MEETING OF FEBRUARY 8, 2001 By Steve Gruber
Nearly a hundred Rotarians and others celebrated Valentine's Day on Thursday night with a 10-course dinner that included roast pig, snake soup, and the largest prawns this side of Louisiana. Our host, LARRY CHU, launched the festivities with a scholarly explanation of the Year of the Snake, including the Golden Year of the Snake for those who were born in 1941.
Speaking of speaking, we also held another meeting today at noon, and BOO BUE filled in for a guest speaker who cancelled out. Touching Lives was the theme of BOO's talk, who started with his early football career and progressed to the future with the concept that you can make a difference in someone's life. BOO said his life was touched by his football coach when he was 13, and he cited many other examples of how anyone's life can be improved with positive influences from others.
We had a Board of Directors election today, and the new directors, starting in July, are: SETH MANNING, PAT MILLAR, and MIKE SCHNEIDER. They will serve two-year terms.
FIROOZ GHAFFARI urged all members to attend the District Conference in Oakland in April Call FIROOZ if you would like to go.
MARLENE COWAN introduced David Sloss, the director of the West Bay Opera, and Emma Fuentes, who sang from Tartuffe, which will be performed from Feb. 16 in Palo Alto. Phone for info at 424-9999. According to John Sines, Emma packs more decibels per pound than anyone on earth.
Monday is the day for the strategy conference, which will be held at El Retiro. Call PRESIDENT GINNY if you want to sign up.
BRIAN WARD gave his five-minute red badge talk and told us about his opthamology practice, in which he specializes in eye surgery. He agreed to join Rotary after working out a lease with BEN MCGANN. Although copies of the lease were not handed out, it sounded as though joining Rotary was part of the deal. Such a deal, and BRIAN got a good landlord as part of the bargain.
AND IN OTHER NEWS: BILLY RUSSELL came home from the hospital on Friday and we hope he will be back with us soon . . . It's strange what you can learn from a Rotary dinner: I was at the same table as MARGE AND MIKE BRUNO, and the topic got around to Survivor, the TV show. The usual reaction in this cultured community is "I don't watch it," but the Brunos not only admit to watching it, they were taping it to watch later . . . But - even better - the former mayor and former First Man also watch Temptation Island . . . I am not making any of this up, and I also watch both shows . . . Partners now has an e-mail address, partners@losaltosrotary.org so you can volunteer for all of their jobs without leaving your computer . . . The club website has a new hosting service, and we are getting better statistics that show the interest that artists have in the website. This year artists are looking at three pages that tell them how to sign up for the art show, who the other artists are, and also allows them to print out an application. When May rolls around, most of the visitors will be potential customers, looking for the pictures of the art that will be sold at the show. Visitors also can get directions to the art show and view pictures of previous shows. Last year we had 3,500 visitors to the website during the 10 days prior to the art show, and we hope that number will increase this year. If someone needs information about the art show, please tell them that all the details are on the website at www.losaltosrotary.org.
President's Message "Service above Self." Boo Bue's appearance this week as our guest speaker was the perfect example of his subject, "How others have affected and improved my life." As program chair, Firooz is one of those whose life was affected and improved by Boo on Thursday. Truly, it was a fine topic, and one to which we can all relate. Thank you, Boo. Vikings rule!
Our Valentine's Chinese dinner was a great success. It is such a cordial evening, and Chef Lawrence Chu presented his finest New Year's Feast. Ten courses, all new. Those attending, and born in the year of the Golden Snake, 1941, received a special bottle of wine from Chef Chu, to celebrate. Steve Anderson, Will Corkern, Sam Harding, and Mel Kahn, collected. (Seth, you should have been there.)
Congratulations to our three new Board members, and thank you to all who stood for election.
An update from our Club Information Officer, Steve Gruber. Steve is doing an exceptional job as our club webmaster. The art show budget pays for this site, as it is of enormous benefit to the show, used by the artists and visitors alike. Partners for New Generations has also updated their information there. Please check our site at www.losaltosrotary.org.
Steve recommends that we need to increase the number of links to the website from other websites. This is important for two reasons:
1. More visitors will find our website.
2. Search engines rate a website based on how many links it has coming into the website. The higher we are placed on Alta Vista, MSN, or Google, the better the chance that someone will find us. Only about 10 percent of our visitors are coming to us now from search engines.One way to increase the number of links is to have members of Los Altos Rotary Club include a link to the Rotary website from their own web pages.
I would like to encourage Rotarians to help the art show by adding links to their pages. If needed, Steve is available at no charge to help you make the changes to your websites. For an example of this, please check Steve Gruber's website at www.ca-trusts.com/links.html
Note: If any spouses have separate email addresses and would like to have a copy of the Rotator sent to them, that is no problem. Simply email Steve Gruber and let him know.
Hope to see you at our Strategic Planning Session on Monday night.
Or, I'll see you Thursday,
GinnyPrograms
February
Feb. 15 - Suzanne Kushner - Successful Brand Management - Moving Toward a Customer-Concentric Focus
Feb. 22 - Professor Karen Fox, "Russia Today"
Feb. 27 - RAP Strategic Planning Session, Hillview, Room A, 7-9 p.m.March
March 1- Susanne Pari, author - Religion and Politics: How Do They Mix?
March 8 - Marlene Cowan, The Donner Party
March 15 - Elkus Youth Ranch
March 22 - John Giovanola, Hansen Cement Mfg.
March 29 – Honoring LAREF Recipients
March 30 - Rotary Cioppino Night Dinner at Garden HouseApril
April 5 - Ted Lempert - EdVoice
April 6-8 - District Conference, Oakland
April 12 - Congresswoman Anna Eshoo
April 19 – Iwao Peter Sano – "1000 Days in Siberia"
April 26 – Partners For New Generations Day
April 27 - Rotary Social Golf Day and BBQ/Poker NightMay
May 3 - Ron Blatman - Cities That Live, Cities That Die
May 17 – Chuck Bull, RI Faces the Population Dilemma
May 19-20 -26th Annual Rotary Fine Art in the Park
May 31 – LARC Scholarship Awards DayJune
June 7 – Art Show Appreciation Day
June 14 – LAREF Annual Meeting
June 21 – Bob Hoffman, Cleaned up Mt. Everest
June 28 – Ginny's Kick-out, part 1
June 29 - LARC Kick-out, Dinner/Dance, Fremont Hills Country Club"Information in this newsletter is intended for the exclusive use of the members of the Rotary Club of Los Altos to facilitate the work of the club and to promote club fellowship. It is not to be used for any commercial or outside, unrelated, non-profit purposes. No publication of material in this newsletter should occur without the express permission of the club President or the Editor of the Rotator."
Copyright 2001 The Los Altos Rotary Club
Home Art Show Partners for New Generations Contact Us Links