President Peter rang the meeting to order at 12:30 PM and welcomed members and guests attending in person and via Zoom. This was our 4730th meeting, the 86th virtual and 32nd in-person during the pandemic.
Book Review by Tom Grinstad:
The Body:A Guide for Occupants, written by Bill Bryson
I first bumped into Bill Bryson a couple of decades or more ago. Well, to be truthful I didn’t bump into him, I read one of his books. I believe it was In a Sunburned Country, a book of stories of Australia. I got hooked. The writing was witty, stylish – everything you’d want in a book. So, from there I went with him all over, even to Iowa, his birthplace. And this was cool. A few years ago, I was surprised by a tome entitled A Short History of Nearly Everything, in which he brought us readers up to speed on the universe – what it’s made of, how it developed, to the best that science can divine. For me, Bryson became the great explainer.
Then, a couple of years ago, I stumbled across another of his superb explanations. This one is titled The Body: A Guide for Occupants (2019). And that is the subject of this report. This book has everything – pages, lots of pages, in my copy, 452 numbered pages. And it has chapters – with names, not just numbers. Names like The Brain and The Guts. The first chapter is titled How to Build a Human. Relax, it has nothing to do with cloning or Frankenstein.
He opens the book like this. (Tom read paragraph P1). Bryson then goes on to talk about the elements needed to build a human. The Royal Society of Chemistry actually calculated the cost at $151,578.46. Nova on PBS in 2012 came up with a cost of $168, leading Bryson to say that “…where the human body is concerned, the details are often surprisingly uncertain.”
The book is full of these little gems. Another short observation about the brain. Why is the brain so big? Why have we developed music et al? We only need enough brain to outthink quadrupeds. This is something the brain doesn’t tell us about the brain. And he also talks about advances in medical science. He describes an experiment that a newly minted physician performed on himself by threading a catheter through a vein in his arm all the way into his heart. In order to document this first-ever cardiac catheterization, the doctor, with catheter still in place and his heart still beating, walked a long disance to the X-Ray department to obtain the confirmatory images.
Bryson doesn’t concern himself only with the body. He devotes an entire chapter, titled Food, Glorious Food, to what we put in it. He quotes a Christopher Gardiner, a professor of medicine at Stanford, “There’s a really easy way to eat healthier. Stick to the outside aisles. The inside aisles have all the processed food. Shop the outside aisles and have a healthier diet.”
The last chapter is called The End. And to set it up he quotes an anonymous source, “Exercise regularly. Eat sensibly. Die anyway.” For a non-doctor geek, I found the book a great read. I think it should be required reading for all first-year medical students.
Support Rotary in Ukraine
Message from our District Governor for District 5050, Bev Harrington:
My Fellow Rotarians:
As the humanitarian crisis unfolds in Ukraine, we ask "what can we do from so far away?" Here is the most comprehensive information I have received to date.
Financial contributions are easily made online to The Rotary Foundation Disaster Response Fund. A link to view the projects that are already in place is also provided below.
You and I and Rotarians from around the world can make a difference.
All donations made online at Disaster Response Fund | My Rotary, including the use of available district designated funds (DDF), need to be received by April 30, 2022. Grant applications to take advantage of the funds will be available now through June 30, 2022. This will be the main avenue for Rotary Foundation support, but Rotary and Rotaract clubs are also encouraged to create their own responses to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
In addition to the support provided through the Disaster Response Fund, the Foundation is coordinating with partners and regional leaders, exploring effective solutions to the increased humanitarian needs. You will find a comprehensive list of projects at this link, with the contact details and websites.
Thank you for all that you do to promote peace
Club and Committee Announcements
Paul Grey announced a meeting of the Service Award Committee right after this meeting.
Important Date Announcements:
April 9th - Community Boating Center Work Party
ShaunaNaf announced a hands-on workday April 9th at the Community Boating Center from 10-4. We will have both morning and afternoon opportunities. Sign-up sheets will be distributed this week. Interested persons can also contact Shauna directly. T-Shirts will be available for purchase.
April 11 Visit from District Governor Bev Harrington. She wants to meet with the Board, and we will meet with her AFTER the noon meeting at Four Points. She would also like a tour of one of our projects and Doug Cole offered to take her thru the Bellingham Food Bank on her schedule.
May 5th Cinco de Mayo Social – The Social Committee is working on a Cinco de Mayo social gathering. – Stay tuned for details.
May 21 - Clean Up at Memorial Park. Teri Treat said the clean-up at Memorial Park will happen 21 May. More info coming soon.
May 28th – Whatcom Memorial Day Parade – The Club will be participating in the Memorial Day Parade, hopefully with walkers/marchers and a float. This is the 100th anniversary of the parade. (who will be coordinating it ???).
May 29 - Ski to Sea Parade – The Club will be a sponsor of the 2022 Ski to Sea Parade. We will also be staffing a Rotary booth in Fairhaven on race day.
June 20th - Changing of the Guard
June 27th Rotary Cruise to Eliza Island
Marty Haines reported that this year’s cruise will return to Dick Tucker’s home on Eliza Island. Marty is recruiting members’ boats for the cruise.
You will still receive an email from Sandee each week prior to the Monday 12:30 meeting if you are unable to attend in person (you can start logging in at 12:00 for short socializing) with the link for that privacy-protected meeting. If you have not done so, please download the Zoom app on your computer (you need a camera and microphone on it), iPad or phone. There is no cost to you. If you do not have either, you can also call in. On the invitation, there are US phone numbers you can call and enter the meeting ID number also indicated on the invitation. HERE ARE ZOOM INSTRUCTIONS.
Four Points is now requiring a Contract thru March 2022. We will continue to evaluate other locations for a permanent location. Lunch will be $22 for a sit-down meal. We must notify them by Wednesday at 4:00 pm each week prior to the Monday meeting as to the number of members attending. We are sending out meeting “Invite's” weekly and members are asked to sign-up ASAP. You can also sign-up by going to the event section of our website at bellinghamrotary.org. If you sign up for a meal at the meeting, you will need to pay the $22 even if you don't wind up attending the meeting after numbers are turned in. If you plan to attend but not eat, PLEASE indicate that on your sign-up so we don't overorder meals and still make sure there is enough seating.
Four Points also will not collect the payment weekly, so the Club will collect payments prior to the meeting or at the door.
We urge members of the RCOB to set up a Venmo account for ease in payment of Meeting lunches, Happy Bucks, Minister of Fun, Dues or donations to the club. Our account is @RCOB-Bellingham. If you do not have a Venmo account you can set up an account with your computer then download the app. on your phone (just Google "Venmo" and you will find all the information you need) You then attach it to a debit or credit card (a fee on your end) or attach to your checking account at no cost. Payment will be sent directly to the RCOB checking account. When you use it for the first time it may ask you the last 4 digits of the RCOB phone number which is 0282. Give Sandee a call if you need help. 360-734-5532
Other payment options are to bring a check in the correct amount to the meeting made out to RCOB or cash in the exact amount to speed up the payment process. There is also the PayPal option as usual and we are set to take payments at the meeting. We have a QR Code that you can simply click on to pay thru paypal also.
Website and Phone App instructions:
Here is a tutorial on how to login for the first time. (Click here) Go to bellinghamrotary.org first. In order to login you need to know your user name and password in your Clubrunner account. The user name is Yourfirstname.Lastname.264 unless you have changed it. Example: Sandra.Lindhout.264 The password is initially set by Clubrunner at 264 unless you have changed it. Sandee can see your Username from her computer but not the password. She can also change your password for you from her computer at your request if you run into problems.
Once you have originally created your User Name and Password you can download the ClubRunner Mobile app on your phone:
Please contact Sandee at 360-734-5532 or rcob@comcast.net if you run into any trouble.
Guests:
Jack Westford introduced his wife Nancy and Fred Schott
Sandee Lindhout introduced her husband Jim and Dick Stark
Mike Plenkovich introduced Jim Thompson and speaker Jake Locker
Monty McAllister introduced Dave Lynch on Zoom
Paul Grey introduced Suzanne Radenkovic, President-Elect of Burlington Rotary Club on Zoom
Members attending on Zoom: Bob Morse, Robin Halliday, Dennis Williams, John Dunne, Loch Trimingham, Ken Marzocco, Monty McAllister, Fred Kaiser, Nany Jordan, Dick Tucker and Scott Wallace.
Program
Mike Plenkovich introduced our featured speaker, Jake Locker. Jake is best known in the Northwest as an outstanding football quarterback, first at Ferndale High School, then at the University of Washington, and finally as a professional with the Tennessee Titans in the National Football League. He was recently inducted into the Washington Huskies Football Hall of Fame. However, more importantly to Jake, he has become a loving husband, father of four children, a man of faith, and, since his retirement from football, a small businessman, and a "gentleman" farmer. He volunteers with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, giving talks to various organizations and in middle and high schools.
Jake's topic today was about gratitude. He began by asking each of us to write down traits and characteristics that we would want in a eulogy at our funeral. He then described the two options, or ways of being, available to us for being grateful for having those traits.
Option 1: Live your life striving to achieve your high standards and, as a result, receive much gratitude from others. In order to accomplish this, such a person needs to be in control of their environment, to have others dependent on them. This can cause a lot of stress, especially if/when those standards are not attainable.
Option 2: Start from the premise that, as a person, you have received those positive qualities and, therefore, have much gratitude for that. When you live those positive qualities and express gratitude for them, others will notice and will be grateful to you and perhaps model your behavior. Jake said that it was Jesus who imparted and modeled those positive qualities, including Rotary's Four-Way Test. (This reporter would add that, for non-Christians, their own spiritual entity may provide to them those same qualities.)
Jake's conclusion is that Option 2 is a far more meaningful and less stressful way to live.
He closed by stating that gratitude is the core of life. If we can embrace that, we will flourish.
In the Q&A afterwards, Jake stated that the best athletic coaches are those who not only try to improve athletes physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. He named his father, who coached him in high school, as his best coach. Unfortunately, Jake did not have any "insider" information as to the real reason Russell Wilson left the Seahawks.
Final Announcement:
President Peter thanked everyone who helped with today's meeting and rang us to adjournment at 1:30 PM.
