THE LAMORINDAN, January 30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

We got the "Dueling Banjos" treatment today. Who was the funny-looking in-bred kid and who was the urban canoer who would end up with his arm wrapped around his neck I leave to you to determine. (And if you never saw the movie "Deliverance," don't even try to understand the reference.)

First spake Rod Ford-Smith, sharing words of wisdom he attributed to our very own Jim Brencic, who called Rod at 6:15 this very a.m. to say: "Be careful what you ask for, but more importantly, be grateful for what you get, because you may end up with a croupy kid overnight."

President Pat apparently thought this was insufficiently thoughtful and he gave us another pearl of wisdom from Adlai Stevenson: "It's hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse."

GUESTS, VISITING ROTARIANS, AND SUCH

John Moulthrop - Clayton Valley Sunrise
Mike Heller - Lafayette
John Sherry - President, Lafayette
Kyle Vinther - back for a second visit
Joe Bettencourt - back for a third visit
David Waal - back for a second or third or maybe even a fourth visit for all I know
Ulrich Luscher - Joanne's hubby
Mariam Worsham - Chuck Yeager's blushing bride (Chuck makes most of us blush)

BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES & MISCELLANEOUS GOOD NEWS

Well, maybe next week . . . .

RECOGNIZING ONE OF OUR TRUS STALWARTS

She's been our Club President, she's been an Assistant District Governor, she's been involved in more Lamorinda Sunrise projects than you can shake a stick at, and without her there would be no Bridge to Somewhere in Tanzania. This could only be our very own Joanne Luscher. Today, our Guru of All Things Foundation, Cal Lee, presented Joanne with her "Paul Harris +5" pin, encrusted with 5, count 'em, 5, sapphires, symbolizing this, Joanne's fifth Paul Harris award.

This means that Joanne has supported the Rotary Foundation's annual giving program to the tune of $5,000 over the course of her Rotary career. This investment in Rotary is a shining example of one fo the ways that we, her fellow Lamorinda Sunrise Rotarians, can make sure that Rotary will be here for generations to come, helping make the world a better place as we place Service Above Self. Many thanks for all you have done and continue to do, Joanne.

CAMP ROYAL QUIZ, UPDATE, AND GENERAL MADNESS

Thomas Peeks rose to quiz us on our knowledge of Camp Royal. Through this exercise, we learned that: Camp Royal is a youth leadership development camp sponsored by District 5160; we will be sponsoring 2 campers again this year (who have to be high school juniors currently); there will be 145 campers total; the camp will be held June 14-20 this year; and the goals of Camp Royal are (1) to offer advanced leadership skills to young men and women who have experience in leadership positions, (2) to emphasize cooperation, excellent ethics and creativity in leadership, (3) to broaden the campers' knowledge of various vocations through interaction with various Rotarians fro District 5160. (4) to assist the campers to realize their great potential, and (5) to actively encourage the campers to apply their new leadership skills when they return to their schools.

Becky Ware was a Camp Royal camper last summer, and reminded us what a fun, moving and life-changing experience Camp Royal is from the camper's perspective. (This reporter's son went the year before, and everything Becky said was true, and then some.)

So do you know a high school junior who can benefit from this great experience? Well, the applications have to be in to Thomas by February 16. You can get more information from Thomas, or from the Camp Royal website, to wit: http://www.camproyal.org/.

THE FLAG STAND IS LOOKING GOOOOOOOD

You know the stand of international flags that resides in front of the podium at our meetings, right? It contains the flag of every country that has at least one Rotary Club. It turns out that some of those flags were looking a little, shall we say, less than presentable.

Enter Mike Edwards. He ironed the flags, reattached them to their staffs as necessary, and generally made them look like the proud representations of their nations that they should be.

He also rearranged the order of them. See if you can figure out how he decided which flag went where. Go ahead, try. I dare you. (Hey, if I can figure it out, you can figure it out.)

WEAR YOUR ROTARY SHIRT. WASH IT FIRST

Right after next week's meeting, there will be a group photo taken of the Rotary Club of Lamorinda Sunrise, 2009 edition, as arranged by our very own Tom "Who's This Ansel Adams Guy?" Black. Please be dressed appropriately. At a minimum, please be dressed.

INTERACTION WITH INTERACT

Tuesday, February 10, 2009. Keep that day open, if you can. That is when Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary will visit the Acalanes High School Interact Club (the pizza's on us) to share some Rotary spirit and to encourage the Interacters (including Co-President Becky Ware - you've heard of her, right?) in their activities. Some of us will be giving short talks about the Four-Way Test. Can you come? Let Prez Pat or Steve Ware know.

Also, many thanks to Steve for taking in the role of liaison between LSR and Acalanes Interact. These high school Clubs are the future life blood of Rotary, and building the bonds now will pay big dividends down the road.

SO NICE, WE'RE RUNNING IT TWICE

Mike Heller of the Lafayette Club stood up again this week to announce the upcoming Crab Feed and Silent Auction being held by Soroptimist International of 24-680. February 7 at 6:00 p.m., to be exact. At the Lower Court of the Oakwood Athletic Club on Mt. Diablo Blvd just west of downtown Lafayette. Tickets are $35 per person, and you need to buy on in advance. Interested? Contact Mike Heller, or call 925-688-1480, or e-mail calprint@pacbell.net.

TRAIN KEPT A-ROLLIN' ALL NIGHT LONG

The Sixty-umpteenth Reno Train Trip is officially in the books. That does not mean any of our intrepid train-goers were booked, although based on the amount of stuffed animal loot they brought back, it wasn't for lack of trying. The entire train was shortened by three cars this year, and we sent a smaller than usual contingent, consisting of George Chaffey, John Fazel and Chuck Kenney (and having just written those names, I think I see why the contingent was smaller than usual . . . .).

Our weary travelers report that, even though the train was less populated than usual, somehow the Fun Quotient was through the roof. Certainly, the Chicken-in-a-Pot Quotient was, because a mere three Lamorinda Sunrisers managed to return with more stuffed animals than you can imagine. And in a tradition of at least 15 minute's standing, George, John and Chuck tossed stuffed animals to all in attendance with about as much rhyme and/or reason as you would expect from those three. Included in the bunch was a ridiculously big stiffed something-or-other for Mariam "Don't Call Me Yeager" Worsham, who graced us with her presence today, complete with hat and smile.

So what's with all the stuffed animals and the whole "Chicken-in-a-Pot" thing? There is no way to explain it properly other that to say that it is a sparkling example of George Chaffey's Rule #1 - and we all know what that is, right? - so you'll just have to sign to go on the January 2010 trip.

MYSTERY ROTARIAN

This week's Mystery Rotarian has presented twice to the California Judicial Council. This week's Mystery Rotarian has held executive-level positions at Quaker Oats, Power Bar, Ghirardelli Chocolate, Nextel Communications, the Administrative Office of the Courts of the State of California, and Oakland School District. This week's Mystery Rotarian was a member of the University of Michigan Synchronized Swimming team (a.k.a. the Mich Fish - and I am not making that up).

Who else could it be but Nancy Polis. (And whoever guessed Rich Shearer really ought to be fined and maybe sedated. Talk about a visual we could all do without . . . .)

Unlike this edition of The Lamorindan, the Mystery Rotarian call-out came first and was used by President Pat as a way to segue into . . .

PROGRAM

. . . this month's edition fo Expose Yourself, that time when we all get to learn more about our fellow Lamorinda Sunrisers than anyone ought to know. Since Ernie Furtado had to leave early for a work obligation (and what's up with that, Ernie?), Our Grand High Poo-Bah decided to rearrange the order of things. (As one oh his illutrious predecessors would have said. "Because I can."_

Nancy Polis

So, on with Nancy and her life. Yes, she was a synchronized swimmer, and her daughter still bugs her to do some of the moves every now and again. She did it from junior high through college, and remains a bit perturbed that, instead of being regarded as a mighty Wolverine along with the other U of M teams, was instead relegated to being a "Mich Fish", with the "Mich" pronounced to rhyme with "Fish." (But did they get to have that cool helmet on their swim caps - you know, like the one on Michigan football helmets?)

So what's this "Judicial Council fo California" thing? It is, in effect, the board of directors of the judicial branch of California government. It is headed up by California's Chief Justice, currently Ronald George, and also includes judges and God knows who else from the various counties. Nancy's big effort there? Trying to harmonize the human resources and benefits practices of 58 counties, all of whom think they get to run the courts in their counties the way they see fit. Trying to make job descriptions, pay scales, benefits packages, and the like more or less make sense across 58 different bureaucracies had to be a truly Herculean task (think herding cats - then square that), but she did the leg work, made the presentation to the Judicial Council, and got the job done. But Nancy's middle name apparently is Hercules, because she managed to boil down a seemingly infinite number of different pay scales, job descriptions and compensation packages into a merely absurdly large number of said categories.

But this is not the only such challenge this holder of graduate degree in Business has faced. She left the Judicial Council to become the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources for the Oakland Unified School District. This came about because she saw a newspaper article about how the OUSD was in the tank, and she contacted the State-appointed receiver about possibly helping out. You would never think to look at her that Nancy has a hole in her head, but she sure must, as she now cheerfully describes her OUSD gig as "the worst frickin' job I've ever had." Suffice to say that normal business practices, record keeping, budgeting procedures and the like are not what she found, and that her suggestions that maybe, just maybe, they would be a good idea were not warmly received. Imagine that: folks in sinecures who don't want to hear that they aren't doing their jobs right? Shocking as that may be, Nancy seems to have survived.

Oh, and no embarrassing photos, darn it. Nancy claims it's because they are all in storage somewhere in Michigan. There was a certain air of, shall we say, skepticism in the room at that explanation, but it quickly passed.

Ernie Furtado

Next up was Past President and Past and Current Treasurer Ernie "Here's Your Bill, and Why is Everyone Running Away From Me?" Furtado, who graciously declined to "strip down to my Speedo.". Our guy Ernie was born in Napa, and we were treated to various photos of Ernie in his misspent youth, including the obligatory shot in the powder blue abomination that passed for a tux when he graduated from high school in 1974.

On to Berkeley and the University of California for Ernie. There, he developed a life-long love for Cal and a moustache that has never seen a Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary meeting except in photographic form.

Family clearly is important to Ernie, and we saw some lovely shots of them, including his siblings (three sisters and three brothers), his blushing bride Barbara Pellatreau, and his two kids (one of each flavor, Michele and David).

The Ernie branch of the Furtado clan is nothing if not active. Ernie has done over 100 triathlons, a form of mental illness for which no cure has been found to date. He met Barbara on a three day bike ride (rumor has it they were allowed to stop for bathroom breaks). Ernie's 50th birthday found the family in Sydney, Australia. Vacations are pretty much always full of action and adventure, along the lines of skiing, kayaking, cycling, and the like. Ernie coached David's youth baseball teams fro eight years, thereby qualifyinbg him for some sort of medal. He also coached Michele's soccer for a year, but stopped once he figured out that there is no Infield Fly rule in that sport. More recently, dirt biking has found its way into Chez Furtado.

By the way, Barbara also has Triathlonitis - we saw a photo of Ernie and Barbara crossing a triathlon finish line pushing a buggy carrying daughter Michele a mere six weeks after Michele was born. Impressive. Crazy, but impressive.

Ernie's affiliations tend to be long-lasting. He is life-long Giants fan, as well as a life-long Cal Bears fan. He has been to 35 consecutive Big Games. And keeping with the "Go Bears" theme, The Furtado/Pellatreaus have been staying in the same cabin at the Lair of the Bear (the Cal family camp held every summer in an uber-secret location right next to Pinecrest Lake and just downhill from Dodge Ridge) for the past nine years.

Ernie has been in the container business (meaning the containers that go on container cargo ships) for 25 years, the last 18 of them working for Textainer. Textainer is the largest container leasing operation in the world, with 1.3 containers owned. That amounts almost exactly one container for every Rotarian around the world - and there has to be some fuunier-'n'-heck quip in that, but I can't think of it so do ti yourself. Textainer went public on October 10, 2007, the day the Dow Jones hit its all-time high - it hasn't been there again since. Textainer's public offering's effect on the market notwithstanding, Ernie and the other Poo-Bahs of Textainer were invited back a few months later to ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange.

Rotary is also a big part of Ernie's life. He fondly recalled receiving the high honor of being asked if he would serve as Club President - he was shoveling poop at the time. Because fo Rotary, he has seen a ball game at Wrigley Field, Chicago (he and the family was there for Rotary's 100 year anniversary International Convention). He and the family were part of the most recent Friendship Exchange to L�gst�r, Denmark. He has made up in Paris ($40 for lunch), as well as Copenhagen, South Africa and Switzerland. And he hosted a Demotion Party for a certain unnamed Past President that featured a crown, a robe, a scepter and a goat - and Ernie had the photo to prove it, unfortunately.

Many thanks to both Nancy and Ernie for continuing the monthly Expose Yourself tradition in such fine style.