Meeting Of The
Rotary Club Of Eureka June 24, 2013
This
was the 45th and final meeting for Rotary Year 2012-2013. Past President Greg Pierson presided over
the meeting so that a proper debunking of outgoing President Nancy Dean could
take place. As Greg further stated, “We
want to properly celebrate your reign.” The meeting was held at the Wharfinger,
but please note that starting next week our Monday meetings will be held at the
Elks Lodge until further notice. Our flag salute this week was led by Rotarian
Bob Palmrose. Bob’s not a member of our club, but he has better attendance here
than his own club.
In keeping with the theme of our meeting, our own Greg
Williston gave the invocation, which in honor of outgoing President Dean he
promised to “KEEP IT SHORT”, which he did and which she is. We had visiting guest of Rotarian Davis
Wells, Mr. Mark Carter of the same named Carter Hotel. Jay Hockaday also invited Channel 2
Meteorologist, Cecelia Reeves.
Hmm…weather predictions…the end of President Dean’s “rain”…I wondered,
why is she here?
We
had no visiting Rotarians and no Exchange Students with us this week. Something must have RAINED on their
parade! We had three visiting Rotaract
Members who clearly were not going to let any RAIN keep them from coming, Carly
Robbins, Clark Swan, and Jessica (sorry, I did not get her last name). th, Aaron Tilch on June 21st,
and Bruce Rupp on June 22nd.
Wedding anniversaries announced were Rena & Dean Christiansen on
June 24th, Fred & Linda Sundquist, Jr., on June 24th,
Jill & John Bartholomew on June 27th, Greg Gardiner & Kathy
Cloney-Gardiner on June 28th, Larona & Daniel Farnum on June 28th,
and John & Melina Harper on June 29th. There were no Rotary anniversaries this week. Announcements for the week included the
following: Our Exchange students Larissa & Bibi are seeking a ride to San
Francisco this Saturday, June 29th. They are on their way to a
“Western Safari” outing that will include stops in Los Angeles, Arizona, the
Grand Canyon, Nevada and then back. If
any is heading south, please give them a call.
Backpacks for Kids fundraiser is still on the front burner! The winner
will be selected Aug. 30th. Tickets are $10 each or packs of 12 tickets can be
had for $100. First prize is a $3500
Vacation Getaway, and second prize is a Pierson’s Gift Certificate! Outgoing President Nancy Dean spent time
prior to the meeting handing out rain sticks to all members who had not
received one over the last year. Nancy
you did an AWESOME job over the last year – three hip-hip-hurrahs and one
“short” “rain” dance for Nancy!!
Our
incoming President Donald “Ziggy” Ziegenfuss starts the 2013-2014 Rotary Year
next Monday, July 1st, at the Elks Club. Come share in his first
week as President! We had two winners
for the Spengler “Science Fair” Raffle Tickets – Ziggy won $10 which he
promptly donated to Backpacks for Kids and one of our student guests got the
other $10 prize. Finally we got to the
hotly anticipated debunking of President Nancy Dean. In preparation for the debunking
Greg Pierson gallantly offered a
bright yellow rain jacket with hood and gloves…after all, come rain or shine,
we wanted Nancy to be prepared. So,
onto the debunking: Jill MacDonald came
up first and announced that after careful deliberation the debunking would be
“gender neutral”.
Hank Ingham wanted us
to know that some careful analysis of all past Presidents had been done, and
Nancy had proved to be the 2nd tallest female President, the 2nd
shortest President, the President with the 2nd highest approval
rating, and only the 2nd best weather prognosticator. A coin flip
was more accurate. However, not to let
this drizzle of 2nd best rain on her parade, Hank also announced
that Nancy was actually first in one very vital category – she is the FIRST
President named Nancy! Tom Schallert
also wanted us to all be aware of how she was viewed as head of the local
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offices. The following comments where shared by her
co-workers. Her vision was described as
“partly cloudy”, and her demeanor as a “cold front, with a hot interior”. As for her management style, it is
universally accepted that she is “scattered & occluded”. Finally, while her attitudes were often
“turbulent”, she always “treated Rotarians as fair weather friends”.
Former President Carlton Nielsen also had a list of the top
17 accomplishments as President, which included among other things: #17 that
she was in charge of the weather (though there were clear questions as to her
accuracy), #11 that she was the first President to make sure that Board
Meetings always ended on time (where were you off to after that?!), #10 she had
successfully corralled over 30 volunteers for various projects over the year
(“don’t worry, it will only take a few minutes…”), #7 she is the only Rotarian
with a Prius, #6 that her email address is unfailingly treated as spam, #5 she
is lovingly referred to as “Mama Dean” by our Rotaract club, #4 she was
instrumental in seeing that Franco’s family was helped every step of the way
after his injury, #2 she is unbeatable at arm wrestling, and #1 the threat that
was always hanging over us like a dark storm cloud, “don’t make me bring out
the really big rain stick!! Nancy Dean,
a formidable thunderhead, ready to deal out rain and lightning – we love you Nancy!
You have been an awesome President. Thank you!!!
Cecelia Reeves, our guest meteorologist from News Channel 3, had
some choice observations about Nancy.
People had always told her that Nancy was short, but she didn’t realize
how SHORT she really was. Based on her
own experience with NOAA, Cecelia was amazed at the casual “sweaters and
Birkenstock” dress code Nancy allows in her office, and it’s been clear that
“showers are optional” at NOAA.
Birthdays for this week included George
Owren and Richard Whitaker on July 19
John
Gierek had a particularly amusing take on the scientific processes Nancy and
NOAA use. As John reported, NOAA is a
government agency that goes back to the mid-1800s, and even at that time they
used rigorous scientific methodology.
In fact, they had one of the first government computing systems, which
is now fondly referred to as the “Lady Luck NOAA Computer”.
This system was quite sophisticated, and
used two highly technical tools – a coin and a chart. In this process the computer operator would first engage with the
coin, vigorously flipping it into the air, and then making careful observations
as to what side of the coin it landed on.
Once the side of the coin was ascertained, then the highly trained
operator would refer to the region specific chart to determine what the
predicted daily weather would be. Even
though this first computer was highly sophisticated, it’s predictive power was
only 50:50 -- still that was pretty
good back in the 1870s. Then there was
big breakthrough in technology in the mid-20th century. With its sharper pin-point accuracy this new
computer was referred to as DART. No
longer hobbled by the inferior coin methodology, this new technology allowed
the operator to utilize a finely honed tool, the “dart”, which the operator
would then direct to the chart. Now, in this case, the chart had also been
greatly improved – rather than relying on a binary selection paradigm, it
allowed a trinary focusing tool. Now the operator could not only predict,
“rain” or “shine”, but other conditions like “fog” could be identified. Of
course, as before, the charts used by the DART system could also be customized
to the local area – so places in the Midwest, for example, might have
“lightning” or “cyclone” added to their predictive models. Finally we come to the present, and this was
also a leap forward in technology, and it one that President Nancy has teased
us with over the last year. This most
magnificent jump in technology is referred to as the Hoover Atmospheric
Technology, or HAT for short. This new
technology is cutting edge, and allows for a very fine gradation of predictive
power. In this case all the possible
weather outcomes are identified and entered onto special “slips of paper”. These are then introduced into the HAT
system, which the operator can now query.
Once the proper query and verbal commands are made the operator can
reach into the HAT system and withdraw the predicted outcome. Now the real beauty of this system is that
operator can use their own judgment to override the original HAT prediction,
making additional queries to the system until the desired prediction is
reached. Once the desired outcome is
reached, the operator can then instruct the system to display the prediction on
the front display of the HAT system.
Having watched President Nancy use this system over the last year at our
weekly meetings, I think we can all bow in amazement at the wondrous job Nancy
is producing at NOAA, and we definitely are very thankful that she’s shared the
outcomes of these to us every Monday.
THANK YOU NANCY!!
Next we heard
from three of our Rotaract Club members – Carly Robbins (former Rotaract
President), Clark Swan (current Rotaract District Representative”), and Jessica
(sorry, no last name given). These
Rotaract members first met Nancy in 2009, and they report how amazing Nancy has
been. Nancy has attended a majority of
the Rotaract meetings since it started, and through her help and guidance our
Rotaract Club has now won the Rotaract of the Year award in our District for
the last two years. Amazing job! So, how has Nancy gotten such participation,
engagement and commitment from these future Rotarians? Well the surprise
answer, the dark secret, was revealed for all to hear.
Nancy has been giving
Paul Harris Fellow buttons to all Rotaract President!! Ye gads!! Is this bribery!? Moreover, even
the young daughter of one of those present was given one of these
buttons!! So, is this why she goes to
so many of their meetings? Is this why she answers their emails and phone calls
so promptly? Sometimes within 20 minutes or less! All kidding aside, these Rotaract members clearly love Nancy, who
they fondly refer to as Mama Dean. Hugs
and affirmations of affection follow!
Nancy, we too applaud your amazing effort with Rotaract. You are definitely an inspiration!! Hank Ingham followed up with his annual
PowerPoint debunking presentation. As
so many before him have done, he reminds us of how Nancy “comes up short”. Then
he launches into a very convincing conspiracy theory around Nancy’s success.
First, he reminds us of her “stool”, as that’s something we should definitely
look into more carefully. Then there’s
those mysterious “rain stick” she’s been handing out. There must be some deeper hypnotizing affect to their gentle
drizzling sounds. Most significantly
there is the stovepipe hat she wears.
We musn’t forget that both President Nancy & President Lincoln wore
stovepipe hats. More importantly, they were both born in a year starting with
the number “1”. Next there is the
question of busts – both of them have them, Lincoln has one in Washington, DC,
and Nancy always has hers close by.
Finally notice the great similarity between the famous Lincoln Logs, and
Nancy’s rain stick. Now seriously, we ask you – is this merely a coincidence,
or is something more sinister afoot. Think about it! Getting close to meetings end, Greg Pierson wanted to reiterate
how you, Nancy, “stuck it to us (with rain sticks) all year long”. In reply we collected a number of
suggestions of how we might repay you.
Suggestions included bread sticks, yard sticks, fish sticks, regular
sticks, painted sticks, pretzel sticks, make-up sticks, lip sticks and even
drum sticks. In the end, the only thing
that truly made sense was RAIN STICK, but not one of the “SHORT” ones you’ve
been giving to us all year long. So, we
decided to give you, Nancy, a rainstick that was bigger than you! We hope you find it’s soothing sounds a
pleasant reminder of all we’ve put up with! Again, we love you Nancy! Not willing to let matters lie, Nancy
informed us that we had missed a couple of key points. In her professional careers,
for example, we forgot to mention two very powerful tools she uses: a CRYSTAL
BALL and a MAGIC EIGHT BALL…both of which have been instrumental in her
success. In closing she also wanted to gracefully thank the Rotaract, the
Wharfinger for letting us use their space, the lunch crew we’ve been getting
tasty meals from, and all of us in Rotary too. Thank you Nancy! With that, the meeting was adjourned.
Presented in
Rotary Service by Bruce Smith
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