Date: Fri Aug 3, 2001 5:47 pm Subject: Encina Update (sando/homecoming/reunions/siblings/earth/pills/armstrong/whats new) ENCINA ALUMNI, There is no sponsor for this week's update. Not much going on this week. For all of you whose classes are having a reunion this summer, please consider submitting a bio and sharing it with your classmates. Gives you one more thing to talk about at the reunion... MIKE SANDO I received this note from Jerry Sando's son, Mike Sando, who is looking for information on Mike Fredrick... "Hello. I was not an Encina student but I have many fond memories of the school from my father's years as counselor and vice principal there. I remember going to basketball games in particular, and I have really enjoyed reading the old student-newspaper stories recounting the early-80s teams. However, I can't find any information on former Encina basketball player Mike Fredrick, who averaged 29 points per game one season sometime in the first half of the 80s. He might have played only one or two years before transferring or flunking out. I can't recall for sure. If you or anyone else can provide any information about Mike Fredrick and what he might be doing now, I'd be interested. Sincerely, Mike Sando (Mira Loma class of 88, in case you were wondering)" HOMECOMING 2001 Date: Friday, October 5, 2001 Time: 5pm to 1130pm Place: El Camino HS cafeteria Paul Stewart 76 has agreed to head the alumni float committee again, for which Lisa Lowe Rodland 79 will once again provide the flatbed trailer (courtesy of her father). Rollin Coxe 64 has offered to take photos again this year. If you are interested in helping to plan and organize this year's homecoming party on October 5th, please write and let me know so I can add you to the homecoming committee mailing list. If you have any suggestions or comments about last year's party, please write. We have received OFFICIAL permission to hold the Homecoming 2001 party at El Camino HS again this year. The pregame party will start at 5pm same as last year and the postgame party will end at 1130pm. If you are interested in helping on the homecoming committee let me know. Last year we had a great group of volunteers! Coming...Homecoming 2001 on Friday, October 5, 2001: http://www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming/homecoming2001.htm For those of you who wonder what the heck a homecoming party is... For information about the homecoming party, including pictures: http://www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming/homecoming2000.htm If you missed the description of the homecoming party see: http://www.encinahighschool.com/archives/email/001027.txt REUNIONS The class of 71 reunion is this weekend, August 4th. Have a good one! Next weekend, August 11, is the class of 61 and 81 reunion. If you have siblings or friends from these classes, please let them know their class is having a reunion so they don't miss it. This especially applies to those who aren't online. CLASS OF 61 Date: August 11, 2001 Location: River Cruise on the Mathew McKinley in Old Sacramento Time: Boarding 6.30 Sailing: 7.00pm-10.00pm Contact: John Russell at john_carolrussell@yahoo.com CLASS OF 66 Saturday, September 15, 2001, from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Clubhouse at Swallow's Nest, off Garden Highway in Sacramento Cost: $25 Contact: Kathy Cooper at Encina66@aol.com CLASS OF 71 Date: Saturday, August 4, 2001 Location: Doubletree (original Red Lion Inn) Time: 6:30PM Contact: Mike Billings at Showzrd@aol.com Laura Simons - 916-972-7077 CLASS OF 76 *** HOW WAS IT? *** Date: July 28, 2001 Place: Arden Hills Contact: Matt Shelton at sheltonmk@aol.com CLASS OF 81 Date: August 11, 2001 Place: Arden Hills Country Club Contact: Melissa Tovar at melissatovar@aol.com CLASS OF 82 Date: August 9, 2002 Place: Croation Hall Contact: Soames Funakoshi CLASS OF 86 Date: September 15th Place: TBD Time: approx 630-700pm Dress: semi casual (no gowns or tuxes) Contact: Kelly Dimmitt at CaliKel@hotmail.com CLASS OF 91 *** UPDATE *** Class of 91' 10 Year Reunion! Date: Saturday, August 18th, 2001 Time: 5:30 pm....? Location: Grapes Banquet Hall 815 11th Street (corner of 11th & H) Price Per Person: $40.00 (Alumni) $30.00 (Not Encina Alumni) Dress: Casual to elegant Check in and photos...5:30-6:30 Appetizers and cocktails...6:30-8:30 Full bar...non-hosted Reunion Video...8:30 Dancing to DJ Charlie Mac....all night! Please make checks payable to Georgina Smith Note: Reunion... Please mail ASAP to 3500 Data Drive#14, Rancho Cordova, CA. 95670 For more info call Gina (916) 635-7958 or 803-1937. SIBLINGS Baron Chapman 75 is married to Melanie Johnson 76. Their son Baron Chapman Jr 02 currently attends Encina. Teri Robichaud 75 wrote: Peggy Robichaud 71 Paula Robichaud 74 Teri Robichaud 75 EARTH Tim Essert 73 sent me this: "This was sent to us via Tim's brother, Christopher, who always has his eyes on the stars through various telescopes and is taking an advanced astronomy class at the moment: A 'must visit' site. It is an absolutely awesome picture of the Earth taken from the Boeing-built Space Station.... http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights2_dmsp_big.jpg The image is a panoramic view of the world from the new space station. You can scroll East-West and North-South. Canada's population is almost exclusively along the U.S. border. Moving east to Europe, there is a high population concentration along the coast of the Mediterranean. Check out the development of Israel compared to its neighbors. Note the Nile River, the Outback of Australia and the TransSiberian Rail Route. Moving east, most striking is the difference between North and South Korea." PILL SPLITTING I didn't know you could do this. Just thought I would pass this on for those of you who don't know about it. July 27, 2001 Pill Splitting Is Simple Way To Save Money on Drugs By TARA PARKER-POPE Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL LOOKING FOR WAYS to cut your prescription drug costs? Try buying bigger pills and cutting them in half. Pill splitting is a deceptively simple way to save money on drugs, but few consumers or even doctors are aware that it's an option. A quirk in the way drugs are manufactured and priced means many drugs cost about the same per pill, regardless of the dosage. As a result, patients who buy a larger pill that contains twice the dose they need can cut it in half and save as much as 50%. For example, Merck's cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor costs about $3.94 a pill, whether the dose is for 20 milligrams or 40 milligrams, according to DestinationRX.com, which compares retail and Internet drugstore prices. A patient who needs a 20-milligram daily dose can cut a 40-milligram pill in half, dropping the cost to just $1.97, saving more than $700 annually. A patient who needs a 75-milligram daily dose of Pfizer's antidepressant Zoloft would pay $6.66 to take three 25-milligram pills. But splitting a combination of 100-milligram and 50-milligram pills to achieve a 75-milligram dose lowers the cost to just $2.53, a savings of 62% -- or more than $1,500 annually. Given that many older, uninsured patients have several prescriptions, the annual savings from pill splitting can add up to thousands of dollars. DETROIT CARDIOLOGIST Joseph Rogers regularly counsels patients to split pills, and dispenses the same advice through Rxaminer.com, a Web site offering customized reports telling patients how to lower drug costs. "In the United States, about $800 million worth of Viagra was sold last year," says Dr. Rogers. "If everybody split their pill, that would save $400 million. That's not going to solve the whole problem of drug pricing, but it's a nice first step." A typical 50-milligram dose of Pfizer's Viagra costs $8.20, the same as a 100-milligram pill. Splitting the larger pill lowers the price to just $4.10 a dose. But splitting pills as a way to lower drug costs is controversial. Some pills -- such as capsules or extended-release tablets -- can't be cut in half. If an extended-release pill is cut, for instance, the slow-release mechanism is ruined and the patient may not get any medication, or may end up getting the entire dose at once. Even Dr. Rogers advises that certain drugs for serious conditions, such as those that prevent seizures or regulate heart rhythm, shouldn't be split. Some pharmaceuticals executives say it's dangerous to suggest pill-splitting as an option for saving money, because consumers may become confused and end up splitting the wrong pills. "Once you establish a precedent that medicine can be split, people might make the mistake of splitting one that can't," says Mark Horn, a physician and director of medical alliances for Pfizer. "Sooner or later someone will get into trouble." But it's the way pharmaceutical firms manufacture and price their drugs that makes pill-splitting possible. Many pills are "scored" -- manufactured with an indented line down the middle -- for the sole purpose of allowing them to be cut in half. Drug firms score pills to give doctors flexibility to adjust a patient's dosage. In addition, pharmacies can't stock dozens of different dose sizes, so drug firms make pills in a few standard doses with score lines so they can be split if necessary. Pill making is also a complex and expensive process, and it's cheaper for drug companies to score pills than to manufacturer a variety of doses. Finally, many drugs are flat priced -- meaning they cost the same whether the dose is 50 milligrams or 100 milligrams. Drug firms do this because they want patients to get the most effective dose, and they don't want cost to be a factor when doctors are deciding how much of a drug to prescribe. THE RESULT IS a pricing loophole that gives patients a chance to dramatically cut their drug costs. Last year, 80-year-old Marion Budny of Grosse Ile, Mich., spent $2,400 on seven prescription drugs. On the advice of Dr. Rogers, she will now split larger doses of the drugs Lipitor, Cozaar and Norvasc for an annual savings of about $700 off the national retail price. "Anything I can save will be a big help," she says. Not every drug is flat-priced; some drugs do cost more in a larger dose. But even then, patients usually can save money by splitting the pills. For example, Merck's arthritis drug Vioxx costs $2.38 for a 25-milligram dose and $3.44 for a 50-milligram dose. Splitting the larger pill saves 28%, or about $240 a year. Only a doctor can prescribe a larger-dose pill, so patients must discuss pill-splitting with a physician. To split pills evenly and safely, Dr. Rogers suggests using a pill-splitting tool, rather than a knife. Mrs. Budny paid $2.39 for a plastic pill-splitter at her local drugstore. Although some patients may worry that splitting pills will result in an uneven cut and a dose that is slightly high or low, Dr. Rogers says those variations rarely matter. "There's a lot of room to play with," Dr. Rogers says. "The drug companies all say this is very specific, but there's a little less science involved than what everybody is led to believe." E-mail comments to healthjournal@wsj.com LANCE ARMSTRONG For those of you who are bicyclists... Throughout the Tour de France,a Colombian rider on the Kelme - Costa Blanca Team, Santiago Botero, has been keeping a diary for the newspaper. Each day the newspaper publishes his diary from the previous day. Here is one of those entries: "There I am all alone with my bike. I know of only two riders ahead of me as I near the end of the second climb on what most riders consider the third worst mountain stage in the Tour. I say 'most riders' because I do not fear mountains. After all, our country is nothing but mountains. I train year round in the mountains. I am the national champion from a country that is nothing but mountains. I trail only my teammate, Fernando Escartin, and a Swiss rider. Pantani, one of my rival climbers, and the Gringo Armstrong are in the Peleton about five minutes behind me. I am climbing on such a steep portion of the mountain that if I were to stop pedaling, I will fall backward. Even for a world class climber, this is a painful and slow process. I am in my upright position pedaling at a steady pace willing myself to finish this climb so I can conserve my energy for the final climb of the day. The Kelme team leader radios to me that the Gringo has left the Peleton by himself and that they can no longer see him. I recall thinking 'the Gringo cannot catch me by himself'. A short while later, I hear the gears on another bicycle. Within seconds, the Gringo is next to me - riding in the seated position, smiling at me. He was only next to me for a few seconds and he said nothing - he only smiled and then proceeded up the mountain as if he were pedaling downhill. For the next several minutes, I could only think of one thing - his smile. His smile told me everything. I kept thinking that surely he is in as much agony as me, perhaps he was standing and struggling up the mountain as I was and he only sat down to pass me and discourage me. He has to be playing games with me. Not possible. The truth is that his smile said everything that his lips did not. His smile said to me, 'I was training while you were sleeping, Santiago'. It also said, 'I won this tour four months ago, while you were deciding what bike frame to use in the Tour. I trained harder than you did, Santiago. I don't know if I am better than you, but I have outworked you and right now, you cannot do anything about it. Enjoy your ride, Santiago. See you in Paris.' Obviously, the Gringo did not state any of this. But his smile did dispel a bad rumor among the riders on the tour. The rumor that surfaced as we began the Prologue several days ago told us that the Gringo had gotten soft. His wife had given birth to his first child and he had won the most difficult race in the world - He had no desire to race, to win. I imagine that his smile turned to laughter once he was far enough not to embarrass me. The Gringo has class, but he heard the rumors - he probably laugh all the way to Paris. He is a great champion and I must train harder. I am not content to be a great climber, I want to be the best. I learned much from the Gringo in the mountains. I will never forget the helpless feeling I had yesterday. If I ever become an international champion, I will always remember the lesson the Gringo taught me." WHAT'S NEW 8/2/01: Jim Fortune 63 update, Carolyn Rodriquez 84 update, Richard Larson 62, Guy Blair 70 update, Dave Morgan 61, Lindsay Wansbury 66, Karen Pearce 88 update, David Bess 78 update, Dixie Mitchell 88 update, Tami Miller 96, Leon Armstrong 66 update 7/29/01: Elisa Brown 95 update, Tom Coulam 95 update, Tess Robichaud 75 7/28/01: Charles Rogers 95/96 update, Mike Johnson 73, Melanie Johnson 76, Baron Chapman 75, Baron Chapman Jr 02, James Jackson 95, John Jackson 95, Nichole Lewis 88, Tracy Lewis 85, Craig Douglass 66, Carol Fuchs 62 update classmates.com: Bill Thompson 63, Carol Jones 66, Patricia Melin 66, Debbi Hatten 67, Sue Mikkelsen 68, Pamela Phelps 68, P Van Der Gott 68, DAvid Deponty 71, Louis Montalbo 72, Jim West 75, Shellie Lucas 75, Melinda Larkin 76, Monty Pellegrini 76, Dana Peckman 76, Cathy Cohen 77, Randall King 77, Jenny Petersen 78, Giti Afshar 80, Tracy Clark 84, William Mullen 84, Beth Robey 85, Lawanna Fender 86, Andrea Hum 87, Matthew Bullock 87, Allan Berry 88, Marc Terrazas 88, Gloria Mestas 89, Carrie Williams 89, Teresa Hahn 90, Samia Saeed 90, Penelope Webb 92, Dameon Andrews 95, Sam Edison 96, Claudia Galindo 98, Igor Tsymbal 00, Sissy Sexton 00, Amy Davis 02 Don't forget to submit your contact information or bio: contact: www.encinahighschool.com/directory/submit_contact.htm bio: www.encinahighschool.com/submit_bio.htm Harlan Lau '73 Encina webmaster www.encinahighschool.com harlan@rambus.com