Update 5-28-02

Hi,

The really fast holiday weekend edition.

First, final notice about the next New York gathering:
When:    Saturday, June 1st, 2002   1:00 PM
Where:   Lily Flanagans, 279 Sunrise Highway, Rockville Centre
Contact: Paul DeMartino:  PINA_1@msn.com or 516-799-1590  Or just show up.

Next, we've only had five responses about a possible midsummer California gathering in Cambria.  Since there are about a dozen-and-a-half of us in the state, we need to get at least two-thirds of us interested before some of us pack up our coolers and sunscreen and head on out.  It may, as Alan Silver continues to theorize, just be too soon, especially since nearly half the California bunch just met up in New York.  But I ain't saying No yet.

And on the subject, some concern from Andy Dolich:  As a Californian for the past 22 years, the idea of a Golden State reunion site, even in a bucolic town like Cambria, is a bad one.  All you right coasters remember this, we have:  Killer Bees, Earthquakes, Freeways that cut off your Slauson, TV stars, Agents, Smog, Mudslides, Forest Fires, Taxes on Everything, Organic Food, Too Much Sun (bad for the skin), Locusts, Rattlesnakes, Killer Cougars, The Zodiac Killer, Charles Manson, Tsunamis, Great White Sharks, Alcatraz, San Quentin, Vacaville, Chino Gangs, Famine, Pestilence, Tar Pits, Volcanos, Vampire Bats, Flying Black Widow Spiders, Packs of Killer Dachshunds, Killer Frogs, Killer Cell Phones, Gigantic Holes in the Ozone Layer, and Nasty Border Guards.  Jerry Bittman is right:  Nebraska, preferably Clay Center -- which is the home of the National Methane Research Center -- is the place to be.  California is extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs.  IÕm packing up right now and preparing to flee California in another 30 or 40 years.
 000200000E5900000709 E53,
From Mr. Bittman:  Barbara Blitfield and I were talking on the phone last night, arguing where the next reunion should be held.  Health permitting, I hope to be moving either to Oregon or Florida next year.  But I will continue to lobby for the next party to be held in Nebraska.  Meanwhile, let's keep trying to locate our missing classmates, and I hope the people that did not attend the last reunion will attend the next major one.  P.S. -- if you have a Florida reunion, can it possibly be set up for the beginning of August?

From Jean Cohen Oklan to Mr. Bittman:  I had the honor of doing my fifth grade state report on Nebraska.  Now, I'm no expert on the state, but I do remember that every year there is a big celebration called Aksarben.  This is Nebraska spelled backwards, for those people who weren't in class that day.  So, Jerry, next time you're on a conference call with the home office (if they have those types of connections), mention that you're looking forward to the next Aksarben celebration.  You never know, it may up your raise a couple percentage points!

A travel note:  Marc Fishman was recently in L.A. for several days, attending an electronics expo with his son.  While his son tested soon-to-be released video games, Marc and I slipped off to the Getty Museum, high on an L.A. hill, to view an almost smogless sky.  Almost.  Then we had a nice Italian dinner in Venice.  Still, Marc did point out that L.A. seems to have ugly billboards everywhere, and I had to admit that this city is one of the world's less well zoned wonders.  But there is the weather.

Some fast business:
       1.  About the other hundred reunion photos I still haven't gotten on line:  I've temporarily run out of space.  But I'm working on it.  Meanwhile, you're just gonna have to go look at the existing 150 again.
       2.  I have managed to label the last three pages of those photos though, in case you were still wondering who those people are
       3.  I've also squeezed a really spiffy photo of Eric Hilton, which he sent me before the reunion, onto the Current Photos page.  Tell him how nice he looks.
       4.  And I still have a really neat Father-Son Cub Scout dinner photo from around 1957 that Marc Jonas sent me.  I may include as an attachment one of these days, but I can't post it until I have so much room that I can put it online in detail.  You need to see all those smiling little faces.  But it's too nice not to share
       5.  Also, I've let my membership in Classmates.com lapse---because while the occasional new name turns up, none of these people get back to me when I send them blind e-mail.  But I think a few of you are maintaining the paid membership to Classmates, so I may ask one of you to send blind e-mail occasionally.  Or, if a whole mess of people suddenly appear, I'll rejoin.

Finally, from  Zelda White Nichols:  Hey, guess what?  My husband is from Nebraska, and he could not find Funk on the map.  Then again, his brother lives in Remote, Oregon, and that isn't on many maps, either.  Anyway, we laughed greatly at Jerry Bittman's Top 10 List because almost every item was true.  Nebraska is a good place to be from.  We went back to my husband's home town, Geneva, 25 years ago:  It was during a drought.  There was little to do after saying "hi" to his family, but the county fair was on, so we all went.  A fire broke out in a barn 10 miles away, and Nebraska is so flat, we could all see it.  Let me tell you, folks, this state is so exciting that everyone left the fair to go watch the barn burn.  I kid you not.

Home page link:  http://hometown.aol.com/falcons1965a/myhomepageprofile.html


Rich