For some of the folks who arrived... 8/24/06

For some of the folks who arrived at the Roger Sherman Inn, close to noon, there was much wondering whether RCNC would be able to fill one of the round, 8-person tables in the room. Not to fear! By the time the pledge and prayer were done (more about that later), and half of the group had finished their meal, thirty-two seats were filled. Thirty-one by NCRCs and one guest. The rest of the members were on Nantucket, with Chase, bidding on Dennis Koslowski's starter castle and sailboat.

A shocking matter, Kevin McLaughlin surprised the group by appearing before either of the sgts.@ arms -- both of whom were late. But, today, nobody was fined for lateness. Hmmm.... Someone suggested that Kevin's 11:00 patient cancelled. Another suggested that his calendar was screwed-up and he showed up yesterday for today's meeting -- and just stayed.

No-Show-Nancy has apparently taken a page from the book of Il Duce. Mrs. (so, fine me) Robinson was absent. It can't be from another grandchild, her offspring are already worn out. And we all remember what she ended up with at last year's Xmas grab-bag. The excuse better be pretty good. And we missed her.

Bill Walbert and Ken Campbell wanted to ring the bell early. They knew there was no program and wanted to bolt early. Timekeeper Tomaselli said "no dice." And the bell went off at 12:15 precis. The pledge was done -- and nobody forgot the "under God" part of it -- and Ad did an invocation. He asked that God should forgive the kids, because none of the messes going on in the world are their fault. This scribe agrees.

Phil McClain, trying it to wing-it for N-S-N, attempted to get the meeting under control. Sort of. John Hess, from the RC of Screen Door, Mississippi, joined us. Hello, John.

Had the president been able to attend, RC members, who are blissfully unaware, would have been presented some facts about why August 24 is important: It is Letizia Bonaparte's birthday (Napoleon's mother), 1730, and Cal Ripkin, Jr., 1960. On this date, Cornelius Swartwout patented the waffle-iron in the United States. On this date in AD 79, Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the cities of Pompeii. Stabiae and Herculaneum. On this date, in 1814, some of Steve Risbridger's English ancestors raided Washington D.C. and burned the White House, the Capitol and most public buildings to the ground.

Today's Sgt.@ Arms, Hobbs-the-younger, had no joke, but told us a story about Cockney rhyming slang. It focused on "boogity-boogity" and how it relates to relations between people of very different cultures -- Conn., New York, Texas and sub-Saharan Africa. Culture is important to Rotary and its international relations and we encourage Scott to tell us more.

Hobbs-the-not-so-younger was asked by consieglieri Joe when Scott was adopted -- and from where.

While there was no scheduled program, there was a program. Mike Hobbs told us about a former screw-up football star who turned a new leaf and got into teaching kids to be good people. He went on to discuss "Season of Life" written by Jeffrey Marx, about this guy and what he does. Kids are taught that maybe the jocks are cool, but so are the geeks. And everybody in between. No kid eats alone in the school cafeteria. Everybody who tries out for the team, plays. Yeah, maybe we don't win all of the games, but we produce better people. Jeffrey Marks will be speaking at New Canaan High School on October 4. His book will be available for sale. Buying one will help the anonymous folks, forking up the dough to get him here, pay the bills. Probably a dynamite speaker.

At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that our resident chiropractor and sub-Saharan Africa culture expert, former president Frank, will explain "boogity-boogity" to the president. And Sandy, Nancy B., Amy, etc.

Respectfully submitted,

John Mark Karr