On August 14, the Club had a social/business meeting highlighted with delicious chocolate cookies made by Alan Riffer. Our participation in Dollar Days at Golden Gate Fields was a focus of the business meeting. This is our main fund raiser and an opportunity to partner with other local groups enabling them to raise funds. Member Aaron Gobler also demonstrated the new look of our web site.
Aaron Gobler shows the new look of the club website.
August began with local beer expert, Brian Parsley describing different types of beer, where they are from, and why “Beer is the New Wine”.
Brian Parsley
July ended with Alan Riffer’s fascinating story of fraud against his employer. He shared his experiences in “The 8 Million Dollar Fraud that I Discovered” and the role former Albany Police Lt. Troy Norman played in solving the case.
Alan Riffer
The club learned tricks for marketing your business from local business owner, Tod Abbot, in his discussion of “All You Wanted to Know About Web Marketing, but were Afraid to Ask”.
Tod Abbott
Kathryn Javandel
Local attorney, Kathryn Javandel shared her philosophies of “Legal Process vs Ends Justify Means Activism”. A brief history of law was woven into her talk.
After taking a brief break for the Independence Day holiday, the Albany Rotary Club had an exciting list of speakers during July. Michael Barnes, UC Science Editor, discussed a “Healthy Relationship with Cell Phones”. His talk included lots of props and meters to enable Rotarians to make comparisons of radio frequency waves.
Michael Barnes (left)
The September 7, 2010 meeting featured speaker David Lapedis, Personal Coach. David, a graduate of the University of Michigan, works with his clients to foster the theory that you are here to thrive– not just coast, thrive. That your every thought and deed has an impact. Are you ready to maximize this impact on others and yourself- and how do you do it? David had a discussion with (brave) President Jason in front of the group, to demonstrate how a session with him might go. Thank you for an interesting and thought-provoking talk, David. Submitted by Todd Armstrong.
Due to a change in schedule, we were unable to enjoy the visit of the Rotary District Governor. Instead, we heard Albany Rotary President-Elect Stefan Cohen discuss some of his ideas for his (upcoming) year. Stefan asked what exactly were we looking to do as a Club, and gave us some of his ideas. It is clear Stefan is giving his year a lot of thought. The editorial staff at the Albany Rotary Club Blog feels the Club will be in good hands under President Stefan. Submitted by Todd Armstrong.
The August 24 meeting was a low-key gathering of Rotarians- we did not have a speaker, but simply enjoyed each other’s company. The high-light of the meeting was the drawing, which at long last produced a winner: none other than you humble narrator, Todd. He has pledged to use the money wisely- watch this space. Submitted by Todd Armstrong.
Our speaker at today’s meeting was Dorothe Piluso-Burns, the new PTA President of Albany’s Cornell Elementary School. Dorthe explained her objective as PTA President as to simply enable the school to provide the same level of education for her children that she had when she was a student. She anticipates a challenging struggle to raise the necessary money to keep all the current programs intact.
Thank you Dorothe for an interesting and illuminating talk.
Submitted by Todd Armstrong