Ray Engan, Comedy Tips To Zap Zoom Fatigue
Pete Ratto,
GGBC Editor in Chief
This morning I timed my log-on before Tony Woodall had finished his coffee, so both he and Hedy Kaveh was there to offer me a pleasant good morning. This morning our pre-program discussion centered on volcanos, burglaries, and finding a good electrician. President Craig couldn’t instruct Bert Hill as to when he should bang our artillery shell cup to get our participants attention as Bert wasn’t on-line with us this morning. We did get some alternatives though to utilize as replacements. Joel Panzer offered a brass bell and John Mathers had a gong. President Craig decided to opt for the gong, as we’ve never used a gong before. So, John hammered the gong a minute or two past 7:20AM and President Craig called GGBC Zoom meeting number fifty-one, or GGBC meeting 3,652 to order. We started with twenty participants, ran through the self-introductions, and when we were finished we had forty-one participants. Since Zoom allows you to join at any time during the meeting, this morning we had a few participants log-on after the speaker had been introduced. If this occurred during an in-person GGBC meeting the late arrivals would have been subjected to the collective scowls from the “old school” members, which often did serve to discourage future late arrivals.
Since we have added about a dozen new members over the past month, this has resulted in far fewer guests at each meeting. This morning we had only three guests. President Craig hosted Bob Bednarz, here for his fifth meeting and Xavier Waller, a mathematical artist who is a friend of Eldon Takeda, our frequent guest from Tennessee.
What is a mathematical artist? I have no idea. Patricia Fripp hosted Elaine Lung, another frequent GGBC guest who has even been at a number of in-person meetings. Elaine has been here enough times to claim elevation to “Frippette” status.
Excuse requested for this morning from Betty Taisch for Rich Wank who is skiing in Tahoe. This was sort of a “conditional” excuse, because Rich was going to try to attend if he could connect to decent Wi-Fi. Rich was able to connect using his phone, although he was in passive mode. Listening only.
This week’s virtual Zoom background highlights: it appears Hedy Kaveh has made Paris his permanent virtual background. Tony Woodall decided to go back to watching a space shuttle going into orbit. Although this morning it was an official “Goal Getting Podcast” branded background. President Craig placed himself into what appeared to be a very impressive law library. There may have been some creative photo-shopping going on here as there was a banana on one of the shelves and a framed picture of Sidney Mobell on another shelf. Reg Young went back to the beach. Not in Mexico though, this morning Reg was at Eagle Beach in Orangastad, Aruba. John Mathers was using a very Beach Blanket Babylonish logo superimposed over the GGBC logo. John has used this one before and it’s very creative. Maybe Antonio White can incorporate it into one of our official GGBC backgrounds. Randall Reeder was in front of a statue of Will Rogers on horseback. Randall mentioned this is one of four statues of Will Rogers on horseback. One of those statues is at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. I only mention this because I saw that statue when I stayed at the Anatole! Speaker Ray Engan used a COVID appropriate background of an empty ballroom. Jim Prost again used his collage of a number of Antonio’s GGBC official backgrounds. Christine Torrington took my advice and switched back to her shot of the Golden Gate Bridge taken from Crissy Field. Much better than the Zoom canned Golden Gate Bridge background. Joel Panzer was using his customary Happy Pappy background. This morning though, Joel was joined by Elmo! Elmo, like Rich Wank, was attending passively. Since I have another SamTrans Board meeting this afternoon where the public is participating, I thought my background should reflect a very current subject as opposed to a historic one. So, I have Caltrain’s first complete set of Stadler KISS electric multiple unit cars, which are built in Salt Lake City, traversing Echo Canyon in Utah on their way to the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colorado for eight months of testing. Photo credit to Lester Clark of Stadler-US.
Hugh Tuck was back to walking with wife Judy and his dog through Hillsborough. There was some police activity taking place with quite a response. Of course, things are so quiet in Hillsborough even a fender bender draws out the PDs whole shift. Not to alarm anyone, but Judy had a pretty bad reaction to her second vaccine shot and ended up confined to bed. Which vaccine did Judy receive? Pfizer. Great, tomorrow I go for my second Pfizer shot.
While Texas Governor Greg Abbott was slapping himself on the back for rescinding his state’s mandatory mask order, Tim Durkin says ninety-two percent of Texans remain in favor of continuing to wear masks.
Is the GGBC going to get into trouble by using Bert Hill’s Persian artillery shell cup as a bell? Marty Mijalski does say our use of that shell is unauthorized. Although even though the shell was used in Persia, it is an American produced shell. I think Ayatollah Ali Khamenei doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
This morning we were joined by blue haired, sun glasses wearing Caaarrrla. Did Caaarrrla look familiar? Yep, Caaarrrla is the alter ego of Ylma Gutierrez who appears in all the videos explaining the processes involved in repairing your car. While there is no question that Patricia Fripp owns the most hats of anyone in the GGBC, Caaarrrla owns the most pairs of sunglasses in the GGBC. How many pairs? Twenty-seven. A good customer service tip from Caaarrrla; always give your customer 100 percent of your attention.
After a long layoff, Tom Jacobs returned to breakfast this morning. His excuse for his absence? He misplaced or lost his laptop. Fortunately, it was found by the driver of Recology truck #14655. Tom invited us all to attend a car rally opposing the removal of Sir Francis Drake’s name from the High School in San Anselmo and from the boulevard too. The rally starts at the beginning of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard on March 14th at 9:00AM. It will be a COVID safe activity.
As promised, the owner of the dog found by Steve Shain in Novato did indeed bake him a loaf of sourdough bread. Also, the owner of the dog was a she not a he. I had a fifty percent chance of getting it right and I blew it.
The Pitchfreak is still pitching. This morning after first performing his Wayne’s World extreme closeup, Antonio White introduced his new tag line; “I teach business pros how to get more juice out of every pitch.”
The business advisor that is no longer advising businesses, John Mathers is working full time fighting climate change. The Rotary Climate Action Network will have grown to eight hundred chapters by the end of the year.
The subject of COVID shots continues to remain number one on our hit parade of the day’s comments. Marty Mijalski reminds us that even after your second shot, it takes two weeks before you are immune. So, continue to wear your mask and take all precautions. On the lighter side; a sandwich and a taco walk into a bar and the bartender says, “sorry, we don’t serve food here.”
The membership complemented Betty Taisch on her scarf this morning. Betty said modestly, she has a drawer full of scarves. Betty was at a conference on inclusion that drew over seven hundred people. Two years ago if you had a conference on inclusion it would draw maybe seven people. This week’s book recommendation; “The Color of Air”. It’s a historical novel set in Hawaii’s sugar plantations by Gail Tsukiyama. We also got a book recommendation from Anastasia Lipske too. “Anxious People” by Fredrik Backman. It’s a comical novel about a crime that never took place.
Alan Garber made wife Michele happy. He trimmed five inches off his beard. Whatever the stylist charged, it’s cheaper than a divorce. Except now he’s now longer mistaken for a member of ZZ Top.
There’s a new photo sharing app that mimics the experience of using a disposable camera. Michael Sera says it’s the hottest app on the market. Susan Roane says she still has an actual disposal camera. She also still has a Polaroid camera too.
This Sunday on his first outing walking guide dogs in training, Jim Prost said he had five of them at once. Antonio White comment, “it’s a ruff job.”
Your Secretary Chris Weisman is returning to San Francisco from New Mexico next week. Thanks to COVID and the reduction of airline traffic, Chris is much happier with his overall airline experience. Even though he’s in United’s lowest frequent flyer tier, he always gets upgraded and usually gets a nice snack pack too.
During his self-introduction, Brian Wagner mentioned he doesn’t really like the term “Frippette”. Brian would rather be called a “Fripper”. Derek Arden votes for “Fripper” too.
Tom Kowalski says his rowing club, which he refers to as an AARP rowing club, is required to take a Whale Safety Class. They must stay at least one hundred yards away from any whale. If I were in a canoe or a kayak, I wouldn’t need to take a class to teach me to stay a hundred yards away from a whale. I can figure that one out for myself.
Twenty years ago Tana Hope moved to Washington state to retire. So, on March 1st Tana is going to officially retire. She’s still going to help people with their posture, she just cutting out all the extra stuff.
Since we’ve had somewhat of a drought of member birthdays over the past few weeks, Reg Young decided as the last couple of weeks of February are a GGBC birthday bonanza, he would announce them all again and make sure we did an exemplary version of our Birthday Song. On Monday, the 15th, President Craig, on Friday, the 19th, John Mathers, on Saturday, the 20th, me, on Wednesday, the 24th, Mike Hanlon, on Thursday, the 25th, Tony Woodall, and on Saturday, the 27th, J. J. Panzer.
I’d also like to sadly acknowledge the passing of Lawrence Ferlinghetti on Monday the 22nd one month shy of his 102ndbirthday. He was San Francisco’s most celebrated literary icon and his accolades are much too numerous to list here. So, next time you’re in North Beach, stop at the Café Trieste and have an expresso in his memory.
