Update 3-3-09

Hi,

Lot of people saying "Happy Birthday," which kind of made me blush, but thanks.  One of my local friends asked what I had to drink to celebrate, and I said, "You know I don't drink much."  But I went out that evening and got properly drunk.  'Course it only took a few shots...
   
    From Stu Borman, about adding photos to his class site:  I'm sorry that I didn't know you were waiting for a response from me.  I do read all the weekly updates, but I guess I didn't read that earlier one carefully enough.  Yes, I'll be happy to post any additional photos on my photo site -- the ones you have in hand and any you receive in the future.  In fact, I'll put the new stuff on top, like blogs do.  I'll have to figure out how to do it from a technical standpoint, as I created that site quite a long time ago and was never a web genius, but I expect that I can just somehow copy the format of the earlier entries.  So please feel free to send me the photos, and also please send any caption information you have and the source of the photos.  That way I can credit the sources on the site.
   
    [Rich -- Actually, it's more my fault for not following up and writing you directly, Stu.  I've just been stupidly busy lately.  But thanks for the offer, and I'll collect the photos and get them to you this week.]
   
    From Joanne Shapiro Polner:  Thank you for the fortune teller information and the link. They make me happy.
   
    And from Joanne's brother, Peter Shapiro:  I was watching a documentary of the Monterey festival done in 1967, and there were Hendrix, Joplin, The Who, the Mamas and the Papas, Simon & Garfunkle, and others, and I was agast that it was forty-one years ago.
   
    From Roz Minsky Hahn:  Thank you for all the "newsy stuff" that comes my way.  It has been fun reading the class news as well as the informative pieces you often include.
        I  want to share the news that I recently married a wonderful man from Long Island -- North Bellmore originally.  We are incredibly, blissfully happy!
        My new name is Roz Minsky Bobrow Hahn.  I will be phasing out the "B" name as I complete all the paperwork for changing one's name.  I will also be switching my email to:  nannaroz@gmail.com.
        2009 has started out, and is going to be, the best year, certainly. for me... and hopefully for everyone else!
   
    [Rich -- Congratulations, Roz.  That's just neat.  Happy people make me grin.]
   
    From Sandy Tarter:  Thanks for including me in the '65 reunion class, though we all know '67 was a better year.  My reunion with Amy Lieberman will remain in my heart forever.  Just can't explain how great it was.  I'm glad South High lives on through your class' e-mail.
        Question:  Robert Fiveson had a brother Mike.  We were good friends, and I think he even still owes me $10 from a bet we made at Roosevelt Raceway.  We would take bets at South, go to the track, and return with the winnings.
        I also hope to be in touch with some other former classmates.  Can't say I always remember everyone's name, but that just part of the '60's.  I went to college in Colorado in 1967 and didn't return till 1977.  My parents weren't thrilled, but somehow I lived.  Came home one time in August '69 to attend Woodstock and to look for Amy but couldn't find her in the crowd.  Look forward to your class' regular e-mail.
   
    From Marc Jonas:  Barry Cohen was one of the other boys in that photo, but I can't recall the last boy's name.
        It's been pretty cold here, except for one day.  Storm expected tonight.
   
    [Rich -- That's who I recognized but couldn't place -- Barry.  Maybe someone will recognize the last boy once I get the photo to Stu to post.
        And Marc sent that note almost a week before yesterday's big Northeast storm.]
   
    From Larry Kincade, by way of Barbara Blitfield Pech:  Go to this site and click on your state to see some of the projects listed in this bill.  I found it to be very interesting and informative.  Also, you can see that a lot of cities and towns are not listed.  I wonder if the leaders of the missing places are just "not on the ball" so to speak, and if they did not submit their wish lists?
        http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_state
   
    And this news from Judy Hartstone:
        Whenever I tell anyone I left Bainbridge Island to move to Pittsburgh, they want to know why. Here’s the answer:
        Shortly after my 60th birthday (July ‘07), persistent thoughts about the reality of mortality knocked on the door of my consciousness, compelling me to take a stark look at my life and realistically consider the path ahead as the final third (or thereabouts) of my life.
        Here I was, living what many would consider the perfect idyllic life on an island – true, it’s Puget Sound not the South Pacific, but still….
        And since my life has been dominated by service to the community for the past 15 years, apparently I was living the life people currently aspire to, according to article after article about people retiring from careers to contribute something of themselves to the world.
        I should have been content, no?
        However, as I pondered why I felt compelled to make a change, one word kept surfacing: stagnation. I felt I was stagnating and needed new challenges. I needed to test myself with new experiences, which, by the way, hasn’t always worked the way I would have chosen. To wit: Who knew that a broken heart at 60 is more lastingly painful than the one experienced at 16…
        At first, I began planning for some amorphous time several years into the future, but as my plan for a major transition got “legs,” I put several components into the hopper, and up popped Pittsburgh, meeting the majority of my criteria. Since my house sold quickly, I never even had a chance to visit the city before sending all my stuff to a storage facility helpfully recommended by Neil Guberman.
        Needing to train my replacement and attend my organization’s gala fundraiser – as well as celebrate the election among friends – I bunked down at the local hotel for five weeks before Sadie and I embarked on a 16-day drive that took me from Bainbridge Island down the west coast to San Diego, up to Flagstaff, Arizona, before heading east.
        Oh, sure, my timing wasn’t the best; who knew the economy was going to crash. But here am I in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, looking for a job and considering going back to graduate school.
        I just moved into a new condo and the future is One Big Adventure.
   
    [Rich -- Finally, I could never understand dirty old men.  Their actions seemed so transparent.  I wondered how they possibly thought they could get away with what they were trying.  Then, yesterday, I got caught in one of those dances on a narrow sidewalk, with a woman who was maybe in her late thirties.  We both moved left at the same time.  Then we both moved right.  Finally, to indicate the foolishness of our situation, I gave her my most charming smile.  And she glared at me like, "Why are you flirting with me, old guy?"]
   
    The South '65 blog:  reunionclass65.blogspot.com
   
   
    Rich