The Room’s Getting Darker...

I know what you're thinking... the ol' guy has started hitting the bottle, but of course, you'd be WRONG!  Just got the computer back from the shop this morning, and as it's Friday night, this will be both late and short.  Mea culpa...

Believe it or not, the meeting got off to a ‘perfect’ start!!!  PDG Clarence greeted all the folks he liked at the door and the only hitch in the giddy-up was when the Prez discovered the audio system had failed him. 

 

 

  The meeting got underway and young Jerry Smuts was enlisted to read the 4 Way Test, a job he takes to like flies to jelly.  Chase Armer did a fine job leading off the Pledge and then Brud Dufficy delighted the crowd by belting out God Bless America (a cappella, no less).  The quote for the day was from chess master Adam Robinson, who apparently once said something like, "If you can't play chess, you're stupid!"... or something like that.

 

 

 

The grub as usual was delectable and so naturally we slid right into announcements before anyone could even get a conversation started.  Here's the gist of them:

 

1. Tuesday, Dec 5, right after Rotary, dictionary labeling at Mike Passof's place (B&J Body Shop, not his house.... jeez)

 

2. Don't forget to celebrate the season by buying all your stuff at Smile.Amazon.com

 

3. Dec 10 - It's Rotary Night at the Kings and you can call President Brett for tickets

 

4.  December 16 - 4:00 P.M. is our annual Christmas Party, this time at the Spaghetti Factory.  Signup's going around.

 

 

5.   December 16 - Also Food Locker Day for the Christmas food distribution.  Go if you can; you'll be helping a lot of needy people.

 

6.  Jan 3 - RI President Ian Risely will be in San Jose to speak; if you've ever been to PETS, you know where.

 

7.  Jan 13 - If you like international projects, you should go to the Int'l Project Forum at Faith Presbyterian Church on Florin Road

 

 

Well, that pretty much wrapped up the announcing, so we turned quickly to the weekly disappointment sweepstakes and this week Brud pulled Paul's number from the basket and Paul, ever the optimist, reached in confidently and found himself in possession of an 'experienced' white golf ball, and it was a shame because he was heard muttering , "I needed that $132 to pay off my student loans..."

 

 

 

With that, it was time for the Club's tallest Rotarian to come up and take advantage of his friends, aided by partner-in-crime Bob McBee.  First on the hit list was the traditional call for badge and pin infractions and it was (naturally) Paul Schubert leading the charge, followed in close proximity by Ross MacCarty.  The Sarge feeling an immense sense of guilt for overlooking a bet he had lost two weeks prior, asked bagman Bob to give the proffered $5 bill to Jerry Smuts, whose Indiana Hoosiers had recently beaten the Fighting Illini in football.  Once in possession of said bill, Jerry was asked how proud he was of the Hoosiers and he said about $5 worth.... what a coincidence.  Clarence was then induced to pay for something his Herd had done (defecated on a neighboring farmer's vegetable patch?) and suddenly is was time for happy $.  PP Sean chipped in for forgetting to bring the Christmas Party signup and also for having a good Thanksgiving.  Ross Johnson... uhhhh... was about to run in the Calif Int'l marathon or somesuch (I think... notes are a little blurry here...) 

 

 

Club Secretary Sharon Ewing paid for grandkids... apparently none of them have been indicted yet, or some other kind of good news.  Brud paid for the help he was hoping to get sorting dictionaries and then Navin got up and baldly announced that he has 6 grandchildren.... jeezzz.  Paul Schubert paid for Thanksgiving and Chase Armer was glad Cal covered the spread in their latest game and finally Gary Spainhower publicly thanked B& J for doing such a terrific job in fixing his vehicle, which had apparently met with misfortune.  As quickly as it had started, the bloodletting stopped.

 

 

Taking the floor next was Secretary Sharon Ewing who got up to introduce our guest speaker, Stephanie Hilder, who is going on a magnificent adventure.  She is headed to Cambodia to try to arrest the growth of the burgeoning sex trafficking business there.  She spoke of her mission to rescue young women and bring them back to some sense of normalcy.  This is not a spring break trip; she is headed into one of the least civilized parts of the world for a 3 year journey rescuing  young women.  She talked about the organization sponsoring her (which includes us, by the way) and the hardships she will be facing.  It was a most fascinating presentation and we wish her all the best in her pursuit. 

 

 

At the end, she got the book and Rotarians evaporated like water on a hot griddle.  Good meeting (even without the sound system).

 

Wait! There's more!  Pictures from some recent events: