Northwind 3/6/08

Posted by David Engels 
 

Whatcom CountyNorth Rotary  

Northwind

March 6, 2008

 

 

MEETING TO ORDER:  President Greg called the meeting to order at 12:35.       Rick Staeb gave the invocation.

 

GUESTS: None present.

 

VISITING ROTARIANS:  George Tsakumis from Vancouver Rotary, Stephanie Sadler from Bellingham Bay Rotary and Bob Morse from Bellingham Rotary.

 

BIRTHDAYS:   Jack Curnow celebrates his birthday on March 11th.  Happy Birthday Jack!

 

RETURNING ROTARIANS :  Tim Villhauer returned from a two week trip to New Zealand where he had a great time.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:   (1) Eric Nelson received his Blue Badge.  Congratulations Eric!

 

(2) President Greg announced that Leah Macaleer had a baby girl she named Willa Marie.  Congratulations Leah! 

 

(3) Dick Donahue reminded Fundraising Committee members that they are to meet at Dick's office at 5:00, and they will then travel to MapleFalls, where they will drive the Bay to Bay 2 Bay Bike Ride course.

 

(4) Brian Finnegan reminded us the Auction/Fundraiser will be held Friday May 9th with the theme being "When You Were a Teenager".  If you have any old High School Year Books, etc. it would be much appreciated. 

 

(5) The District Conference will be held in May in Everett.  There will be a golf tournament and a dinner cruise.  John Nance is the featured speaker.  Please mark you calendars.

 

(6) Paul Cooley reminded us the Career Fair is March 28.  He now has 19 presenters (compared to 42 last year) so please help find more.  Any of the following would be welcomed: journalist, lawyer, architect, small business owner, veterinarian, pilot and electrical engineer to name a few.  He also needs volunteers for collating/gathering on March 25th or 26th at the Laidlaw Building - 6:00 p.m.  Also, making the rounds is a sign-up sheet for help during the day of the Career Fair, which is Friday March 28th from 7:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

 

HAPPY BUCKS:  Tim Villhauer for his trip to New Zealand.  Rick Staeb to celebrate the 5-year anniversary of leaving the hospital.  Pete Ruese for missing the last two weeks during which time he had two successful launchings.  Bill Grace for the great weather.  George Tsakumis for having to miss next week to travel to Portland.  Paul Cooley for one of his managers adopting a cat named Esmeralda, that was hit by a car.  Jim Bliss for the Lynden Christian girls taking state.  Dick Donahue for something about a baby (sorry Dick, my notes were not legible).  Sharon Robinson for missing Jim Bliss at the Board Meeting.  Bob Bowman for something about Rick Staeb and KAFE.  Dan Parsons for getting drunk at the Sun Mountain Lodge with friends and buying cowboy hats for the wives that they didn't like. 

 

FINEMASTER:   Jack Curnow stepped up for the missing Randy Carr.  Elizabeth Barnard was fined for fixing broken watches.  Rich Jacobson for sub-prime loans.  Sharon Robinson for having a hard time standing up.  Scott Wallace for establishing the "$5 Rule".  Dan Parsons for telling a bad story.  Julie Johansen for being a CPA.  Jerry Landcastle for something about fries.  Tim Villhauer for not doing something for Jack Curnow's girlfriend and Bob Bowman for being the token democrat. 

 

Banners:   Today's Banners are a belated nod to Leap Year and Daylight Savings Time.

 

PROGRAM:  Dick Nolan introduced today's speaker Jack DeCook.  Jack works for Wells Fargo where he is the "money guy".  He talked about the economy and in no particular order these are the notes I took.  The economy is coming full circle in that we've achieved a "world wide economy".  China has figured out how to make things cheap.  Real estate backed securities are not being purchased because of the sub prime crisis.  Wells Fargo is the only Triple A rated bank.  The Federal Reserve has lowered the Discount Rate, which has resulted in a corresponding drop in the prime rate, but there is no direct relationship between the prime rate and mortgage rates.  Mortgage interest rates are not dropping, although rates are still good with 30-year fixed rates in the low 6's and 15-year fixed rates in the mid 5's.  The federal government does control FHA and VA loan guarantees and they recently increased the borrowing limits to $375,000 for FHA and $417,000 for VA. 

 

DRAWING:  Jim Bliss had the winning ticket but again no winner.

 

Editor this week: David Engels