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[Editor's note:  Normally we want to publish the Rotator to our members by Monday, following the Thursday meeting.  In order to do that, the writer needs to deliver the written Rotator to the Editor by Saturday following the meeting.  The photographer needs to send his/her pictures to the Publisher by Sunday, and the Editor needs to send the edited Rotator to the publisher by Sunday at noon. 

Then the Publisher has a whole day to publish the Rotator by noon on Monday.  Everything seemed to work fine.  Everyone was on schedule.  But the editor (me) and the publisher (me again) had some major computer problems.  I was unable to fix the problem until today, Thursday - after the meeting).  At least I think it is fixed. 

Apparently the video card was loose, causing the system to freeze.  I reset the video card, and it seems to be working now, to wit you now have a Rotator for LAST Thursday. 

But it did point out a problem that I need to work on: No backup facility for the Rotator.  I have multiple computers here, but only one with the Rotary files on it, so I will begin duplicating the effort on multiple computers, thereby solving the problem if it in fact is not a bad video card, but something more sinister.  Sorry about that.  Matt Cabot]  Now, onto Cindy's fine Rotator for last week:

Past President,     MARY PROCHNOW opened the meeting by asking JEAN FRAGUGLIA to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.   PAUL NYBERG   began what turned out as a series of lessons for the day with his advice of “filling your lungs, drinking in the sunshine, and greeting everyone you see with a smile”. 

Poobah-in-Waiting, SAM PESNER, welcomed visiting Rotarians and guests.  It was good to see one of our recent past members, BRENDA FORSTALL, making at official make-up for her club in South Placer.  Other guests included Nancy Simon of Diversified Capital, guest of CINDY WEMYSS, and JOHN DUDECK, guest of JERRY MOISON.   

Next week’s speaker will be Judge Len Edwards.  Judge Edwards has been to our club in past years and is always a welcomed and inspiring speaker.

ENVELOPES, PLEASE
P.E.  Sam came to realize that he was not the first double sustainer for the Rotary Foundation this year as he initially thought when he handed his Rotary Foundation return envelope the prior week.  It was indeed KAREN FOX, who beat him to the punch.  Well, since the rest of us can no longer be first, it would be a good idea not to be the last to send your envelope with check into Wyatt Allen.  This idea was heavily supported by   SAM “HAGGIS” HARDING, this year’s Foundation Chair later in the meeting.

Our conversation time was kept to a short eight minutes.   It’s amazing how much Rotary business can be done during our little chat time.  I don’t know how we ever did without it.  Although there was no common theme of the day to discuss, I am aware there were at least two tables that had brought up Wesley Clarke’s name, and I caught glimpse of a few passing photos of Colin Powell.  I would like to sit next to Dick Henning again next week to learn about crowd control. 

A BEAMING SUCCESS FOR OUR ROTACARE CLINIC
SHOSHANNA ZIMMERMAN expressed a big “Thank You” to all who supported the Asante’ event by volunteering, attending and donating.  Preliminarily, the profit looks to be about $25,000 which will go toward the operational expenses of our local RotaCare Clinic.  Special “Congratulations”, goes to the Los Altos Rotary Committee for Asante’, SHOSHANNA ZIMMERMAN, TRACIE MURRAY, AND JOAN ROSSELLE, who did a fantastic job coordinating efforts with the four other clubs to produce a great event.    

ITS NEVER TOO EARLY TO SIGN UP
SAM PESNER made a pitch for the Rotary International Convention which will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden from June 11^th through June 14^th.  Many Rotarians in the travel industry, including two in our own club, have developed outstanding travel programs to the Convention. 

If you have any questions regarding registration, housing or touring packages, please contact PDG Brad Howard at (510) 834-2260 or see Rotary@HowardTours.net

TIME FOR THE HOLIDAY KICK OFF THE HOLIDAY STROLL
With her Los Altos Village Association hat on, KENDRA GJERSETH, announced the annual Holiday Stroll  will take place this weekend between 5:00-8:00 PM.  Local merchants in the downtown will supply participants with treats, wine and other drinks and food.  [Editor's note: because of the timing of the publication of the Rotator, the event actually took place last weekend, so change the tenses in the above two sentences to past tense.] 

THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS PARADE
DON WITT announced a special event on November 27th for Rotarians to enjoy the Festival of Lights parade together.  Rotarians and their families are invited to gather before the parade at Paul’s Main Street Café and Books beginning at 5:30 PM.

ROTARY HOLIDAY PARTY
Mark your calendars for December 19^th.  This is the night of Rotary’s Holiday Party starting at 6:00 pm at the Jesuit Retreat House.  Food, wine, beer, and a band are all provided for a low cost of $45.00 per person.  Organizer, STEVE GRUBER, urges us to please make and pay for your reservation on or before December 12^th.   

INSPIRATION FROM SARAH SACKS IRVINE
A very special treat for the day was a short presentation given by Sarah Sacks Irvine.    Sarah was an ambassadorial scholar in 2003 and 2004, spending her two years in Oaxaca, Mexico.   She was sponsored by our neighboring District 5150. 

The State of Oaxaca, itself has a population of 3.5MM.  It is one of the poorest states of Mexico. Tourism and Agriculture are the biggest industries.  Major crops include coffee, mango, and pineapple.    The region is famous for its significant archeological sites, its fine pottery and weaving.  The first chocolate is said to come from this area, as well as the famous mole’ sauce, tamales, and, of course, who could forget about mescal.

In the state alone, there are 17 indigenous groups, all with different languages and cultures.  While there, Sarah worked on her Masters at the public university in social sciences.  She taught an English class and assisted in establishing a third Rotary Club in town, this one made up of all women.  She helped form a Rotoract Club at the university.  Sarah volunteered in a number of Rotary projects while in Oaxaca.  She helped in performing eye exams and assisted on three separate surgical teams from Rotoplast.  Sarah assisted in writing two Rotary International matching grants. One provided hearing aids to 200 needy people.  Another was for the purpose of constructing needed cisterns in a poor agricultural area.

Sarah was turned on to the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship through a counselor at UC San Diego where she was attending college.   She urged us to work diligently in making sure the word gets out to the universities about our program so they can make them available to their students. 

SINE’S FINES TIME Next, Acting President, MARY P. introduced “The effervescent and loquacious, JOHN SINES. 

TODAY’S LESSONS IN LIFE John began with a lesson in SERENDIPITY;  Catching Ginny Lear, yet again, disobeying traffic signs.   John wasted no time in moving on to MATT CABOT, who, as a soccer coach, somehow failed to convey the proper moral character to his players.  Mike turned out okay, but MATT paid dearly for the rest of the team. 

LESSONS ON WHERE TO DINE WHEN OUT OF TOWN
JOHN BOGARD has a Son-in-law, Jamie, who is the Chef at “Sestri”, a restaurant voted #1 in Santa Cruz this past year.  “Sestri” is located on the corner of Capitola and 7^th Avenue.   John probably won’t mind knowing that his little promotion motivated the Luedtke family to dine there on Friday night.  The food was outstanding and we had a delightful evening.   But maybe you’re not headed to the beach.  Maybe you’re headed to wine country.  JEAN NEWTON FRAGUGLIA has the solution.  Her son, Chad, is the sous chef at the newest premier restaurant in Yountville, named “Restaurant Redd” after the Richard Reddington, well-known restaurateur.

NECESSARY LESSONS DON WITT joined the Explorer’s Club in honor of it being the 235^th birthday of the Marine Corps. VAL CARPENTER joined the Explorers club without a fuss or mention of her recent victory in winning a City Council Seat.  Congratulations, VAL! PAUL NYBERG edged in just a tad bit too much of a commercial when explaining why the Crier’s circulation statistics bucks the current downward trends of others.

UNNECESSARY LESSONS-Rent Bad Movies Then SINES did an unthinkable thing.  He threw several unsuspecting Rotarians into the “bull ring” to grapple with some tough questions about our current governor.  Namely, movie picks.  VICTOR, “Why Me?” ECHEVARRIA, JEAN HOLLANDS, LARRY CHU, and AL LAMBERT were only somewhat successful in staving off a hefty fine. 

MOST IMPORTANT LESSON OF THE DAY- “San Jose State University is no commuter school”

JACK KELLY,   wearing his official San Jose State Rep Tie, introduced guest speaker,    Don Kassing, President of San Jose State University.  Don must have felt comfortable with our crowd.  He was comfortable enough to tell us the chewing gum story.   Of course it was told to explain that he was rescued from complete embarrassment by Carol Kelly, the hero in his story. It just goes to show;  Behind every great San Jose State Alumni President, stands a resourceful and successful woman.   
 

Don went on to tell the group of some interesting facts about the school.  SJSU is the oldest public university on the west coast. In the year 2007, San Jose State will celebrate its 150^th birthday.    Dick Henning gave away his age by admitting to Kassing a while back, that he assisted in preparing the University’s 100^th anniversary yearbook.  Did anyone know Dick was THAT old?

When the University was founded in 1857, it was known as the Men’s San Jose Normal School.  In 1872, the school moved into San Jose.  Kassing came to San Jose State in 1993.  He is very proud of his achievements at the school so far.  Examples would be the construction of the Martin Luther King Library in cooperation with the City of San Jose.  In 2004, the MLK Library was named the National Library of the year.  This massive structure of 486,000 square feet serves as many as 13,000 people per day.

A new residential complex, comprised of three new buildings, have provided SJSU with an additional one million square feet of student housing at a cost of $245MM.  Each room has triple play (voice, data, and video).  There are plans to build more housing.  Hopes are that eventually, the university will have housing for up to 6000 students available right on campus.  Tower Hall is to be renovated.  Clarke Library, the old library, is being converted to classrooms

SJSU is the fifth largest comprehensive university in the nation and currently has 30,000 students.  7,400 students graduated in 2004, and 7,688 graduated in May 2005.  SJSU employs 3,000 full-time staff and 1500 part time employees.  The school offers 134 majors.  With its focus on business and engineering, SJSU provides the lion’s share of graduates to Silicon Valley Firms.

Kassing touched briefly on SJSU sports.  He mentioned the new athletic director, Tom Bowman and is excited about the selection of the new football coach, Dick Tomey.  Famous 49’er Coach, Bill Walsh assisted in the recruitment of Mr. Tomey.   This brings high hopes for a fabulous football future for SJSU.    

Don shared a recent proud moment for the University this year at the unveiling of the Memorial on campus honoring Tommy Smith and John Carlos, the Olympic medal winners who took a stand in 1968 Olympics. 

In his final words, which I believe were directed mostly to the Stanford and Berkeley alums, Kassing insisted that the words “Commuter School” should never leave any Rotarian’s lips from this moment forward when referring to San Jose State University.  

Ranked among the Top 10 public universities by US News, SJSU excels in its engineering programs as has been recognized over the past seven years.  The University provides excellence in Community Service Learning.    A mission statement developed from a recent strategic planning process, describes San Jose State University to be a university of choice that serves its region and an employer of choice.