Obviously, lots of Canadian jobs depend on the oilsands industry too. So the good news is that the sonic waterfowl deterrent system has been repaired and upgraded for better reliability, and we hope not to see a repeat of last year’s death of a large flock of ducks.   

I think of myself as a conservationist and an environmentalist, but we have to keep the economy moving too.   I’m also a big fan of wind power, but as some of you are probably aware, windfarms kill between two and three scientific orders of magnitude more birds, ducks, and geese than the oilsands.  We still need the windmills in my opinion, but perhaps more can be done to keep the birds from flying into them.  Anybody got any ideas?  

Why am I telling you all this – well I’m hoping not to hear too much “quacking” about the industry I’m working in when I get to the reunion!  This is an attempt to soften everyone up  a little in advance.   Is it working?  Anyway, see you soon!

Andrew Herbst

Here’s a YouTube video of their most famous song, White Bird. The scenes from Fillmore West and San Francisco brought back great memories from living in the Bay Area too.

It’s a Beautiful Day (Wikipedia)

It's A Beautiful Day album

Here’s the recorded version of White Bird.

That’s how Facebook changes the game at reunions.

Trust me, you would have been searching for many exits to that conversation with a long lost friend from a club you hardly remember being in. And, fundamentally, while there’s always the “look how I’m doing” motivation for going to reunions, that really can’t be all.

By staying plugged in to Facebook, we’re actually skipping that step. Yeah, so there’s a few people in my friend list who I may or may not have been really close with. But that’s not the folks I’m going to reunion to see. I mentioned to a friend yesterday in a face-the-facts moment: why fake interest? Go to reunion to be back on campus with the close friends you met there. Actually – use the social network for the savings in social capital at the five year.

I can’t wait to rejoin my classmates – there’ll be a few faces who I probably have missed out on, regardless of our Facebook connections. The online participation will *never completely replace* the offline activity. And I say that with a swift, unhesitating and final certainty.

Ego Boosting Quote of the Day On Social Relations and Digital Networks, State of the Fourth Estate, July 9, 2010

I came across this article in the Colorado Magazine about The Astronauts and Tulagi in Boulder. There are some good pictures of Tulagi and the band in the article.

“When the Astronauts Played Tulagi,” by Mel Fenson

This You Tube clip is of their most famous original song “Baja”. The album cover that they show, I still have. and the vinyl LP stills plays clear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4i3Uw0klz8

Here’s the same song with surfing video…

Anyway, I digress. So apparently this weekend is my 10 year high school reunion, which, blissfully, I am not attending. In all honesty, I kinda did want to go, if for nothing else but to point and laugh at people with my friends, but it’s probably better this way. Like most people (except for those sick bastards who remember high school as their ‘glory days’), I did not enjoy high school. It was me against the world and I was losing. It could have been worse, but save for the good friends I made and a few hilarious stories, high school is better left forgotten.

However, I did have big dreams about how going back for the reunion would go. See, I figured I would enter the ballroom (of course, it has to be a ballroom), looking fabulous (not just regular fabulous, but movie star/possible deity fabulous), and everyone would look up at me, mouths agape, some dropping their wine glasses as my awesomeness pierced through their skulls, others weeping silently on the floor, too overwhelmed by my success and brilliance to continue on. And possibly some having seizures/religious-like fits in a corner somewhere – I’m not entirely sure. I think that sounds pretty likely, right?

The accompanying stick figures in the original post are entertaining.

High School Reunion, from Sullen Cindy

Wheat Ridge High School is a “HIGH” achieving school as rated by the Colorado Department of Education. Wheat Ridge has a rich tradition of academic and athletic excellence in Jefferson County. The school has graduated 141 National Merit Finalists, 28 Boettcher Scholars and four Fred Steinmark Award recipients. In addition to strong academic achievements, athletics, marching band, visual and performing arts, and competitive speech programs continue to excel, receiving state and national recognition.

Of those 28 Boettcher Scholars, two are from the Class of 1970: Donna Posner Kennedy and Kim Kokkonen, both of whom are working on the reunion.

For more information about Boettcher Scholars, see the Boettcher Foundation Scholarship Program.

The WRHS girls varsity soccer team was the 2009 state champ. And two of the Farmers made the top 10 in a recent Denver Post poll: Annie Kunz and Bella Hartley.

Bella and Annie are both juniors and both graduate in 2011. Bella is part of the ODP 92 Player Pool in Colorado.

Bella plays club soccer for Real Colorado, and Annie plays club soccer for Colorado Rush.

Already a household name in the state’s prep track and field circles, [Annie Kunz, a] Wheat Ridge junior evolved last year on the soccer field from a raw talent to an all-Colorado technical titan.

And now her world is exploding in a way familiar only to fiction.

The returning Class 4A player of the year attended her first U.S. national team camp for the under-17 girls in February, and has narrowed her choice of colleges to Texas A&M and current national champion North Carolina.

Always tall, fast and with a nose for the goal, Kunz is now deft with her long legs, and has great touch and vision. In soccer terms, she’s developing into an amazing anomaly.

“I just got back on the (soccer) radar outside of the state,” Kunz said.

She was a key cog in Wheat Ridge winning the Class 4A state championship last May, scoring a goal and an assist in a 2-1 victory over Valor Christian to cap a 19-0 season.

“Wheat Ridge’s Kunz is busy as a bee,” by Brian Forbes, The Denver Post, March 18, 2010

Wheat Ridge Soccer (Mens and Womens) on Facebook

At Wheat Ridge High School from 1969-1972, Fosnes was “regarded by many as the best basketball player in state annals. Garnering three years all state, he led the Farmers to two seconds and a third in the state tournament. Averaging over twenty points per game for his prep career, he scored thirty-five points in the first three quarters of the 1971 state title game vs. Mitchell.” Fosnes was named a Sunkist High School All-American in 1972 alongside Robert Parrish and Quinn Buckner.

Jeff Fosnes – Wikipedia

One word can best describe his game: Smooth. The 6-6 forward from the west Denver suburb of Lakewood, Colo., came east to tantalize SEC coaches. The Fos was a complete player. He could score inside against the bangers; he could shoot outside as well as any of the hot-shooting guards in Vandy history. He could out-rebound any player his size; and he could run the break like a track star. He would have been a first-round NBA draft pick, but he made it known he was headed to medical school and would not play in the NBA.

“Flashback: Vandy’s splendid septet of 1973-74,” by Howell Peiser, Jan 11, 2005

“Jeff Fosnes recalls his career,” by Bill Traughber, March 3, 2010

Jeff Fosnes is now a physician in Springfield, Tennessee:
http://www.docfos.com

Freddie Steinmark Day at WRHS January 28, 1970

Freddie had an early introduction to football, playing during his elementary and junior high school years on the Rough Riders team of the citywide Young America League in Denver. At Wheat Ridge High School there he lettered in football, baseball, and basketball; throughout his entire sports career, Steinmark’s teams rarely lost a game. He ranked twenty-fifth scholastically in his high school graduating class of 530, and in his senior year he received the Golden Helmet Award from the Denver Post as the outstanding scholar-athlete in Colorado; he also received the Colorado Hall of Fame award as the state’s outstanding high school athlete. In 1967 he received a football scholarship to the University of Texas at Austin. Despite his relatively small size, 5 feet, 10 inches, about 160 pounds, Steinmark was a valuable addition to the Texas Longhorn team.

Handbook of Texas Online

Steinmark became a national story in December 1969 when his left leg was amputated at the hip, six days after UT’s stirring 15-14 victory over Arkansas in the game that came to be known as the “Big Shootout.”

Steinmark, who was a junior in 1969, was originally diagnosed with a malignant tumor on his left femur. He died of cancer June 6, 1971 at age 22.

“I think about Freddie all the time,” said former UT teammate Bobby Mitchell, who also played high school football with Steinmark in Wheat Ridge, Colo. “He was just one of those great guys you never forget.”

To UT’s credit, Steinmark’s legacy remains an integral part of the Longhorns’ football tradition. The scoreboard at Royal-Memorial Stadium is dedicated to him, and players touch a photo of him as they leave the locker room for a game.

“David Flores: Steinmark’s legacy continues to inspire,” June 7, 2008

Freddie Steinmark Day at WRHS, page from Agrarian 1970

More

• “A special season, a special game ball,” by Kevin Robbins, The Austin American-Statesman, December 31, 2005
• “40th Anniversary of ‘The Big Shootout’ and, among many other things, Freddie Steinmark’s courageous game,” by Terry Frei, November 30, 2009
• UT Traditions: Freddie Steinmark

Blair earned his basketball wings, as well as a college scholarship, while playing at Wheat Ridge High School. In those days, the suburban area was barely big enough to be noticeable outside the Denver city limits.

His basketball coach at Wheat Ridge was Mel Schwartz, who later went on to be the director of athletics for Jefferson County Schools. Wheat Ridge was one of the more prominent suburban schools, and Blair followed football and track star Harry Narcisian on the Farmers’ list of fame.

At 6-feet-6 in high school, Blair played center for the Farmers, who won the old South Suburban League championship during his senior year, but lost to La Junta for the Class B state championship in 1949.

“Blair fared well for Farmers, DU,” by Irv Moss, The Denver Post, August 24, 2009

Check out the comments to the story, too.