45th High School Reunion - main event

Oh, what a night. With apologies to Frankie Valli, it was "a very special time for me" although this was many decades after "late December back in '63". Our class of 1965 had gathered for the main event, our 45th class reunion held in late August, 2010, in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis. The weekend featured an early get together on Friday night, a tour of the old high school Saturday morning (I declined), the dinner/dance at 7-11 PM Saturday, and a follow up "get out of town Brunch" from 11-2 PM on Sunday.

I took a few pictures, some of which actually came out. I've selected three, including a shot of the band featuring classmate C.E. Quandt, who is a high school Principal these days, and of the tables full of classmates and spouses, and a shot of my prior night hosts, Sarah and Dick with Sarah's fellow band-mate Marsha to her right. The deck outside the event hall was popular, as the heat of late August was winning over the air conditioning of the facility.

Roast beef was the meal, and it wasn't bad - I always fear those large event catering situations, but this was OK. We had the one "60's band", and then we were entertained by a quartet that sang a lot of MOTOWN favorites. Some dancing took place, perhaps some romancing as well - none apparent to me, but with many of our number on marriages numbers two, three and even four, I suspect some liaisons were to take place afterward. For me, I retired to my son's house nearby so I wouldn't disturb Dick and Sarah who planned early church on Sunday.

I did indeed do the brunch, at least from 11 AM to 1 PM, then decided I needed to get back home to St. Louis and left. Had a nice drive with the top down so picked up some sun that had successfully evaded me during the prior week in rainy Florida.

45th High School Reunion

All of my recent travels from St. Louis to Indianapolis, to Longboat Key, and return to St. Louis via Indianapolis were tiring, but fulfilling. I had a great time with my son, helping him move to Florida (where we'll be joining him in a month), and then having the chance to visit an air museum, the Corvette Museum, a private car collection, and a three day high school reunion weekend.

I will most likely post a number of photos from the reunion on my Face Book page, so for the Friday night get-together I chose a shot taken of yours truly, by my friend Sarah. Sarah and her new husband Dick were my gracious hosts on Friday night, and she and I go way back to P.S. 66 at 38th and Park Avenue in Indianapolis. We were to go through grade and high school, and kept in touch over the years. Our class has held reunions every five years since 1970, and we keep in touch a lot.

Friday was for folks who got into town early, and we met at a Mexican theme restaurant, so naturally I'm drinking a margarita. The pretty lady in the picture is Judy Barnes Stahl, who married her high school classmate Bob Stahl. Judy retired as a minister, and Bob continues a career as a financial consultant as I understand. The classic marriage of faith and the money changer, so I'm confused with the parable there. Judy offers one heck of a prayer, which she gave the following night as we remembered those of our class no longer with us. I'd quote statistics of my class, were it not for the fact I've already packed up and taped shut all my old high school annuals in anticipation of my own move to Florida later this month. We did have well over 30 people on Friday night, and would see five times that number the follow day, but that's the subject of another blog entry. By the way, the margarita tasted "damn fine", but I told Judy is was just "darn good". I guess I remain somewhat intimidated by ladies of the cloth.

The Private Museum

Once we got back from Bowling Green, I had some free time on Friday afternoon to visit a personal collection of cars, owned by the son of the Chevrolet dealer who had sold cars to my family for several generations. He asked of me only one favor, and that was not to display any of my pictures on the web. There was one car there, that had previously been on the Internet (via this blog) and that was my mothers 1990 Chevrolet station wagon with less than 30,000 miles on it. This gentleman had agreed to repurchase the car for restoration, as it was fully loaded with every option available. It also had sat in a garage in Sun City, Arizona, for five years without being driven. And when it had been driven, it was driven by a 70 year old woman who used it to haul her harp around.

The car now is awaiting minor body work, and the challenge is to find the "woody" side decals. Paint is in dramatically good condition (at least to me), and the upholstery is very good. The car has "returned home" to the man who sold it, and we wish him the best.

His museum has a number of cars, many are GM vehicles, logically. I had two favorites, one of which was a Ferrari 255 "custom" convertible. I say custom because it has no top, and the seats have been moved back 20 inches, which required moving the gas tank to the front of this rear engined car. The seat has an "S" in the shape of the old Superman logo stitched in the headrest. Prior owner was an NBA player whose name also began with the letter "S". It had 90,000 miles, but could only be driven in the sun, since the custom work eliminated any chance of a power top (no room - but when you're seven foot one inch, you've got to make adjustments to legroom and pedals).

Also in the museum was the Corvette Pace Car driven by Emerson Fittipaldi in 2007, and autographed by the two time Indy 500 winner (1989, 1993). Emerson signed the underside of the hood on this 2006 Atomic Orange convertible. As the primary dealer for 500 pace cars, this one came home to the dealership and was put into the private collection.

There was also a 1994 Pontiac Fiero 500 Pace Car, which holds the distinction of being the only mid-engine car to ever pace the race. The pace car model exceeded the normal 4 cylinder 2.5 litre 92 horsepower version - it was bored out to 2.7 litres and produced 232 horses, and could turn a lap over 135 MPH.

One other favorite was a 1964 Corvair Monza Spyder, which pulled 140 horses from an air cooled "flat 6" (cylinders were horizontally opposed). The Corvair inspired another sporty Chevrolet, the Chevelle, and Ford the Mustang in 1964. Ralph Nadar's book came out a year later, and while the original plan was to retire the Corvair model in 1966, Chevrolet kept it alive through 67,68 and 69 in order to disprove his book. In 1972, the NHTSA exonerated Chevrolet on all charges leveled by Nader's "Unsafe at any Speed", concluding it was no more prone to accidents and rollovers than any comparable car of the period. If we want to talk about crappy Chevrolets - let's go to the Vega, of which there are NONE in this private collection.

A final car of note was the 1963 "Split Window Coupe" Sting Ray Corvette. This was also the year of the model name Sting Ray, spelled in two words (a later incarnation was to spell it "Stingray" as one word). It was also the lead year of the second generation (C-2) Corvette, which would last until the 1967, when the third gen (C-3) came upon the scene and lasted until 1982.

All in all, a great collection of cars, all quietly hidden away in buildings of a former car dealership. My thanks to the owner (and my brother who introduced us) for letting me see his treasures.

The Corvette Museum

On August 27th, after spending the night in Bowling Green, my son and I visited the second museum on the trip from Florida to Indianapolis. The National Corvette Museum opens at 8 AM, and we were there bright and early. I think J.B. enjoyed this place a bit more than the previous day's air museum in Georgia, and perhaps the hardest part of this blog entry was to be selecting the appropriate photos to post.


I selected one shot of the inside, where I stood outside the Cafe and took in the expansive gift shop on the left side and the entry into the museum (admission ticket part) itself. Another picture is of an original 1953 car (one of the first off the production line) and the 1,500,000th Corvette to be built (2010). The third photo is of the new Grand Sport, which is primarily a Z-06 with an automatic transmission. Should I ever be so lucky as to sell both condos (one now on the market, the other soon to be) I'd love one of these.

If you're planning to visit, bring $25 as an adult admission. Or, join the museum with a $50 family membership (tax deductible as it's a 501(c)(3) organization) and have unlimited visits. A lot to see, and exhibits change from time to time. One of my favorites were the Corvette pace cars from all the Indy 500's, and another was the C-6 Corvette driven up the Alaskan highway, complete with roof rack for spares.

I hope to post many of the photo's to my Face Book page, for both the Corvette museum and the Air Force museum as Warner Robbins AFB I had visited on the day prior to Bowling Green. Having spent five years of driving back and forth without digressions, I really enjoyed this time with my son, and my camera.

The Air Museum

After any number of trips up and down I-75, I finally got the chance to visit an excellent air museum at Warner-Robbins Air Force Base, near Macon, Georgia. Driving north with my son, I asked if he'd mind a side trip to check out this air museum, and he was OK with the idea. It turned out to be worth the 20 mile detour on our drive, and while it put us into Atlanta rush hour, it was the back side of the rush hour and not all that costly in time.

I was really enjoying the two hour diversion from driving (scattered showers followed me from my five days in Florida), and took lots of pictures. There were three large buildings, and a vast wrap-around field with great aircraft from the post war (WW II) period. The rain held off and it was actually a nice day, albeit hot. My son wandered off and I later learned that his enthusiasm wasn't nearly as great as mine - he told my wife I was acting like "a kid in a candy store". Well, I was. He did agree to snap the picture of me as we left. I had taken quite a few of the aircraft, but couldn't decide which one to post, so you get me.

There were some really neat aircraft there, including the KC-135 command plan of General Schwarzkopf during the 1991 gulf war, and a C-130 that participated in the ill-fated Desert One raid during the Carter administration. World War II aircraft included a P-40, P-51, B-25, A-26, C-46 and C-47, all inside the hangers. More modern aircraft inside included an SR-71, U-2, F-15, F-16, and the CH-46. I think I may have impressed my son (of course, you never really know with your kids) with my knowledge of the various types, or maybe he was just humoring me. I think he may have liked the A-10, the B-1B, or perhaps the BUFF (B-52) outside. My favorite outside exhibit was the massive C-124, a Korean war period transport alternatively known as "Old Shakey" or "2 million rivets flying in loose formation".

I would recommend this as a great place to visit, but start before 3 PM as it closes at five in the afternoon and two hours is just not enough time.

Remodeling

A short entry, for those following the deconstruction and reconstruction of our new home on the island. During the week my son and I traveled south, we stopped by and checked on the progress of the remodeling of our recently purchased home. Gone is the popcorn ceiling, and the white tile floor. The popcorn is now history, and the tradesman who did the skip troweled ceiling did a fantastic job. Removing that popcorn erased one more sign of the original 1988 construction.

Now starting to arrive is the wood flooring, and after that the new tile in the bathrooms and laundry. On the day I left (August 27th) the wood flooring had been installed in the master bedroom, where some living room furniture was already delivered and stored. The fireplace had been stripped of the old tile, awaiting the new. And the kitchen might best be described as a work in progress.

The picture does reflect the amount of light which can enter the room from the sliding glass doors onto the screened lanai. We both look forward to having that large deck area, which can be accessed from both the master bedroom (shown) or the living room. This home is all on one level, and will replace the two condominium homes we currently have, both on multiple levels. I'm looking forward to the life of fewer steps, and greater space.

Road Trip

How much can you cram into a Jeep Liberty? Depends on who's doing the packing. In the past ten or twelve days, I've driven to Florida by way of Indianapolis, and carried down items which the moving vans would not take. That includes my son, who has also decided to move to Florida and pursue his career in the hospitality industry.

That's his Jeep, which is crammed to the top with my stuff and his. We took the picture in my garage after a straight through drive where we took turns trying to keep from having an accident without the use of a rear view mirror.

Of course, for me the trip started in St. Louis, loading up one of my wife's cars with stuff, then transferring it to his Jeep, so he could add a 42 inch television, a bicycle, an X-Box 360, a huge Rubbermaid bin full of shoes (must have gotten that habit from his mother) and other stuff crammed into nooks and crannies. Upon arrival, we offloaded the stuff and spent the next four days dodging rain showers before returning north. He did confirm his new position, and will return to Florida next week with his Jeep and a rented trailer in tow. In two months, my wife and I will move full time to Florida, and my son will live only 40 minutes away, instead of four hours. The trip back north was much more interesting.........read on.

Those Early Years 74-82

One nice thing about moving - you find stuff you need to go through and throw away, and in the "modern era" that means paper can be replaced with electronic images. I've selected several pictures from my early years, working for the Governors of Indiana and Iowa.

Pictured seated in the large group of people is the Hon. Otis Bowen, a two term Governor of Indiana. Standing on the right in the other picture is the Hon. Robert Ray, the Governor of Iowa. By extension (Governor's named my Commission members who hired me), I worked for both these fine gentlemen, and they truly were fine men. The picture of the large group was taken when Governor Bowen signed the bill creating the "new" Indiana Guaranteed Student Loan Program, in 1976. The picture with Governor Ray was taken on the occasion, in 1980, when the first student loan was made in Iowa.

In 1974, I had just graduated from college and taken a full time position (earning a whopping $10,100 a year) as a PAT IV (professional and technological officer, grade 4) Program Administrator of an old program called the College Loan Plan of Indiana. It originated its last guarantee in 1967, but somebody had to be there to sweep up the claims for death, disability and default. I went from a part time skip tracer at a credit bureau to a briefcase totin' pointy headed bureaucrat, hired to pay the occasional claim, and to track down those "deadbeat student defaulters". From tiny acorns a giant oak tree grows (my career....but not allegorical to dead wood), and this was my start in a career that would span from 1974 to 2003.

Believe it or not, I can still remember those names, from left to right: Jim Sunday, Deputy Director of the State Scholarship Commission of Indiana (SSACI), me, Bob Sinnaeve,Executive Director of United Student Aid Fund (USAF), Rick Reinhart (USAF), Gov. Bowen (seated), Nels Sheridan (USAF), Ron Jackson (SSACI) and Mahlon Waldo Carlock II (SSACI). Now you know the answer to "where's Waldo?"

I've lost track of many of these guys (probably could find them on Face Book, huh?) and of course some have gone on to their rewards. Carlock, who went by "Steve" went on from working for me to working as the chief legal counsel of USAF, is now in private practice as well as doing spiritual counseling. The Governor and Bob Sinnaeve have passed on. Rick was crossing my path for a second time - in the picture he was an operations person at USAF, but back in 1966 he worked at the same student radio station at Indiana University. He also did civilian broadcasting in Indianapolis, and last I knew went to California for USA Funds. Ron Jackson left SSACI to go back into banking in Southern Indiana. Nels was last in Carmel, IN, and maybe still as USA Funds. Jim Sunday went into some sort of financial business.

By the end of 1975, I had quickly come to the realization that chasing down and hauling into Court a litany of student loan debtors was a limited opportunity - I was clearing more cases than getting new ones to pursue. In 1976, the federal government solved my problem by creating incentives for states like Indiana (and subsequently Iowa and Missouri) to reinstate their state run loan programs, to replace a rapidly failing Washington, D.C. based program. During 1976 I started working with several of these folks to draft new legislation (passed in 1977) to create the new Indiana Guaranteed Student Loan Program, and from my accomplishments in Indiana I was able to parley my experience into my next job.

In 1978, I was off to Iowa to be number two in seniority at the Iowa College Aid Commission (I had two guys ahead of me in line in Indiana), where Governor Ray's board hired me to repeat the task of taking a state out of "federal orbit" and putting a new locally operated program into existence. I would spend four years in Iowa, starting out reporting to an elderly lady and an eleven member board, and two years later moving across the street to start a student loan secondary market (Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation) which reported to a nine member board. That would be my first job where I was the top full time person, and I would stay until the middle of 1982 to get it off the ground and running. I came to Iowa to earn seventeen thousand dollars and to find career advancement - I left having doubled my wage, and finding my next and final career job working for yet another Governor, but this time a seven member board. But that's fodder for another time, another blog post.

If you're a fan of the old Saturday Night Live program, you'll remember Garrick Morris and Jane Curtain doing that interview bit with "Chico" Escuela of the Mets; but instead of baseball, I could say "student loans were berry, berry, good to me, Hane".

Bring me an offer, cash always OK

Actually, I currently have three houses for sale, but who's counting. No longer can a seller simply say "show me the money", today every sale seems related to another sale - euphemistically known as a "contingency". Currently I have my name on four houses, sharing a title on one, holding two in a trust, and having a spanking brand new mortgage on the fourth. Spanking is a good adjective, since failure to sell something quick will result in getting my butt not only spanked, but kicked by my family who dislikes the term "leveraged" almost as much as debt.

Leverage relies on having a fulcrum placed strategically in a place where one can support multiple times their own ability to manage weight, resistance, cash, you name it. In my case, the fulcrum could also be described as a barrel, as in "over a barrel", followed by "wearing a barrel" if time proves to be my ultimate enemy.

There is good news, however. For readers of this blog, you'll recall my entries regarding the Arizona property where I was sharing the title with my elderly mother.
We now have an offer on that condo, which hopefully will come to fruition at month end. Purchased ten years ago, and pretty much abandoned in terms of use five years ago, we'll lose money, but perhaps only 25% of what was paid for the unit originally.

Our Missouri property has now been on the market for approximately ten days, with one open house (nobody came, but it was 100 degrees outside that day and I certainly wouldn't be out looking at houses). The real estate ladies all trooped through, and much in the way of comments that were positive. That honor goes to my spouse who is a cleanliness and neatness freak bar none. Yesterday we had two showings, same realtor, same potential buyer, and second time through a third person was seen in the entourage. That would seem to indicate interest, unless the new person in the equation was a detractor rather than supporter. Hopefully today MY realtor will talk with THEIR realtor and see if anything might develop.

Our Florida property will go into a rental pool, where weekly rentals are listed at between $850 and $1000 a week - IF you get a renter, and of course subject to fees that ultimately will skim off 25% of any rentals for the agent, cleaning costs, etc.
Hopefully, that will cover at least the taxes and condo fees on that property until the market returns........anybody's guess, but I'm thinking after the 2012 election.

In the meantime, we keep the Missouri house looking neat and tidy, and keep asking ourselves "will I really use that parka or turtleneck sweater in Florida". The folks at Goodwill are getting to know us on a first name basis. The one fellow keeps asking "when will you donate the Corvette?". Fat chance, buddy - I may be leveraged, but I'll never be THAT leveraged.

Was It Good For You, too?

I found this cartoon pretty illustrative of where we've all come to, with the advent of MySpace and FaceBook, not to mention LinkedIn and others.

Yes, I too have succumbed to having my presence on the worldwide web, as those reading this can attest. I have probably four (that I know of) email addresses, three of which I check regularly. There are probably a few more linked to telecommunications companies (like Verizon) which offer you even more addresses to use. My favorite is becoming Gmail, with very few unwanted intrusions, my least favorite has become Hotmail, where some things sent NEVER arrive, yet nothing I can do seems to work in blocking spam and scam.

I've become an expert on African scam letters, however I've never even remotely considered answering one. Who knew so many people were trying to wire millions out of Africa to total strangers, and willing to give those same strangers (or suckers) up to 30% of these purloined funds. Lately my faith in the U.S. Military has been challenged by the number of alleged Army and Marine noncoms who have some of Sadam's gold husbanded away. Lately they all seem to be deployed in Engineer brigades.

The best part of African scam letters are how overly flowery and faithful the writing styles can be. Proof positive that the British empire left Africa with a school system that still teaches the King's English - I'm thinking it's more 19th century style than Queen's English 20th century prose. Just watch your newspapers for jungle coups, massacres, or 3rd world airline plane crashes, and within 12 months you'll have "ripped from the headlines" scam situations from distant relatives (often sole survivors) who need your help to liberate millions. If they're that darn rich, why not fly from Sierra Leone to Mexico City, then just walk over like everybody else. Bearer bonds fit nicely in a backpack with your water bottles.

But, I digress - let's get back to social networking. I'm not sure where it started for me, perhaps when somebody invited me to be LinkedIn. That happened around the time I was Linked Out (retired), and the race was on. Idle hands may not be the devil's workshop, but they're certainly wedded to the keyboards of boredom. Hopefully, my writing and social networking commentary will bring an occassional smile to your face and chuckle to your voice.

If I "invite" you to be a friend, forgive me - I may indeed not know what the hell I'm doing, but I'm doing it prolifically to be sure.

Politics, with a twist

When I titled this, I did so with tongue in cheek inasmuch as last night was not a typical political victory party. It had a twist, but it wasn't a lime twist in a mixed drink - in fact, I spotted no alcohol anywhere in the room. And the room was full of supporters.

I was there to record and document a chore my friend Mark had been given by his two favorite elected officials, a state representative and a state senator. He was there to represent them in an adjoining district where a political ally had run in a three person race for an open Missouri Senate seat.

The winner, seen wearing the black T-shirt, survived a very nasty fight with a guy who threw all sorts of slimy accusations at him. It backfired, and that fellow came in third. Second place was a local resident, who had served several terms in the state House of Representatives, then ran unsuccessfully for Congress. A Marine Corps veteran and test pilot, he ran a dignified race, but came up short. The winner was to compliment the manner in which the second place finisher ran his campaign. I guess that proves that winners can afford to be magnanimous.

Now, this winner was clearly the best orator, and his speeches always spoke of Passion, Energy, and Experience. The passion part sort of led some folks to believe an anonymous letter campaign alleging all sorts of improprieties - we'll see if threats of legal action will ever pan out, provided it can be proved that the third place winner was behind this last minute dirty trick. As dirty tricks go, this letter was far worse than the days we'd send a dozen pizzas to our opponents campaign headquarters (they had to pay).

My friend presented the winner (we'll call him Brian) with another T-shirt with the message "Please withhold your applause until I have concluded my remarks". It was pointed out that whenever Brian spoke, people got home after midnight.

The winner was "termed out", a phrase referring to the maximum number of years one could serve in the House, so he made a run for the Senate. That explains the Experience part of his standard stump speech. And as to Energy, this guy is the Energizer Bunny of the conservative Republican suburbs - he'd often comment "I have only two speeds, full ahead and asleep". Last night, with 44% of the vote in a four man race, he was full ahead and is expected to win handily in November. The Marine combat pilot got 31%, and the guy who accepted bad advice from his handlers came in with 21% (a perennial candidate had the other 3%).

My buddy made several observations: "this was the first time I'd ever seen a political victory party without booze", and "I don't ever recall a winner standing on a chair, barefoot, wearing shorts and a T-shirt". Look over the picture of his loyal followers, and you'll see he is a man of the people, certainly THESE people.

Politics in 2010 may be evolving from a booze party, to a Tea Party.