Update 8-15-01    


Hey,

197 people.  I knew the increases would slow eventually, and that still leaves about 100 folks to find.

Meanwhile, on the party vote:  only about 30 people responded, which is about suitable for a Nielsen sample.  Of those votes, we went three to one for New York.  But about a third of the New York-favoring voters admitted they'd as happily fly to Florida, so that puts us evenly split.  Peggy, Michele, you can chop the baby in half.

As for other things:  while visiting Nancy Garfield (who says 'hi') I finally managed to get a look at the yearbook for the first time in maybe twenty years.  So that's who you people were.  Snappy.  But, of course, we aren't those pictures anymore, and maybe never were.  I, for one, went through high school irritatingly telling Al Finder to 'smile,' though you couldn't tell that from my blank-faced stare.  (I was either trying to look cool or struggling to stay awake.)  And Al, who was generally a happy fella, looks as irritated as he always did when I told him to 'smile.'

This week's bios:

From Rachael Robinson Rizzo:  I've been on the west coast of Florida for six years.  After I graduated from University of Bridgeport, I stayed in Connecticut for 26 years teaching nursing in a diploma program, and then working in a city high school as a school-nurse/teacher (my favorite job).  When I moved to Florida I taught in an LPN program for a year, then became involved in working for the nursing home industry. I have two grown children and four grandchildren in Florida, and two grown stepchildren and four grandchildren in Connecticut.  Life is certainly not dull.

From Steve Zuckerman:  I started at the Post Office in 1970.  Around 1978 I began to check out the possibility of transferring to the U.S. Post Office in Puerto Rico.  I was married in 1975 and since my wife is from Puerto Rico and most of her family still live on the island, that seemed to make sense.  Also, opportunities were better for me here, and the 10% cost of living increase just for working in Puerto Rico was a great persuader.

From Mark Perlman:  After South, I went to Carnegie Tech and spent about a year deciding I wasn't ready for college.  So I bought a motorcycle and went on a quest through the US, Canada, Mexico and part of Central America.  About 9 months and 50,000 miles later I got drafted, got out, moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico (my family had moved there in '66), bummed around, and worked as a jeweler/sculptor/artist and short order cook.  I went back to school, got married in Sept '71, and received a BA in Art ED from the University of New Mexico in '72.  I taught mechanical drawing, woodwork and crafts at the junior high level in Los Lunas, New Mexico and on Isleta Pueblo for 2 1/2 years, then in 1974 moved to Opelika, Alabama so we could be closer to my wife's family.  Next, I got a job at Ampex Corp Magnetic Tape Division, first as a senior mechanical draftsman (drafting for 4 years at South paid off), then after time and experience, as a mechanical designer, and finally as Senior Mechanical Designer.  Unfortunatel
y, after 17 years with the company, I got caught in a layoff, so decided to work on my own as a jewelry craftsman.  I sold my work at craft shows while also teaching drafting at a local trade school then after a year and got called back by Ampex to work on contract.  But I kept my jewelry business going, as well as teaching a jewelry-making class once a week.  In '93, due to health reasons, my wife and I moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and I got a few contract drafting/design jobs, then went to work as a draftsman for a processing machinery company.  I worked there for 4 years and then, guess what:  another layoff.  Tired of working at a computer 7 hours a day, and wanting something different, I got a job at Sears selling woodworking tools---since I know quite a bit about them. After 9 months, I switched to a job with Schlosser Machinery and Tools, a high-end woodworking machinery store, then after another 9 months to Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse.  I really enjoy selling, since I like talking with
people.  Also, since the layoff, I've taught mechanical drafting part-time at the high school and college levels both as a substitute and an instructor.

From Paul Zegler:  Please give everyone my website address:  www.pezsez.com.  That way they can both see me and see what I've done in terms of acting.

Finally, Steve Zuckerman asked me if I'd rather have one life-long friend or a pot of gold.  I know it wasn't the answer he was expecting, but I said, frankly, the pot of gold.  I already have lots of friends and that way we could all live comfortably.


Rich