GCS97 - Ten Year Reunion

http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/gcs97/

It's over it's over it's over

For those of you who were unable to join us... you missed a fun evening. We hope to see you next time around - 5 or 10 years from now.

View pictures from the reunion and upload your pictures at our photobucket.com site (thanks to Cherry for setting this up).

Go to photobucket.com

user name: gcs97

password: grace

View the pics and add your own.

Saturday August 4th - Tascali's @ 6pm

Saturday night is the main event. We'll be enjoying the evening together remembering the old days and reconnecting with each other.

Saturday August 4th

Tascali's

6:00pm

Click here for directions

Sunday Afternoon August 5th - Ritter Park @ 1pm

Sunday afternoon will be an informal hang out time. We'll just be on our own to pick up some food (or make some food) and bring it to the park. If a few people want to go in on a massive sub or bucket of chicken that's totally cool - whatevers clever. Does anyone want to bring a cooler full of ice that we can throw some drinks in?

Let's meet over on the playground side near the tennis courts. Feel free to bring friends, family, etc. The kids can play on the playground, kick a soccer ball around, or sleep in the shade.

Sunday August 5th

Ritter Park (playground side - near the tennis courts)

1:00pm

Friday Night August 3rd - Pullman Square Starbucks @ 8pm

Unless there are objections or other suggestions we'll plan to make Pullman Square Starbucks the meeting place. From there... the group can decide where to go and what to do.

Friday August 3rd

Starbucks @ Pullman Square

8:00pm

New Venue Needed for Friday Night [part 2]

So... we need a location for the Friday night gathering. Here some ideas that Cindy has put forth:

Hmmm...if we're wanting to stick to a pizza type place then there is:

Pizza Hut (at 3 locations)

Gino's in a couple of locations

The Pub (gino's) has a game room on the side

Monty's

and we can (depending on how many people come) probably still fit in Evaroni's.

Now, MY suggestion is Pullman Square. I love Pullman. It's the new "thing" in Htown. There's some cute shops, movies, a Max and Erma's, Five Guys burgers, Cold Stone creamery, Starbuck's; the Marshall Cafe is across the street; there's also a large chinese buffet across the street and an arcade like place. a great place to hang out?

So... what do you all think? We need your feedback.

Pictures

Feel free to e-mail me pictures as soon as you have them. However, if you'd rather just bring some non-digital pictures with you that will be fine also. Cindy and her crew will be decorating, so she could get them from you Friday night, or you can bring them on Saturday.

Guess how many e-mail's I've recieved with pictures for the reunion?

Zero!

New Venue Needed for Friday Night

Cindy wrote:

"Slight change of plans...the LeMasters are SELLING Giovanni's and it will be under new ownership by the 4th of August. So, any ideas for venues?"

I need pictures by July 15th (if possible)

I need pictures from you. If at all possible, please e-mail me some pictures by July 15th. This is what I'm looking for:

* Any and all pictures or video clips you have from High School
* Pictures from the last 10 years - ones that tell a story of what has happened in your life

Please send them to me by July 15th if possible - josiah@lifestrat.com

Friday night gathering - Giovanni's in South Point

The LeMasters have invited us to hold our Friday night gathering at Giovanni's in South Point. For this gathering you are welcome to invite more than just one guest. Old GCS friends or family are more than welcome. We will need to get an idea of how many people will be coming, because there are some space limitations at Giovanni's. So... if we hear that there will be 50 or more people coming to this event... we'll need to move to a larger location. As the date gets closer and you have talked with friends and family, we'll need you to let us know how many you expect to be joining you. I don't think we'll have more than 50 myself, but we'll see.

No speaker

The people have spoken and you have been heard. No speaker. It sounds like from the comments on the blog that the majority would prefer to not have a speaker. Since we won't be having a speaker we'll have more time to reconnect with each other and just hang out. Time is ticking... August is right around the corner.

To have a speaker or not?

We have been generating some good ideas for the main event Saturday August 4th at Tascali's, but we need your feedback. Should we invite a speaker? It has been suggested that Mr. Smith (Seth's Dad) would be a possible option should we decide that we want a speaker. What do you think?

Do we want a speaker?

Spouses and "significant others" are invited to everything

Spouses and "significant others" are invited to everything that's going on including the main event. We decided to make the main event on Saturday for the adults, but I don't know about you guys - I want to see Sammy's cute kids! So... I think we'll try to do some of that more informal hanging out and goofing off etc on Sunday afternoon (and Friday night for the kids who don't have to be in bed too early).

I need your help!!

I am planning to put together a slide show for the reunion, but I need to some material to work with from everyone. So here's what I need:

* Any and all pictures or video clips you have from High School
* Pictures from the last 10 years - ones that tell a story of what has happened in your life

Please send them to me as soon as possible - josiah@lifestrat.com

Respond to the Class of '97 evite

Greetings!

The reunion is sneaking up on us. Only a month and a half to go, so be sure to save the date - August 4th.

I hope that everyone can make it in for the reunion. It's going to be fun to reconnect and see what's been going for the last 10 years.

In addition to the main event on Saturday night, we have plans in the works for more informal gatherings Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Friends and family are welcome to join us for these two gatherings.

To make sure that we reach everyone, please click on the link below and respond to the evite. Thanks.

*** Class of '97 evite ***

What's going on in your world?

Jennifer: thanks for getting this ball rolling! Ok... let's have everybody check in with a mini update on what's going on in our lives.

Married?

Kids?

Work?

Where are you?

What else is going on in your lives?

Tascali's is the place

Unless there are any objections, it seems as though Tascali's is the place for us. This is your last chance to object before we move forward. All of you guys who hate Tascali's had better speak up, or forever hold your peace.

Location Options - get your feedback in now!!

Option #1 - Tascali's
Tascali's back dining room accommodates about 60-65 people. They require a $50 deposit that will be returned the day of the event. A select menu is not necessary, but it is recommended. 18% gratuity

Option #2 - Rocco's
Rocco's charges $200 for their room. It holds 50 people. You can choose 2-3 appetizers and 2-3 en trees, and everyone will help themselves from those.

Option #3 - MU Hall of Fame Cafe
Marshall Cafe's smaller room holds about 40 people. Their larger one holds up to 80 or 90. If there are just between 25-30 people, they require a limited menu. With 2 choices, it costs $20/person. With 3 choices, it is $24. If there are more than 40 people, they do a mandatory buffet...and they didn't tell me that price. Sorry, I should have asked. We could also do just appetizers instead of entrees if we'd like. For more info about their menu, go to: www.marshallhalloffamecafe.com

18% gratuity

Option #4 - The Boston Beanery
The Boston Beanery's banquet room costs $125 + tax. But before 6 p.m., there is no charge. They ask that we pick a select menu. We can also just do appetizers if we'd like for $14/person. 18% gratuity More info @: www.bostonbeanery.com

*** Thank you Cindy for putting together these options for us ***

Class of '97 Reuion Date: August 4th - Input on Location Ideas

Mark your calendars, the date of the reunion will be August 4, 2007. It would be great if we could plan to come in to town Friday the 3rd and stay through Sunday August 5th at least.

Now that we have the weekend nailed down, let's move on to location ideas. I don't have any ideas thus far for where to hold this event. We really need those of you Huntington residents to help out with finding the right place. Of course we do have the option of holding it at the school, but some have expressed a desire to host it elsewhere.

I think it would be great to get a decent place for cheep or free, but that may be unrealistic. What are your thoughts about locations for the main event? I would imagine this would be a dinner event Saturday evening.

Proposed Reunion Date: Saturday August 4th

What do you think? Any issues with this date?

I think we'd probably have something going on Friday night (8/3/07) and on Sunday afternoon (8/5/07), but the main event would be on Saturday August 4th.

Does this date work?

Online Reunion - New Time: 9:45pm

Let's bump the start time back to 9:45pm. That way... we'll have Sam in there pretty soon if we don't get up and running. Is that cool with ya'll?

Wednesday - 2/7/06 @ 9:45pm

I'll probably be online earlier, but we'll try to get some things nailed down starting at 9:45pm.

I look forward to talking with you all.

- Josiah

Google Talk Instructions for Wed night at 9pm

Here are the instructions from wild man Sammy V. (thanks Sam)

GOOGLE TALK

Here's the dealio...

1) Do you have a gmail account (google's email)? If yes go to #2. If not, you must give me your current email address so I can send you an invite.

2) Go to http://talk.google.com and download the client. Install it. It's easy. It's simple. It rocks.

3) Invite me as one of your friends: vance.sam@gmail.com

Once you've done that we can have a voice conversation, or conference call with everyone. Works like Skype....voice over ip (VoIP)

Online Reunion - Let's Talk

Ok, let's get back together on the web next Wednesday. Would you guys prefer something during the work day or in the evening after church meetings? I could do either on that day.

I propose two times:

1: 12 noon (on your lunch break)

2: 9pm (after you put the kids to bed)

Cast your vote for the time that works best for you next Wednesday Feb. 7th. I look forward to hearing your voices and seeing some of your faces.

Reunion Planning Team

Who wants to lend a hand? Let your voice be heard if you're willing to help out. I'd like to do an online web chat with MSN or Yahoo Messenger in the next week or so. Unless any of you technology wizards (ie John) have any better ideas for connecting via voice and video chat on the web.

If you want to lend a hand, let us know in the comments of this post.

Reunion Date!

Ok... Kate raises a good question: "Hey fool, when are we going to do this thing?"

Well... that's the first order of business that needs to be nailed down. I was thinking somewhere between the middle of June through the end of July.

Why don't we throw out some ideas for potential dates via the comments on this post. Especially for those of you coming in from far away... we need to know what dates work for you. But everyone should throw in their 2 cents.

If you build it... they will come

It's great to see some comments here on the blog. As you can see, the links list on the right toolbar is growing. If you want your blog, myspace, or other site listed just put it in a comment or e-mail me.

Do you have a blog, myspace, or personal website?

If you've got a blog, myspace, or personal website, let us know by posting a comment with the url. I'd love to link to it here, so that we can begin to reconnect prior to the reunion this summer.

Thanks!