March 26 Identity Theft May 12 District Breakfast

Next Week... March 26 Gus Searcy Identity Theft and New Facta Laws Upcoming Programs... April 2 Matthew Budoff, MD Cardiologist, UCLA Bio-Med Activities... April 30 - May 3 District Conference, Newport Hyatt All Officers and Committee Chairs must attend May 12 District Breakfast - LAX All Officers and Committee Chairs must attend Westin Hotel, 5400 W. Century Blvd., Los Angeles May 16 District Assembly All Officers and Committee Chairs must attend June 27 Demotion Dinner, Beach Club

PP MIKE NEWMAN led the Pledge. MARK KRAUSE  provided the Invocation, which is a Celtic Poem from the 8th Century (and also a well-known church hymn). “Be thou my vision, O lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that thou art.  Thou my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, the presence my light…High King of Heaven, my victory won, May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s sun!  Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O ruler of all” — well done, MARK – thanks.  LENNY then came forward to lead us in This is My Country, which we got through. There were no Visiting Rotarians, but it will not surprise you that LENNY brought SUNNY.

The Head Table was polled, as usual. PP MIKE NEWMAN noted that the traffic blocks created by the visit of President Obama made getting anywhere difficult, but also pointed out that small planes were grounded.  And you need to know that the “Death Tax” remains set at a minimum of 3.5 million dollars.  MARK KRAUSE reminded us that his Westwood Hills Christian Church was welcoming visitors.  ANN SAMSON asked our Rotaract President, NIKKOLE VALDEZ to come forward.  NIKKOLE has just graduated, and ANN presented her with a nice Certificate of Appreciation. She will be attending Medical School in the Philippines. PEGGY BLOOMFIELD opined as how she didn’t have anything to sell.  And PDG ANDY ANDERSON was pinless, thus costing him ten bucks. 

MARK BLOCK was our Inspirational Teller today, and he had an Irish joke, which he felt we could handle, since, apparently, President SEAN was sober enough.  Walking in to the bar, Mike said to Charlie the bartender, “Pour me a stiff one – just had another fight with the little woman”.  “And how did this one end?” asked Charlie.  “When it was over”, Mike replied, “She came to me on her hands and knees”.  “Really”, said Charles, “Now that’s a switch.  What did she say?”  “Come out from under that bed, you little chicken…”! 

I made a follow-up announcement about the details of the Memorial Service for Mary Francis Cox.  It will be next Thursday, the 26th, at 1:30 at Westwood United Methodist Church.  Since the Church temporarily has no parking, we can park at Los Angeles Country Club, just up the street on Wilshire.  There will be busses to take us back and forth, since the reception which follows the service will be at the LA Club.  However, please allow enough time to make the shuttle – we suggest you should be at the parking lot by 12:30 noon.  This Memorial will involve several members of WVRC, so our meeting that day will be somewhat abbreviated.

It was now time for some more Irish history.  In this case, the question was asked, “Who was Tomas MacCurtain?”  Surprisingly, there were no immediate answers volunteered. Undeterred, President SEAN taught us that Tomas was the Lord Mayor of Cork, serving for Sinn Fein, and Inventor of the famous “Flying Column”.  He was killed by Black & Tans disguised as policemen.  The verdict of willful murder against the RIC indicts both Lloyd George and the British government. Moving right along, in 1921 Tom Barry and the West Cork Flying Column routed a superior force from the Essex Regiment at Crossbarry.  This of course led to another Irish story, still by President SEAN.

Paddy was returning home after a night at the bar, and carefully took off his shoes so as not to wake his wife when he came in.  He tiptoed to the stairs, and when he paused, lost his balance, and fell heavily on his rump at the bottom of the stairs.  The twin bottles of whiskey in his back pockets of course broke when he landed, causing lots of pain and discomfort. However, he managed not to cry out, and staggered to his feet.  When he took down his pants, he could see bits of glass and lots of bleeding.  He managed to quietly find a box of Band Aids, then putting them as best he could wherever he saw blood. He next hid the now almost empty Band Aid box, and shuffled and stumbled his way to bed.  In the morning, he awoke with searing pain in both his head and his rump.  His wife was staring at him from across the room, saying,  “Aye, you were drunk again last night, weren’t ya?” “Why would you say such a mean thing?” “Well,” Kathleen replied, “There was the open front door, the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs, drops of blood trailing through the house, your bloodshot eyes, but mostly, all the Band Aids stuck on the hall mirror”.

After an appropriate interval, PEGGY BLOOMFIELD introduced our Speaker, Sterling Long-Colbo.  He was substituting for Nicholas Keeling, and when he couldn’t come, his Boss did! Mr. Long-Colbo has over ten years in youth outdoors education, including wilderness, survival and first aid. He is certified as a personal trainer, with over 500 hours of study in exercise physiology. He is also TRX Certified, having brought it to Santa Monica.  Along with the well-known Jesse Ventura, he has formed a premier company that specializes in health and fitness. They concentrate on lifelong fitness and injury prevention.

He began with a story about Muldoon.  Muldoon had just lost his dog, his long-time companion, and he went to his priest and asked if he could say a Rosary for the dog.  The priest replied that they didn’t do services for animals, but that he might check with the Baptists down the road – he didn’t know what they believed.  Muldoon thanked him, and then asked, “Do you think five-thousand dollars is enough to donate to them?” The priest exclaimed. “Sweet Mary Mother of Jesus!  Why didn’t you tell me the dog was Catholic?”

He has an adopted son who is a US Navy Seal – and that’s an accomplishment he is proud of!  Sterling works with people ranging in age from 7 to 75, and I told RAY ZICKFELD, who was sitting next to me, “That leaves us out”.  He feels it is critical to maintain fitness as we age, to ensure a better quality of life and enjoy fewer injuries.  This can increase your life span, with a greater range of activities.  The major danger as we age is osteoporosis, which can lead to fragile bones and poor posture.  As we age, we also lose muscle mass, which lowers our coordination and decreases our metabolism.

No matter your age, everyone responds to exercise.  The biggest mistake in getting back into an exercise program is that we baby ourselves.  Remember that a good program will lower your colorectal and your blood pressure, and increase your muscle mass – you will have a better quality of life.  To be effective, your body needs to go into overload – that is, doing something that challenges it beyond the normal.  Once you find your limits, if you exceed them you will get results. 

Cautions include knowing your heart condition and your own physical condition, and asking your doctor for advice.  You need ten minutes of slow warm-up, and a cooling-down period. Begin by becoming more active.  You should be doing something extra from three to seven days every week.  Resistance training three times a week is helpful. Become involved with a group – maybe walkers, bike riders, swimmers, whatever.  Taking the stairs instead of the elevator is always helpful (but not easy to carry out, somehow). Remember not to hold your breath as you exercise.  Pay attention to what your body tells you. 

Sterling now switched to our common overweight problems.  And remember that prevention is always better than repair.  We are moving rapidly toward obesity.  Starting with 57%, we have moved to 70% and it continues.  And all of those are trying to control their weight.  We will spend 51 billion dollars this year on diets.  (Comment from the audience – watch out for those cookies!).  Three lies:  Aerobic training is key to weight loss.  The Food Pyramid will always help. And. You can get Fat Loss in a bottle. There is no specific way to target belly fat, for instance.  Resistance training DOES burn off fat.

Rapid Fat Loss, condensed:
You need to break down the fat cells.
You need to transport them from the skeletal muscles or the liver
You need to oxidize and burn fatty acids for energy. 
To do this, you must use overload to burn that fat. 
In exercise, go hard twice as long as going soft, then repeat
Note – all the major universities use Internal Training, as above.
You need a high protein, high fiber, low refined-carbohydrate diet.

In what could be described as a loaded question, he showed a photo of a dumpy, overweight woman, and another in a bikini.  The Question was, which one would you hire?  And YOE has to comment that it might depend on what you had in mind…His overweight example, by the way, lost over 65 pounds in a six-month period.  Best sequence is first, resistance training, then cardio, AFTER your blood has a lot of fat in it. The essential things to have in your diet are water, essential amino acids, and lean protein of animal origin

Q&A – SALLY BRANT asked about the overall benefits of a brisk three-mile walk, with a dog.  If the difference is between doing nothing, and walking with the dog, walking is always better. During a walk, you might vary your speed – quickly for a half-mile, then slowly for a quarter mile.  Going up and down hills is another useful variable.  You might want to add some ankle or hand weights.  LEE DUNAYER asked Sterling to rate three different types of exercise.  Start with a light jog for five minutes, to get the heart rate going and the joints lubricated.  Then, go to Intervals – Sprint a hundred yards, then walk back to the start, and repeat.  The beach is a great place to do this.  PP STEVE SCHERER asked his opinion about consumption of red wines.  It is a blood thinner, and one glass every couple of days is good.  But drinking water is better!

Sterling Long-Colbo, we thank you for your many suggestions.  Their firm, Maverick Fitness, can be reached at (310) 394-2007, in Santa Monica..

Words of Wisdom:
Remember that confession may be good for the soul, but it is probably bad for your career and your marriage. OR
Despite the high cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains?

—YOE, Ernie Wolfe