I'm Baaaaaaaaak!!!

Did you miss me? I have been SO busy working on the Class Reunion DVD that I haven't had time to do much with this blog. I have it pretty much nailed now, though. It is 2 1/2 hours long. But it is very easy to watch because it is in segments according to year and activity.

I'm told the music is cute on it, too. I like the music. It certainly is an eclectic collection. It was a real chore to pick out the music to match each section. But it sure was fun to do. I enjoyed working with all the pictures and trying to figure out people's names. I had a number of classmates help me with that.

You won't believe the weather here! We are in the 100's now and it will probably stay that way for the rest of the summer. But, because of the low humidity, it is very comfortably. In fact, I plan to take a nice swim this afternoon (after my exercise, of course).

IT'S RAINING.....FINALLY!! 143 days later

I woke up this morning to hear pitter-patter on the roof. Yes, it is finally raining! Today, after 143 days of record-setting dryness, rain came to the Valley of the Sun in Phoenix, Arizona. Last October was the last appreciable amount of rain but this amount of rain has not been seen here since around the first of August 2005. We expect a mild rain all day today, perfect for soaking into the ground.

Hog Heaven

My former classmate, Jim V., really wanted to ride a pony when he was a youngster on his father's farm. Unfortunately, there were no ponies on the farm. What's the next best thing? A Bore Hog! So he broke the hog and rode it. Here's a picture of him at age 12 riding the hog. He's riding high on the hog now, though, because he owns his own engineering company. Even as a child he was persistent enough to get what he wanted. Good for you, Jim!

He eventually did buy a horse in high school and that connection served him well on one of our dates.....but that story is best told at our reunion coming up in August....

Still No Rain

It still hasn't rained here in the Phoenix area. It's been 118 days. I guess I'm going to have to do my rain dance again because the last one didn't do the trick.

It was 80 degrees here today with plenty of sunshine......

Busy, Busy, Busy

I'm having SO much fun talking with my former classmates and getting ready for our class reunion in August. A lot of us already have our reservations at the same place. I have been very busy scanning in old grade school and high school pictures and memorabilia, and trying to make some kind of order out of it. I'm in daily contact with classmates Dan, Jim, and Bob. Sometimes, the emails come in all at once. They are all helping tremendously with pictures, advice, and humor! Why were we ever apart for so long? I guess it takes maturity and the freedom of retirement to stop and look around, and to have time for things other than yourself and your family. We have had a couple of sobering moments this year as a couple of our classmates died. We will miss them very much at our reunion. Want to see a cute picture? Oh how innocent they all look!!

Loving the Scrapbooks

My former classmate, Bob, sent me three huge scrapbooks of pictures and memorabilia and they finally arrived. What a trip!! I'm loving it! I'm very busy now scanning in pictures for the DVD I am making for our class reunion, so I will probably not do much posting for a while. I probably won't know anyone when I get to the Class reunion, because I am so used to looking at what they looked like YEARS ago. That's OK though, because we will all be wearing name tags!

Classmates - How Sweet it Is

I am just SO excited ..... I am putting together a DVD of pictures taken YEARS ago when I was in grade school and high school. I hope to have it ready to take to our class reunion this summer. I'm even putting music to it. This is a big undertaking, because all the pictures have to be scanned into the computer first.

I put all of my pictures in ...... but still need more pictures to add, even though I have around 150 already. I don't have enough in certain categories, especially sports and dances. In fact, I need more pictures in ALL categories.

This week, a dear classmate (Bob) has shipped me THREE ALBUMS of pictures and memorabilia ..... I am just SO excited to get them and walk down that memory lane. I will be VERY busy with it all.

Dry as a Bone and All Sunshine

Today is the 99th day straight without rain in the Phoenix area. No rain is forcast for the near future, either. Tomorrow (Friday) will tie the record, and Saturday will break the record if we don't have rain.

I guess I'm going to have to go outside and do my rain dance.....

The above picture of Ron shows what happened the last time I did my rain dance in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

CSR Incompetence

I get SO frustrated with Customer Service Representatives (CSR). It seems that they do not LISTEN to what you are saying.....

Everything must be repeated.....

They are so busy thinking of how to answer you that they MISS exactly what you are telling them....

We've had problems recently just trying to make medical appointments, etc. You must have THIS....you must have THAT.... you have to be seen by THIS person FIRST...... bla bla bla. Then, when you INSIST that it is not correct, FINALLY, they listen to you. It seems like such a struggle and is so time consuming.

As I've Matured......

I've learned what is important in life and what isn't so important. I have found out that MOST things are not important but relationships...... friends....... family....... are VERY important. I think that you will enjoy the piece below:

<http://www.frontiernet.net/~jlbeam/specials/life/life.htm>