Northwind 7/10/08

Whatcom CountyNorth Rotary

Northwind

July 10, 2008

MEETING TO ORDER:  President Tim called his first meeting to order at precisely 12:30 and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Gary Tomsic                        gave the invocation.

VISITING ROTARIANS: George Tsakumis and Graham Harris.

GUESTS:  Graham's son Martin, Jim Bliss's Granddaughters Michael and her friend Emma, visiting from Ft.Lauderdale.

RETURNING ROTARIANS:   None

BIRTHDAYS:  None

ANNOUNCMENTS:       

(1) Rotary Leadership institutes will be held in July up in BC and on September 20, in Arlington.  Current and future board members, officers and anyone interested in getting more involved in club leadership are urged to attend.

(2)  Golfun - See Tim Carpenter if you are interested.  This week is your last chance to sign up.

(3)  TeenCenter Fundraising:  Our current and pledged donations total $186,619.79.  When in kind donations and the results of Bay2bay are added we should be very close to or even over our original goal of $250,000.

(4) Tim Carpenter is organizing a September trip to Honduras to kick off the Rotary Grant.  Let him know if you are interested.

(5) Bill Grace needs all corrections to the roster ASAP.  He is going to print shortly.

(6) Dick Donahue spoke about Bay2bay preparations.  The main thing now is to find and sign up riders!!!  Give out the fliers and post the posters wherever you can.   The web site should be ready to accept sign ups by next week.   We also need people to sign up to work.  This can be done on our website, also.  If you're not riding in the event you should plan on working at it - we need all the help we can get!!

HAPPY BUCKS:    Chuck Tull was happy (?) about missing his first board meeting this morning.  Bill Grace was happy for the sun and flowers.  Scott Piper was happy to see Graham, his sponsor and Past President of our club.  Maureen McCarthy was happy to be right on track with her goal to use only three tanks of gas all summer.  George Tsakumis was happy for 43 years of marriage and for Tim's presidency.  Scott Wallace was also a happy Rotarian, but I missed why.  Mel Hollinger was happy that he forgot his hearing aid because today he can't not hear even better than he's ever been able to not hear before.  Rich Jacobson was happy for his 23^rd anniversary.  Tim Carpenter was happy that Michael is so grown up he didn't even recognize her.  Eric Nelson was happy for a great vacation in Chelan.  Dick Donahue was happy that he had a generally good experience with his recent knee replacement surgery.  Although he did have a minor setback, all is going well now.  Winton Smith was happy that his daughter is in school and on the dean's list.

FINEMASTER:  Since we are still getting the bugs worked out of the system, both Phil Bratt and Scott Wallace were co-finemasters and notified us that the Wallace Rule x 2 was in effect.    The first fine I wrote down was something about fish in wine, but I have no idea what that was supposed to be about...  Maureen McCarthy of course was fined for her gas-saving comment - doesn't she drive a bus???  Rome Sarwas was the last one in; he was eating all alone AND leaving early.  Big fine material there.  Graham was fined for still flying.  Mel Hollinger was fined in sign language.  Jim McKellar fined for wearing his coat in the summer, Pete Kremen for not driving his convertible on such a beautiful day, but given credit for extracting some money for WhatcomCounty from the Other Washington.  Brian Finnegan was fined for "playing with his little machine during meetings."  I'm not gonna touch that one!  Lex Ludtke was fined for complaining about banks - with two bankers at the table! Addie Brown had good press in the papers for Chicago Title, but apparently was not happy enough.  Jim Bliss was not happy about the girls visiting - but said he would give some H. B. when the boys came.. discrimination??  All wearing ties or eating two cookies were also fined on general principal.

BANNERS: Stan's banner presentation this week was a tribute to our club's founding President Dick Metcalf, who died three years ago.  Dick brought back many more banners than Stan was able to display in this small sample.  Dick was a devoted Rotarian who went to great lengths to attend make-up meetings while traveling, even going so far as to fly to another country a few times.  In his last weeks with us he "busted out" of the hospital to attend a meeting with us.  Dick is still sorely missed by all who knew him.

PROGRAM:           The program was presented by Lori Nicols, on the electronic Shared Care Plan, a personal health record, stored on line, in which patients can keep track of medications, doctors' information, allergies and other critical information.  For more information Lori can be reached at lnichols@hinet.org or 360-756-6885.

DRAWING:   No winner.