THIS FRIDAY

"Seattle Mariners - What are the prospects for 2011?" Jack Zduriencik, General Manager, Seattle Mariners. Here is your chance to find out the prospects for the Seattle Mariners for 2011. Jack will be talking with us a week before Spring Training starts and give us his perspective, as well as answer your questions. This is a MUST meeting for you if you enjoy baseball! [Kevin Mather, EVP-Finance and Ballpark Operations, Seattle Mariners]

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

Relating to golf, President Kimbrough remarked: "In about the 1700s the Scots invented golf. The question is: "Why?" The answer: To frustrate English confidence, since they couldn't beat them at war.

Invocation, Pledge & Introductions

Peter Powell opened the meeting with the following invocation:

Dear Lord whose mercies are new every day, we beseech you on behalf of each one present at this gathering. We are thankful for the many friendships that have been established through our participation in Rotary and for the fellowship of this house. We pray that our aim might be to serve others and that our motto, "Service above Self" might be the guiding factor in the accomplishing of this goal. When we grasp the magnitude of people who are down-trodden, troubled, discouraged and forsaken, we should be more thankful than ever that we are permitted to have the many blessings received, As we are about to partake of the food set before us, may we express our thanks for the provisions made for our physical needs. May the food be for the strengthening of our bodies so we, in turn, may be strengthened for greater service to humanity. May the peace of God which passes all understanding abide with each of us.

Amen.

Lennie Lutes recognized visitors to the club with grace and aplomb. Visiting Rotarians included the ubiquitous Frank Young from the Bellevue Rotary Club and Ivan Komashinsky of Microsoft. There were eight other visitors, including our Chilean exchange student, Claudia Rodriguez.

Lutes finished with a flourish, ensuring all comers that they are all always welcome at the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club.

Bellevue 10K Run, Walk and Kids Dash 

John Martinka took us back a few years to high school, recalling the year when the principal of Renton High School won a national award. In receiving the award, she said, "It takes leadership, focus, and it's a team thing."

Martinka noted that we are doing precisely those things at the BBRC. "I want to challenge you through an Interact Club in upstate NY — a group of high school kids raised $42,000 for heart surgeries," he said. "We are two or three times as old and two or three times more talented. Why can't we raise two or three times as much? That's our challenge for the next three months."

Let's work hard to make the Bellevue 10K a great success.

Student of the Month: J.J. Breilh, Bellevue Christian High School

J.J. Breilh, of Bellevue Christian High School, is the January Student of the Month. Attending the meeting along with his parents Cindy and Bob, his principal Sue Tameling, school counselor Danielle Lopez, and Tom O'Neill of Young Life, J.J. offered the club a confident and well-spoken account of his activities.

J.J. has been an outstanding student, having been chosen as the top scholar for 2008-09 at his school. He is also a star athlete in basketball and baseball and has participated in mission trips in the US, Nicaragua, and Tijuana, Mexico. He has applied to eight colleges and plans to achieve an MBA degree in preparation for a career in sports marketing and management.

"I've lived in Bellevue for most of my life," said the young scholar. "My parents have been a guiding light to me. I also have an older brother and sister who have been trailblazers for my life." J.J.'s brother is serving in Afghanistan, and his sister's husband is in the Air Force. Additionally, J.J.'s sister has served in Iraq with the Red Cross.

"In terms of service, I've heard that you guys model service over self," J.J. said. I've grown up always wanting to go the extra mile for my friends and strangers. My parents were part of Young Life and I've been involved as well, leading a discipleship group ... these have been huge things for me that have been constant steps forward. We should serve in our own communities and also step out. I've been going over to Seattle to feed the homeless with my friends, just making sandwiches and taking them to give out."

J.J. went on to talk more about the way he has decided to live. "Before I started high school I set some goals for myself, about the way I live for Christ and the way I take care of my body. My dad promised me a Ferrari if I got a 4.0 but, unfortunately, he meant a toy car. I've been taking more challenging courses lately, so I haven't kept the 4.0. As much as I love the rain in the Northwest, I'm ready to go see the rest of the country and expand my relationships."

An intelligent and highly poised young man, J.J. was eloquent in describing how Bellevue Christian High School has expanded his worldview. He concluded by saying, "Thank you very much for this honor and for listening to what I have to say." The club was left with the feeling that this young man has a lot more to say and the courage to say it as he joins us in a life of servant leadership.

Sergeant at Arms Corner

SAA Elena Howell was announced and then immediately greeted with a chorus of hearty Boos. "Hey, I haven't been up here all year!" she retorted. The seemingly irritated, but sternly gracious, gendarme set to work fining members who have had the audacity to experience family joys in recent months. When she fined John Martinka a discounted rate of $20 over the birth of his granddaughter, he protested: "You're a little late. It's been three months." It seems Little Emily May was born on October 25 last year, although the proud grandfather had no idea of her length and weight.

After being buttonholed by the club's feminine authority figure, Chris Monger announced the birth of his grandson on the winter solstice and was promptly issued a $20 fine.

Michel Carter also had a grandson born in Dublin, Ireland, recently, but got a waiver on the fine.

Our cruise diva, Colleen Turner, also recently won a national award for her profession, along with — what else — a cruise! Although your reporter is unsure of the exact turn of events, she apparently avoided a fine in a moment of confusion or attention lapse on the part of the authorities.

In a bizarre turn of events, the exasperated Officer Howell began to carry on her diatribe in Russian. Paul Chapman rose and translated her as saying, "There is still room for a few people to join," and then pressed our Russian visiting Rotarian Ivan Komashinsky into service to translate further.

"That wasn't in the plan" protested Elena. She continued in what seemed to be broken Russian, and the guest gamely translated her as saying, "On November 7, all the guests wore costumes." According to the translator, Elena then said, in further confusion, "And those who missed the meeting showed up without a costume."

The nonplussed Elena said in bewilderment, “That was spontaneous.”   

Dick Brown won the award for the best costume on January 7 — a lovely shower cap which the always dapper haberdasher gamely modeled for the camera. For those whofailed to dress up, excuses were not accepted. All were fined $1. The Sergeant finished with a good-humored, "Das vedanya."

Annual District Conference

The District 5030 Conference is April 29-May 1, in Portland, OR. There will be a drawing for each 25 registrants to win a $250 Costco card. Colleen Turner mentioned that the District Governor will refund the money of anyone who attends and doesn't come away with a new insight about Rotary.

Click here for more information or to register for the District Conference.

Valentine Dine-Around, February 11

The annual Valentine Dine-Around will be celebrated on Friday night, February 11. More information and sign-up is available online now!

PROGRAM

Dave Torrell, Curator for the University of Washington Athletic Hall of Fame and Club Historian and Past President of Sahalee Golf & Country Club in Sammamish

Dave Torrell

Bill Prater introduced the morning's speaker, Dave Torrell, who briefly discussed the 2010 Senior Open at Sahalee Country Club, before going on to his main topic, the of University of Washington's Athletic Hall of Fame at the Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Torrell began by sharing behind-the-scenes challenges of the recent U.S. Senior's Open Golf Tournament at Sahalee Country Club. According to Torrell, there have been three major, nationally televised golf tournaments in the history of the Northwest, and all three have been held at Sahalee, which is consistently ranked as one of the top 100 greatest courses in the world. The mission statement of the club drives it to have these tournaments, he said, not a profit motive.

The Senior Open last year was a success, but the recession affected things as $500,000 in corporate pledges were lost over night. "We got $2 million in corporate sales instead of $3.5 million, as wealth managers and banks bailed out," he said, "and it was a miracle we reached that amount."

The club was on the hook for all the expenses, so the tournament was a real challenge. "The USGA is a really fine organization," he said. "They did everything they could to help us, from start to finish."

Torrell concluded that the bottom line is the club has a lot of guts and gumption and has done some wonderful things, but the future is uncertain. The U.S. Open at Chambers Bay may be the last major golf tournament in the PNW for the next 10 years, because the business side of running such tournaments is tough.

Torrell then turned to his main topic, the University of Washington Athletic Hall of Fame. "I retired about 10 years ago and helped the university raise $54 million to redo the Hec Edmondson area," he said. "We now have the finest basketball facility in our league."

Part of that fundraising was set aside for a physical Hall of fame within the pavilion. "I was asked to get the stuff to put in there. Three years later we had enough memorabilia to start. I take care of it on a daily basis, based on the history of all the sports teams at UW," Torrell said. "I have tried fairly hard to upgrade the quality of the memorabilia." He then told several engaging stories about his adventures in collecting

"A guy named George Saxon called me and has helped collect priceless, unique items from area collectors, and individual Huskies have come forward with things. One of the things we've done is collect trading cards, over 240 of them, from every Husky who has ever played in the NFL."

An important part of the Hall of Fame is the inductees. The school has been playing football since 1895, so there are many people to be considered and remembered. "We've had 40,000 athletes who have gone through the UW," according to Torrell. "Of those, 160 individuals and 20 teams have been put into the Hall of Fame."

The exhibition for inductees is very professionally done, he said, as six inductees are added every two years. "Most of the teams are from Crew, since they win the most championships." He noted that the teams are inducted as a group. This year's volleyball team was recently inducted.

"Any Husky would love to do what I get to do," said the irrepressible booster. One of the Huskies he mentioned was Arnie Weinmeister, who was "a big imposing-looking man in the pro football Hall of Fame." Torrell sought out a family member to try to find a New York Giants jersey and found Weinmeister's son in Reno. The son stated that he had such a jersey, which was framed and hanging in his home. "The son said UW couldn't have it," said Torrell, "so I asked him, 'What else do you have? Do you have anything that commemorates his induction into the NFL Hall of Fame?' He said yes, that he had his induction blazer." The son promised to send the blazer, along with several other prized items related to his father's induction.

Torrell continued, "It didn't come so I called him back. Someone had told him that I was running a scam and had no connection to the UW." Torrell immediately responded to the son, saying, "I want to tell you something: If I'm going to run a scam, I'm not going to do it with a guy named Weinmeister," apparently making reference to the family's fearsome stature. "He sent it the next day," Torrell triumphantly recalled.

Often, the family members of former athletes are quite emotional about donating their memorabilia to the collection. Torrell told about receiving a 100-year-old football jersey from the 90-year-old daughter of one of the early U-Dub football players. "The daughter was so thrilled to give it," he recalled. He also recalled that "a guy called up and said he had a football personally given to him by a former player named Jones. I went out to see him and they were all dressed up," Torrell emotionally recalled on the verge of tears.

He also recalled the occasion of receiving a football helmet from Husky great Lawyer Milloy. "After I went out to my car, he came running out of the house and said, 'Dave, do you want my Super Bowl Ring?' They are worth about $50,000!"

Torrell was clearly proud of the achievements he and his team have realized. "The people who designed our Hall of Fame did the Holocaust Museum in D.C. and the College Football Hall of Fame. It is very well done." He concluded, "We have an amazing history with a lot of great stories. There is nothing in the city of Seattle like what we have. We will continue to take care of it. To see the really good stuff, you have to look hard, and I hope you'll get a chance to come see it.

Web Fun

18 Common Work Email Mistakes
Courtesy of Steve Lingenbrink

Most of us rely on email as one of our primary communication tools. And given the number of messages we send and receive, we do it with remarkable success.

But as with anything, the more emails we send, the more likely we are to screw one up. And simple email mistakes can be disastrous. They can cost us a raise, promotion — even a job.

With a new year upon us, this is the perfect time to go through some of the worst email mistakes employees make and how to avoid them.

Click here to find out what these mistakes are to see if you make any of them.