Janette’s Neighborhood

Show us the last thing you bought.

They arrived on the same day (well bought and arrived)

The-magic-bullet

I organized a reunion lunch with a few of the folks from my Form II year. Since Knight Rider is coming back, so are we.
   We have not sat down together in 23 years. And everyone was instantly recognizable.

   The last person is someone random—she knew two of the people and we invited her to sit with us.
   The five of us are: Deborah McGuire, Mark Rees-Thomas, Krishna Magan, Jessica Stephens (née Beyeler) and myself (trying to photograph myself by inverting the phone-camera; it does have two modes but the other one gives a reflected image).
   We are still wrinkle-free though we have a few more grey hairs. Mark, Krishna and Jess have kids.
   A whole bunch of names came up from the past, some of which I had forgotten, and we all had some great goss.
   But we did have a few remarks and info about other folks—Jason Maling, Tracey Heemi, Ishara Goonawardne, Tom Pacza, Anita Balakrishnan, Barry Lei, Laura Hayvice, Chris Mardon, David Irvine, Corbett Stace and more. If you folks are reading, we still remember you. There were a few other names that came up that I am ashamed I have already forgotten tonight.
   If United Airlines passengers are told that they are being flown by Capt Brett Egarr, let him know he was in our thoughts, too.
   We have no info on Dane Alchorne, Cadell Macmillan, Neil McDonald, David Garland, Claudia Iten (though we suspect she could be an opera singer) and numerous others. If you guys ever read this, please get in touch with me via my main site or join the St Mark’s Alumni and Friends group on Facebook.
   We did wonder whatever happened to that guy Karl Urban who was in our year.
   We’ve decided to do another one in August so anyone from the class of ’85 who missed this, you still have a chance!

General Motors provided us with these videos today from the British Motor Show. Still thinking about whether to put them on to the Lucire site as the aspect ratio is wrong and everyone looks 12 ft tall. They include the launch of the Opel Insignia, and scenes from Cadillac, Bentley, Lotus, Renault and Alfa Romeo.

Estelle Getty has died—farewell to The Golden Girls’ Sophia.
   Although her character was the oldest, I think Estelle was one of the youngest actresses in the cast. She was 84 at the time of her passing, but 20-plus years ago, her character’s age was in the 80s.
   I’ll remember her well for The Golden Girls and not for Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.

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WOHOO!  I get to go!
Toronto Stitch 'n Pitch
I am dragging R, and our friend Suebie.
I think I might be the only one having fun.....lol.....
:D

I haven't done this for a few weeks now...

Loves:

• Leaving Saturday for our holiday to the US.  Flying into Seattle and as of now we are planning on spending time near Mt. Rainier and Mount St. Helens and then driving up the coast to the western side of the Olympic National Park.  After that we are headed back to Minneapolis where Sofia and I will head to ND to see family and Tom will be off to do work stuff.
• Planning future holidays:  As of now we are booked to Wrocław, Poland in September, Washington DC in October, Chile and Argentina in December/January and South Africa in April.  Whew.  I can't even keep it all straight.  V. excited, though.
• I am so happy that Sofia is a good sleeper.  Love, love, love that she goes to sleep without any issues and sleeps all night.  I don't even care much that she wakes at 5:30am.
• Sorting out the clutter in my house little by little.  Feels good to have some organisation.

Loathes:

• Packing. 
• Leaving holiday details to last minute.  I just this morning booked rooms for our aforementioned holiday.
• Not knowing where our future lies.  It can be unsettling to not know when or where we will be going from here.  Tom is convinced it is sooner rather than later.  It starts to eat away at me to not know. 

 

I see from Deutsche Welle and al-Jazeera that Sen. Barack Obama’s overseas trip has received huge coverage, including a big interview on CBS’s Meet the Press.
   So, where were all these networks when Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman went to Iraq and Europe?
   Do most Americans even know they went?
   Some Americans talk about their big three networks plus CNN providing more favourable coverage of Democratic presidential candidates—on this alone I’m inclined to believe them.

Famous British comedian (I mean, politician—sorry, I get the two professions confused) Tony Blair, who has guest-voiced on The Simpsons, appeared in this sketch with Catherine Tate playing Lauren Cooper.

   The former PM has excellent timing and delivery, but then some might say he’s been doing comedy for years.