Edward Segal, Author and Crisis Management Expert
Pete Ratto,
GGBC Editor In Chief
I’m back into my usual routine and logged on at 6:40AM. I knew Hedy Kaveh wasn’t going to be there since he was bringing his Dad to Kaiser in San Rafael for some surgery.
As expected Tony Woodall was there. Unexpected though was Joel Panzer, who requested an excuse for this morning to look after a sick friend. Well, Joel decided to pop in for about twenty minutes or so. Like I mentioned before, if I see you, even if you’re only here for five minutes, that counts as attending the meeting. This harks back to members who wanted to avoid paying for breakfast using the excuse, “I didn’t stay for the speaker and I only had a cup of coffee and a scone”. You cross the plane into the ballroom, you pay.
Our speaker, Edward Segal, joined us at 7:11AM, so President Craig Adams again didn’t have to concern himself with possibly having to delay the start of our meeting. Bert Hill is back from Washington and President Craig directed Bert tobang our artillery shell cup at 7:20AM, at which time President Craig called GGBC Zoom meeting number fifty-five, or GGBC meeting 3,656 to order right on time. We started off a little stronger this morning when compared with last week. There were twenty-two participants at the start of our meeting and when the speaker was introduced, we had forty-two participants, which also included Joel.
We had seven guests this morning. Patricia Fripp hosted Brian Head, here for his third meeting. Fripp also hosted Gail Ferreira, who joined us last night for Cocktails with Craig. No disrespect intended Mr. President, but I do like “Bourbon with Betty” better. If you missed “Bourbon with Betty”, don’t worry. It looks like we are going to make this a recurring monthly event. Derek Arden hosted last week’s speaker, Paul Coleman, who is going to apply for membership. No pressure here Paul, but if you get your application in by Friday, there’s a GGBC Board meeting this coming Monday where a vote will be conducted to approve your membership. Chairperson-of-the-Day Janice Litvinhosted Husband Joseph along with three guests of the speaker. As is our custom, since each guest must be hosted by a member, these guests of the speaker accrue to the Chair of the Day. So, Janice also hosted Martha Sullivan, Madelaine Weiss and Nancy Kervin.
Excuse requested for this morning from President Craig for Anastasia Lipske, whose Mom passed away. Of behalf of the entire club, my deepest condolences to Anastasia and her family.
This week’s Zoom background highlights: Antonio White’s official GGBC branded backgrounds were the most popular. Tim Durkin was using “Wood Carving”. Tony Woodall was using the shot of the Golden Gate Bridge from above the Waldo Grade looking south. That’s not the official name though. Since we’re in the process of transitioning over to the new website, we don’t have all the GGBC Official backgrounds listed with their proper names yet. Jim Prost, logged-on from Healdsburg this morning, had his collage of all of Antonio’s backgrounds. President Craig had the San Francisco skyline featuring Salesforce Tower. Chris Weisman didn’t use an Official GGBC background and had bright green four leaf clovers. The traditional Irish Easter Zoom background. Reg Young also did not use an Official GGBC background and moved from Oranjestad, Aruba to the salt mines 1,500-feet below Krakow, Poland where there are statues carved out of….salt.
Marty Mijalski was quite excited as he knows all about the salt mines of Krakow. I decided to go back to a historic subject. One that combines San Mateo County transit history with some GGBC history. Before SamTrans, intercounty bus service was provided Greyhound Lines. This bus is travelling southbound on El Camino Real just past C Street in Colma. It’s operating on Route M, which ran from Greyhound’s 7th Street Terminal in San Francisco to the San Mateo downtown depot on South B Street at 1st Avenue via Mission Street and the El Camino.
The GGBC history; behind the bus about two blocks north is a big, two story, white building. That’s the home of Modesto Food Distributors, a major provider of all things poultry and owned by GGBC member, the late Harold J. “Duke” DeLuca. “Duke” was a participant in one of the GGBC’s most legendary anecdotes, along with the late Bob Moore and Reg Young, who was our President in 1995. So, I left it to Reg to tell the story. Bob was the President of Halstead’s, one of the biggest funeral homes in San Francisco and he called Reg to let him know that “Duke” had passed away. So, at that Wednesday’s meeting, Reg broke the news to the membership and called for a moment of silence in “Duke’s” memory. Next Wednesday though, to everyone’s shocked surprise, “Duke” walked through the door of the Commandant’s Room at the MMC. As it turned out, one of Bob employees had told him a relative of “Duke’s” came by to make funeral arrangements. Except it wasn’t for “Duke”. He was there for another family member and Bob somehow assumed it was for “Duke”. Embarrassed by his egregious error, Bob never attended another GGBC meeting.
Members that have returned; Mike Rocco. Mike went to see his Mom back east and found the airports were really busy. And, the MMC’s bookings are going up every day. As mentioned previously, Bert Hill is back from Washington where he experienced typical wet Washington weather. He did have a very good time with his family though.
As per usual, Hugh Tuck was on the road again this morning. Wife Judy is driving and they have two passengers aboard. I think they’re going to a casino. There was an interruption in Hugh’s connection, so I can’t say for sure.
Tim Durkin told us about the cheap guy who walks into the ER with a really bad cut. “I need to close up this wound doc”, says the guy, “but, I can’t afford for you to do it, so can you just give me the needle and thread and I’ll do it myself?” The doctor replies, “sure, suture self.”
With schools from Kindergarten to universities closed, Tony Woodall is taking an on-line class on being entrepreneurial from Babson College. Taking classes on-line saves the trip to Boston.
Sidney Mobell is counting down the days until he turns ninety-five. He has ten days left. Sid also abandoned his Antonio White official GGBC branded background of California Street cable car #52.
It was a busy Passover at Steve Shain’s house. Sixty people were there for the service, which only lasted fifteen minutes. When Steve was a kid it took an hour and a half. Speaking of Passover, Janice Litvin says that past GGBC speaker Steve Budd can read Hebrew really well. Susan Roane showed us the Matzo mix she uses. A tip, put butter in it. Also, both Betty Taisch and Susan joined Janice’s Zumba class.
After over a year, Gary McKinsey had his first face-to-face coaching session with a client.
Celebrating the tenth anniversary of his brain surgery; Brian Wagner.
Since Easter is fast approaching, Tom Jacobs showed us one of the Easter Baskets that he gives to each member of his staff. They are bunny head baskets. Although, when Tom first held the basket up to the camera I thought it was Hello Kitty. Tom also mentioned he ran into Cathy Scharetg, the GGBC’s first female president. When Tom was having dinner at the Family Club, he ran into another of our former members; florist Harold Hoogasian.
A question from President Craig to Tony Woodall; “what’s OKR?” Objectives and key results.
Seeing Judge John Stewart reminded Rickey Wilson of all the judges we used to have as members. He went through our roster of judges and I’m only going to mention two. Our most famous judge, although his fame was unintended and unwanted, was Judge Richard Kramer, who in 2005 struck down Proposition 22 which defined marriage as only being valid when it was between man and a woman. This decision resulted in so many death threats against Judge Kramer that he was provided round the clock security. This also precluded Judge Kramer’s further attendance at the GGBC as it was deemed too dangerous. I will agree with Rickey in his opinion, with no disrespect to any of our other judges, that Judge Roy Wonder was our nicest judge. Judge Wonder was our Sunshine Committee Chairman. This committee was tasked with checking on the condition of our members who were unwell. I was in a really really bad motor vehicle accident in 2002. Every Tuesday evening without fail, Roy would call my home to check on my condition before Wednesday’s meeting. My daughters would literally fight to answer the phone. It may have been just a phone call, but it meant a lot to me and my family. And, needless to say, the Ratto family will never forget Roy Wonder.
So, this morning Marty Mijalski decided he will not tell his customary joke. Instead, he made a PSA, reminding the membership that this Monday at 7:00AM is the GGBC Board’s monthly meeting. Any member is welcome to attend this meeting. You can just observe or if you have an issue that requires attention, you can address the Board directly. If you like what you see and would like to participate, you can offer your name for consideration by the Nominating Committee for an appointment to the Board.
It looks like Alan Garber will have to continue his world-wide search for clean jokes. This morning’s offering didn’t make it past the GGBC joke vetting committee. It was close, but no cigar.
Chris Weisman is still in Santa Fe but will be coming back to San Francisco on Monday. Chris says he is definitely a FOMO person. I’m definitely a FOMO person too. Even Ollie is a FOMO dog.
It looks like after a few weeks of storm damage repairs; Reg Young says the Pacifica Pier is ready to reopen.
On Sunday, Betty Taisch took Rickey Wilson up on his restaurant recommendation and made the drive to Salt & Stone in Kenwood. Thumbs up and well worth the drive.
Last week Rich Wank went skiing. On Thursday he was out on the slopes all day. Rich is hoping to be ambulatory by next month. Jim Simpson went skiing last week too!
Patricia Fripp is in Las Vegas working on a presentation for RIFD (Radio Frequency Identification) experts. It’s a bit windy in Vegas, so no working on the patio.
As reported previously in this column, Bill Buchanan’s youngest bird dog, Journey, did achieve his Junior bird dog level rating. Now Journey is trying to qualify for his Senior level bird dog rating. Journey didn’t pass. I guess it didn’t help that he bolted like a rocket and dragged Claire all over the course.
Congratulations will soon be in order for Mike Kress. He’s going to be a Grandpa again. The baby is a little late though.
Antonio White reminds us all to send him a current photo for inclusion in our new on-line roster.
Ylma Gutierrez showed us the very nice scarf her Mom bought for her.
This week’s book recommendation from Mike Milstein; “Home Baked” by Alia Volz. She’s the Daughter of the woman who ran Sticky Fingers Bakery in the seventies. Their signature product; brownies that contained marijuana.
This morning Reg Young had two birthdays. On Monday, our former host, Jan Huly. On Saturday, Rickey Wilson. So, today our special rendition of the Birthday Song was sung. Badly, as usual.
