Save the Date

Wanted to share this since I have received such overwhelming support from all of you.

Dear Kristina,

Msgr. Schulte has asked me to respond to your request to receive adult Confirmation here at the Cathedral. He feel that he can grant your request. Bishop Rhoades will be celebrating Confirmation for the adults on May 23, 2010 at 11:30 a.m.. In order for you to do this, you would need to attend the preparation class for that here at the Cathedral on Sunday, April 25, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. in the Parish Center Library. Please let me know if you are attending, and I will add you to our class roster. May the Lord bless and keep you always.

Sr. Marilyn Ellert, OSF

Pastoral Associate

It may seem like such a small gesture on the part of the leadership of Cathedral however, this is the best gift ever and I will never, ever forget the kindness that has been extended to me.

Kristina Frazier-Henry is a Serial Blogger

Thanks to my buddy Mark who sent this link to me. And no Mark - I'm not embarrassed in the least :).

One of the premier Barbie designers was Mattel’s Carter Bryant, whose Cinderella-like Grand Entrance Barbie sent adult collector Kristina Frazier-Henry into orbit. Frazier-Henry of Indiana is a serial blogger who has written 1,325 reviews on Epinions.com under the handle kristinafh.

Her take on Grand Entrance Barbie:

I am a fanatical Barbie collector. Fanatical in the way that I would rather have an NRFB (that’s Never Removed From Box) Barbie than just about any other gift. Surprised? Yeah, thought you were.

Doll Description
This Grand Entrance Barbie is the first collector doll designed by Carter Bryant. It came out in 2001 and was met with a lot of oooh’s and ahhh’s from the adult collecting world. Here’s why.

Close your eyes and imagine an elegant ball. Your hair is blond (natural of course) and shiny. There’s no frizz to be had. The sides of your hair are gently gathered back while the back of your hair is curled in waves and lays gently across your shoulders.

Your gown is a steel blue taffeta creation made by designer Carter Bryant. The bodice is fitted and compliments your elegant waist. Underneath your gown is a thin, slip-like layer of tulle the color of ivory. Sewn into the middle part of your gown is a creamy pink silk sheath. The way the light shines off of the creamy pink makes a total stranger want to come over and touch you.

Yeah. And you thought that I was just passionate about Fort Wayne.

Pausing For A Station-Identification Moment

So, I was just mentioning to someone, that I bet, if you took an inventory of the adults who went through the Fort Wayne Community School system during the 70's and 80's, you would most likely find that there were a number of them (maybe even highly disporportionately in a positive sense) who would be considered very successful professionals. HECK! Just from you all who have reached out to me, I'm in awe of what you guys are accomplishing as professionals. It's just too bad that not all of you were able to stay in the Fort. But we'll save that "lack of job opportunities" for another day ;).

ANYWAY - in two weeks, I'll be in San Francisco, California, speaking on something that me and my awesomely, wonderful team have been working on for the past year.

If any of you past Fort Wayne'ers are San Francisco'ians now, let me know and maybe we can meet up!

Delivering Targeted Web Experiences at Cummins

Speakers: Kristina Frazier-Henry, IT Marketing and Customer Engineering Director, Cummins and Eben Miller, Director, Product Marketing, Interwoven and Garner Andrews, Strategic Solutions Architect, Interwoven

Companies today confront a dramatically changing landscape, which has resulted in urgent and complex challenges. For most of us, the explosion in social computing, fragmenting market conditions, new competitive pressures, and the increasing sophistication of online users is forcing us to deliver more relevant, interactive, and engaging online experiences. By taking a systematic approach to targeting Web content and offers, businesses can grow revenue and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. In this session, you will learn how Cummins, a global power leader, is transforming their online strategy and driving growth through the effective deployment of targeted Web experiences to key customer and partner segments.

First Grade - Indian Village Elementary School

Say hello to my first grade class from Indian Village Elementary School. The year (according to the picture) is 1973 and Mrs. Marci Lawson is the inspirational teacher - keeping us all in check.

We were located in Room 19 (yes I know - scary that I remember this).

Our desks were simple, in a complicated way. They weren't the fancy ones that opened up on top. Oh no! They were the kind that opened up to your waist area.

Many things could get lost (and subsequently - GROW) in this area. Emptying these types of desks out at the end of the year was always an anxiety-filled moment because one never knew what people like Brian Blazer and Ralph Barva would pull out of the nooks and cranies of these wooden hothouses.

ANYWAY

If you attended Fort Wayne Community Schools (the elementary ones) in the early to mid 70's, I bet your class pictures looked just like this.

Every year, the photographer would come into our classroom and he would bellow out instructions to our teacher that went something like this.

Okay. Move dem desks to the middle. We gotta make this look like a real classroom

What he meant was that the lens was only so wide and therefore - if the desks were required to be in the picture (by the way - I'm still trying to figure out who made this rule) - then - in order to get everyone in, we had to move all of the people and desks into a small area, sit behind them, and smile for maybe 3-4 shots.

In other words, it took much more time to move the desks around then to actually take the frickin' picture.

The boys really liked to scrape the desk chairs as hard as they could across the concrete (but hey - it looks "tiled" - floor).

I have a ton of great memories from first grade. My first grade experience was extremely profound and I can't even begin to tell you how lucky I was. I think I was just in the right place, at the right time.

Anyway - there will be a lot more to write on this subject of first grade. But for now, let's get scary for a moment. I remember just about everybody's name.

So here it goes. And if I'm missing someone, or if I have spelled their name wrong - please let me know. By all means, if you know where any of these folks are today - let us know!

(Left to Right)

Row 1: Rusty Cramer, David Nelson, Melanie Davis, Kristina Frazier-Henry

Row 2: Skip Shock, Rita ?, Jody Ellis, Bruce ?, Chrissy Boner, Brian Rice, Kathleen Caldwell

Row 3: Ralph Barva, Wendy Shipley, Tracy Nimbles, Betsy Barrett, Kelly Miller, Billy ?, ?

Row 4: Eric Busenbaric, Brian Blazer, Kelly Biddle, Lisa Smith, Tom Stinson, ?

Row 5: Beth Fruechtenicht, Karen Brunette, Stuart Williams, Marla Magditch, Chris Starn, Mike Sharp

Row 6: Tom Malott, Brian Butcher, Janice Smith, Kim Spore