Almost A Perfect Meeting

Today's meeting: almost perfect.... more on that later.  It all started off with the White team providing the Greeter in the person of Mike Passof, who excelled at his task.

 

 

 The Prez opened the meeting and started right off by finding out if Ross MacCarty could read... the 4-Way Test, another task completed with relish.  Chapman was asked to lead the Pledge and due to his extensive military service, the big guy did not disappoint.  He was followed by Bob McBee leading us in God Bless America and the meeting was off to an almost perfect start... more on that later.  The quote for the day was by Aristotle who said something about education... like, "Those who can't, teach..." although Ari's sentiment may been in another vein entirely.

 

 

 In any event, it was off to the lunchtime races and hamburgers were the delectable entrees for the day, prepared by master chef Dave Maestas.

 

 

Next on the agenda was the announcing.  You can read most of them here, but the one that did not appear, but was announced orally or verbally by President Brett was that we are going to be meeting in two weeks at the Spaghetti Factory for our lunch.  The purpose of this excursion is to see if it might be a suitable venue for us.  At that meeting we'll be discussing the pros and cons of moving our meeting and evaluating the ambiance, food and service.  

 

 

The next item was kind of last-minute, since the winner of last week's inaugural football pool was none other than PP Sean Twilla and he showed up so late that several Rotarians thought he had shown up early for next week's meeting.  Nevertheless, always the gentleman, Clarence presented him with his $30 pool prize, which Sean promptly stuffed in his right shoe.  

 

 

The next thing you know, it was Clarence again striding to the rostrum to propose to the Club that we once again support the enactment that we supported last year, which would allow for a third class of Rotary member, an Associate Membership, which would result in reduced dues and attendance requirements for younger members under the age of 35.  After some discussion, the Club unanimously voted in favor of the enactment, which will wend its way upward through the hierarchy, hopefully ending up at the RI Council on Legislation, which will hopefully get it right this time around.

 

 

The traditional Ray Wyatt drawing took place next and it was President Brett's ticket that got called.  When he found out that the prize was $135, he got all nervous and fidgety and managed to yank a white ball from the can.  Way to go, buddy.

 

 

Next up was the Sarge and this time it was Chapman (again) who is apparently tag-teaming the event this month with fellow team member Clarence.  In his ruthless, humorless style,aided by bagman Mike Passof,  the big guy opened the proceedings by checking how many times PPPP Paul Schubert had been sans pin during his absence and it was a lot, so Paul dug deep for some moolah.  Then going for the happy dollars, the Sarge opened it up to self-confession and so PP Sean threw in for his final year as a youth soccer coach (although a number of members think his restraining order finally caught up with him...)  Gary Spainhower volunteered that he had taken a road trip on his Harley to the coast a while back a la the 'Wild Hogs."  Tracy contributed to the effort in honor of her daughter's 15th birthday which was today.  By Rotary standards, Tracy is an exemplary parent : you're a good parent if your child survives to 15...  Ross MacCarty threw in a fine-less announcement that his alter ego, Ross Johnson, had called him to report attending some Rotary meetings in Hawaii (Now there's a Rotarian for ya...)  There being only a few bucks in the pot, the Sarge then turned his steely eye towards Tom Redmon who had just returned from a couple of weeks on Maui and Tom threw in a Takehara ($20 bill for the uninitiated...)  There then followed a quiz the likes of which hadn't been seen Ingemar Johanssen flattened Floyd Patterson.  How may cars were destroyed in Houston by Hurricane Harvey?  Mike Passof was close enough (1 in 7!)  How many legal ports of entry are there on the U.S./Mexico border?  Bob McBee didn't know there were 52...  The highest paid NFL player in history?   Matthew Stafford of the Lions ($27 Mil a year for 5 years!)  Remember the 'almost perfect meeting?  Well, the White team had assembled all the pieces for this groundbreaking event only to be foiled by President Brett starting the meeting a minute late, so he paid and we wait...  Maybe next week.  And suddenly, like Hurricane Irma, it was all over...

 

 

At this point, the Prez invited Navin Naik to come up and introduce his guest speaker and the topic for the afternoons presentation.  Joining Navin onstage was Mr. Pravin Shelat and he and Navin proceeded to deliver a very interesting talk about a historic Indian figure, Chanakya, who lived 2400 years ago and in many ways was the father of modern India.  This remarkable man, a contemporary of Aristotle's, codified much, if not all, of India's laws and wrote on a myriad of topics, including economics, politics, social values, etc.  Arguably a brilliant man, he is rumored to be the inventor of modern chess, which he modeled after observing how wars were carried out.  A highly informative talk; at it's end, Pravin got the book and the room emptied like a bottle of scotch at Ross MacCarty's place.