High Gear for September 19, 2012
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The old saying is, in New England, that if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few hours. You couldn’t have a much greater contrast between last night’s wind and downpour, and the bright, beautiful sunny day today! Wow!
According to the chalkboard in the kitchen, today’s menu: London Broil with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, mixed summer and zucchini squash, rolls and butter, followed by carrot cake. Dan Firestone gave the invocation, beautifully and provocatively asking us to do good things now, and to be ever grateful for the abundance we enjoy. 
We had a mini RI video during desert. It illustrated the effectiveness of polio vaccine, and what life was like before the vaccine.
Concerns for members: Spurgeon Stokes is at the Reservoir Care and Rehabilitation Center, 1 Emily Way, West Hartford CT 06107. Telephone first before visiting. Steve Tamiso is doing much better. Jean Wishart is in the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain.
Guests: John Myers, who was our guest speaker, and Tracy Fox, both guests of John O’Connor. And Fred Issakhari (if the penmanship on the card was correct) a guest of Dan Firestone. The Welcome Song was led by Neal Cunningham and John Kelleher.
George Finch was again Sergeant-at-Arms. Big fines: Bill Saunders for no pin and George Schoen for a significant (three-quarters of a century) birthday, and he paid to have President Sheryl lead the singing. Sheryl paid for Sue Klock’s masterful leading of a District Foundation Seminar last week. Bob Buettner, cuz his new car got dinged, Jack Ghagan, just because he was at the meeting, Brian Liss for some announcements, Herb Barall for leaving early, Jay Stewart for thanks, she had no storm damage, and Mo Moshovos because his grandson in Michigan has been named an Eagle Scout.
There was no shortage of announcements. A goodly number of members have signed up for Fireside Chats; Doug will assign spots to those who have not already made a choice. Paul Harris nominations? Think. Get your suggestions in before the meeting of the PH membership convenes on October 24th. September 23rd: our annual Koats for Kids event. We have 73 kids who qualify signed up! Golf Tournament is next Monday: weather looks great. We have a full slate of players.
Still need raffle prizes. October 3rd, we will meet at the Raymond Library, will talk about our Bookmobile Project, and gather some insight into the Library renovations. October 13th will see a Rotary Leadership Seminar (no place noted) and the annual Hartford Road Race. Neal Cunningham is in charge of a water station, as he has been for years. Neal says it is a lot of fun. It is. John Kelleher is looking for volunteers for the Job Shadow program on October 24. Let John know if you’d like a student to spend half a day with you. October 29th: Tavern Night at the Noah Webster house in West Hartford. Need more attendees. And November 1st is the Foundation Dinner; Our Club is being honored.
Our Board refused to accept Scotty Howat’s resignation; they have made him an Honorary Member. Hurray!
Our speaker, John Meyers, runs a technology firm, drums in a rock band on the side, and has written a couple of books. He talked about the one closest to his heart, about his pet pooch Rocky, who is no longer living, and a stray cat that adopted him. Sale of the book goes toward pet oncology care. Amazing statistic: There are 50 million dogs in the US, one in two will get cancer, one in four will not survive. He concluded: For an author, success is not always found in the number of books sold, it is measured by the difference that book makes in people’s lives.
Make ups: Bob Wood, Bridgeton Lakes, and Jay Steward, Glastonbury. Nice to get together.
-------------- Dan Russell