Reviews, Tips and What's Happening from Kenny Jahng Around Livingston, Short Hills, Millburn, Summit, Madison, Chatham, East Hanover and West Orange NJ.
Here's details of a new contest from the Essex County Turtle Back Zoo.
I don't know when the last time you visited the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange (behind the Codey Arena at South Mountain), but it is not the same zoo your dad brought you to when you were a kid.
The Turtle Back Zoo is now an officially accredited zoo in NJ. They've added a bunch of great new exhibits and residents. There's a great BIG carousel and playground for the kids. The bird aviary is definiately one of my kids' favorite areas. And you have the good ol' standby classic - the choo choo train that takes you around the lake at South Mountain in the back of the zoo grounds.
The Zoo is giving away a free party for you and 25 if your friends. They'll even throw in a $250 gift card so you can be a super host and look like a star.
The contest entry requirements are so easy that you have no excuse NOT to enter for the party price worth $675!
Livingston township is using a system called SWIFT911 for high speed notification of town residents of urgent news. The key feature of the system is the capability of delivering pre-recorded messages to the entire community via telephone, cell phone, email and text messaging.
This system will be used by more municipal departments now, including:
the Tax Department, for property tax notifications;
the Water Department, for water maintenance and outage notifications;
Engineering, for messages about road construction on Township roadways; and
the Police Department will continue to utilize it for emergencies.
The Swift911 system uses a publicly available list of phone numbers for both residents and businesses.
BUT if you're number is NOT listed in the telephone book, your number is probably not in the system.
Residents and businesses can add or remove their phone numbers from the system online by visiting www.livingstonnj.org or by clicking on the Swift911 icon above to get to the township website page with details. The service can also add cell phones numbers and e-mail addresses.
There's a Chase bank location on Eisenhower Parkway, East Hanover. There's one in Summit NJ. One in Millburn NJ. But none in town at Livingston New Jersey. . . up till now:
Now you can go to the bank and post office at the same time since this Chase bank is located directly across the street from the US Post Office on Mt Pleasant Avenue.
The importance of remembering all those who have fought and died for our country is something that all is too often overlooked. It is our hope that the entire community joins our celebration to support and thank those men and women, past and present, for serving in our armed forces. Please remember to fly your flag proudly.
PARADE ROUTE INFORMATION:
• 9:30AM: Memorial Ceremony will take place at the oval in Memorial Park • 10:00AM: Parade begins in Memorial Park and travels North along Livingston Avenue and ends at Northland Community Center on Jefferson Court.
For any further information, you can call the Livingston Township Recreation Department at (973) 535-7925.
The Township of Livingston has entered into a cooperative gypsy moth control program with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture for 2009.
Downstown Areo Crop Service of Vineland, New Jersey has been awarded the contract to apply Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (FORAY 76B, EPA Reg. # 73049-49) using aircraft to areas infested with gypsy moth larvae.
Aerial application will begin on or after May 12, 2009 through June 12, 2009 or until completion from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m; and possibly in the evenings from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the affected areas.
A map indicating the exact areas to be treated is available for inspection at the municipal offices located at the Senior Community Center, on Hillside Avenue in Livingston, NJ or at the Township website at www.livingstonnj.org.
Residents may contact the Municipal Clerk’s office at (973) 992-5000, (at the Senior Community Center) for more information regarding the exact date, application times and any other information concerning the treatment program.
For emergencies call the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System at 1-800-222-1222. For pesticide regulation information, pesticide complaints, and health referrals call the New Jersey Pesticide Control Program at 609-984-6507.
Supposedly, upon request, the pesticide applicator or applicator business shall provide a resident with notification 12 hours prior to the application, except for Quarantine and Disease Vector Control only, when conditions necessitate pesticide applications sooner than that time.
Additional information about the program is also available on the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s website at: www.state.nj.us/agriculture/plant/gypsy.htm
You don't need to provide any personal information other than an email address and password (all other demographic info is optional).
Since these lists are managed by the township itself, it might be useful to sign-up for a couple of the Livingston NJ Township Email Lists and see if the information they push through is useful.
Here are the Livingston-related email list topics available:
T-O-W-N N-E-W-S
Adult-Ceramics
Adult-Duplicate Bridge
Aquatic-Aqua Jets Swim Team
Aquatic-Pool Memberships
Aquatic-Splashercize
Aquatic-Swim Lessons
Camps-Counselor in Training Program
Camps-Fabulous Fridays
Camps-Kids Camp
Camps-Kindergarten Outdoor Center
Camps-Mini Camps
Camps-Play Pals
Camps-Preschool Outdoor Center
Camps-Sports Camps
Camps-Teen Travel
Baton- Preschool & UP
Dance Classes- Preschool through Grade 6
Dance -Adult Dance Classes
Fitness Classes-Body Blaster
Fitness Classes-CrossTraining
Fitness Classes-FitPass Program
Fitness Classes-Shape Up
Fitness Classes-Splashercize
Fitness Classes-Step Fitness
Fitness Classes-Yoga
Fitness Classes-Zumba
Preschool Programs-Community Kids Preschool
Preschool Programs-Dance & Baton Classes
Preschool Programs-Preschool Enrichment Programs
Facilty Usage & Rentals-Senior/Community Center
Facilty Usage -Sports Fields
Senior Adults-Duplicate Bridge
Senior Adults-Knitting Group
Senior Adults-Listen to the Children
Senior Adults-Oak Leaf
Senior Adults-Old Guard
Senior Adults-Senior Fitness
Senior Adults-Senior Transportation
Senior Adults-Thursday Seniors
Special Populations-Adaptive Recreation Program
Special Populations-Special Adults
Sports - Adults-Badminton Open Play
Sports - Adults-Basketball - Men's League
Sports - Adults-Basketball - Men's Open Play
Sports - Adults-Basketball - Women's Open Play
Sports - Adults-Softball - Men's League
Sports - Adults-Softball - Men's Over 35 League
Sports - Adults-Softball - Women's League
Sports - Adults-Softball - Women's Over 35 League
Sports - Adults-Table Tennis Open Play
Sports - Adults-Tennis Lessons
Sports - Adults-Volleyball - Men's League
Sports - Adults-Volleyball - Wms - Green Streaks
Sports - Adults-Volleyball - Womens League
Sports - Youth-Basketball - Boys/Girls In-Town
Sports - Youth-Basketball - Boys/Girls Travel
Sports - Youth-Bowling
Sports - Youth-Soccer - Kiddie Soccer
Sports - Youth-Sports Camps
Sports - Youth-Swim Team
Sports - Youth-Tennis Lessons
Sports - Youth-Track
Sports - Youth-Volleyball Clinic - Boys/Girls
Sports - Youth-Wrestling
We live in BURNET HILL School District area
We live in COLLINS School District area
We live in HARRISON School District area
We live in HILLSIDE School District area
We live in MT PLEASANT School District area
We live in RIKER HILL School District area
Township Committees and Volunteer Opportunities
School Break Activities
Library
Recycling and Living Green
Also, if you are a parent of a child from new born through 12th Grade, you can obtain targeted information by grade, gender and school.
Registration is now officially open for the Fall 2009 Season of Livingston Soccer.
The Soccer Programs include Travel, In-Town, Kinderkickers, and High School Co-Ed.
The LSC is NOT planning to hold in person registrations this year!
However, should you need special assistance in the online registration process, please contact president@lsclub.com to make accommodations. Those with limited or no access to a personal computer are encouraged to use free online access at the Livingston Public Library.
If you drive into NYC regularly, you probably use E-Z Pass.
And even if you're paying cash every time, you're hit with a sky-high bill just to drive into the city over the GW Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, etc. It's almost as high as a movie ticket!
Right now, the Lincoln Tunnel will set you back $8 EACH TIME you go into the Big Apple!
But there's a way to go through the same toll booths and get through for only $2.00!
The Port Authority Carpool Plan provides the largest toll discount at the Port Authority bridges and tunnels.
The toll for Port Authority Carpool customers is $2 at all hours - 24/7.
You must have an E-ZPass account and you must register for the Port Authority Carpool Discount Plan.
To register for the Carpool Plan, call 1-800-333-8655(New York Service Center) or 1-888-288-6865 (New Jersey Service Center). Be sure to have your account number or tag number and PIN for account access.
Three or more people must be in a vehicle to be eligible for the Carpool toll rate (no commercial vehicles qualify).
Customers must use a staffed "Cash-E-ZPass" toll lane and come to a complete stop so the toll collector can verify the number of occupants in the vehicle.
There's no cost to sign-up, so you should do it regardless! And the next time you go through with 3 people in your car, you'll save at least $6 each time.
It seems that we finally have some post-summer relief of the inflated gas prices. I finally fueled up and got a receipt for LESS THAN $50!?!?! When was the last time you remember paying less than $50 for a tank of gas?
But one of my best tips still stands -- get a credit card JUST FOR GAS REBATES. Since you are paying at least $200/month on gas, that would mean $10/month at 5% rebate x 12 months = $120 of FREE MONEY back to you x # of cars.
Imagine someone handing you $240 in cash. Would you take it or leave it?
Roaming around town with your laptop is getting more convenient these days. There's WiFi hotspot internet connections in more and more places. The new Barnes & N0ble Livingston Mall is the latest place with AT&T WiFi service.
AT&T Wi-Fi service allows customers to use their laptop computers and personal digital assistants anywhere in the Barnes & Noble Livingston store or café to surf the Internet and connect to corporate networks at speeds 50 to 100 times as fast as a dial-up connection. A single two-hour session costs $3.95, and an annual membership gives unlimited access to Barnes & Noble and more than 50,000 other AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots.
The other places I've seen around town with WiFi internet connections (paid and free) are:
Livingston Library (Free)
Dunkin Donuts
Fresh City (Free)
Starbucks (2 hours daily free with StarbucksRewards Card which is free + a purchase within last 30 days)
Office Depot on Route 10 (Free)
Borders Books and Music (T-mobile Paid Wifi service)
McDonald's (Paid)
Do you know of any other WiFi Hotspots in or around Livingston? Let me know and post a quick comment below. . .
The Livingston Barnes & Noble will stay open late on September 19 so customers can be among the first to pick up the new book Brisingr. (Brisingr is the third book in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle.)
It officially goes on sale at 12:01 a.m. on September 20, so to meet the technical sale date, the store will stay open really late.
I don't know how much Barnes & Noble Livingston Mall will be selling the new book Brisingr for, but Amazon has is for $15 with free shipping. In addition, in the past, I know that Amazon has shipped pre-sale books early so that you get it in the mail the actual day of the release, making the difference between buying from Amazon and from the local bookstore the fact that you'll have it delivered to you vs. you have to get in the car, go to the store, wait in line and then drive back home.
If you have Amazon Prime, it's definitely worth buying from Amazon since you'l be guaranteed to have it this week with Free Express Shipping upgrades.
The summer flew by and we're finally back to school tomorrow!
But there's one more day of summer fun -- today!
And if you're quick, you can zip over to the Barnes & Noble Livingston to pick-up your completely free book.
Last year, they gave out over 300,000 free books to kids in 1st Grade to 6th Grade through their Summer Reading Program.
Just print out the reading journal, fill out 8 books you've read this summer and bring it into Barnes & Noble on Mt. Pleasant Avenue (Route 10 West) by the Livingston Circle.
The Livingston Kinderkickers Soccer Program depends on the volunteer coaches across town to make it all happen each season.
And here's proof that the soccer coaches are given full instruction and support to make it as easy as possible for them. In addition to soccer coach training sessions, and on-the-field assistants, there are very detailed game / session plans for each week to help make the time go by productively and enjoyable for all on the field - parent coaches and the little super soccer players.
Livingston Kinderkickers Soccer is run off of Ashley Soccer Camps which provides all the details and "template" for the soccer program.
The KinderKicker Soccer program starts on Saturday September 6, 2008 and runs on Saturdays (9/6, 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18)
The Taco Bell in Route 10 Westbound in East Hanover, New Jersey is now open for what they call FOURTH meal. What's that? We have Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and now Fourth Meal. . .
As if Americans aren't large enough!
If you're craving for your 4th meal of the day, Taco Bell is one of the latest to open until 1AM on Friday and Saturday nights and till Midnight, Sunday to Thursday.
The meal between dinner and breakfast? Aren't you supposed to be SLEEPING? What are you doing up driving around for a full calorie-packed meal?
And to make it easier and faster for you to buy that next larger size pants, they have pro-fat (as in helping to get you fat fast) meal items as cheap as 79 cents now.
Forget about the issue of eating more meals than you should in a given day -- what about the fact that this stuff cannot be that healthy for you if they are selling it for $0.79. Given that this is a capitalistic economy and that NJ property taxes are at an all time high and that the company that owns and operates this business MUST make money, how much do you think the actual cost of the food ingredients are in an item that sells for $0.79? Remember they have to factor in rent, electricity, supplies, the packaging & other free stuff like sauce packets, napkins, etc, employee salaries and advertising. After that is taken out of $0.79, they have a profit margin they depend on. And what's left is the amount they can afford to spend on the actual food ingredients you're about to put into your precious body.
Holy burrito!
I think I'll stick with the new Chipolte down the street at little higher price point...
Did you know that The Turtle Back Zoo located on Northfield Avenue in West Orange, New Jersey offers free admission, every Tuesday afternoon after 2 PM till closing?
The all time classic kids' favorite choo choo train ride(free) is now not the only thing to ride over and over again at the Zoo. Check out the brand new Merry-Go-Round ($2/ride) and playground this year.
Normal admission is $8 for adults, $4 for kids. So saving at least $12 might be worth planning an afternoon visit this coming Tuesday!
Hours: April to October Mon - Sat 10 am to 4:30 pm Sun - 11 am to 5:30 pm
November to March Daily - 10 am to 3:30 pm
Guests may remain on grounds for 30 minutes after closing.
The speed limit is 25 miles per hour and they've set a speed trap for south bound traffic. You'll eventually see two police officers holding up a radar gun pointed at oncoming traffic as they come around the bend.
When crossing Northfield Avenue by S. Livingston Av, you probably have forgotten about the FUMIO restauarant tucked away in the back of the lot right after the new Dunkin Donuts. That's because it's been closed for 3 years or so.Now, the Sushi restuarant has been resurrected as a Kosher Steak + Sushi joint under the same name, FUMIO.Fumio Restuarant21 E. Northfield AvLivingston, NJ 07039973-740-8595
Curious enoughly, Samauri Sushi opened just around the corner this past year and has been doing pretty well it seems - always with people inside whenever we drive by. And ZEN Japanese Restuarant over by Livingston Circle certianly is here for a long time judging by the filled tables whenever we visit for lunch or dinner.
The question remains if the Glatt Kosher demand is high enough for this segment in Livingston.
The Barnes & Noble Bookstore is almost done with construction at the Livingston Mall in Livingston NJ. They are putting in the finishing touches for a grand opening in September, 2008.
I believe the Barnes & Noble store by Livingston Circle on Route 10 West will be closing.
And if you're in the Livingston Mall, searching for books today, go to the Waldenbooks Store on the 2nd floor for a store-CLOSING sale. With 50% off cover prices, some of the books are good deals...
It looks like we might get an upgrade to a local ice skating rink in Montclair, NJ. The Montclair Clary Anderson Arena is going to be privatized according to local sources.
And some of the contenders are Floyd Hall -- who runs Floyd Hall Arena Ice Rink in Wayne, NJ by Montclair State University as well as United Skates of America which manages the Codey Arena at South Mountain in West Orange, NJ.
But it ain't final yet since according to the Star Ledger, there's a 1000 person petition urging to let it go non-profit.
. (Brisingr is the third book in Christopher Paolini
