Be aware, the "Message Forum" is NOT password protected.  Unlike profiles that are password protected, anybody who gets to this webpage can see what is written here.  Nobody can contact you directly based on this forum unless you reveal your personal contact information.  Use the "Message Center" for sharing personal contact information with another classmate.

This message forum is an ongoing discussion about anything and just about everything ... within reason.  One thing our class was good at was having opinions.  Almost 70 years of life experience certainly qualifies us as experts on most everything!   Ask a question ... give an opinion ... share some insights ... it's our web site, it's our forum.  That said, it's probably not a good idea to get into arguments about politics, religion, and the like.  While we're experts on everything, we also have a wide range of values and beliefs. This site belongs to all of us ... the whole range ... and we are not here to isolate, alienate, or subjugate anybody.  Of course insults, humiliation, sophomoric barraggadocio, and demented humor is expected behavior among some of us less mature people.
 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

       Our maple tree (unser Ahornbaum) never fails

                                                             to brighten the yard!

Jim Cejka

Jim Cejka

Karsten,

Where were you 10 years ago when I was asked to write a history of the Chilton, WI Fire Department? My first thought was "wonderful, where do I start?" Then the fire chief gave me three large boxes of logs and ledgers from day one of the department, dating back to 1870. Good start, right. Wrong. Turns out that they were all in German for the first 30 years. No problem, half of everybody in town speaks German, translation shouldn't be a problem. Wrong again. The penmanship was beautiful, but everything was in "Old" German. Nobody around could read it. Finally, after about a month, I got a call from someone who had a cousin visiting from Germany who happened to be a historian and was doing similar translations for a history book about his town. He managed to translate it from "Old German" to modern German for me and then I could get one of the locals to make it into English. The fact that in such a small town, all the fire companies were private organizations, and they were all German, made the history that much more fascinating.

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Hey Jim, 

Had a similar experience with the Old German Script. We found a letter from my Grandma's cousin in Berlin from 1927 in her Bible after she died.  It was the only letter anyone in our family had seen from German relatives. I got a chart of German Script letters and translated it letter by letter. It took a LONG time!  Then, still needed some help from a German friend with the idioms. It was very interesting. She described the inflation in Berlin at the time, when the value of the Mark had plummeted, and they had just a "crust of bread and a bite of apple" for dinner. I have no idea what happened to them. If they stayed in Berlin, they were probably bombed into oblivion.

Garry Sellers

Does anybody watch what I consider the best show on television ... CBS's "Sunday Morning" with Charles Osgood ... previously with Charles Kurwalt?  It is so positive and uplifting!  I don't know why it wouldn't make it in Prime Time.  Out here in California it comes on from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.  Duh???  Last Sunday there was a story about a guy in Michigan who takes orders for Starbuck's coffee for patients and staff in the chemotherapy unit in a hospital outside of Detroit  ... out of his own pocket.  And, as a former school district employee, he doesn't have all that much money.

God there are some neat people in this world! 

If you'd like to see the segment, I've attached the link.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50157502n

Karsten Boerger

Gary

I hope that you have heard of TIVO, so you can watch Sunday Morning any time you want

Karsten

Barbara Blair (Brenzel)

What a wonderful video, Garry.  Sure made the eyes get watery!  Thanks for sharing it with us - so good to hear some good news!  And good to know that there are still such unselfish & caring people out there.

Jim Cejka

I need to get a new cell phone, so I am seeking advice from those classmates who are more technically advanced than I.

My question is; is it worthwhile to get a smart phone if it will have a dumb operator?

Garry Sellers

Barbara - If last Sunday's "Sunday Morning" coffee buyer brought tears, try this mornings episode.  I warned you.  Don't call me for tissues.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50157961n

Jim - Get a "brick" ... I mean the ones made out of clay or whatever!  At least it will be helpful if you have to hit somebody!  And you won't be tempted to text while in traffic, unlike 85% of those in the cars around you!  Plus it won't be obsolete next week.

Jim Cejka

OK Garry - So, if I get a brick, can I keep my same phone number or would I have to try and learn a new one? Would a brick do the Blue Tooth thing? My car has it, but I haven't figured how to use it, but it sort of came on automatically when I had an iPhone from the county for a while. All I had to do was get in and beep, beep, it was on and working. That I could handle. As for texting and driving, I'm surprised. That sounds like such a good law. You mean there are people that don't obey it? Personally, I don't text much at all. My wife worked for a newspaper and proofreads everything, including text messages, birthday cards, etc. So, texting her is an exercise, like writing a paper for Miss Kapp.

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Oh, Jim, I like your wife! I go nuts reading things or listening to the news, while mumbling (with disgust), "dangling modifier", " use the subjunctive" , or "incorrect use of the reflexive". Terri Levenhagen shares our pain. Perhaps mandatory sentence diagramming for all......

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

I do share your pain, Nancy - and that of Jim's wife. If I posted all the grammar suggestions on this Message Forum that I post on my Facebook page, I would surely incur the wrath and censorship of the Webmeister for excessive preaching. 

Jeanne Zinser (Gottschalk)

Jim Cejka

OK, so CHS prepared me grammatically (grammer-tickly? grammagically?) for 30+ years of happy marriage. (I won't count the first one.) Good show, I say. BUT, I never did get that diagramming thing. I suppose if I'm going to continue to do this message forum, are you ladies going to make me learn it?

Melody Jones (Parker)

Jim,

Definitely not!

My motto is:  If you haven't grown up by age 50-

You don't have to!!!

Melody Jones (Parker)

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!  HA!  HA!  HA!

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Okay Melody - You have inspired me to get up from the iPad to do my Halloween decorations! You are SERIOUS about Halloween!!! Love 'em!

Diane Bauer (Palen)

Pretty neat Mel!!

Barbara Blair (Brenzel)

Unfair, Garry!  Not enough warning - I needed a box of tissues while watching that video!!

Barb

Jim Cejka

Ok, NoCal-ers, our move to join you up in Lincoln didn't happen. Thanks to a big OOPs from "the country's largest mortgage lending bank" who didn't discover the place was zoned commercial, not residential, until we were just about to sign.

We did end up finding a place in Manteca instead. California has all these towns and cities with such pretty and romantic names - the "City of Angles," Saint this, that, or somebody, the "grand river valley," or the "bright gem of the ocean." So, after looking at all kinds of places, in several different cities and towns, we are ending up in Manteca, a town whose name in Spanish means "animal fat." That'll sure impress our friends and relatives back in WI. Oh well, we're surrounded by wine and walnuts, so it's a pretty good place to kick back and whatever. 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Now you're even closer to us - about 80 miles away - AND on the road to Yosemite!! I would think the Greatest Park is only a day trip for Mantecans. I think that mess-up will turn out well for you!

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Well, Jim, the literal translation may be "animal fat", but everywhere that we've been it has been the term for butter, certainly a more appealing form of animal fat - both in name and taste. And a lot better than being called "margarine". Happy moving - always such fun. 

Jim Cejka

Thanks Nancy, my WI conscience feels much better with butter.

Terry, correct, Yosemite is little more than an hour away. I haven't been there since the CONNtinentals stopped there on the way back from the Seattle World's Fair. Definately going to do that sometime. By the way, what kind of wine goes with walnuts?

Melody Jones (Parker)

Red wine, Jim.   LOL!

Lauren Dieterich

To all of my fellow Veterans on the site Happy Veteran's Day. Although, somehow Happy doesn't seem quite right. Especially since we still have troops in harms way.

It's been awhile since I was last on the site; have some catching up to do.

                                                                                                                                         Lauren