Newsletter 092209

This is the first day of fall- and yet it feels like summer has finally
arrived! We all had a great time visiting, and were delighted to see "
my good wife Esther", guest of B. Rice. Sitting in "his place" was F.
Bliss, taking your money and offering you your lunch ticket, along with
a handshake and smile! Tables were filling up as the "Oktoberfest crew"
made their way down from the upstairs lounge after a short and fruitful
meeting. Also in attendance today was D. Wong who stated she had a
couple of days off from teaching and joined us for some fun!

BFE Pres. Denise rang the President's bell for the last time (no meeting
next week, folks!!), and Maestro B. Rice led us in a rousing "in tune"
rendition of GBA. Rev. B. Fay gave a short and to the point invocation
asking for blessings on our lunch, Circle K, Kiwanis and the children of
the world. D. Wong carried around the fine flying fire extinguisher
which did fill up with many  $$ as the afternoon progressed.

BFE Pres. Denise immediately thanked us all for taking great care of her
meeting last week and reported that hubby Nick is fine. She also
thanked and hugged her "Dack" who has supported her in this year of her
presidency. (Your editor loves this picture!!!)

Several notes of interest coming along for you
to enter into your
BRAIN!!
(What you do with this info. is up to you!!!)
Sept. 22: Hayward CV installation is tonight.
Sept. 24: San Leandro installation is this night.
Sept. 29: Installation of Team Bliss and Paradis at the Paradis palace
in Lafayette. NOT TO BE MISSED.
The kitchen might be underway or done??? Start time (which is probably
happy hour) is 6:00pm.
Sept. 30: RIF distribution for the Head Start partner sites (that's the
BUSD schools!). Need one more person to go around with J.P.!! (He's
only got one site!!)
Sept. 30: Alameda installation at lunchtime.
Oct. 5: Want to interclub at Oakland's lunch installation? Let B.C.
know.
Oct. 5: Albany/EC installation is this night.
Oct. 9: DINE OUT with BK and our K family!!
China Village in Alameda, 5:30pm.
Oct. 17: OKTOBERFEST!! Sign up to work!!!

BFE Pres. Denise was so proud of our club at the LTG installation
earlier this month. Past Pres. P. Khong and Sec. J. Rosano received
Distinguished Pres and Sec for their 2007-2008 reign. As well, B.C. led
us to win both Division 2 Interclub awards for this reign of BFE Pres.
Denise. We have great leaders and great members!! She also noted that
absentee J. Egeberg is celebrating a birthday. (He owes for the song we
sang), and S. Hearn sent us a card from Berlin- hmmm.. she was sitting
in the audience today! F. Bliss sol
d off two remaining lunches,
supposedly to be eating as dinner, to S. Hearn and T. Paradis- raising
an extra $25 for the club. Way to go!! Maybe absentee A. Paradis got
one of those!!

As is usual, Circle K did plenty this week… and has plenty planned.
Diane noted attendance at Creek to Bay and Adopt A Creek this past
weekend, attended by many new members. Thye had a Saturday evening
Social at Emery Bay, splitting into many groups for small gatherings at
different eating places. Nov. 6-8 is FTC (that's Fall Training
Conference) in Sonora and they will need drivers or cars to get there.
They are still getting wonderful attendance at their weekly meetings,
and it will be great to see how many attend the FTC weekend.

$$$$ were numerous, as usual!
E. Goodman was  her home is being "refurbished"and  at the loss of a
young cousin. B. Barnwell  that he moved up to SF three years ago and 
that he had to leave early- there was a story involved which included
bike riding, BART riding, a helmet, etc!! B. Fay was  about the Golden
Bears and  that he will miss the OKTOBERFEST. F. & R. Bliss put in a
check and are very  about paying off the home mortgage this morning.
T.20Paradis  about spending most of week with daughter actually on the
computer with work,  about the event "on the mall", and  about the
update of the kitchen- with choosing granite today. P. Khong was  for
the Golden Bears and  he cannot attend Circle K meeting tonight. J.
Rosano also  for. B. Rice gave :)
for his good wife, and D. Leonard is delighted to be joining 5 or so
others in Oregon for the game with the Ducks coming up. D. Wong was :)
for the days off from school and lucky to be here for this team's last
meeting.
Our Circle K guest from UC Irvine, Kim, stated this was her first time
outside of NorCal. Welcome to the Greater East Bay!!!!!!!

In addition to all this EXCITING happy and sad news we DID have a
speaker!! Raechelle Sutton (a member of the Templeton Kiwanis Club - a
small club of about 28 members, 13 of whom are active) is the CA.
Executive Director of With Wings and a Halo- R.E.A.C.H. a Child! BFE
Pres. Denise met her at the Convention in San Diego. This organization's
focus is to put a smile on the face of a child in need. Through
R.E.A.C.H. they provide first responders (police, firemen, etc) with
backpacks to distribute to children at the scene of a crisis or
emergency. These B.A.C.K. (Be A Cheerful Kid) packets contain children'
s books, an
d K.I.T.S. (Kindness In Traumatic Situations) contain
activities, snacks, first aid supplies and toiletries in addition to
kits. Their goal is to equip every police patrol vehicle and fire
engine in CA with a B.A.C.K. Packet by the end of 2010. They estimate
the cost of each packet to be $50. There are monetary and voluntary
challenges to Kiwanis that can be made toward this goal.
www.withwingsandahaloca.org can give you more information on this
interesting organization. Looks like something to investigate.

YES, Everyone does seem to LOVE the monthly fundraising baskets. This
last month's was filled with goodies from the BLISS household and
brought $30 to the lucky winner who happened to be D. Leonard. This
monthly basket idea began with the present team's term- we hope it will
continue into the new ½ and ½ team's term!!! It is kind of fun to see
what creative ideas people have!!

The sign up has filled up for folks going over to San Leandro Kiwanis
next Tuesday, the 29th for lunch. Remember, there is NO lunch meeting
at the Berkeley City Club next week. Those of you who did sign up for
SL, PLEASE come to the Englander. This will complete the Round Robin.

And thus the LAST meeting headed by BFE Pres. Denise is over. Not sure
who is MCing the BK installation next Tuesday evening, but it wi
ll be an
absolutely fabulous event. This editor likes the term
"½ and ½ Pres".??? Anyone have any other thoughts on a name for the
incoming team?? Wonder what the new fine box will look like!!

I leave you with the following
SAQOTW

Getting born is like being given a ticket to the theatrical event
called life. Now, all that ticket will get you is through the door. It
doesn't get you a good time and it doesn't get you a bad time. You go
in and sit down and you either love the show or you don't.
Stewart Emery

IF ANYONE HAS WONDERFUL DONATIONS FOR OUR OKTOBERFEST SILENT AUCTION,
PLEASE BRING THEM TO OUR MEETINGS. WE ARE ONLY TAKING 20 ITEMS!!!
CONTACT VC WITH ANY INFO OR HELP YOU MIGHT GIVE!!!

HAVE A FUN FILLED WEEK!
SEE YOU AT OUR INSTALLATION EVENT
AT THE PARADIS PALACE!!!

Editor: VC

Newsletter

Nick, Denise's spouse, had an "oops" this morning and our "Dear Leader"
was keeping watch on him at the hospital. Word was that there had been
no major problem found, but (in keeping with modern medical insurance
practice) he is being kept a while for "more tests and observation".
That's called "defensive medicine". We missed Denise, and wish Nick a
speedy return to being an active presidential spouse.

Roberta was right there taking up the leadership task. It's nice to
have 2 Presidents-elect; it provides coverage for cases when one is off
in our Nation's Capital, attending to important polo matches and such!

HELP! Two weeks ago, today, this "Most Unnecessary Publication on the
West Coast" carried a banner asking for volunteers to write it.
Nothing heard so far. Frank has said he would give it a try, but he
does work elsewhere for a living (and for Phuoc's living) plus he's
taking on the heavy job of Secretary. Can't some of the rest of you
volunteer for a "once in a while"?

With a bump on the bell (yes, it's been back in good shape for a while)
Roberta beat us into order, of sorts. Bob Rice tried to lead us in GBA
(too bad Frank was busy being Ticket seller and couldn't provide
accompaniment – we needed it!) and Rev Bill gave a somewhat wordy, but=2
0
heart-felt invocation. "and away we went" (with apologies to Jackie
Gleason).

Diane, the UCB Circle K "K Family Chair" was right at the top of the
agenda. She had 2 supporters from their Club to back her up and Pres.
Josh on his way to class had popped by to make sure we knew who was in
charge. It seems they had about 300 potential members show up for
their first meeting last week and were expecting a bunch more tonight.
Of course they were busy all week with service projects and attending
induction ceremonies for Division 2. On Sunday, they handled face
painting and dinosaur/hobby horse riding at the Solano Stroll to
support us. From the pictures, they not only supported but outnumbered
us!

And that LTGUV Installation. Yep, that was our own, tied for 1st woman
in our Club, VC. I'm a little confused as to her title these days. She
was LtGuv Elect, but now that she's been inducted but is not yet
officially seated maybe she's the LtGuv in waiting; who knows. We just
know she'll do a great job. We know already that she's out to raise
some money and push us to get new members; she was peddling her 2009/10
Division 2 pin.

Reports are that Bill C. came thru his longer-than-expected surgery
well and is resting at home in anticipation of a busy year supporting
our new LtGuv.

And, of all things, at
the Installation Phuoc was awarded a District
something-or-other for his year as President. Does anyone remember
when he was President?

Under the new regime (represented by Roberta) the Dine Out will be
stabilized at 2nd Friday each month. It will be expanded a bit to
include the entire Berkeley Kiwanis Family and see if we can't promote
more "togetherness" (not a quote from Roberta).

VC spoke a bit as LTGuv in Waiting, or whatever, about membership (we
need lots of new members to get our Division up to targeted strength)
and some sort of cock-a-mamie plan to raise money by a phony weight
loss competition between her and her poor spouse. It sounded like she
was making it up as she went along, but I'm sure we'll get more
details. It probably will entail some method for extracting money from
us!!

Lots of H$ for the Bears and Bill C. recuperating. And, yes, we had a
program; starting with a speaker and ending with a "skit".

As senior member of the Gin Fizz team, Jack gave us the background. A
group of then-senior members always had a supply of snacks (including
popcorn) and suitable beverages to help while away the time at District
Conventions (beats listening to speeches) and members of our club were
more than welcome to drop in and participate, and naturally they had
gin fizzes every morning to get the day started. Of course the word=2
0
spread outside the club and pretty soon folks from other Division 2
clubs; then folks from other Divisions; then folks from District. You
see, contrary to your supposition, our members did not spend the day
sitting around the room; they were out and about meeting and greeting
and knew most all the regulars. Eventually, the "Berkeley Room"
morphed into a Division room (the Berkeley room, however, persisted.);
and the Saturday morning Fizz Off became a must affair as a prelude to
the Prayer Breakfast. Then, some upstarts decided to make their own
Gin Fizzes and the contest was on. There were ups and downs, but
mostly Berkeley won and it was an up. And so we have the modern
Fizz-off.

The Berkeley Gin Fizz recipe was a closely guarded secret, inscribed on
the back of a small card purportedly from Charlie Judy. The card ended
up in Jack's protection and this year he could not attend so needed to
pass the secret on to another member and chose VC, probably due to the
fact that she was Charlie's daughter. And, she won at the District
Convention last week.

So, the skit part of the program was Duane dressed as a blue Nun (how
tasteless) pouring samples of Gin Fizzes from a Blue Nun Wine bottle (A
normal pitcher is more normally employed for pouring.) containing the
Gin Fizz. The first batch was supposedly the result of closely
following the original recipe, and
the second batch was VC's
improvement on that recipe. The first batch, to my trained senses, was
a terrible abomination of what had always been a very smooth and
refreshing Gin Fizz. The second was on the same level, maybe it was
worse. Then, in reviewing her performance VC noted that she had failed
to add Gin to the second batch and I'll bet the same could be said for
the first batch. With that, we fled.

Next week? Who knows! Hope you join us to find out.
JP

Newsletter 090809

Autumn around the Bend
The City Club has geared up for football season and was quite busy last
weekend and expects to get even busier as the season gets underway…and
it shows! The Club is ready for the Fall Season! Meanwhile, BKiwanis got
with the spirit, and started off with B. Rice trying once again, without
success, to get folks to sing on key, R. Bliss was thankful for our
service, P. Khong was trying to raise big bucks for the fire
extinguisher with the hole in it, and B. Lowman was somehow trying to
get folks to pay for lunch.
We didn't have any authentic guests, but there was someone lurking in
the back of the room that folks vaguely recognized. It turned out to be
an actual BK member, a Mr. G. Maxe, whom we haven't seen since … Gosh,
it's downright embarrassing though, the way V. Carpenter loses all
control when this guy's around. Wonder what would happen if the guy were
actually as good-looking as she thinks he is? Anyhoo, among other
things, Geo informed us that he will retain (dual) membership in BK
since he loves us (at least some of us) so much!
B. Rice was such a lousy Secret Greeter that he volunteered to
contribute to the Fine Box, even though Prez FireX pleaded with him not
to. Then…Much ado was made by Old Blues like P. Khong (older by the
minute), J. Egeberg and others that they witnessed=2
0the Golden Bears wipe
out Maryland last weekend, and as a result, moved

into the Top Ten in the nation! Now, just how long will they stay there?
More Goings-On
Then there was a virtual plethora of announcements
 Solano Stroll is here!…. Sept 13. There was a last-minute committee
meeting just before lunch. We're all set (it appears). And we have
plenty of Circle K'ers, too. Just what could go wrong now? Come on out
and witness and share in our success!
 LtGov Installation is also here! This Thur! Sept 10 – Elio's
Restaurant in San Leandro. Lame-Duck Sec'y Rosano read off the list of
who's signed up…and there are quite a few! And of course, our very own
V. Carpenter is the fearless one who is being installed! (how could she
do it again??)
 BK Club Installation Sept 29 – Rancho Paradis in Lafayette. Should be
a great success, but there are rumors that it will be a little "
different" in a certain respect.
 Last Night's Dine Out was a success finally, at the spot that closed
its doors on us last time
 Since our regular meeting on Sept. 29 will be in the evening, there is
a wonderful opportunity for our last Interclub of the year, at Noon in
San Leandro…thereby

providing us the wonderful opportunity to finish off our great Round
Robin for the year!

 B. Carpenter announced that Interclub #37 took place last week at
Alameda, V&B Carpenter, A&T Paradis attending. Way to go.
 J. Egeberg announced that the event that everyone's been waiting for
--OKTOBERFEST 2009!
after months of hype, is finally really RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!
Yes, October 17 is almost here! Flyers will be handed out this weekend
at Solano Stroll, and the "Committee" will meet next Tue at 11:30.
The Circle K Extra Edition
KF Chair Diane introduced Prez Josh, Ken, Debi et al. Yes, their "Garage
Sale" last weekend (which wasn't in a garage) was of course a success
and netted over $800. Next…LISTEN TO THIS: (drum roll….) For their
first General Membership meeting tonight, there are no less than 500
persons signed up!! Yeah, sure, it will rival one of BK's meetings.

Happy, Sad, and Otherwise
• B. Carpenter is still not looking forward very much to some more chest
surgery on Sept 11 to put a couple ribs back in – Good luck, Bill!!
• B. Fay joined the others in being ecstatic about the top-ranked Golden
Bears. Yes, he was there last Saturday until the wee (and winning)
hours.
• Geo was happy to be back and continue as dual membership with Silicon
Valley (even though he'll have to put up with VC's antics)
• Josh had a big happy one for the HUGE turnout for20the Circle K meeting
tonight

• B. Barnwell was still trying to convince everyone that more spots on a
nectarine make it sweeter (don't ask…and no, there weren't any
plumquats)
A Fantastic Program
Program Chair D. Haughin introduced a very special program today, Chris
Finn. Chris is a quadriplegic who has "worked his way" up the ranks to
become the Head Coach of the US Power Soccer Team that won the 2007
World Cup in Tokyo. For those of you who don't know, Power Soccer is
about disabled people in special wheel chairs who can, quite remarkably,
play a very exciting game of soccer. The tricky thing is that all
disabilities are not the same, so the chairs, and other things, are not
all equal. Chris first was a player, then was a coach, and helped form
and advance the National and International Associations. His motto, to
share with everyone: You are able -- just believe…and take action!
In response to many interested questions, Chris indicated that they have
many needs for volunteers, and BK'ers expressed much interest. More to
follow!
For more info, visit www.ChrisFinn.org.
Thanks Chris!
See you at Solano Stroll!

Newsletter 090109

HELP WANTED
The ranks of editors for what was once known as the "Most Unnecessary
Publication on The West Coast" are being decimated by promotion of one
(Tamara) to ½ President and the success of another (Debra) in landing a
job and moving south to San Jose. Thus, new editors are needed and we
are looking for volunteers. Requirements are to attend the meetings
for which you are scheduled to report (duh!); ability to compose in
relatively correct English; and ability to develop the Kollegiate in
Microsoft Word and e-mail it to the volunteer mailer. Tour of duty is
from October 2009 through end of September 2010, providing you can find
a suitable replacement!! Contact the Kollegiate Chair (Jeffrey Egeberg
jegeberg@essic.net) to discuss details.
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SEPTEMBER DINE-OUT
Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 2. Not sure why this wasn't decided last
week, but that's the way it goes with bachelors – last minute works!!
Anyway, if you read this before 5:30 PM which is the gathering time
(happy hour extends until 6 PM), you are invited to meet at the Café
Casa, 3136 Sacramento St. Berkeley (Tel 510-654-5410) and if you are
late? Well, so be it. It reportedly has a 4 star rating, but not by
Micheline – rather something called "Yelp".
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OTHER V.I.E.s.
Very Important Events
Tuesday, Sep 8, 11 AM. At Berkeley City Club. Planning Session for
Solano Stroll.
Thursday, Sep 10 LTG (Virginia) Installation. Sign-Up Closes Sep 8
Friday, Sep 11 Bill Carpenter's Surgery
Sunday, Sep 13 (8 AM - 5 PM) Solano Stroll. Report at 1700 Solano Ave.
Tuesday, Sep 15 Estimated Tax Payments Due
Tuesday, Sep 15 "The Fizz-Off". A historical (hysterical?) program.
Wednesday, Sep 23 RIF Sign-ups Sep 8.
Thursday, Sep 24 RIF Sign-ups Sep 8.
Tuesday, Sep 29 Interclub at San Leandro Kiwanis. (Important – See
below)
Tuesday, Sep 29 Berkeley Kiwanis Installation at Chez Paradis,
Lafayette.
Wednesday, Sep 30 ? MAYBE! Finish RIF. Details hopefully next week.
Tuesday, Oct 6 New Crew assumes "power" at Berkeley Kiwanis.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Interclub Chair Bill C. announced Interclubs 33-36 were completed last
week with visits to the Hayward/Castro Valley Administrative Fund
Raiser; the Kiwanis Club of Albany/El Cerrito; the Kiwanis Club of
Richmond; and The Kiwanis Club of Oakland celebration of Bob Payne's
Kiwanis service. Attending one or more of these visits were Bill & V
Carpenter, Frank and R Bliss, Denise Haughin, Sandy Hearn, Ed Levitch,
Jack Rosano, Evie Goodman, Bill &
L Hannawalt, and Duane Leonard.

An IMPORTANT interclub is scheduled on Tuesday, Sep 29 at San Leandro
to complete our Round Robin in Division 2. Since we have our
installation that evening, there's no luncheon meeting and all members
are expected to show up for the interclub!!

HAPPENINGS
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24 Years of Perfect Attendance pin to Bill Carpenter.

Happy September birthdays to Tony Ng and Ed Levitch. Neither were
present, but we sang anyway. Wonder if they heard it. Ed's attendance
has been terrible recently – give him a call on the 5th and wish him a
Happy BD while encouraging him to come to lunch.

The Paradis kitchen project is under contract with a starting date of
November 15 (yes, 2009). Completion by March 15, 2010. Yes, that
means there may actually be a kitchen (and a whole bunch of other
"improvements") for our 2010 St. Pat's Corned Beef feed. We'll
probably have to remove our shoes at the door!

CIRCLE K
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Pres Josh made a cameo appearance before lunch but had to rush off for
class. At least for a while we won't see his smiling face at our
lunches – the course is a requirement in his major, so it does have to
take precedence!

=0
ADiane was back and had 3 supporters (in addition to Josh). She regaled
us with all the service they did the past week and their plans to do
even more. The 2009/2010 Board retreat was held in the Santa Cruz Area
this past weekend, and special thanks to JP for loaning his Mercedes.
JP looked a bit thin (from worry??), but reported that the car was
returned with no problems except there was a problem with the key not
working in Circle K hands.

Yes we had a "normal" meeting with a speaker from the East Bay
Community Scholarship Fund, but I'm sure you'll hear more about that;
sounds like right down our service alley. jp