So Cool!

Anita Ray has done us such a solid on this one. We've got the room! (see post below) We'll be catered by Sodexo... but don't worry! Remember how their catering was always tastier than the Deacon Jones? The cost is a whopping $20 per person. Also, Mrs. Ray scanned in that first photo of us. Now if only I could Photoshop "Richelle" out and Tiffani in!

Please let me know if you can come so I can begin the food-getting process.

Pictures, I need pictures! In my personal photos I don't have very many of people. I think I thought I would "get copies" from all ya'll. Didn't we all think that?!?! So any great pictures you have of the crew, please share! Especially of special days, like soccer on Jesus Green. As much as I love the scenery, we don't need a ton of pictures of that. It hasn't changed much! If you have a really distinctive shot of the landscape you can share, of course.

I love all of you guys so much!

Back to School

Hard to believe our summer is coming to an end! (Of course, here in central Georgia it's still as hot as ever). With school beginning, though, it makes November and homecoming seem a little closer!

What I've ended up deciding for us is to do this reunion where it ought to be: on campus. It's so economical, they can supply all our needs, and it's the University which brought us all together in the first place. Anita Ray has been happy to help, and is including us in her brochure of reunions around campus. We'll be on the 2nd floor of the new Leonard Center (no clue where that one is), and of course it will be catered.

Now, this doesn't give us a hotel discount. In order to procure a discount generally a block of 10 rooms has to be reserved, and I don't think we have 10 couples who are certainly needing a hotel. However, since we don't have to pay for a room-rental fee, the overall cost is much lower.

So: On Saturday, November 8 at 4:00 we have a reunion scheduled! I hope that you all can be there, but understand not everyone will make it. However, can I get you all to tell me if there's a possibility or not? There are some of you who I haven't heard anything from at all! tough crowd...

RaeAnna sent me some fabulous pictures via shutterfly that completely took me back (I know we think we have all the same photos, but we don't!). Unfortunately, though, I can't manipulate pictures sent on a sight like that. All I can do is order prints, etc.

What I want to do is have all the photos on my computer, so that I can make a slide show using my software. I don't mind you emailing me pictures, but I understand that can take a while if you have a lot to upload. Perhaps placing your pictures in a .zip file would help, though. Finally, if you use Yahoo, then you can upload pictures to Flikr, and if you use Gmail you can upload to Picasa: both of these enable me to "down load" your photos onto my computer. If you don't use either of those... I'm sure we can come up with something!

I began scanning pictures yesterday, and it is not so simple... I understand. Maybe we'll just put together a highlight reel? Pictures of kids and marriages and "where are they now" are also welcomed!

Finally: does anyone have any idea how to find Paul Van Fleet? I know he graduated from Southeastern University in Lakeland, and I even saw a write-up about him on the alumni page for that school, but no luck in finding his contact information. He and Sarah Walker are the last ones...

Blessings

Today we pray for blessings for Johanna and her child (she's delivering through a c-section today). Also, we are blessed because we're finding old friends! First we connected with Angela (thank you Facebook!) and now we've found Laura, too! It feels so good to be in touch; I guess this is what reunions are about. Thirdly, we can rejoice in the blessings our girl Lindy and her husband Joel have experienced in their recent move to Kauai (talk about a change of pace from Minnesota!).

By the way, thanks for giving me confirmations, those of you who have been able to. I'm tallying that list, and hope to have everyone's set plan by late August. At that point I can firmly make arrangements. You guys are seriously reminding me of planning my wedding!

Music: All I can say is "Oh-oh-oh, the sweetest thing!" and also those of us at the back of the bus singing "As the Deer" all the time... (tough crowd).

Pictures: Please send them to me digitally. I'm going to compose a slide-show on the glorious Mac, and so CD's are good, so is web-hosting (make sure they're big), and emailing. Since this is a Google blog application, perhaps using Picasa - for those of you gmailers out there - would make transferring them easier.

And God's blessing to all the rest of you, too!!

Looking Good

We've got some excellent options for our reunion!

First: Anita Ray has said she'd be happy to find us a room on campus (maybe in one of those crazy new buildings they didn't used to have), but I don't know what the terms/conditions are for that.

Second: The Museum Center at Five Points has a pretty cool room for rent where we could have a catered meal, and the price is good. Fortunately catering is also fairly cheap in Cleveland.

Thirdly: The Holiday Inn has a room available, too, and they will cater. They're a little pricier than the others (though still reasonable) *but* they are offering room-rates of $64 a night for our guests.

If there is a good number of us present (i.e. 40 people), then we can probably make this work at a cost of $75 per couple, and $50 per single person. Since all of our children are very young they don't affect costs. This charge would cover the room at the Holiday Inn, with their catering, and such a reservation will guarantee us a good overnight room-rate.

However, if we end up being a much smaller group, then we probably will do just fine on campus.

And if there's only about eight of us we're going to O'Charlie's.

Do I need to ask...

... But is it wrong for me not to invite Dr. Hoffman? I'm happy to let him know we are meeting, if the group feels like we should. But it hadn't even crossed my mind before today! Is that bad? Should we invite him?

Second: Can I get a count of who among you will be needing a hotel room?

Thirdly: I know we traveled before the days of digital cameras (for many of us), but I would like to do a slide show of pictures for us all to enjoy. It seems easier than lugging a photo album to show over and over again. What I'm hoping for is:

• scanned copies of your favorite pictures from Cambridge, captions included;
• milestone pictures of you over the last ten years;
• and songs that remind you of Cambridge (if you have the mp3 send it, otherwise titles will do)

Fourthly(?): I really would love to have Erica's video! or any other token of memorabilia you might want to share again.

Time and Date

Homecoming this year will be the weekend of Friday, November 7 through Sunday, November 9, 2008. This is a good year for us to meet in Cleveland, I think, because it shouldn't be a reunion-year for any of us. The schedule for homecoming is not available yet, so I don't know if there are events, Greek club gathering, or performances any of you are interested in attending. For the sake of argument here's what I'm proposing we do:

On Saturday, November 8th we get together with our families in the evening and enjoy a catered meal together. I'd like to have some sort of presentation of photos and memories and speeches (more information on that soon). This provides people with the option of traveling after work Friday and leaving Sunday if they need to, and also gives folks some time to enjoy Lee's Homecoming events.

I'm not anticipating the costs to exceed anything we would pay to just go out and have dinner somewhere together. In fact, I am checking out restaurants with private dining rooms.

Our other option is to use a hotel meeting/reception room and then have caterers come in.

Anyone have a membership to the Country Club? (haha)

PLEASE! Let me know if you have any problems with these plans (or if you have any of our missing email addresses)...

Nailing Down a Place

Today I would like to make some strides towards nailing down a location for this reunion. There are some factors, though, to consider in choosing a place.

1: How many of us will there be? This is a reunion, so PLEASE bring your families! I can't imagine anything nicer than meeting everyone's spouses and children.

2: Are we interested in having some English pints available, or should this be a more campus-friendly Lee event? Clearly, in light of "please bring your children", I'm not suggesting a keg-party style reunion. I could see some sophisticated beer and wine, though.

3: If we block rooms at a hotel, we may also be given meeting space. I know I will be getting a hotel, and if there are at least ten rooms (usually) there's a price-break. This is a time-sensitive option (those who've planned a wedding know!), but I think one worth considering.

4: If we get a room at Lee, it may not be expensive, if anything at all. But if we are reserving hotel rooms regardless, having the celebration right there ain't a bad idea.