MEETING OF JULY 24, 2003 Rotator Writer: Matt Cabot
ANNOUNCEMENTS - President Al has instituted a new procedure to facilitate the flow of the business portion of the meeting. He is having those with announcements to form a queue in front of the buffet table. HERB MARSHALL will be there with a microphone, for us audially (how do you make an adverb out of audio?) challenged members. You should also have a copy of what you said to give to the Rotator writer so if it is important, it gets into the Rotator.
JERRY TOMANEK announced the final results of the Chef Chu’s Chicken Salad sales at the Los Altos Art and Wine Festival. (Note: these are revised based upon LARRY CHU’S announcement later in the meeting. See below) Gross Revenue was $5,600, booth fees were $550, leaving a gross-before-food expenses of $5050. Split 50/50 with Chef Chu’s the net to the club was $2,525.
HEARING IS KNOWING: President Al, in an attempt to emphasize classifications, has asked that when you introduce your guests, please start with your name, and your classification, followed by your guest’s name, and his or her occupation. Have your guest stand while you introduce them. Also, for us audially challenged, (and I am not alone) please wait for the mike.
LIKE TIMEX, THEY KEEP ON GIVING - WYATT ALLAN, treasurer of the Rotary Foundation, and the person-next-to-me, recognized four individuals for their continued financial contributions to the Rotary Foundation:
· MONA ARMISTEAD, 1 Sapphire
· GEORGE DAI, 1 Sapphire
· ELLEN YAMANE , 3 Sapphires
· DICK HENNING, 1 Ruby
They all received a well deserved standing ovation. More information on what these jewels mean, you can look at http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/downloadcenter/pdfs/123en.pdf
SHOW ME THE MONEY Fine Master for the Day, BAIDRA MURPHY first hit on Larry Chu Jr., for $20. The reason this was so egregious was because not only was Larry Jr. Fine Master last week, (professional courtesy, Baidra?) he had just announced that his dad wanted to go back the to old way of calculating cost and profit on the Chicken Salad sales from the Art Show. Originally JERRY TOMANAK had announced a $1,950 profit from the sales, taking into account a $3,100 food cost. But Larry Sr. said, split the gross profit (after booth costs),which netted an ADDITIONAL $575 to the club (and directly out of Larry(s) pocket). So that meeting cost the Chus collectively, almost $600. The problem of course, BAIDRA, is that Larry Jr. will be Fine Master again next month, so keep your wallet handy.
There were other fines, er “recognitions”. One of which was “Mr. Mike” HERB MARSHALL who paid $1 for every year of his age. You know, HERB, there a number of us who can not afford to do donate a dollar for every year that we have roamed the earth. Herb should have been charged a “youth tax.”
“MOM” (MARY PROCHNOW) also got fined for BAIDRA’s birthday. It seems to me Mary did all the work. But then Mary did skate free for a whole year, being President last year and exempt. Baidra’s excuse was she couldn’t fine herself. You should have waited, Larry Chu Jr. will correct that little oversight.
Several members had their “children” graduate from on-the-dole to off-the-dole, and willingly paid handsomely for that distinction.
Baidra also fined DICK HENNING for exposing her to the value of a good flash. Make whatever you want with that. But Dick paid.
Past President FIROOZ GHAFFARI, who gets no respect now that he has been out of office for two years, had to pay $5 to tell the club that the proofs for the Handbook were done, and they are going to press with the Handbook as it is. He compounded the problem by not having the $5, and tried to give an IOU. Baidra doubled it to $10. Boy, she’s tough.
PAT FARRELL , BELLA BERLLY and KAILAS CHIDABARAM all paid for their anniversaries.
SPEAKER OF THE DAY On of the great things about Los Altos Rotary Club is the quality of programs that are presented, week after week. Our speaker today, Leigh Weimers and fellow Rotarian of the San Jose Rotary Club, certainly is an excellent example of that. “Mr. Introducer,” DICK HENNING, spent five minutes extolling the
virtues of Mr. Weimers. I was, as usual, impressed by Dick’s grasp of the speaker’s biography. That is, until I realized he was just reading it from the feature article in the July issue of The San Jose Magazine. Eventually, he did tell us he was quoting from it, but not until I had furiously taken a half page of, illegible I might add, notes. For those who are interested, here is a link to the article mentioned: http://www.sanjosemagazine.com/features/featureA/index.htm So now you stop calling me Jason Blair.
Leigh Weimers is “the valley’s most read columnist.” If you read the article, you will find out 50 things you probably didn’t know about Leigh, like (a couple mentioned by Dick), he doesn’t have a rump; cooks a mean kung pao chicken, (no relationship) but later attributed that to Larry Chu SR’s cookbook; wanted to be a professional basketball player, but had the “white man’s disease: couldn’t jump”.
Leigh gave us some insight, on how he became a columnist. Starting as a sports reporter in high school in Napa some 50 years ago, then becoming editor of the San Jose State Spartan which lead to becoming the Sports editor at the San Francisco Call Bulletin. Remember, that was the pink tabloid format paper in San Francisco?
I got the feeling he was involved in reporting sports because he got into all of the major sporting events free with his press pass. It is amazing how little decisions, over the years translate into a career, and a lifetime of accomplishments.
Leigh was drafted into the Army in 1958 around the time that Elvis (for you youngsters, that was Mick Jagger’s younger brother). Elvis became a tank operator in the 3rd Armored Division and Leigh became a writer for the Stars and Stripes in the 4th Armored Division. Both were stationed in Germany. Their military careers parallel pretty much parted ways at that point. Both ended their military career, Elvis became a star again, drank, abused himself with whatever, and well you know (most of you do) know what happened to him.
Leigh on the other hand, went back to the Mercury News, became a world famous columnist, and as they say, the rest is history.
He gave an interesting insight into the changes in the news publishing business, with the smoke filled, typewriter clacking bustling city room transforming into the quite word processor driven, Hermon Miller partitioned office of today.
If I get this part wrong, he is going to kill me, but I thought he said that he felt living in the Silicone Valley is akin to living in the age of the Italian Renaissance. “Renaissance, French for "rebirth," perfectly describes the intellectual and economic changes that occurred in Europe from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries.” This quote taken from http://www.learner.org/exhibits/renaissance/ where you can get a sense of what Mr. Weimers was expressing. Imagine going to the local village market and watching Donatello, or Bellini, or Botticelli discussing their latest commissioned painting, or Leonardo da Vinci talking about his helicopter.
Of course today it is Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, John Warnock, Gene Amdahl, Jerry Sanders, Gordon Moore, and Larry Ellison, well maybe not Larry, sitting across from us at Starbucks, or walking the halls of SRI, Stanford Research Park or Palo Alto Research Center.
Mr. Weimers ended up with a quote from Walter Lipman. It was too long to write down, so I will give you one of Lipman’s shorter quotes: “If we all think alike, then none of us thinks very much.”
Programs and Events
August
August 7: Design Response
August 14: Audrey Rust- Peninsula Open Space Preserve
August 16: Rotary Day at the A's - 1:05 p.m., A's and Toronto, $12 per ticket
August 21: To be announced
August 22: Fellowship Night
August 28: Martha Kanter, Chancellor of Foothill-DeAnza DistrictSeptember
Sept. 4: To be announced
Sept. 11: Cindy Wilber, Stanford University- Proyecto Itzaes
Sept. 19: Fellowship Night
Sept. 27: Wine Tasting Tour at Byington WineryOctober
Oct. 24: Fellowship Night
NovemberNov. 21: Fellowship Night
DecemberDec. 17: Holiday Party, Jesuit Retreat House
JanuaryJan. 16: Fellowship Night
Jan. 31: Progressive DinnerFebruary
Feb. 20: Fellowship Night
Feb. 27: Cioppino Feed, Garden House
March
March 26: Fellowship Night
April
April 7: Celebrate Spring at Chef Chu's
May
May 7: Golf Tournament
May 21: Fellowship NightJune
June 25: Kickout Dinner
OTHER ROTARY CLUB MEETING PLACES
On-line Meeting: www.rotaryeclubone.org
MONDAY
Palo Alto: Rickey's Hyatt House, 12:15 p.m.
TUESDAY
Los Altos Sunset: The Echo Restaurant, Los Altos, 7:15 p.m.
Sunnyvale: Ramada Inn, 12:15 p.m.
Mountain View: Adobe House, Moffett & Central, Mountain View, 12:15 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Menlo Park: Menlo Park Recreation Center, Menlo Park, noon.
Woodside/Portola: Woodside Village Church, Woodside, 7:30 a.m.
Sunnyvale Sunrise: Wild Woodys Grill, Sunken Gardens Golf Course, 7 a.m.
Cupertino: Quinlan Community Center, 12:15 p.m.
East Palo Alto Bayshore: Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, 2031 Pulgas Avenue, East Palo Alto, 12:15 p.m.
FRIDAY
Palo Alto University: Sheraton, El Camino, Palo Alto, 7:30 a.m.
"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 2003 The Los Altos Rotary Club
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