THE LAMORINDAN 7-16-10

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Dan Garfin came up with some good advice from Charles Caleb Colton, to whit: "Men are born with two eyes, but only one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say." Although this is good advice, it undoubtedly fell upon deaf ears in this group.

VISITING ROTARIAN AND GUESTS

Don Jenkins - Orinda Club and District Representative
Carol Chaffey - Much more later on this former First Lady
Yolanda Peeks - Reigning First Lady
Akoni Viray - Interact Club President at Acalanes
Mariam Worsham - Chuck's soul mate
Maggie Yeager - Chuck's visiting niece
Matthew Riegg - Bob's grandson from Oregon
Margo Dutton - At least 3rd visit and Past Prez on Peninsula
Dennis Kurimai - Definitely 3rd visit, from Oracle & Motorama
Patti Brennan - 2nd visit, from Pacific Union & Motorama

BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES AND SOME SUCH

Jim Brencic confessed to an 11th wedding anniversary celebration at Lake Tahoe with his wife and 40 or so extended family members. Prez Peeks fine doubled the years and added $3 more for good measure. Surprisingly Jim did not challenge the logic, if there was one.

Cal Lee did not acknowledge a requested count of the years, but he did have a birthday earlier in the week. It began with a nearly overnight vigil at the airport for his incoming daughter who finally arrived from New York at about 3 a.m. They did make it through the day and a small surprise party that night. He coughed up $20, which is probably considerably less than it would have been if Prez Peeks had applied the same formula to Cal's fining calculation.

Bob Heinen admitted he was our first club member, after charter members Wheeler and Fazel, in July 1987. He indicated he dropped out of the club for about ten years and was shocked to learn that nobody realized he was gone. Now that he is back and renowned for his bocce ball team leadership that will never happen again! This confession cost Bob $25.

Charlie Franklin and Terry spent a delightful weekend in the Mendocino area on their 50th wedding anniversary. He also gave us a small lesson on economics and inflation. They didn't return to the Highlands Inn in Carmel, where they went on their honeymoon, because $50 a night room then is $950 a night now. Oh for the good old days! Charlie ignored the paltry $25 request by the Prez for their celebration, quietly submitting a $100 check instead.

Finally, it should be noted that Thomas Peeks stepped up and wrote a check, to complete his Paul Harris award donations, for his first official act as LSR Club President. This sets a fine example for all of us to follow. It is a sure sign of his dedicated commitment to Rotary and the high level of leadership the club can expect from Thomas this year.

ACALANES INTERACT YEAR ENDS ON AN UPNOTE

Prez Akoni Viray gave a brief summary of the past year at the high school. It started slowly but ended on a positive note. The dedicated band of students collected 155 shoes for Haiti on their Soles for Souls Campaign. He thanked the LSR Club for helping out in a big way.
Although Interact Club membership is at a low point, the committed members are diligent in their efforts to move forward. They are now working on recruiting members from the "lower" class (it was pointed out to Akoni that he really meant the underclass) members, unless of course he was referring to us? Anyway, they plan to start the new school year strong by bringing in good underclass students, having a booth at the Arts and Wine Festival for visibility and sending a student to Camp Royale. He closed with a rather plaintive "I am kind of looking for a job." We are helping him out by publishing his plea in the Newsletter, with the reminder that he would really like a job that actually pays money. Akoni has faithfully attended most of our meetings and will be a fine Rotarian in the future. His contact information is 925-917-9626, email at warriorsfan93@yahoo.com. Good luck Akoni, you will do well in life!

OH NO! IS HE EVER GOING TO STOP?

This being the second meeting in the Peeks regime of course John Fazel found yet another reason to be front and center. Well, this time it was for a good cause, or rather two good causes.

The first was to report on the installation of the new District Governor along with the revelation that our Club took six great Governor's Awards in recognition for our last year's stellar performances. The Awards were for International Service, Literary Projects, Disaster Relief, Rotoplast, Community Service and New Generation. For a moment there he had us thinking we also had won for the very publication you are reading at this moment. Turns out it was just a cruel joke as we apparently finished second to the San Ramon Newsletter. We now have to decide if the entire publishing team should resign in disgrace. We might want to keep our jobs though so we definitely will not put it to a vote. However, I seriously doubt we intend to try any harder this year.

The second award was a sure-fire home run! It is a brand new Partner of the Year District Award instituted on behalf Mark VonHoetzendorff who was the Governor in 2002-03 year from San Ramon. His wife was Darlene who was very active and supportive of Marks work. She suffered a long, debilitating disease and finally died within the last two years. So District Governor Earl Kilmer decided to honor a partner of each Governor, beginning last year, with the Darlene VonHoetzendorff Award for Outstanding Support and Dedication, in honor of Darlene. Our own Carol Chaffey is the first recipient!

Why is Carol the most deserving of this honor you may ask? Let us count just some of the ways:

In the club she has...
          Helped us host ten exchange students
          Worked on fund raisers
Always come to meetings to learn about members in Expose Yourself events
          Hosted TGITLFOTMs
          Kept George relatively in line

At the District she...
Attended every one of George's Club visits and prepared an album of the year
          Hosted innumerable meetings and gatherings at her home
          Graded George mercilessly on every speech with an A to ?

At the Zone she...
          Went on a Rotoplast mission to India
          Went on a Wheelchair/Polio Immunization trip to Ghana
          Helped with training of the partners of incoming Governors

Carol modestly responded that this is far too much, but thank you very much! How great is all of this for a very worthy first award recipient!!! Congratulations Carol from every one of us.

PROGRAM

Colleen Callahan of Kosich & Callahan had the daunting task of walking us through the Health Care Reform Act in a program designed to acquaint us with how this legislative behemoth will impact each and every one of us. That is from the business employer to the privately insured, to the recipients of Medicare benefits. To even begin to recount the many cleverly illustrated slides she discussed would result in a gross miscarriage of her message so well delivered. Suffice it to say quite a bit is known and clearly understood by Colleen. And much of it is yet to be determined by the powers that be. The myriad of rules and regulations will be phased in over a 7 year period. Have no doubt, everyone will be affected at some point within that time frame. A good word of advice for folks who need, or just want, to know is that it would be a good idea to get in touch with people like Colleen who can help out with the information. She graciously agreed to respond to club members who are interested in learning more.

I'm sure she will be pleased to know that Carol Chaffey gave her an A+ for her presentation, and for adhering to the prescribed presentation time! Well, at least this reporter did. Thank you very much Colleen.

Her contact information is as follows:
Colleen Calahan, CLU, CASL, LUTCF
925-284-5433 x124
ccallahan@callahaninsurance.com
3435 Diablo Blvd. Suite 210
Lafayette, CA 94549

It must also be reported that after umpty-ump weekly LN4Hand presentations by previous Presidents to speakers at the end of their programs Thomas got this one exactly right! He's off to a great start.

CALENDAR

7/23/10 Jeff Weiss, Caldecott Fourth Bore Project

7/30/10 John Linneman, Rick Ashburn Exposures

7/30/10 TGITLFOTM, John & Connie Linneman, 5:30, bring munchies and libation to 18 Toledo Ct., Lafayette

8/6/10 Ashley Englehart and Dolphins in Dubai

FUTURE TGITLFOTMs

August 27 - Thomas & Tamara Raeth, Dictionary night

September 24 - Saturday at Kosich vineyard

FUTURE HOME TEAM WORK DAYS

July 24, September 18, November 13, January 8, March 5, April 30, June 25