Update

Since my last blog post, I've received checks and confirmations from Mark Engel and Ellen Aronoff. Gloria Birn is reserved at Ocean Place, so I'm sure she's coming as well, although I haven't heard from her directly yet. I've also traded emails with Leslee Scheckman, but she can't yet make a commitment. Hopefully, as we get closer to the October date, she'll be able to clear her schedule and join us.

Please remember to book your room at Ocean Place if you plan to stay overnight. The hotel is filling up faster than I'd expected, and once our bank of rooms have been reserved you'll be at the mercy of the total occupancy of the hotel as to whether you'll get the special rate. And truly, look around at some of the other places and compare them to Ocean Place. It's really a great deal that they're offering us.

Be watching your mail. I anticipate getting a mailing out early in June. That will put us at 4 months until the reunion. Seems like a long time, but time does have a way of flying by.

Hope you're all enjoying the end of the school year, and the beginning of summer!

Ann Lubell Terwilliger

I had been emailing back and forth with Ann over the past few weeks, and Frannie spoke with her, so I wasn't surprised when I got home from work today and found her check in my mail box! Here's a current photo of Ann and her husband Brian. Ann will be arriving late Friday afternoon, and is staying at OP through Sunday. We are planning on something Friday night; not exactly certain just what or just who yet. Definite are Ann, Fran and I. Louie has toyed with me about perhaps joining. Will certainly keep everyone posted.

So what exactly is a blog, anyway?

Basically, a blog is an on line journal. A diary of sorts. People blog about all kinds of things. People who blog are called bloggers. I have become a blogger. And I'm enjoying blogging so much that I just may start another blog that has absolutely nothing to do with this Union Avenue 40 Year Reunion. In my other spare time.

So, now that you know what a blog is, I'm thinking that some of you might not know exactly what to do with it. Apologies to those of my more technical friends....you know who you are...like me, you're the ones with your iPhones and Blackberrys up your a$$e$. Frankly, as with my American Express Card, I cannot leave home without my phone. Its an addiction. I know. I used to smoke. Now I text.

So, depending upon what reader you use to get your email (and a step out....can you believe that we have friends and classmates who ADMIT to not having email????) will depend upon how you go about getting my updates delivered directly to your inbox. I use Outlook, Entourage, AOL and gmail....ugh...I am an addict! and each of them is, as my husband (Michael...have I mentioned him before?) would say, exactly the same but different. What you're looking for is instructions for subscribing to an RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed. If you need help, let me know and I'll be glad to research for you. Researching technological stuff is a large part of my job at Monmouth University.

You can also stay current with this blog by hitting up the website....http://rjamnik.blogspot.com. I like getting to it that way, because then you can see the photos I post, if and when I do. (And check it out when you're done with this entry, because I'm posting up an update for a check I got today, with a photo!) Once you're there you can elect to follow me. Currently, I have one follower, and she's not even a Union Avenue classmate. So please....add to my numbers, and follow me.

You can, and should comment on my posts. I'm reluctant to post up any of your contact information; it is after all a public forum, but feel free to use this blog to search each other out, or to share your own information, or to ask questions, or to pay homage to the Class Of 69 in any other way you might feel appropriate.

And by all means, if you haven't made your commitment to the reunion yet, please do today!

Ocean Place Hotel

Just a reminder that we've made arrangements with Ocean Place Hotel in Long Branch for a bank of rooms for the night of the reunion. Fran and I were there last weekend when she was up, and it's really quite a lovely place. They have a beautiful day spa. I'm hoping that my husband takes the hint and books me for something on Saturday afternoon. Have I mentioned already that the reunion weekend is also my birthday weekend?

We have a bank of 10 rooms reserved. The hotel will continue to book rooms for us at $169/night until the hotel is at 85% capacity. They are honoring that rate for the three days prior to and the three days after the reunion. As a note, October at the Jersey Shore can be quite lovely. My suggestion is that if you're even considering staying overnight that you book the room. You only need to reserve it on a credit card; your card won't get charged until you actually check in, and you can cancel, should you need to, up until 3 days prior to check in.

Contact the hotel directly to make arrangements: 800-411-7321, option 3 (I think) for group reservations. Our group is called Union Avenue Reunion. Contact me at rjamnik@gmail.com if you have any problems.

We will be meeting on Sunday morning for a brunch at OP. More details on that will be coming.

Louie's Not Dead!

Anyone who was at the 30th reunion will probably remember that the rumor was that Louie Baldwin was dead! I was particularly heartbroken to have learned that....Louie was very special to me back in the Union Avenue days.

So, very early in the reunion planning, I somehow got Michael Maenza's phone number. (Yes, Michael will be there!) Maybe I got it from Lonnie Horwitz. (Yes, with his wife Jan). Anyway, I called Michael and during our chat I asked about Louie. Or maybe Louie came up. I don't remember. I'm old. You are a group I can't lie about my age to. So, I said to Michael M.: "I heard that Louie had died" and Michael got, well, I guess he got angry...and he said, "I can't believe they have him dead again"! After extracting a promise that he would get my contact info to Louie, we hung up.

A couple weeks later, late on a Sunday night, I was awakened from a sound sleep by the phone. My husband, who usually works the overnight, happened to be home and I heard him chatting away. Next thing I know he's asking me if I wanted to talk to Louie Baldwin!!!! Hah, as if????


So, I was on the phone FOREVER with Louie, catching up on 40 years of memories. He sounds absolutely alive, and is definitely coming to the reunion. He will be staying at OP Saturday night. Perhaps Friday as well; he hasn't made definite arrangements yet.

More later....when I talked to Eliot Fried (yes, alone!) he suggested that I publish a list of everyone who is coming to the reunion. I'll get to that.

How this all started

A few months ago, I was on Facebook, and ran into some of our old Union Avenue friends. We realized that it was the 40th anniversary of our 8th grade graduation, and someone, I'm not even positive any longer, who, suggested that we have a reunion. I contacted a few classmates, starting with Fran Cowan, who had helped Jeff Komrower organize the last reunion, and Michael Austin who made a cameo appearance on Facebook then disappeared, and voila.....the reunion committee was born.



I believe it was Michael who suggested that it would be simple. Just pick a date, pick a place, and let people know. And that's how this whole thing started.



As for blogging about it, not everyone has taken the Facebook plunge. There's a group on F/B, and you can get to it here, but this may be a better option for keeping people up to date on the status.