The Newsletter with so many brags I lost count!!!!

Posted 
on Apr 15, 2015
 
President Todd started our meeting with a quote from Douglas Adams author of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy....  
When asked about his plans for the next year his reply was “Oh, I’m spending a year dead for tax reasons.”.
 
GREETER:
Michele Pong very warmly greeted us this morning and next week Turner will be at the door with a smile  to say good morning.
 
GUESTS:
Kyle LaPointe – Rescue
Jim Verzino – Nooner
Marissa Semenovich -  all grown up former student Rotarian
 
Those who couldn't get out of bed this morning:
Alisa Barry
Amelia Farnum
Mark Ethier
Jerry Goldberg
Jim Maxwell
Ralph Meima
Jen Moyse
Josh Traeger
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS:  
  1. Trivia Night has a new winner…..the Honey Badgers, had to be decided by a tie breaking True or False question. The next Trivia Night is May 11th….it will be the last one before a summer hiatus. It is being done as  a Battle of the Boards so the money will go to the winning team.
  2. Tristam has more coffee (whole bean and ground) from Honduras for the scholarship program.
  3. Tristam informed us that the Nutrition Project that provides lunches during school breaks will not be running at Westgate this school vacation as they have no coordinator at this time but Moore Court and Ledgewood are all set. They have received donations from Black River Produce and Commonwealth Dairy.
  4. Tristam (busy little Rotarian he is) let us know that we now have the wiring instructions for the Justa Stove Project and will be sending the $700 we raised to them soon. At $100 per stove this will allow them to buy stoves for 7 households in Honduras.
 
Kevin on behalf of the club presented a $500 check to Rescue. This is an annual contribution we make to them in part as a thank you for their continued support of our 3 on 3 tournament and in part because we as a community are very lucky to have them here in Brattleboro.
 
 
STUDENT ROTARIANS:  
Marissa is just finishing up her 1st year at GCC (4.0 for her fall semester) and starting to think about where to go afterwards…considering UMass Amherst for Business Administration.
 
Casey announced that the FBLA held their raffle but she does not have the winners to announce because Ms. Cornell’s Business Procedures class is in charge of notifying the winners…she did let it slip that some members should be getting phone calls.
 
Becca let us know that their sports management class will be having a fundraiser to help Ms. Sweeney’s (an art teacher at BUHS) nephew who has Cystic Fibrosis. They will be having a “Lock Up” on May 31st at the Common so be prepared to either be “arrested” or help bail out a Rotarian.
 
 
CARDS:  2 of Diamonds..… and the winner is none other than one of our Student Rotarians Casey Manning….again!!
 
BIRTHDAYS: no birthdays this week……….
 
BOWL OF LIFE:
My spouse and I took our motorcycle safety course at the same time and I did worse….but we both passed.. Will was picked to go first and he guessed Michele (because isn’t that always the answer) who guessed Toni who guessed Dan who guessed Drew who guessed Jason (he evidently has never seen Jason in action) who guessed Nick…..at this point President Todd called it quits and had the member give it up. It was Damon….which should have been no great surprise because I’m pretty sure there isn’t anything that Katherine can’t do (she is amazing and Damon is very lucky)!!!
 
BRAGS, BRAGS AND MORE BRAGS (good thing we didn’t have a speaker):
 
Sadie: Bragged for Scott who was taking Evie to school so she can stay at the meetings. She also bragged for Turner and the Women’s Final Four down in Tampa, they had a great time. Sadly it was followed up by a funeral for her Grandmother Rose who passed away 30 days after her Grandfather. On another note she also mentioned that the Hatch  will be presenting the Storytellers on a Mission this Saturday night at 7:30 to benefit the Winston Prouty Center at the Latchis Theatre. They could use 8-10 volunteer ushers for the event.
 
Tristam: Bragged for the Commons, Richard Henke. The article he wrote for them that covered the benefit performance at Rudyard Kipling’s house was so successful that they had to run a second night.
 
Jon: Bragged for his Elantra and not getting stuck all winter with his very low to ground vehicle. Mud season took care of that for him, on his way to a Rotary Board meeting he decided to go over East Orchard St and managed to slide off the side of the road and get stuck. Tried putting sticks and rocks under the wheel to no avail, decided he would call Dan since he would be at the board meeting but since he doesn’t ever use his cell phone he has no numbers programmed in it so he was forced to call Kerri and have her come to his aid. After some time and Kerri driving up and down Upper Dummerston and not finding him, they finally connected and he was able to haul his car out of the mud. After all was said and done he gets to the board meeting only to realize he had the wrong week and there was no meeting….bet you he was using some of Damon’s hockey vocabulary that morning too!!
 
Sandy Shriver: Going to a Red Sox game today with best friend from high school. They have tickets in the front row behind the catcher, so if you’re watching the game today you’ll probably see Sandy in the background waving. He also bragged for Potter Stewart Law offices as they have moved to 147 Western Avenue and have changed their name to Phillips Dunn Shriver & Carroll Law Offices.
 
Scott: Bragged for his son turning 10 on Sunday and for his daughter who for a third semester in a row has made High Honors at the Middle School
 
Jason : Bragged $10 because it was his turn to be the scribe but he managed to talk me into doing this for him. Don’t worry he isn’t getting off that easy……
 
Marcy: Bragged for her first power-lifting meet this weekend. She wanted to have a total meet weight of 500 lbs and ended up with 520…Go Marcy!! Her back squats were 175 lbs, deadlifts were 225 lbs (my hammies hurt just thinking about that) and bench press was 120 lbs.
 
Mark: Gracefully admitted his Trivia defeat this week by stating that his team let him down. Don’t worry they’ll be back in fighting shape next month…..they’re starting their 2-a-days next week!! He also bragged for Talia who goes to Hilltop Montessori and her class wrote their own play and will be performing it tomorrow night @ 5pm….anyone in the neighborhood should stop by.
 
 
Turner: Bragged for Women’s Final Four in Tampa also. Had a great time with Sadie and John…..and made a cryptic comment about Matt (John’s son) and the fun they had without Sadie and John. Pretty sure I dropped the pen at that point and stopped taking notes!!
 
Michele: Bragged for her Trivia Night team and consistently coming in second to last (at least it’s not last)!!! She also bragged for the Duck’s Unlimited Fundraiser they had last weekend which raised $23,000, of which $10,000 will be donated to wildlife preservation.
 
Kevin: Made a public service announcement reminding members to introduce yourself to the Student Rotarians and sign their sheets because their time is almost up and the fines will begin!! He also bragged for his daughter Sara who is a nursing student with Vt Tech, she recently completed her 2nd of three the semesters. Her last exam this semester was Monday, it was a pharmacology exam  that she was anxious about but nailed it with a 95!!! Go Sara!!!
 
Drew: Bragged for Rescue and their weekend of training out on the river. They had scenario based trainings in which they got to do rescues in real time and did an excellent job! He also bragged because the family is flying out Saturday to Arizona to pick up the RV(??? sorry missed that). They will head over to the Grand Canyon and Utah before heading back home.
 
Sandy Ladd: Bragged because she has a conference in Florida next week. It is the 30th anniversary of the Upledger Institute and Sandy was invited as they will be presenting the movie they made back in 2014 that she was a part. She will also be visiting her father and helping him make the guests bedrooms a little more comfortable and homey!
 
Damon: Has 2 fundraising events coming up for Chesterfield School. Tonight they are having the 8th grade spaghetti dinner for graduation…so if you don’t feel like cooking head on over. On Saturday May 2nd the school will be holding its 7th annual Fun Run with a 1 mile, 5k or 10k option for all abilities. He will be on the radio with Fish next Wednesday morning promoting the event (and missing Rotary). I’m not sure if this last brag was for the use of his colorful hockey vocabulary, his plumbing ability or quiet possibly still having his sanity intact after installing a new dishwasher in their kitchen….now that I think about it I’m sure it was for all 3.
 
Dan: Bragged for all of the volunteers who helped with the Over-Flow Shelter dinners this past winter. We had our last one Friday night which served approx. 25 people. He also bragged for Trivia Night well because someone has to be last…..to be fair his team name is The Biggest Losers!
 
 
 
GUEST SPEAKER/THIS IS YOUR LIFE:       JASON POSTERNAK
 
At 67 years old he has lots of stories to tell…….most of which are not appropriate for this newsletter. He was born in Lawrence, MA back when it was a nice place to live (so he says). Was in college during the draft with a 2S deferment status that somehow got changed to a 1A status which means you’re draft letter was on the way. The government was looking into the error but he was running out of time so on some really good advice from friends he dropped out of college and enlisted in the Navy because somehow that was better than getting drafted. After a few months in the Navy the correction letter came and his status was put back to 2S deferment.  So he went to his commander telling him it was all mistake and his commander explained to him the meaning of a contract and told he could get out in 4 years. Spent 2 years on the aircraft carrier, Constellation, off the coast of Vietnam with 5300 other sailors. Traveled to the Philippine’s, Hong Kong and Japan…..I know there is a story about Tijuana somewhere in there but he failed to mention it this morning! When his time was up he was sent back to San Diego were he thought he would settle. Came back to MA and ended up in the car business. Met his wife Anne at the car dealership, hated each other until his boss forced him to take her out to lunch and was told not to come back until they were friends. A few drinks later they managed to kiss and make up…the rest is history!  
 
He went to tell the story of the Richard Petty driving school he went to with John Penfield back in 1998. Of course John talked smack for weeks before they went telling everyone that he was going to beat Jason. When the time sheets came in Jason was 7th or 8th and John was 12th or 13th. John complained to the instructor that he had a bad car but after that he never brought up the subject again.
 
And of course someone asked where he gets his hair cut – Beck’s Studio. Just in case you’re wondering she does not except bribes to give him a real haircut……….that shag on his head is here to stay.