Northwind, October 11, 2012
MEETING TO ORDER: President Laurie called the meeting to order at 12:30 and thanked Gary for double duty as Greeter and Invoker.
GUESTS: Kaitlyn Holman, guest of Laurie
VISITING ROTARIANS: George Tsakumis and Jeanne McGee
RETURNING ROTARIANS: Rick is back from two weeks in Idaho and Spokane. We missed you Rick! Bill only went as far as Monroe, for a swap meet, but we missed him last week too.
BIRTHDAYS: Jim Sands and Rocky Richardson were both born on October 13th. Rocky was apparently out celebrating early.
Very special birthday announcement: George Tsakumis is celebrating his 80th Birthday this week.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
· Membership seminary in Mount Vernon the 13th of this month, Gary and Rocky are unable to attend, substitutes are needed.
· Wine tasting at Sound Beverage will be on October 23rd. Orders will be delivered at the club meeting on the 15th of November. If you can’t attend the tasting you can still place an order for your favorite wine, and help benefit the club. See Tim V. for this.
· Dale reminded us about food donations for “Feed the Need,” October 15th – 19th. They asked that our Happy bucks and fines for that week be donated to the Food bank and are going to visit other clubs in the area to ask that they do the same. Haggen will also be helping with the donation and collection process. Of course money is great too. That way the food bank can buy what they need, A donation of $1,00 buys two pounds of food.
· Ken notified us that November 8th is the Foundation Dinner. 5:30. $40/person.
· Bill said if anyone needs a Rotary Drinking Coin, to let him know.
· Guest Kate Holeman explained that she is preparing to join a GSE team to New Zealand, and asked that our club sponsor her. We are happy to, but need more info on what sponsorship entails.
HAPPY ROTARIANS: Expressions of happiness included:
· George, generous as always, gave $80 and was happy that his upcoming surprise party will not be a surprise to him!
· Laurie for two successful WA/OR football games.
· Jeanne because she’s off to Mexico in just 7 days.
· Rick for his trip, where he golfed, biked, rode a horse and won a poker tournament. Also he noted a swing band concert Saturday in Lynden.
· He recognized his friend Stevie Wonder at the table with us.
· Dale – for good weather at the soccer fields and his daughter’s upcoming marching band competition.
· Ken was happy to see both George and Bill.
· Bill was happy for his car club raising money, and also happy he was relieved of the temptation to buy a vintage Lincoln when someone else bought it. Chris was also happy about this, he said.
· Max was happy for a trip to Port Angeles and the Olympic Peninsula where he visited for the first time.
· Gary was happy for the outcome of a long story about his remodeling work at home. The gist of it was that spilling paint on new carpeting is not a good thing!
· Bill was also happy for giving his 138th pint (or is it gallon??) of blood.
FINEMASTER: Norm V.
· Laurie for her ducky comments.
· Jake for requesting individual fines.
· Members who have Regence health insurance for the fact that it is going up 20% this year.
· Greg – just saying hi, no fine.
· Dale for the lack of a hockey season, thus far.
· George for all the Canadians at the Bellingham airport
· Rick for posting the finemaster schedule incorrectly
· Gary for inspiring Norm to get a tattoo.
· Derek for asking Tim about his time in the race.
· Julie for entrusting paperwork to Ray.
· Pete for overkill on the Rotary fashion statement. What no socks?
· Jeanne was blamed for causing the weather to change by leaving for Mexico.
· Max for not being sure if he’s wearing a work or a retired wardrobe.
· Greg I – just because Norm can’t keep his computer operational.
· Bill – for forgetting which arm gave blood last.
· Ken for not sending enough reminder e-mails.
· Jim Sands – for featuring his dog on Facebook
· Sharon – just because he fined everyone else.
· Laurie then fined Norm so he would not be the only one left out.
PROGRAM: Gary Tomsic introduced the program, which was Classification Talks. The talks allow members to share details of their profession with the rest of the club.
Tim Carpenter began by immediately throwing out Gary’s outline and talking about something entirely different. Instead he talked about the classification system of Rotary and how it originally worked, and how it has evolved to the present. He talked about reasons for joining Rotary and what his own reasons were.
Norm Vigre talked about his position as a COO at Bramble Berry. He noted that when people find out where he works they often want to ask him questions about crafts. In fact his work is all about running the business, making sure that the business itself makes money, while Annemarie, the entrepreneur, runs the creative side of the business. Norm also discussed how he applies the 4-Way Test in his work, and how the company finds different ways to give back to the community. They have a very clearly defined and articulated plan which allows them to support causes such as women, the arts, and differently-abled workers.
Laurie Lloyd was the final presenter. She talked about how she ended up in her current career, including banking and asset management positions. He loves the strategic and tactical parts of managing money as well as the communication aspects, which can be challenging at times. She provided advice for younger people thinking of getting into this field, noting that there are currently a lot of gray hairs in the business. She finished up with a summary of the alphabet soup of regulations that investment advisors are subject to.
DRAWING: Tim C. had his ticket drawn but was so flustered he forgot how the system works. No win!