Monday, May 21, 2012

Mumper Here!




Mumper here! Trying to figure  out how to do this computer thing (per Bush 41).

Bunch of us  Iolani Class of '61 guys and ladies gathered at Tsukiyi's Fishmarket at Ala Moana Shopping Center (top floor) for a buffet  luncheon pigout  on Tuesday May 15, 2012.

Present were Tom Campbell, Mike Chun and spouse Lorrie Mae, Rodney Chun, Ed Futa, Warren Ho, Morris Lai and spouse Lorna, Leroy Lee, Chuck Leong and spouse Deanna,  Bob  Mumper, Dick Tsuda, David Tyau and spouse Anita, Mike Uejio and spouse Stephanie, Eric Yamamoto and Emmett Yoshioka.

Former Rotary International CEO, Ed Futa, was passing through from a Rotary Convention in Bangkok, Thailand attended by 34,0000 members. Ed spend a few moments speaking on Rotary Club's  mission to not only  get rid of polio in the world  but also to promote world peace. He is busier now since he retired since he will take on the job of General Chairman for the next  International Rotary Convention to  be held in Lisbon, Portugal next year.  Ed will also serve as Rotary's representative to the United Nations.

Clifford Uejio reports that he and his spouse Stephanie are doing fine after one and a half years of marriage.   I told Stephanie that statistically, Clifford  will live a lot longer. They recently returned from a trip to Kyoto, Japan.

Chuck Leong was also happy to be in the Sandwich Islands while primarily  attending to family matters. Look to the next issue of Iolani Classnotes (Summer 2012) to read about his adventures with Elliott Lum in Carlsbad, California.

I haven't figured out how to move those pictures around but in picture number three, the spouses pictured are Deanna Leong, Lorrie Mae Chun and Lorna Lai.

Most guys don't have much to say and it's like pulling teeth trying to get information for the classnotes. But Tom Campbell said that he busier than ever at AT&T and has no plans on retiring soon. I think that when  I break down and get a hearing aid, I'll be able to catch a lot more of what he says to me. I'm still waiting for the technology to get better....but may make an appointment later with a doctor hearing specialist lady who has nice boobs recommended by a fellow jogging partner  who  also  exercises with Ken Lee, Dick Sutton ( '63 Punahou  grad, attorney and USA Track Official)  and Bob Mumper (Sunday mornings, 11;15 AM , Kahala Field ........meet at Big Baseball diamond).

Morris Lai of course planned this event (to the best of my knowledge since he sent out the email notices)  and Dick Tsuda handled the collection of the money and paying the bill.

There were some  comments on our class not working at the Iolani Family Fair this year. Well, the truth is planning this event  is a lot of work. Thanks to Dick Tsuda, Tom Campbell and others for their hard efforts throughout the years. Sooner or later guys run out of gas and shouldn't have to die to have an excuse to retire. So, if  there is  somebody out there who wants to step up, contact Kira at the alumni office.

I'm aware of the efforts required , because when my son was a junior at Punahou, my wife volunteered us to be co-chairpersons at the hamburger/hotdog booth at the Punahou Carnival. When she told me, I said, "What????....we never  volunteer for anything....we just do our shifts and participate". She said that she didn't know that she was volunteering. I guess that they supposedly tricked her the same way that people tricked you in the old days to come to their AmWay sales meetings.  So we did the  co- chair thing for two years....the junior year was just practice for the next year when the boy would be a  senior.

So I know that time and effort in having to go to the meetings, planning, coordinating  and standing the 14 hour daily shifts at the carnival. Needless to say, I was present in body.....and learned how to use a meat thermometer as I coordinated the process of getting the frozen hamburger to the grills, to the buns and to the wrappers. My wife handled the overall coordinating, the check in of volunteers and the sales and collection of the tickets.  I smelled like raw meat when I got home and my dog wouldn't leave me alone  even after thorough showering.

Super busy Ken Lee was able to drop in at the  end to say hello to our mainland classmates Ed and Chuck.  Mike Chun got  a picture of Ken and " photoshopped"   him into  the class picture which will be included in the Fall issue of  '61 Classnotes. Ken's spouse , Jennifer , is on the mainland helping out daughter Tiffany with the new number 3 grandchild Jesse Colby.

Thanks to Mike Chun, I was able to learn how to download photos from Facebook and put them into the blog  but I still have to learn how to move these pictures around so that I could put  captions under them.

When I was a classroom teacher at Kahala School, we had a computer teacher who taught the kids in a well  equipped air-conditioned  computer lab.....probably one of the first in the State of Hawaii  funded by our  hardworking  parents.   I used to sit down next to the slowest student because once when I sat next to a smart kid, when I asked her for help, she said, "Mr. Mumper.....you're do dumb, how did you get to  be a teacher." Kids can be so perceptive.....so here's  Bob Mumper signing out....still trying to get out the 20th century (but with Mikes help,  I feel that I'm making progress.) I even remembered the  last time I made a post to write down my password so that I could get into this blog site the next time I make a contribution.

Way to go Mumper!