|
|
|
January 10
|
|
|
|
January 17
|
|
|
|
January 24
|
|
|
|
Next Week...
January 10
Investment Advisors Day
Upcoming Meetings...
January 17
Craft Talks
January 24
Luncheon Speaker
Gil Garcetti
January 31
Luncheon Speaker
PDG Bill Goodwyn
February 7
Luncheon Speaker
Radio Talk Show Host Lores Rizkalla
Upcoming Events...
January 9
Auxilliary
Field trip to the Will Rogers' Ranch in Pacific Palisades with lunch at Dante's Restaurant.
January 24
District Breakfast
LAX Westin Hotel
February 8-10
District Conference
Newport Beach
February 17
Sweetheart Valentine Brunch
Lawry's Beverly Hills, 12:30pm
|
This Week...
LOTS OF FUN, HUMP DAY AT WVRC ON JANUARY 3rd
DON PARK led the Pledge. LENNY stepped forward bravely to lead us in Auld Lang Syne, and while there were a few jumbled words, we did good. This brought up PP MIKE NEWMAN, who led us in a thoughtful and detailed Rotary Thanksgiving. He not only named both present and incoming Boards of Directors, reminding all that all board projects must be in place prior to taking office in July, but asked blessings on spouses and children. He asked special concern for the family of KEN LEVER, who passed away after a long and valiant struggle with cancer, and thanked the good Lord for his many past blessings.
There were lots of guests, led off by our First Lady, Sharon. LENNY brought Sunny, and Roz accompanied PP DON. PP STEVE SCHERER brought three guests from his office, Belinda Mojica, Beth Alfonso and Alex Smith. LEO TSENG had Special Guest Dwight Heikkila. Visiting Rotarians were Mark and Marcia Rouse, who came in a bit late – and Mark eventually became the star of the show!
Before I list a couple of announcements, may I remind those who park at St. Albans that the $5 fee is once again due, please.
January 11th – Next Week, that is – R.I. President Wilfrid Wilkinson will be speaking at the Omni Hotel downtown. This will count as a makeup should you wish to attend.
February 8th to 10th - District Conference, at the Hyatt Regency in Newport Beach. This is always an educational event, and new members particularly are urged to attend. I have Registration Forms.
This being the first meeting of the month, it was Birthday Time. Those honored included Dorothy FERGUS, who chose the 7th in Louisville. HARLAN LEWIS came along the next day, in Redlands. PP RON LYSTER liked that day also, but he preferred Whittier. PP BOB LUSK chose the 10th, in good ol’ LA, and last for January was BRIAN BUMPAS, on the 27th. We sang, they signed, and it went well.
At this point, PP STEVE reminded us that it was Hump Day, marking at least the half-way point of CEO CHRIS. Various Board Members were invited forward to analyze his performance, delve into his subconscious, and investigate his habits. PP DON NELSON led off, reminding all that not only CHRIS but SHARON were both once flight attendants for TWA, which is where they met. PP DON suggested that the Preflight announcements of CHRIS sometimes ended with the thought that “If you don’t know how to operate your seat belt, you probably shouldn’t be out in public unsupervised”. ED GAULD enlightened us on some historical facts about Kansas City, including some notes on the Prendergast family. MARK BLOCK embraced the fact that both of them were attorneys, and brought along a song about KC, which they both, more or less, than sang. MARK ROGO explained the contents of a recent dream involving CHRIS, even though Sharon WAS present! ELLIOTT TURNER took the opportunity to admit that CHRIS had asked him to not tell any more jokes. RON LYSTER said something about our Website – and after all that, there wasn’t much to add. Suffice it to say that we, one and all, are now much more knowledgeable than before about CHRIS, which in turn will allow us – and him – to endure the next six months!
This led to the introduction of our Speaker, Dr. Dana Daniels. According to PP STEVE, Dr. Daniels has a number of degrees from Harvard – but this story became somewhat questionable when Daniels re-entered with a live parrot perched on a stand! He made a few general remarks, and then seized upon (a figure of speech, in this case) our new member, ALY SHOJI, to come forward for some penetrating questions. He first asked ALY to read something, which was interrupted by a squeaking noise – which she could not duplicate, essentially because he had the squeaker in his own hand. He then had a card trick, in which the parrot – Luigi, by name – was to select the desired card. Incidentally, Luigi comes from a border town in Mexico, and he and Dana have been together for over twenty five years. When the selected card did not meet the requirement, Dana’s response, both then and several times afterward, was, ”Well, what did you expect? He’s only a parrot!”
At some point, he asked CHRIS to come forward – and CHRIS could find no reasonable way to avoid what was sure to be a trap of some sort. After some interplay, he produced a cardboard nose, suggesting that CHRIS should put it on. This was a photo op, which AL BELLANCA rushed forward to capture. Chris had various other opportunities to demonstrate his good humor, but things got serious when DANA asked him for the largest dollar bill he had. Turned out this was a twenty, which got folded up and put somewhere. A bit later, the twenty returned, obstensively from inside a chicken egg, which was broken into a waiting dish. And while I seldom admit these things, the truth is that a report of all that went on would be better covered by a sound video. Anyway, eventually CHRIS was allowed to return to his regular seat, and others were targeted by Dr. Daniels.
This next phase started when Daniels chose our Visiting Rotarian, Mark Rouse and asked him to select three pigeons. Daniels of course pointed out that this entirely random selection process insured the complete authenticity of what was about to happen. Asked to stand up, they included PP MIKE NEWMAN, Beth Alfonso, and PP JIM COLLINS. Each was then required to answer one specific question. PP JIM was asked to name a city, and he chose NY. Beth was asked how much change she had with her, and she said, ”None”. This was not a satisfactory answer, so Beth first amended it to 50 cents, then finally to 99 cents. PP MIKE was asked to name a fruit, and he came up with strawberries. Eventually these three words were written down on a note pad, to be referred to at a later time. The aforementioned Mark Rouse was again summoned, so he selected a sealed envelope from several possibles, and was asked to open it and read the questions therein. Turns out that the questions were perfectly answered by strawberries, NY, and 99cents!
Dana then switched to the use of cell phones. He asked those present who carried such instruments to call someone, since he (Dana) wanted a subject away from where we were meeting. PP STEVE DAY was selected, and he and the person on the other end of the line were then interviewed, I guess you could say, by Dana. One comment by Dana was, ”No, not carrot, but parrot – a talking carrot would be ridiculous!” After some of what might be charitably called conversation, the person on the line was asked to name a playing card. This was PP STEVE’S son, and he selected the six of clubs. Dana then wrote this down on a card, held the card behind Luigi – but with a mirror in front of Luigi – and asked his faithful parrot to reveal the chosen card. An oversize deck of cards was produced, and once opened, there was one card facing opposite to all the other 51 cards. Sure enough, it was the 6 of clubs!
Summary – this was as good as a Hump Day gets, and it should perhaps be remembered in future planning that a professional does add to the fun.
Words of Wisdom – Never make predictions, especially about the future – Casey Stengel.
