Encina Update (homecoming/reunions/72/73/74/who/83/dyer kelly/egroups/siblings/deceased/search/internet/store/website/whats new) Date:Thu, 9 Sep 1999 13:50:35 -0700 ENCINA ALUMNI,   HOMECOMING PARTY Just a reminder that the Second Annual Encina homecoming party is next month. Homecoming is Friday, October 22, 1999 so mark it down on your calendar. dig out your old Encina duds and see if you can still fit into your letter jacket.   And you teachers and staff who are listening, you are welcome too! It would be great to see you if you can make it. Last year art teacher Eric Dahlin was working at the game. See the homecoming pages for details about this year's party and a description of the First homecoming party last year: http://www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming.htm I have a videotape interview of the alumni who attended the game last year that teacher Stephanie Woo sent me. I'll try and add it to the website with my newly acquired video capture hardware. The organizer and driving force behind the homecoming party is Rett Smart 73, who can be reached at irsmart@ix.netcom.com if you have suggestions, comments or just want to help. If you are interested please fill out the homecoming form: http://www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming/homecoming_form.htm   Homecoming is a Friday night, but I told Rett I'm going to try and make it this year. I couldn't go last year as Homecoming fell on Halloween weekend.   Please RSVP me if you plan to go. If we can get a good nucleus of people to commit, that should draw in other folks. Talk this up in your class group and let's see if we can round up a big crowd of alumni at the Homecoming game this year! Let's see which class has the most school spirit... I'm betting it's 73! REUNIONS The next reunions are on September 25, for the classes of 1974 and 1979. Steve Palmer 74 posted a list of missing classmates to the encina1974 group and I think this is a very effective way of tracking down folks. Perhaps 79 can post a similar list.   If you have siblings or friends who might not know about their class reunions, please pass along this information.   The classes which plan to have reunions this year are:   1964 1969 Saturday, August 21, 1999 at Ancil Hoffman Park      Alan Dankman (adankman@worldnet.att.net)   1973 Mini-reunion: August 21, 1999      Rett Smart (irsmart@ix.netcom.com)   1974 Saturday, Sept 25, 1999 at Sacramento Red Lion Inn      Bob Goosmann (Magusbob@hotmail.com)   1979 Saturday, Sept 25, 1999 at Hilton off Arden Way      Laura Graff Allred (pacwest@foothill.net)      Great Reunions: info@greatreunions.com 1984 1989 Saturday, August 28, 1999 at Howe Park Center      Janice Barnes (jabarnes@dttus.com)   1994 Candy Mleczko (candym229@hotmail.com) CLASS OF 72 Co-webmasters Craig Moseley and Kerry Shearer have released their new version of the 72 website. The new 72 homepages resemble the 71-72 yearbook: http://www.encinahighschool.com/class72/index.html They have included the Senior issue of the Tomahawk newspaper. Very nostalgic reading. Check it out! CLASS OF 73 For those of you patiently, or impatiently, waiting for your memory books, Diane Schoenborn Kelly 73 and Jolie Ostrow Baron 73 are in the process of switching over the class checking account to their names. After this, they will be able to make the final payment to the photographer, who has the final batch of memory books. Thanks for your patience! CLASS OF 74 Bob Goosman writes: "The Class of '74 25-year reunion is fast approaching!  We have updated our web page with new information about the reunion, and will soon be posting a list of those who have confirmed they will attend.  If you haven't received an invitation or need more information, please call Bob Goosmann at (916)649-9141.  This reunion is going to be a our best ever (promise) so don't miss it!"   Steve Palmer 74 posted a list of missing classmates to encina1974 as I mentioned earlier.   Pat Allen 74 replied: "diana and alida manning i have tried to talk with them about coming but they refuse   i see them about once a month and have tried for the last three months to get them to agree. you may want to just remove them from the list because it is a lost cause."   Chris Allan 74 said in response: "Fellow Classmates:   After reading the attached message, I still find it difficult to understand why some people refuse to attend the reunion. You would think that after all of these years, two thoughts would snap into clear focus. First, there is no need to impress high school classmates. Second, we shouldn't have any anxiety over showing others how incredibly unkind gravity and time have been to us. We, at the reunion committee, were so concerned about this that we held a special meeting to discuss the topic.   The meeting was held at our plastic surgeon's office during our group liposuction appointment right after we each had our collagen injections. It was so interesting that we were still discussing the topic during our tanning sessions later that afternoon. Also, all of the girls at the salon (we got a group rate for the color and weave) agreed that people needn't do a thing to impress people they haven't seen in years.   The best advice I received, however, was from the tailor who was fitting me for my Armani tuxedo for the reunion. He said if anyone is anxious about the reunion, simply tell them to throw on a pair of old Levi blue jeans and a tee shirt and then wear someone else's nametag.   On behalf of the reunion committee, we look forward to seeing you all."   WHO IS IT? I posted a picture of myself (Harlan) and a 74 classmate which was taken back in 1959 to encina1974. For fun, I've attached the picture to this update. Can you identify this 74 grad?   This is quite a fun thing to do. I suggest you folks out there start sending photos to your class groups like the encina1962 group. They could be you, your family, old photos from Encina days, baby pictures. CLASS OF 83 Mark Winchester 83 reminded me I hadn't scanned in the newspapers he sent me so guess what I did this past weekend. Mark had a complete set (well except for one issue) of newspapers for the 82-83 school year. If you are feeling nostalgic and want to refresh your memories, check out: http://www.encinahighschool.com/newspapers/class1983/index.htm I also have some assorted newspapers that Kari Reser 84 sent me from the 80-84 era which I'll add next. DYER KELLY REUNION John Russell 61 is helping to organize a Dyer Kelly reunion for the class of 57. He would like to know whether anyone has information on the class of 61 at La Sierra HS, as some Dyer Kelly grads went to Encina and some went to La Sierra. Please let me know if you can help John. He can be reached at john_carolrussell@yahoo.com EGROUPS Jay McGuire 68 reported that he has been receiving unsolicited email from egroups. I would like to know whether anyone else has experienced this problem. I intentionally set up the Encina mailing lists so that only members can post messages to the Encina groups. This was to prevent outsiders from using the Encina mailing lists to spam alumni. I belong to all the Encina groups and have not received unsolicited email from egroups myself. Please let me know if you have received unsolicited email from egroups and forward me some examples so I can resolve this problem.   Jay's problems seems to stem from being added to the businessweb mailing list, so I don't think any other alumni were affectedl SIBLINGS Gail Miller 73 wrote: Harlan - my sister told me that you were surprised that I had a sister I neglected to mention.  Lissa Miller Souther (78) is my sister and Michael Miller (70 altho I don't think he graduated from Encina) is my brother.  I didn't think you were keeping track of all siblings, but I did tell both of them of the Encina Web page and know that they have been enjoying visiting it." I guess I haven't make it clear how important it is for you folks to provide me with information about your siblings and other alumni with whom you are in contact. I maintain an alumni database which has over 4000 listings. Whenever an alumni tells me they have siblings or friends they are in contact with, I add these folks to the database and to the appropriate class directory. These listings usually say "contact webmaster". When you submit a "contact webmaster" form, I refer your inquiry to the alumni who in is contact with them. If the class directories only contained entries for people who had contacted me directly, there would be way fewer listings. Once again, if you have siblings you haven't told me about, or alumni whom you are in contact with, please take a moment to write me with their names (and class years if you know them). Other alumni may be interested in contacting your siblings and friends if they knew they were contactable. You could be responsible for helping old classmates find each other! Or not. It may sound strange, but I really get a thrill when I see a contact form come in like that of Doug Wilkinson 74, who listed his six siblings, many of whom were missing. Or the mail from Bob Maples 70, who listed six alumni whom he is in contact with. Who knows who might have been looking for one of these folks and can now contact them? I would be interested in hearing from some of you have reconnected with an old friend after seeing them listed in the Siblings or What's New section. Please write if you have a story to share... Linda Copley 67 writes: Linda Copley 67 Jeff Copley 72 Rae Jean Gregory 74 writes: Steve Gregory 68 Rob Gregory 69 Dee Ann Gregory 72 Rae Jean Gregory 74   Marci Wagner 84 is in contact with: Laurie Smethurst 84 Jim March 81/82? (cousin) Dusty Garver 81/82? (cousin) Kristi March 85 (cousin)   DECEASED   Mike Bjork 74 Jay Wilkinson 72 ALUMNI SEARCH Stephanie Metz 84 Erica Tescher 84 INTERNET We are shopping for a new car. I hate the process of going to a dealer and haggling so in the past we've used auto brokers to buy our cars. This time I thought I'd try buying on the internet. I'm familiar with the sites like Autobytel which let you figure out the dealer's cost and have a dealer contact you with a price. Then there are some new sites like carsdirect.com and carorder.com which claim they will deliver the car to your door, so you don't have to deal with the dealer at all. This sounds attractive if it works. I would like to tap the collective experience of Encina alumni. Please write about your experience buying a car over the internet and describe the pros and cons. How did the internet price compare to that you achieved by haggling on your own? Which services worked the best? How do dealers feel about dealing with internet referrals? I'm especially interested in the newer carsdirect and carorder services. Has anyone actually brought a car through them and had it delivered at the price quoted on the net? Mail order cars, what a concept! And if we have anyone on the other side out there who sells cars, how do you feel about customers referred by the net car buying services? I'll summarize responses in future updates so we can all benefit. STORE Last week the Encina website received commissions on three more books purchased by Encina alumni. I just want to thank those of you who take the time to link your purchases to the Encina website! WEBSITE Those of you who've been getting the update for a while know that the Encina website is a non-profit website, although I treat it as a sole proprietorship for tax purposes (at the suggestion of knowledgeable alumni). Any income (commissions from Encina store) is offset by expenses. Expenses include the domain registration ($35/year), some postage, and the money I've spent to purchase yearbooks for 1982-99, which amounts to $500 so far. We are EXTREMELY fortunate to have alumni Will Leaver's ConnectCorp! ISP host the Encina domain for free. The Encina domain is over 100mb and would probably cost $50-100 a month if we had to pay for domain hosting. If there was enough income, I wanted to compensate ConnectCorp. Say, $25 a month or $300/year. In the long term, I'm trying to get a DSL or cable modem installed, but our neighborhood does not offer these yet. Eventually I want to host the Encina website at home on a dedicated webserver. However, 5% commissions are not bringing in much revenue. We'll be lucky if the website earns $100 in commissions this year on $2000 in purchases. And eToys, who brought in $400 in commissions last Christmas, has reduced their commission rate from 25% to 5%. When I raised this topic last year, many folks volunteered to write a check on the spot to defray website expenses. I was happy that many of you felt the Encina website was worthy of your financial support! At the time, I said I wanted to see how the Store worked out. I hoped we could raise enough money in commissions to pay the website expenses. And even have enough to donate the surplus to worthy Encina causes. However, as e-commerce goes, the Encina website is a bust, in spite of the commissions on purchases made by diligent alumni. I'm glad I'm not trying to make a living here.   I would like to have enough income to compensate ConnectCorp (at least partially) for hosting the Encina domain. What should we do to generate income for the Encina website? Should I start accepting donations from alumni and classes? Let me know what you think...   WHAT'S NEW   9/8/99: Marci Wagner 84/bio, Laurie Smethurst 85   9/7/99: Kenyon Peterson 64, Kathy Wilkinson 74, Debbie Hoots 74, Jeff Lillman 91, Jamie Tommolilo 74 update, Paul Hamby 74 bio, Rae Jean Gregory 74, Steve Gregory 68, Rob Gregory 69, Dee Ann Gregory 72   9/5/99: Carol Rice 89, Doug Wilkinson 74 bio Newspapers: Add EncinAsylums for 1982-3 class year (Volume 9, Nos 1-15) courtesy of Mark Winchester '83.   9/4/99: Simone Kroeger 88, David Knepprath 74, Vicki Adamek 74/bio, Ginny Hurley 74, Mike Lamb 74/bio, Steven Smith 88 bio, Linda Copley 67 Take care!   Harlan Lau 73 Encina webmaster www.encinahighschool.com harlan@rambus.com harlanlau@yahoo.com