Update 5-25-10

Hi,

A trio of easy notes, an apology, a new e-mail address, a comment from my sister about aging, a couple of funny Internet observations on the same subject, and the party-goer list.

From Linda Tobin Kettering:  Yup, all is well.  Check out my vacation photos on Facebook.

From Ryki Zuckerman:  As Barbara Blitfield Pech mentioned last week, there are some busy hackers out there.
    The Yahoo account of a friend of mine got hacked two months ago.  The hackers somehow were able to get into her account and change her password.  They sent the same message you mention from her e-mail address to her whole address book, asking for cash and written in pidgin English, no less.  She couldn't get into her own account, and since it was after 5:00 on a Friday, no one was available for live support at Yahoo.  After trying for days to resolve the fiasco, she switched to AOL.

From Robert Fiveson:  I read with interest about Father Joe Barnett.  I was an amateur beekeeper for three years, when I last lived in Virginia -- much to the dismay of my next door neighbor.  Bees are a marvelous and amazing insect that contribute enormously to our agriculture and have characteristics that are astonishing.  For example, they maintain the temperature inside the hive within 4 degrees, summer and winter.  In winter, they group tightly and vibrate their wings so fast they produce heat.  In the summer, they spread out and do the same thing, to air condition the hive.
    I spent many hours tending them, but my most wonderful times were just sitting at the end of the day and watching the gatherers come back from their missions to collect pollen.  Scouts communicate to the hive where the flowers are by doing a "waggle dance" at the entrance.  This is interpreted as coordinates.  The sound of bees flying just by my ear and over my head as they returned and I sat as close as possible to the hives was oddly rewarding.  Of course, my family and neighbors thought I was insane. 
    Bees are a rich source of income, are critical to pollination, and, of course, reward us by allowing us to steal their treasure -- the wonderful honey.  In my travels, I have always brought back honey from all over the world because the taste is subtly different depending on location, type of flower, strain of bees, and the surrounding soil.  Before I started, I was afraid of bees.  Now, I love each one.  Weird, I know.

[Rich -- Next, the miscommunication.  As most of you know, I edit these notes, sometimes, it seems, too quickly.  Last week, I tightened a note from Barbara Blitfield Pech to read:  "So could you please ask any former Temple Gates of Zion members to send their names either to my e-mail address or to my Facebook account."
    It was those last five words -- or to my Facebook account -- that got me in trouble.

Barbara quickly wrote:  Oh, no... I did not write "Send to my Facebook account."  Please retract that.  Thanks.
    
And I quickly apologized:  Sorry, I must have misunderstood, and I'll put a note in next week's newsletter.  You know I clean up grammar, and I make notes more polite.  But I don't invent things I couldn't possibly imagine.  I wonder what threw me off.

Barbara replied:  Not to worry.  We've all been there/done that.
    
So, please, write Barbara if you want to be on the Temple Gates of Zion alumni list.  But write using her e-mail address -- planb18@hotmail.com.  Thanks.]

The new e-mail address, from Kay Gallin, class of '71.  Please add me to your mailing list.  Thanks.  KayGallin@aol.com

Some observations from my sister, Marilyn:  I saw Tony Bennett perform the other night -- at age 84 -- with his 36-year-old daughter.  I also have a 77-year old friend who can do anything without a problem -- bending, lifting, being on his knees.  I can't believe it.
    In addition, I'm having dinner with a 98-year-old in a week-or-so -- a Holocaust survivor, who only uses a cane.  He says he still keeps house -- an apartment -- for himself.  He stands up straight and seems to walk and get around fine.  I'm also acquainted with a nun who "retired" at 82, but she's still zipping around at 85.  She's always going someplace, doing some missionary work. 
    Another 96-year-old was in my writing class last year.  She was another missionary, a Jewish woman who had converted to Catholicism and helped found Grailville in Ohio.  It's a women's agricultural/cultural organization.
    People are amazing today.  Now, I understand how the 76-year-old Holocaust survivor -- who I met years ago, and whose life was chronicled in Hannah's Suitcase -- was still skiing with his 20-year-old daughter.  Previously, I'd never had experiences with older people other than our grandmothers and the other grandparents from our neighborhood.  They did "old" things, like staying around the house, not venturing far, and walking slowly.  Not these people.
    I also met the daughter of Arthur Murray a few weeks ago.  She's married to Dr. Heimlich, who was with her that afterrnoon.  She just came out with her memoir, Out of Step, and he's about to release one of his own.  He's 90, and she's 84.  They live in the rich neighborhood next to mine.  The occasion was a small book talk, so I got to talk with both of them.  Like a lot of Cincinnati events, unlike those in New York City, you can often talk, or get up close, to the celebrities.  Though both these people were originally from New York. 

Some Internet observations, culled from several dozen forwarded from a friend, Steve Walker, in Dallas: 
    1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
    2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
    3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
    4. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray?  I don't want to have to restart my collection.  Again.
    5. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to a document that I swear I didn't make any changes to.
    6. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what was going on when I first saw it.
    7. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word being said?
    8. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you're going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
    9. Sometimes, I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
    10.  Even under ideal conditions, people have trouble locating their car keys or finding their cell phones or reading glasses.  But everyone can hit the snooze button, in under a second, from 3 feet away, eyes closed.

Finally, the summer reunion party-goers.  Again, this is primarily the class of '65 people.  Others may also stop by, and, of course, everyone is welcome.

The date: Friday, July 16th to Sunday, July 18th 
The place: Hyatt Regency Wind Watch in Hauppauge, New York 
The phone number: 631-784-1234 

Berliner, Jay
Bittman, Jerry (?)
Blitfield-Pech, Barbara (?)
Borman, Stu
Brody-Pilger, Ellen Sue
Button-McAnulty, Barbara
Cohen-Greenseid, Linda
Cooper-Schwartz, Peggy
Eisbrouch, Rich
Epstein-Silver, Ellen (?)
Feit-Baker, Robin (?)
Forbes-Tatelman, June
Gabbay, Henry
Glasser, Les
Guberman, Neil 
Halprin, Art
Hilton, Eric
Hoenig-Barry, Sharon 
Joseph-Tuckerman, Susan '66
Kandel, Stu
Kellman, Barnet
Minsky-Hahn, Roz
Moss, Allen
Nelson-Gillen, Valerie 
Peters-Sylvan, Judy
Pizzimenti, Dennis (?)
Purcell, Craig '66
Rosen, Peter 
Rugen, Larry & Joanie
Saunders-Goldstein, Irene 
Scheidt, Bernie
Shapiro, Dennis (?)
Sipp-Green, Mary
Stellabotte, Danny

The South '65 e-mail addresses:  reunionclass65.blogspot.com

The South '65 photo site:  picasaweb.google.com/SouthHS65 


Rich