This Week's Program: 
Kim Golter -- Jeremiah's Promise
 

Upcoming Events:
DISTRICT CONFERENCE
April 20, 21 and 22nd - Monterey CA

Register ON-Line.

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Our very own District Governor, RUSS HOBBS joined us at this first meeting in April to announce three very important things; 1) Clubs will no longer be allowed to sing songs that require aerobics (thanks SAM HARDING for the exercise).  2) Presidents can no longer tell jokes that have anything to do with God, golfing, or the female anatomy, and 3) there will be a Fifth Way added to our already hard to memorize Four Way Test.  Oh, and APRIL FOOLS! The Rotator Writer is having a little fun with you!

 What DG HOBBS really wanted, was to announce that there is still time to sign up for the District Conference in Monterey and that LARC is playing an important role this year in more ways than one; 1) POOBAH PESNER is the facilitator for the Sunday Morning event, 2) Only 7 of the 60 clubs in the district are considered large clubs (150+ members), and LARC is one of those.  There is a large club forum on Friday that we all should attend, and 3) Our very own PP MARLENE COWAN is the coordinator of the Dancing with the Stars event on Saturday evening.  It should be a fun time and a great way to get to know our district members.

 PP DICK HENNING introduced the visiting GSE (Group Student Exchange) team from Buenos Aires, Argentina.  The five GSE team members were having a great time staying with our club members and learning more about American and Los Altos culture. Of the trip’s highlights, the group was led to the recycling plant where they could see real American garbage. 

PP Dick Henning presenting the GSE Team to our club.	GSE Team:  Stella Buggiano, Raul Manteo, leader, Julieta Guiterrez, Emiliano Chiarelli  and Paula Cristina Aulicino
Stella Maris Buggiano and President Sam	Stella Buggiano
GSE leader Carlos Raúl Manteo and	President Sam exchanging banners.

PRES SAM then announced the LARC Rotarian of the Month for March – JACK KELLY.  Congratulations, Jack, for representing our club and organizing a great youth speech contest!

KATIE NUTTER, Art Show Poohbette, announced that we now have posters and postcards to distribute.  See her or PHIL ROSE for posters.  It’s time to get marketing our art show!   With little over a month left, she urged us to pick up posters for our storefront and business windows, email friends and family about the upcoming show, and help spread the word. (On April 19^th, you will receive an email that Katie wants you to send to your whole email recipients list.)

JEAN MORDO announced an upcoming fellowship event on April 25^th – Dinner at Maltby’s at 5:30 followed by “Enchanted April” at the Bus Barn Theatre (green doors recently painted by your’s truly) at 7:30 PM.  Come join the fun and fellowship!

SANDY BOZICH (and I) announced that sign-ups for our Relay for Life team, the Rotary Ramblers has officially begun. Our team goal is $20,000 this year, so we need your support in reaching this worthwhile goal.  Also, save the date of May 3^rd for the wine tasting event at Vino100. A portion of all proceeds will go towards our Relay team’s fundraising - oh, and you get to drink wine for a good cause.

JOANNA MEDIN reminded all of us that the LARC Health committee meets every Thursday right after Rotary, and then introduced our very-own expert on Assisted Living for the aging, TRACIE MURRAY. 

TRACIE has over 27 years of experience in her field, and she showed it with an outstanding presentation. Of the many interesting facts she gave our club, we learned that one out of every 200 people in America are in nursing homes right now, and that the average length of stay is 3.3 years.

Our program today was on leadership.  Tony Zingale has more than 26 years of experience building and leading Silicon Valley technology companies.  He most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mercury Interactive.  Mr. Zingale successfully grew Mercury to over $1B in annual sales. During his time at Mercury, Mr. Zingale faced what he calls “the perfect storm.”  He not only had to grow a company and it’s profits, re-invent it’s offerings on a regular basis to keep the customers happy, position them in the marketplace to keep the shareholders happy, but also led the defense of the SEC charges of backdating stocks.  He is happy to have weathered that storm and in 2006, finalized a $5B merger with HP.  Of the many traits a leader needs, Mr. Zingale points out that a leader must ‘be direct and get out in front.’  Mr. Zingale now enjoys his retirement with his family and urges us all to ‘have a plan & write it down’ in order to keep on track with our goals and dreams.

And what would our meeting be with out a good story from the PRES?
An artist asked the gallery owner if there had been any interest in his paintings on display at that time. "I have good news and bad news," the owner replied. "The good news is that a gentleman inquired about your work and wondered if it would appreciate in value after your death.  When I told him it would, he bought all fifteen of your paintings."  "That's wonderful!" the artist exclaimed. "What's the bad news?" The gallery owner replied, "The guy was your doctor."