People have accused Donald Trump of 'shading' the truth, but you haven't seen shading until you hear the Club President claim the meeting is starting on time when the clock at the door (visible to all concerned) shows us as two minutes late.  I believe Mr Twilla has his sights set on higher office...  Just sayin'...  
 
Two Club members having a preliminary chat...
 
In any event, after the usual preliminary chats between members, the meeting took off, with Brett Schreiner handing out badges at the door, capably monitored by team captain Ross Johnson.
 
"Jeez, I can't believe they made me pay for my badge..."
 
Greeter and associate
 
 When we arose to do the Pledge, it was the PP who did the honors and then Ray Wyatt stepped up to the imaginary mic and belted out God Bless America with abandon.  With that done, there was the usual awkward moment while we scanned the room for visiting Rotarians and guests, but other than our guest speakers, there  were none.
 
Even our guest speakers are amused by his outfit...
 
Almost immediately, people began eating a delicious lunch of enchiladas, rice  and salad prepared by our caterer Dave, who was conspicuously alone today.  Of course a good meal can only take you so far and the Prez was up to the task of interrupting some interesting conversations when he got up to throw some announcements our way.
 
Announcements, we got 'em... 
 
At the end of the screened announcements, Prez asked PP to get up and talk membership, so the big guy spent a few minutes at the lectern pleading with his fellow Rotarians to round up some friends, associates, neighbors, or recently released felons and bring them to our meetings.  He reminded everyone that there are incentives for the folks who bring guests to our Tuesday lunches.  At the end of his harangue, Brud Dufficy stood up and talked about the B Street Theater project, which is going swimmingly under Brud's insightful leadership and after questioning, Brud also told us that dictionaries have not even been priced yet this year for our dictionary project, but he did mention that we are now covering 10 R.C. schools and providing roughly 560 dictionaries.  Well done, Brudley.
 
Melody talks about Texas Hold 'Em
 
With just about all the announcing a guy can take, we turned to the weekly 'rape of the treasury', where normally Ray Wyatt gets additional funds to throw in his 401k.  This week, however, it was Brett Schreiner who threw a monkey wrench into Ray's plans,and Brett managed to yank the orange ball for a $208 payday!!!  Next week will start over with $25 in the pot (I think).  
 
Excedrin headache #437
 
Of course, once you have the drawing, next you have to have the Sarge and it was our friend, Ross Johnson, who took to the stage for a relatively quiet fining session.  Ross started off by noting that some anniversary folks and birthday kids were absent, and then he threw a few shekels in the pot because he was so sad that his kids had left town.  You'll get over it, Ross... give it time.  Bob McBee was apparently due some anniversary wine and didn't get it and then it was noted that Bob is the guy in charge of bringing the wine to the meeting so that turned out to be fineable faux pas.  
 
Let's face it; the man loves his job...
 
Tom Redmon had just returned from 2 weeks (?!?!?!?!) in Hawaii where apparently he and Dorothy had an amazing time, but he got nicked for forgetting his Rotary pin as I understand it.  Whatever happened to our old 'dollar a mile' rule for vacations?  It turns out that our President is a Cowboys fan (if you knew that last year, would you have voted for him?)  Brett very charitably returned some of his drawing proceeds, and then Curt Haven, who we haven't seen in a bit told us about catching a 9 foot marlin while vacationing in Mexico recently.  Way to go,Curt.  The has-been paid for a disappointing weekend: Illinois lost, the Bears lost and the Cubs lost on Monday night... it's tough to hold your head up when events transpire against you like this...
 
Would you buy a used car from this man?
 
 Clarence threw in a few since the Marshall Thundering Herd lost to ... I think it was Tapioca Tech.  To heap further indignity on the PP, PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP Steve Forseth mentioned that he is a Giants fan.  Pat Orelli admitted to his phone ringing during last week's meeting and paid.  The Sarge then turned his attention to Drs Mauk and Adam and apparently fined them on general principles and Ray even threw in $2 for something and that was it...   Game over...
 
  Never one to waste words on any kind of flowery or informative introductions, the Prez regained the floor and asked our guest speakers, Amanda Norton and Meghan Huber to come up and tell us about what's going on in R.C. with regard to economic development.  Amanda and Meghan work with Curt in the Economic Development office for the city and they gave an extremely informative and interesting talk on the demographic trends in Rancho and then extrapolated that to what they see coming down the road, so to speak.  I think some of the information surprised a number of those in the audience, but their message was crystal-clear: Rancho Cordova is a major player in employment opportunity, and in a number of industries, including high tech, and the city is doing all it can to facilitate business growth here.  A very engaging talk by two very knowledgeable and obviously competent speakers.
 
Meghan Huber and Amanda Norton
 
When it was over, the Prez gave them a book on diabetes to sign and the room cleared so quickly you'd have thought the Empire had struck back...  Good meeting.
 
Don't leave yet!!!  PDG Clarence has asked me to update you on the status of our Sustaining Paul Harris Fellows.  Here is a current list:
 
Chase Armer
Anthony Chacon
John Chapman
Steve Forseth
Bob McBee
Neil Orchard
Clarence Parkins
Mike Passof
Gary Spainhower
Beth Walter
Ray Wyatt
 
This is a big deal, and it is one of the ways that our Club distinguishes itself amongst the riff-raff that are the other Clubs in our District.  If you can, please make an effort to support your Club and Rotary by writing out a check for any amount and getting it to Clarence.