March 17, 2026, Rotary Lunch Meeting (Mar. 22, 2026)

March 17, 2026

Rotary Club of Arden Arcade

Lunch Meeting

President Matt Ross Presiding

We Are Dark This Tuesday!

Piatti's is open but we won't be there!

President Matt Ross rang the bell and welcomed everyone to

the best damn Rotary club in all the world, and...

Happy St. Patty's Day, the drinks are on me!

NOTE: The camera chip failed. It recorded the pictures taken but I can't retrieve them. This effects last week's meeting as well as the poker tournament😒.

There was a chip in place it just failed...

Chip happens! .

Pledge: PDG Steve Turner

The President asked PDG Steve Turner to lead the pledge to our flag, and he did as requested.

He then asked himself to provide the thought of the day... which he did.

Thought: The Prez

President Ross lead the recitation of the Four-Way test.

... and Guests!

As there are no pictures of the new guests. They will not be featured with the normal accompanying visage.

There were no visiting Rotarians.

Guests of Rotarians:

Tim Cahill introduced his lovely wife Laurel.
Linda Bigler introduced Richard Peeves, Al Scott Sr and Schitara Victoria Willis-Page. Al and Schitara attending with today's guest speaker, Alaric Scott Jr.

Guest - Michelle Elder

Linda Bigler introduced Michelle Elder, retired CPA for Downey Street, for her second visit and is considering becoming a new member.

Guest - Ruth Dwight

Linda Bigler introduced her co-bartender, Ruth Dwight.

Guest - Diane Pawloski

Ryan Driffell introduced Diane Pawloski, who is returning for her third and final free lunch. Please note, in the past two newsletters she was referred to as Diane Tawloski, this was incorrect. Her last name is Pawloski... Ts and Ps get harder to discern with older electronically assisted ears. The Editor apologizes for this inadvertent slight to her family name. Diane has submitted paperwork to join the club in spite of this fact. Tlease Phank her for considering our club when you see her.

Show Me the Money!

Bell Ringers?

There was no ringing-o-the-bell on this very,

free alcohol-induced,

Happy St. Patty's Day?

Happy Bucks - Al Cady

Al was Happy for two reasons. First, his shop welcomed a passel of Scouts, under the watchful eye of Rob Olmstead. They assembled with the intent of turning rough lumber into bread boards. This touched Al's heart. He likes nothing better than making sawdust, unless it is teaching young testosterone filled bodies how to channel that energy into making piles of the sawdust. Al is particularly happy that every person left with the same number of fingers they came with, and all of them attached as God created them.

Rob's Scouts at work

Making little boards

out of big boards

Bread Boards keeping boys from getting bored

Al's second reason for donating Happy Bucks is that he gets perks for driving the Rotary trailer around town. Today on his way to the meeting a babe honked and waved at him. It was someone he knew. He is not going to divulge the identity of the individual, but he was willing to share her initials, L.e.e. H.a.m.b.r.i.c.k.

Happy Bucks - Linda Bigler

Linda was happy because yesterday she was able to squeak in her 12th day on the hill, despite diminishing snow. This means she met her contractual obligations to perform ski patrol duties in exchange for skiing privileges. I'll bet most Rotarians were unaware that Linda is a contract skier. Who knew one could exchange what one loves to do, for more time to do what one loves to do... Oh, wait... Golfer, golfers know that.

Happy? Bucks - Rolundia Mitchell

Rolundia responded to the call for happy bucks, but it sounded more like "Eating Crow" bucks. She said, and I quote, "Since I'm a person of my word, I have happy bucks because last week I had to say three words that you guys have never heard before, and I will never say again. I will say it was 'Joes is the antonym of wrong.' " The secret word is antonym. She was true to her word and did not say "Joe was right" a second time.

Happy Bucks - PDG Steve Turner

Steve started out sharing just how sad he was that Robert Olmstead III was not in attendance to hear him sing the praises he had for his daughter's exploits in a recent major sporting volleyball tournament held this last weekend in Las Vegas.... "Audrey did an amazing job. It was thrilling to see her play in all the games. She started as a setter and had some great pancakes (not the breakfast kind). It was a sweaty, sporty girl, all weekend long in Las Vegas." Pancakes, for the soccer dads in the club, a pancake in volleyball is a defensive move where a player dives and places their hand flat on the court to prevent the ball from hitting the floor.

Happy Bucks - Emmett Swarat

Emmett was happy to share that he survived a pre–St. Patrick's Day pub crawl in Reno this past weekend and for this he is donating green-back bucks in honor of the being green and not feeling green the next morning.

Happy Bucks - Debbie Hudson

Debbie was happy because she attended Joe's pork pull Friday night. She had a great time and is looking forward to doing it, or something like it, again next year. She may have to talk with Mrs. Green about that.

Happy Bucks - Joe Green

Not so mean Joe Green is happy as his wife is no longer complaining about the daunting task that lies ahead of him this Saturday at the poker tournament providing dinner for 180 of his closest friends. So far, he is not in the doghouse and would like it to stay that way.

Happy Bucks - Chris Lewis

Chris Lewis is happy that he was able to attend his son's baseball game. Baseball, America's favorite pastime, is generally accepted as a real sport.

Happy Bucks - Rolundia Mitchell - Again

Rolundia was happy that the American Heart Association and the School of Cardiology have now, finally updated the guidelines for good heart health, to suggest everyone get tested for lipoprotein level A. This will save many lives, and she is very excited about this new recommendation.

Let's take a moment to remember the Late Rob Olmstead

It was at the 8:44 minute mark of the first half of the meeting that, Past President Robert Olmstead III arrived at the meeting. This prompted the Prez to ask PDG Turner to share his tale of a true sporting event that spawned his decision to offer up Happy Bucks for the late, Rob Olmstead to hear. PDG Turner was delighted to get double mileage from his happy buck, getting to sing his praises once again for his daughter's exploits in a recent major sporting volleyball tournament held this last weekend in Las Vegas during a real sporting event.

The Prez pressed on, asking Sergeant at Arms, Cady, to reiterate his reason for providing happy bucks. Al was pleased to comply and restated that he was happy to have been able to invest his time, talents and his workshop, helping the impressionable youth with his woodworking skills, and shop, to aid them in their attempt to create sawdust and cutting boards. Oh, yes ... and that Rob should ring the bell as a result of said event.

What's My Fine?

Ryan Driffell

Ryan was offered a $5 fine for his part in last week's conversation regarding a separate organization not to be named at this time whose emphasis is improving habitat for waterfowl to help them successfully breed, so that the organization and their friends can shoot them. If he gets the question right, no fine, wrong answers cost $10. He was feeling lucky and chose the trivia and Sports for the category.

Question: Who is the most decorated female Olympian with 14 medals, nine are gold? Today happens to be her birthday.

Ryan's Answer: Someone in tennis? Not even close. Pay $10.

Correct Answer: Katie Ledecky, the Olympic swimmer.

What's My Fine?

Rob Olmstead

Rob was offered a $10 fine and $20 if he got the question wrong. The fine was elevated due to his late arrival. Rob, pleading his case, saying he was on official Rotary business, picking up trophies for the club. The Prez noted that the lack of advance notice negates the good intentions and thus keeps him subject to being fined. Rob chose geography for his question.

Question: Which continent is Iran in?

Ryan's Answer: Asia. Correct, no fine.

Late Bell Ringer from the Late Rob Olmstead

Rob, was happy to agree with Al Cady's assessment of his need to ring the bell. He offered up a Bell Ringer in honor of Al's donation of his time, skills and facilities on Sunday, hosting the Scouts in their endeavor to produce cutting boards.

Todd Eichman

Todd knew

"Butts"

was the Secret Word...

It reminded him of his favorite Simpson's character,

Seymour Butts

Todd chose something containing alcohol.

How Many's "Ps" in this Post?

The post pertaining to pulling pork was filled with words containing the letter P. The post posed the question, asking how many p's were present. One person, proffered that there were 41 Ps. That number fell far short. President Elect Debbie Hudson counted every P and knew that there were 56 in the post and was pretty pleased with herself. For this, she was permitted to procure one of the two remaining prizes.

District Conference

This year's District conference is being held May 1 through May 3 at Lake Tahoe. Please mark your calendar and plan on attending. This is a great opportunity to find out things you never knew about Rotary and things that can help you perform with competence in the positions you are responsible for.

Fireside Chats

This year the Fireside Chats will be held in the month of April. Every member is required to attend at least one of the three meetings. These meetings help the incoming president to plan their year. The meetings will be held April 15th at Steve Turner's bachelor pad, April 23 at Richard Goore's abode, and April 30th at Linda Bigler's bunker. A signup sheet will be passed around next week.

Aspire's Annual College Fair

Christine Jensen shared that Aspire will be holding their annual College Carrer Fair on April 24th. They are looking for individuals willing to share aspects of their profession with impressionable minds looking for future careers. For more information contact Marisol or Rachel.

Demotion Date

June 27th will be the date we say a fond farewell to Matt and finally be able to tell him what we really think of him. Mark your calendar and postpone your vacation. You won't want to miss this one.

Member Minute

Featuring

Al Frumkin

My member minute today is going to be a bit reflective. It might be a bit maudlin, emotional, I don't know. But I would like to share some thoughts with you about how blessed I feel in life to be part of this group and lead the life that I'm living. If when I was 18, if you had asked me what my life was going to look like, whatever answer I came up with, it would not look like it does today. The moral of this story is going to be never take no for an answer. Never give up. In high school, I'm not a very smart person. I'm analytical, but I'm not book smart. And I worked my but off in High School.

Six hours of homework every night and I got a 2.4 GPA.

Nevertheless, my parents wanted me to go to UC Berkeley. Nobody in our family had never gone to a university. And through political connections, I got in. Freshman year, I flunked out. Two Ds, two Fs.

Never give up, Never say no. I went to see Dean of Ben R. Lee Williams. I argued my case, he let me back in and I graduated. Berkeley eight years later. Yeah, I graduated on time.

Then I wanted to be a lawyer. So I went to law school. And my freshman year I flunked out. More Ds, more Fs. But I argued my way back in and I was able to eventually graduate second in my class and pass the bar the first time around. Again, I'm not book smart. I'm not very. I'm analytical, but I'm not a guy who's going to be able to memorize stuff.

I have been very blessed with the teaching career I had. I taught high school for seven years. I loved every day of it. I'd be teaching today but for the pay. I didn't want to live on a teacher's salary. So that's why when I started teaching, I also started night law school. Four nights a week, four hours a night for four years. And of course, my least favorite number. When I became an attorney, I just hung out my shingle and never in my life did I think I would have the kind of practice that I have today, which is very financially successful.

I am so blessed and I thank Heavenly Father every day my Rotary experience. When I first wanted to be a Rotarian, they voted no, primarily because of my dear, dear friend, Richard D. King, who became world president. Rick and Rob, his brother, were attorneys in the San Lorenzo Club. They didn't want another damn attorney, and so they kept me out. And through the years, I eventually was a charter member of the San Ramon Club that was just forming. And through the years, Rick and I got closer and closer and closer and truly we were brothers. He was a mentor. He was a brother. And actually, just a couple years before he passed, he wanted to sit down with me and tell me something that had bothered him through the years. He was the one who kept me out of Rotary. I said, you know, Rick, we're brothers. It doesn't matter, matter. We all do things we regret. The fact is, we look at our relationship today through Rotary.

I've been so blessed with the friends I have made, the experiences I have had, whether it was eating dinner not in the same room as Gorbachev, but sitting next to him, talking with Jerry Lewis, meeting leaders from all throughout the world and the friendships I have developed here. The first two people I will never forget as long as I am a member of this club, is Tim and his wife. We went to our very first social event, and they took us under their wing and sat with us that night and made us feel at home.

All of you know that we thought you were buying our dinner. All of you know that in fact, Chris is like my little brother. He's family. The experiences that I've enjoyed with Steve Turner when he was governor.
Lisa and I are like a threesome. And not that kind of threesome, but we're just interchange all the wonderful experiences. Al Cady, taking me to the fire department once a month for the dinner.

So, the moral of the story is, if something goes negative, turn it into a positive again. There's no way I should be here today. But I enjoy good health, good life, and I have a great wife. I mean, I don't kid myself, what the hell is Lisa doing with me? I'm not the tallest guy in the world. I'm not the best-looking guy in the world. But we will be partners forever. We are both very strong personalities, but we do learn from one another. We have each other's back. And so, every day I count my blessings, Heavenly Father.

I truly, truly am blessed.

The Prez noted that it's amazing Al got all that out in one minute. But I also didn't hear a whole lot of ruffling going on, even though it may have gone like a minute two or minute three, but, you know.

Anyway, it was six minutes, but who's counting?

Alaric Scott

Linda Bigler introduced today's guest speaker, Alaric Scott. He is founder of AI AJ Academy, which is based here in Sacramento. His academy is focused on helping students, professionals, businesses apply AI practically. He works with entrepreneurs, educators, workforce leaders. His mission is to help individuals and companies save time, improve decisions, open economic opportunities

The AI AJ Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and his Initiatives include Equihire AI and Pro Learn AI.

## Summary:

The transcript features Alaric Scott, founder of AI AJ Academy, a Sacramento-based nonprofit dedicated to AI literacy and practical AI applications for students, professionals, and businesses. Alaric discusses the broad scope of AI beyond popular tools like ChatGPT, emphasizing AI's role in saving time, improving decision-making, and creating economic opportunities. He highlights the importance of human expertise alongside AI, addressing AI’s current limitations such as inaccuracies and biases, particularly ageism in hiring practices. The conversation covers AI tools and agents that automate workflows, enabling small businesses and entrepreneurs to operate efficiently, potentially scaling to billion-dollar enterprises with minimal staff. Alaric introduces AI AJ Academy’s initiatives like Equihire AI, which combats AI bias in employment, and Pro Learn AI, which customizes education to individual learning styles using AI. The discussion also touches on ethical concerns including AI-generated misinformation, the need for transparency in AI-produced content, and methods to fact-check AI outputs. Audience questions explore AI’s impact on various industries, data analysis capabilities, and integration with specialized databases like Westlaw for legal research. Alaric recommends beginner and advanced AI tools, explains strategic prompting techniques, and advocates for responsible AI use that enhances human intelligence rather than replaces it. The session concludes with calls for collaboration and sponsorship to expand AI education and workforce readiness programs.

## About Alaric Scott and AI AJ Academy

- Founder and lead of AI AJ Academy and AI Agent Solutions

- AI AJ Academy provides AI literacy, education, community workshops, entrepreneur training, workforce readiness

- AI Agent Solutions is the implementation arm: consulting, AI agent deployment, business automation, staff training

- Partners include Intel, Chase, Golden 1, SHRA, City of Sacramento, BGS

## What is AI and Its Capabilities

- AI is more than just ChatGPT

- Current strengths:

- Writing, research, automation, customer support

- Limitations:

- Sometimes gives incorrect answers

- Designed to please the user (nicknamed "Bob")

- Needs clear prompts

- Cannot replace human expertise

- Importance of "human in the loop" to verify AI outputs

- AI hallucinations: AI generating false or nonsensical information

## AI Tools and Ecosystem

- Examples of AI tools: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, MidJourney, Suno

- Billions of AI tools exist and are created daily

- AI tools serve various professions: small businesses, entrepreneurs, educators, government workers

## Benefits of AI in Professions

- Saves time: emails, reports, research, scheduling

- Improves decision-making speed with faster insights and data summaries

- Saves money by reducing repetitive labor and automating tasks

## AI Agents

- Definition: Digital assistants that respond to questions, organize info, generate reports, handle workflows

- Can create environments of AI agents to manage business functions (marketing, sales, content creation)

- Enables potential for one-person businesses to scale massively

- Termed by coach as "Mailbox Money"

## Demonstrations

- AI planning a travel itinerary example (3-day itinerary for Ireland)

- AI generating recipes (corned beef and cabbage)

## Strategic Prompting Framework: CHAT

- C: Context

- H: Hat (role AI is to assume)

- A: Action

- T: Tone

- Example of improved prompt:

- Simple: "Write an email to a customer"

- Better: "Write a professional email responding to a frustrated customer whose order was delayed. Apologize, provide reassurance, offer a solution."

- Emphasizes that better instructions yield better AI results

## AI AJ Academy Software Projects

### Equihire AI

- Addresses AI bias in hiring, especially ageism starting at age 40

- AI bias causing "ghost jobs" where applicants are rejected before human review

- 2024 law holds companies liable for AI bias

### Pro Learn AI

- Inspired by IEP (Individualized Education Program) success

- Uses AI to analyze student learning styles (auditory, visual, etc.)

- Customizes curriculum delivery to individual students

- Makes personalized learning scalable and affordable

## Key Takeaways about AI

- AI does not replace people; it protects time and magnifies intelligence

- Being a subject matter expert remains essential

- "If you can text, you can prompt"

- AI is likened to an "Iron Man suit for your brain"

## How Rotary Club Can Help

- Seeking business sponsors, economic development partners

- Offering AI training for displaced workers and others

## Audience Q&A Highlights

### Interesting AI Uses

- OpenClaw: AI agents with autonomous behavior, simulating meetings and business discussions

- Integration of AI tools using API keys and platforms like Zapier to automate workflows (e.g., content creation without manual intervention)

### Concerns about AI and Learning

- Question on why use AI to write letters instead of writing oneself

- Response: AI as a springboard for inspiration, not replacement

- Importance of verifying AI output and avoiding plagiarism

### Labeling AI-Produced Content

- Concern about misinformation and deepfakes

- Agreement on need for labeling AI-generated content

- Teaching people to recognize AI output and fact-check rigorously

### AI’s Impact on Writing and Other Industries

- Shift from writer to editor role across industries

- Entertainment industry heavily impacted (editing films, music production)

- AI giving people more time by automating routine tasks

### Legal Field and AI

- Courts criticize AI use in briefs due to hallucinated cases and citations

- AI created to please users, sometimes at cost of accuracy

- Strategy: Use "deep research" mode and train AI for factual accuracy before public use

- Legal databases (Westlaw, LexisNexis) siloed; AI can connect via API keys to these for accurate info

- AI can generate citations in proper formats (e.g., APA)

### Recommended AI Tools

- Beginners:

- ChatGPT or Gemini (user-friendly interfaces)

- Apollo (good AI stack for intermediate users)

- Advanced users:

- Replit (for building apps, SaaS solutions)

- Claude (strong for software development and research)

### API Usage and Teaching

- Teaching API integration primarily through platforms like Zapier

- Manual API setups possible but considered advanced/customized training

### AI for Data Analysis

- Use AI to analyze CRM data (e.g., Mailchimp open rates)

- Ask AI for campaign improvement suggestions

- Can analyze keywords and SEO gaps

- Compatible with data from Google Analytics and other sources

## Closing Remarks

- Certificates given to speakers to support polio eradication (25 people vaccinated per certificate)

- Appreciation for participation and invitation to future events

- Contact and resource information available on AI AJ Academy website

The Prez presented the End Polio Now Certificate to Alaric in appreciation for his timely presentation.

President Matt thanked everyone for coming and adjourned the meeting by ringing the bell and closing the meeting at 1:10 P.M.

Dad Joke of the Day

Dedicated to Steve Turner

I was going to get a brain transplant,

but I changed my mind.

Respectfully (more or less) submitted by,

Mike Grace

Reporter, Photographer, and Editor.

Hellen Weight

Ombudsman and Content Supervisor

DISCLAIMER - Some of the information provided in some of the articles and possibly included in some of the "quotes" from club members, may have been a fabrication of a demented mind. It is up to you to determine fact from fiction. Individuals objecting to all or any parts herein, are encouraged to go to Hellen Weight to lodge a formal complaint.