This Week's Program: 
Feb 8th:  • Joanne Medin - IDENTITY THEFT
• Ken Graham - 10 minute talk
 

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T’was the day before Groundhog Day and the skies were all cloudy and gray.  The day brightened considerably at the hands of our sun-kissed greeters: KATIE NUTTER, JOE LOCONTE AND NANCY SIMON. 

PRESIDENT SAM rang the bell at precisely 12:15 and TOM LISTON led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. 

 Now for the song: KAREN FOX attempted to rouse memories of pre-school with a little ditty entitled “Little Groundhog” sung to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot.”  Judging by the performance of the choir on this particular day, not too many of us attended pre-school or it just might have been the mists of time fogging the memory.  For me, I think it was the attendance problem.

DAN ODONNELL himself delivered the Thought for the Day in the form of an Irish Blessing, which for your continued enjoyment, is reprinted here in its entirety (without the brogue):

Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow.
Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead.
Walk beside me and just be my friend.

PRESIDENT-ELECT JOHN MOSS had no visiting Rotarians but we did have guests introduced by JOHN HAMBLIN, KENDRA GJERSETH, MEL KAHN, and STEVE SHEPHERD.  Programs for the next two weeks will be presented by two of our own.  Next week JOANNA MEDIN will be discussing the fastest growing crime in Santa Clara County, Identity Theft, and what we can do about it.  The following week, MIKE HARRIGAN will be offering a thrill to all you NASCAR fans, speed demons and car buffs.  (Note program schedule change)  Please refer to our website calendar for all scheduled future programs.  If you can not see our calendar in your browser, please contact MATT CABOT.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRESIDENT SAM announced that the District 5170 Conference will be from April 20^th to the 22^nd in Monterey this year.  He said something about the conference usually being held in San Jose but apparently it’s closed this year.  The theme is: “You ‘otter’ be there” (in Monterey, that is).  You’ll be hearing more about the conference in upcoming meetings.

THE PRES also announced a couple of upcoming athletic events for those of you so inclined.  There will be a memorial golf tournament at Castlewood Country Club on April 16^th and a tennis tournament at a time and place to be determined.  Contact SAM for details and the training regimen.  THE PRESIDENT, using the authority granted by his own constitution, then slapped a $10.00 fine on member JOHN SINES for what was deemed a fineable editorial comment (or it could have been a fine editorial comment).

MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN JOHN HAMBLIN then inducted our newest member, SCOTT FLEMING.  SCOTT’s sponsor is his father-in-law, STEVE YARBROUGH.  STEVE shared a bit about how SCOTT got to be his son-in-law and that he’s an ex-Marine (HOO-rah!).

DENNIS YOUNG, through his own process of elimination, determined who the Paul Harris, Guy Shoup, and Los Altos Fellows were.  DENNIS has officially declared February to be LOS ALTOS ROTARY CLUB ENDOWMENT FUND MONTH.  This means that the club is looking for 75 members to give or pledge $1,000.00 to the endowment fund by the end of February.  By doing so, this will increase the fund from $420,000 to $500,000 by the end of PRESIDENT SAM’s term-of-office.  DENNIS will do the math for your taxes.

Being the true leader that he is, PRESIDENT SAM led the way with his check for $1,000.

MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS
KENDRA GJERSETH passed around a get-well card for GARY ROSS who is recovering from surgery.  Please pass on your best wishes to our pal.

KENDRA also asked that you keep an eye out for the owner of the dog she found near Rancho.  You can get anything in the Rotator!

PAST PRESIDENT MARLENE is looking for volunteers to help with this year’s Presidential kick-out.  Contact her immediately; this can be fun for all.

Fine Art Show Update from Katie Nutter 
And I quote: “As of Thursday, Feb 1^st, there are 77 days left until our May 19-20 “Fine Art in the Park” show.  Someone MUST be counting!  With some 1,000 volunteer hours spent over the weekend – and the MANY hours that must be put in before the show – we need all members to chip in with their time and talents.  Before working on the weekend’s schedule, we need to take inventory of our resources. 

First, we need to know who will be UNAVAILABLE TO WORK on May 19 or 20^th.  Don’t’ worry about that; we can find a job for you!  Lots of things need to be done, both before and after the show weekend.

Second, we need to know which Rotarians are bringing spouses, kids, friends or neighbors to work at the show.  This really expands the pool of resources we can draw upon.

If you filled out this information on the “clipboard” provided on February 1, fine, we’ve heard from you.  If you haven’t yet provided this information, please e-mail it to staffing chair, Michael Stadlen at mstadlen@usa.net.  Thanks!”  End of quote.

Another announcement from the PRESIDENT:  There will be a club talent show sometime in the merry month of May.  Any club member who has any desire to do so is asked to participate.  Some of you have already said yes!  You can sing, dance, play music, exhibit photos or whatever else you’re willing to do in public for the enjoyment of all.  In this case, please do remember the 4-Way Test.

Fine-Master, JOHN SYLVESTER got NANCY SIMON to run the duck bucket in return for not being fined.  Now we know just how negotiable JOHN can be.  He then proceeded to run the usual guilt trip on members who were ever-so-willing to part with their cash.  When the volunteering stopped, he then spent a full ten minutes quizzing members about past Super Bowls.  All-in-all, I’d say the club deserves a grade of 99% on the quiz.

THE PROGRAM

Today we were blessed with three ten-minute talks.  Each one of these talks was so well done, informative and inspiring in its own right that it would be an injustice to try and re-create or even summarize them in this format.

OK then, just a few comments.  Leading off was Red-Badger BARRY GROVES, who, once he got his technical issues resolved, regaled us with a very impressive “personal PowerPoint presentation.”  Since he’s the new Superintendent of Schools, he gets extra credit for NOT showing family pictures on the big screen.  More credit for sharing five things we didn’t know about him and for “seeing the light” and joining Rotary instead of Kiwanis.  However, he loses credit for the “Prius envy” pun.

Next up was President Elect-Nominee SETH MANNING.  SETH is in the insurance business and gave us some sage advice about checking on our personal insurance situation.  Listening to SETH, once again I witnessed something that always amazes me.  When a speaker speaks from the heart, something happens to the room.  All at once, chairs stop sliding, dishes stop rattling, spoons stop falling on the floor, Velcro doesn’t come undone, nothing moves.  Nothing but the power of the speaker’s voice and sometimes, with that level of quiet, that same voice doesn’t even need a microphone.

Our final talk was presented by PAST-PRESIDENT MEL KAHN who was a last minute volunteer (he was volunteered by PRESIDENT ELECT JOHN MOSS).  Given that he had about a one-hour notice, his slide show presentation was still in production (at least that’s what he said).  Oh, the things you learn about fellow members when they’re willing to take the microphone.  For instance, most of the schools MEL attended are no longer in existence; he played basketball and actually was a star.  MEL also spoke from the heart as he shared some personal and emotional stuff.  If you don’t already know the story, ask him how he met his wife.

These three ten-minute talks took forty minutes.  I’m thinking I need DENNIS to help me with the math on this one, too.

PRESIDENT SAM closed by suggesting that some members question the color of some of his “meeting-enders” but now that he’s learned we have a “chicken-sexer” in the club, anything goes (you had to be there).  So he closed with a golf joke.  Thus, this concludes today’s Rotator.