Meeting Recap for January 6, 2015

President Susan Sheridan called the meeting to order and thanked Randy Friedman for his beautiful piano music which accompanied our wine reception, graciously hosted by J.D. Lauppe and Bonnie Plummer.

Dr. Barbara Arnold offered a reflective Thought for the Day drawn from Lakota philosophy on the interconnectedness of all living things.

Dick Osen led the group in a hearty round of God Bless America.

President Susan gave a quick shout out to the day’s meeting greeters, the smiling duo of Bob Miller and Lev Kaganovich. Then President Susan welcomed back a rejoining member, Julie Van Dooren of American Cancer Society.

Meeting sponsor Mike Bullington hopes to start a ballroom dance group within the club, and demonstrated his chops by taking guest Christina Musser (Spotlight Ballroom) in his arms for a Fred-and-Gingeresque foxtrot across the ballroom. Careful observers clearly saw the gauntlet thrown down at the club’s reigning ballroom couple, Bruce Hester and Elfrena Foord!

President Susan saluted Laura “but you can call me Laura” Heintz for her tremendous chairmanship of the big Daughters Day affair.

President Susan’s “levels of risk” takers this week, contributing to their EM funds included Rita Gibson, Julie Van Dooren, & President Susan herself.  Contributing to PH were Chris Johnson and Jim Phillips.  The Rotary Rooters came in with a $250 contribution as well.  Thank you all for your generosity.

In the meeting announcements:  Michelle Single invited all to attend a workshop on utilizing LinkedIn on Thursday at 5pm at the club office; Randy Friedman announced a club Happy Hour on January 28 at 5:30pm at Plan B Café; and President-Elect Dave Cohen invited attendees to consider the Rotary International convention in São Paulo and accompanying tour excursion in Argentina (May 30-June 15).

Top Gun himself, Past President Tim Pinkney, served as Chair of the Day and introduced the featured speaker, Lt. Colonel David Berg of the United States Air Force. A former F-15 fighter pilot whose service includes tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Berg is now deputy commander of a reconnaissance program employing remotely piloted aircraft (drones) for both military surveillance and humanitarian purposes. He presented an overview of his program, which is based at Beale AFB in our region yet has global reach. True to his wing’s 24/7, never-ceasing mission, his presentation zoomed until President Susan grounded his sortie with gracious thanks for speaking to the club.

P.S. Let’s applaud the heroic efforts of Bob Daly who keeps our A/V systems humming week in and week out. Thank you, Bob!