Lilly Pond pools
The Water Lillys are ready to bloom
The Water Lillys ready to bloom
I decided to walk around the enclosed gardens starting with the Bonsai Garden display.
The Bonsai Garden display is enclosed
I really admire the care that goes into these trees. The Gardens do a wonderful job maintains and displaying these beautiful trees.
The Bonsai
The beautifully maintained trees take years to get this way
The trees on display
The trees on display
Enjoying the Bonsai Gardens
I next toured the enclosed Rainforest and Desert displays. These enclosed gardens are most impressive in the winter months when they offer relief from the cold. In the summer when it rains, it offers refuge from the elements.
Walking through the enclosed rain forest
The enclosed Rain Forest
Walking through all the shrubs and flowers
The Desert Display with cactus
Admiring all the flowers in the tropical room of plants
After the rain stopped (it only rained for twenty minutes), we were able to tour the grounds and enjoy all the flower beds. I ended the evening admiring a rainbow.
Admiring the Rose Garden fountain just south of the Cherry Blossom lawn.
A beautiful rainbow in the gardens ended the evening.
On the way back to Port Authority, I stopped into Upside Pizza at 812 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. The pizza there is a bit pricy but you do get a very big slice.
Upside Pizza at 598 Eighth Avenue
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Deep Dish Detroit Pizza is excellent
The Detroit style Pepperoni pizza
Yum!
The perfect way to end the evening. With a slice of this delicious pizza and an icy Coke.
mywalkinmanhattan 