THE LAMORINDAN 7-30-10

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Alex Arnold (a.k.a. Prez-in-Waiting), offered this: "A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities." ~ William Arthur Ward (whoever he is/was).

VISITING ROTARIANS AND GUESTS

Akoni Viray - Ever popular Interact President
Ken Thomas - Orinda and guest of Pat Flaharty's
Dennis Kurimai - Ready to be welcomed aboard!
Connie Linneman - Beloved wife in charge of keeping John honest this morning
Glenda Fillinger - Paul's boss and erstwhile club first lady
Yolanda Peeks - New first lady getting introduced by Steve Ware as Yolanda Thomas, prompting entirely deserved fine of $20 from "Mrs. Thomas's" other (if not better) half.

BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES

Tay Wheeler remains in hiding for whatever his transgressions may be, real or alleged.

Charlie Franklin admitted to 10-year-old membership in the club. Prez Peeks - to date usually a wallet picker -- let him off with a $10 heist. The rest of us should be so lucky.

EXCHANGE STUDENT INTRODUCES HERSELF

Thomas (as in Peeks) read an e-mail addressed to the club from our incoming exchange student, who hails from Santa Cruz. That's Santa Cruz, Bolivia, not California. And we quote ...

"Hi, I'm Arianne Anez, an exchange student for the 2010-11 program that your club accepted. I just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY! You have no idea how much I've always wanted to be part of an exchange program. I'm so excited to meet your country. I hope you enjoy having me as an exchange student in your club. I promise you won't regret having me in your club. Thank you again."

Yours sincerely,
Arianne Anez Merlin"

We'll have more info on her in coming weeks. She will live with the Wares for the first three months. Let us hope that before she leaves for her next host family Steve will have her surname down cold.

SAD ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY BY THE PREZ

Thomas regretfully informed us of three resignations from our ranks. Former president (and our first female leader) Joanne Luscher, Walt Nelson and relative newcomer Dominic Porrino. All three have been hugely valuable members. Their many contributions, individually and collectively, will be greatly missed. Rumor has it that Dom is moving to Napa (really?). (Personal aside from reporter: "Dom, this is a lousy stunt. You were just getting the hang of putting the newsletter together, and now you bail. You know what this means, don't you? That I can never take a weekend off. I'm sorry, but your departure fails the Four-Way Test. Don't go, we/I need you, bro!"

MR. BLACK'S PHOTOGRAPHY GETTING LOCAL INK

Well, maybe not. Tom announced that he has not one but TWO photo exhibits concurrently on display in Lafayette. The grander of the two is in the lobby of Town Hall Theatre on Moraga Rd through the end of August. But, as Tom noted, "probably no one will see it because the theater has no performances during the summer." Even so, the theater is open and active, at least during the day. Call ahead for times you can get in. The other venue for his work, albeit much, much smaller (little wall space) is the recently opened Bookmark Café, attached at the hip to the Lafayette Library and Learning Center, which, if you haven't noticed, sits proudly (it should for $47 mil) at the corner of Mt. Diablo Blvd. and First Street. The café is open seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tom opined that they will likely remain there until they are stolen or the Café goes out of business, which, according to rumor, may well happen. It may want for wall space, but not for intimacy: all of two tables inside.

He neglected to say that he will offer the usual 10% surcharge to any Rotarian who wants to buy one of his priceless renderings. All joshing aside, Tom does exquisite work, and as he notes, "There is something suitable for virtually any décor. And if not, we change the décor."

MARK ROBERTS CAUGHT BY PAPARAZZI PHOTOGRAPHER

Who was not Tom Black. Mark claims it was an innocent effort on his part to disperse libations from a golf cart at an Orinda fundraiser held at the Orinda Country Club. He admitted that the newspaper picture and caption were true, that he would willingly pay the $10 fine, and that he would not let it happen again.

WHO KNOWS MORE ABOUT ROTARY AMBASSADORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS THAN PAT FLAHARTY? ANSWER: PROBABLY NO ONE

We will be learning plenty in the coming year. Pat is mentoring one such fellow named Andrew Smith, a 24-year-old British barrister, who will be attending U.C. Berkeley in the year ahead. His attendance is underwritten by the Rotary International Foundation, which invests more money in graduate school scholarships worldwide each year than does the Rhodes Scholarship Program. True fact. Andrew will make an in-the-flesh cameo next Friday.

TGITLFOTM DATES UPDATE

The seemingly ubiquitous Mr. Roberts announced that the September TGITLFOTM will be held in the afternoon on Saturday, Oct. 2, at the Kosich family vineyard, three miles east of Sonoma. Yes, Saturday! Details to follow, but Mark suggests we all save the date NOW. (Hey, Ken, free samples?)

There will also be an October TGITLFOTM on Friday, Oct. 29, at Chuck Bove's new villa in Lafayette. Might as well note that too while the calendar's handy.

OH, OH - HERE COMES THE MYSTERY ROTARIAN AGAIN

By way of introduction Prez Peeks pulled one from Pat Flahary's previous regime, to whit:

1.    Married to an honorary air force colonel
2.    Skated to school in the winter
3.    I forgot what this one was, so it must not have been true.

Anyway, not to bore you with the details, the mystery Rotarian turned out to be me. I was prepared for this to happen two years ago and had pictures to prove some of the points. Of course only Charlie Franklin remembered my former epic three minutes of fame. So I plan to turn in to Venera Maysuryants the same items again (guess I'll have to invent a new third clue), confident in your ability to remain clueless. However, the rest of you are encouraged to let your conscience be your guide, so get those forms filled out forthwith.

PROGRAM

In the ongoing tradition of Expose Yourself programs, the distinguished victim today was John Linneman. He was born in Brainerd, Minn., in 1944. John lived there with his parents until his father moved the family to San Diego in time for John to begin junior high school. Apparently a rock solid, frozen car in the middle of winter was the final straw that drove the family to seek warmer climes. In fact, John's credo ever since has been "never spend money to get cold."

Sports played a big part in John's life in high school. He was involved in football, basketball, golf, tennis and track. He assessed his skill level as good enough to play all sports, but not quite speedy enough to be a star. A touch of modesty is probably at play here, at least as far as golf is concerned. Be it known you want John to head your team.

John is a graduate of San Diego State, a former naval officer, a graduate of the Naval Special Warfare School and served in Viet-Nam.

Once discharged, he continued his education at University of Maryland, where he earned an MBA and had course work toward a PhD. He decided, however, to go to work for Arthur Anderson, which got him back to California (San Francisco, to be exact). This job only lasted three months when he decided A.A. was not his cup of tea.

This was a great decision from his point of view since he ended up with the General Reinsurance Group and that lead to a highly successful career in which he started and sold two reinsurance companies over the years. His qualifications for the initial hire you ask? Here's a lad who stands 6'2" tall, has an MBA and served as a military officer in Nam. He moved from New York to Hartford to Boston, then Philadelphia and back to San Francisco for keeps.

Along the way, in Hartford, Conn.,John met Connie, promptly fell in love, and ended up with a wife ... and two lovely daughters. He blames Connie and her cordon bleu cooking skills for the 70 pounds he's added over the years. She also gets the blame for naming his racing sailboat, which was built in France. He watched the boat while it was under construction. They (er, Connie) christened the boat "Messical Creampuffs" the day of the Oakland fire. John has raced the boat several times, winning one race to Cabo San Lucas (4 ½ days) and finishing respectably in a race to Hawaii (12 days). They also own a 1949 Chris Craft wooden boat, berthed at the Linneman redoubt at Lake Tahoe.

John and Connie also have a winter home in Rancho Mirage, in The Desert. They're both big on travel, visiting favorite places such as Machu Pichu and Madrid, Spain to name a very few. John, you are living a most interesting life. You have accomplished much ... and are a nice guy, to boot. Moreover, we all love Connie.

CALENDAR

8/5-8/8:   Stand Down

8/6:      Ashley Englehart, The Dolphins
8/13:    Teddy Roosevelt, father of the National Parks
8/27:    Thomas & Tamara Raeth, TGITLFOTM/Dictionaries
10/2:    Ken Kosich, TGITLFOTM, Clear Lake

FUTURE HOME TEAM WORK DAYS

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