What Happens with No Speaker?  Someone's Falling Under the Bus...

Has it occurred to anyone other than your journalist that you never see President Sean and Donald Trump at the same time?  Just sayin'... In any event, we were warmly greeted at the door by Jerry Smuts' stand-in, Navin Naik, as Jerry stood by and observed.  Nicely done, Jer...

 

 

 Dr Merlin Mauk got the call to lead the Pledge, a job he takes to like a fly to a horse barn.  Then our musical director, Dr. Bob Adam got the call (again) to lead us in song and as the late great Vince Lombardi once said, "We may play like hell in the beginning, but we finish strong!"  Among our Rotary visitors today was Craig Stevenson from South Sacramento, who admitted to being an attorney, a somewhat risky move in our Club if you don't want to sit alone.  Also in attendance was Rotaract President Sondra Wildmon, who delivered part of the program later in the meeting.

 

 

Lunch was Dave Maestas' famous meat loaf with mashed taters and salad, followed by apple pie and it was delicious.

 

 

 As one has come to expect, we had more announcements than Carter ever had Little Liver Pills.  Here's a few:

 

  1. Nov 21 - Thanksgiving Food Basket at the Cordova Food Locker - volunteers needed - sign up with Brud  

 

  2. Nov 22 - We're dark (i.e. no meeting that week - if you show up anyway, it's going to get expensive...)

 

  3. Nov 27 - Christmas Tree Lighting at Village Green Park

 

  4. Dec 16 - Christmas Party at the Johnson's

 

  5. Jan 28 - Club Charter Night at a location TBD (that makes 57 years in business in Rancho Cordova)

 

  6. Feb 18 - Crab Feed at St John Vianney - start lining up your ticket sales

 

 

  Next up was the weekly payday for Ray Wyatt, but apparently the $80 pot wasn't large enough for Ray to bother with, so it turned out to be Jerry Smuts who pulled the white ball, just to build some momentum for Ray when it gets up around  $500 or so.  Tough luck, Jerry.  

 

 

About that time,the Prez got up to introduce Ross Johnson as the stand-in Sarge for Beth, but Ross had vacated the room, so Sondra Wildmon got up and brought us up to speed on what Rotaract at Sac State has been up to, and it's been a lot, from working with United Way on an urban garden (they rounded up 82 volunteers!), marketing Rotaract to the students on campus and adopting a polling station as a fund raiser.  Well done, Sondra and Rotaract.

 

 

Well, the Sarge suddenly reappeared and it was off to the races.  1. Ray admitted to being elected to the Rules Committee of the Senior Legislature; 2. Navin paid for a 'big event' which he was reticent to share; 3. Chase Armer's son Trevor  took his dad to the cleaners during a recent soccer game, where Trevor blocked 17 goal attempts (at $1 per save); nice going, Chase;  4. the big guy paid for a successful election; 5. Bob Adam paid for his grandson's recent success in woodworking; 6. Clarence crowed about Marshall's big win over the weekend against the Eskaton Warriors from St Petersburg; 7. Sean paid for being a Cowboys fan (Jerry Jones to his young grandson, "Bobby, what do you want for your birthday?"  Bobby, "Grampa, I want a Mickey Mouse outfit!"  Jerry, "Sorry, Bobby, I already own the Cowboys..."); 8. Sgt Ross fessed up to blowing it out his ... eye, when he oversped his horn during a recent concert and it turned a nasty red...; 9. Ross MacCarty threw in $4 for some unspecified violations, well... unspecified until Sgt Ross reminded him of a Community Corps faux pas; 10 . Merlin paid for a family reunion; 11. and then Tracy paid for her joy at finding out there is no meeting next week.

 

 

 12. Tom Redmon chipped in in sympathy for Tracy having to sit next to Pat Orelli during meetings and it then turned out that she likes it over there... (so she's the one...); 13. Brett Shreiner chipped in for being happy generally (don't ask); 14. Pat Orelli threw down some bucks for being outed by the ever popular "Accounting Today" magazine which said that if you follow the Rotary 4-Way Test, you can be arrested for not using GAAP; 15. President Sean bled a little for Golden State Water's press coverage of a Thanksgiving turkey giveaway; 16. Brud paid for his personal hero becoming President-Elect and that was about it.

 

We were scheduled to hear (and see) Courtney Blake from the Sacramento Kings (their new point guard?), but she failed to materialize, so the President, well known for his flexibility in such situations, invited his predecessor to come up and deliver the first of two classification talks.  Well, the big guy did just that,reminiscing about his trials and tribulations in the service of his country and his transition to the financial business at the close of his military career.  It was pretty dull stuff, but it was last-minute.  At the conclusion of his remarks, Ross MacCarty got up and regaled the crowd with a report on our Rotary Community Corps program.  Well done.  Neither speaker got any kind of remuneration in the form of, say, a coffee mug, but they were happy to participate as are all true Rotarians.  With that, the room cleared as if Two Ton Baker had just broken wind.

 

 

 

There was a board meeting after the Club meeting and some highlights emerged:

 

  1. According to Secretary Tracy, we are holding steady at 27 members 

 

  2. According to Membership Chair Chapman, we are trying to expand our social media presence as a way to attract folks to our Club.  We currently have a prospective member waiting in the wings to join (more details after she's published)

 

  3. Tom Redmon and Brett Shreiner are going to confab to optimize our Facebook page (if you know anything about Facebook, I'm sure they'd love your assistance)

 

  4. Treasurer Pat says it's a good thing the Crab Feed is coming up because the Club treasury can stand some replenishing.  Also, Pat recommended we move our bank account to a closer location now that Linda Aseltine, our personal banker, has retired

 

  5.  Club Admin Chief Brett Shreiner is going to coordinate speakers with Anthony and Bob McBee going forward

 

  6. Community /Service Chair Brud says the B Street Theater project is in full swing, as is the Dictionary project (dictionaries by Thanksgiving?... perhaps)

 

  7. International Service Chair Navin Naik updated us on the water filter project in his native India (it's very close) and also volunteered to be our new Club Scholarship Chair.

 

  8. Foundation Chair Clarence expressed his pleasure at the Club's donations thus far to the Rotary Foundation.  With a goal of $6750, we have already collected $5150!  Kudos to you Rotarians out there who are confirming your commitment to improving our world.  

 

By this time, it appeared that a number of board members were suffering from 'flat butt syndrome', so when Clarence moved for adjournment, the 'ayes' were not only unanimous, but loud...  Good meeting.