Greetings from the beautiful
Voorhees Computer Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. I’m here, along with Diane and Jeffrey, for my 25th
Reunion.
We arrived Thursday evening and planned to go to one of our favorite restaurants, Platt’s Place (a deli with wonderful cheesecake), for dinner. But when we got there, we found that it was gone, replaced by a Buca di Beppo, which, while quite acceptable, was not the same thing at all. I was amused to find that their literature quoted a review in the San Jose Mercury News — I had never heard of the chain before, but apparently they have a location in the Pruneyard, 15 minutes from our house. It’d be better in a larger group, since they specialize in large family-sized meals (and our family was barely able to finish a small spaghetti!).
Yesterday, we drove to RPI to register for Reunion and wander the campus; we hadn’t signed up for many activities during the day, but the weather convinced us to stay inside as much as possible. Either it was hot and humid or rainy — sometimes both. And towards the end of the day, there were
thunderstorms, which impressed Jeffrey a lot! The storms knocked out the PBX at our hotel, and it’s likely to be down throughout our stay. Yesterday evening, we went to the Houston Fieldhouse for dinner, and then many of us from the Class of ’75 got together at the Troy Pub and Brewery (I can recommend the Uncle Sam Amber Ale). It was great to see some of my old friends, many of whom I see every five years, as if by clockwork.
Today is cool and sunny, ideal weather for a parade and a picnic, which are on the schedule for noonish. Right now, Diane is at the Modern Classroom Facility (as it was known when I was an undergraduate here; now it’s the Darren Communications Center) listening to RPI’s new President,
Shirley Ann Jackson, talking about the Rensselaer Plan, while Jeffrey and I are in the computer center — he’s looking at the Internet Movie Database and enjoying the fast Internet access that being on a campus provides.
I’ve been taking pictures but I may not be able to upload them until I get home — for some reason, none of the public-access systems here seem to have PCMCIA slots. More later.
Well, it’s much later, but here are some of the pictures we took on June 2nd and 3rd:
- Diane and me outside Amos Eaton Hall
- Jeffrey sitting on the radiator on which I was sitting when I asked Diane to go to Caffe Lena with me in the spring of 1976
- Jeffrey’s favorite activity at Reunion
- Jeffrey and Diane preparing for the Parade of Classes
- The Class of ’75 practicing disorganization before the Parade of Classes
- Along the NEB&W line as seen at the Rensselaer Model Railroad Club
- Looking down the Approach into Troy
- Looking up the Approach to campus
