Yes, It’s Been a While - Again

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:07:50 -1000

Hi Rough Riders,

Sorry you have not heard from me in a while. I’ve just finished renovating our old office (see My Office is a Dive) and we are moving back this week.

Lisa Lee Reed and I went to a Roosevelt Alumni meeting this week at Roosevelt High. It was the first, back to the old school, for Lisa in a long long time. The Principal, Ann Mahi, gave us a tour and showed us the improvements as well as needed repairs. I took some pictures of the senior patio and it is in pretty good shape...except it’s not being used as much! I did tell them we want to enclose the patio to be used for community organization meetings...they like the idea.

The meeting was attended by Ann, the Principal, Herb, a major supporter to education, Leila and Garrett from the Roosevelt Alumni and Foundation. We discussed the needs and wants as well as how to get others involved. The needs and wants are endless and that will never change! The biggest problem today is computer technology. You know the comment about buying a computer, “when you buy one it is already out-dated”. Can you imagine a school buys a bunch of new computers and Apple just introduced the IPad!!!! The internet has brought the world into the classroom, if only we can open the doors or is it windows?

The Alumni is aging and is trying to get younger members to bring new goals to the table. They have asked Lisa and me to get involved...we did not say “yes”, but we did not say “no”. We told them we have our own set of goals and want to stay the course of what’s been working for us all these years. I will attend their next meeting and report back to you on my findings.

The Alumni’s next big event is the RHS 80th anniversary coming up this October at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. We bought a table for the 75th anniversary and it was a great evening honoring alumni and teachers of Roosevelt. I’ll get more info and see if you want to attend.

Time to let you go, till the next Roundup!

Vincent

Vegas and UH Football - what could be better?

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:35:55 -1000

For our 60th Birthday Bash (yes the big 6-0) we are going back to Las Vegas on September 2011. It will be on the same weekend, the 17th, when UH Warriors play the UNLV Rebels.

Boyd’s Gaming has a great tailgate party before the game and then everyone gets bussed right up to the front gate to the game. We will make the official announcement as soon as we can get the cost for the 5-day, 4-night package with the tailgate and game tickets.

I have already spoken with Boyd’s Gaming to make sure we get the hotel rooms and game seats. They said we are super early and they are still working on this year’s tailgate and game price. By the way, the Kaimuki Class of ‘69 heard about this Vegas trip and wants to join us.

Click here and let us know if you are interested - no commitment at this time. This will help project for rooms and tickets for the game. Afterwards we can all go visit our money.

Last year the news reported that it seemed half of the Las Vegas stadium was for Hawaii. So let’s keep Vegas as our second home! Go Bows and Rough Riders!

Vincent

Yes, it’s been a while

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:58:02 -1000

Sorry you did not hear from us, the Committee. We had to abruptly cancel our January meeting. It was to be held at Dwayne Nasu’s beautiful home and his father passed away on the day before our meeting, so we cancelled. A bunch of us helped at Mr. Nasu’s service. He was 82 years old and lived a full, productive life.

I’ve always said “Life is too short and that is what makes it sooo valuable”. We are entering our golden years; do not waste it waiting for Time to take it away. That’s one of the reasons the committee works on having events every year, instead of once every five years. At every reunion a lot of you say we don’t have enough time to reconnect with everyone there.

Thanks to Harold Fujii who stepped up to the plate and organized a Bowling Pupu Party at Aiea Bowl this Saturday (March 20th). At last count there are 35 Rough Riders showing up. No worries - if no can carry a 15 pound ball, come for the pupus. Aiea Bowl is known for good grinds! Sorry I will miss this event as I’m leaving that night for Europe. Have fun!

Finally, we have finalized all the details for our Pledge. Our newsletter will be going out next month and the official sign up form will be enclosed with it. If you’d like to get the full-color version of the newsletter by email, just click on the mailing list link below and leave your email address. If we already have it, no need to do it again.

We have decided to use the Roosevelt Alumni Foundation so all of your pledges will be tax deductible. You may give one big lump sum, but we prefer that you pledge an annual amount up to our 45th reunion in 2014. It will be a great way for us to stay in touch and to be kept abreast of the annual donations as well as what the committee will be planning next.

I’ll admit it, I did cut out of school during most of my senior year, but I do have fond memories of Roosevelt High. I hope you have similar thoughts and will support the committee and our alma mater. So, when you get the Pledge form please give what you can and get involved with our school and community.

We are the Rough Riders Class of 1969, like no other. Let’s take the lead and get all of our classmates off their butts and not let Time pass them by!

Thank you for your support.

Vincent

Happy Holidays to All

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:47:50 -1000

Season’s Greetings,

Just got home and boy the traffic is crazy. Everyone rushing to get home or do their last minute shopping. I hope most of you have done all your shopping by now......No way!

Most of us perform better under pressure and this weekend is the peak of pressure. Get your work done early, pull out the gift list and head to the shopping center - no dinner. Then pull out the grocery list for that party tomorrow night, off to the supermarket. Lucky the stores open till 11:00 pm to get most of the list checked off! Finally back at home, can’t rest, got to wrap those gifts and prep those ingredients for that special recipe.

Sounds like a typical holiday weekend? I think the holiday season is a test to see how well we all can multi-task. I’m so lucky, I’m the bah hum bug type and Wendy loves to shop and get the pupu ingredients and prep down. She looks forward to the holidays to get out of the same ‘ol daily routine. I just stay out of her way and she whacks that check list off! God Bless wives and learn to say “Yes Dear”.

Wendy just left to go to her sorority sisters karaoke Christmas party...girls only! So I decided to spend the evening by myself with my laptop shooting the breeze with you.

Everything seems to start the week before Thanksgiving. It is the time to look back and be thankful and getting together with family and friends enjoying what we have. Oh yeah, forget about your diet...too much good old fashion home cooking. How about a helpful secret? Cut out the rice and only one dessert...choose well! Then we have 3 weeks to make a list and buy the gifts. At our age forget about your old friends...it’s the grand-kids and that list is growing and growing. Before you know it everyone is saying “I can’t believe that Christmas is here already”. Oh yeah, that 2 to 3 pounds you’ve diligently lost since Thanksgiving? It will come back. But it is a nice time to say “Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays” to friends and strangers. They won’t even think you’ve lost it. Everyone works hard to be nice...no can make Scrooge!

Our next committee meeting will be January 9, 2010. Our major topic will be starting The Pledge. Since the first couple of years we will have few activities with the nonprofit savings account, I will recommend that we use the Roosevelt Alumni Foundation. This will save us a couple thousand dollars start up cost. Then we will send out Pledge cards to all and let’s get everyone involved and put a few bucks into the Pledge each year til our 45th Reunion. We’ll also decide when to have our next get-together event. Just check back at our website for updates.

It’s late, so now it is time...Wendy and I Wish you a Joyous and Meaningful Holiday Season..to you, your family, the reunion committee and all!

My Office is a Dive

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:22:14 -1000

Hi Rough Riders,

Last week we had our Committee meeting for the first time at Dwayne Nasu’s new office. Joann Oshima said to me, “Boy, your office is a dive compared to this place.” Sigh. With that I knew that we were taking the reunion committee to the next level. Dwayne’s office is bigger, with a full kitchen and a 46’ flat screen TV! I hooked up my laptop to the TV and almost went paperless. I spent the afternoon pulling out all the notes, agenda, email correspondences and two other school reunion websites. So I was ready to go...professional, yeah! When everyone started to show up, I had our photo album on slideshow, showing pictures of our 40th Reunion.

We had 21 classmates for the meeting and dinner. Pot roast ox tail and fried chicken prepared by our executive chef Wes Mukawa.

Then the meeting was called to order and I clicked on to the agenda. We covered what we needed to discuss, then I wanted to show an email correspondence. Instead of clicking the return arrow on the top left corner, I hit the “X” on the top right corner and it took me out of Windows and I found myself and everyone looking at my desktop...all my pre-set notes, the 2 websites, and emails were gone! Lisa Lee Reed knew what I did (cause I didn’t) and she jumped in and covered our budget and P & L for the 40th reunion. No try to talk and operate a computer...no work, Chinese fire drill!

We looked at James Campbell High class of 1969 and GoGovs .com websites. We wanted to get ideas for our site to make it interesting and user friendly. Campbell High’s photo album of all their past functions was excellent and very user friendly. The GoGovs foundation has been around for 28 years and their website really shows it. Just this past year they gave away 61 scholarships and they were involved with a number of community projects.

Roy Yonaoshi and Eric Yamagata enlightened us about filing for a 501 (C) 3 nonprofit foundation status. The conclusion...since the first 3-years the only activity will be incoming funds we will temporarily use one of two Roosevelt High Schools foundations. This will give us time to properly establish our own foundation, if we decide to make it long-term. Thanks Roy, thanks Eric for your input.

We are still undecided on a time, location and function for 2010. This week Harold Fujii is leading a group to check Aiea Bowl for a possible night or weekend bowling party. (ed: we checked it tonight. Wow, was it busy) A family picnic was another possibility. You got any ideas we’ll take them!

We talked about a 60th Birthday Bash (you guessed it) in Las Vegas and tie it in with the UH vs. UNLV football game for September 17, 2011. I think we were all for it more because Harold was so excited he wanted to make the reservations and buy the tickets already! Pencil it into your calendar. Great ideas Sky Pilot!

At the conclusion of the meeting Dwayne gave everyone a 25-cent tour of his shop. A couple of months ago he was on TV for being the first body and fender shop in Hawaii to convert to water based paint, instead of oil based paint, to be eco friendly. Don’t worry, Dwayne will personally guarantee the paint won’t run when it rains. Water based paint for cars has been in use for years in Europe. Way to go green, Dwayne!

Next meeting January 9, 2010, Happy New Year...so soon!
Aloha,

Vincent