Soundings (2/10/09)

Posted by Stan Dyer 
 
 
It must be noted that once again you will be punished by the fact that our Editor, Writer and Publisher, Stowe Talbot, is yet on the Pacific Ocean with his wife and three children, and more specifically, on the Hawaiian Islands; and consequently, I will be taking over the duties of 'flunky' writer, so here goes (oh yes, because of last week's writings that I did for The Soundings, I have received an unknown number of threats suggesting that I leave the State, but who listens to things of that sort??!)

Invocation and Flag Salute: with Scott (the 'Carpet Guy') Walker at the podium: and Scott pointed out that he was doing the 'Flag Ceremony' prior to the Invocation (and it must also be mentioned that it was not exactly an Invocation; but rather, some poignant verbiage from Einstein and Scott about Service Above Self, etc.).

Introductions of visiting Rotarians: with Frank (I'll sue him) Chmelik, included a young lady by the last name of Brown from the Whatcom County North Club and John Moles from the 'Big Daddy & Mommy Club'. They meet on Monday's, and we hear that they will be providing a wheel chair ramp for them next year if the membership gets any older!

Guests: Jim Johnson was there as a guest of Curt (the Author) Smith (this Jim is a professor over at the Big University in town) and Christine (Naughty Girl) Palmerton had her son there answering to the handle of Justin.

Announcements: Steve (WWU) Brummel announced that we would be enjoying a first rate basketball team (that would be WWU) play at the Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gym on Saturday, 7 March, and it includes the Reception (with food) at 6:00 followed by the game with Central Washington University. The tab is $35 for adults (we all qualify for that); students at $20 and kids 8 and under will be free. Please sign up at one of our meetings on 17 or 24 February. Sign-up sheets are on the tables.

 
Charitable Giving Committee is again meeting right after the Program today, and that is under the leadership of Brad (Money Man) Cornwell. Sounds as though that hard working group is about ready to wind up the giving away of our coffers, so you will learn about that in the next week or two!

Next week, per Bill (TV) Gorman, we will be having a young lady, Yvonne Perez, from Comcast, and she will be relating all that we should know about the change over for our TVs that Congress has decided to accomplish, and that was going to be sometime this month, but it has now been delayed until June of '09. Drop in for that meeting, and go away being a lot smarter than you were when you entered the portals of Northwood Hall.

President Tim (so, I am Irish) McEvoy announced that there would be a Board of Director's meeting at 0730 hours this Thursday (12 February) at the IHOP. All are invited, and if you do show up, you may use that as a 'make-up'

Also, our Irish Leader announced that there will be a Fireside Meeting on Thursday, commencing at 5:30 at Anthony's Hearthfire Grill, and it is open to all new members who have joined the Club during the years' of Orphalee (I do taxes) Smith and Tim McEvoy . Also, the Board of Directors will be there for their astute input. It will all be over at 7:00 PM; so do your best to attend. (Hey, it also counts as a Club Make-up!).

Joke of the Day: Our leader came up with a good story about this young and beautiful twit who was escorted into the jewelry store by some octogenarian, and she was ingratiated with the promise of a $40,000 diamond ring---well, it was a real winner for the 'old boy' who had a great weekend with this 24 year old model, and then she found out that the ring wasn't there after all. Now, if you were there, you would easily fill in the missing words to the above; if you were not there at the meeting, you will find this 'JOKE' located on page 71 of the tome that will undoubtedly be published regarding the Tim (it's no Joke) McEvoy' puns, jokes and far-out stories that are presented every Tuesday around 12:35 in the afternoon.

Bucks in the Bay:
Matt (am I lucky or what?) Rose, placed a paltry $30 in the bucket because he and about three other fisherman won first place at the Salmon Derby, and the prize was a cool 20 Grand (what's with the $30) in US Change! Guess the team of four had Shannon Terrell in their group, and he was the one who actually caught the 18 pound, 6 ounce Salmon. Matt caught something in the neighborhood of a 16 pound salmon. And I go to Costco for my salmon; how about you?!!;
Eddie (the Fun Guy) Hansen went to Minneapolis, and he dropped in a Five Spot. for that frigid flight to .... Oh yes, he saw one of our 'leave of absence' members, Larry Andresen, and he noted that Larry was suffering with a nice Arizona tan!;
John (sales were great in '08) Templeton handed over some Real Estate Dollars to let us all 'stay at homes' know that he had a great trip to Hawaii (did you see Stowe T. there?);
Tonja (the actress) Myers confessed that her son is a musical genius, and he is about ready to follow in the footsteps of Pablo Casals of Cello fame;
Bob (I hired Dannon) Tull infused our bucket with $30 for his recent installation as President of a very well recognized Musical Organization in the Seattle area;
Bob (I know computers) Jones went to have his Diabetic Type -2 checked, got the bill for the production, nearly passed out because of the amount; but was asked if he could be on the Diabetic Board of the Hospital, he said YES, paid the bill, and I think that he is now pleased (but probably broke!). That was most of the confessions heard by eager ears at the Tuesday meeting.

Sergeant at Arms: With Frank (just another Law guy) Chmelik in charge.
There were various fines doled out to those who had fishing gear; for those who ever hollered and yelled for Alex (Who Let the Dogs Out) Rodriguez when he was a 'clean' Mariner; another request for two bucks from Tonja (the Actress) Myers because $5 was not enough to honor a future Carnegie Hall) musician; more dollars for all who are involved with the building trade; the Bankers who have or have not received bucks from the recent Washington, D. C. Dollar give-away; John (I love Real Estate) Templeton for the full page of 'Sold Homes' on one of the recently published books, to include a couple to the Hansen group. Then there was the mention of Valentine's Day that will hit all of us on Saturday, and we discovered that two of our female members (who were present) and 11 of our male members (who were present) haven't done a 'cotton-pickin' thing to memorialize that important day with their spouse, sole mate, live-in or girl or boy friend. What's with that?

New Member Talks: Once again, we find that the New Member Talks are at the very top of the best programs that our Club offers, and today was certainly not an exception. We had two of our new members, Dannon (Bob Tull is my boss) Traxler and Jim (the Physics Guy) Johnson at the podium (different times, of course).

Dannon told us that she was born in Kentucky, moved to Louisiana at the age of 18 months, went to Tulane University, received her Law Degree, had a session in Northern California where she was involved with assisting those with Domestic Violence, and later dropped into Bellingham, was interviewed by Bob Tull and others in that firm and was hired about three year's ago. All of this is not exactly in the order that occurred, but what the hey! One thing that she did say was how her dad, an Orthodontist, gave of his time and skills to others as she matured. And, she has high regard for him, as would be the case.

Jim Johnson, who was a former Rotarian in one of the Clubs in Wisconsin as one in Florida, mesmerized us with a slide show on some of the things he has accomplished during his stellar years. He has a number of patents on some interesting configurations of Physics; has worked on the space shuttle and has developed an X-Ray camera that can observe the insides of the thousands upon thousands of containers that come into the U. S. of A. I think Jim alerted us that it was most important to know what is on the inside of those containers.Oh yes, Jim graduated from the University of Wisconsin (that is also in the United States!).

We all say a Big Rotary Thanks to the two of the above, and it is up to each of us to become more acquainted with Dannon and Jim.

Added Thoughts: Have you ever thought that it might be most enjoyable to bring in a new member into our Club? The way to keep Rotary going as a viable and vital entity in our world is to offer Rotary to others. Look around; I would wager there is a future member just sitting over there to be asked.

May we Ponder: Why do people pay to go up tall buildings then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground? ---- Why is a 'bra' singular and panties plural? --- Why are you IN a movie, but ON TV? --- If corn oil is made from corn and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, just how is baby oil made? --- If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons? That is ENOUGH!!!

Respectfully submitted,

Stan (blabber mouth) Dyer