still wondering about reunion date...

So, with my last post, I passed on information from an alum who was told that the reunion would probably be the same weekend as San Ramon High's homecoming game. SRVHS's website doesn't give much information yet about the next school year, either in terms of Homecoming or a football schedule. But, I've ruled out the weekend of October 16-18 as SR will be facing De La Salle in Concord according to the De La Salle football schedule posted on that school's website. I've also learned that San Ramon will be home on October 23 and facing Livermore High School. This is according to the LHS website. So, maybe we'll have the 30 Year Reunion almost 10 years to the day of the 20 Year Reunion (10/23/99).

I hope an announcement is made soon, as a lot of us would like to begin to make travel arrangements. I am already planning to be in the Bay Area for Scott Bisson's wedding on October 17th, so I am hoping that the reunion will be within seven days of that date.

Reunion date?

Although I have not been doing any work in organizing a reunion, apparently some people have still been planning. I just got an e-mail from a class member who has been informed that the reunion will coincide with the football team's homecoming weekend in October. The 2009 football schedule is not posted on the web site, but De La Salle has posted their schedule which shows them hosting San Ramon on October 16th, seeming to rule out that weekend for the reunion.

My suggestion to all who want to be keep informed about the reunion is to register at Clasmates.com under the free membership option and keep checking your message box to see if any updates have been sent out. Also, make sure the e-mailbox you used to set up your Classmates.com account is still valid.

30 Years Ago Today!

In some ways, I can remember June 8, 1979 like it was just the other day. I recall sitting on the chairs on the football field and then the short walk across the stage to shake Jim Henderson's hand. The All-Nighter in the Small Gym and then one last early morning walk through the campus on the way home. The dozen or so classmates I've been able to keep in close contact with throughout all this time have helped to make those memories a little fresher in my my than they otherwise would have been. Unfortunately, there have been many more dozens whom I have not seen since that night, as we all went our separate ways. And sadder, by far, was the passing of at least a half a dozen of our classmates thus far.

So, to the San Ramon High School Class of 1979 -- Congratulations on the 30th Anniversary of our graduation. (And, on a personal aside, congratulations to my wife and myself on our 24th wedding anniversary which is today as well!)

As for the 30 Year Reunion, I have not heard anything about the plans since last Fall. Anyone know anything?

Your Comments on this 30 Year Anniversary are welcomed!

An unofficial mini-reunion

My 32nd Devil Mountain Run has come and gone. It was a successful weekend, despite the unusual May rains that accompanied my visit. Saturday was probably the highlight as Will, Rick R., Bob R., Chris, and I all got together in San Francisco for the evening. We also connected with Rick T. via cellphone who was on board the Pacific Princess Cruise Ship in dock at Pier 29 (or close to there). So, whether there is a real reunion or not this year, at least the six of us got together. We all go back to Rancho Romero Elementary School all the way back to at least 1972.

The 10k race was wet and rainy but I finished in my usual 9 minute a mile pace. What I find most interesting is to look at the results of the race by age groups. I started running this thing when I was 17 and a whole bunch of other people my age also ran that year. But this year, just like other recent years, there were only about 2 or 3 runners under the age of 18 doing the 10k. Not that these 10k runs don't get participants -- they do. But they tend to be older nowadays.

Bob R.'s daughter will graduate from SR this June -- Class of 2009. How old are we? Can you imagine what you would have thought in 1979 if someone came up to you and said, "I graduated from SR in 1949. " We'd have thought, "Man, that's a long time ago!"

I understand that the large gym has been taken down and will be replaced by a new and modern facility. I haven't walked around our old school since 2004, so I suppose much has changed. Sad in some ways, but even in 1975-79, we knew that we were in old facilities. And with the wealth of the area, it was inexcusable for them not to modernize the school. But, for purely nostalgic and wholly unrealistic reasons, it would have been nice for me to keep everything the same.

One last thing I noticed about the Class of 2009's group photo. Apparently, this year's Senior Class is somehow even less diverse than the Class of '79 was. Why was I surprised? I don't know --probably because I live in a part of Maryland with a broad variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds represented in my town. But that's okay. That's just the way the demographics have worked out. Everyone is free to live wherever they can afford to live. Alamo and Danville are great places to live. If I could have afforded it, I would have loved to move back there.

Been Away From The Blog

January was a month which was bookended with unusually bad sicknesses for me and some members of my family. Fortunately, all has been well since then. February was spent in doing home improvements. Anyway, I haven't heard anything about the 30 Year Reunion, and I haven't really had any new plans for the website. So, that explains my silence.

I will be in Danville for the 32nd (and my 32nd as well) Devil Mountain Run 10K race. It's on May 3rd at 8 AM.

So, I'll see Bob and Rick Riley. Hopefully Will and Rich Tauchar as well as Scot Bisson, Bill Buch and Brian Robinson. Maybe Scott Shields or Jay Briggs?

Hope to have some new news to report soon!

Ten Year Anniversary of the Class of '79 web page

Just thought I'd mention that today marks the 10 year anniversary when I first uploaded this site onto the world of the internet. I can't remember when I actually began the process of scanning yearbook photos, but it must have been sometime after Christmas. I had heard about the plans for the 20 Year Reunion and the original website created by Jim Robison. I thought I'd post our old class photos in the hope of getting more people excited about going to the reunion to see old friends. As 1999 progressed, I found more stuff to scan and post. The 20 Year Reunion was a great success in October of 1999. The website remained online after that event, although the updates were much less frequent.

Our Generation, part 2

Okay, I posted Neil Howe's piece on our generation the other day, and I promised to give my opinion. I've been intrigued by Howe and his late writing partner William Strauss' series of books on American generations for many years now. This Post article is largely based on the conclusions reached in their Generations book.

At first, I was insulted. (I also didn't care for the unnecessary dig at Sarah Palin. Somehow, it's always Democrats like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama who are the smart ones, while Republicans, like Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Sarah Palin are simpletons.) I think he overemphasized the importance of test scores and college graduation levels as a measure of intelligence.

But, frankly, as a generation, our parents kind of dropped the ball. I think a lot of them were seduced by the lure of the Seventies "freedoms" in areas of sex, drugs, and the like. They let their kids get away with way too much. Remember the smoking areas that our parents and school officials set aside for high school kids who wanted to smoke. Their attitude was that the kids were going to smoke anyway, so let's get it out in the open. (See the Wolf Print articles and my earlier comments on the 70's smoking area debate.) Basically, parents gave up on us because they bought into the notions espoused by the cultural leaders of the day. Certainly, not all parents bought into this, but we have to admit that enough did for it to have an impact on our birth cohort.

But looking a little closer at Howe's piece caused me to largely agree with him. I like his concluding paragraphs which demonstrate that we have learned from our parents failures and will seek to lead our own children to great success.

Most early Xers know the score. Graduating (or not) from school in the early 1980s, they saw themselves billboarded as a bad example by blue-ribbon commissions eager to reform the system for the next generation, the Millennials. Angling for promotions in the early 1990s, they got busy with self-help guides (yes, those "For Dummies" books) to learn all the subjects they were never taught the first time around. And today, as midlife parents, they have become ultra-protective of their own teenage kids and ultra-demanding of their kids' schools, as if to make double-certain it won't happen again.

Does America need to worry that this group is taking over as our national leaders? Probably not. Early Xers have certain strengths that many more learned people lack: They're practical and resilient, they handle risk well, and they know how to improvise when even the experts don't know the answer. As the global economy craters, they won't keep leafing through a textbook. They may be a little rough around the edges, but their style usually gets the job done.

Just don't tell the early Xers that today's youth are the dumbest generation. Not only is that jibe factually untrue, it also calls into question all the family sacrifices the early Xers are now making on behalf of these youth. Let Generation Jones keep the "dumbest" label. They know it fits, and they're tough enough to take it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/05/AR2008120502601_pf.html

Frankly, I'm proud to be from a group that is resilient and knows how to improvise rather than the one that posted the highest SAT scores!