1- The Secret Zip Code 2- Newsletter at aramco-brats.com 3- World Series, Dhahran Style 4- Musical Reunion Chairs -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Secret Zip Code Those of you who have received your newsletter and dutifully attempted to fill out and mail in your AdBak for the term, have most likely noticed the missing zip code for our esteemed treasurer. The complete address for AdBaks is: AramcoBrats, Inc. c/o Doug Webb P.O. Box 270931 San Diego, CA 92128-2931 We apologize for any inconvenience the omission may have caused. AdBaks are very important to keeping the ABI going, so we hope you can forgive us and send in yours today. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter at aramco-brats.com Speaking of newsletters. In case you didn't receive yours or it got thrown out with all the other junk mail, you can view the latest edition of BratNews in all its glory on at http://www.aramco-brats.com . We have received some returns due to invalid addresses, so make sure you update us with your new address if you have moved. You can also do that on the website. Make sure you check out the outstanding article on Brat bands and be sure to take note of the call for board candidates. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- World Series, Dhahran Style Transatlantic Division Little League Champions, Arabian American LL from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia make their way to the Little League Baseball World Series tournament once again. From the looks of the stats from the Transatlantic tournament, these kids are good. The team is set to begin their tournament play Friday, August 18, 2006 against Canadian champs, Whalley Little League from Surrey, British Colombia. Tune in to ESPN2 at 6:00pm ET (currently GMT -4:00) for all the action and to cheer on our home team. Better yet, grab a couple of other Brats and have a party to watch the game. For complete listings of the schedule and to follow the standings as the tournament progresses go to http://www.littleleague.org/series/2006divisions/llbb/series.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Musical Reunion Chairs The 2007 Reunion Committee has a new chairperson. Amelia Knight-Sutton has graciously agreed to step into the leadership spot vacated by Mary Martin-Venker. Mary has stepped aside for personal and family reasons but will continue to serve on the committee. Since the team is still all together, and the reorganization is internal to the committee, we anticipate that the planning of the best reunion ever will continue without a hiccough. Please welcome Amelia as your new 2007 Reunion Chair.
Email webmaster@aramco-brats.com if you have any questions.
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1. Many Thanks to the Houston Reunion Committee
The ABI Board sincerely thanks the Houston Reunion Committee (Marie Littlejohn-Dunn, Penny Dougharty-Maher, Lisa Menicke-Sandefur, Osama Mikhail, Andrew Bobb, and James Erwin) for a superb job in organizing and hosting the 10th AramcoBrat Biennial Reunion. Over 850 Brats, parents, teachers, and guests registered for the reunion. Many were first-time attendees.
My favorite reunion story is about a classmate of mine that attended her first Brat reunion. Every time I saw her she was smiling. On the second day she came up to me with a huge grin on her face. She proclaimed, "I am never missing another reunion in my life!"
2. Shukran From the Reunion Committee!
The Reunion Committee would like to express its sincere appreciation to all who turned out and made it such a great weekend! We merely provided the backdrop, but it took all of you to come and bring it life for us! It was so nice to look around and see everyone having such a good time with old friends and making some new friends. Mission accomplished!
To the BAGS, what can we say? The reunion would not have been the same without Suite 333 (a.k.a. Halfway-to-Hell). Thanks so much for your desert hospitality in opening the doors to all.
Thanks so much to the many who volunteered to help us out, from the early arrivals who contributed their muscles to setting up those palm trees to the class photo shepherds to the prize runners at the banquet.
And last, but certainly not least, thanks to all of you for the compliments and kind words about your reunion experiences. It really means a lot to us!
See you in 2!
3. Class and Group Photo Orders
Class and group photo orders can be placed at Elegant Portraits (http://www.elegantportraits.com). To see the reunion galleries, click "Click Here to Order Prints" and then click "Aramco Brats Reunion - Houston" in the Galleries section (or just point a browser here).
In addition to standard prints, there are several other fun options available: t-shirts, mugs, mousepads, and picture puzzle. The group photo shots were done with large film that requires special processing but will be posted as soon as they are available.
4. ABI Reunion Photo Gallery
Webmaster Michael McCoy is setting up a photo gallery on the ABI website to display pictures folks took during the Houston reunion. If last reunion is any indication, we might end up with *hundreds* of pictures. We welcome your pictures if you are inclined to share them with the rest of us.
A couple of guidelines:
If you want to have your pictures included in the ABI gallery, please send them to Michael at webmaster@aramco-brats.com
5. Reunion Lost and Found
We've added a Lost and Found forum to the Reunion section of the ABI BratBoard (http://www.aramco-brats.com/BratBoard/). If you lost something you'd like to get back (or if you found something you think some Brat is going to miss), please post a message in the Lost and Found forum and maybe somebody can help.
To post a message, you'll need a (free) BratBoard membership*, but non-members are welcome to read the messages to see if something sounds familiar.
Questions? Contact Michael.
*To request a BratBoard membership, just click the Register link at the top of any BratBoard page and use the member form to specify what username you want to use and what your email address is. Once you respond to a confirmation message, your account is active. Simple.
6. Reunion 2007!!!
The ABI is proud to announce that Mary Martin-Venker (DH'73) has accepted the job of chair of the 2007 Reunion. While an exact location has not yet been selected, we are quite sure that you'll find the 2007 reunion somewhere in the Carolinas. Watch the ABI website for further updates.
7. 2005 AramcoBrat Directory and 2003-2005 AdBak
The new directory will be mailed to those Brats that have paid their AdBak (and were unable to attend the reunion) within the next several weeks. We need to wrap up reunion finances before sending them out.
It isn't too late to pay your AdBak for this term. Sign on to www.aramco-brats.com, click on ABI, click on Administrative Baksheesh, print out the form, and mail to the address on the form. If you have any. AdBak questions, please contact treasurer@aramco-brats.com.
8. 2005-2007 ABI Elected Board
We are pleased to announce the results of the ABI election. Your new elected officers will be:
Michael Simms AB 1978 - President Diane Knipfel-Adams AB 1975 - Vice President Pat Meadors-Desormeau RT 1960 - Secretary Cathie McCoy RT 1974 - Treasurer
Their two-year term will begin on November 1, 2005.
Wishing all of you a pleasant summer,
Diana Ryrholm-Geerdes RT 1962 For the ABI Board of Directors and the Houston Reunion Committee
This is the ABI Announcement List, a low-traffic list reserved for official ABI business. To unsubscribe, send an email with your name and class to opt-out@aramco-brats.com.
On Sunday, May 22, the on-line registration form will be disabled, and you will no longer be able to submit an on-line registration form. This is to allow the committee time to finalize the database and print name tags prior to the opening of Registration at the Hilton Houston Post Oak. If you have not yet registered for the reunion, you may still do so at the door starting Thursday afternoon. Goodie bags and t-shirts for walk-up registrations will be available as long as "extra" supplies last.
The Reunion Committee would like to express its thanks to all of you who registered on-line. The vast majority of registrations were submitted electronically. Not only does this cut down on entry errors on the Committee's end, but it also saves an incredible amount of work for the person who has taken on the daunting task of building the database, in this case, Penny Dougharty Maher. THANK YOU for your fabulous response to the on-line registration option!
ABI Publications Director, Dean Barnes, is looking for a few good pictures of life in Aramco camps for use in future copies of Newsletters and on the ABI website. Dean plans to bring a laptop computer and scanner to the reunion. He will set aside a *limited* amount of time to scan in photographs presented to him by individual Brats which he determines would be of broad interest to all of Bratdom. He is looking for three types of pictures. First, pictures of recognizable features in any of the areas in which Brats lived in Saudi Arabia. Second, images of Arabian cultural items or buildings as well as non-Aramco areas which are generally recognizable to brats. This area can show groups of Brats in front of the generally recognizable areas. Third, group shots of Brats in front of recognizable areas outside of Arabia (i.e. London, Hong Kong, etc.) Dean is not looking for general photos of Brats which could have been taken anywhere - his emphasis is in the first two categories.
Dean plans to set up in the Suq sometime on Saturday (probably in the late morning). He hopes to post an announcement - if not, look for him. Please only bring photos which you took, or which you have permission to let us use. Dean will look over the pictures and discuss with you what interest it might have to the Brat community. If your photos will be used he will ask you to sign a short release giving us permission to use the image, he will scan the image into his laptop while you watch, then give the picture back to you, keeping, of course, the scanned image. The release will have a space for you to write the correct spelling of your name, a brief description of each image used and the names of any people in the images. Dean cautions everyone that this is an untested process - one which he is putting together at the last moment because he likes the idea. Like many good ideas, it may not operate as he intend s it to, so there are no guarantees that any of this will occur.
Hope to see you next week, Diana Ryrholm-Geerdes RT 1962 For the ABI Board of Directors and the Houston Reunion Committee
This is the ABI Announcement List, a low-traffic list reserved for official ABI business. To unsubscribe, send an email with your name and class to opt-out@aramco-brats.com. Email webmaster@aramco-brats.com if you have any questions.
Did you lose that treasured puzzle ring? Forgot to buy a Syrian backgammon board when you had the chance? Well, don't forget to bring a little extra faloose (don't count on being able to use a credit card) to the reunion to spend at "Hofuf" on Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. You just might find something you've always wanted or maybe something you never knew you wanted but have to have! Sorry, no goats or camels will be available -- it's against city ordinance, and we're pretty sure the hotel would NOT approve.
The reunion committee has arranged a meeting room for use by the friends of Bill W. We are in need of someone to coordinate a meeting or two during the reunion. Please contact Diane Knipfel Adams at diagain@cox.net with questions or to volunteer. Shukran.
Don't forget, this is an election year for the ABI Board. If you haven't returned your ballot, now is the time. If you haven't received a ballot then we probably don't have your correct address. Send us a correction to sherri@aramco-brats.com. We can't send you a new ballot, but you can find one on the AramcoBrat homepage. Click the "ABI 2005 Ballot (PDF Download)" link in the Worth Noting box. The mailed ballot must be mailed in time to be at Gary Barne's address by May 23. Ballots will be available in Houston for those who attend the reunion.
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