January 2009 Sounding Compressed Drafttampa.us.mensa.org/soundings/sounding_2009_01.pdf · selected Eloise Hurst to replace outgoing Member-at-Large Dana Groulx . Eloise served previously

Tampa Bay Sounding

A P

ublication of T

ampa B

ay M

ensa

January 2009

Vol. 33, No. 12

Crewe Bulletin 3 LocSec’s Report 4 ExComm Minutes 6-10 Tampa Bay Mensa Proctor Team 11-12 Surviving Spending 13-17 Birthdays and Mensaversaries 18-19 The Tenth Story 20-21 Orphan’s Thanksgiving 23-26 January Calendar 28-34 February Calendar Preview 35 Reality Check 36 Top Ten TV Shows 37-39 Fourth Friday Madness 41-42 Cryptopoem 43

Answers to December Puzzles 45-46 Suzaku 44

Inside The Sounding

January

Special Events This Month:

Fossil Dig Jan 10th

Gourmensans Go Irish Jan 17th

Tampa Bay Sounding is the official newsletter of Tampa Bay Mensa, American Mensa local group number 10-335. © 2008 Tampa Bay Mensa. All rights reserved. All material in this issue not copyrighted by individual contributors may

be reprinted in other Mensa publications, provided that credit is given to the author or artist and to the Sounding. Prior written consent of the editor is required for any other reproduction in any form. Any

Mensa publication reprinting Tampa Bay Sounding material is requested to send a copy to the editor.

SUBSCRIBE!: The subscription cost for local members is partially remitted from annual dues paid to American Mensa Ltd. Tampa Bay Sounding is available to other Mensans and to non-Mensans at an annual subscription cost of $12.00. To subscribe, send a check, payable to Tampa Bay Mensa, to the Treasurer: Kathy Crum, 7164 Quail Hollow Blvd., Wesley Chapel, FL 33544-2525.

ADVERTISING POLICY: The Sounding offers free classified ads to Tampa Bay Mensa members for ser-vices, items for sale, jobs wanted/available, personals, etc. Ads should be no longer than 50 words. Classified ads need to be renewed on a monthly basis if you wish them to appear in consecutive issues. Tampa Bay Mensa and the Sounding are not responsible for the content of ads. All commercial ads are subject to the following rates: Full page - $60; Half page - $30; Quarter page - $15. Members of Mensa pay half these rates.

Submission Guidelines

Tampa Bay Sounding encourages submissions from all members. Submissions must be signed, but names may be withheld or pseudonyms used if requested. All letters to the editor will be subject to publication unless the author specifi-cally requests otherwise. All material submitted will be considered for publication, but nothing can be guaranteed. Everything is subject to editing. Please keep the following guidelines in mind:

• Articles, casual essays, opinion pieces, po-ems, short stories, puzzles, and artwork are all encouraged.

• Personal attacks and bigoted, sexist, hateful, or otherwise offensive material will not be published.

• E-mail submissions are preferred, either embedded or in Word-readable attachments. Computer printouts and typewritten pages are fine. If you submit hard copy, please make sure your printer has enough toner or your typewriter has a fresh-enough ribbon. Legible handwritten submissions will be con-sidered (but not given preference).

You may send your submissions by either of the following means:

1. E-mail—[email protected] (Please indicate “TBM” in the subject header.)

2. U.S. Mail — Joshua Moore, 12016 100th Ave-nue North, Seminole, FL 33772 (Telephone 727-398-0833) Unless otherwise specified in the calen-

dar, the deadline for unsolicited contribu-

tions is the tenth day of the month.

Tampa Bay Sounding (USPS 305-830)

Tampa Bay Mensa

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Seminole, Fl 33777

A Publ icat ion of Tampa Bay Mensa

Mensa is an international society whose sole qualification for membership is a score at or above the 98th percentile on a standard IQ test. Mensa is a not-for-profit organization whose main purpose is to serve as a means of communication and assembly for its members. All opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors, and not necessarily those of the editors or officers of Mensa. Mensa as an organization has no opinions.

Tampa Bay Sounding is the official newsletter of Tampa Bay Mensa. Tampa Bay Mensa serves Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, and Sumter counties.

Visit American Mensa at

http://www.us.mensa.org

For full instructions on

how to join

tbm-gm and

tbm-discussion, our

two Yahoo groups, visit

TBM at

http://www.tampa.us.mensa.org

Tampa Bay Sounding Page 2

January 2009 Page 3

WELCOME TO TAMPA BAY MENSA!

* = new member; others are moves in, preferences in, or reinstatements.

* Dustin Anderson

* Jason Brown

* Genevieve Corrada

* J H Carter Dvornik

Aaron Elkins

Allan Richard Escher Jr

Kerry Fitzpatrick

Richard Flynn

* James Gray

Tracy Jaramillo

Harry Mark Richter

* Heather Roy

John Stuart Turnbull

Douglas Woolley

Certified Accounting And Finance Professionals

We are currently scheduling meetings and topics for this new SIG.

Credentials to Include:

CPA - Certified Public Accountants CFA - Chartered Financial Analysis CFP - Certified Financial Planners CMA - Certified Management Accountants CIA - Certified Internal Auditors

It will be open to those who currently hold any of the above certi-fications and those who have completed the experience portion of the qualifications and at least half of the testing required for any of the above certifications. (CFAs - completion of level 1 testing.) This composition should allow for broad discussion of current top-ics in these disciplines and may provide resources for questions posed in your current profession.

Interested?

Please e-mail [email protected] for more information.

* * * * CREWE BULLETIN * * * *


LOCSEC’S REPORT Thomas George Thomas

I’m writing this after the December ExComm meeting, where we selected Eloise Hurst to replace outgoing Member-at-Large Dana Groulx. Eloise served previously on the ExComm in the early 80’s, as Programs Officer and Tampa Area Coordinator, and as Honcho for our 1988 Regional Gathering. After taking a break, she returned to Tampa Bay Mensa in June 2007 and has dived right back into the thick of things. In addition to her Executive Committee duties, she will be serving as our new Circulation Officer in 2009. Welcome back, Eloise!

Even with Eloise’s wonderful credentials, it was a difficult decision for us to make, as there were other worthy candidates for the position. I’d like to thank Sandra Davanzo, Christopher Fleming, Tom Handcock, Melissa Stephens, Kay St. John, and Don Ward for all expressing an interest in the position. Melissa has accepted an appointment as the Tampa Area Coordinator, and we hope that the other candidates will also accept appointments in the chapter, and seriously consider running for one of the five positions up for election this coming summer. Since I won’t be running, at least one ExComm position will be filled by a non-incumbent.

Speaking of the election, we also appointed the Tampa Bay Mensa Election Committee for 2009. These volunteers are Erica Rogers, Dana Groulx, and Jay Johnson.

This meeting was very productive, as we welcomed Gina Boogher as our new Testing Coordinator, and she’s brought great enthusiasm and energy to the job as she works to provide testing opportunities to our backlog of prospects. And finally, we officially appointed Joshua Moore as our new Editor, one month after he produced his first Tampa Bay Sounding for us following the relocation of our previous editor, Kimberly Nerviano, to Texas.

Along with other plans, we discussed the 2009 ARRR-R G!, planning for our regularly scheduled picnics, new member meet-n-greets, a winter testing promotion, and many other projects. It’s important for us to keep on top of these, as we are approaching another record year for membership. As we continue to grow, we’ll need more people to run more activities throughout the chapter, which will allow more members to meet near their own neighborhoods. Already we’ve launched a monthly meeting in Brandon, and hope others will do the same in their areas.

January 2009 Page 5

RUN FOR NATIONAL OFFICE BY PETITION

Interested in running for a national office such as RVC? It's not too late!

In accordance with Art. VI, Sec. (4) of the Bylaws of American Mensa, Ltd., nominations for candidacy for office in American Mensa may be made by petition. Each petition must contain the signatures of 50 members of American Mensa in good standing as of Dec. 1, 2008.

Petitions must be submitted on official petition forms or via the online petition process. In addition to the Petition Form, each petition candidate must submit a completed Acceptance of Nomination form and a completed Candidate Information Form. These documents may be downloaded in PDF format, or you can start a members-only online peti-tion; all petition information is available at www.us.mensa.org/election. Forms may also be obtained by contacting Howard Prince at the National Office.

All petition forms must be received by Feb. 1, 2009. Send completed forms and petitions to Election Committee Chair Deborah Henry at: Deborah Henry, 1182 Wildflower Ln., Maineville, OH 45039. Legible scans of forms may be emailed to [email protected].

Petition candidates should review the 2009 Code of Election Procedures before beginning the petition process; the code is available in PDF format at www.us.mensa.org/election.

Any questions regarding the election or the election process should be addressed to: [email protected].


MINUTES FOR TAMPA BAY MENSA’S EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING — OCTOBER 4, 2008

Jay Johnson, Scribe (Abridged by Thomas Thomas for main points. Full transcript is on file

and available on request.)

The October 4, 2008 ExComm Meeting was held at the home of Thomas Thomas.

ExComm Members present: Maxine Kushner, Theresa Hohmann, Maran Fulvi, Dana Groulx, Ronan Heffernan, Thomas Thomas, Kathy Crum, Sylvia Zadorozny. Absent: Barbara Loewe.

Other TBM Members present: Jay Johnson (Scribe), Kimberly Nerviano.

The meeting was called to order at 6:14 pm by Thomas Thomas.

Reading of Minutes: General discussion, corrections, additions. Motion: Accept the minutes as amended. Passed.

Officers’ Reports:

LocSec: Thomas Thomas: Working with National to follow up on lapsed members. We ended up with 91 lapsed members and 4 rejoined the past few months. This is a good response. Unless we discover why they joined and what they expected we can’t know whether or not we are meeting their expectations.

Discussion: Possibility of prospect survey.

We are getting better at contacting new members. Ronan called members who joined within the last 3 months. Thomas would like to set up a feedback page on the website where people can tell us what they want to see more of or really don’t like about TBM; not a link from the website because then we wouldn’t know if it was local Mensans, or even Mensans that would respond. This would be a poll saying go to this address that they would have to type in to get to the survey to tell us how they feel.

Thomas plans to announce to the membership in the next Sounding his candidacy to the RVC and a request for people to start thinking about running for the ExComm next year. It is not too early to start talking about next year’s election or we will end up with not having enough people to fill the positions.

January 2009 Page 7

Treasurer: Kathy Crum: Advertising income is up this year. Thanks to all who advertise in the Sounding. Regarding the Sounding postage, Kathy mentioned last meeting that the post office was going paperless and since they weren’t sending paper anymore we had to set up an online account. That has been almost impossible to do. So postage for the last 3-4 months is estimated. The numbers are close but certainly not accurate. It seems that we are still around or right around budget for the postage.

Account balances are up from the first of the year by about $750. The CD comes due next week. Kathy requested ExComm to keep an eye out for at least 4% so she can roll it over. Because we are an out-of-state corporation banks are difficult to deal with. This is money we never touch; it is just a safety net so she can roll it over for a long period.

Editor: Kimberly Nerviano: Kimberly has more people contributing. Maran Fulvi is asking for submissions, especially notes on events. Kimberly has some crosswords to put in and will put the solutions in at the same time. Thomas is doing Sudoku with his own variant, and if others have puzzles, great.

Kimberly is working with Ronan about timing for when we publish what and coordinating with the web site.

Circulation: Thomas Thomas: After the Crewe List we were able to put out the electronic version again so people got the October electronic Sounding. Thomas will prepare the Statement of Ownership for the Sounding. There have been a variety of concerns raised about local groups and addresses including validation of addresses, none of which affect us, as we are up to date. Our membership is rising so the number that we’re submitting, mailing, is going up. National validates the addresses but the post office has put in new requirements of how recently the addresses have been validated. Our permit requires us to do that kind of validation.

Last month the printing costs were high because of the Crewe List but this month was much lower because we had a coupon rebate, after spending nearly $1000 with the Crewe List the next rebate will bring us down to about $300 real cost for the Crewe List.

Gifted Children: Theresa Hohmann: Working on plans for gifted middle school was approved Monday. Currently there is an elementary gifted magnet but in high school they did not have as many services, social studies were not offered. At the high school level they do nothing for gifted kids and Theresa has been working


with the Gifted Association of Pinellas and the superintendent for a middle school gifted magnet and now we have three gifted magnets.

For the children’s list Theresa got out an email to everyone about the picnic, three people got back to her, and of those none came.

The National Association for Gifted Children is having their conference in Tampa and Theresa will be going to that. Catherine Barney will be there, and Keri Guilbault is now the head of the national Gifted Children Program; Dr. Deborah Ruf is speaking. Friday is for teachers; Saturday is Parents’ Day. We have a table there. Registration is $60 but Theresa will have a pass. All sessions cost extra. Motion: Send Theresa Hohmann, the TBM Gifted Children Coordinator, to the conference in Tampa, cap at $120. Passed.

Membership: Maxine Kushner: Maxine has been waiting for the new Crewe Lists and now that she has them she will send them out. She will switch to envelopes, and would like to include a new member coupon. Discussion: The coupon will not include a meal at a restaurant, but we will reimburse the host for the kitty; guest or spouse is ok. We will give two coupons to use any way the recipient wants.

Testing: Thomas Thomas: Thomas removed Kevin Clark as Testing Coordinator because we never heard back from him after repeated attempts to contact him. Now Thomas is getting the phone calls and emails, and the incoming volume of about one request per day indicates we lost significant potential membership during that time.

National has a database online. We can put it in when we contact prospects and when we hear from them; it allows us to have a lot of information and in future reference will tell national who needs to be contacted and who does not. If someone doesn’t want to follow through we can flag that. With Mensa Testing Day there has been a lot of stuff going around regarding these names. Thomas contacted those Jay Johnson culled for his area; she is contacting people from Spring Hill to West Pinellas. Barbara Counts contacted people in her area, and Thomas will ask Fran Orenstein if she is still willing to test since she is busy with her new book contract. If not we need to find a way to test South Hillsborough. Eloise Hurst will help us get a space, we just need a proctor.

National sent a publicity packet for Mensa Testing Day, they had doubled the number of media outlets, but it came too late because

January 2009 Page 9

the outlets need a month in advance. They provided a lot of good information, including labels for the media outlets. Other promos coming along, especially regarding prior evidence for military, and they will announce it about two months ahead of the promo month. It is possible national will consider professional tests such as medical professionals as prior evidence. In addition, Melissa Stephens sent out a promo piece from National to her toastmasters groups.

WebSpinner: Ronan Heffernan: No report.

Program Officer: Maran Fulvi: We are expanding our programming. We had a UFO speaker and a wine tasting. Jeremy, who coordinated that event, is willing to do a series, and Susie Anderson is still willing to continue as host; that will be every other month. Gourmensans is going strong. We are looking to expand into other types of events and to expand geographically. We have some interest in the Brandon area. As we talk to people, when people ask ‘Do you ever do X?’, that’s an expression of interest. Canoeing, bowling? ‘That’s a great idea, get in touch with our Program Coordinator and give her the information, she can usually find people to do it.’ If we get 3 people to do something we get a response. For the wine tasting, Maran went through the special interests in the Crewe List for people who had listed interests related to wine such as gourmet cooking, food, etc., and put together an email list. She did not include anyone who was not interested. Going forward she will be using the Crewe List to promote events. 14 people attended and if there were more it would have been a problem. Maran also thinks an attendee should do a little write-up for the Sounding.

Discussion: Live Theatre, Avenue Q, community events. Yahoo! List has only about 100 people on it, and many are former members, so not reliable for announcing events. Members cannot be added by us, they have to actually sign up. Discussions sometimes start on tbm-gm and have to move to tbm-discussion. Some people complain about getting too much email. Discussed ways to get more people to sign up i.e. new member packet, Sounding, calendar. We need metrics to see how people are getting it. Perhaps weekly blast of events.

Scholarship: Thomas Thomas for Marilyn Wolf: Marilyn Wolf sent information to schools on scholarships. Discussion: Scholarship being offered was budgeted for 2008 but will not be offered until 2009. How should the accounting reflect this?


Someone stated that the budget is set up to show future scholarship spending, the money is already there.

Old business:

Open Positions: Thomas Thomas: Our currently vacant volunteer positions are: Circulation, Editor, Area Coordinators. Kimberly will be relocating to Texas and will be giving up the Sounding.

Vicky Foust is canceling her Spring Hill dinner at the end of the year. Response dropped off for Mike Aston’s events in Hudson. There is no targeted promotion in West Pasco and Hernando counties to get people to events. This is an area where people tell us they want things, but no one officially coordinating in that area. We could continue in the way we have been, which is trying to coordinate from the ExComm, but in the past, area coordinators have been more successful.

Maran offered to do the coordination. She can send out an email, a teaser, here are some sample ideas, please respond, she will make a note, and get back to people who are interested in doing, tell them what she received. She can focus on it long distance and facilitate people doing events.

Discussion: Make it clear we need coordinators. We may be able to recruit as people meet each other. Coordinator should grow from a known volunteer, we have had trouble with unknown appointees.

Fall Picnic: Discussion: Went well. Good location. Needed sign-up sheet. Will anyone write article for Sounding?

Mega-Gathering: Discussion: Richard Manno has given up on idea. With no driver, it will be removed from Old Business.

New business:

ExComm Calendar: Thomas Thomas: Suggested setting up regular calendar of ExComm meetings and other events so people could schedule around the dates. Strong opposition from other ExComm members; withdrew the idea.

Next ExComm Meeting: December 14, 2:00 at the home of Dana Groulx.

Motion to adjourn: Second, motion carried. (Time of adjournment was not recorded.)

January 2009 Page 11

TAMPA BAY MENSA PROCTOR TEAM Gina Boogher

I would like to introduce, or remind those who know of, our Team of Proctors in the Tampa Bay area. As Proctors, we work together to provided testing opportunities to the general public who are eager to learn more about becoming part of the Mensa organization. Our train-ing method relies heavily on the skill and experience of our seasoned Proctors as well as the time commitment of those interested in undergo-ing the certification process.

First up is Barbara Counts. Barbara is a delightful woman who seems to be willing to help out in any way she can. I don’t just mean as a proctor. She is a retired CPA who volunteers regularly for her church and numerous other organizations. Barbara was our Proctor Coordina-tor until late last year when she resigned to diversify her time. She per-formed the role with such grace and precision that no one was aware of what an undertaking it is. She continues to be an integral component to keeping the program functioning smoothly.

Next is Fran Orenstein. Fran has had four novels and a short story published. She continues to write but considers herself retired from a regular job. She came to Tampa Bay from Arizona by way of South Carolina. Her flexibility is notable and welcome. As the Proctor Coordinator in Arizona, she grew accustomed to testing large groups of 20 or more. Fran extends an open invitation to hear from neighboring members in South Hillsborough. If you live in that area, give her a call at (813) 746-1831. Please leave a message with your name and phone number and say “Mensa Test” to introduce yourself.

Jay Johnson is so thorough in her duties as a proctor that her re-cord keeping may become the model for us. Jay is very conscious of her prospects’ possible intimidation of the test and works to keep them calm. In addition, she welcomes those who pass with open arms. Jay is our one woman show in North Pinellas, West Pasco and West Hernando counties. She is also the Scribe for the ExComm meetings and if you received this Sounding in the mail, she is the person who drove it to the post office for delivery.

Sylvia Zadorozny is in the process of being certified. Sylvia is one of the first to lend a hand when things get too deep. Thanks Sylvia, for taking this on in our time of need. To list her contributions to our group would take a Sounding the size of our Crewe List. She is our current Deputy LocSec. If you haven’t met her yet, we suggest you make the ef-fort. She hosts Games Nights every second Saturday of the month. If you’re not a gamer, she lets you come in, snoop around, meet a few folks, eat the fresh baked cookies and leave. Trust me, I’ve done that.


We have two other members entering the Proctor Certifica-tion Program. I asked these individuals for their assistance because of their prior contributions to Tampa Bay Mensa, commitment to ethics and confidentiality, and the need for Proctors in areas where they re-side. Keep checking the Sounding for their continued success in com-pleting the program. Thanks to them, our coverage of the Tampa Bay area is complete.

And there is Thomas Thomas, also our current LocSec. I almost forgot to list him. Thomas is so taken for granted that he is the only Proctor that I forget to ask what he wants to do and just send him lists of things we could be doing. He has been zipping around the counties proctoring and meeting with people who come to our testing sessions. He has also set up additional testing sites in Hillsborough to keep up with demand. Thomas is a great sport and gives of his time generously for our needs.

As for me, I have stepped in as the Testing Coordinator. Along with Sylvia, I am at the mid point in the Proctor Certification Process. It has been a pleasure working with this team while we gear up our program for the New Year.

Our team has a busy month ahead of us in January. If you know of someone who wants to be tested, please refer them to our web page www.tampa.us.mensa.org and then click on testing opportunities.

Great bunch of folks-that’s all I have to say! Oh, and Thanks!

Gina Boogher (Interim) Testing Coordinator, TBM

[email protected] January Testing Opportunities in Tampa Bay Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 10:00 am (Hudson) Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 10:00 am (Ruskin) (RSVP required by January 14th for Ruskin test) Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 3:00 pm (Tampa/Westchase) Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 7:00 pm (Tampa/Downtown) Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 10:00 am (North St. Petersburg)

January 2009

SURVIVING SPENDING Steven K. Shapiro

When I started writing this article, I had lots to say about how we are taught to spend, encouraged to spend, how we are an instant gratifi-cation society, and how we have been taught to gratify ourselves by spending, even if we don’t have the money. I hit the delete key. I real-ized that I don’t have to actually say the words. We all know this. Many of us are living it. But what can we do about it?

Several years ago I started hearing this Dave Ramsey guy on the radio. At first I thought him to be a first class idiot. A lot of what he was saying went against a lot of what I had learned. But the longer I lis-tened, the more it made sense. It made a lot more sense when I went from just listening to him, to checking out his web site and reading about the details of the things he was talking about. His web site is a treasure trove of information. Sure he is selling himself and his prod-ucts and commercializing what he is teaching, but I have found that it is not necessary to purchase any of his products to be able to put his teaching into action. Maybe some people need these products, and I do not disparage them, all I say is that I don’t think that it is necessary to buy anything to be successful in doing what he is teaching.

I started by looking at what I owed. MY DEBT. I then put together a budget to account for every penny of what I earned and what I spent it on. I used my budget to be able to create savings while I was reducing my debt. I also decided to eliminate my use of credit cards wherever possible. Finally, I incorporated all of this into accomplishing what Dave calls his ‘7 Baby Steps’.

The following are my thoughts on what I am doing and how I am doing it. I have also included a link to Dave’s web site as he has pages and pages of details that I couldn’t hope to provide in this short article.

Debt

Debt is dumb. You’ll never get rich spending money. You get rich by saving money. You save money by spending less money than you earn. You have to decide for yourself about the tradeoff. What are you willing to NOT have in order to have the money to put into savings?

Budgeting

If you’re not in control of your money, your money is in control of you. The only way to get control of your money is to know where it comes from and where it goes. This is what a budget does. It is a TOOL for finding out what happens to your money. A budget should go down


to the penny if possible, but don’t go overboard. There’s no need to hire a tax accountant and pay them thousands of dollars to find out where your money is going. You can do this for yourself with simple Excel spreadsheets; or use Quicken and sometimes even your bank will have online tools that help to categorize all of the money you spend via checks, electronic bill pays and debit card purchases. Update it on a regular basis and keep it current.

Spending

Once you have your budget in place, you will be able to make a spending plan. The first thing you will want to do is figure out how to reduce your spending. When it comes to spending, you need to deter-mine what is a NEED and what is a WANT. Even then there are choices to make. You may NEED a cell phone, but do you NEED the $395 prod-uct, or just WANT it? You may NEED a car, but do you NEED a new one, or just WANT it? To be able to save more, you must narrow your spending closer to the NEEDS and farther from the WANTS.

Saving

My goal is to have my money work for me so that I don’t have to work for my money. The more I save, the more interest it earns. The more I save, the more I can invest and have even more money work for me. In fact, the more I am willing to put into risk-free fixed rate invest-ments, the higher the interest rate that they are willing to offer me. However, without a savings plan, I will never have enough money to work for me.

Savings doesn’t have to start out big. In fact, most savings start out small, with a small initial amount and then by adding to it little by little on a regular basis. You must also have the will power to say that what-ever you put into savings is UNTOUCHABLE. If you put it into savings, you must do so with the agreement to yourself that it is not available. I can already hear you asking: “Steve, what about an EMERGENCY!!!? Well, you know that there is going to be an emergency. There always is. You may not know WHAT it is, but you know that at some point in time, there is going to be an emergency where you need to get a hold of some cash . . . fast. Well, that should be part of your budget. An emergency fund that is in ADDITION to savings. So now you ask: But Steve, what if its NOT ENOUGH? What if I need MORE? I am sure that you can al-ways envision the ultimate catastrophe. However, based on your years of experience, and the emergencies you have experienced in your life, what is a reasonable amount? Set this amount aside and do your best. If you NEED (not want, but need) to dip into savings, make sure you have a plan to repay it.


There are many ways to set aside money for savings. Some people use the ‘envelope’ method, where each week they put an amount into an envelope until they reach their goal. Others setup many separate sav-ings accounts at their bank and put money into them in a similar man-ner. Whatever it is that works for you, start doing it!

Credit Cards

I have learned to hate these things. They are too convenient. They make it too easy to get into debt. Don’t have the cash? Just charge it! (I remember back to an old ‘Flintstones’ episode with Betty and Wilma). I have an agreement with myself that nothing goes on a credit card that I am not prepared to pay for with my discretionary income. Basically, if I don’t already have the cash or will have it in my next pay check, I just don’t use it. Lately I travel quite a bit for my employer. I use my credit cards for my travel expenses and as soon as I return, I fill out my ex-pense reports and am reimbursed. I don’t wait till the end of the month when I get my statement. I go online and pay it off immediately so that I am not tempted to spend the money elsewhere and let that balance stay on the card.

So now I hear you asking about all those wonderful ‘rewards’ points and ‘frequent flyer miles’ etc. that you get by using your credit card. I say no problem. Use the credit card all you want to pay for things, just be sure to pay it off immediately so that you don’t carry a balance and don’t have interest charges. Remember, if you carry a balance, those ‘rewards’ are depreciated at your interest rate of your balance. So if you carry $1000 average monthly balance on your card for a year, at a rate of 20%, you are spending $200 / year for that ‘reward’. So how much have you actually been ‘rewarded’?

Baby Steps

I like these the best. Once I understood what they were and how to use them, I can’t recommend them highly enough.

1. $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund

2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball

3. 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings

4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retire-ment

5. College funding for children

6. Pay off home early

Build wealth and give!

Step 1. Earlier I talked about savings and creating a separate emer-gency fund. Start with $1000 as a guideline. If you think you need more, then by all means, make it more. You need to adjust it to your life so that it works for you, but do not be without it.

Step 2. I love the debt snowball. I don’t know why I never thought of it. In the past, I just paid a bit of money across all of my outstanding debts and it never seemed to help. This works. It’s for credit cards, car loans, furniture loans, and all the rest of your ‘signature’ type loans. Here is how it works in Dave’s own words: “The math seems to lean more to-ward paying the highest interest debts first, but what I have learned is that personal finance is 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior. The principle is to stop everything except minimum payments and focus on one thing at a time. Otherwise, nothing gets accomplished because all your effort is diluted. You need some quick wins in order to stay pumped enough to get out of debt completely. When you start knocking off the easier debts, you will start to see results and you will start to win in debt reduction. So list your debts in order with the smallest payoff or balance first (excluding the house). Do not be concerned with interest rates or terms unless two debts have similar payoffs, then list the higher interest rate debt first.”

So I made a list of those outstanding signature debts, smallest to highest dollar amounts. Using my budget, I cut back on as much as I could so that I could put as much as possible into paying off this first debt (I still made the minimum payments to the other debts). Once it was paid off, I took all the money I was paying towards this debt that no longer existed, and applied it to the next debt. It took me about 9 months to get them all paid off. It could have taken less time if I had been able to work a part time job or find some other source of income, but I could not. If you have that option, then that will only increase the speed at which you get them paid off.

Step 3. This is the step I am currently working on. Depending on your job, 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings may not be enough. If you are self-employed, you might want to consider having a full year of ex-penses saved in the bank. Also, bear in mind, that this is for the ‘loss of job’ emergency. You don’t have to have half a year’s salary in savings, but half a year’s EXPENSES. And if you lose your job, I am pretty sure



that a lot of those WANT expenses are going to get zeroed out until you are employed again. This emphasizes the importance of Step 2. If you have a lot of mandatory expenses, that is to say, paying off signature loans, then it is not so easy to remove them in an emergency. So get that car and those credit cards paid off ASAP so that you can reduce this ex-pense even further.

Step 4. I have a 401k with my employer and he does a very generous matching funds. While I cannot afford to invest 15% of my income (yet), I can invest the max that he will match. Basically if I invest 3%, he will match it with 2% and that’s found money in my opinion.

Step 5. When I moved to Florida, I opened a Florida Prepaid College plan for each of my kids as soon as they qualified. Back then my car was paid for and the total cost of the Prepaid College plan for my kids was about what I had been paying towards my car payment. Dave recom-mends against a Prepaid College Plan and recommends other invest-ments for this purpose. You will have to decide for yourself which plan is best for you.

Step 6. When I was making mortgage payments, I used a mortgage amortization calculator I found on the web and I realized that by being 1 payment ahead and by paying an extra $100 or so on the principal each month I could cut the duration of the mortgage in half. I have seen sev-eral other techniques that people have used to shorten the duration of their house payments. You will have to decide for yourself which plan is best for you

Step 7. I sure am looking forward to this step as it accomplishes my original goal: Have my money working for me rather than me working for my money.

You can see for yourself what Dave has to say by checking out his web site at:

http://www.daveramsey.com/

Meanwhile, we are embarking upon a brand new year, so maybe one of your resolutions can be to become debt free.

Steve Shapiro [email protected]

JANUARY BIRTHDAYS

1 Margaret Argudo, Jerry Merchant

2 John Wallace Hamilton, Mary Anna Muka

4 Dustin Anderson, Betty Sue Taylor

5 Lawrence Jay

6 Col Rick David Craig

7 Federico Agnir

8 Ronan Heffernan

9 Stanley Pleban

11 Russell Brown, Helen Martin Parramore, Robert Sidney

Quinn III

12 David Bruce Goodrich

14 Robert Luckenbach

17 Marvin Ivey

20 Jay Johnson

21 Jim Perry

23 Theresa Hohmann

24 Brett Husselbaugh

25 Louise Catherine Kelly, Michelle Kurtz

26 Melissa Stephens, Kristie Woeckener, Robert Young

27 Richard Averitt, Gary Posner, Marsha Patterson Raymond

28 K E Schneider

31 Leslie Shade Jr



JANUARY MENSAVERSARIES*

41 Years Mary Sanchez 35 Years Daniel O'Neal III 34 Years Jerry Merchant 31 Years Lee Miele 29 Years Benito Enriquez, Kenneth Kaplan, Bruce Perry 25 Years Bonnie Wilpon 24 Years James Bailey 23 Years Anne McFarlane 22 Years Grant Clifford Logan 17 Years Karen Hamlin 16 Years Ryan Kennedy 15 Years Ron Austin 14 Years Sean Dobes 12 Years Patrick Bastien, Nelson Crowle, Steven Michael Graves, Roger Preslar, John Stuart Turnbull 11 Years Dave Bryant 9 Years Martin Jenns 8 Years Devlon Buckner 7 Years Ruby Leah Agnir, Maj Alvin John Bedgood, Paul Happel, Thomas George Thomas, Thomas Vena, Brittian Walker, Robert Waltz 6 Years Susan Gardner, Barbara Jean Rambow, William Michael Schneikart 5 Years James Joseph Dowling, Helmuth Grimm, Michael Hankinson, Jim Hawkins, Frank Ridgway, Robert Young 4 Years Warden Beebe, Chris Lettre, Robert Pressner 3 Years Lauren Bylsma, Suzanne Joyce Fahy, Elizabeth Lynn Hapner, Jay Johnson, Corey Holt Merenda, Gerald Thackham 2 Years Ethan Hall, John Hurayt, Stephen Paul Morrill, Michelle Nicely, John Wesley Parker, Margaret Rubino 1 Year Joyce Valentine Brook, Jimmy Buford, Dana Gosnell, Robert Pace, Anitha Reddy, Thomas Sawyer, Lawrence Schear, Joyce Stroot, Kyle Walker

* Years are for continuous membership - members who let their membership

lapse start from the date of reinstatement.


THE TENTH STORY

(RVC COLUMN FOR REGION 10) – JANUARY 2009

Maggie Truelove

I recently read a letter to the editor in a Region 10 newsletter which bemoaned the lack of appropriate activities for him to attend. He mentioned several problems: diet restrictions which made the restaurants gatherings impractical, long distances to drive at night to attend events, and a general lack of interesting events to attend. He did raise some valid points, which I thought were worth discuss-ing here.

Diet restrictions and restaurants: He felt that there were many members with diet restrictions for whom the restaurants didn't work and suggested that house parties past meal hours would be better. The problem here, as always, is finding someone willing to under-take the cleaning and fixing of refreshments as well as the liability of strangers in the house. (He didn't mention one problem I observed throughout the years - the unwillingness of Mensans to RSVP about attending said party, which makes it even harder to plan refresh-ments.) He made a good point about this; if 50 people in a good sized group each offered to host a party once a year, there could be a house party nearly every weekend of the year somewhere within the confines of the group's area. An excellent concept!

Long distances to drive at night: Now our 50 house parties would also run into this problem. How many of the 50 parties would be within a reasonable driving distance for each member? Certainly not all of them! One way to ensure that an occasional party is close enough would be to VOLUNTEER TO HOST ONE! Yeah, that would work! Of course, another help for this is to set up some sub-groups, each with an area coordinator, with regular events within that smaller area each month. Some of our Region 10 groups already have some sub-groups. Perhaps more of us should consider moving in that direction. Perhaps with more events closer to home, more members would participate. We don't know until we try!

Lack of interesting events: Back in the 1980s, here in Central Florida Mensa (my home group), we had a monthly speaker/program meeting. We usually had interesting speakers. These were generally well attended. We could often find free venues, such as the clubhouse at an apartment complex or the meeting room at a busi-


ness. But then the free venues dried up, so the speaker chair position dried up as well - and it is hard to bring in a speaker to speak in someone's living room! But if a local group could find access to an appropriate free venue, returning to holding program nights could be something of interest. I am sure there are other interesting types of activities out there. Perhaps some of you would like to share ideas with Region 10? If you would like, you could send them to me, and I would certainly include them in an upcoming column in the several months I have left as your Regional Vice Chair.

Hope to see you at SmartiGras at the end of January or at Valen-Time in the middle of February. We'll be there.

Maggie Truelove, RVC 10

407-855-9078

[email protected]

3333 Honeysuckle Lane,

HITTING THE LINKS Are you a Mensan golfer who would like to play golf with other Men-

sans? If so, I am canvassing the Chapter for members interested in

forming a golf Crewe to play at least once per month (scheduled and/

or impromptu). If you are interested in such an event, email or phone

me.

Please provide me with info such as your average/handicap, formats

you may be interested in, courses you've played – or desire to play,

and/or anything else on your mind.

I hope to announce something scheduled shortly after the first of the

New Year.

See you on the links.

J.R. Hurayt

[email protected]

727-391-7138


INTRODUCING GENERATION Y! Were you born between 1976 and 1990? You should totally check

out the Gen Y SIG!

Inspired by the success of Gen X, the Gen Y SIG has been growing

by leaps and bounds in the past few months. While our Yahoo

group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gen-YMs) has remained

our main gathering place, we've expanded to Facebook, and sev-

eral local groups are enjoying monthly Gen Y get-togethers. We'd

love to see Gen Y events flourish in Tampa Bay Mensa!

In the coming months, we will be launching a web site and send-

ing a newsletter to every Gen Y aged member in American Mensa!

You too can join in the fun! Join the Yahoo group, and chime in!

We'd love to hear from you! If you would like to write something

for the upcoming newsletter (anything, really!), email it to

[email protected]. Fame has never come so easily!

We would love to have a Gen Y coordinator in every local group.

TBM currently does not have a Gen Y coordinator. The duties of

being a Gen Y rep aren't really hard, labor intensive, or even that

time consuming. Basically:

- plan an event or two every month.

- Do a little write up about your upcoming events, and/or submit

calendar entries for what you're doing, to you local newsletter.

- Go to the event. Have fun.

- Maybe set up a local Gen Y Yahoo group.

- Be the contact listed for your area when we have a website and

send out newsletters.

If you're interested, email your LocSec Thomas Thomas at

[email protected] and let us know!

- Marie P.

ORPHAN’S THANKSGIVING Sylvia Zadorozny

"Mensa is family" is one of those sayings you hear at Regional Gatherings or read in the Mensa Bulletin. But for those of us who don't have much other family nearby, our Mensa "family" can be especially appreciated at this time of the year. A few years ago I began Tampa Bay Mensa's Orphans' Thanksgiving with this in mind, as a place for us "orphans" to gather with our surrogate family and celebrate a traditional family holiday.

right to left: (foreground) Maran Fulvi and Mindy Singer, (background) Gina, Don Davis and Eloise Hurst (standing)

This year's Orphans' Thanksgiving turned out to be a real gourmet (and gourmand) FEAST, thanks to all who came bearing goodies to share: Michael Aston, Eloise Hurst, Dan McCarthy, Thomas Thomas, Maran Fulvi & mom Ronnie, Don Davis, Elaine Somoza-Paralusz & her brother & friend visiting from New Jersey, Mindy Singer & husband Steve, Debbie Kazor, Carl Hammen & his son John, Liz Rafaloski, Melissa Stephens, Cornelia Biggers & her husband, and, of course, me. Even my cat Freddie made a late appearance and got a little leftover turkey. Our fabulous spread included a raw vegetable tray, honey-


wheat pretzels with cheese, a spicy homemade dip, a big fancy salad, warm rolls with butter, an enormous turkey, lots of stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, a butternut squash dish with peppers, vegetable korma, a sweet corn casserole, garlic-cheese-mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, sweet potatoes with marshmallows or almonds, homemade key lime pie, double-chocolate brownies, caramel-apple-nut pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pies, a couple of other pies, sugar cookies, fresh-brewed coffee, and an assortment of fine wines. (Is your mouth watering yet?)

The 30 pound turkey

As guests arrived, we watched a pair of mute swans swim gracefully on the lake behind my house. The beautiful white birds had arrived only the week before, but they must have been accustomed to humans, because when they saw us with food, they ventured up on the lawn looking for a handout. A couple of us tossed them bits of a roll, so the birds got to eat before the rest of us began dining. It's just as well they went back down to the lake before the turkey was brought out, though--the 30-pound turkey was just about their size, and they might have wondered if we were trying to fatten them up.



Dan McCarthy, Sylvia Z wearing turkey hat, Carl Hammen, and Debbie Kazor

Since this was Thanksgiving, we used the fine china (instead of the usual disposables of games nights). Not everything fit in one room, so guests were directed to a back room to fetch their plates and glasses, then the kitchen for their silverware and drinks, and then the lanai to fill their plates with food--I began to think I should have provided a map to help everyone find everything. In order to accommodate the crowd, I'd moved a sofa and coffee table out of the living room and arranged three table groupings, plus two tables with food out on the lanai. We actually did manage to fit in quite nicely, but if this event grows much larger, I'm afraid I might have to impose an attendance limit. (Buying a larger house not being in the budget.)

During the evening I heard conversations on a wide range of topics, from the inevitable "This is all so good, I wish my stomach were bigger," to various names for hookahs (Mike Aston had brought a pretty one to show and share), to how a key lime tree is growing too far north but doesn't seem to realize it! Finally, towards the end of the evening when there were only a few of us left, Thomas brought out a new party game for us to try.

John Hammen going back for seconds

Thank you to everyone who came to be part of our TBM Thanksgiving "family". It was a wonderful way to spend the holiday (and sure beat sitting home alone with a Swanson's frozen turkey dinner!).

COUPON EXCHANGE! Those who possess Entertainment Book for St. Petersburg, I am

interested in Coupon D-15 for Paul's Chicago Pizza in Safety Harbor.

In return I will give you any coupon of your choice.

Contact Papan

(727) 483-9552

[email protected]



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THURSDAY, JANUARY 1

12:30 PM to 1:30 PM Lunch Bunch

Location: Piccadilly Cafeteria, 11810 North Dale Mabry, Tampa

We meet at Piccadilly Cafeteria (next to Barnes and Noble Bookstore) in Tampa. For directions, descriptions, and/or encouragement to attend, call:

Jim Perry (813) 837-3473 [email protected]

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7

7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Reading Group

Location: Perkins Restaurant, 612 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa

We meet twice per month (on the first and third Wednesday). Our meeting location is Perkins on Dale Mabry, just north of Kennedy. Bring along books you'd like to exchange or give away.

Ronan Heffernan (813) 732-2310 [email protected]


JANUARY 2009 CALENDAR Maran Fulvi

Calendar Editor

Mensa events are open to all Mensans, their spouses, and

accompanied guests. A party at a private home is a private event,

and who may or may not attend is at the complete discretion of

the host. While kitty amounts are mandatory, hosts often spend

far more than the specified amount. Donations in excess of the

kitty amount will be appreciated.

Please e-mail your calendar event notices to

[email protected], or visit

http://tampa.us.mensa.org/cal for complete instructions.

To have event announcements sent directly for your email, sign up

for the tbm-gm group at Yahoo!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tbm-gm/

Your deadline for the following month’s calendar is the

10th of the preceding month.

Hosts: Please remember to mention any special concerns about

your location, such as limited access for the handicapped, smoking

restrictions, or presence of pets.

Guests: If you have special needs or restrictions, it is prudent to

discuss them with your host before attending an event.


THURSDAY, JANUARY 8





FRIDAY, JANUARY 9

7:30 AM to 8:30 AM Breakfast Gathering

Location: Village Inn, 13105 Walsingham Rd, Largo, FL

Breakfast Gathering at the Village Inn at Walsingham Road in Largo 7:30 AM on the 2nd Thursday of every month. Gather for food and conversation.

RSVP to Lori Puterbaugh (727) 399-2419

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10

8:30 AM to 2:00 PM Second Saturday Fossil Dig

Location: Vulcan Quarry

I am chronically late, so please do not be offended by the warning, but you MUST be on time. We will enter the mines at 9am. Anyone not there at that time will not be allowed in.

Child members, or member's children, must have a parent or legal guardian present to participate. I will have waiver forms for everyone to sign before we go in. To reach Vulcan, take I 75 north to Exit 301, Brooksville/ Rt 98. Go ten miles to Brooksville and follow the signs for Rt. 98 north. Go another ten miles north of Brooksville on 98 and watch for the CEMEX/ Vulcan signs on the left side. Wait by the highway entrance.

You will be driving in, so you will have access to any coolers you may bring. I would suggest bringing snacks and PLENTY of water. It gets hot, so dress appropriately. You might want to bring sunscreen. Please RSVP by email by the Friday before so I


can have a good idea of how many are coming. I have scheduled this to coincide with the Tampa Bay Fossil Club dig so that we may have some experts there who can answer our questions. I do not bring tools, but you may wish to bring a hand shovel.

RSVP to Theresa Hohman [email protected]

7:30 PM to 11:59 PM Games Night

Location: 651 Timber Bay Circle West, Oldsmar ($2 kitty)

Sylvia Zadorozny (813) 855-4939 [email protected]

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13

7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Tuesday Night Trivia

Location: Barnacles of Tampa, 926 Providence Rd, Brandon

Join us for Buzztime Trivia every second Tuesday at Barnacles.

Tuesday is when the rest of the national NTN-SIG plays (join the SIG at [email protected]).

Tuesday features Buzztime's Brainbuster and Showdown games.

Barnacles is a full restaurant and bar, so you can socialize even if you don't play trivia. They even have Karaoke later in the evening for anyone interested!

See Barnacles of Tampa online at www.barnacles.com

Thomas Thomas (813) 994-3981 [email protected]

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15






FRIDAY, JANUARY 19

7:00 PM to 12:00 AM Buzztime Trivia

Location: Prime Time Sports Grill, Carrollwood

Buzztime Trivia (formerly NTN Satellite Trivia) is a nationwide contest held in assorted restaurants and bars in our region.

Three short rounds of five questions each are interspersed with breaks for conversation and socializing.

We meet in Carrollwood at Prime Time Sports Grill which puts the trivia games on a BIG screen! Look for the table with our mascot, Owlbert. Come join the party!

Thomas Thomas (813) 994-3981 [email protected]


10:00 AM to 12:00 PM Mensa Admission Test

Location: Hudson

Are you or anyone you know interested in joining Mensa? Go to www.tampa.us.mensa.org and click "Testing Opportunities" to see a list of upcoming tests.

Contact information is on the website.


Location: Ruskin



3:00 PM to 5:00 PM Mensa Admission Test

Location: Upper Tampa/Westchase



7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Gourmensans Go Irish

Location: Four Green Fields, 205 W. Platt St. Tampa FL 33606

Come and savor the Irish favorites and libations. Entrees range: $12-14. Platt St. is one way street from west to east.

Look for the Irish Flag. There is a parking lot behind the pub and also on the corner of 3rd St and W. Platt.

Papan (727) 483-9552 [email protected]


WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21

7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Reading Group

Location: Perkins Restaurant, 612 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa

We meet twice per month (on the first and third Wednesday). Our meeting location is Perkins on Dale Mabry, just north of Kennedy. Bring along books you'd like to exchange or give away.

Ronan Heffernan (813) 732-2310 [email protected]

7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Mensa Admission Test

Location: Downtown Tampa








FRIDAY, JANUARY 23

6:00 PM to 8:30 PM Fourth Friday Madness

Location: Olive Garden, 6700 U.S. 19 N., Pinellas Park

Come party on down with us every fourth (not necessarily last) Friday at the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant from 6pm to whenever. This is just southeast of Gandy Boulevard. RSVP to:

Phoebe McCann (727) 546-4030 [email protected]




Location: North St. Petersburg



SUNDAY, JANUARY 25

2:00 PM to 6:00 PM Fold, Staple, and Mail

Location: 651 Timber Bay Circle West, Oldsmar, FL 34677

Come help us Fold, Staple, and put Mailing labels on next month's issue of the Tampa Bay Sounding. You can even get your newsletter early! Please call if you need directions. Hope to see you here.

Sylvia Zadorozny (813) 855-4939 [email protected]







7:00 PM to 12:00 AM Last Saturday Rotating Games Night

Location: TBD ($2 kitty)

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REALITY CHECK Don Orblom

[Reprinted from M-Pact, newsletter of Triad North

Carolina Mensa, August 1999; John Parker, Editor]

Zen, peanut butter and jelly.

Some times the smallest things can be the clue for understanding the larger complexities of life.

One evening, I was doing one of my classes on self esteem, and was looking for an example to use that would show how we get set in our thinking. I came up with the idea of peanut butter and jelly sandwich making. I challenged someone to describe how to make such a sandwich, "the right way."

I chose a volunteer and they proceeded to explain how to make a sandwich. Of course, when they were finished, several others protested. Of course, they knew "the right way" and that wasn't it. I listened in awe as people insisted that, almost came to blows, in fact, that no! You must use crunchy not smooth peanut butter. Not wheat bread, but white. Not grape jelly, but strawberry jam. No, no! you put the peanut butter on one slice of bread and the jelly on the other, then press them together. And it must be cut across. No, from corner to corner. No, you don't cut it, because it just makes it easier for the jelly to leak out. No! First you put butter on the bread.

And the winner was a man who made his sandwiches on a flour tortilla and rolled it up so that it wouldn't leak. But, I'm not sure that really isn't a peanut butter and jelly burrito.

The point is that each of these people had a "right way." A way that was so "right" that they never questioned it. Yet, how many ways can be "right." Apparently, several. And if that's true of peanut butter and jelly, how true can it be for other things? How many "right" ways are there for everything and do we even acknowledge their existence? Do we try them? Or do we insist that our "right way" is the only "right way" and go on doing things the way we've always done them?

Personally, I like my way. I'm sure you like yours. Shall we fight? Shall we try something new? Can we accept there are more than one way to be right? Or maybe we should just go get a hamburger instead.

TOP TEN ALL-TIME FAVORITE TV SHOWS

This month we have Linda Terrell and Maran Fulvi present-ing their Top, ahem, ‘Ten’ All-Time Favorite Shows. Linda is a for-mer writer for fanzines and has a long involvement with working with fictional characters, especially KITT, We are both disappointed with the weak caricature they present as Knight Rider 2008 now. Linda and I wonder how the producers of the new show could have missed the point that a big part of the success of the old Knight Rider was not the handsome yet clumsy Hasselhoff, but the clever and dry witted voice of KITT, William Daniels. Val Kilmer as the new voice is flat and dead, worse than annoying. But perhaps the adolescent boy to whom this new series is obviously aimed has dif-ferent standards. Something must be working there because Knight Rider persists while two of my current favorites have been cancelled. The comments along side each pick are Linda’s own.

My Top Ten All Time Favorite TV Shows Presented by Linda Terrell

“All time favorite, number one show which I am watching again after 52 years: The Buccaneers, with Robert Shaw and Peter Hammond Yes, That Robert Shaw. "Quint" when he was a pirate, a delight-ful swashbuckler out of England in the footsteps of Richard Green's Robin Hood. Shaw pretty much played himself in this against Peter Hammond's Frank Burns trying to be Hudson Lowe. Two fine actors scene-stealing from each other. I was then and still am, madly in love with Peter Hammond's character, Lt. Beamish, Royal Navy. I even manage to track down the actor and speak to him by phone last year! He'd gone on to a notable directing career starting with the old "Avengers" ("It's not the old Avengers! It's the Black and White Avengers!" Yes, Sir!) The Carol Burnett Show. (Best Comedy-Variety show. Evah.) The Danny Kaye Show (Next Best Comedy-Variety Show. Mostly.)


Doctor Who/Torchwood (Wonderful writing. Great derring-do and a bit of derring-don't.) The Gray Ghost Tod Andrews (Mosby's Raiders, Confederate swashbuckling, and probably couldn't be shown now.) Disney's ZORRO Disney never got better than this (well, ok, The Swamp Fox with Leslie Nielson, but it wasn't weekly.) Knight Rider (Anyone else still in love with KITT? I adore Wil-liam Daniels.) Monty Python's Flying Circus (and just about everything else they did) The Huntley-Brinkley Report (Such chemistry! Straight news, no tittering or sniggering.) Twilight Zone (THE best sci-fi/fantasy/chiller.) 77 Sunset Strip (Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Yum.) The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (My first mad teenage crush.) Barney Miller (The most realistic cop show. Had precinct sta-tion-life perfectly according to my stepfather who was one of Boston's Finest, and from my visits to Station 16 in that city.) Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Outrageous! But I loved Rich-ard Basehart's Admiral Nelson.) Everything Else: Fury, Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, Sky King, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, I Led Three Lives, Yancy Derringer, The Ed Sullivan Show (I remember it when it was "Toast of the Town"), Steve Allen (which was on opposite Ed Sullivan), Alfred Hitch-cock Presents, Dobie Gillis, Robin Hood, Sir Lancelot, William Tell, Meeting of the Minds, Bewitched, Wild, Wild West, Adams Family, To The Manor Born. And so many, many more.” Thanks, Linda, for the very interesting list. One of your choices is on my list as well, John Barrowman, yum. This list leans toward older shows many of which are showing up on other lists as well. Is it just nostalgia or were those older shows simply better than new ones? Maran Fulvi has one answer.



My Top 10 All-Time Favorite TV Shows Presented by Maran Fulvi

Maran says: “My favorites TV shows change regularly. I'm al-ways interested in who's doing something new and interesting with the medium, and doing it well. So rather than try to give you my Top 10 of all time, here is my list of 10 favorite recent shows: Damages (FX) Rome (HBO) Mad Men (AMC) Battlestar Galactica -TV series beginning in 2004 (SciFi) The Riches (FX) Dexter (Showtime - 1st season rebroadcast on NBC) Lost (Fox) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central) Slings and Arrows (Canadian series aired on Sundance in the US) Charlie Jade (Candian/South African co-production aired on SciFi in the US)

As I compiled my list, I couldn't help but be struck by the lack of programs from the major broadcast television networks. It's amazing how much innovation and creativity is possible when writers/directors/producers don't have to chase after the largest possible audience or kowtow to sponsors.”

That is a provocative idea, Maran. So what do you readers think? Could it be that the older shows were more independent and were able to bring better material to the medium than the new shows on the majors that are subordinate to profits? Is it money that drives the new programs or could it be that a less discerning audience really doesn’t care about quality? Reviewers seem amazed when a well-written program off the majors gets audience and critical recog-nition as Maran suggests, while Nielson ratings indicate people only want more reality shows. If you have an opinion send it to [email protected] Be seeing you, Jay Johnson

FOURTH (NOT LAST) FRIDAY MADNESS NOVEMBER 28, 2008

Phoebe McCann

First of all, I hope this comes out in time (before Christmas/Channuka/Kwanza) for you to see this reminder, those of you who won't see it online. There WILL be a "day after Christmas" (Boxing Day) meeting; same time, same place, AND THERE WILL BE PRESENTS!!!

As sometimes happens the day after a holiday (Thanksgiving), we only had ten people but it was still a lively group. I FINALLY found out whether or not Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana are the same person or just a Multiple Personality problem. I knew THO-MAS THOMAS would know as he is one of the most all-encompassing music people I know. Miley and Hannah are indeed the same. Hannah is a Disney character portrayed by Miley. Would-n't SYLVIA ZADOROZNY make a wonderful Disney character with her shy, quiet character and cute little grin? She reminds me of a little bunny although she doesn't have buck teeth.

Turns out ERNST HALL is also a music person. I had asked one and all if anyone had heard the Beatles album from way-back-when called, "The Baroque Beatles." Nobody had but Ernst said he'd found that nearly all types of music sound good when played in the classical style especially with classical instruments. We talked about Carl Haas, may he rest in peace) and PDQ Bach. If anyone has a copy of the Baroque album/tape/CD or whatever, I'd gladly pay (within reason). I know husband DAN McCANN has heard it be-cause we heard it together but because he isn't musically oriented, so he doesn't remember where we heard it.

MARAN FULVI brought a guest, SID SIMPSON. I learned a lot about blindness from Maran that night. She informed us that very few visually impaired people use working dogs which surprised me. She also said the two main forms of blindness are RLS blindness and Macular Degeneration. RLS is not as common as it once was because the cause is known now and premature babies are no longer kept in pure oxygen as long as other means of treatment are possi-ble. Macular Degeneration is, I think she said, more common in the elderly. More about that later.

CARL HAMMEN and wife, DEBORAH KAZOR, were in at-



tendance. Deborah STILL hasn't received the email I sent her about the real-life horse whisperer.

I didn't think to ask CRISTINA GONZALEZ if she was new or a transfer in but we haven't had her in our group before and she's not in this year's Crewe List. I apologize, Cristina, I didn't get much of anything about you for this write-up. Hopefully, next time you come, I'll do better. Corner me and tell me about yourself, okay?

I said I'd have more to say about blindness, right? This is a true story. I often make the rounds of yard sales looking for books. I found a sale that was inside a house. Two VERY elderly (older than I am) women were talking about blindness and one said to the other, "I just found out that my husband has that terrible form of blindness that old people get."

Her friend said, "Oh, dear! What could that be?"

First lady said, "It's called, 'Immaculate Regeneration.'"

Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. See you next time! Don't forget... holiday party... good food, and presents!

Phoebe McCann

(727) 546-4030

[email protected]

The theme word/phrase for this month's Suzaku™ is SUPER BOWL.

Dolores Puterbaugh, Ph.D, LMFT, LMHC, PA

1208

Licensed Mental Health Counselor Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist

801 West Bay Drive, Suite 436 Largo, Florida 33770

The Wachovia Bank Building

727-559-0863

[email protected] balancedlifestylecoaching.com

Services Include:

• Individual counseling

• Family & couples counseling

• Anxiety, depression, grief, stress, anger

• Children’s behavior problems

• Personal growth/development

• Consulting/Coaching services

• Presentations for organizations

Memberships: Clinical Member of American Association for

Marriage & Family Therapy; American Counseling Association; Mensa; TNS


CRYPTOPOEM

Sylvia Zadorozny

"GLOVED AR GLB GLOVE-THUMB,

YARNBKD UHH GCNBGLBK!"

GLAD AD GLB DCRN

IB DARN AR VAGGBR-IBUGLBK.

ILBR AG AD MCHF,

AG FCBDR'G VUGGBK ILBGLBK

VAGGBRD UKB ICCH,

CK VUFB CY YARBDG HBUGLBK.

GLAD AD GLB DCRN

IB DARN AR VAGGBR-IBUGLBK:

"GLOVED AR GLB GLOVE-THUMB,

YARNBKD UHH GCNBGLBK!"

-- VUKAB HCOADB UHHBR

SUZAKU © 2009

Thomas George Thomas

Suzaku™ (from Japanese sousaku: search) is a compound puz-

zle. The first step is to solve it as a traditional sudoku puzzle, us-

ing letters instead of numbers. The second step is to search for

words in the solved sudoku. Start from any letter, moving up,

down, forward, backward or diagonally in any direction, chang-

ing direction as needed without reusing the same square for a

word. Although there are nine letters in this puzzle, words can be

longer if you can find them. (If you need a hint, the theme word/

phrase for this puzzle is on page 42.) For extra credit, score the

words using their associated number values to try to find the

highest word points.



ANSWER TO DECEMBER’S SUZAKU

SU DOKU

http://xkcd.com

“This one is from the Red Belt collection, of 'medium' difficulty.”


ANSWER TO DECEMBER’S CRYPTOPOEM

There was an old man of the coast,

Who placidly sat on a post;

But when it was cold,

He relinquished his hold,

And called for some hot buttered toast.

--Edward Lear

ANSWER TO DECEMBER’S CROSSWORD

Elementary Greek Carl S. Hammen

Tampa Bay Sounding (USPS 305-830) is published monthly by Tampa Bay Mensa at 9091 St. Andrews Dr, Seminole, Fl 33777. Periodicals postage paid at St. Petersburg, FL. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Tampa Bay Sounding, c/o American Mensa Ltd., 1229 Corporate Dr. West, Arlington, TX 76006-6103.

2008-09 TAMPA BAY MENSA OFFICERS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE


OTHER CONTACTS

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Documents

January 2009 Sounding Compressed Drafttampa.us.mensa.org/soundings/sounding_2009_01.pdf · selected Eloise Hurst to replace outgoing Member-at-Large Dana Groulx . Eloise served previously