Geo-Tagged

I came across a cool function on flickr.com, the Yahoo-run photo hosting site. It's called geo-tagging. Users upload their pictures and then tag them with the spot the photo was taken. Rather cool! Here's the Hollis geo-tagged page.

From Baseball Fan to Baseball Entrepeneur

Ryan Coulter has sent a message in:

"I have turned my love and passion for baseball into a business. In January of 2007 I opened Extra Innings training facility in Nashua. You can find more info at www.extrainnings-nashua.com This will also be my 9th year as the varsity baseball coach at HBHS. Alumni can keep up to date with the cavs at www.eteamz.com/hollisbrookline Hope all is well."

Go Ryan!! So cool to hear that you found a way to merge your business life with your personal one! Keep us updated if you have any special events going on.

Has anyone else managed to turn their passion into a career? Let me know!

Update from Adrienne

Adrienne (Gross) Babcock sends greetings and a photo:

"Well, it appears that Jim found me on the Babies R Us site. How’s that for the power of the Internet?? I am due around April 19th with a little girl. We are very, very excited as are her two older brothers, Shaun and Dylan (ages 7 and 5).

I am still working from home as an AVP for Countrywide Home Loans. I design statement layouts and write/edit borrower communications. Telecommuting is the best! Great schedule flexibility to make it to events for the little guys.

It looks like I will get to see Clancey in April when she comes out to visit family – I will try to send pictures. So many things too look forward to this spring!

Attached is the most recent 3-D ultrasound pic I have of our little one at about 30 weeks…technology is such a cool thing."



Thanks for the update Adrienne--and congrats to you on your new joy!!

Vintage Pictures

So, I've been in the process of digitizing all my old 35mm film. (I brought it to Target and they'll scan the negatives and give you a disk.) In short, this has brought back some great, and funny, memories. I've added some of the shots to the Yahoo Groups photo area. If you have any more you'd like to add, please do!! (Don't fret--only group members can view the photos.)
One warning: damn, we were really 80's!



Click to join hollisbrookline1993

New Look

Blogger has recently made it much easier to update the style of one's blog, so I decided to clean this up a bit. I hope you like it better!
If anyone has links or news, send it on through: gailanders@gmail.com!

All About Me

I thought I'd put a (sort-of) recent photo of me and my significant other, Mike. It seemed like we hadn't had enough new pictures on the blog. This one is from a visit last October to the nearby Sunken Gardens in St. Pete, FL. Maybe all of you in the cold will now want to come visit Sunny Florida!!

MySpace Strikes Again!

The linkage of MySpace has brought our former classmate Kristie Courtemanche (now Cardullo) to our pages. Here's an update:
"I am a Property Manager in Nashua for Deb Gregg's dad. Small world huh? I have been married since 09/29/00 and we own a home in Nashua. I attended USM in Portland Maine and lived up there for a bit. I was bored and away from my family so I moved to Mass. for a bit and then back to NH. I have been here ever since. I see Chris Carney, Nate Neveu and Forrest from time to time. I just ran into Butch Valley and his newborn baby last night at Target. How is that for a small world?...I will get back to you with pics."
It is great to hear from you Kristie! We hope you do send some pix. Interestingly, Kristie is one of the most asked about people. For some reason, it seems like so many people ask me, "Gail, have you heard from Kristie?" Now I can say YES!

Rate the Teachers

I don't know why I never thought to check out this website I had heard of called Rate My Teachers. Well, it has certainly brought a smile to my face today!
Here are some ratings for names you might recognize (and some select comments...):
*Mr. Ferland
*Mr. Fox
*Mr. Kittredge: "I loved the dissections"
*Mr. Manley: "unsupportive, biased and intimidating"
*Mr. Maynard
*Mrs. Melanson: "strange way of teaching"
*Mr. Neller
*Mr. Tulloch: "my favorite person in the universe"
*Mrs. Wheeler: "a bit eccentric"

Oh yeah, there are some from HBJHS:
*Happy Beale: wasn't she the librarian before??
*Mr. Bond
*Ms. Botcher: "she is not very nice"
*Mrs. Cicciu: "she loses her temper easily"
*Mrs. Grupposo
*Mr. Lyle: "terrible"
*Mrs. Mezzocchi: "very clear and very helpful"
*Madame Rankins

Lost, then Found: Scott Kelley

I have found Scott Kelley again! I had noticed that his e-mail was bouncing on the HBHS '93 yahoo group. Did a little search today and it looks like we have another graduate student in our mix. Check it out HERE. Seems that Scott is attending MIT grad school for Real Estate. Go Scott!

PS--Scott, if you're out there, send me an e-mail to add you back to the HBHS93 group!

Mrs. McElroy

As mentioned before, Samantha McElroy is back at HBHS, this time as an English teacher. If you are interested in her curriculum, check out her site HERE. (I know she is going to kill me for posting that, but I did it anyway.) Looks like she sure has a full schedule!!

Baby watch

Things have been a little slow on the blog of late (as they have been at work for me). So I thought I'd put some old classmates' names in the Babies-R-Us registry finder and see what came up (sounds strange, I know, but it's not *so* different from Googling people, is it?) All it shows is the names and due dates - if anybody has any info (or maybe even some pictures!) please share! Here's what I found:

Babies already born:
Betsy (Eisen) & Mark Porada, July 2005
Dave & Kim Yager, January 2006
Clancey (Jackson) & Jon Paul, July 2006
Stacy (Kukura) & David Wyent, October 2006

Babies on the way:
Jennifer (Brown) & Erik Jernberg, March 2007
Adrienne (Gross) & Rob Babcock, April 2007
Brian & Tia Bartis, April 2007

Things are great on our end - we're digging out from a snowstorm (four inches - the Seattle area grinds to a halt with this much snow; back in New England we can handle four inches in our sleep!). I've started a side business on eBay buying and selling classical music recordings, and Simone is now 14 months old! She can talk up a storm (she knows about 40 words), and while she's still primarily a crawler, she's taken a few steps here and there. Mostly, she's just a happy, active little girl! Here's a pic from October:

Hope everyone out there is doing well and having a wonderful holiday season. Take care!,

Another Aaron Post

Yeah...not much posting on this spot in a while...But I just found something out in my area. Aaron Morgan, who was in school with us up through Junior High, has now opened his own shop: Neo Soul Tattoos. It's down here in St. Petersburg, FL. Sadly, I haven't been to the actual shop, but hopefully this will be soon!!

M.I.A.

Not really, just been a bit busy...
I do have an update from Tamra Letellier Lumpkin. She and her husband Jimmy had a beautiful baby girl in April. Her name is Kaila (pronounced Kyla). I'll have to get the details (Sorry I haven't called you back Tamra!!). I hope everyone else is doing well!

J. J. Cramer

A bitty update from Jon Cramer:
"I'm living in Montreal now and I love it. I am working in
marketing for a high-tech company .... I see Carney and Forrest
a lot as I bought a motorcycle last summer and I leave it down there so we
can take rides as a gang. ... I have a new girlfriend whom I've been
dating for about 7 months and things are going extremely well..."
It sounds like he is doing well up north!

One last item...

I just read about this on the Hollis town site: Hollis now has its own public access channel!! Wow! Took a few years, huh?
Here's are the scheduled programs. Looks like a LOT of programming is devoted to Beaver Brook. Oh yeah, and the Christian Lighthouse Fellowship. Come on--there is more that the town has to offer!! Where are the local Waynes and Garths?? (Does that show our age?)

Another blast from the past!!

Another one of our classmates from junior high has contacted me: Amy Brinn! It was great to hear from her. Here's her message:
"I just recently found your site..as well as the High School reunion site. I attended the Jr. High..but unfortunatly had to move just before High School. I have some pictures from Jr. High that I would love to send to you..as well as some recent pics of me and my family.
I still talk to Beckie Gilmour..but that's about it..I loved seeing all the pics of the people I grew up with."

She has just sent along some pix of the fam:

Amy and her husband Chris Bourget


Amy's children: Angeline (13), Johnathan (5), Hailey (3), and Christopher (11mos)

Can't wait to see the oldies from junior high!!
Thanks for the update Amy!

PS: Amy joined the yahoo group, if anyone would like to contact her.

Aaron Morgan

Aaron Morgan...remember Aaron from 6th grade?...has launched his site. You will remember him from elementary and some junior high school. He ended up going to New Canaan, NH for high school and then moving down to the Tampa area in Florida. (Incidentally, very close to where I now live!)
Well, he is quite musically inclined and some of his work is featured on the site. Great work Aaron! He is also a proficient tattoo artist, and he pictures some of his designs there.

Coach K, 1940-2006

Thanks to Laurel for posting this on the HBHS 93 yahoo group - Lou Korcoulis, better known as Coach K or simply Coach, passed away Saturday, March 4 of cancer at age 65. He was an icon at our school and in the community, someone I will always remember as upbeat, positive and full of boundless enthusiasm. Even though I was often among the slowest and least athletically gifted students in his phys ed classes, he always made me feel like I was worth something, like I could do it. I remember him encouraging me as I struggled to run a mile or do 50 sit-ups, and his support often gave me the extra push I needed to get it done.

I'm sure there are many stories and fond memories out there from our classmates, especially those who worked with him as a track coach and mentor. He will be missed. My condolences go out to his family, and to all who knew him and worked with him over the years.

David Goodchild and, well, child

Or, I guess I should say children. But the title seemed amusing that way.
Dave and his wife now have triplets! Well, they are actually almost a year old now. They were born on 4/9/05 and they are called Arden, Owen, and Morgan.
He has posted some pix on the HBHS '93 yahoo group site. In case you haven't glimpsed them, here's a peek:


SOOO CUTE!

Other Friendster finds

Good finds, Gail! I joined Friendster earlier this month (my profile is here) and saw a few more old HBHS people:

Tami Redes '95
Tom Clough '94
Courtney Christensen '94
and I think this is Ashley Dennis '96