Chaminade Reunion '87 Blog

Drinking in the Bob Hope Center?

2010-02-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

Drinking in the Bob Hope Center? I can't miss a chance to do that. Why go to Napa when you can drive to West Hills? I am looking forward to spending the night hanging out with fellow alums and it's a nice chance to see folks from other classes as well.

Hello from Pia

2008-04-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I guess it always took me a little bit longer to get with it...so now, finally, a year after our reunion, I finally decided to go surfing in the past. I found this blog...and had to ask Amy how to add my commentary (can you tell I'm not that computer savvy).

So now, after thinking about what to write for the past couple of weeks and not coming up with anything ingenious, I decided just to write free-flow and see where it leads me.

I just (1 1/2yrs ago) moved back to the US after living in Cologne, Germany for 7 years. I'm now in Denver, enjoying the mountains and great weather. After Chami, I went to UCSD and got my BA in Visual Communications. The dream being - travelling around the world for photography assignments. That went okay for a while - I had an internship in Morocco filming a documentary for German television, worked in Australia and did some freelance stuff, but when reality set in and I had to pay rent, I started working for Lufthansa German Airlines. At least that way I still had the travelling benefits :-) I work on the ramp, doing weight and balance calculations for the cockpits (who woulda thought...I was never really the math and physics genius), and get to be outside 8 hours a day come rain (snow) or shine. It's actually pretty fun...but my photography dream still lingers. Now, with digital photography and computers, I guess it's not that special anymore...but needless to say, my hard drive is filled with pix, that will hopefully be published some day. Painting is another one of my passions...and that has actually gotten me some business. I've done murals for stores and a dentist in Germany...but the jobs were very scarce, since I always had to juggle the painting around my "real" work.

But that's okay, the creative side is still there, and now that I moved back to the US, I'm one step closer to my dream home in Santa Fe or Taos, NM. Talk about eccentric, creative locals...I'll fit right into that weirdness...

Last year, I got married (in New Mexico). My hubby is German, and will be moving to the US by the end of the year. We have some "immigration" issues to deal with, but hopefully all will be well by Christmas.

While I was in Germany, I had contact with Janet H. and Mel W. briefly via e-mail. It was great to hear from them. I lost touch with Janet, unfortunately, and Mel, at some point never wrote back. I figured she was going through treatments...but when I found out that she had passed away, I so regretted not having gone to visit her when she was in the UK.

Maybe that is also why I had this incredible urge to try to touch base with all of you fellow alumni. We did have a blast, didn't we...with the ups and the downs?

I hope that maybe some of you still check into the blog once in a while. Now that I'm officially online, hopefully some of you will still recognize me. I'll try to add a picture, but no guarantees (I'll have to figure out how first...)

Hey..it worked! Just for info: that's me and my godchild Ava last year in Santa Fe.

Take care everyone,

C-ya

Mr. Kappus

2008-04-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

I remember you, and if not mistaken, you owe me $5. Actually, in order to be mistaken there would have to be a grain of possible truth to the statement. Which there isn't. You can still send me $5 if you like though.

Interesting life so far, but I think it would have been more eye catching if you had bee mauled by three kids, stabbed by a timber wolf, and honeymooned in a car just before it hit you. See how that sounds more incredible?

I am glad you found "us". But from the looks of things, "us" is a non-existant group. This Blog site seems to be a ghost town. And that is a shame because it means after the reunion everyone said "That's done - see you in another 5, 10, 20 . . . . ". It would be nice to think we renewed our interest in sharing our lives as we move forward. But the lack of postings indicates we are done sharing for awhile.

I hope you found the people you were looking for. If not, try the Chaminade website.

Anthony Butler

P.S. If you are wondering why I of all people responded, I had sort of dominated the BLOG for awhile and have checked in looking for vital signs. Those of you who wrote me about missing my rantings, I still rant on my My Space BLOG. You can write me at ByteMe555@aol.com to get my information.

Hello from Klifford Kapus

2008-03-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

Hey there,
I’m not an “official” graduate of Chaminade Class of 87 but I got pulled out halfway through my Junior year.
So for the sake of argument I was with you all for 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and half of 11th grade!
My mom ran out of money (she’s an elementary school teacher) and had to cut her losses and move me into public school.

Anyway, all my high school memories are from Chaminade even though I’m technically an alumnus of Simi Valley High School!

I was recently contacted by a fellow named Rob Vassegh who indicated he knew me from Chaminade.
This got me to thinking and so I “googled” him and it took me to the MIA list for the Class of 87 reunion blog.
While there I also discovered you were looking for Kevin Black (six foot ten? Hard to miss…)
Small world: I actually went to U.C. Davis with Kevin and then lost touch with him after that.
I hope he made it to the reunion. He was a good guy.

So the upshot is I was hoping to get “back in the fold” so to speak and touch base with some of the people that I went to school with.
Even though I missed the 20 year reunion, perhaps I can still make contact with some of my old buds.

I was a bit of an introverted malcontent and not very social so it’s likely that people won’t remember me.
I was the kid with the thick glasses that hung out in the library during lunch and played Dungeons and Dragons after school.
(Doesn’t narrow it down much, does it…?)

Now I’m pushing 40 with three kids and two businesses and I’m virtually unrecognizable from what I used to look like.
It’s a shot in the dark but here’s my family from last Christmas: (I’m the hairy one in the center…)

You can also check out my website www.WildSmiles.org for some photos of our business.
I’ve done dental work on a 600 pound Siberian tiger and there’s some photos of that on the website as well.

Since leaving Chaminade I’ve been mauled by a mountain lion, fought malignant melanoma, honeymooned in a Scottish castle, been stabbed, hit by a car, bitten by a timber wolf, got married, had three little boys and one time I woke up hung-over 10 clicks out of St. Truiden Belgium after being mercilessly beaten by six angry Walloons…
So I’ve lived a pretty full life so far!

Anyway, let me know what you think.
Warmest Regards,
Klifford T. Kapus DDS, MSD
kliffkapus@comcast.net
www.WildSmiles.org

4 Soren eBay Auctions

2008-02-22T09:23:00.000-08:00

Hello Eagles,

I don't know how many folks are still swinging by the blog, but in the event that you are, I decided to post this. Soren's "4 Soren" Fundraiser went remarkably well. We raised $13,000 that has gone to the purchasing of a new wheelchair accessible van for Soren. Long story short, the state ended up paying for the ramp conversion but my van was too old to convert, much like me. So we instead had to buy a new, already converted van.

Part of this amazing success were purchases by our fellow Eagles! First of all Shellaine donated her beautiful jewelry from her company Trophy Girl and her husband Joe donated some really cool mixed media pieces. And then Sue Dolan and Marita Daukas purchased pieces! I'm so overwhelmed and thankful for everyone's generosity for my boy!

And while LOTS of stuff sold, the remaining pieces are now in my garage. So I'm slowly putting them on eBay. Currently, 2 pieces are up and I will probably get to more this weekend. The easiest way to find them is to put "4 Soren" into the Search section. Check them out. See if there's something you like. All the money will continue to go to Soren and his sweet new wheelchair accessible ride!

Thanks!

Amy

Finally.... Photos have been posted

2008-02-09T00:17:00.000-08:00

Just got my photos posted from my November posting. Please check them out.

Better late than never....

2008-02-03T22:11:00.000-08:00

Hey, I know, this is late. But, it was so fantastic to see everyone at the reunion. So much more fun than I thought it was going to be! And Bob Munck is still hilarious!

Also, go rent the movie, Sicko.
Regardless of your political stance.
We will all be touched by illness in this lifetime.
Take it from me.

If anyone wants to say Hello:
szczechipoo@aol.com

Bye for now,
Irene Szczech (small blond chick)

Better late than never....

2008-02-03T22:09:00.000-08:00

4 Soren

2008-01-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have no idea how many folks still check in on the blog. And many of you already got this information via email. But I figured, what the hey, I might as well post it in case someone is checking whose email address I don't have!

Many of you know abou my son Soren and his struggles. Well, we are having a fundraiser for him to raise money for a conversion to make our van wheelchair accessible.

It's an Art Show Fundraiser that opens next Saturday the 19th at

Monkeyhouse Toys & Art Gallery
1618 1/2 Silver Lake Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
323-662-3437

The opening reception will be from 5-9 pm. There will be food, wine, and a DJ. And, most importantly, AWESOME ART!!! A bunch of my animation artist friends have contributed their amazing pieces--from original paintings to prints to handmade (adorable) dolls. There's going to be stuff by...

Craig McCracken, creator of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Van Partible, creator of Johnny Bravo
Chris Reccardi, from Ren and Stimpy (and TONS of other shows)
Chris Savino and Paul Rudish, from Powerpuff, Dexter's Lab and MANY other shows
I've even heard that there's going to be a Family Guy poster signed by everyone on the show.

AND, just added, our own Shellaine Corwell has donated a bunch of her jewelry from her Trophy Girl jewelry line. This stuff is SO COOL I want to buy it all!

Seriously, there's going to be some freakin' cool stuff at a variety of prices. And all the money goes to Soren!

So here's the postcard and info...

For those of you unable to attend, the art will be for sale by the 19th on the Monkeyhouse website at

Monkeyhouse Toys

Or if you don’t want to buy art and just want to donate, you can contribute to

Soren's Fund

And for more info on Soren's progress, you can always check out

Soren's Blog

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate all your kind words and good thoughts!

Amy

Great Reunion!!

2007-12-30T20:32:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,
I can't believe I haven't blogged since before the reunion. First and foremost, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone involved. The reunion was unbelievable and fun and fantastic and so much more. The fact that the blog continues is a testament to our class and its new-found connection. I am really appreciative. It has been wonderful to continue to read about the lives of fellow classmates that I reconnected with at the reunion. The pictures have been great to see, too - please keep posting! I'm also thrilled to read that another get-together happened at the Sagebrush this weekend. I really hope these continue. It would be a great chance to see people again. And, if anyone happens to be in the Santa Barbara area, please let me know!! Finally, I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas, and mostly, I wish you a very happy, healthy, and wonderful new year.
Your friend,
Sheila Peterson

Still On

2007-12-28T12:00:00.002-08:00

Everyone planning to come to the Sagebrush tonight at 7? It's still on.

Also, don't forget the chaminade 87 social network at: chaminade87.ning.com. It's easy and free to create an account, and it allows you to connect up in forums, post pictures, blogs, music, video, etc. to keep us all in touch over the next few years. Come on by.

Sagebrush Part II

2007-12-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

It seems there will be some alums in town over the Xmas break who didn't get to make the reunion (such as Rob LeFebvre in from Alaska) so I thought it would be nice to get together again. And for those of us who did make it and had a great time that weekend, why not do it again?

So for those interested, come by for an informal get-together at Sagebrush again, Friday Dec. 28th at 7pm (on the patio again provided there are heat lamps!).

See ya there,
Sue

Reunion/Donation/Santa

2007-12-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

Class of 1987,

Well Friends, this is it. My final official correspondence to the Class of 87! Thanks again to everyone for a wonderful reunion weekend.

A final thank you to the reunion committee, my co-chair Carol Phalen, Lynn Coyle, Amy Keating, Dave Skaggs, Dave Donnell and Dora Atkinson. You did an incredible job! Thanks to Matt Witshire for his last minute support and encouragement, and for the hot dog cart! Thanks to the bloggers, who read or contributed. Thank you Anthony. Amy, great idea! And thank you Aaron for your help reunion night.

John Lagman and Cara McGann definitely won the traveled the farthest award, from Singapore and from Chile. Thank you!

Sue Dolan won the toughest to recognize award. Welcome back to the states, Sue.

And, the easiest to recognize? Not sure. What do you think?

As you know, we are collecting donations for our Class of 1987 Chaminade Scholarship Fund in honor of Melanie Woiwode, Tiffani-Ann Francis and Erika Vote. I will be contacting the families of Mel, Tiffani and Ann to let them know that they are not forgotten! So if you have the means, PLEASE, go to your check books and write out a check. Be sure to note that it should go towards the Class of 1987 Memorial Scholarship Fund. You can make your check out to Chaminade College Prep, and mail it to Lindsay Katz, Alumni Relations, 10210 Oakdale Ave, Chatsworth, CA 91311. Your donation is tax-deductible and Chaminade will send you a receipt for your records. I hope we can exceed our goal of $1,000. We have collected $740.00 so far. If everyone could send in a $10.00 or $15.00 donation, and if a few of you could send in even more, it would be greatly appreciated. A million thanks!

Finally, a reminder that Santa Claus is coming to town, to Chaminade's Chatsworth campus cafeteria to be exact. Saturday with Santa is this Saturday, December 8th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. And if you are able to come remember to bring your cameras! This is a great, free, casual event. So come by with the kids for crafts, snacks and pictures. Or come on your own to visit. All classes are welcome, as are grandparents!

It has been a pleasure! May God bless you with great happiness this holiday season and in the years to come. Until we meet again...

Lisa Macias

Our Amazing Diana

2007-12-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!

Check out Diana Z.'s ABC News report on the new non-profit organization she's started for children with special needs. As I'm sure some of you now know, Diana is a dentist. Well, she is using her skills to help children with special needs. This is, of course, a subject close to my heart because of my son Soren.

Children with special needs are often turned away by dentists because they don't know how to deal with the child's disability. Or if that child only has insurance provided by the state (Medi-Cal), the dentist turns them away because the payment is significantly lower than their usual pay. This leads parents to neglecting their child's teeth, which of course can lead to other more costly problems.

But Diana is helping kids like Soren (and she's actually looked at Soren's teeth one time!) by starting this organization. She not only sees this kids, she welcomes them. She treats them with the care and understanding they deserve--that everyone deserves.

So check out

Diana's ABC News Report

And for all these kids, I thank you, Diana!

Amy

Dark Friday

2007-11-30T10:39:00.001-08:00

It is a cloudy, dark, and rainy Friday morning. There is something cliche' and yet appropriate about the weather. Today I sit at my desk at work, with my heart being torn to shreds, contemplating having my dog put down. Even now, I am wondering why this is BLOG worthy and why I am writing at all. I am trying to maintain composure at work so I guess this is my outlet. My grief is too monumental to be contained yet I don't want to embarass myself at work.

Bibi was adopted 6 years ago. I got her as a rescue dog. She was small enough to be around the kids and I thought she'd be company for my wife while she was home with the baby (Nathan). The first day she came home - she peed on me while I was sitting on the grass. She had the odd male trait of lifting her leg to pee and she marked me as her own from day one.

Bibi always just "existed". She never begged for your attention, although she was very happy when you noticed her. She liked to have her tummy rubbed and sometimes would like to be carried like a baby. Being a pug, she could snore you out of a sleep.

As the years past, we took her for granted a little and she did not always get the best treatment. It is hard to think that within hours I will be saying good bye forever.

The decision was not black and white. She has poor vision, mostly deaf, and has probably suffered some small strokes. She has leg stiffness and some incontinence. Three days ago she started declining food and started a gagging/choking reflex. The other side is that she "looks" fine and still acts like she has life left in her. She has the same "glad to see" you look. What do you do? Act fast and prevent her further suffering? Watch as she deteriorates for days, weeks, months? Hope that she will get better with excess vet care and medicines - or accept she is 15 and probably doesn't have that much longer anyway? The vet will do what you want and is smart enough to leave you with the facts and the burden of decision. It is a very fine line - and I am sure any decision would leave me full of guilt.

Today, I must look at that little face and hope she understands why I am helping her die. I can barely comprehend it myself, but I hope she at least finds a peace that I will not.

Anthony

Thankful for so much

2007-11-27T09:30:00.000-08:00

Finally got around to posting about our newest arrival. Sarah Naomi was born on October 24th at 10:33 a.m. She weighed 6 lbs 4 oz and was 19 inches long.

Here are some pix from the day she was born, her first days home and of course her announcement photo.

We are all doing well and are very proud!

Anthony, eat your heart out

2007-11-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

Think Anthony Butler looks great in his hospital gown? Here is Rebecca modeling the latest in pediatric hospital attire.

Oh, and just to be fair (to make everyone feel waifish), here is me right before I delivered Sarah (humiliating, but hey, you already saw how huge I was at the reunion). I apologize that I could not figure out how to change the orientation of Rebecca's photo.

Also Thankful

2007-11-26T15:25:00.001-08:00

I know that Thanksgiving is past and that we are now officially into the Christmas season. However, like Anthony, I wanted to write about things I am thankful for regarding the reunion.

Since graduating 20 years ago, I have not been in contact with many folks from Chaminade. Obviously, Anthony and I have kept our friendship going. And through the years I've seen Dani Carusi, Tracy Tuso, and Denise Bradley now and again. But otherwise, I haven't had ties to Chaminade.

So when the planning for the 20 year reunion came around, knowing that I didn't really know anyone, I was really nervous about attending. But instead of getting hung up on freaking myself out, which is what I usually do, I decided to jump in and help so I could actually reaquaint myself with everyone. And I'm so thankful I did.

First of all, working on the committe was great. I got to meet up and chat via email with Lisa, Carol, Lynn, Dave, Dave, and Dora. I got to meet Tom and Carol's new baby and Lisa's kids. I was thankful to be a part of this group who just wanted to throw a good party.

Then by initiating the blog, I got to hear from many of you who needed help. I've actually ended up continuing email relationships with people because of this. I've had great conversations that I never would have had and I'm very thankful to have these new/old friendships.

Once the blog was up and running, I was so thankful to read about what everyone was doing with their lives. Even when we found out that some of our friends had passed, I was thankful that we all had each other and could share in mourning that loss.

As the reunion came close, I got to email and call people to harass them to come to the event. Though this made me especially nervous, I was thankful that people responded so kindly.

During the reunion weekend itself, I was incredibly thankful to have been not only a part of this committee but a part of this class. Everyone there was so appreciative of the time we took. Everyone looked happy and excited to be there. And I was thankful to be there to see old friends, reconnect, and celebrate with everyone.

Thank you all for participating in whatever way you did. For reading the blog, for writing a blog, for posting pictures, for asking for music suggestions, for posting music titles, for attending Sagebrush, the White House, or the Family Picnic.

Thank you for being part of the class of '87. I am thankful.

Amy

THANKSGIVING

2007-11-21T23:16:00.000-08:00

I can imagine that with parades, football, family, friends, food to be prepared and consumed, and eventually dishes to do - most of you will not be killing time tuning in to the BLOG. So, these sentiments will have a shelf-life of at least a week. Then it's "screw you and the turkey you rode in on".

In addition to the usual checklist of items to be thankful for - I would like to add some personal thanks. I am thankful this year for the reunion commitee (except the "other Phalen" who did absolutely nothing - and said so everytime someone gave her credit which was very honorable.) who did such a great job pulling us altogether and planning such a nice weekend. I am greatful for everyone who took the time to attend and graciously share their lives. I appreciate those who could not attend but let us all know they were okay and doing their thing. Oddly enough, I may be most thankful for the BLOG itself. It allowed me to open a door of humor and create a connection with many of you even before the big night. I am at heart, a shy and quiet person, and I don't always feel at ease in large groups. That pre-reunion Blogging ice-breaker was a true treat for me and to have it so well received was a blessing.

The obvious wish is for all of you to have a Happy, Healthy Thanksgiving with much to be thankful for. The not so obvious may be to remember that there are those of us who may not have had the best year. In life, we rarely get to experience the UPS without the DOWNS. So, if this Thanksgiving finds you dealing with some difficulty or misfortune, hurt or sorrow, or just something that knocked you off the path you thought you were on - I hope you can find a simple pleasure to be thankful for and move forward in the knowledge you can and will endure. And I can bake you a pecan pie if it helps.

Oh, and I am thankful for the emergency rooms in both Idaho and California!

Anthony Butler

Unrecognizable?!

2007-11-16T09:05:00.000-08:00

Well you really didn't expect me to have the same hair, and lord forbid the same eyebrows, did you?!

Anyway, here is a much better picture to look at - his name is Keenan and he is 8 months old today (which means I haven't had a full night's sleep in about a year now).

Take care everyone, and now that I'm back in LA I hope to run into some of you.

Sue

DVD Mix-Up

2007-11-14T15:52:00.000-08:00

In addition to people who did not get a reunion DVD, there were also a handful of people who got the incorrect DVD. If you take your DVD out of the protective sleeve and it has a little cartoon chicken wearing bondage attire - you got the wrong DVD. This DVD can be returned to Amy for a copy of the reunion DVD.

We are still not sure how the boxes of DVD's got mixed up. I respectfully request that if you have not watched the "bogus" DVD that you do not watch it. If you have already watched it, then I can only say I am terribly embarrassed. Sometimes, when you are young and stupid, you do things for money you would not normally do. I would like to point out, all the girls were over 18, none of the midgets got hurt, the scene with the mattress sized cornbread was a computerized green-screen effect, and no one actually had physical contact with the goat - he was just there for atmosphere.

Anthony "money shot" Butler

DVD Delay

2007-11-14T15:16:00.000-08:00

I'd like to apologize to the folks who didn't get a reunion slide show DVD. There has been a delay in production and distribution due to busy family lives of the producers/distributors. Seems that as soon as the reunion ended, the universe filled the void of our newly found free time with a ton of stuff to do.

But have no fear, the DVDs will be made and sent before the holidays (well, after Thanksgiving, but before Christmas). So when you gather with your family and friends this season, you can show them yourself in days of yore as you tip back a little eggnog and snack on those fantastic Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark Squares.

Amy

Multi Media Social Site

2007-11-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

The reunion sounds like it was tons of fun! I've set up a little social networking site (like a blog on steroids) over at http://chaminade87.ning.com/

Feel free to join up, and request an invite. It's free, and no one is going to use your email addresses to put even more spam in your inboxes.

It's chock full of multi-media technology, so Tom could upload the chami version of "i love the 80's" and anthony could photoshop and upload to slide shows. I've even got this blog itself coming to the site.

Anyway, come on by, connect up, and see if it's something y'all want to use.

rob

http://chaminade87.ning.com/

Who's That Girl?

2007-11-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, Mindi already posted a photo of her, but her eyes were closed. So here is another photo of the unanimously most unrecognizable alum: Sue Dolan

I will openly admit that when she came up to me at Sagebrush, I stared at her like a deer in the headlights not having any idea who she was. I actually had to ask Kim Radmacher. Feeling like an idiot, I went up to Sue and admitted my ignorance and she said that everyone whas having the same problem.

Again, sorry she's sideways.

Amy

WARNING! THIS IS SORT OF GROSS

2007-11-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

If you read this - you do so with the warning it is gross to an extent.

Since the reunion is over but the page is still alive, and I was asked to keep blogging now and then, I feel any topic or anecdote is open to fair game. With that in mind, I offer this piece of true life obsurdity.

The first thing you must know is our toilet at my work refills very slowly after flushing. Second, you need to know that I time everything to the minute. If I need to be somewhere at 2pm and it takes 10 minutes from work, I will work right up until 1:49, take a minute to run to my car, and if all goes well, arrive ten minutes later at 2 pm. I don't know why I play it so close - but I do. Hence my problem.

Today, with what I thought was time to spare, I went into the restroom. Usually, I have rule about only disposing of liquids while in a public restroom, but my new high fiber diet has me bending rules. So, I do my business and flush the toilet. As I am washing hands, I notice a small "tidbit" has broken away - we'll call him Jerry. Jerry is fighting the current and heading up to the higher water. he breaks free of the porcelain tide and succeeds in staying behind while the remainder flushes away. As he drifts to the bottom of the bowl Jerry seems quite pleased with himself.

I am irritated. Who does this little s**t think he is? Is he better than everyone else? Too good to get flushed down? And now, I have to wait for the tank to refill. I dry my hands. I look at my face. I notice how much more gray is in my hair. Tank not filled. I see what is in my pocket. I check my nose for excess hair. My toe nails need trimming. Tank still filling.

I notice the time. I should be leaving - but this turd is holding me hostage. I can't just leave him for someone else to find. I think he knows he has me in a bind. His sense of smug satisfaction creates a hostility in me I usually only have for slow drivers in the fast lane.

My perfect timing is now off. I am late. Maybe I can make up the time by doing 80 on the freeway. I begin to think, if it is even possible, that I will flush extra hard to cause Jerry some kind of pain equal to the frustration he has caused me. Then I realize I am planning revenge on a turd and I know my time in the bathroom has turned into a dementia.

The tank stops and I flush, holding the handle down completely and not letting go until Jerry is swept away. Even then, I wait to make sure he was not a gold medalist in swimming and won't be beating the odds again. When I am satisfied he is gone, I leave. Late, but with a "I beat you" feeling in my heart and a spring in my step.

Anthony "flushed away" Butler

JODY KYMAN - Just As You Remember

2007-11-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

The fact that anyone actually took me up on this offer - well, how could I disappoint?

So, here I am with the fantastically demure Jody Kyman. I distinctly remember taking this photograph because I had just come from the men's room where I had dripped water on myself. Afraid some would think I had wet my pants, I requested to be shot from the shoulder up.

Now we have a digitally altered photograph and an almost believeable back-story. This practically looks convincing enough that I may not have to show for the next reunion - I'll just put myself in people's photos.

Anthony "the Phantom" Butler

P.S. Down to 234 - could have been more if it weren't for those damn fun-size Halloween Snickers!!

More of my Pics

2007-11-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

I don't know why my message is at the end of my photos? Sorry - doin' the best I can. Here are some more, or here were some more. Mindi

My pictures from the reunion.

2007-11-04T19:04:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures I took. Enjoy. I think you will recognize everybody (the really tall guy with Sue Dolan and Tracy Tuso is Sue's husband. I have more I will attach, but I'm just getting the hang of this blogging thing and they wouldn't upload with this entry, who knows? I'm just proud that I got my pictures on here at all. More coming right up.

Mindi

Wonderful Spouses

2007-11-04T16:16:00.001-08:00

There were many wonderful spouses at the reunion. And as I said earlier, I think they were great, brave people. Here are a few caught on film.

First are Lynn Coyle and her awesome husband Chris.

Ooh, speaking of Lynn, she was the woman behind the money managing for the reunion and kept track of who was coming. It's a job I seriously could not have done and my hat is off to this amazing woman.

Okay, back to the spouses. Another great husband along for the ride is Mike who is married to Denise Bradley.

I didn't get to meet Mark Bocchicchio's wife, but she's really lovely! (I just hope she forgives me for sending her husband my famous "Vagina Song." I guess I'll find out at the next reunion.)

And here's Mark Kaylor, his beautiful wife, and Tom Molnar.

Finally, the stunning Cara McGann and her husband Don.

My last batch of few photos are coming up. So post yours everyone!

Amy

Anthony Photo Shop

2007-11-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

Sounds like you all had a great time at the reunion sorry i missed it. Anthony this is the only picture I have of me on here. Can ya photo shop me :-). Maybe i will come to the 25th if we have one :-)

jodi

jodikyman@aol.com

Bill Horbury

2007-10-31T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here it is. My proof. And we must have taken this picture at least 10 times due to various camera malfunctions and multiple cameras.

I would like to clarify a point. I had earlier stated Bill held me tight during this photo shoot. I have been informed by his attorney that his hand was stuck in my back fat. Apparently, I mistook his struggle to get free for an embrace. My apologies to Bill. And my apologies to Bill's wife who could not see what I had that she didn't. Obviously - nothing.

Anthony "home wrecker" Butler

PhotoShop fixes ALL!

2007-10-31T17:34:00.000-07:00

Didn't get a picture with me? No problem. Post a picture of yourself and I'll photoshop myself into the shot. For $5 I will autograph it. I am telling you now - it will be a picture most people will look at and say "Who the f**k is that and why do you have a picture of them?" Save your money!

Michele, you were in such a hurry I did not get a picture with you. But then again, next to such loveliness would anyone notice me in the picture anyway? I think not!

With such a dashing group of people, I hope more of you will post a few pictures.

Anthony "blurred image" Butler

Pictures...

2007-10-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a little left out that I didn't get a picture with Mr. Butler. I guess I'll have to wait for the 30 year reunion.

Here are a few pictures I do have...

Here I am with Daniela Carusi...we have know each other most of our lives since early elementary school and growing up on the same street...

Me and Jessica Zada...

Me and Tracy Tuso...

Out on the dance floor, Denise Bradley, me and Jen Mitchell...

Finally, one I am not in....Daniela, Matt Wiltshire and Mark Bocchicchio...

Anyone else have pictures to share?

Michele

Old Friends

2007-10-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

(again, to view pictures larger, please click on them.)

It's true. Anthony did take photos with men.

And though I don't have any of him getting all snuggly with Bill Horbury, I do have this photo of him, Mike Ricci, me, and Dennis Ciplickis.

(NOTE: In the background are Kevin Black and Dave Skaggs (back only). Notice how tall Kevin is compared to me despite him being in the background. I wish I got a picture of us together. It would have been like an Elf and a Hobbit, even though my normal-sized feet were shoved into really high heels.)

But that's all I have of Mr. Butler.
Next up are Matt Wiltshire, Denise Bradley, Daniela Carusi, and Mark Grondin.

Here's Bob Munck and Brian Altman

Then Bob moved on to a picture with Irene Szczech and Coach Lawson.

And last in this round are me, Rick Lewis, Brian Gehl, and Cathy Phalen.

Anybody else out there have pictures they want to share?

Amy

Better Company

2007-10-26T00:22:00.000-07:00

While it is certainly an ego boost to have my picture taken with such a generous assortment of beautiful ladies - I must confess I have many pictures I took with male peers. I know for a fact I took about 26 pictures with Bill Horbury. But he held me tight in each one and I was like melted butter. (Neither of us are gay - I sacrificed our manliness for a joke. Sorry Bill)

But I can tell you what I use to attract so many women. It's easy. Even though I have a high intellect and razor sharp wit, most women only view me as eye candy. And as anyone can see, I had to be the biggest piece of eye candy at the reunion.

Sweet Jesus in monkeytown Amy! Didn't you take one picture of me where I don't look like I should be on a beach with people trying to push me back into the water? Couldn't you have taken maybe 5 minutes to airbrush me? C'mon, I printed out one of the images and the picture itself weighed 10 pounds.

I kid, of course. While I almost never allow myself to be photographed, this was a worthwhile occasion. Heavy or not, I'd rather have the memories of being with such fine people. And I never blame anyone or make excuses - little movement and big appetite made me who I am today. It's not society, the media, advertising, my parents, or any of the other things people like to blame. I have been winning my fight against anorexia for years.

The tragic fact is, it's not how I look that has become an issue. People who go on Oprah and say "I am big and beautiful" may be speaking the truth. But are they healthy? Accepting yourself has nothing to do with being a double western cheeseburger away from a heart attack at 40. I have looked at these latest photos, examined my priorities, taken a look at my son sleeping, and decided I'd like to stop cutting my life short. (Sorry Mark B. - I won't be having that heart attack up north)

I have been asked to continue BLOGGING (is anyone still reading?). As of Sunday October 21, 2007 I weighed 237 pounds. Amongst other topics, I will give periodic updates on my weight. My goal is to lose 2 pounds a week for a total of 12 pounds by the Saturday with Santa on December 8. After that, I will continue at that rate until I reach my birthweight and start wearing clothes from the Gap Kids collection at the 30 year reunion.

If you have a bad habit, change it for 6 weeks! Put that cigarette down. Have a salad. Cut down to one glass of wine with dinner. Shred your passport and stop going to third world countries for cheap sex with underfed women and livestock (I'm not naming ANYONE). What could it hurt?

Anthony "Life Coach" Butler

What The Butler Saw

2007-10-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

Women. 95% of my pictures of Anthony are with various women.

Here he is in one of his rare moments alone (sorry, he's sideways).

But then he joins Linda Fletcher, Jacque Rardin, and Beth Esters.

Later he gave me some alone time.

At the picnic, he was surrounded by Irene Szczech, Cara McGann, and me.

And then Lisa Macias joined us for a final photo.

What is your secret, Mr. Butler?

Amy

Reunion Picture Teaser

2007-10-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Nobody has contacted me about posting photos. And I just got mine developed today, so I'm going to just post them directly onto the blog. If anybody else feels like doing this, please feel free! And if you are in love with any of the photos I post, email me and I'll send you a copy via email.

Since I don't have time to post them all right now, I am giving you a little teaser.

Okay, first let me apologize. I lack the skills rotate and save this picture, so you're going to have to either turn your head or your computer. But then, it's rather unusual this way.

Just what is Lucy Braker doing to Steve Orr? Is Steve enjoying it? I'm assuming it's cool with her husband, since he is standing right there. (if you double click on the photo, you can enlarge it and see how bizarre it is.)

More, less provacative, photos to follow.

Amy

it's all beginning to make sense

2007-10-18T18:01:00.001-07:00

so today, the UPS guy arrives with not 1, not 2 not 3 but 8 boxes from fisher-price. the boxes just kept coming, like a family of clowns out of a widlly painted mini cooper.

it's all starting to make sense now.

at 12:03pm, gemma says "the UPS guy is here". i look out the window. no UPS guy. at 12:04pm, knock-knock. who is it?? - the UPS guy.

i was absolutely flabbergasted with the amount of packages we received.
then gemma said, "it's an early birthday present from anthony."

how did anthony know your birthday is coming up? i ask gemma. "we told him on sunday" she says.

so apparently, gemma, the brains behind this whole operation, put dignan up to taking the wallet.

she also says "thanks for all the toys, uncle anthony, we love them!"

Shelly - Fear Not!

2007-10-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

Shelly I assure you, if none of the lovely ladies complained when I felt them up Saturday - then they aren't likely to press charges for being felt up by your son on Sunday.

And the gag about him having taken a wallet would be funny if it weren't true. I can only figure he nabbed it when I bent down to say hi to him. He must have ditched it driving home because I found it in the road. It had been stripped of my I.D. and credit cards, smelled like ketchup, and had goldfish crackers in the change pocket. The same day I got a call from Capital One asking about a charge for $2000 in Fischer Price toys.

I'd be freakin' pissed if I didn't admire his subtlety and technique.

Anthony "Who stole my identity" Butler

Santa at Chaminade, December 8th!

2007-10-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

For those of you not willing to let the reunion spirit die, please mark your calendars! My sisters and I have been hosting an alumni event for the past six years called Saturday with Santa. It is a wonderful event, casual and fun, held this year at the little campus, Chaminade's Chatsworth campus in the cafeteria, on Saturday, December 8th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

There are snacks, crafts and sports for the kids, and a visit from the best Santa you've ever seen. Real beard and all. It is an excellent opportunity to avoid the lines at the mall. Just bring along a camera, and snap as many pictures as you'd like. Everything is free, and you can take care of your Christmas card picture without a hassle.

And don't worry if you don't have kids. Lots of alums come by on their own, with a spouse, or just with friends. And a fun thing is, it is open to all alums, so you can see people from our class, as well as the classes above and below us.

So again, mark you calendars now. Last year, Carol Phalen, Kathy Hayes, Doug Ingalls, Mike Ricci, Dave Skaggs and Tom Molnar were all there with their families. You can contact them for more info.

We hope to see you there!
Lisa

one more thank you shoutout!

2007-10-16T22:06:00.001-07:00

not too late, i am jumping on board the thank you train too! thanks to all who organized, oversaw, donated and emailed relentlessly about all 20th reunion-related events - you people ROCK!

so totally completely bummed that i missed saturday night. sounds like it was a blast but it was great to see everyone & their families on sunday - what an awesome day for a picnic!

again, i had lots of fun catching up with everyone who was able to roll out of bed so early on a sunday morning. also cannot believe the amount of twins our class has produced - what was in that ameci pizza anyways? the hubman commented that we had a nice group of little future citizens as all kids were so well behaved while they waited patiently in line for the bouncy castle!

i apologize profusely to any lovely ladies out there that my son dignan may have felt up at the picnic on sunday. he LOVES girls, i mean he's not even 2 & he's already picking up chicks. i have my work cut out for me.

i also found someone's wallet, half a hot dog, and 2 broken crayolas in the pockets of his jeans just in case anyone was wondering.

anyhoo, if anyone wants to contact me or bring dignan up on charges of harrassment or theft, shoot me an email at shellainey@aol.com.
take care fellow alums!

p.s. just kidding on the wallet part. i made that up.

Reunion Photos

2007-10-16T21:27:00.001-07:00

I've heard folks have photos they wish to share. I think the best way to do this is to upload them to a site that has free photo sharing, like shutterfly.

So folks who have photos, upload them to shutterfly.com. Once you've loaded them on that site, send me the link and I'll post it to the blog. You can email me at chaminadereunion87@pacbell.net or amykeatingrogers@pacbell.net.

Hopefully this will be an easy solution for everyone to view photos and buy them if they wish.

If you have a better idea, please tell me. This is a new thing for me, blogging-wise, but from what I've read, this seems to be the way to do it.

Amy

WOW! What a weekend! (I need a nap...)

2007-10-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

As others have said - Good job to everyone who helped plan and make the weekend happen. The party at the White House was probably as close to recreating an old school Chami' house party as you could get, with a couple added bonus items.

1. The food was a nice catered spread instead of some soggy potato chips and pizza
2. We had a bartender and a stocked bar. No beer runs or refilling dad's vodka bottle with water.
3. We had THE Richard Blade instead KROQ commercials every 12 minutes.

and last but not least.....
4. The cops didn't show up and send everyone running at 11PM!!!!!

It was really cool for me to see everyone again (if but for a short time), hang out with old friends, and talk about some of the great memories we had from high school. Although everyone looked very much like they did in high school, we are all still uniquely different which made for great times then and now.

One more Thank You to Lisa, Carol, Amy, Lynn, and everyone else who helped make the reunion weekend a lot of fun to be a part of.

Good luck Class of 87 with the next 20 years! At least now, I think I may get to stay in touch with a few more of you before our next reunion.

Later -

Heshire

Maybe a photo gallery?

2007-10-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

There was a lot of picture taking going on Saturday night (and probably at the the other events as well). Mindi mentioned she had pictures to share and I do as well. It was such a busy night that I know we all didn't get a chance to see everyone. I think we would all enjoy seeing everyone's photos. Is the blog the best place to post the pictures, or maybe some sort of gallery would work better. I've seen picture galleries before, but honestly have no clue how to set one up. Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks again to the reunion crew who put this all together. Saturday night was so much fun. It was great to see everyone and hear all the 80's music. Please don't wait another 10 years to keep in touch... michele.burlingham@wellpoint.com

Michele (Yasiello) Burlingham

My Head??

2007-10-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

Allow me to join the ranks of blogging procrastinators (and Mark, you thought you were the tardy royalty of the class).

I had such a great time in California last week - I miss it! The reunion was a blast, not only because Lisa, Carol, Amy and all of the other organizers worked so hard, but mainly because you're a pretty amazing and fun group of people. I'm sorry to have missed the picnic, but Boston was calling me back.

Thanks for breaking the ice about my head, Anthony. Everyone was quite silent about the gash (and in case you were wondering, it was not a makeup faux pas that I wasn't aware of). You're not alone - I went back to work on Monday, and between my 25 patients and a host of doctors, nurses & secretaries, only 4 people said anything about it. The story behind it is sadly lame. Even worse than when I chipped my front tooth carrying Tom Bratkovich on my back (exiting a bar in our UCLA days). When I told an anesthesiologist at work what happened, her response was "Dani, you're a twit," so rather than risk more name-calling, I'll let you all come up with a good story for me...

Returning to Boston was a brisk awakening - I discovered that my landlord had kindly put up my storm windows for me (do Californians even have a concept of storm windows?) and I had to fire up my heater. Red Sox passion seems to have defervesced this year as well, and sadly the team is feeling it. I'm not a baseball fan, but that World Series win was an unforgettable time around here.

I loved visiting with all of you and I'm sorry I couldn't hear more about your adventures. I would really love to hear more from people, so keep blogging and don't forget your long-distance alums. Drop me a line if you're heading out this way. I will gladly give guidance on running routes, bike rides, leaf peeping (yes, that's a term), mogul skiing (or how to avoid it), speaking like a local (just talk really smaht), and a wide variety of ethnic restaurants. I'm even known to give free medical advice to people I like.

And finally, let me substitute a more reasonable photo from Mark B's wedding (one where I'm upright). In case you have trouble identifying who's who, I'm the one in the dress.

And since I have no pictures to share of my children, I'll insert one from work:

Aren't you impressed with how squeaky clean our babies are delivered? We pride ourselves on service around here.

I'd love to hear from you! dani@massmed.org

It Was Good to See all of You!

2007-10-16T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hello to the Class of '87. I had meant to blog before the reunion and just kept putting it off so I am going to just sit down and write now before I procrastinate any further. I had a great time at Sagebrush, the White House and the Picnic. It was wonderful to see everyone and I agree that everyone looks great!!
Sagebrush Cantina was a nice way to start the weekend and I really enjoyed getting the nervousness about seeing old classmates out of the way by arriving with Sue (Dolan) and not having to go it alone.
The White House was an interesting place. I had not heard of it before but LOVE the location as it was only 7.5 miles from my house!! That was a bonus. The night was a whirlwind and it was really fun dancing to all the great old 80's music. I did take pictures and when I get them uploaded onto my laptop (need to get a new cable) I will post those too. I had trouble seeing the faces on the slide show and was so happy that we were given a DVD of that - - thanks to all involved for the hard work. My children (Madison, age 8 and 5 year old twins Emma and Ethan) watched it with me the next morning and yes, my 8 year old said we had no fashion sense and what was with the awful pink lipstick (Jamie Dillon reminded me at the picnic that it was #44). I must admit the pictures of me in the DVD are ugly (so said my five year old twins) - did I really go to school looking that bad ALL the time? I hope I have managed to tame my hair a bit since the 80's - - as I told Daniella, Lot's of product!
The picnic was a nice early afternoon and my kids went crazy for the bounce house. They didn't care where or why we were there, just went right to the bounce house. Sorry again to Stacey Frashure's 8 year old son who my 8 year old daughter whacked - she is a bit of a bully, all 44 lbs of her. All of the alum kids are gorgeous and there were lot's of them - - and so many twins!! (mine, Shelly Corwell's, Amy Cameron's and the future Phalen Molnar twins!). I was surprised that driving onto campus did not bring back any memories for me - in fact I had to mapquest how to get there (even though I still live in Northridge) could this be an early onset of Alzheimer's or has the twenty intervening years; seven spent at other learning institutions, and three children overloaded my high school memories? Who knows, but I now have new ones of everyone again and hope to keep in better touch this time. Thanks again to everyone who planned and who attended any of these festivities, it was a great weekend. If anyone would like to keep in touch, please e-mail me at mindiadam@netzero.com. See you all sooner next time!!!Mindi (Comunale) Grant

Need a slide show DVD?

2007-10-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

That was quite a party! Thanks to all who made the effort to attend. Whether you came in from Simi Valley or Singapore or Chile, it was an effort for each of you to be there. Thank you for coming!

Amy did have DVDs of the slide show ready to send home with each alum. But we didn't get a chance to mention the bags were only for alums, not for the guests, so we ran out before the end of the night. If you would like to receive a copy of the slide show, please email me at, you know the address, LISIEFLAV@SBCGLOBAL.NET. Make sure to include your mailing address. Amy, the wonderful woman that she is, will make the copies, and I will mail you a DVD.

For those of you lucky enough to see the slide show, it really is amazing, isn't it? Thank you, Amy!

Lisa

Reunion Weekend in Review

2007-10-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Thank you all for coming this weekend. It sounds like everyone had a great time. I know we on the committee are all very glad that it went off so well!

For those who couldn't make it, let me give you a quick recap. On Friday we had a really big turnout at the Sagebrush Cantina. I was actually stunned at how many alums showed up to this event. It was great to get a jump on catching up with people. Everyone was so appreciative--thanking us for putting it all together--which was so nice to hear. And then there were those of you who asked about Soren, which really touched me. When Mike Toggenburger told me that I was a great mom, I about broke into tears. It was so sweet and, while I know I've posted the link to Soren's blog, I'm always surprised to know who is reading it. Thank you all for caring about my boy.

Saturday at the Chatsworth White House was a bit of a whirlwind for me. The crowd there was huge! I think we had 130 show up. Granted, some of those were spouses (who I have to say were the bravest people there). But it was mostly alums and everyone looked great. Because I was running around a bit, I didn't get to say hi to everyone. So if all I did was run past you and wave or smile, I'm sorry we didn't get to chat. Everyone seemed to enjoy the venue, which was great because the committee really thought hard over where to have this. I thought the food was very tasty. There certainly seemed to be enough alcohol. And the music was great. I'm glad folks enjoyed Richard Blade.

My main "thing" for the evening was the slide show, which proved to be a little troublesome to set up. I would like to thank Dora Atkinson for working with me on it that night providing her computer and projector. And Daniela Carusi for getting it to run when Dora and I couldn't figure it out. I also have to thank my husband Aaron who, during the event, hung up that huge cloth for us all to watch the show on.

I know I got full credit for it for the slide show, but I didn't do it alone. Since I was unable to thank them at the event, I'd now like to take the opportunity to thank the key people who helped make that possible. First of all, I think we are really lucky to have these pictures available. I don't know how many of you remember, but Dennis Haas took pictures of us all during our events of the year. I looked at everyone one of those slides and weeded out the ones I thought were best. Dave Skaggs let me borrow from his massive cd collection for the music. Dave Donnell let me borrow a scanner that I failed to make work. So Daniela Carusi and Caroline Ashasian stepped in and scanned all those slides. Then a lovely woman named Katherine Killmond (now Cannady) from the class of '86 actually edited the slide show together. She really did the lion's share of the work with my initial direction of music and overall construction. She also burned all the DVDs (donated by Lynn Coyle) that you got to take home. Dora provided the cd/dvd labeler and Carol did the dvd labeling/packaging.

I'm so glad you were all able to take one home so you could enjoy it in a less crazy environment. And now you can show it to your kids! While we were still working on it, I showed my 7 year old daughter a version of it on the computer. Let me preface this by saying that she (along with me) is a big "Project Runway" and "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style" watcher. She was enjoying the slide show but then furrowed her brow and looked at me. "Did they have fashion back then?" she asked. My face fell. "Only bad fashion," I admitted, having just seen myself in a lovely blue and white diamond print sweater that makes me look like a court jester. Oh well.

For those of you who DIDN'T get a copy, we are working on making more and will mail them to you. Just give us a little time to count how many we need and we'll get to work.

Lastly, the picninc was on Sunday. I was actually really looking forward to this. I hadn't done any of the planning, so I was just going to relax and enjoy seeing everyone's kids. However, I needed to pick up my kids from my Dad's in Valencia that morning. And in a comedy of errors that was far more erroneous than comedic, my family and I didn't make it to the picnic until it was wrapping up. So, if anyone else has a report on that, it would be nice to read about it.

All that said, I am exhausted. Two nights of staying out until midnight are way more than my 38 year old bones can take. I plan to have "walker" races with Anthony in 10 years.

Amy

You beat me to it!

2007-10-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you for organizing a fabulous reunion. You really put a ton of time and work into it and I know everyone appreciated it. The slideshow and the photos were hilarious. Thanks for including them in the gift bags too-- very thoughtful. Richard Blade was a bonus. It was fun to see everyone again and to have a chance to reminisce.
Thanks again!!
Undine

Thanks

2007-10-15T17:56:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to express my thanks to Lisa, Carol, Amy and the rest of the group that put the reunion together. Without your hard work, this never would have happened.

I had a wonderful time and it was truly great seeing everybody again. While we've all grown up, it is interesting to note that we haven't truly changed that much.

Thanks again and I hope it's not another 20 years before we all see each other again!

Dave Donell

Daniela Carusi's head

2007-10-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

It has been over 24 hours since the main reunion on Saturday. I think that is an acceptable amount of time to bring up a sensitive subject.

Daniela Carusi's head.

Why can't we talk about it? What are we afraid of discovering that grips us in fear and makes us seek comfort in ignorance? Must it remain the unspoken "elephant in the room".

I am going to break down the barrier and just put it out there. Daniela had a big ol' gash on the right side of her head. Just open and festering. It almost looked like a second, toothless mouth on her forehead. I swear if it said something to me I would have freaked out. I know everyone saw it - but only I was bold enough to mention it and ask her about it.

She gave me an excuse - something about a common, everyday accident. I didn't believe her for a minute. My honest to god, gut feeling tells me she is in "Fight Club", Boston Chapter. Now, the first rule of Fight Club being that you cannot talk about being in Fight Club - she had to make up that preposterous tale. But that is the kind of injury you can only get going 3 rounds with Tyler Durden in a dark, humid basement.

If you have not seen the movie "Fight Club" this is all nonsense. And if you have seen the movie, it's still nonsense. The truth is, the lovely Ms. Carusi who did have a slight injury on her forehead, asked me to continue to BLOG even though the reunion is done. And she even offered her injury up for parody (Daniela, I hope that was not just wine talking and you aren't really pissed right now).

It is my understanding the BLOG will remain up and running. It is a great way to let people know how each of us are doing between reunions. I hope many will continue to check-in and post from time to time. Then by the next reunion, we will all be up to date so we can discuss more important things like hair transplants, dentures, who is on their 3rd marriage to their 2nd trophy spouse, which walkers leave fewer scuff marks on linoleum, and how cute our grandkids are. Well, hopefully we won't be THAT old by the next reunion.

Anthony "Blog til the fat lady sings" Butler

DORA

2007-10-12T12:54:00.001-07:00

Dora - Thank you for the kind memories of me from days gone by. Alas, I rarely draw anymore and I spend most of my time ranting at bus stops and kicking small animals. Doesn't create as many laughs as you'd think.

Actually, I still draw and it is not for me to say how funny I am - I'm a little biased.

You mentioned never having enough time to spend with friends - but I have a solution. I am going to leave work early, go home, and beat the crap out of my tub with a hammer. Then you can come give me an estimate and we'll go to lunch. Your treat. (Hey! You own the company) That is the kind of love I have, baby. I'll destroy rental property just to see you.

Anthony "It was broke when I got there" Butler

All my roads led to Simi???

2007-10-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

I must say better late then never but I do agree get the last twenty years out in the blog and get on to more interesting conversation at the party! So here we go....

After graduation I continued waiting tables at this little Italian restaurant out in the Palisades and decided to attended Pierce college. Ahhhhhhhh yes that made my parents so proud. After two years at Pierce I headed down to San Diego State with Julie Herbst. Julie Vargo was already down there so with the two Julie's the incentive to get the hell out of dodge was doubled! I vowed never to return to the San Fernando Valley unless it was Christmas or Thanksgiving and then only to drop in for dinner. Yes I was free -but bite my tongue never say never.... remember that statement as I progress through this fantastic story.

I bounced around San Diego for fifteen beautiful years and I say beautiful because in case you didn't know on the 8th day God created San Diego. I graduated from SDSU and started to manage this little unknown microbrewery in downtown San Diego called Karl Strauss. Yes, I now know how to brew beer... so appropriate for a good little Catholic girl from Chaminade. Anyway I stayed with Karl Strauss for about five years - opening up restaurants throughout San Diego-when it finally occurred to me that working the "party" hours of restaurant life was going to get me nowhere fast- so I quit. But I quit without a plan - humm.....two roads diverged.

Fortunately for me though I don't always make great plans I do make loyal, life long friends. Two lifelong, entrepreneurial friends in particular (Tom & Brett) had started a little niche contracting business peddling bathtub refinishing while we were all in College and they needed someone to market and manage their customer base. Apparently this little niche business was growing from a little two man show to over 10 million in yearly sales and they were a bit unorganized. So in 1998 I was elected to market bathtub refinishing.

Bathtub refinishing you ask - ok here is the 411 and pay attention this is about all the information I received from my dear friends before they throw me to the wolves. Bathtubs can be repaired the same way boats can be repaired. Fiberglass tubs are captive molds meaning during the construction process builders install a tub and then frame the room around it. So if a tub is damaged, fiberglass cracked or porcelain damaged then the options are to tear it out or repair it. For apartments and hotels a tear out is not a very cost effective option so they all want their units refinished. Beyond repair we "refinish" (paint) the tubs to update or refresh the look. Along the way we discovered that we can also use this process for vanities, kitchen counters, cultured marble, Formica and tile we can even make them look like granite.

So that gig went well for awhile I eventually started running the crews, managed more of the day to day stuff and opened a new office for the company in North County San Diego. Then in Sept 2001 I bought a house up in Temecula - life was good.

I stayed working with the bathtub company until 2003 when we found out my mother had breast cancer. As soon as a man in a white coat says the C word - life becomes a pinball game and you are that little silver ball bouncing off all of the posts....I stopped working and started driving back and forth to Los Angeles for Doctors appointments. My mom decided she didn't want Chemo so we started this holistic, healing journey that lead us down to many paths to mention but in the end they just confirmed on Sept 17, 2007 that my mom is in remission.

Ok so I skipped a bit but remember when I said never say never....2003 mom gets cancer...2004 she asks me to move back to LA. UGRRRRRRR! How do you say no to someone who doesn't know if they are going to be alive next year. So I moved - got a job -an office job purchasing land for Griffin, a home builder in Calabasas. By the way I think I got the job because the Griffin's all went to Chaminade - yes it was a very unorthodox interview. Fun -I came full circle and I was back to the place that I said I would never, ever come back to. So I decided to move to Simi. HUMMM

The office gig kind of reminded me of high school, uniforms, bright ceiling lights, bad flash backs...since I had never worked in an office before it all was not working to well for me.

Re-enter the lifelong, loyal friends.

One thing that happens with the entrepreneurial types once they tackle one business they get bored and restless. So by 2004-2005 Tom and Brett had changed paths. Brett decided to go off into the mortgage business and Tom stayed with refinishing but now removed residential and only focused on commercial business. Tom wanted to see if he could franchise (evil word) the bath refinishing and had elected me the pig. I mean guinea. Again I quit my job but this time I sort of had a plan.

November 16, 2005 in Simi Valley, California Pacific Bath Refinishing was born. We hit the ground running and have been busy non-stop ever since. www.pacificbath.com
Tom decided there was to much liability in the franchising and further decided it was to hard to run a business in Simi Valley from San Diego so....TA DAH I went from being a general manager to being an owner literally overnight.

So now I am a contractor in a big, old boys club and even have the license to prove it - ha and I still get the usual rhetoric about being a girl or breaking a nail. I tried to run our office but that's better left to my mom - I am more effective out on the job sites. I have a bunch of young, awesome guys who work with me and I am lucky that both my brother and my mom work with me too.

The first year was hard - harder then I would have ever thought when life intervened again. I got a phone call from my step-mom in Philadelphia that my dad had passed away in his sleep five days before Christmas 2006 - he was only 59. This sent me reeling and over the last ten months I have been focusing on changing my priorities. More quality then quantity - living today because you are not guaranteed tomorrow.

So to talk about getting old - I can't say I remember alot about high school, I depend on Patti, Melissa, Beth, Julie and Julie to remind me of things that happened. I do remember having a ton of fun, getting into trouble and making some great friendships. Did we really have the nerve to have vodka, OJ and bagels in the morning before school? I remember more about the little campus probably because there was no alcohol involved. Mr Rauser throwing erasers and doing cartwheels in the classroom, John Apa complaining that I kicked his chair to much because I sat behind him in almost every class for years and years. Getting in a raw egg fight with Rob Bae on the school bus from the little campus. Hiding in the trunk of my own car with Patti Javier driving to get off campus for lunch. And I am still amazed that I can recite all the prepositions that Mrs. McDonald made us learn though I never could recite them for her? I know my mom remembers the guidance counselors telling her that I would never make anything of myself nor graduate from college. Man that lady lite Father Delong up like a Christmas tree for that little episode not to mention she already wanted to posion him for the kitten/cat scandal. I never did figure out the girls only uniform thing but I surely remember getting detention EVERYDAY for it. I of course remember my friend Anthony Butler what a great part of high school always making me laugh and drawing me tons of pictures. I still keep in touch with friends but its never enough time at least not the endless, nothing to do time we had when we were in school. I long for those days and wish someone had said "cherish it now because it will never be like this again."

Lisa, Carol, Amy, Dave, Dave, Lynn thanks for all your hard work on the reunion and letting me help with whatever little things I could do - you helped me get out of the house after my dad passed.I am so excited to see everyone this weekend - I want to hear more stories about our past together.

Julie Vargo-Madden your turn to blog!!!!

xoxoxox
Dora "THE EXPLORER" Atkinson

Bring Cash for the Bar!!

2007-10-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

The White House does not accept credit cards, so if you plan on drinking after the hosted drinks run out, you'll need to use cash money. The good news is drinks are cheap, $2 for beer/wine and $3 for mixed drinks! See everyone this weekend! Cheers!

Never Too Late to Blog!

2007-10-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

It's true. You, like Mark Grondin, can still blog. There's still a little time left before we see each other. And why not catch folks up so you don't have to tell your story 100 times? (seriously, we have more than that many people showing up).

I know what you might be saying, I'm not going to talk to EVERYONE. Well, logistically speaking, that's probably true. But if you blog, you may find you have something in common with someone that you never expected. This might prompt a long conversation with someone you might have only said a casual hello to before.

For instance (and not to be a downer), but through the blog, I discovered that my son and Jim McCue's son have had the same type of rare seizures. Now I always remember Jim being a nice guy, but I didn't know him that well in school. But since this rather unfortunate discovery, we've been emailing and will certainly say more than just "hi" to each other on Saturday. So if you're wondering where the life of the party is going to be, it'll be with me and Jim talking "special needs." Good times.

Seriously people, blogging doesn't hurt. If you can't figure it out, follow Mark's example and send me your text and I'll post it.

In any event, if I don't read about what you've been doing, I look foward to hearing about it this weekend!

Amy

Mark Grondin: If I sit here too long someone might park on me...

2007-10-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

True... although it is only a few days before a reunion that I will attend, I finally decided to blog. I figured it would give me a chance to describe my last twenty years, so that I can talk about truly interesting topics at the reunion - namely, what you all have been doing. So here it is, twenty years in not-so-brief....

After leaving the Nade, I didn't go far. I spent two years at the illustrious institute of Pierce College-most of that time focused on playing volleyball. It was fun for a couple years, but I figured there was more out there. So instead of going on to play volleyball at UCSD, I opted instead to study and headed out to George Washington University in Washington D.C. Although I had never lived outside of CA, it was a great choice. You can't beat studying Soviet and Eastern European Studies across the street from the State Department, and DC is just a great place to live. I even had a chance to study in Russia for some months in 1991 and ended up on Red Square during the famous revolt when the communists tried to boot Gorbachev and take back power. I have some great pictures sitting on a tank in Red Square surrounded by teenage Soviet soldiers. The result being: the revolt did not succeed, Gorbachev came back to power, and there was no more Soviet Union in a few short years. So much for my degree in Soviet studies.

After college I opted to stay in DC and work for a big NY Law Firm, thinking that I would become a lawyer instead of a diplomat. Almost four years as a paralegal thoroughly cured me of this affliction and I instead decided to go to business school to learn a trade. I chose to attend the international MBA program at the University of South Carolina (the other USC) for the ridiculous reason that Jon van Steinburg and I had decided to open a donut store in Germany. (Would I lie about this?) So I spent two years learning business skills and German language so that I could bring fine rounds of sweet, fried dough to das mutterland. Fortunately, this plan fell through, and I instead went into the technology business. Donuts or
technology - yes, it was a tough decision.

During my in-country internship for my MBA, I met a beautiful Czech woman. My internship was for Volkswagen in Prague and she was my translator. Having no background in finance terms (I was interning for the financial controller), she was not a very good translator, but I quickly forgave her... After finishing my MBA, we moved together to Germany, then to Switzerland and then were married outside of Prague in 1998. Jon VS was my best man, and I was lucky enough to have Tommy Bratko, Marky B, and Lynn Coyle at my wedding.

On the career side I got into the Internet thing - that seemed to be where the opportunity was in 1996 - remember that? I worked for a company around Europe for a while (based in Frankfurt, then Zurich) - teaching Europeans about the "interwebs". I then started a small company with some colleagues - making Web sites for medium-sized companies in the US. I started the Prague office for that company, as we could develop sites for about 20% of the cost at the time. After a little disagreement about company growth, I decided to move to another company that I founded in Germany with 5 Germans - not something I would recommend.

This was a true dot-com. We got lots o investment and spent it recklessly. Well, not as recklessly as pets.com, but we never did get to "go public" as the market crashed about 6 months ahead of our IPO. For those of you who experienced dot-bomb from the inside, I think you will agree that it was a great experience. Who else would have given me the opportunity (money)
to build up a big office in Prague to develop cool technology. I left the company after the crash, but unlike pets.com it did make money and weathered the storm, selling out to another company last year.

After this experience, I got some sleep and took weekends off. That was when I decided that after 8 years in Europe and 15 years outside of California it was time to return to my mutterland. Radka (wife) and I packed up and moved to San Luis Obispo, where my parents had relocated. Five years later, I am now working at another Internet startup - albeit a more sane one - still enjoying the technology. I have two of the sweetest little girls in the world who call me Tata (Czech for daddy) - Katerina and Natalia. I also get to spend time with Marky B mountain biking, wine tasting and ocean kayaking. I still talk to Dani C, Jon VS, and Tommy Brat as often as I can. Good friends last forever.

Thanks for indulging me. I know it's too long, but this was very therapeutic. (Repeat after me: No, I have not wasted 20 years of my life.) I look forward to getting to know some interesting people at the reunion and picnic. If you know any Czech words, feel free to use them on the Grondin family...

I will teach you one here... cau (pronounced "chow", means "later")

Mark.

Oh, and here is a picture - Daniela, Tom B and I at Marky B's wedding

Enjoy

2007-10-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say to those who are headed to the reunion have a safe trip for those coming in from out of state and Everyone have a great time. Be safe and enjoy

jodi

COME ON YOU SLAGS...LAST CALL!!!

2007-10-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Only a few days to go, and there is still time to contribute to the epic 80's playlist "Straight to the 'Nads".

The details are buried in the depths of September, you'll have to look for yourselves, it's back there somewhere.

Although I can't say that I'm willing to go to the same lengths (or depths) as Amy (talk about commitment), I'd still be happy to hear from any of you who actually listened to music back in the day (tlopatka@gmail.com).

Otherwise, I wish you all a great time next weekend! Maybe I'll see you all in 2012 for some serious Karaoke.

All the best,

TL

FORGIVE ME

2007-10-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

This is complete abuse of this BLOG for personal reasons - yet I could not take praise for crap when I have done much better work.

The photo of my "stripper pole alter ego" was quick and dirty. I didn't even try to make my face the same skin tone. But I truly have enjoyed a new found talent for manipulating photos and some of my work has boggled the minds of many.

This, while not exactly mind boggling, is my favorite of all I have done. It is my son, at around 3 years old, playing in a hole I filled with water (very white trash). Even those with photo knowledge cannot see where I "did what i did". As pleased as I was originally, it messed with my sons mind for about a week after he saw it. He kept looking and asking me what happened to the "other little boy". I told him it was his twin that I sold to Chinese white slavers for not eating his vegetables (just kidding, I swear).

Thank you for this indulgence.

Anthony "reality altering" Butler

Did you send in your check?

2007-10-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

Hey Eagles. The countdown is on. If you have been waiting until the last moment to send in your check, the time is now. Please have all checks in the mail by tomorrow, Tuesday, October 9th. After that, you can pay with an e-check through Paypal.

Should you find Saturday night that you are able to attend, but never paid, please come! Show up at the Chatsworth White House. If you pay at the door, the price will be $110.00. So save yourself a few bucks, and mail your check now.

For those of you planning to come Saturday night, we are going to have a great turnout. Seeing the names on the response forms has brought back so many incredible memories. I am genuinely looking forward to seeing every one of you!

anthony butler does AWESOME digital efx

2007-10-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

anthony - love love love the innocent, who-me? doe eyed look of your headshot (or should i say body shot?). you are in fantastic shape - i am turning the class over to you & going out for a night of sushi, movies & popcorn with the hubman.

btw, you got the mad digital efx skillz - much better than some of the digital stuff i did on little nicky. and bedazzled. and battlefield earth.

see you soon!
shellaine "anthony butler puts my digital efx skillz to shame" corwel

Need a taxi cab?

2007-10-08T09:01:00.001-07:00

Dave Donell suggested we post some local taxi information. Should you need a cab, you can reserve one at www.unitedtaxi.com. You can find rates on their website, and reserve a cab online or by phone.

If you are staying at the Staybridge Suites, the hotel offers its own shuttle you can take to the reunion, and we will arrange a ride home. If you are staying at the Marriott, we will email you with shuttle info soon. If you are staying at the Hilton, they also offer a shuttle you can take to the reunion, and we will arrange a ride home.

Questions? LISIEFLAV@sbcglobal.net, or phalenmolnar@sbcglobal.net. We hope to see you Friday night at Sagebrush to kick off the weekend!

SHELLY - ASSUME NOTHING!

2007-10-07T22:47:00.000-07:00

It would be unwise to underestimate me. My powers of deception are keen and sharp. I may very likely be at your stripper pole class.

As you can see from this photo, you can never tell where I will be or who I will be. I may be that short Asian women next to you at the produce mart. Is it possible I am that tall African-American with the slight limp? Maybe I'm the midget in a trenchcoat giving you the "wanna get freaky with a dwarf" look. You just never know.

I'm admitting to nothing - but I do have an appointment for a bikini wax on the 19th just in case.

Anthony "Quick change" Butler

Hello from Tony Weber

2007-10-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hello classmates. I enjoy reading your stories. Thank you for making me laugh. I won't be at the reunion on Saturday, but I look forward to seeing you on Sunday at the picnic.

After Chaminade, I wrapped myself up in my lonely studies at UCLA. I met a girl, mistook lust for love, and moved in with her. The eventual breakup left me devastated. I had alienated my friends and family. I had lost my faith in God. And my dream of a career in computer science had turned bitter.

During an Apologetics class, I was struck by Jesus' words, "love God with your mind". Could it be that my intelligence and scientific reasoning were not opposed to God, but rather could be used to search for Him and to know Him?

I began to read more. Saint Teresa of Avila's writings showed me a new world of healthy relationships. The more I read about the Catholic Church, the more profound the truths became. On every point where I opposed the Church's teaching, the Church turned out to be right.

God slowly brought light to my depression, faith to my doubts, and hope to my cynicism.

My family welcomed me back. A counselor taught me to understand my feelings. I spent a year serving the poor in Alabama with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I was deeply touched and healed during several week-long silent retreats. I planned to go to Chile as a missionary, but came back because I was lonely and missed Southern California. I discovered that I still enjoy computer programming, and someone is willing to pay me to do it. I've been working with a small firm in Irvine ever since.

I learned about true love during a long courtship with a beautiful woman. We have been married six years, and have three children -- twin boys age 5 and a baby girl nearly 1. My wife and children are an immeasurable source of blessings for me. They teach me how to be human. I cannot be a couch potato when the baby is crying for her bottle. I cannot remain upset after work when my sons crack me up with their latest story. I cannot give in to my xenophobic tendencies when my wife wants to travel the world.

In loving God, my family, and all people, I found the meaning of life, "the pearl of great price". I have consecrated my life to Jesus, and He has given me everything in return. Of course suffering comes with it, but as He says, "my yoke is easy; my burden is light". I thank God, our Heavenly Father, for His great mercy to me, and His infinite blessings. May He bless you in every way and bring you to our final reunion in heaven.

S Factor class for the gals of '87

2007-10-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

so we are booked & ready to have our class at the S Factor - saturday, october 20th at 6:30pm. i only wish anthony butler was able to attend class as i'm sure he'd have everyone in stitches.

we've got a nice little group of girls going & maybe this invite will entice a few more of you to join us!

so here's the particulars: the class is about 1.5 hrs in length: we'll do a 45-55 min warmup, learn the S walk, learn a pole trick (the firefly) & a demo of the S, so we should finish up around 8pm.

wear comfortable workout gear (tanks, tees, yoga pants, shorts, etc). no special shoes needed. also don't apply any lotion to legs or hands the morning before class - we'll need all the "stick" we can get!

the S Factor studios are located at 5225 wilshire blvd, in the "samsung" building (formerly the asahi building) at the intersection of la brea & wilshire blvds. check-in is at the front desk of the main studio, which is located on the mezzanine level. to access the mezzanine level, you will need to go around to the back of the building; luna park's valet is located here as well, so if you see the valet, you are headed in the right direction. our door is purple & located smack dab next to the loading dock. follow the signs leading upstairs & i'll meet you there!

parking: metered spaces along la brea, north of wilshire. there is also a lot located at detroit & wilshire (detroit is west of la brea) & spots are $.25/hr. the luna park valets will sometimes allow S Factor patrons to use their valet service - it just depends how busy a night it is for them.

if you need more info, the studio number is 323-965-9685. the website is www.sfactor.com, which also has bios & pics of all the teachers (yes, including mine. and yes, i know, i look like a dweeb.)

occasionally, students find this class to be a little intimidating (it's totally not. there are NO mirrors in each studio & the lighting is nice & dim creating a very intimate atmosphere) which i completely understand, so to that end, i am opening up our class & you are welcome to bring a friend, sister or even your mom - just let me know!

i can't wait to see everyone. i am still undecided as to whether i'll attend the saturday reunion (finding childcare for 2 is daunting!) but the hubman, twins & myself are definitely on board for the picnic the following day.

i am putting together a totally 80's playlist for our class but if you have any requests let me know & i'll try to work them into the mix.

please email me if you have any questions, concerns or want to RSVP:shellainey@aol.com. we are going to have a blast!
shellaine :)

OMG!

2007-10-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

so i have twins & due to this, i lost brain cells. ALOT. times 2. i totally, completely, absolutely forgot that we were under strict dress code back in '87 until anthony (LOVE you) so dearly reminded me of the fact. thanks anthony!

i always hated the 'nade uniform but it really makes dressing for the occasion SO much easier.

although, if memory serves (& lately it does NOT) weren't the girls in an actual "uniform" while the boys just had a dress code to abide by?

anyhoo, anthony, your posts completely crack me up (but don't tell the hubman as he thinks I think that HE is the funniest guy ever) so keep on keepin' on baby!

Can You Help Sponsor a Teacher?

2007-10-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

The teacher RSVPs are rolling in! Do you have the resources to help sponsor a teacher? If you have $95.00 to spare for a full sponsorship, or $25.00 for a partial sponsorship, please email me to let me know. You can look forward to visiting with Mr. Melcher, Coach Lawson, Mr. O'Palko, Sra. Pozzi ... more names to come! LISIELAV@sbcglobal.net

That was a no brainer!

2007-10-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

What to wear? Are you people putting me on? I know it has been twenty years but, lord help me - the answer is obvious.

Ladies wear a suitable, non-see through white blouse, long or short sleeve. Dark blue or navy pants may be worn, or a skirt of the same color. Anyone wearing a skirt of inapproriate length will be sent to my table for discipline - and possibly a few drinks.

Gentlemen wear pants, not jeans, with a nice shirt. NO T-shirts or shirts with logos of your favorite band or strip club.

No one ever said this reunion was a free-dress day.

Anthony "dress code" Butler

What to wear?

2007-09-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

I've received numerous emails from classmates wondering what they should wear. For the ladies it's easy, a dress or a nice pair of slacks and a blouse. For the gentlemen, we suggest a nice pair of slacks and a dress shirt or a sweater. We are trying to throw a classy, but comfortable party. But clearly, we want to see you, no matter what you're wearing. So if you only feel comfortable in a suit and tie, wear it. If you only feel comfortable in your UCLA Hawaiian shirt, wear it. We just want to see you there. Just be sure to wear something!

Nicole Pfiester's Update

2007-09-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

I won’t be able to make the reunion, but thought I would add my update. Well, 20 years later I am still in a Catholic high school, but it is in the “other” valley. I didn’t start out to be a teacher, but here I am.

I graduated from CSUN in 1991 with a degree in Radio/TV and Film. The senior short film I produced did rather well in film festivals and that afforded me the opportunity to travel Europe when I graduated. We even sold our little film into distribution. For a while there I got steady royalty checks for $5.00 (yep the decimal is in the right place). Then I worked for a low low budget film company as an apprentice editor. Yes if you look closely in the end credits of that critically acclaimed martial arts masterpiece Bloodfist II you will even see my name in the credits. And yes I did meet the film’s star Don “the Dragon” Wilson…who’s name is mentioned in the 80’s classic Say Anything…which means there are two degrees of separation between me and John Cusack.

So what, you ask, lead me to give up the glamorous life of showbiz? Well, it could have been that I would wake up in the middle of the night terrified with memories of the night Anthony Butler broke my skillfully crafted collapsing prop chair in a production of You Can’t Take It with You. (if memory serves it was Bill Horbury who told me that would happen). Or perhaps it could have been that I couldn’t find steady work in the film industry.

At any rate, a M.A. degree in Religious Studies later and I am now the Campus Minister at Bishop Amat High School. I teach Leadership, Media and Morality (aha still put the B.A. to work) and a class on Death and Dying…which isn’t as morbid as it sounds. In summer I teach English. The main part of my job involves directing our retreat program, which I based on Chaminade’s program.

It has been a real boost to see some of you here mention the retreat programs…it gives me hope that I am investing in the future. Of course reading this blog has also scared me into wondering what my students will remember of me in 20 years. I hope at least some of them are fond memories.

I hope everyone has a great time at the reunion.

Nicole Pfiester (nmp1968@aol.com)

I - Carumba!

2007-09-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

This music compilation idea was truly inspired! Genius! Brilliant! It also just happens to bring to mind yet another aging anecdote. How convenient.

Last June, my kids received graduation money and immediately bought a new fangled gadget called an "Ipod". Given that I spend a good deal of my time sitting on my porch, in my rocking chair, yelling at kids to get off my lawn, new technology usually passes me by. The kids swore EVERYONE had them - but it didn't interest me.

For Christmas, my folks got me an Ipod. First, I thought I'd return it - but they had had it engraved on the back. Crap! What was I going to do with this I-pod thingy? My mini-van already had a CD player and I already had 200 CD's crammed between the driver and passenger seats for "easy" access. What possible purpose could this serve? And it was probably going to involve the computer and be confusing to learn. Drek!

Okay, I was amazed to get all those CD's into one little, thin, silver player. Now, I don't know how I lived without one.

Thinking about our music, today I took a look at my Ipod list. All that great music of our time that defined us and made us cool - gone. I have more Disney, Hannah Montana, and Sesame Street than anything else. And the scariest realization of all was that while I was driving, with no one else in the car, the Ipod was playing Grover singing "Monster in the Mirror" and it did not occur to me to change it! I think my left foot was even tapping on it's own!

My youngest is 5, and starting to catch on to his older brothers music. The real test of how hip I am is when he doesn't want Sesame Street music anymore - how long will it take me to get it off my I-pod? I can tell you this - Grover ain't going nowhere!

Anthony "It's not easy being green" Butler

Rob Lefebvre - Jim Davis hates you

2007-09-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

Yes Rob, Jim Davis, the actual originator of Garfield has taken personal offense to your comparison. I, however, appreciate your memory which probably makes me better than I really was. Hey, my ego enjoys being inflated like everyone elses.

I am trying not to play favorites, but I am going to induldge just a little and say you are one of the people who has popped into my head over the years. You were a great guy and obviously continue to be. Plus, to this day I still don't see how you get "Le-Fay" (phoenetically) out of "Lefebvre". Its just too damn many non "Y" sounding letters in a row.

Along with many others, I am sorry you will not be attending. But I am glad you are well, with a nice family, and I am definitely going to contact you personally.

Be well.

Anthony Butler

P.S. I left out the "nick name" intentionally. This is from Anthony the person, not the schtick.

The music thing...

2007-09-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone...

...this music thing has sure developed a life of it's own.

Thanks to your participation, we're a lot closer to 870 than 87.

It's quite the cultural artifact (if only one of our English teachers had the sense to use "The Hungry Wolf" and "Hungry Like a Wolf" to get that whole metaphor/simile thing across).

In case you have no idea what I am referring to, have a look at the posts "Straight to the 'Nads" and "4 weeks to go..."

If you can spare the bandwidth and a moment or two of your time, drop me a line (tlopatka@gmail.com) with your contribution(s).

Looking forward to hearing from you,

TL

Greetings from Gosselin

2007-09-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am finally giving in! I have been reading all of your posts since May and have become equally addicted, entertained and impressed by all that has been accomplished. But what really got me was Matt’s posting of all the songs and the aging process that has been referenced. Why is it that I can not remember what time my daughters’s soccer practice is and if I am supposed to bring snacks when I just received an email with this information yesterday? However, I look over this list of songs and can start singing every word to 95% of the songs?!? How can I free up some of this memory that is being used up by all these great songs? Perhaps then I could throw out my sticky notes posted to the kitchen door that remind me of things or stop sending reminder emails from my work to my home email. Oh, come on, I know some of you guys do it too!

After leaving Chaminade, I continued to work at the same job (Leslie’s Pool Supplies) that I worked at during high school and enrolled at CSUN with Michele Yasiello. In January 1988 I was introduced to a Leslie’s manager, Kelly McNeely, that worked in the Walnut Creek store in N. California. We started dating and flying back and forth and to my surprise he asked me to marry him in Dec 1998! I literally thought he was kidding and told him to shut up and get serious! To this day we still joke that I am not sure I ever told him “yes”. I got tired of flying back and forth to bay area so I finally moved up there and went to school at CSU Hayward and worked part time at Paychex. We enjoyed many weekend trips to Napa and Lake Tahoe. We were married in the Valley on March 17, 1990. Michele Yasiello and Jessica Zada were in our wedding. About six weeks prior to the wedding, my fiancé was offered a position back in his home state of Texas, which he accepted and moved to prior to the wedding. So I was living in N. California, he moved to Arlington, Texas and we were getting married in the Valley – gee, not to much change for someone that wasn’t even 21 yet!

I was able to transfer my job w/ Paychex to Texas, but in a full time roll. I figured I’d take off one year of school to establish residency and go back, but I never did. It’s been gnawing at me every day since! I always joke w/ my kids that after life slows down for me and they are off to college, I’ll go back and I’ll be sitting next to them in college.

I quickly grew tired of the big corporate way at Paychex and realized that was not going to be a job that was conducive to family life. In 1993 I went to work for a small manufacturing company doing their accouting and worked there for abt five years. The company was sold and I took the opportunity to take some time off before our son started kindergarten.

So, I’ve been married 17 years and we have two great kids and a strong marriage! Patrick was born in Dec 1994. He started Junior High this year. He is my book smart kid and very analytical, plays football, and is very busy with his social life It’s hard to believe I will have a teenager under our roof in a few months. Lauren was born in Nov 1998 and started 3rd grade. She is very street smart and quick witted. She plays soccer, loves school and always has some social activity in the works with friends, and she is sooo tall. She is a head taller than most of her class mates.

For the past six years I have worked for a private investment firm doing Portfolio Accounting. I have an awesome job! I am lucky that I have had the opportunity to learn more real world knowledge without the “piece of paper” than a lot of people who needed the degree to just get their foot in the door. You know what they say, sometimes its more WHO you know not WHAT you know.

If I hit the red light on the way to the office, I’ve had a bad commute. I work one mile from home and the kids schools are within a few miles, so I am always able to attend all their functions and serve on the PTA boards and be involved and most days I come to work in workout clothes and tennis shoes. My husband left the retail world of swimming pools in 2000 and started his own service and repair company. I take care of all of his accounting in the evenings. We love to travel and try to fit in a family ski trip & beach trip each year, and a trip for just the two of us to somewhere (we just got back from Cancun on Sunday, see pic). Kelly doesn’t do the theme park vacations so I usually do those trips with girlfriends and their kids. He said he has had enough strollers rammed into the back of ankles to last him a life time. We haven’t been to Europe yet but it’s on the list when the kids get a little bit older. We always go to California to my parents’ house in Woodland Hills for Christmas, but other than that we usually do not vacation there.

Whatever you’ve read about football in Texas is probably very accurate. It rules this state! The best time to go shopping is during a Cowboys game on Sunday afternoon! We live in Arlington (which is located in between Dallas & Fort Worth) and are only a few miles away from the new Cowboys stadium that is being built. My son started tackle football in the 4th grade and I’m holding off as long as possible from starting my daughter in the cut throat drama of cheerleading.

The kids keep us running 24/7 with their friends and activities. There are nights when I sit down to work on my desk at home at 10pm when everyone if finally asleep but it’s all good and I wouldn’t change it for the world to know that we have smart, happy and well balanced kids and I’m lucky to have a great husband as well who is a true partner in everything. He jumps in for cooking, grocery shopping, and doctor’s appointments. When I get the time…. I enjoy gardening, baking, reading and I’m currently training to run a half marathon in December. I really don’t have a passion for running, but it’s just something I want to achieve.

Things I remember:
Absolutely #1 is the beach! So many weekends spent laying out at Zuma 6 (?) and now so much money spent on facials and products to reverse all that sun damage!

Michele and I driving down to the Forum (is it Staples Center now?) at 3am to get in line (before there was online) for Billy Idol tickets. What the heck were our parents thinking letting us going down there in the middle of the night.

Warm summer nights spent at the Winnetka drive-in drinking Tom Collins.

I’ve only stayed in touch w/ Michele Yasiello off and on over the past 20 years. I have enjoyed reading about everyone’s accomplishments and enjoyed seeing the pictures.

If you are ever in the Dallas area or come for the Superbowl in 2011, please drop me a line.

lmcneely@mmcgrand.com

Regards,

Lisa

The Chatsworth White House

2007-09-26T08:18:00.001-07:00

Hey Everybody,

I recently got an email from an anonymous Eagle (anonymous to you, not to me) who revealed that one reason he was not coming to the reunion was that, and I quote, “that place they chose just frightens me.”

Well, I wrote back and told him that I was part of the “they” that chose “that place.” And please if that is the reason anyone else is not coming, PLEASE RECONSIDER!

Yes, on the website photos, the Chatsworth White House looks rather opulent. But that’s not how we’re doing the reunion.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be nice. But it’s not going to be stuffy or formal. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be relaxed. One of the things the committee talked about when choosing this location was that, since it is an actual house, we wanted it to be an old school Chaminade House Party.

And then the fact is, regardless of the location, the real draw should be the people. We could be in a palace in France or a gay bar in WeHo (actually, that could be quite fun). It all melts away because we’re there to visit and catch up with folks most of us haven’t seen for 20 years!

So don’t let something silly like the location stop you from coming. We’re getting a great turn out, so come be part of it.

Chaminade Reunion ’87. Come for the people. Stay for the fun!

Amy

rob lefebvre is in da blog

2007-09-25T23:34:00.000-07:00

OK, crap. 20 years (thanks a heck of a lot, Amy)

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Tok, Alaska right now, with enough time to kill to actually blog a bit about the past 20 years.

You see, I work in Alaska, traveling to rural and remote villages across the state, consulting with teachers of students with severe disabilities, trying to help them improve their educational programs in small, tiny, isolated places. I travel by plane, boat, and sometimes snow machine to villages such as Stebbins, St. Michael, Tok, Shaktoolik and Ketchikan. This trip is a relatively nice one, with hotel and restaurant and all.

But how did I get here? I'm glad you asked.

I went straight on to undergrad at UCLA in 1987. I chose psychology as a major because my other choice didn't seem to offer me anything in the way of a future (English Major). I spent four years (ok, ok, four years and a desperate summer) studying sex, drugs and rock and roll, not necessarily in that order. I worked at various psychiatric hospitals as a nurse's aid and at UCLA in the Treehouse food court thingy. I played a ton of bad rock and roll, both on the guitar and on the bass. I made some great friends, and fell out of touch with the couple I had made in high school.

After college, I played in some bands around the LA and Hollywood areas, moved around the greater LA area, and generally worked in psych hospitals. I realized that my BA in psych only counted towards working as a nurse's aid some more. I watched the psych-ward teachers come in later than me, leave earlier than me, and make more money than I did. I went to CSUN to start a teaching credential. It was at this point I realized that the damn English major would have been more helpful. Hindsight and all.

I did come out of the psych hospital saga with something worth keeping, though: my lovely wife, Summer, who I began dating in 1992 and am married to even now, 15 years later. More on her and the kids later (this is called foreshadowing).

I went to work as a long-term substitute teacher at a locked school for kids with the label of Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED) for about two and a half years. About a year into the credential studies, I was offered a stipend for a Masters' degree in moderate/severe disabilities. With the free money, I had to take the offer. I soon found out that I loved helping kids with significant disabilities learn what they needed to in the same "regular" classrooms that they would be in if they hadn't had a disability. I became a devout Inclusionist, and worked in Simi, Burbank, and finally as an inclusion specialist in LAUSD until 1999.

I also played with a band comprised of Bob Vassegh and Bill Horbury, both class of 87-ers. We called ourselves schwa (look it up!) and played all original music around the LA area. We rehearsed in the same studio in Santa Monica that Weezer did (yeah, Rivers is cool). I still hear from Bill on occasion (just did his company website for him), but haven't heard from Bob since he left for Boston several years ago.

I got married in 1996 and spent the last almost 4 years of my time in California as a teacher in LA, Burbank, Simi, and again in LA. My wife is a trained opera singer with a Master's degree in voice, which she earned at CSUN, and a recent Master's in Social Work, which she earned in Alaska a couple of years ago.

At the end of 1999, I heard about a job in the Alaskan wilderness. Based in Anchorage, people who worked there would have to travel by tiny plane, boat and snowmachine. I said, sign me up. My wife said, huh, wha, where? But eventually she relented. I flew up in December 1999 to a house that we rented sight unseen. I arrived to find the floor in the kitchen rotted out from a big spill. I could see the basement from near the refrigerator. My wife and her parents were coming up in a week.

I rented a different house; one that had all it's floors intact but was attached to a beauty salon. Sunday mornings were the best when the house filled with the smell of perm solution and the sound of hairdryers. Soon after moving up, we found out that Summer was pregnant with our "just-about-to-move-sleep-on-the-blow-up-mattress-on-the-floor" conceived child. We bought our first house just in time to welcome Hunter Elisabeth home. That was 7 years ago, and we had another child, Spencer David, who just turned 5.

Which brings me to sitting in Tok, Alaska (Google map it, I dare you).

Currently, my job is half traveling consultant, half distance education coordinator and resident tech-geek at the Special Education Service Agency in Anchorage (www.sesa.org). I play music with a band in and around the Anchorage area (mostly original music, with some kick-ass covers thrown in -- including Weezer, hahhah). I also run a web-design business out of my house, and am working on a novel, which can be seen on my blog at www.roblef.com.

I'm loving my family, enjoying my life, and keeping busy. I've really dug reading the blog. It's amazing how everyone seems to have similar themes of life, career, love, etc. It's beautiful reading. Even Anthony, the guy I mostly remember as an amazing artist who drew Garfield like no other, has little pearls of wisdom and life-lessonry tossed in among the one liners and genuinely funny insights. I'm honored to have been a part of such a cool group of people way back in the days.

So, yeah, it's a long blog entry, but I thought maybe it would be ok, since I won't be able to join you all at the reunion. Please, if you remember me and think fond thoughts, contact me at roblef AT gmail DOT com. I'd love to hear from you. Erin and I already have re-connected a bit because of the chamiblog and Facebook, so you could be next!

Thanks again, and hope to talk to you all soon!

Just opened a bottle of wine...

2007-09-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

As I sit here wondering what the hell I am doing reliving Chaminade days that I truely thought were behind me, it is clear that I am remembering the friends, not so much the school crap (Mr. Lawson to begin with). "Duh!", they shout, but it has taken me this long to decide to "take the plunge" (not to mention the many tech support emails with Amy).

As happy as I was to be finished with high school, I was even happier to know that I was leaving LA. I moved to the Bay Area (only to come to LA to visit family, Caroline and Beth) and began college at a small Catholic University (sound familiar?). After a year and a half of amazing political science study, I couldn't help but wonder why I was still in an environment that was too stifling. I left College of Notre Dame and moved to San Francisco where I graduated with a degree in Early Childhood Education from San Francisco State. I began teaching during college and continued through my 10 years in SF. It was wonderful to be in SF with so much of my family and great friends, including Caroline and Beth who were both in Northern CA for a time.

I met Rick in 1995 (in SF although he is a New Yorker) through a family whose children I taught - very unexpected, but very wonderful. Very fun story for us, but boring for everyone else, so ... We were married November 1997 and moved to Grenada a month later where Rick went to MD school. We lived there 2 years, and it was heaven. I was lucky to land 2 great jobs while there 1) at an NGO on the med school campus where I was responsible for fundraising activities and grant writing and 2) as a faculty member, working with medical students. It was a magical time for us (mostly for me), easy living on the beach, getting to know amazing people and enjoying a beautiful island. Our first son, Justin, is our "island" baby and he was born in LA in 2/2000. I came home to have him, as birthing in a 3rd world country was strongly discourage by the MD's in Grenada. 4 months later (6/2000), we moved to Brooklyn, where we lived for 18 months while Rick finished year 3 in medical school. We then moved to Princeton, NJ, for Rick's 4th year and where Ryan, our #2, was born 12/2001. Rick began his residency in Phoenix, AZ in 2002. Phoenix was great for the time we were there, especially because I had a super teaching position at a wonderful school. Then...Surprise, Surprise! A little over a year after we arrived in Phx, Evan, our #3 was born in 7/03. Fortunately or unfortunately... my teaching tenure in Phoenix is marked by absences - baby absences that is. Baby #4, Miya, joined our family in 2/2005. After Miya came, I quit teaching and was "happy" to be home with our little ones, although 4 children under 5 can be grueling...

In June 2006, we left Phoenix (to move for Rick's fellowship) shortly after the market dropped which made the move to VA all that more stressful! Our leaving Phx was quite a sight: Rick had the BIG Penske truck with our Camry on a trailer, and I had our Surburban, filled with 4 children, my sister-in-law and a 12ft UHaul on the back. 3.5 days later, we pulled into Charlottesville, VA with a shitload of crap and 2 mortgages!!! Anyway, Charlottesville is dreamy and it might be the place where we totally unpack (we still have wedding gifts in unopened boxes), but we won't know until next summer when Rick is finishing up his fellowship.

It has been an amazing life so far and I wouldn't change much, except that I wish I could remember more of the Chaminade details that some of you have. NOT!! I truly believe that I have blocked them out...

Thanks for reading my life on epaper... I haven't even made a dent in the bottle of wine I am drinking - how pathetic! I suppose I could go on and on, but I won't.

Take Care,
Mona Sethi

Rick and I (Yes it's dorky, but it might ensure someone will recognize me next week...)

Ryan (5.5) & Justin (7.5)

Evan(4) & Miya(2.5)

A Dave Chmelka Update

2007-09-24T22:33:00.001-07:00

Okay, this is not the official Dave Chmelka Update. This is some news I just received via Eric Nesheim and okayed by Dave to put on the blog. As you read this, you will gather bits of information on Dave's life, but Dave says he'll try to do his own update before the reunion so you will can get the full story. If this doesn't happen, Dave will be attending the reunion, so you can quiz him there.

CHMELKA NEWS

Dear Family & Friends,

I wanted to share with you all some special news about an unexpected blessing in our family. Dayna is 5 months pregnant! We weren't exactly planning for a third child, in fact we were pretty comfortable with Dylan in Kindergarten and Taylor in 2nd grade, but life doesn't always work out the way you plan.

The initial shock of this news took a while for us to get use to, but now that time has passed, we have become very excited about the idea of having a bigger family and getting another chance at experiencing the joys of an infant. Don't get me wrong, we are definitely nervous about the thought of starting over, and a little overwhelmed with the idea of having 3 kids, but ultimately we are looking forward to the birth of our 3rd child at the beginning of February 2008. At this point we've decided to add a little more mystery to the situation and not find out the sex of the baby but we might change our minds because both Dayna and I like to plan ahead.

Sorry that we weren't able to share this special news with you in person but given all of our busy lives, we decided we better inform you now before our new child is born. Thanks for all your support in our lives in the past, present and future.

Love always,

Dave & Dayna Chmelka

PS - Taylor & Dylan are very excited about the news. Here is a picture of them right when we told them the special news.

Frequent Flyer Miles - PLEASE

2007-09-24T18:23:00.000-07:00

Last call. Anyone out there have miles to burn? Please email me at LISIEFLAV@sbcglobal.net. A classmate is waiting. Thanks!

Fun classes...

2007-09-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

I was going through some of my old files on my computer (I'm a digital pack-rat, it's hard to believe that my whole life fits on a device small enough to fit in my pocket) and I ran across some old papers that I wrote for Mr Redondo's faith issues class. I didn't realize how much fun I had with him in that, in most of the reports I talked about God like he was a good fishing/drinking buddy. It's no wonder on during the last week of school he called me in and grilled me for 3 hours about my seemingly odd beliefs. I think he was worried I was talking to aliens or something. Still he was a good sport about it.

Thinking about this I also started to wonder what happened to Ms. Huckabee and her constant rant on why socialism was so much better, I seem to recall that Tom Coleman and I brought tritium illuminated compasses/watches into her classroom to violate her nuclear free zone!

Then there was Mr. Wenger and his silly ethical dilemmas that only had two outcomes, neither of which I ever choose. The grenade case stuck in my mind as being particularly stupid.

Whatever happened to that tall Spanish teacher who married an illegal? I heard she moved to south america.

Is the yellow line still there on the little campus?

And then to wrap up this and get back to work (lunch is over) I have fond memories of Bro. McCall's literature class. I can remember him asking why Kafka's (sp?) main character in metamorphosis was eating trash and rotten food. Bob V. answered with "because that's what cockroaches eat" and getting the famous McCall glare. Those were the days... until of course these were the days!

Apa

MORE SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION!

2007-09-23T21:00:00.001-07:00

I would like to invite everyone to see my new movie, opening October 12 in time for our reunion.

For a long time, I had been looking for a vehicle to star in with Samuel L. Jackson. With no script satisfying either of us, I sat down and wrote my own script inspired, of course, by our upcoming reunion. Samuel loved it! With an A-list cast, the best director, and an unlimited budget, we made the best damn movie seen in decades!

I hope you will come out and support this film.

Anthony "I have had it with these mother f*ckin' snakes at this mother f*ckin reunion!" Butler

Hotel Shuttle for Out of Towners

2007-09-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

Three weeks to go! The Reunion Committee discussed offering a shuttle to classmates staying at either the Marriott or Radisson Hotels the night of the reunion. Is anyone planning on using this? Or will everyone have their own wheels that night? If you plan to use the shuttle, can you please email me at LISIEFLAV@sbcglobal.net. Thanks!

we are gonna have some fun!

2007-09-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

L-O-V-E you, anthony, i mean mr. butler-if-you're-nasty! we are going to have us some laughs. pole not included.
like a rare, fine wine, your kinda funny has just improved with age.
i hope you teach a seminar on snappy comebacks. i am so there.

Don't You Dare Shelly!

2007-09-21T09:22:00.001-07:00

Shelly, don't you sell yourself short.

I remember you very clearly from high school. You were very attractive and cute. And if you were not skanky then, maybe you have improved with age. You may be the most attractive and skanky person at the reunion. Wait, . . . . . . somehow I feel this may not be sounding good at all.

Personally, I never got the wrong impression from you BLOG entry. I new you weren't actually a stripper. But, if you were - so what? To me, that just means I would have had a place to go for a 1/2 price lap dance. Oh yes baby, I love me some friend-courtesy discount.

Anthony "Spanking Costs Extra" Butler

clarification

2007-09-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

OK, i will not deny that i do teach "stripping for the everyday woman", but i have to make this point extremely clear: fellow grads of '87, i am not, nor have i ever been a stripper (c'mon you people went to school with me - i'm not that attractive OR skanky). just a fun job i fell into, minus the taking-off-my-clothes part.
little SAT trivia: ecdysiast is the PC term although i know "shellaine the ecdysiast" doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely or easily as "shellaine the stripper".
try not to be disappointed when you see me & i'm more mama of twins than stripper!

FEAR NOT, MR. BUTLER!

2007-09-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry I scared you. That was never my intention. But please know, I will always look for you.

I will reach my hand deep into the BLOG and find you, under the edible underwear, and I will bring you to safety.

Amy

AMY ROGERS! Stop scaring me!

2007-09-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

If my Blog entries have proved nothing else, they have at least shown me to be unstable, delusional, and twisted. Why, knowing this, would you feed into my paranoia?

I'm frightened and unsure. You said that as new posts were made, we would "get pushed down further getting buried deep in the blog until we were hard to find". I don't want to get buried deep in the Blog, Amy. It's dark, and cold, and I can't get enough air. With all those new posts on top of me, the space will get smaller and smaller, crushing me. And then I will panic and start writing anything just to claw my way back to the top of the Blog. But someone will write about their life or advertise their online edible underwear store - and I'll get buried again. Good lord, my heart is already beating through my chest!

I know some of the more strong willed classmates can take it Amy, but I can't. Please tell me you were just kidding. Say it was all in jest. We won't really get buried deep in the blog, right? And if it is true, promise you will get some hound dogs and search the Blog if you don't hear from me in a few days.

Anthony "Claustrophobia" Butler

Shameless Self-Promotions

2007-09-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

Hello Eagles,
In reading these posts, I've learned that we are quite an ecclectic, innovative, and talented group of people. I mean, between Stacey the Clown, Shellaine the Stripper, and Anthony's Hospital Wear (he always had great gams), we just need some liquor (that's you, Dave Donnell) and Matt's rental supplies, and we can really get our collective freak on.

But back to the subject. I know people have posted links to their businesses and personal blogs, but as the posts get pushed down further and further, these links get buried in deep in the blog and they become hard to find.

You may have noticed that to the right of this site, there is a LINKS section. So, if it is cool with folks, I'm going to start adding links to their websites and blogs. If you have a site you would like me to add, just write to me at amykeatingrogers@pacbell.net and I'll put it up. If I've posted your link and you don't want it there, tell me and I'll remove it.

Amy

CALIFORNIA ER: MORE BLOODY THAN SEXY

2007-09-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

Not even a week since my trip to the Idaho ER and I end up in the California ER! Ain't that some shit?

I went to the West Valley Animal Shelter to a visit a dog I had been considering adopting. I was there an hour and a half and during that time, I was also playing with a nice Labrador mix. Gentle, sweet, maybe even slightly timid.

It was 4 minutes to closing, I was saying goodbye to "my" dog and stopped by the fence of the other dog. The "MIX" part must have represented a blend of Labrador plus freakin' psychotic sharp toothed blood thirsty lab experiment gone wrong! I barely put my hand in to pet him and he chomped down on my left hand. I think it was jealous of the other dog but in two seconds it went CUJO on me.

So I look at my hand, which is now squirting blood, notice my middle finger is now kind of "flappy", and I'm in disbelief. I look again and my finger is still bleeding, and I can see that the flesh looks shredded and beefy. For a minute, it made me want Taco Bell.

Now, instead of acting like a normal person, I panicked. Why? Because there is one sign plastered all over the whole kennel repeatedly - DO NOT PUT HANDS INSIDE CAGES. DOGS MAY BITE. Crap - they are going to get pissed at me for ignoring the sign and getting bit 4 minutes before they get to go home for the day. I am cupping my blood as it flows out onto my clothes, dripping on my feet and thongs, and wondering how I am going to sneak out unnoticed. Moving quickly, I go inside, heading for the exit, and grabbing the comlimentary cat litterbox newspaper to wrap my hand in.

By the time I got to the ER, the blood had soaked through the newspaper and started to dry. It was like paper mache'. I had a horrible vision of little kids whacking my mini-pinata hand in the hope it was full of treats.

Now my middle finger has been sutured back on, covered in a gauze condom, and sticking straight up as a permenent "bird" until Friday. My only hope is to be accepted for who I am and not shunned at the reunion for my hideously distorted digit.

Anthony "I taste like chicken" Butler

TOP SECRET: for the boys only

2007-09-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

Gentlemen, while the ladies are getting fit by simulating stripper moves - I have something to offer.

Having never left the valley and seen the rise and fall of many business, I am in the fortunate position to offer you an entertaining diversion while the ladies are in class.

For a mere $25, I will take you on a tour of the Valley's hottest strip clubs. There, you will actually get to see what your wives/girlfriends are learning. It's not inappropriate -it's educational! She will appreciate you cared enough to show interest in her hobbies.

The 25$ gets you my guidance in an air-conditioned, slurpee scented mini-van, 15$ in one dollar bills, one cheap beer, and a drool bib. For an additional $5 I will provide you with a notarized score card that states you were bowling with me all night.

The mini-van only seats 7 so sign up today!

Anthony "I can only imagine how many women will be slapping me" Butler

TOP SECRET: for the girls only

2007-09-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

apparently, my update has been read by some of you blog obsessed peeps out there & i have heard some whisperings of interest in taking one of my classes.

all i have to say is WOO-HOO! you brave girls ROCK!

i would love to offer my fellow FEMALE (sorry dudes, you can't even enter the studio) chaminade class of '87 grads a private intro class at the S Factor. usually intros are $40 but this class would be my 20th year reunion gift to all of you lovely "skirts" out there who are interested.

for those lovelies on the fence about taking a class, let me tell you a little bit about how an intro at the S Factor works. an intro is a class that whets your whistle & gives you an idea of what the first day of a level 1 class is like. the intro is approx. 1 1/2hrs in length. workout gear is recommended - tanks, tees, yoga pants, etc - whatever you are comfortable working out in. no special shoes needed, barefeet preferred. all of our studios have NO mirrors & dim mood lighting. we do about a 45-50 min warmup consisting of yoga/pilates/ballet-type movements. then we learn the "S" walk (think jessica rabbit) & one pole trick, the firefly! lastly, i gather a few S instructors for an awesome jaw dropping display of pole tricks, from basic to cirque du soleil worthy.

here is a link to the FAQ section on the S Factor website: http://sfactor.com/studios/faqs.asp

i am thinking of targeting a saturday night, 6pm, either the weekend prior to the reunion OR the weekend after.

please email me at shellainey@aol.com so i can keep your interest on the DL.

sorry hubbies, boyfriends & male fellow grads, i am bound, kind of like a doctor-patient confidentiality agreement, not to disclose any names. sorry!

i look forward to hearing from you!
shellaine

EYE CANDY, Jr.

2007-09-18T15:27:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of my son. A thinner, younger, cuter, less funny version of myself. I believe this was on his way to work at the car lot.

Anthony "Proud Dad" Butler

IDAHO ER - BRINGING SEXY BACK

2007-09-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

Over the last five days I happen to have been in Idaho. On my first day there, my extensive car travel plus tempermental blood pressure medication landed me in the Idaho Emergency Room. I had passed out and banged my head in the bathroom of a Best Western. If you are going to fall on the floor in a hotel - do it in the Best Western in Caldwell Idaho. You can eat off those floors!

The shape and flow of the gown was not flattering, however it did allow me this photo op to bring sexy back while awaiting a CAT Scan.

My pain is your gain - enjoy the eye candy.

Anthony - Mr. Butler if your Nasty

P.S. NO, this was not my audition photo for Edna Turnblad in Hairspray!

so you were a stripper?

2007-09-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

did that get your attention? thought so. even though my name sounds perfect for a dancer (i mean can't you just hear it? "ladies & gents, get your dollar bills out for the dance stylings of shellaine"), it's not my name that inspires this question but what i do for a living. what do i do, you ask? you'll just have to muddle through my blog to find out!

first off, HELLO!!

second, everyone's kids are sooooooooooooooooo effing cute! probably some of the cutest offspring i have seen are right here.

last, has it really been 20yrs? can we get some confirmation on this? a friend just emailed me a pic of a guy who's fashion sense leaves ALOT to be desired & i telling you, it's still 1987 out there. somewhere.

so what happened to me & where have i been? read on, my fellow alums, read on.

after graduation, i had several lapses in good judgment. fashion school? not so much if patternmaking & sewing are not your thing. although i have to admit this $16,844 mistake paid for itself when the hubman & i realized that our 10 month old son resembled, wait for it, a mini bob's big boy. i scoured the internet for a bbb costume to no avail. with my trusty FIDM education, i was able to craft one mighty fine bbb costume. see pic to your left.

what else?

living in montrose - who lives in montrose? working for a jewelry company in pacoima (of all places) whose owner embezzled the CA state unemployment funds of all 743 employees. freelance designing for 1928 jewelry - the operative word being "free". and most regrettably, not working on the first "matrix" film.

when it was all over, it was 1996 & i somehow made it through the wilderness (can you name the song that line comes from?). tired of the fashion game, i took some classes digital imaging classes at AFI. i landed an internship at duck soup produckions (i swear that is how they spell it) where i became a technical director for kids cereal commercials & later a department supervisor. my next leap was into the film industry. i talked my way onto perhaps the monumentally worst film of all time & ended up making an insane amount of money for digitally making babies talk. everyone remembers their first & for me this would be "baby geniuses" which IMDB has ranked as the 40th worst movie in the history of movies. i worked for another digital effects house in santa monica & did FX for another handful of movies - making dogs talk, background, ahem "enhancement", sharks, a giant monster named godzilla & a scary house movie as well some christian doomsday flick. with this impressive resume (& i am being facetious here), academy award winning effects house rhythm & hues added me to their staff as a compositor. compositing is taking film elements (the background, actors, etc) & melding them with 3D computer generated elements to create a seamless intergration so that the viewer would never in a million years guess that that spaceship was never actually there when will smith was filmed.

the stripper thing is coming, i swear. hang with me.

so, that was my job, making the world a better place, pixel by pixel. one year i had the distinct pleasure of working on 5 of the 6 film nominees for nope, not the academy awards but the razzies: dr dolittle, little nicky, battlefield earth, flintstones: viva rock vegas & of course, my beloved, baby geniuses, all vying for worst movie of the year. although i do have an awesome tornado & f-14 sequence in X-Men:X2 that i am quite proud of.

in 1999, i launched a jewelry company called trophy girl, which supplied the majority of semi-precious jewelry for just about every show on TV at that time. trophy girl's success has been interrupted by a totally life changing event. no, not the stripper thing but we're getting warmer keep reading.

one thing about working in the FX industry: despite the crazy salaries one gets paid to pixel f*** film frames all day, it doesn't leave much time for a personal life. this leads to dating your co-workers. which inevitably happens even though you say it won't. always. & sometimes it has consequences. with that said, the hubman & i met, fell madly in love & he makes me laugh ALL the time. he is some kind of funny - a stand-up comedian & sometime screenwriter as well as an art director. we married in italy. siena, italy, in fact. under the gaze of the mayor of siena in a "office" so amazingly beautiful that i can't believe italian officials meet here to discuss bi-monthly trash pickup. we rented a villa in chiusi/chianciano & 18 of our nearest & dearest flew out to help celebrate our day as well as take in the tuscan countryside. we stayed in italia for 5 weeks & lived la dolce vita. i swear we will live there someday, even if i have to sell fruit on the side of the road in positano!

i have retired from the FX biz & these days teach pole dancing. yes, you read right, pole dancing. hence the question about being a former stripper. i teach classes at sheila kelley's S Factor in los angeles. about 5 years ago, a friend introduced me to sheila & i started taking classes out of her husband's office. 6 levels & a year & a half later i was looking to get out of FX so the hubman & i could focus on the babymakin' as having him on location in australia & me here working all nighters does not a baby make. sheila asked if i wanted to teach. i did & within a month left rhythm & hues.

besides teaching classes at the S Factor, i also train actresses for film roles. i worked with teri hatcher & choreographed some moves for her to demo on jay leno. i can do some crazy, flipalicious cirque du soliel-esque pole tricks while hanging from my big toe suspended 15 feet in the air. i love love love the S Factor & can't say enough good things about it! the positive influence the "S" has in women's lives is a cause that lives close to my heart. it's an absolutely amazing movement that, despite the press we've received from oprah, goes far beyond "a strip for your man" class. it's a journey that will hopefully lead students to love & accept their bodies as they are, not by the standards set by men or society. through the S Factor community, i have had the chance to meet some of the most
amazing/interesting/intellingent/passionate/awesome women & have had the chance to participate in programs that will allow girls of the future to stand up & confidently have a voice for themselves.

as an aside, the pole dancing/lapdancing really works wonders for getting knocked up. and when i say knocked up, i mean knocked up in a BIG way: on november 12th, 2005 we joyously welcomed fraternal boy/girl twins. dignan edward (extra points if you can name the movie that has a character called dignan) was born 1 minute before his sister gemma genevieve sprang out on his heels. they are almost 2 & extremely HI-larious. so here they are: gemma at the carousel, trying on her best "miss personality" poses. dignan is getting his best billy idol impression on, because he's a little comedian, just like daddy!

these days are full with my time split between playing mama to my awesome twins, getting some alone time with the hubman, teaching at 2 S Factor locations (LA & SM) & trying to get my jewelry company, trophy girl back on track. it's busy but definitely a fantastic place to be! thanks for reading.

shellaine corwel

p.s. and yes, we do have a pole in our house. the neighborhood kids think (wink wink nudge nudge) that i am a some kind of volunteer firefighter & that we have the BEST house for playdates!

Shellaine

Hello from Michele Yasiello...

2007-09-17T21:54:00.000-07:00

(...Its actually Michele Burlingham now...I got a big jump in the alphabetical order now and don't have to sit in the back corner of the room anymore!)

Alright already, the guilt has finally gotten to me. I have to admit I have been an addict reading this blog so I guess its time I shared as well. It will be my first blogging attempt ever.

I can’t believe how time has gone by. I remember we couldn’t wait for each school year to end. Each year seemed to take so long at the time but the last 20 years out of school went by in the blink of an eye. Here’s a recap of the last 20 years:

After our Chami days, I attended CSUN. The first semester I had every class with Lisa Gosselin. Working together we could come up with plenty of excuses to not go to class. All it took was a nod across the room and we were off to get something to eat instead. Once she decided to move up north, I actually got a lot more school work done over the next few years. I never really got into the college scene as I worked almost full time all through school. I did eventually graduate with an accounting degree and went off to the world of public accounting. I worked for Kenneth Leventhal & Co (eventually bought out by Ernst and Young) as an auditor. I also did a little tax work. I got to travel quite a bit…audits in Hawaii and Las Vegas aren’t too bad to do, especially on the corporate credit card. I stayed there for a few years, long enough to get my CPA license. I was living in Simi Valley at the time and the drive to Century City was really getting to me. It was time for a change to somewhere closer. I ended up working at Blue Cross of California in Woodland Hills starting in 1995 and have been there ever since in various finance, IT and project management roles.

I met my husband Dan a couple of months before we graduated…thanks to Melissa Chappell and Lisa Gosselin for the introductions. We have been together for 20 years now and married for 12 of them. My bridesmaids were all Chaminade alums…Tracy Tuso, Lisa Gosselin, Jessica Zada and Heather Chase. Not too long ago, I was going through a box of high school mementos. I found the back cover of our 11th grade religion book. On it Jessica had written “Michele will love a man named Dan”. It was dated 8/6/86, about 7 months before I met my future husband. Jess, how did you come up with that one?

Dan and I have two bright, energetic and happy kids who are the biggest joys in my life. Amanda is 8 and Anthony is 4 ½. They keep us constantly busy with school, soccer, baseball and dance. Amanda is a little clone of me (especially if you compare pictures of me at the same age).

We live in Simi Valley and own a glass company in Simi called Community Glass & Mirror (anyone needing showers, mirrors, windows, etc give us a call). Dan runs all of the day to day operations and I handle all the behind the scenes finances in the evenings.

We have a boat, motor home and quads and are truly weekend warriors. We spend summers at the Colorado River or in Lake Havasu on our boat and the winters in the desert riding quads. The kids love all our activities and I really enjoy all of our family time. I never did much family stuff with my parents at a young age, so I guess I'm trying to make up for all of that with my kids. Luckily with Dan working for himself and my 5+ weeks off a year at work we can spend a lot of time away from work. We have also been playing co-ed softball weekly for about 10 years. This always makes me laugh as I wasn’t on a single sports team in school. In my “free” time I am an avid scrap booker and try to keep up on albums filled with all the pictures I take from of our activities.

Some favorite memories…breakfast at McDonalds on Platt instead of first period class; letters from all our friends and family from Kairos retreat; homecoming and vice-versa dances (Matt Wiltshire…how many did we go to together???); graduation trip to Hawaii; being in love with anyone from Duran Duran; the song Save a Prayer from Duran Duran; ice blocking; and of course the endless parties.

I can’t wait to catch up with everyone at the reunion or feel free to send me an email ahead of time. Hope to see you in October.

Michele

Kim Radmacher: Enjoying the Procrastination!

2007-09-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I must admit today was my first visit to the reunion blog. But, it has been wonderful to read what everyone has been up to. It’s been a welcome source of procrastination from revising my dissertation. Thank you for the distraction. Since all of you have shared a bit about your lives over the past 20 years, I felt impelled to do the same. In the words of my best friend, Jimmy, I will try to “précis”. Although his attempts to keep my account of events short and to the point have failed miserably, I will try my best and give you a “newspaper” version of the last 20 years.

I’ve been in school for most of the past 20 years; 14 years to be exact. I find it quite fitting that 20 years after graduating high school I will finally be graduating from college. I will receive my Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from UC Santa Cruz this fall and will be moving back to the Los Angeles area in January to open a new chapter in my life as an Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Development at CSU Dominguez Hills. I am currently single, but look forward to sharing my life with someone when the right person comes along.

The road from Cheviot Hills to Dominguez Hills has been an adventure. New experiences, friends who have come and gone and some who will always remain, shared laughter and tears, found love, lost love, learned lessons, but most importantly shared moments. After graduating from Chaminade, I attended Moorpark College for two years. On my first day of college, I met my friend Megan “from Montana” and before I knew it I was transferring to Montana State University in Bozeman. Exhausted from the “material world” of the 80s, the fresh air, mountains, and slower-paced lifestyle were a welcome retreat. Mountain bike trails right outside my door, skiing class on Friday afternoons, hiking the Grand Tetons, Thursday quarter beers nights at the Cat’s Paw. I worked as a server at Frontier Pies and managed to graduate after 3 years with a Bachelor’s degree in Business-Marketing. The end of my undergraduate career also marked the end of a year long relationship to my college boyfriend, whom at the time I thought I would marry. Thankfully, I did not.

Heartbroken and convinced life would end at 22 before it even began, I returned to California and worked as an Administrative Assistant at Vista Ford for two years before beginning a career with Enterprise Rent-A-Car as an management assistant and eventually a corporate account representative. Aside from gaining excellent training in sales and marketing, my days in Corporate America were rather unremarkable except for the handful of amazing friends I met and still continue to have in my life. Most important among these, my friend, Jimmy. We met, became friends, were in a relationship for three years, and then broke up and both left the company on the same day to pursue our life’s passions; Jimmy, a photographer; myself, a college professor. We dated off and on for the next few years, but, in the end, being close friends was the best option. I am still privileged to have him in my life as one of my closest and dearest friends.

After Enterprise, I attended CSU Northridge for three years and graduated with a Master’s degree in Psychology. I’ve been working on my Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at UC Santa Cruz ever since. I began teaching psychology at CSUN as part of their teaching intern program, a passion that has grown despite the occasional bump in the road. Teaching is still one of my favorite “hobbies” as my friend Julie and I call it. I have been teaching Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Adolescent Development at UCSC and Cabrillo Community College for the past three years. I have reluctantly grown to enjoy research and writing as well. My research and teaching focuses broadly on adolescents’ and young adults’ social and emotional development as well as how social class and poverty influences their opportunities and outcomes. Currently, I have been focusing on identity development, or how adolescents and young adults come to understand who they are as a person and whether and how their social identities (e.g., ethnicity or social class) play a role in defining who they are. Although adolescence is typically the age when a more comprehensive sense of who we are begins to develop, reflecting on my own life and reading your blogs reminds me that our “identities” are always growing and changing as we encountered new experiences and people throughout our lives or revisit and rethink the past.

As I start my career as a professor, I’m still a bit uncertain of the whole publish or perish mentality. CSUs tend to be more focused on teaching than research; but time will tell. While I have sacrificed time with family, friends, and myself over the past nine years of graduate school, I have known for some time, that there are more important things in life than my career and am vigorously attempting to not let it gain the upper hand. Although sometimes, I still fail miserably.

In my spare time, I enjoy sharing moments with family and friends. My parents moved from Simi Valley to Sutherlin, Oregon, three years ago. So, I typically spend a week or so with them in Oregon: hiking, river rafting/tubing, wine tasting, going to Beaver football games, or just hanging out doing nothing. My sister, Christin (she graduated in ’85; some of you may remember her from softball or as a retreat leader), lives in Simi Valley, is married, and has 3 wonderful children, Nicole, Brianne, and Jeff. Nicole and Brianne both attend Simi High (I can’t believe they are in high school already) and Jeff just started middle school. I’m excited that I will soon be living much closer to them so that I can spend more time before they are off to college themselves. I also enjoy experimenting with cooking for/with friends. Although not all my experiments turn out as fabulous as I’d like, my friends are usually forgiving. I’ve taken some drawing and painting classes and pick up my camera from time to time and my guitar at least once a week (when I meet with my friend, Bob, for lessons). I am currently working on writing my second song. I typically engage in the local sports wherever I live. In Santa Cruz, that has meant Yoga and sailing. I haven’t embarked upon belly dancing yet, but I may try a few classes before I leave. This past year, one of my students, who is our age, invited me to join her softball team. I have been inspired by playing with women of all ages, who still get out and play just for the love of the game. It also doesn’t hurt that we’ve taken 1st place in the last two seasons (spring and summer). So, that’s the short version of my life since Chaminade.

I look forward to catching up with all of you at the reunion and meeting your families at the picnic on Sunday. Ciao!

A message to share with our kids

2007-09-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

Thought this was cute and since this is the 20 yrs out of high school thought i would post it

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!
If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways. Yadda, yadda, yadda..........
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!! There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids' and the graphics sucked ass! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning.

Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards! And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up.We had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot. That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards, The over 30 Crowd

One Last Harass

2007-09-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

Harass. Hector. Bug. Wheedle. Needle. Annoy. Bother. Pester. Badger. Coax. Cajole. Persuade. Entice. Flirt. Flatter. Fondle. Fuck.

I'll do whatever it takes. But this is the last time! I'm getting sore and I have a reputation to protect. (well, not really)

To those of you who have not joined the blog, I sent your invite out one last time before the big day! If you have lost, thrown away, or a firewall stopped your directions on how to join, please email me and I will send them again.

To those of you who HAVE joined and have yet to blog, what are you waitng for? You figured out how to sign up, so get on it! I know you're reading the blog. People have admitted to becoming blog-addicts. So just continue sitting on your ass at your computer, but instead of reading about others, start writing about yourself. Most of us took Mrs. Valentine's typing class (which I must say has served me quite well), so I know you can do it!

Okay, that's it. I look forward to reading even more about everyone!

Amy

Better Late Than Never. Greetings from Lynn Coyle Darrow.

2007-09-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

I wrote my blog over a week ago and was too embarrassed to post what seemed like a novel. Thanks to the recent posts, I feel much better about opting out of drafting a shorter version!

I feel a lifetime older from our high school days. So much has transpired in this time. I feel so fortunate to have enjoyed the ride a majority of the time over last 20 years. For me there have been a lot more ups than downs and as I get older I feel like I’m winning the game at this point.

I couldn’t wait for high school to end. Don’t get me wrong, I walked away with some of my dearest friends that will be a part of my life forever, but I knew there was so much more life ahead of us. For me, going away to college wasn’t in the realm of possibilities. I am the youngest of 7 children so having the privilege of attending school away from home wasn’t really an option. I received a great education from CSUN and finished with a degree in Engineering. Engineering school was honestly one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life but the investment has been good to me over the years.

Before I left CSUN I was hired as a product engineer for Teradyne in Agoura Hills. Since I had worked almost full time while going to college, I treated myself to a 6 week European vacation before I entered the professional workforce. I have very fond memories of taking in the European culture, skiing in Zee Lam See, Austria, doing endless pub crawls in England and Germany and getting the worst sunburn of my life in Italy (ok, that memory is not so fond).

Once I settled into work at Teradyne, they quickly unsettled me and sent me to support the Texas region for an average of 60% of my time. I installed and repaired many test systems over several years. What do you ask was I doing? Well the testing equipment that Teradyne builds is wickedly complex machinery. Just about every electronic part behind your everyday electronic devices (cell phones, computers, printers, cameras, etc…) is tested on equipment Teradyne manufactures. As technology gets faster and more complex, this equipment has to take a leading edge and be faster while allowing software engineers to customize the equipment to test a very large array of electronic components. Now, don’t get the wrong idea, I didn’t have near the smarts of the architects who engineered this equipment, but I did have a raging tool box that even my brothers would have envied. I did have the advantage of being smaller framed than someone in my life. Let’s just say the Grandfatherly-like gents in the field regularly enjoyed happy hour at the local saloon in Texas and could barely bend or crawl inside this equipment to perform installations and/or repairs. I was the lucky one who was all too willing to do the grunt work. After a few years of this labor intensive job, it was time to move on for me. I settled into marketing as a product manager after spending a few years in software engineering coordinating software updates and software license distribution to customers. Learning the software release process has been an invaluable experience for me. As a product manager I supported the European territory. These were self-inflicted tough years for me as not only was I traveling to Europe frequently, I married my husband of 12 years during my intensely time consuming promotion. To top in off, I decided to take advantage of a full-ride tuition program at Teradyne and get my MBA in Marketing (at the same time as my husband Chris) from California Lutheran University. I did enjoy getting to visit with Mark Grondin and JVS on repeated occasions in Germany (so much fun in Amsterdam!), but the strain of so much responsibility almost destroyed my marriage. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, which was the case for us.

Although the town home in Westlake I had purchased in 1994 seemed huge when I bought it, we were ready to purchase a larger house. Thank goodness! We sold our stock at what seemed too low, but we then thanked our lucky stars a couple years later when stock prices came tumbling down. We moved to our suburbia lifestyle in Moorpark in 1999, where we still live today. My career took a different direction at Teradyne when as a product manager they repeatedly asked me to run special projects. For the next 7 years I would evolve to a certified Project Manager and was responsible for Program Management of Teradyne’s business applications used to custom quote/configure the testing equipment I once used to install and fix. Although I thoroughly enjoyed what I was doing, someone moved my cheese. The company restructured umpteen times and essentially merged the East and West Coast design/manufacturing centers. Needless to say, I spent about 30% of my time traveling between Agoura Hills and Boston over the next few years while my husband was left behind to care for 2 small children. I did get to enjoy visits w/ Daniella Carusi on several occasions during my visits. Although I definitely enjoyed Boston culture, the weather blows! I admit it, I’m a SoCal girl and just don’t know if I could ever permanently leave what I consider to be one of the best climates in the world. The last couple years at Teradyne were disheartening for me. Teradyne took what seemed like a never ending downturn and simply couldn’t get the restructuring to the point where expenses were in alignment with revenue. I was laid off from Teradyne in my 13^th year of service after dozens of layoffs had impacted so many of my coworkers before me. At first you feel lucky to be spared in a layoff, but at some point, I’m not sure who is better off, the person getting laid off or the person left holding the bag. I still remember the day of my departure. People were so amazed at how overjoyed I was. The environment had taken its toll, the once entrepreneurial nature had been squelched, the novelty of traveling had long since worn off and as I put it, I was ready for that chapter of my life to close.

Why you ask did I stay at Teradyne during such turmoil? Believe me; I don’t think my husband will ever quite understand! Quite simply, I was a young Mom. Jimmy was born on 02/02/02 (what a cool Bday) and Chelsea Rose was born in 2004. In high school I was certain that I’d never have kids, but the rockiness of professional life wasn’t leaving me fulfilled. My time clock kicked in and well, the rest is history. I stayed at Teradyne because I was able to telecommute and work out of my home office 3 days a week for several years. I was the project manager and could set my schedule to suit my needs. I do not know how I could have pulled of raising two young children without that flexibility Teradyne gave me. So for me, Teradyne was a worthy experience. They invested in my training, allowed me to make mistakes on their dime, sent me to many destinations, supported a flexible working schedule, and gave me the opportunity to grow in areas that interested me. Going through the pain of continuous downsizing was hard at the time, but has left me with a better understanding of the process that is inevitable in the working environment.

Once I left Teradyne, I had NO intention of going back to work for a long, long, time. After 13 years I had received a handsome severance package that allowed me to play with my kids and get paid for a good chunk of it! I was able to take the kids out of daycare, except for a few hours a week so that I could also perform my new duties as a full-time Mom, maid and cook. During this time I was able to hang out more with my high school chums: Lisa Macias, Kathy Hayes and Mark Boccicchicio. Life was great during the 18 months that I was home with the kids. Everything was simpler. For the first time I felt like I could stop and smell the roses. I am so fortunate to have had that time. During this period, Chris received a 10 week paid sabbatical from his company (yes companies do exist who believe in paid sabbaticals). We decided to do the unthinkable. We packed up our kids (4 and 2 at the time) and headed to Europe for 6 weeks. The many frequent flyer miles I had earned paid for our flights. My cousin in Northern Ireland hosted us for 4 of the 6 weeks, inclusive of most meals and she even loaned us her car for the whole trip. Our only expense was the occasional meal, entertainment and perhaps a few too many souvenirs. Traveling to Europe with the kids was quite different than the dozens of time we had vacationed in Europe pre-kids. Instead of endless museums and churches, we saw endless parks. I must say the parks in Ireland, England and Scotland kick ass over what we have in America. Kids can actually be kids and they aren’t so paranoid about removing any and all obstacles that might inflict harm to children just trying to have fun. We even got some Mommy and Daddy time when after 3 weeks; we left our cutie pies w/ my cousin and traveled around Southern Ireland for a week.

We then left Ireland for England followed by Scotland. If anyone ever gets the chance, I highly recommend Scotland during The Edinburgh Festival. We were able to see Howard Jones in an acoustic concert w/ only 40 people in a restaurant basement for about $40. That was just one of thousands of venues available during the 4 week long Festival event in Edinburgh.

Needless to say, having time off from work for more than just a few weeks since I was 16 was terrific. The timing was perfect to allow me to try my hand at being a full-time Mom. However, all good things must come to an end. In 2003 we had decided to invest in rental property to diversify our portfolio. Although we’ve done great in terms of equity in the property, equity doesn’t pay the bills. We had dipped into our savings during my time off and it was finally time to increase our reserves. I rejoined the workforce in Jan. of 2007. Although I was expecting the process of finding work to be lengthy, my educational background, experience and PMP certification (project management) paid off. I found employment within weeks of seeking work. I am now contracting as a Business Consultant and my current client is the Safety Net Foundation, which is funded entirely by Amgen. The Safety Net Foundation distributes Amgen products to qualifying patients who meet program guidelines free of cost. I work on Amgen’s main campus in Thousand Oaks. As a business consultant my responsibilities have run the gamut. My latest title is Project Visionary. Didn’t know such a name existed but the work is satisfying and I’m happy because I get to work 30 hours a week, which lessens the stress of having to go back to work and yet juggle family life too. Thank goodness my husband’s work covers our benefits which will allow me to take time off between contracts. I’m just hoping one of those breaks will be sooner vs. later….

So, 20 years in a nutshell? Can’t believe 20 years has come and gone? Well for me, I feel like I’ve relished every minute of it. I have satiated my travel bug, completed my formal education plan, have 2 adorable and healthy kids, a loving husband with a happy marriage, and am surrounded by family and friends. I’ve sadly experienced the death of both of my parents who are no longer suffering and have ridden the thrilling yet challenging waves of my professional career. I look forward to the next 20 years with the same anticipation of the last. I can’t hold back my sense of positive things for the future. Now that our 20 year reunion is fast approaching, I look forward to getting reacquainted with some old friends. I love to see the walls created by youth crumble as we all grow older. I’ve loved reading about everyone’s adventures and life antidotes. I can’t believe it has taken me weeks to finally write this blog and then how hard it was to stop writing once I finally started. Thanks Amy once again for launching this great communication vehicle. Lisa and Carol, you are awesome for taking on the challenge of spearheading our reunion.

For a quick update on the reunion, we now have 77 people confirmed for Saturday's event at the White House. We have at least 10-15 more people who've verbally committed but I've yet to receive their registration. If you are one of those people, get to it and send in your registration. If it is easier for you, send an instant funds transfer via paypal to 87eagles@pacbell.net. We'll be hard pressed to have another reunion with such a great turnout, so don't miss out on this opportunity to get reacquainted with some old friends. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone!

Air Miles

2007-09-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Are any of you frequent flyers? Do you have miles to share? If so, can you please email Amy Keating or me at lisieflav@sbcglobal.net. We have a classmate who needs help flying in from out of state. Thank you!