VVVD Day at the Roger Sherman

ROTARY BULLETIN
February 16, 2006

Vell, ve did not know it at the time, but it vas VVVD day at the Roger Sherman. After all the backing and filling, we settled in at three he-man tables and one dolly, comprised of Lisa Edson, Sandie, Amy and OJT Presidential candidate Nancy escorted by David and guest Jeffrey along with Jim Rini, Calvin and the ever tardy Andy. In a twinkling, the thunderbolt had struck. Wim dabbed at his eyes as he delivered an impromptu moving speech on the occasion of his final meeting as a member of this Club, which spanned twelve years- total Rotary years nearing fifty. Bill Walbert leapt to his feet in a eureka moment to cement Wim's revered stature. Came the revelation "Vat Vould Vim Do?" The Die was cast, and even as Scott Hobbs lambasted the lawyers and shook the room for Pesos for Pasta, all the happy and sad dollars began with a tribute to Herr Wim. Der Field Marshall was happy he did not miss the event, Jim Rini sounded the Republican and Democrat campaign slogan for Mrs. Clinton "Run, Hillary, Run". Mike Hobbs spoke wistfully of gazing down on a snow blanketed Central Park last Sunday. Phil McClain rose to remind us he is searching for candidates for the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships and he flipped a Twenty for son Joe's fourth birthday. Frankie the Claw had a happy to be home and two sads for Wim's last supper and Camille Eskelle's loss of her dad. Nancy complained of sleep deprivation, as hubby Ron has been watching the Olympics nightly till six a.m.

This was all a little confusing for Marty Skrelunas, but he was welcomed into Rotary by Past President Skip Sisson. Marty was unable to tarry to sample the self-serve dessert trolley as he departed for a meeting with the National Trust staff in Texas. It is assumed he took the Rotary Library with him to the plane.

The printed schedule of Club events found at a table last week indicated a Paul Harris Dinner was on the agenda for February 23. You might check the new blog site for confirmation.

And speaking of blogs, David Bryant brought along his resident IT guru to expound on the subject. Jeff Zaino had a receptive and animated audience as he dazzled us with google, technorati, and blogpulse. Add to that HTML and RSS feed (real simple syndication). The power point presentation was peppered with questions until Nancy brought things to a halt at 1:35. We got results, though. Before the day was out John Engel had engineered a New Canaan Rotary Club blog site and we are all invited to post to our heart's content.

Al Gore

Groundhog Day Evolved

ROTARY BULLETIN February 2, 2006

By bits and pieces, Groundhog Day evolved. At daybreak, clouds loomed, but by noontime the assembled chipmunks, badgers, wolverines and groundhogs all cast a long shadow at the Sherman as President Jim broke the silence with the bell, pledge and inventive blessing. After allowing the time for munching, our peripatetic leader arose to apologize for habitually leaving us rudderless, excusing his absences because the FTC threatened to tap his phones if he did not personally appear before them. Adding to the chaff, George Baker was busily circulating a get-well card for Sandi Malloy while we strained to discern who amongst us were not regulars. Dr. Kerchoff introduced son And

When Nancy Robinson was called forth, we all assumed that ol' feature ed was about to announce yet another grandchild. But no. As she stood knee high to the easel with the red construction paper it was apparent she was up to something. The Rotary Fellowship dinners will take place ?somehow-someplace-with some people during the next seven weeks. For starters, she tried the deck of cards trick, cleverly assigning aces to Art Duel. By the time Nancy pulls this one off, you will know she is poised to take the helm of our little packet of players. Stay tuned.
Andy LaSala joined us for lunch, having recently passed through the Bronx where he picked up a CD of the High Bridge Voices, a chorale group now in its sixth year. It is kind of like operation bootstrap, and it would be nice to help this group better the lot of their peers. The Allocations committee will hear more on this- no pun intended.

Pres, Jim took center stage one more time to sprinkle more nuggets. The Mead Park Lodge is about to become a reality. The foundation has been poured-he saw it himself- and we are promised a facility in time for opening day of New Canaan Baseball. He then called for a drum roll to announce the election of Susan Eng as the presiding Secretary of the NC Rotary Club. As an aside, he intends to soon turn the clock back to December to conform to Rotary International schedules and announce a slate of officers for the New Year commencing in June of 2006. In fact, the clock may be on hold at this moment pending tha

And so, with all this flotsam to go with the millions of other little pieces, you have this week's installment.

James Frey

Indian Ocean / Msg. to Garcia

ROTARY BULLETIN-February 9, 2006

Valentines Day! The club sachems have declared it so and the date be dammed. Thus, February 9, 2006 was Valentines Day. President Jim was forced to attend to other pressing matters leaving us once again longing for Susan's fair countenance. Nonetheless, Nancy Robinson swung the gavel at precisely 12:17 and proceeded to lead three distinct waves of the pledge of allegiance followed by a fitting benediction. Before the herd could approach the buffet table, Frank Bernardo made his initial appearance, standing on a stepladder with a glass of Bell's scotch, to carry on with h

Now, President Pro Tem Featured Nancy moved on, inviting Past President George Baker to initiate John Burns into the hallowed ranks of Rotary. John was last seen surfing the Internet for makeup forums next week in San Francisco. Then, we thought the Sgt@Arms routine would ensue, but no sooner had Scott Hobbs uttered the words chocolate covered almonds than Frank Bernardo reasserted himself, apparently by popular demand. This time, Frank evoked memories of his whirlwind stay in Mombassa and the peer pressure of that

Scott, plate in hand, picked up the aforementioned $700 plus a good stab at next week's pesos for pasta collection- your Abe Lincoln will do nicely, thank you. Paul Burnham, stalwart visiting Rotarian from Wilton, was allowed to contribute this week in celebration of his Dad's 77th birthday. Sandi Malloy, glad to be back, swelled the coffers apace. Nancy "featured" is still saddled with the task of initiating break bread venues for our fellowship dinner parties over the next six weeks. Certainly, a thankless task, but once achieved our small corps of individualists will morph into a willing force for the greater good.

As if on cue, Dr. Frank took center stage again, this time modeling a tropical suit from the thread emporium run by Derek Pope in Mombassa. "Jambo", he said, showing what a quick learner he turned out to be. It is sort of like "Sayonara" which doubles as hello and goodbye. Frank's trip to Kenya took some 50 hours of travel time, made bearable by Tom's survival kit. He will soon report on specific needs for infrastructure and bicycles, but undoubtedly his most vivid memory is that of the pride of Lions taking down an errant buffalo.

Albert Schweitzer

Inspiration

Many thanks to Jeffrey Zaino, Systems Librarian at the New Canaan Library for inspiring our club to start blogging. The spark that started the forest fire.