Viewed at National Arboretum by Kathrin & SteveG 12/24/05

Note the title of this tree below!

Josh & Vicky Halloween 2005?

 
 

Souvenir of Steve & Sally's last visit to Chicago - Next one Jan 4-6, 2005

 
 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear family,

We just had a wonderful time at Steve and Sals along with Nate and Kathrin
and we missed Josh and Vicky. also Davis and his lady friend Patty Ortiz.

Great photos Kathrin took on her trip to many places in Europe. Wow!

In Peace,Love,Bets

Another "reunity"

Kathrin is home! Back in the USA for the first time since late August!
Arrived at the always irritating Dulles airport this afternoon.
Steve

reunity

I have been a bad family member and not posted on here in quite some time, but after a lovely dinner with Josh and Vicky and an email from Nate, I feel obligated to change my deviant ways.
Josh, Vicky, Freud (my dog) and I went to a lovely dinner at the Oak Park Rosenberg People's house. The food was quite tasty and Josh and Vicky were treated to an extended lecture on the importance of health insurance (thank you, Dr. Rosenberg), which became even more relevant after the incredible chocolate bread pudding gave everyone type II diabetes. We are all looking forward to the larger gathering on January 4, whatever it may entail. Hopefully more chocolate.

Sunset with Reina

This time with Reina. Love, Aguirre-Gilberts

Leah and Zack at sunset Dec 11, 2005

Not to trying to rub in the great weather here in SD as our east coast kin endure, but couldn't resist this picture of our kids as we gear up for the holidays.

Love, the Aguirre-Gilberts

Munich - Father Daughter 1st Beer Together 11-2005

3 versions of same photo. First one below has been computer-enhanced using Google's Picasa2 free software and then uploaded using the same software. The 2nd one below (last one) is uploaded using regular Blogger button. Let me know which one looks better to you.
Steve

Zack's new purpose in life

Rent

The Aguirre-Gilberts saw the movie Rent. Very exhilerating. Kathy was very noisy with her snorting (due to emotion of course). Anyway ..check it out.

Happy day after thanksgiving, love, Z, K, L and A

Test Photo

I'm posting this mostly just to see if what I just set up really works. Those who said they wanted to get an automatic notice when something new goes on the blogs (Noelle, Nate, Betsy) should get an email about this. Pls let me know if you got an email about this or if you want to be added to the distribution list for these notifications. And here's a picture from our trip to Louisiana last spring - this was part of a beautiful former plantation that was open to the public. I hope it is still in good shape.
Love,
STeve

Thanksgiving was wonderful

I hope everyone's thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine!!!!!!!
Thank you Steve,Sal,Nate,Josh,Vicky, we missed Kathrin alot.
Looking forward to see you Christmas time.Love,Bets

Kathrin G Gilbert age 26?

I only wanted to put this picture up once..... it's Kathrin at the opera last week in Munich.

Happy Thanksgiving 2005!

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

To everyone wishing a great Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope the travel home for Steve,Sal,Nate,Josh,Vicky
was safe and smooth! And that anyone else was the
same. Thinking of those who are over seas.Kathrin,
Love,Bets Stewart

Day at Dachau 11-19-2005

View of Barracks through Barbed Wire



Defiant Prisoner (Hands in Pockets)



Entrance to Concentration Camp at Dachau



Map & Explanation of Concentration Camp System ca. 1944

Later that Saturday Night - Wild Party in Munich

Before dinner, in Hotel Dolomit Lobby (Marian, Kathrin, Whitney)



In our hotel room after dinner with Marian & Whitney, 2 of Kathrin's friends from Guilford. We ate at a Thai restaurant and then went to the EasyInternet Cafe where I was amazed because I saw:



 

here's a painting we saw

friday afternoon

This is where K and I went this afternoon.
http://www.pinakothek.de/neue-pinakothek/index_en.php?

Steve took a break and Kathrin and I went with her class to the Neue Pinakothek and saw wonderful paintings in a marvelous museum. She points out to us that most of the buildings we are looking at have been reconstructed since the war. It's hard to fathom that much destruction and reconstruction.

It's wonderful to be here. Some Christmas decorations are beginning to be put up and it's been snowing a bit. K is a treat as always. She walks much faster than I do, but perhaps that's one role of the guide.

Hotel Dolomit in Munich 11-18-2005

Munich Opera House

So, after an unpleasant delay at Wash. Dulles airport (advice for travelers using that airport - good idea to get there an extra hour even earlier than for other airports because of things we learned painfully - we missed our non-stop flight to Munich and had to be both delayed and re-routed via Frankfurt), we arrived and found Kathrin quite quickly and easily in the Munich airport. Of course, that was and is the most important part of this trip - getting to spend some time with her!

We just had enough time to have a snack, do some Internet work, get to our hotel (one block from the place where Kathrin's Guilford courses meet), change our clothes, and then go to the opera


Where we saw/heard Verdi's Falstaff sung in Italian with German "super-titles" - I don't know what else to call the projected German translations of the Italian lyrics, because the words appeared ABOVE the performers, almost on the ceiling.
Kathrin's Guilford group was almost all there, and we got to meet quite a few of them. I claimed a combination of jet lag and head cold as my excuse for falling asleep, and we departed after two acts because we were hungry. The Opera House might be even more spectacular inside than outside, and I thought this was a wonderful opportunity.

One of the most satisfying things so far has been to hear Kathrin describe her delight with her "Roman Holiday" - especially with the opportunity to get to know cousin Lynn and have some good times together even without the benefit of all the rest of the well-intended and fascinating relatives, myself included! Kathrin is really looking forward to Lynn's visit to Munich in a couple weeks and to visiting Lynn in the US eventually, too.

As parent/uncle, this is a wonderful fringe benefit to these two having what sound like terrific educational/travel/fun opportunities!

Love,
Steve

Nate and Dave and Peter?

I think this is a picture of Nate and Dave and Peter...I'm certain about the first two!

Milwaukee Eisner Museum - Ads!

Took some time off to take a walk, do some errands, and stumbled upon (and then into) a remarkable, small, fascinating museum.
The Eisner Museum of Advertising & Design
see: http://www.eisnermuseum.org/

Several IKEA commercials were quite amusing - about the consequences of not tidying up (not having furniture that would enable you to do so). But for me the "star" was Kohler - as in plumbing fixtures! I never would have imagined, but that is the company that had the most memorable, moving video commercials and photographs. Let's see if I can show you one here:



If you don't see an interesting photo just above this sentence,or if you want to see a larger version, try going to this URL:
http://www.us.kohler.com/craftsmanship/mag_ad_detail.jsp?magAd=vase_large
The photo seems to be called "As I see it - Vase"

Berlin Wall in Dallas - You Never Know!

So, yesterday as I walked from the main hotel meeting area to the exhibit hall in the huge Wyndham Anatole's Hotel in Dallas, I saw:


And it turned out to be actual pieces of the Berlin Wall! No explanatoin of WHY it was in this otherwise fairly typical and dull convention hotel. This is what makes visiting these places interesting. Lots of nice people here from community colleges.
Here's the plaque about 10 feet in front of the wall pieces:

Building Bridges - A Wedding Story (for Dangerous Discussions initiative)

Here's a little piece from my Dangerous Discussions Website that includes a photo and description of part of the Steve/Sally wedding!

Strategies for dealing civilly and constructively with Dangerous Discussions issues:

- Select issues that are significant, controversial, and tractable

- Make essential info accessible

- Work through Dangerous Us/Them Discussions

- Use technology to support, not undermine, communication and collaboration


- Build something together
[See "Building Bridges Together - A Wedding Story"]

Jill's new phone and a blogger experiment

Nothing particularly facinating to report here. I got a new cell phone today and with it a new number: 773-573-2344. I'm Verizon and "In," so if you also have a Verizon phone I don't pay for your calls. If you are not Verizon, I am probably just lame and not very good at calling you back, so I don't pay for those calls, either. My new phone has a 1.3 megapixel zoom camera with video capability, a memory card slot that will eventaully allow me to play mp3s, a calendar/schedule feature, and makes mediocre cappuccino. Feel free to send me pix and video messages.
For a strange picture of my dog and me (taken with my new phone earlier this evening), click the target button bellow. This is mostly for Uncle Steve's technical benefit, but it's still a fairly entertaining picture.

Msg from Greece - Honeymoon of Julianne & George Saratsis

Forwarded by Susan Walters [walterssusan1591@sbcglobal.net]; photo added by Steve Gilbert

Subject: Greetings from GreeceDate: Sat, 08 Oct 2005 11:05:26 -0400X-OriginalArrivalTime: 08 Oct 2005 15:05:26.0539 (UTC) FILETIME=[B6F07DB0:01C5CC19]

Hello, all my dear friends!... and greetings from the Mother Land! :)

It's almost funny, but several people we've run into here, sales people and waiters and such, seriously claim just what the father in "My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding" proclaimed: EVERYTHING comes from the Greek :)

It has been beautiful weather, mostly wonderfully sunny with only a few occassional showers that last less than 10 minutes, enough to cool off the air. Athens is like many large European cities, narrow busy streets, tons of taxis and vespas (like Rome, you know), a cafe on every corner.

The village where George's family is from Kyparisia (please excuse the spelling) is beautiful: all white houses with red tile roofs, green everywhere, the mountains spilling down to the sea. Yesterday we visited Olympia, where the games once were held.... so much history in one place is breathtaking.

The biggest adventure, and the one that has inspired the most "Greek passion" at the moment, is that we DO NOT have our luggage! Apparently we flew through Paris on the first day of a massive strike by the city's public workers. It is now Day 6, and still no sign of 2 of our bags... one of them has wandered into Athens, waiting for us to pick up. Yes, it's been frustrating beyond belief. But again, the Saratsis family has been extremely generous: Thea (Aunt) Nikki has provided me with underwear and PJ's and socks. She also found some old clothes of George's father for him to wear, and another aunt found a pair of Dimitri's old jeans (a cousin). So we're getting by.

The "greek passion" comes in when all the family starts to discuss "tus valitzes" (the suitcases)... I have never seen such yelling and waving of arms! (It's a great way to learn Greek slang...) But it's comforting to know that these people would do battle on our behalf :)

PLEASE pray that the luggage comes back to us before we turn around to come back to the States - thanks! And please don't say anything when you notice that all of our pictures show us in the same clothes a million times over...We will keep you updated. In the meantime, we miss you very much, and we send our hugs and kisses. God bless you all!

With love,Julianne and George Saratsis

Testing another idea - photo slide show

Let's see how this works... Click between this line and the photo above and see if you get a slideshow about the virtual nursing lab at Valparaiso U! A remarkable facility (probably no more than 2 in the country comparable) for training future nurses... and they're just beginning to figure out how best to use this environment.
[Lots of other places have a FEW items of the kind you see here, but I'm told that this is a unique environment - having so many items, features, and surrounding the learners and teachers. I was impressed that "Valpo" is doing something philosophically like this also in its engineering school (virtual reality lab) and meterology dept (soon to be equiv of a major TV network weather installation).]

Msg from Dorothy [dottiedig@aol.com]

Hi Steve I have enjoyed your messages in the Blog!!! The pictures are terrific and so great to see pictures of the wedding and the wonderful picture of Nate and you. I tried to print it with no success. I also can"t send a message on the Blog, The family will just have to miss out on all of my spectaculer coments!!! Do you remember our yellow car with the top down in San Bernardino? Your dad insisted we buy one, It was fun in summer going up to the Arrowhead Springs Hotel but after Debra was born we sold it , Hot in summer, cold in winter. I am keeping busy looking at Retirement homes. Part of me wants to live in one and the other part doesn"t want to leave my house. Thats all for now I love you Mom

Yuri Yang visits Steve & Sally this weekend - 10/8

Yuri visits Steve & Sally sometimes when her dorm closes for various holidays or long weekends. Today, after MANY dry weeks, it is raining constantly and heavily. So Yuri and I are doing computer stuff in our dining room while Sally is out having lunch with her friend Ann Reifman and, hopefully, joining a gym.

Yuri's family lives in So. Korea, but this is her 2nd year as a boarder at Sandy Spring Friend's Schools - not too far from Takoma Park. Steve is a member of Sandy Spring Monthly Quaker meeting, and so are lots of people who are involved with the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Quaker camping program.

Pls note carefully the t-shirt Yuri is wearing!

Love,
Steve

Visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan Sept 30 to Oct 3, 2005

A few photos from our trip. VERY EASY TO UPLOAD THESE NOW WITH NEW BLOGGER ONE-CLICK (ALMOST) FEATURE! Don't be frightened by the ugly HTML code that appears where the photo will be when you're creating one of these posts! You can ignore it.


Of course, the main event of our visit was Julianne Walters' wedding to George Saratsis [Julianne is Vicky Gilbert's older sister]. It was another, the 4th, wonderful wedding for Vicky's siblings in 2 years. Seems that once they met Josh, they all wanted to get married!

Here's Vicky's brother John, his bride Jen, Vicky and their grandmother, Bobsha(sp?) who is 87 and drove herself to/from the wedding!

Similar group: Vicky, brother John, paternal grandmother (from Calif!) with Josh clowning in the background.

Post-wedding photo of bride and groom (Julianne & George), bridal parents (Dennis & Sue), and sibs Andrew, John, Vicky.

A rose by any other name?

Finally, Sally gets her wish! She talked the car rental company into upgrading us to a PT Cruiser convertible... and the weather cooperated by being unseasonably hot and sunny for the entire long weekend! [Remember, Sally graduated from U. Mich. a few years ago, so driving around Ann Arbor with the top down was even more of a kick.]