Karen-Eileen Gordon: Radical Self-Care
Pete Ratto,
GGBC Editor In Chief
Oh oh. This morning when I tried to log-on to the internet, I was unsuccessful. It appears that Xfinity was having an “outage.” Everything was fine at 5:30AM, but not at 6:35AM. So, I had to implement Plan B, which is logging-on with my phone. It appears the GGBC hasn’t made peace with the computer and internet gods as many of us were having all manner of technical issues this morning. In addition to myself, Hugh Tuck “froze” as did Brian Head. Randall Reederwas also using his phone and Sidney Mobell lost all power at 5:00AM. President Craig Adams was still having problems too, which makes it really tough to run a Zoom meeting when you can’t easily see all your attendees. I actually managed to get on-line at 6:45AM, which is only five minutes late. I was surprised to see only two of the three usual suspects, Arlen Kertz and Tony Woodall. They were wondering as to why I wasn’t on-line yet. It’s good to be missed. Being late, I expected to see a few more people logged-on, though that wasn’t the case. Our attendance slowly increased and we were able to still have a good pre-meeting conversation. Since many of us were having internet problems, that became the primary focus of our conversation along with hacking. Then we moved on to earthquakes vs. hurricanes. Patricia Fripp joined us for a very short time and before she left mentioned to Randall Reeder that she will see him live and in-person at this weekend’s National Speaker’s Association conference in Las Vegas. Although attendance is limited to six hundred instead of the usual thousands. Fripp is going to stay in Vegas for all of next week too. Hedy Kaveh joined us from his kitchen in Paris, where it was 4:00PM. Hedy says all restrictions in Paris have been lifted. So, that means no masks and if the City has its way there will be no cars and no on-street parking in Paris too. I warned Hugh Tuck to be careful while walking around his neighborhood as a mountain lion was seen walking around his neighborhood too. A big one.
Fortunately, our Artillery shell cup is not dependent upon the internet to operate properly and Bert Hill was able to bang it right at 7:20AM. Without delay, President Craig called GGBC Zoom meeting number sixty-nine, or GGBC meeting 3,670 to order. I cannot tell you how many participants were with us at the start of the meeting. I did get my internet back before the end of our self-introductions so I can tell you our attendance reached a total of thirty-nine. PresidentCraig again warned when time is getting short if you don’t stop talking, he will skip introductions. Although, as per usual, some members completely ignored him. Still enough of you complied and President Craig was able to finish introductions right in time.
We had but a single guest this morning. Bert Hill hosted Joanna Tong who Bert met this past weekend while waiting in line waiting for the Larkspur ferry. Joanna went to Lowell High School and the University of Washington, just like Bertand Steve Shain. She also knows Patricia Fripp through Toastmasters District 4. If you’re wondering why our very reliable and consistent guests Richard Chen and Brian Head were not introduced this morning; it’s because they are now members and had to take care of their own introductions. Which were accompanied by our customary new member rounds of applause. It’s just not the same on Zoom though.
Excuses requested for this morning; from Reg Young for Rickey Wilson. While Reg was on the phone with Rickey, he mentioned Mike Hanlon had another issue with his foot which became infected again and resulted in two more toes being amputated. Mike is doing fine and is in good spirits since he told Rickey he now has a perfect Mafia nickname; “Two Toes.” President Craig excused Anastasia Lipske who has babysitting duty for the Grandkids.
Excuses requested for next week; Mike Milstein will be fly fishing in Montana. Steve Shain is going to Tahoe for two weeks.
Member that has returned; John McKnight! Now that the Department of Emergency Management has closed down the communications center at the Moscone Center and the “Master of Disaster” is between disasters, he is now able to come back to breakfast.
Well, I don’t know if it’s due to our various internet issues or if the membership is just getting a little lazy, but there were a lot of reruns in our Zoom background highlights for this morning. Arlen Kertz went back to his frequently used “Morning Fog” and Tony Woodall stayed with the Golden Gate Bridge shot taken from above the Waldo Grade and Cavallo Point. President Craig popped up his favorite Tiki Bar and Patricia Fripp stayed with her translucent Fripp VT frame surrounding London’s Big Ben. Reg Young moved back over to Garza Blanca’s Tower #6 and Rich Wank stayed with the rainbow wrapped Tesla Model S. Since you can’t switch backgrounds when using Zoom on your phone, I gave JPBX #3187 and its two gallery cars another week. Gary McKinsey did not let us down though with a shot of the Modesto 4th of July parade’s staging area. For his first week back, John McKnight used a poster for our upcoming Fleet Week, then switched to Antonio’s Cable Car #7 and finished with a “mask up” poster from DEM.
Both Hugh Tuck and Steven Campbell will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversaries this weekend.
Bert Hill is tired of hearing complaints about the toll increase on the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s the regular, long ago approved yearly “adjustment.” And the reason why Bert was waiting in line with guest Joanna Tong for the Larkspur ferry was so he could visit son Eli and his family in San Rafael. This represented two firsts for Bert. First trip on the newly refurbished ferry Sonoma and his first trip on the SMART train.
Did any GGBC members not celebrate Independence Day by getting together with friends, eating grilled meat and not wearing masks? If so, you are unique.
Here’s this week’s COVID tip from new member Richard Chen; it only takes five seconds of exposure to get infected.
Chris Weisman is still in New York State, but he’s moved from Far Rockaway to Syracuse. The weather hasn’t changed, still very hot and humid. Next week he’s taking Mom to New Mexico.
This week’s book recommendation from Betty Taisch; “The Code Breaker” by Walter Issacson.
Coming to us from the real Sonoma, not the Ferry Boat Sonoma; Alan Garber. The real Sonoma had a really big fireworks show for the 4th. They also have a great farmer’s market every Tuesday night. So I don’t exceed the four-line rule; here’s the punch line from Garber’s joke; “keep behaving like that, you will lose all your friends.”
Jim Prost asks why don’t oysters share their pearls? They’re shellfish.
I missed the punch line from Susan Roane’s joke. What puts the oy in oysters? It’s a joke from twenty-five years ago.
This morning Bill Buchanan was decked out in all of his Dayglo hunting gear. Why? The reason was a sad one. It was in honor of Brady, Bill’s bird dog who passed away after sixteen years with Bill and Claire. Brady, and his sidekick Joey, often appeared at our GGBC off-site events. For those of you newer members, who never met Brady and Joey, I would suggest buying a copy of Bill’s book; “Fur Kids: A Life with Dogs.” And Bill did not ask me to plug his book.
Marty Mijalski’s joke for this morning didn’t require any prelude. A Mother asks her young son what he would like for his birthday. “I’d like a little Brother” said her son. “Oh my, that’s such a big wish. Why do you want a little brother?” replied Mom. Her son’s answer, “well, there’s only so much I can blame on the dog.”
It looks like Mike Milstein’s Fairmont Kiwanis Club will soon be meeting in-person. Only the Fairmont isn’t ready for them yet. Their temporary venue; the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club on Washington Square.
Tom Kowalski said those final two boats rowing to Hawaii made it. One of the two was the boat with an all-female crew.
This morningReg Younghad two birthdays.Our former member,Stan Ellexsonand one of our newest members,RandallReederAKAWill Rogers, both on the 4thof July.Stanwasn’t on-line with us, butRandallwas.So, we were finally able to sing our famous rendition of the Birthday Song.
