Chris Weiss

Chris Weiss writes in today, with bonus info on Pete Rooney and Gregory Morgan Taylor, among others...
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Post Northgate, I meandered around trying to find my path, trying a
bunch of classes at DVC and generally pissing my life away. In a fit
of "getting my shit together", I went through the quick & dirty
educational path of technical school for electronics and got in early
as a game tester for Maxis. I spent 7 years there, working on games
like SimCity and the Sims and such, then on to Palm for 7 years
working on their handhelds and then a short stint at an industrial
chemical testing software company. I'm currently a producer at
Expresso Fitness, making interactive cardio bikes sold into places
like 24hr, Crunch, YMCA, and corporate gyms and living in San Jose.

I've fully embraced my inner geek and am a big social networking-web
2.0-lifecasting whore. You can find me on Facebook, FriendFeed,
LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, Pownce, and just about any other "look at
me!" site out there either under my own name or as "stickyc". I'd say
'check out my blog', but it's not been updated in years.

I still keep in touch almost daily with Pete Rooney, Andrew Bell, and
Jon Hastings. Pete married Shannon Deverman (NGHS class of '88) and
works for San Joaquin College of Law (incidentally, Shannon became
a teacher who taught at Northgate for several years before moving
to Clovis with Pete where she teaches now). They live in Fresno with
their 5 year old redheaded son, Sean. Andrew Bell lives in San
Francisco and works for WestEd, writing standardized tests for school
systems in Kansas. He got married this June to a co-worker, Megan
Andrew. Jon's already posted here.

I keep in touch less regularly with Gregory Morgan Taylor. He lives in
Livermore with his wife, Tony and their 4 kids. As far as I know, he's
still working for FedEx and acting as a real-estate agent on the side.

Some asked about Jay Fallon - the last I heard of him, he was working
for an ISP in Walnut Creek (he.net?) as a customer service rep, that
was maybe 8 years ago.

It's awesome seeing where everyone's lives have taken them
--
-Chris

Interesting Yearbook Quotes

Some of my favorites.

Doug Alessio: "The time has come to crush the mouth that bites the hand that feeds it" -Spiro Agnew (Spiro Agnew???)

Barbara Aster: "And now for something completely different." -John Cleese

Chris Bowhay: "When it gets dark enough you can see the stars." -C.A. Beard

Don Dornblaser: "If you have been measuring the temperature of the water in your three test cups, you should have enough data by now." (who was this? Tippary?)

Brian Duckering: "You can lead a duck to water but you can't make him sink; which shows you can't keep a good duck down."

Seth Hansell: "As a circle of light increases, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it."

Jon Hastings: "It's hard being bean."

Anneliese Hopwood: "There are universes begging for Gods...yet he hangs around this one looking for work."

Andrea Lee: "I move my feet to the pop tart beat." -Kellogg's

John Lee: "Yes, I am a Senior!!!"

Mike Sela: "Hey, wait a minute! This is grass! We've been eating grass!!" -Gary Larson (pasted into the book, see below)

Ted Wait: "NO BRAINS NO HEADACHES" -Mazz (the music teacher, Tony Mazzaferro).

Raquel White: "Twelve years of schooling are coming to an end...come to think of it, I'll have a Heineken."

Some of the authors/groups quoted:

Music (yes, it was the '80s!):
Prince, Billy Joel, Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, The Who, David Bowie, The Doors, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Monkees, Altar Boys, Steve Miller, Simple Minds, Asia, Bryan Adams, Flock of Seagulls, Hall and Oates, Styx, Judas Priest, David Lee Roth, Shriekback, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin

Politicians:
Spiro Agnew, Ben Franklin, Adolf Hitler (Tell me, they wouldn't let Mike Sela quote Gary Larson, but this one got in???)

Did Steve Scholz and Mark Schmidt really choose the same quote by Aristotle, or did the yearbook staff mess it up?

I remember being surprised that so many people chose Bible quotes.

Best Yearbook Photos

My picks, give yours in comments. I'm not addressing peoples looks (or haircuts: Dan Cantrell!), but looking for a quality of style or humor. Though I do question some of the decisions of the particular photography studio that was used...

Deanna Benedict: So overcome with sadness at the end of high school.
Diana Bertoldo: In a tux, with a red bow tie.
Jon Hastings: In a tux, with a white scarf and sunglasses
Matt Irvin and Jennifer Weed, who each have two photos for the price of one
and the winner is:

Paul Hohlt, with a crazy jacket, a green mortarboard cap, and a rose in his mouth!

Valle Verde 6th Grade

Megan sent me this awhile back. NG '86ers include:

Row 1: (1) Nerissa Taguba, (2) Chris Weiss, (3) JoAnn Sugimura, (4) Mike Borke, (5) Megan Smetzer, (7) Kathy W.

Row 2: (2) Joe Tonda, (3) Brigit Sanderson, (5) Robin Knapp, (6) John Crites, (7) Libby Walker, (8) Rudy Oest

Row 3: (1) Lisa Yee, (2) Blair Stientjes, (3) Nicole Mathewson, (5) Gayle Stansfield, (6) Dave Lincoln, (7) Gayle Tornberg, (8) Mike Giomi

Row 4: (1) Chris Knox, (2) Dan Moore

Posts With Recent Comments

For your convenience, I have set up a list of links to OLDER posts with recent comments. I won't put up the recent comments on recent posts. You'll find this on the right side of the blog. When comments are made, I get an email and can see them easily, but you might not be constantly revisiting posts from a few months ago that may have a new comment.

Comments welcome!

And take a cue from Elizabeth Bacher, who sent emails to her friends who might not have heard about this site. Also, encourage those who haven't written in to send an update. Thanks Liz!

The Principal

Is this true? The movie "The Principal" (starring Jim Belushi and Lou Gossett, Jr.) came out in 1987...so filming must have occurred within a few years of '87, or right around the time we were there. Maybe it was filmed right after we left, during the summer? Does anyone know anything about this?

From the Northgate Wikipedia Page:
The movie The Principal was partially filmed at Northgate High School. Northgate was chosen for the interior design of the school, having five foot walls around the classes creating an open environment. Northgate's former drama teacher, Ed Meehan, attended Northgate as a student at the time the movie was shot, and can be seen in the film during the classroom scene in the beginning of the movie. Another former drama teacher, Jack DeRieux, was also in the movie during a staff meeting scene at the beginning.[citation needed] Another teacher, Ms. Spring, can also be seen in the 5th scene of the film.

TAGLINE: At a high school where the students major in arson, extortion and assault, one man just might be crazy enough to turn things around...

What Was That Event

OK I have vague memories of an event, possibly off-campus, that was hosted or emceed by Mike Sela and Amy Doub. Was it a talent show? An awards ceremony? I remember some girl singing a Billy Joel song...

let me know what I'm vaguely remembering....

Rob Perkins

Another NG doctor ("not a Ph.D., but the kind that helps people" -anon.).

Robert Perkins went to med school at Ohio State University and did a residency at Riverside Methodist Hospital. He works at Riverside and some other hospitals in the Columbus, Ohio area. His specialty is physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Julie Tobias-Pancoast

In comments we had confirmation that Julie runs a catering business. I found her at "Toast Catering & Private Chefs" in Lafayette, CA:

"We cater parties based on your budget & style, private chef capabilities."

Greg Dockus

Here's a new update (and it's about time!):
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Oh my gosh....what a find I made today!

This is Greg Dockus, class o' 86. What an awesome, awesome blog you have. I seriously couldn't wipe the smile off my space as I read it.

So...yea...me:

I'm living in downtown Columbus, OH and I am operations manager for a logistics company. I've been in Ohio for 2 years now following a few years in St Louis, MO. After Northgate I attended DVC and then San Jose St where I studied broadcast journalism and am not putting that education to any use at all.

I'm a pretty serious poker player...I played in several World Series of Poker events last year and intend to do so every year moving forward. No kids, unmarried....I may be a but too much of a hedonist to settle down :)

I'd love to hear from any and all fellow Broncos.....please feel free to post my email address.

thank you for a great blog.....

Greg Dockus
gdock AT columbus.rr.com

Your Finest Moment

I was reminded today of a speech I gave in my Senior year English class, and thought, in retrospect, that it might have been my finest moment of high school. Well, at least one of my favorite moments...It was better than being on trial, in my Junior year English class, for practicing witchcraft because I listened to the Grateful Dead. I think we must have been reading Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" at the time. Don Reeves made a formidable prosecutor.

This might seem a bit strange, but for me one of my favorite events was giving a talk on George Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language and then using one of Ronald Reagan's speeches to demonstrate all of the ways that Reagan violated Orwell's rules. It's one of those things that, looking back, I'm proud of.

Can you believe that Reagan was the President from the time we were finishing 6th grade (1980) until we were halfway through college in 1988?

In comments please post your own favorite moments of high school that were related to academics or the school experience in some way. Especially those moments that you might not have known at the time would stick with you. Going to see Van Halen at the Cow Palace on their "1984" tour does not count...

Blog Update

The main reason I started this was to get people back in touch, and to find out what everyone was doing these days. Particularly for those of us who didn't make it to the reunion.

At this point, the people who have a strong web presence have been found, and the people who responded to my emails have responded. We have entries for 91 different people. About ten people emailed me but didn't send in a post. Mark Graham, Charlotte Ng, and Kevin Herney have Classmates.com entries. There must be a bunch of people with Facebook pages (Erin Corrigan? Reid Stevens? Mollee Murphy?), Friendster (Chris Weiss?), MySpace (Caryn Gribbon?). Maybe someone who is on these sites can find them and send them the link.

We might get a few more who find the blog through a search engine. Someone suggested we open it up to various discussions about NG, but I'll have to think about whether I want to moderate that.

We could also keep it dormant until the next reunion, as this could be a central location for information and spreading the word. Several people wrote and said they didn't know about the reunion, but we have tracked down more people since then.

We (who is "we" by the way?) have some leads on people, but we can't be sure they are NG folks, even if the name is the same.

For example:

Is Mike Flaminio a brewer in the midwest?
Does Julie Tobias have a catering company?
Is Jill Farrenkopf a librarian?
Is Mark Stiefvater a detective in Pleasant Hill?
Does Karen Eiler work in the Fresno County probation department?
Is Karolyn Covione a pool player in Clayton?
Is Cristella Chu a student at Alliant International Univ.?
Does Bart Hummer run a restaurant in Truckee?
Does Caryn Hult breed dogs in Concord?
Is Caryn Gribbon in real estate?
Does Mary Chatsworth work for a non-profit organization in Massachusetts?
Does Victor Locasio work for Intel in Sacramento?
Is Larry McDonough selling mortgages in Aptos?

So many questions...

1976: 3rd Grade Party

Megan sent another photo, this one of a birthday party from 1976. I assure you we will get back to High School items soon (as soon as you send me stuff!)

Back row: Kathi W., Lisa P., Krissy K. (I think went to YV), Kerrie M.
Front row: Gayle Stansfield, Andrea Lee, Carolyn Kempker, and Meg Smetzer.

There's Something About Mary

Does anyone else remember Mary O'Brien? Alas, an early crush of mine. She lived near the DeVoe's close to Castle Rock Elementary...She must have moved away after 7th or 8th grade. After Megan sent the Happy Daze photo I found a small picture she gave me, I'm guessing in 6th grade. Do you remember exchanging your school photos? I guess these days they just "friend" each other on Myspace. So what ever happened to Mary?

Happy Daze

Megan Smetzer sent me this Foothills photo. (BTW I have absolutely no memory of this event. Can someone elaborate?). Megan says:

Cast photo. I also have an audio tape of the show, perhaps I can dig it up and put it up as an mp3 one day to hear our squeaky voices.

Please forgive my bad eyes and memory. I may have spelled some names incorrectly. Some names are on the tip of my tounge but I can't place them. [In brackets some of Amato's guesses]

Back row:
Matt Burris, Kevin Reimer, Beth Marlow, Gretchen Schmidt, Lisa Wolters, Akshai Ghandi, Mike House, Mike Sela [OUR FUTURE VALEDICTORIAN], Blair Stientjes, Rudy ____

Middle Row:
Adam Miles, Greg McKinney, Meg Smetzer, Tiffany Worboy, ?,[Kelley O'Keffe?], Mike [Flaminio?] , Greg Dockus

Front Row:
Kathy -_____, Laura Wakefield, [Mary O'Brien--?], ?, Cari Tubb, ?, Jackie _______

Hiram?

Matt Burris's sweet ride, I think a late '60's Dodge Dart. Was it named "Hiram"? With Anneliese.

Elementary Schools

A quick google search reveals several elementary schools in WC. Which ones fed into Foothills and NG? Was Foothills the only middle school that fed into NG?

Let me know in comments.

These are the ones that seem(ed) relatively close:

Castle Rock (RIP)
San Miguel (also RIP?)
Bancroft Elementary School
Walnut Acres Elementary School
Valle Verde Elementary School
Palmer School for Boys and Girls (is this private?)

Valle Verde 1973

Andrea Lee Carboni sends this photo from Valle Verde. Click for larger image. I'm guessing on some of the pix, so let me know in comments the ones I can't figure out:

She says:

"I count 13 of us from this class that went on to Northgate:

Andrea Lee (Row 1 #2)
Christen Knox
Gayle Stansfield
Tricia Fegan
Carolyn Kempker (Row 2 #1???)
Angie Lecas
Libby Walker
Mike Giomi
Kathy Neuman
Spencer Williams (Row 3 #5)
John Crites (Row 3 #7)
Joseph Tonda
Nerisa Taguba (Row 4 #7)

I bet there are another 12 or so from the other class.

For some reason Valle Verde kids seemed kind of the innocent compared to everyone else!"

Kevin Hannaford

OK this is a bit off topic, but I thought I would put this to you guys and see what you think. The photo is from the 1st grade Castle Rock picture. I did a quick web search and found that a Kevin Hannaford, who used to live in Walnut Creek, died in the 9/11 event in NYC. Do you think it is the same person? This Kevin was 32 when he died, which would have put his birth year around 1969 or 1968, which seems slightly young, but not out of the question. The hair is not the same color. I see a slight resemblance. Maybe you guys could chime in. It seems like too much of a coincidence to not be him.

UPDATE (8/4/08): from comments, apparently this is the same Kevin. Very sad. I remember him well from those early years at Castle Rock, and I was sad when he moved away.

There is a foundation set up:

The Kevin J. Hannaford Sr. Foundation, Inc. is a non profit, charitable organization contributing to the educational needs of children who have lost a parent to death.

While waiting, a video

As you may have noticed, we are experiencing a lull in posts. I'm still waiting to hear from all of the folks who emailed and told me that they will eventually send something in. In the meantime, I'll give you this link to a video of Richard Feynman. Why? In our Senior Year physics class with Mr. Wilcox, he showed us this exact video, and it made an impression on me at the time. It is worthwhile as a discussion of science, but also worthwhile for those of us raising kids now, as there is a nice section about how to get children interested in how things work. Maybe some of you in that class (Brett Sanders, Ken Mock...) will also remember this one.

Feynman video.