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  • Boo and Bye!

    31 Oct 2013 8:39 PM | Marie Littlejohn-Dunn (Administrator)
    As of midnight tonight, another ABI Board term will come to a close, and your newly elected officers will take the helm: Hirath Ghori (DH '75), President; Duane Hopple (RT '79), Vice President; Tom Littlejohn (DH '84), Treasurer; Gina Hess Tanner (AB '76), Secretary.  

    I would like to take this opportunity to say "shukran" to this term's board members for their service and camaraderie for the past 2 years.  It would seem like much more work without all of the smiles and laughs.  It has truly been a pleasure to work as a team with ABI's seasoned veterans, Penny Dougharty-Maher (DH '72), Andrew Bobb (DH '74), Tom Littlejohn (DH '84), Diane Knipfel-Slingluff (AB '75), Diana Ryrholm-Geerdes (RT '62), Duane Hopple (RT '79), Robin Payne-White (DH '59), Dawn Kolb (DH '92), and first-timers, Annie Oskam (DH '74) and Gina Hess-Tanner (AB '76).

    There are two ladies who will not be serving as board members this coming term but deserve a special thank you for their many, consecutive years of service to the organization - Diane Knipfel-Slingluff (Reunion Oversight Director) and Diana Ryrholm-Geerdes (Director at Large).  Known to us affectionately as DiK and DiRy, they have served on the Board in various capacities since 1997 and 1995, respectively.  Both have also served as Reunion Chairs (San Diego '93, Chandler '97).  I won't even attempt to guestimate the number of hours of personal time they have donated to our organization, but they have both had a huge influence on the shape and success of our organization and reunions and have more than earned an opportunity to kick back and relax at the next reunion.  Love, BEO's, RFP's, hotel bathrobes, and raffle tickets to you, ladies!

    Lastly, thank you to our fellow brats for your support, kind words, generosity and smiles.  You are why we do this.  A sea of smiling, laughing brats at the reunions makes it all worthwhile!

    See you in 2015, location TBA!,

    Marie Littlejohn Dunn (DH '77)
    President

  • Notice of Directory Usage Violation

    05 Sep 2013 10:18 AM | Marie Littlejohn-Dunn (Administrator)

    Fellow Brats,

    As many of you are now aware, we had a blatant violation of our directory usage policy.  We would like to apologize for this annoyance and assure everyone that we take this matter and the integrity of our contact information very seriously.

    Firstly, we have determined that one of our members did, indeed, violate (a), (b) and (c) of our directory usage terms as well as the bylaws of our organization and continued to do so after we sent a reminder of our policy to everyone.  We have reason to believe the individual used the latest directory CD to accomplish this, not the online database.

    As a result, we are taking the following actions:
    • The individual's online directory privileges have been suspended indefinitely. We have informed him in writing of his violation and resulting suspension and requested he cease using directory contact information for commercial purposes and destroy any derivatives from computers.
    • ABI will no longer issue biennial "publications" of our directory.  Both CD and paper versions pose the highest risk for "email harvesting" and this sort of wholesale abuse.
    • ABI will review the website to make sure we are using what is available to us to protect against email address harvesting from web pages.  We have endeavored to set up our web page access such that any contact information, including email addresses, is not exposed to public view.  You may have noticed that news items and forum posts show the author as "anonymous" unless you are logged into the site. Any pages that might contain visible member contact information have been placed behind the members-only firewall.  (This is why you had to log into the site to see the Tucson Reunion Attendance List.)

    The board may take further action to prevent this from recurring.  In the meantime, there are some actions we can all take with regard to SPAM mails in general:
    • Report SPAM: If you feel you have received a SPAM email that violates U.S. CAN-SPAM Act, report the violation.  The U.S. CAN-SPAM Act has very specific requirements governing all commercial emails and origin of email address lists. Noncompliance can result in penalties up to $16,000 per individual email. (Full text of CAN-SPAM Act)
    Reporting SPAM is really easy.  Forward the entire offending email to spam@uce.gov and state that you are complaining about SPAM.  That's it! You may also report it directly to your ISP and the sender's ISP if you can ascertain who that is.  SPAMMING is against most ISP service terms and can result in termination of service.

    Lastly, we are very appreciative of those alert Brats who contacted us directly with information regarding this violation.  You were all most helpful!

    Again, we apologize for the unwelcome solicitations you may have received and will keep everyone apprised of any further actions. Please contact us if you have any concerns related to this matter.

    Sincerely,

    ABI Board of Directors

  • IMPORTANT: Directory Usage Terms

    02 Sep 2013 10:55 AM | Marie Littlejohn-Dunn (Administrator)
    It has been brought to our attention twice in the past month that some individuals may be using ABI's directory inappropriately by using contact information for their own commercial purposes.  We, therefore, feel it is necessary to remind everyone of our directory usage terms.  This applies to all forms of the directory, both online and on CD.

    Article 4, Section 1 of our bylaws states the following:
    The administration of AramcoBrats, Inc. business is to be conducted by a Board of Directors. The scope and purpose of the Board are as follows:
    1. Maintain ABI address and email databases. To protect Brats' privacy, the Board may restrict access to information in ABI databases as needed.
    2. Full copies of ABI databases will be provided only to Board members and the Reunion Committee Chair, with their use restricted to distribution for official ABI business.
    3. Class Representatives will be provided their class list upon request.
    4. Individual Brats may request information on specific Brats for their personal noncommercial use.
    5. No ABI database may be made available to any Brat or non-Brat individual or entity for commercial purposes.
    Further, on the directory page, the usage terms are very clearly stated: 
    Usage Terms: The contents of this directory may not be (a) used for commercial purposes, (b) given to a third party, or (c) reproduced, in part or in full, in either electronic or paper form. Violators will have their directory privileges revoked and may be prosecuted.

    We have made directory CDs available upon request again this term because a number of people said they do occasionally use them even though they are out-of-date as soon as they are published. (The directory CD contains a formatted PDF version of the online directory on a particular date.) If we determine that these are the source of violations, we will discontinue issuing.

    If you have received solicitations that you suspect are in violation of these usage terms, we encourage you to contact us, so we can take appropriate action.

    If you think you may be violating these terms but are not sure, please contact us. We will be happy to review the policy as it applies to your situation.  There may be other ways you can use ABI's web site or Facebook page to accomplish the same thing without violating usage terms. 

    ABI's directory is made available to our supporting members for the purpose of reconnecting and networking socially, not for the purpose of soliciting fellow brats with advertisements for goods, services or investment opportunities.  Please help us preserve its purpose by respecting its usage terms and reporting violations.

  • "Roads of Arabia" Exhibit (Update)

    24 Aug 2013 8:56 AM | Marie Littlejohn-Dunn (Administrator)
    The "Roads of Arabia" exhibit, currently at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, offers a rare chance to tour ancient Arabia through a remarkable collection of over 300 historical and archaeological artifacts, many of which have only recently been unearthed.  The collection features pieces spanning the entire Arabian Peninsula and thousands of years (4th millennium B.C. to the early 20th century).


    In addition to Islamic era relics, such as ancient funerary steles from the region around Mecca, an old door from the Ka'ba, the exhibit includes archaeological finds from Tarut, now thought to have been the center of Dilmun at one time, as well as from Thaj (~80 km west of Jubail) where archaeologists recently discovered an ancient, Hellenistic burial chamber with solid gold jewelry, masks, and the remains of a young girl.  Artifacts from the ruins of Dedan (modern-day al-Ula near Mada'in Saleh) are windows into the ancient kingdom of Lihyan which predated the Nabataeans and covered much of the same area.  The list is impressive, especially when you consider how relatively young the field of archaeology is in Saudi Arabia!

    "Roads of Arabia" will be on display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburg, PA through November 3, 2013.  If you live in the Pittsburgh area, don't miss it!  Future exhibit locations are:
    • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX - Dec 22, 2013 - Mar 9, 2014
    • Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA - Oct 17, 2014 - Jan 18, 2015
    • Chicago, IL - location and dates not yet announced.



    If you would like to plan a trip or learn more about the exhibit, visit the official site.  Some other great sources of information on the exhibit:

  • Grab Your Photo Booth Photos!

    22 Jun 2013 8:36 AM | Marie Littlejohn-Dunn (Administrator)

    If you took advantage of the photo booth at the Tucson reunion, download your photos while the "Aramco Brats Reunion" gallery is still live on Desert Photo Booth's site.  If you weren't able to join us in Tucson and take part in the photo fun, it's still worth a browse. Everyone had so much fun with it!

    Downloading your photos is simple and, best of all, it's FREE!
    • Go to the gallery link.
    • Type in your email address.
    • Browse the gallery and add the photos you want to your shopping cart.
    • After you check out, you will receive an email confirming your order followed by an email with a URL for downloading all of your selected photos to your computer.  It may take a while if you selected a large number of photos to download.  (If you don't receive the emails, check your junk folder!)
    The gallery expires July 15, 2013, so don't wait too long to download your photos!  Enjoy!

  • The Results Are In!

    22 Jun 2013 8:32 AM | Marie Littlejohn-Dunn (Administrator)
    The results of our 2013 election are in!  Of over 6,000 ballots sent out in the mail to Brats all over the world, we received a total of 134 by mail, email and at the reunion. Our slate of officers were elected:
    President - Hirath Ghori DH '75
    Vice President - Duane Hopple RT '79
    Treasurer - Tom Littlejohn DH '84
    Secretary - Gina Hess Tanner AB '76
    Congratulation to our new officers and good luck for your term which begins November 1st, 2013!  

    We still need to fill a number of positions on the board. If you are interested in any appointed position for the term beginning November 1, 2013, please contact Annie Oskam.
    Reunion Oversight Director
    Publications Director
    Database Director
    Nominations Director
    Website Director
    (Position descriptions can be found at http://www.aramco-brats.com/About_Us/Bylaws)

    Also on the ballot were 3 proposed changes to ABI's Bylaws.  Here is how you voted:

    Question #1 - Vote to abolish the Board appointed position "Class Representative Director" from the Board of Directors.
    Yes - 105
    No - 11
    Did Not Vote- 18
    Question #2 - Vote to restructure and extend audit deadlines.
    Yes - 115
    No - 1
    Did Not Vote- 18
    Question #3 - Vote to modify Term of Office from November 1 through October 31.
    Yes - 114
    No - 0
    Did Not Vote- 20
    Thank you to all members who voted - your voice has been heard.

  • It's A Small World...

    12 Jun 2013 8:35 AM | Gina Hess-Tanner

    This story is for Sami Juraifani, who loves "It's a small world" stories.  Love you Sami!

    Three years ago, when I had an idea for a business and started designing and planning it, I had a mental image for my logo.  The catch was that it had to be hand drawn and not computer generated.

    I tried a few professionals, but all they gave me were computer generated images that I didn't want.  I finally sent e-mails to several art teachers at Conroe High School, one of whom e-mailed me back and agreed to meet with me and see if she could draw my logo.

    I went to the high school after school hours one day and met Kristine, an attractive young woman.  We talked about the logo and she agreed to draw it.  About this time, I notice that she is wearing an Arabic name necklace, so I ask her where she got it.  She says "I grew up in Saudi Arabia".  You all know how the conversation went from there!

    That's how I met Kristine Buck-Canestorp, DH 91, in Conroe, TX.  And, she is the artist who drew my
    company logo.  What a small world!

    Gail R. Gantt
    RT 75

  • Raffle Issues at Tucson Reunion

    04 Jun 2013 9:05 PM | Gina Hess-Tanner

    It has come to our attention that some BRATTY knuckleheads haven't played nice regarding the raffle at the Tucson reunion. Numbers were switched around, so that some of you ended up with items that you never even wanted! A raffle is a gamble, but to end up with something you didn't try to get is sad and very disappointing. It's supposed to be fun! Overall this raffle was a great success, the majority of people played by the rules, but for those who had this problem, we are sorry and want you to know that this will be addressed for the next reunion.

  • Share Your Reunion Experience - #brats2013

    21 May 2013 9:33 AM | Marie Littlejohn-Dunn (Administrator)
    For you reunion-goers, here is some useful information for sharing your reunion experience with other Brats at the reunion as well as your classmates or family who couldn't make it:

      On twitter:
    • Use #brats2013 on your reunion tweets, so everyone can follow you!
    • Click the icon to follow ABI and keep up with any important announcements. We'll be sharing our reunion experience, too!
      On Flickr: Share your fun reunion photos right from your phone and help us build an album of great memories!  We've set up a "Tucson, AZ - 2013" album for reunion photo and video uploads.  You can do this with just an email!  Here's how it works:
    • Put that email address in your contacts, so you don't have to look for it again!
    • Add a description: Use the subject line to give your photo or video a title and the body of your email to add a description.
    • Add "tags:", if you want, in the subject line or body of the email. Just type "tags:" in the subject line or body of the email followed by the list of tags you want added to the photo(s). Don't forget to include #brats2013! 
    Here's an example:
    Subject: Brats at the pool!   tags: Dhahran '77 #brats2013
    Body:

    Class of '77!  Best ever!

    Or you could send them in the body:

    Subject: Brats at the pool!
    Body: Class of '77!  Best ever!

    tags: Dhahran '77 #brats2013


    See you in Tucson!  Safe travels, everyone!  #brats2013

  • Happy Anniversary Wayne and Jennifer!

    17 May 2013 12:30 AM | Gina Hess-Tanner
    They met at a reunion - and the rest is history.



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