MEETING OF JULY 22, 2004
By Matt Cabot
Editor: Dick Blanding
As the clock struck 12:30, President Cindy brought the meeting to order. The pledge was lead by visiting Rotarian, University Club of Palo Alto President, Don MacKenzie. He is also Area 10 past Assistant Governor.
SETH MANNING, led us in a song, not “She’ll be coming around the Mountain”, but rather “She’ll be sailing along, on Moonlight Bay” or something like that.
KELLY - the Bike Lady - HUDSON gave us a nice thought for the day, saying that she came across it when she was looking for something appropriate to give to the guy who gave her a bike, and a challenge. It was based upon Ecclesiastes 11:1. which says “Cast you bread on the waters for you will find it after many days.” Google finds 180,000 references to that collection of words on the net, but after I read a few of them, (to be sure that I had the right reference,) I found Kelly’s explanation the best. Do a good deed, expect nothing in return, and you will be amazed in the results, to paraphrase her.
You know the story of a ‘for the want of a nail, a kingdom was lost”? Well the obverse is also true: for the gift of a bike, $70,000 was raised. Good going Kelly.
THANK YOU VISITING ROTARIANS AND GUESTS - We had so many visiting Rotarians and guests I could hardly keep track of them all. We had a contingent from Palo Alto University Club, (6 I think), and several individual visiting Rotarians, one from as far away as Switzerland. We also had a slew of guests. These of course are thanks to our members who brought them. Friends, neighbors, and business associates, all interested in why we (arguably) are the best Rotary Club around.
PASSWORD – PASSWORD WHO HAS YOUR PASSWORD? Remember Groucho Marks’ “Today’s Secret Word is “ and the duck would bounce down and Groucho would say something like “Dinner plate” Well I am willing to bet that there are a whole bunch of you that have no idea who I am talking about. But come August 19th, you will need to know your dinner plate, er … I mean you will need to know your secret word, no, I mean you will need to know your Password.
Because if you don’t, you will be sitting in class, in front of a blank monitor, with your hand raised, asking the teacher, “Teacher, what’s my password?” Sort of like when I was in school, except it wasn’t my password, it was, “What chapter are we on?”
Email JOHN CARDOZA to get yours. You WILL NEED IT at our August 19th meeting where our STEVE GRUBER, will present Rotary on the Web, at Foothill College’s Krause Center for Innovation (not at Garden House). If you come to the Garden House on the 19th, you probably won’t be alone, but you won’t, no matter how many of you there are, will not get credit for the meeting, because the rest of us, hopefully the majority, will be at Foothill College. Allow a few extra minutes for going to the wrong place, and then finding a parking place, and then finding the Computer Center.
REVISIT THE CHEESE After last week's article on the strength of California Cheese, no pun intended, President Cindy will head to Wisconsin to reaffirm her roots. She will be gone two weeks. Past Presidents ROY LAVE and STEVE ANDERSON will stand in for Cindy.
President Cindy also mentioned that the club passed the budget (on time – unlike our … representatives). I wonder if we should start a grass roots petition that says that the legislature does not receive a salary (not just withheld, but forfeited) during the time the budget is late. I’ll bet that would end the acrimony.
But on to our fine board’s actions. The board also approved an honorary membership into the club for Cindy’s husband, David Luedtke. Dave was welcomed into the club with a Standing Ovation. Congratulations, David.
President Cindy also notified the club that the board accepted Harriet Heebink’s resignation from the club, noting an ailing back that has prevented her from really enjoying the meetings. I am sure we will see Harriet around, at the Los Altos Library, for example, continuing here dedication to Service Above Self.
POKER ANYONE? Redbadger, TOM LISTON has set up a Poker Night for September 17th. Buy in is $50. Play until you are out of money, or until you win it all. There will probably be a signup sheet coming around. All proceeds, less expenses go to charity.
WANT TO TRAVEL? SAM PESNER offered a great trip in November. District 5170 is
having a 25th anniversary trip to Chile to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Coaniquem Burn Center. Check this site out to learn more about the center. http://www.rotary5170.org/ave_int/coaniquem-tour.asp . Check our district website to learn about the trip itself: http://www.rotary5170.org/foundation/default.asp From there, you can get more information about the trip and download a copy of the travel brochure.
FIVE MINUTE TALK MARGE SENTOUS introduced herself to us today. She was born in Maryland and oldest of 12 children. They lived on a farm, where they grew most of what they needed. She said in retrospect, they farm chores seem pretty easy now, looking back on them. This is just the opposite of the “I walked 5 miles to school each day … uphill both ways.”
She said they played a lot of baseball. They had their own team. Her parents still have not gotten on an airplane, or seen a movie, but they have just recently joined the 20th century (we are in the 21st Century now) by buying a phone answering machine.
For her 18th birthday, she asked for and received from her boyfriend a suitcase. Boy, I am not going to touch that. She had a number of jobs, and then began a family. When she was 31, and dragging along two young children, she went to college. In 1984, she graduated from Santa Clara University.
Her company is Sentous and Associates, a management consulting company here in Los Altos.
FINEMASTER LARRY CHU JR got short changed today when BOO BUE took up most of his time pointing out that making up was quite easy. Actually it was a PSA disguised as a fine,. Boo paid $20 to remind us that makeups are easy AND important. Not only for the statistic of attendance (we are about mid way in the district – not a boastful place for our #1 club reputation), but more importantly for the bridges you build by meeting other Rotarians and enjoying their fellowship. Larry did get STEVE ANDERSON and TRACIE MURRAY before getting the hook from President Cindy.
By the way, in an effort to dispel the “You shouldn’t take coals to Newcastle” theory, BILLY RUSSELL gave President Cindy a wheel of California Cheese to take to Wisconsin on her vacation.
TODAY’S PROGRAM addressed one of the ways we can support the theme for the
Rotary year, 2004 – 2005: Celebrate Rotary. Our speaker today was Sam Bishop of the Santa Cruz Rotary Club. He spoke about Rotary Recreational and Vocational Fellowships, and specifically about the Flying Rotarians.
He said that there were about 75 Recreational and Vocational fellowships, ranging from Recreational Amateur Radio to Yoga, and from Accountants to Veterinary Science in the Vocational area. He said it was a great way to meet fellow Rotarians who hold similar interests, and to have some fun on the Recreational side, and share business and professional information on the Vocational side.
As an example he took us through a typical ‘flyaway’ that the Recreational Flying fellowship conducted before the Annual Convention in Australia. His slide presentation of the PBY Catalina flying boat and other aircraft was great fun to watch. He spoke of their return flight in a different airplane across the ocean from Australia, New Caledonia American Samoa, Christmas Island, Hilo Hawaii and into San Jose.
I guess what I didn’t understand, was why did they not use the flying boat over all that ocean? At least if you went down, you’d have some chance to float for a while.
Webmaster's Notes:
On August 19, our weekly meeting will not be at Shoup Park, but at Foothill College. We will have an opportunity to view and use the new internet and computer classrooms that are part of the Krause Center. The room that we will be in allows us to view internet pages as you would see them on your computer. We will not be using CDs, tapes, or television to illustrate this talk because we can put The Real Thing up on the screen for you to see.Although this meeting as described as "computer training" during a recent announcement, you should not expect to be trained in internet procedures when you leave the meeting. My goal is to show the membership how Rotary uses the internet, starting with Clubmate, and continuing through the RI website, the District website, and, of course, our own award winning website. We will also talk about computer viruses and how to avoid them. But this is not a program for internet novices. We will also show you who visits our website, and who opens the emails that are sent out each week for the Rotator. If you want to know more about any of these subjects, you can use individual computers after the meeting to further explore the internet. There will be no classes in session that day, so we will have access to every laptop in Krause Center.
Even if you are not interested in the internet, you should see Krause Center. It is proof that Foothill is educating students for the twenty-first century.
Programs and Events
Note: Meetings of the board of directors are held at the Bank of Los Altos Community Room, 369 S. San Antonio Road
August
August 5 - Firoozeh Dumas: "Funny in Farsi"
August 11 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.August 12 - Elizabeth Edgerly, Ph.D. - Memory Loss/Alzheimer's Association
August 19 - Steve Gruber, Rotary on the Web, at Foothill College’s Krause Center for Innovation (not at Garden House)
August 26 - Ron Sekkel, District Governor’s Visit
September
Sept. 2 - Richard Walker, Expanding Market in China
Sept. 8 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.Sept. 9 -
Sept. 16 - Mary Alice Rathbun, RotaPlast
Sept. 23 - Larry Rinsky, Operation Rainbow
Sept. 30 - David Sloss, West Bay Opera in our Community
October
Oct. 13 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
November
Nov. 10 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
December
Dec. 8 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
January
Jan. 12 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
February
Feb. 9 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
March
Mar. 9 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
April
Apr. 13 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
May
May 11 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
May 14 and 15: Rotary Fine Art Show, Lincoln Park
June
June 8 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
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: China Shuttle, 22382 Homestead Road, Cupertino, 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 2004 The Los Altos Rotary Club