"Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it....
Success is shy - it won't come out while you're watching."  
~~Tennessee Williams

Hi all,

So our anniversary is July 19 and I planned to send the newsletter celebrating it today since it's Sunday and I usually send JABB on Sundays.  However... I decided I wanted to send it on our actual anniversary so instead you get this sort of pre-newsletter.  It's probably for the best as now you have a few days to fit in shopping if you actually decide to try some of these ideas out.  ;-)

If you're reading this and would like to send something for the anniversary newsletter (maybe a reflection on your own time with JABB), please have it to me on July 18.  Thanks!

I'll be in touch soon! 

God bless,
Jenni

Top Fourteen Ways to Celebrate JABB's 14th Anniversary

14.  When JABB began, we were anxiously awaiting the premiere of TBAA's Season 5.  So what better way to celebrate the anniversary than making preparations to (finally!) enjoy the Season 5 DVDs!  I am so scoping out the ads on the Sunday before!

13.  Make yourself a drool bucket!  True, as JABB has aged we don't tend to focus on that particularly goofy subset of John Dye-related humor.  But as it is our logo it only seems fitting to celebrate our big day by creating one.  Just... if you use it for the designated purpose... please don't tell me.  That's kinda gross.  ;-)

12.  Various characters on TBAA bestowed nicknames on Andrew and through out JABB's time, we've heaped on tons more.  So have a little one-person game trying to see how many of Andrew's nicknames you can come up with!

11.  Celebrate Andrew-style!  Get yourself a red velvet cake and enjoy!  I've been asked before what the origins are of Andrew's favorite cake being red velvet.  No, it's no where in TBAA.  That lil tidbit came straight from JABB.  I don't entirely remember the origins but I believe at one point I needed to work in his favorite cake and I'd recently watched Steel Magnolias.  Due to the groom's cake in that film, I started to associate red velvet with the South.  So I think I threw in the red velvet fixation of Andrew's as a nod to John's heritage.  Or maybe I was just craving it.  ;-)

10. Where would JABB be without technology?  Probably just a few jotted notes in a spiral notebook jammed into my filing cabinet.  So in honor of the technology that's got us this far, spend a few moments thinking back on your technological state in 1998.  Remember the AOL dial-up tone?  IRC chats?  Floppy disks, anyone?  Did you wait for twenty minutes to get the TBAA theme song to load when you found it on a web site?  Now we have wireless, flash drives, and high speed connections.  We've come a long way!

9.  Drink lots of caffeine!  Trust me, JABB would not exist without caffeine so what better way to toast its continued existence?

8.  Go study the JABB Encyclopedia.  You never know when JABB trivia just might come in handy...

7.  Go read old JABB newsletters and bask in the cringe-inducing awkwardness of some of them.  Okay, so maybe they're only awkward for me...  But... eeek!!!

6.  Figure out your top fourteen favorite John Dye projects/episodes and watch them all.  Feel free to call in sick to work.  I'll send your boss a note.  I just can't promise they will accept it.  ;-)

5.  Take out a "Happy Anniversary, JABB!!!" billboard and see how many people you can really, really confuse.

4.  Get JABB some chocolates and champagne or ginger ale.  Then realize JABB is not a person and thus cannot enjoy the treats.  Consume them yourself. 

3.  Pretend you're in Dyeland and flounce around for the day in a princess dress.  Bonus points if you go out in public and photograph yourself in such a state. 

2.  Well, I'd say go buy yourself something in the vein of the traditional 14th anniversary gifts but apparently that would mean buying ivory which makes me just a lil bit nervous.  (I rather prefer that tusks remain on elephants.)  So the suggested alternative is gold.  Holy cow...  Pricey.  So I guess just spend this day being glad you're not actually married to JABB and, thus, do not have to buy it jewelry.  Or hey... just go watch your favorite TBAA episode showing off Andrew's lovely golden hair and one of his immaculate ivory suits and call it good.

1.  You wouldn't be a member of JABB if not for your admiration for John.  So go back and, if you can, revisit the very first thing that made you love him.  Maybe it was seeing him do his turkey impersonation (imturkeyation?) on Tour of Duty.  Maybe you fell head over heels the moment he hopped off that log in "The One that Got Away."  Maybe you still think Todd is the coolest guy ever.  Whatever it was... go back.  And be happy.  Even with all that has happened, he can still make us smile.



As I think back on these 14 years, a lot of goofy memories pop into my mind.  Some of them are entirely too embarrassing!  But some... well, some are sweet to think back on.  So... I'd like to dedicate this newsletter to John for making my high school locker utterly and completely handsome.  Seeing his beautiful face plastered onto that horrid olive green metal took a little of the sting out of having to grab my Geometry book.  So to John...  36, 10, 16 and hullo Mr. Studly Awesomeness!  To everyone else... is it weird that I still remember the combination?

JABB TOC

JABB 360

(The photographs used on this page are from Touched by an Angel and owned by: CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions; Tour of Duty and owned by: New World Television; and Campus Man and owned by: RKO Pictures.  They are not being used to seek profit.)