The View – 8/14/14

Next week: Our speaker will be John Hewitt, telling us all about the Mendocino Paint Out and Art Festival. Don’t miss it!

Prez John.

Prez John Cottle opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, and a song led by John Porter.

Our guests today were Amanda Bosma, daughter of Jennifer; Judge Clayton Brennan, who will be inducted today; and Sue McKinney of the Oakland Sunrise Club.  Sue told us about a program she’s a part of that can distribute a container of indestructible soccer balls to a community of our choice — for free! — and she recommends that we take this on as a Club project.

Sue McKinney, visiting from the Oakland Sunrise Club.

Sue shows us the indestructible soccer ball.

Happy Dollars!

• Matt is happy for today’s great food.  Thanks, Harvest Market!
• Liliana is happy to report that she’ll be going on a trip to L.A. and Florida for several weeks.
• Pete is happy about his Alaskan cruise.
• Susan happily found a 2008 Toyota convertible!
• Clayton is happy to be joining our Club today. Welcome!
• Donna is celebrating her empty nest — her daughter moved to college, and her 90-year-old aunt moved to the east coast.
• Jennifer happily reported on her Oregon vacation with family, and the trip to Reno, where she acquired some Apple Pie Moonshine for the golf tournament raffle!
• Joe is happy about the Fort Bragg Rotary Club’s picnic next weekend, on 8/23/14, to which we’ve all been invited.
• Kevin is happy to report that he witnessed our local first responders quickly responding to an emergency he reported to 911. What a great service!
• Sue happily spent last week in Mississippi; and her product’s research has been approved — a big milestone!
• Roger celebrated his 53rd wedding anniversary yesterday!!  Congratulations to the love birds!
• John C. is happy about the joint activities with the Fort Bragg club.  Also, he’s happy that Wilma has no Sunshine Report today, because everyone’s healthy!

Bruce shares stories during “Throwback Thursday.”

Bruce shared some memorabilia he’s found in his files in his post-retirement purge, namely a couple of magazines he produced or was featured in, that show some early connections among our members. Donna called it “throwback Thursday!” One magazine dated back to 2005 and shows that Liliana, Lindsay, Jerry and Bruce have deep connections through the Mendocino Art Center and its magazine. The second example was from 1989, and connects Tom, Jennifer and Bruce through a feature in Grocer magazine.

Our newest member, Judge Clayton Brennan.

Judge Clayton Brennan was inducted as a new member of the Mendocino Rotary Club today.  He is sponsored by Brandt Stickel.  Judge Brennan has previously been a Rotarian in the Ukiah Club, and is happy to be joining us here. Welcome, Judge Brennan!

Jennifer, the golf tournament organizing queen!

Jennifer shared the latest news regarding the Golf Tournament on 8/16/14. There are 8 live auction items, lots of raffle prizes, hole sponsors and on-course surprises, along with 13 teams.  Volunteer assignments are coming via email soon!  Jennifer and Kira were thanked for the hours of organizing they have done for this fundraiserThey have done a fantastic job pulling the event together, and it should be fun for all!

Our Program

Heather Paulsen and Kevin Williams led us through a team-building and brainstorming activity around the topic of career transitions.  The idea was to gather the immense collective wisdom that we have as a club, and to compile this information into a document that will be useful to friends, family, Interactors, and others.  Club members shared their career histories written on 3×5 cards, and then in a brainstorming session shared their greatest lessons learned and advice to others during a career transition.  This was a lively session, with great contributions coming from everyone.  Stay tuned for our inaugural “Collective Wisdom” document!

Heather shares her views on the power of our club’s collective wisdom.

Kevin asks people to share their lessons learned and career transition advice.

Writing as fast as she can, Heather captures the group’s insights.

Today’s raffle winners were: John P. and Susan, neither of whom drew a joker from the deck of cards.  The $$ pot continues to grow!