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The Newsletter of Plains and Peaks Mensa, Southern Colorado
http://www.plainsandpeaks.us.mensa.org/
LocSec News by Sandy Halby
Vol. 27, Issue6 June 2010
PlainsPeaking
In This Issue
RV-7 Highlights………..…..…..…...…2
Plains and Peaks Officers…...….….2
Shopping Tips..............................3
2010 Name That Event ..…...........4
Announcements..........................5
Cryptogram……….….……….…..…....5
Welcome and Farewell................5
Birthdays.....................................5
June Events……............................6
Calendar......................................7
Hello, fellow Plains & Peaks Men-sans! Okay – it really is spring now. Mike fired up the sprinkler system and he’s been getting a ton of bee swarm calls! The dogs want to spend more and more time outside – Chance (the German shepherd) is all about play-play-play with his toy football and treeing squirrels! And the lilacs are blooming great guns – I can even smell them from inside the house. On to Mensa business … the Main Monthly Meeting in May was a trip to the Pioneers’ Museum to see the Larry Hulst exhibit “It’s Only Rock-n-Roll (But I Like It),” which fea-tured a selection of his personal photos of various rock legends. As luck would have it, fellow Mensan Jan C. was at this meeting and knows Larry Hulst and his wife. When we’d viewed about half the photos – in walks the Hulstes! It was a real treat to talk to the artist and his wife personally and listen to some of their stories and experi-ences! Afterwards, we adjourned to Jack Quinn’s for a fabulous lunch. In June – we’ll have a guest speaker at our Main Monthly Meeting – Barbara Toney, who is a Brain Re-search expert. Ms. Toney’s presen-tations and workshops are proven to increase employee effectiveness and student performance. She’s got exercises to improve your thinking capacity – and challenge your mind!
Also in June – ExComm Meeting and dinner at McCabe's, Kimball’s Peak Three Movie Night, Trivia Night, Poker Night (thanks Dave & Jen), and Ultimate Saturday Supper. Ultimate Saturday Supper in June – Flying W Ranch! For those of you new to the area, the Flying W puts on a chuck wagon dinner followed by family entertainment from one of the best cowboy bands around. You do need reservations and must pre-pay Al Ackerson for this event. See our calendar for more details. We’ll be holding a Mensa Admis-sions Testing Session on June 13th. If you know someone who would like to test for Mensa membership, have him/her contact me for details. Bonus – in June, the Mensa Admis-sions testing fee is $30 – a $10 sav-ing! How about taking the Royal Gorge train trip? It gets rave reviews from anybody who’s done it and might make for a nice summer event. Let me know! Please check out our web-site at www.plainsandpeaksmensa.org – it’s an award-winner – thanks to Windy Haddad, our webmistress! Thanks, Windy, for such a great site! And – to our newsletter editor, Betsy: Thanks for all your work, too! Hope to see you at a Mensa event!
~Sandy
PS – Help me out, folks. What can I do to get you to a Mensa event? Or - if you did come to an event, why didn’t you come back? What type of events do you want scheduled on a regular basis? Would you be will-ing to help with a Regional Gather-ing to boost interest? Do you know someone who would be a great guest speaker? While our Plains & Peaks Mensa participation level is good, I’d like to see GREAT!! And, for that, I really need your help and involvement! So – any suggestions or ideas would be welcome!! Thanks, everybody!!
Page 2 PlainsPeaking
WELCOME NEW OFFICERS! A warm welcome and a big THANK YOU to our new-est Region 7 Officers: MISSOURI OZARKS MENSA: Eddie (Lawrence) Campbell, Member Hall of Fame KANSAS SUNFLOWER MENSA: Bette Lutes-Konecny, Newsletter Editor LINCOLN NEBRASKA MENSA: Christopher Rathburn, Newsletter Editor Stephanie Rathburn, Co-Newsletter Editor and Pro-grams Coordinator WYOMING MENSA: James Smithson, Proctor-in-Training Dennis Tanner, Proctor-in-Training LAST-MINUTE VACATION IDEA! Our annual Mensa convention is coming up in Dear-born Michigan from June 30 to July 5. Meet 2,000 Mensans from around the world. Register for all 6 days before June 15- only $100! Stay at the Doubletree (FREE warm chocolate chip cookies day or night) for $104 per night. (800) 222-TREE and mention “MEN”. Register on line at www.ag2010.us.mensa.org ATTENTION COUCH SURFERS! If you are looking for accommodations, travel tips, ac-tivities or new friends here in the USA or in 40 other countries, this is the program for you! Some (not all) hosts even offer a free couch (or bed) while you are traveling. Check online (us.mensa.org) under “PROGRAMS” for FAQ and Registration forms!
What’s Up in Our Region by Peggy Pannke-Smith
[email protected] Regional Vice Chair
Heartland Region 7
LOOKING FOR A JOB? There are 1,646 jobs posted on the Mensa website in the Career Link section right now. As a dues-paid Mensa member, you can apply for any of these top jobs (Medical Director, etc.) Go to the Mensa web-site (us.mensa.org) and after you sign in, click on CA-REER LINK (left column) to post a resume, view jobs, create a career account and more. See how smart you are? Your Mensa membership becomes more valuable every year!
Plains and Peaks Mensa Officers
Sandy Halby (LocSec/President)
6066 Del Rey Dr, COS 80918
719-528-5483
Jennifer Browning (2nd Vice Pres. for Membership)
2034 Devon St, COS 80909
719-591-0189
Connor Baker (Treasurer)
PO Box 514
Florissant, CO 80816
(719) 646-2660
Betsy Ogan (PlainsPeaking Editor)
1061 Hummingbird Ct, COS 80921
719-481-1199
Windy Haddad (Webmaster)
1465 Stella Dr. COS 80921
719-201-4743
Al Ackerson (Past President)
3627 Hayman Court, COS 80910
719-635-4910
I’d love to hear from you!
Page 3 Vol. 27, Issue6
Need to get a little something for the graduate in your life, or doing a bit of spring cleaning and reorganiz-ing? You can save some time and money by shopping with your American Mensa benefit providers: -- As the official store of American Mensa Products, Fox Imaging is your source for Mensa-branded ap-parel and other products. -- American Mensa's Smart Buys is an online store-front for all things found where Mensa and Amazon intersect. As a bonus, a small percentage of each pur-chase (whether it's made in the store or reached else-where in Amazon through our store) comes back to American Mensa as non-dues revenue, with no differ-ence to your price paid. -- Edmund Scientifics is a leading supplier of educa-tional science products and the largest builder of sci-ence kits in the world. American Mensa members save 15 percent (with some exceptions). -- Free Spirit Publishing is the leading publisher of learning tools that support gifted young people's so-cial and emotional health. American Mensa members get a 20-percent discount. -- Save money both online and at Office Depot's stores! American Mensans get a 10-percent discount on purchases and save up to 25 percent on printing. -- PC Connection offers more than 130,000 products from more than 1,600 manufacturers; both PC and Mac products are available. American Mensans get up to 6 percent off listed prices. -- www.ThinkGeek.com sells fun stuff for smart peo-ple, and they have a special offer just for Mensans: get $10 off a purchase of $30 or more (excluding shipping and taxes). Find out more about each of these shopping opportu-nities, contacts and discount information at www.us.mensa.org/benefits.
Shopping Tips From Mensa
Page 4 PlainsPeaking
PRIZES!
$50 GIFT CERTIFICATES
for individual winners
+ $1,000 toward each Regional Group’s Event
TOTAL PRIZES: $11,000!
Actual quote from a member:
“If we advertise Leadership Development Workshop,
it’s guaranteed that nobody will show up.”
Given how dependent Mensa is on volunteer power, we want to motivate and educate our volunteers so they will stick with us and perhaps, take on more responsibility. Volunteers who do not get enough support, or who work without adequate knowledge, quickly burn out.
Your fresh ideas are needed. What should we call this kind of free educational training? According to the Leadership Guidebook: We provide free standardized courses to train a pool of Mensans from which local group officers can be recruited. The goal is to improve the skills and knowledge of local group officers, enabling them to better serve the group. Names that have been used in the past:
* LEADERSHIP RETREAT (spiritual?) * PEP RALLY (frivolous?) * LOCAL OFFICER TRAINING SESSIONS (structured?) * LOCAL GROUP LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (military?) * LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WORKHOP (sounds like work?)
NAME THE EVENT and WIN THE PRIZE! If you are the winner, you will receive a
$50.00 gift certificate good for merchandise of your choice from the Fox Imaging Mensa gift store. PLUS your local group will receive up to $1,000.00 for holding an educational event that you get to name. (American Mensa has 10 regions. One winner per region.)
Rules: Open to current Mensa members only. Send the NAME OF THE EVENT, along with your name, address, e-mail, phone and the name of your Local Group to: [email protected] with “NAME THE EVENT” in the Subject Line, or by snail-mail to: PEGGY PANNKE-SMITH, National LDW Chair, 1009 Alder Way, Longmont CO 80503. Deadline is June 15, 2010. Prizes will be awarded at the Awards Luncheon in Dearborn Michigan during the 2010 Annual Gathering.
2010 Name The Event Contest
Click the dollar sign to enter
Stephen D Copp 1 June Wade Erickson 2 June Bill Bannister 3 June Christopher M Root 4 June Wayne W White 5 June Daniel Cockerham 8 June Alfred Conner 16 June James G Hunter 16 June Devin Statham 17 June Derel Schrock 21 June Nancie E Sawyer 21 June Dr Sallie A Watkins 27 June Janelle Adams 29 June NOTE: If you don’t see your birthday posted here, it’s probably because that information (and perhaps more) is marked “non-releasable” on our rosters. If you’d like to check on your personal information release status, please contact American Mensa (1-800-66-MENSA) or go to www.us.mensa.org and under Member resources, select the PDQ section.
"Nfetcketn cat rffztnc equ itqytn akn
oakixztu cat zkoatnc kuatzkcquot."
~Zdca T. Ztulti
Cryptogram
Page 5 Vol. 27, Issue6
MIND GAMES®: More than 200 Mensans gathered in San Diego in April for Mind Games® 2010. During the three-day event, members played and rated 49 board and card games. The top five games earned Mensa Select® dis-tinction; Anomia™ (Anomia Press), Dizios™ (MindWare), Forbidden Island™ (Gamewright), Word on the Street™ (Out of the Box Publishing) and Yikerz!™ (Wiggles 3D Incorporated). You can learn more about these games and the event at American Mensa www.us.mensa.org NAME THE EVENT CONTEST: PRIZES! $50 gift cer-tificate for you plus $1,000.00 for your local group towards an educational and informative event that you get to name! See details in this newsletter! Enter early & often! Note: This contest closes June 15th – so get those entries to Peggy Panke-Smith! PLAINS & PEAKS MENSA EVENTS: While all the events listed on our calendar are open to all our Mensa members and their guests, we do request that our mem-bers respect the event host’s wishes, such as no smoking, no alcohol, adults only, park only in the street, etc. PLAINSPEAKING NEWSLETTER: Get published! If you’d like to contribute an original article to our newslet-ter, please contact Betsy Ogan, our newsletter editor. MENSA PRODUCTS: Fox Imaging is the official store of American Mensa products and the source for Mensa-branded apparel and other products including Mensa Se-lect® games, books, pins and more. Contact Dave or Lynne at Fox Imaging at 800/397-4156 or view their catalog online at www.foximaging.com MENSA TESTING ONLY $30 IN JUNE: This June, Mensa will invite prospects to "take off this summer!" During the month of June, Mensa will take $10 off the regular testing fee for all test sessions. Prospects who qualify will then be encouraged to take off to the hundreds of local, regional, and national events offered throughout the year! AGs, RGs, SIGs, local group meetings – enough to keep you busy! 2010 ANNUAL GATHERING: If you are going to attend the 2010 Mensa Annual Gathering in Dearborn and De-troit over the 4th of July weekend – please let Sandy know (phone 528-5483 or e-mail [email protected]). Right now, at least four Plains & Peaks members (who all just happen to be members of Hell’s M’s, too!) will be there and they’d like to know who else from our group might be partaking in the AG festivities!
Announcements
June Birthdays
WELCOME: Gia Michelle Davis, who moved here from Maryland. Hello, Gia! Jimmie Myers, a fellow Coloradan who is moving into our local group area. FAREWELL: James W Heaton, who is moving back east to Ohio. Elizabeth N Spurgeon, who is moving on to Florida.
Welcome & Farewell
PlainsPeaking
Thursday, June 17th, 8:00 pm: RSVP for Poker Night. Call Dave and Jen at 442-6451 to RSVP, directions and other specifics about this event! Saturday, June 19th, 6:00 pm: Poker Night. Dave and Jen will host a Just-for-fun nickel-dime-quarter poker game at their house. Beginners are welcome. Snacks and diet sodas will be provided. Bring your own drinks if you want something else. Adults only, please! Allergy alert – friendly dogs and cats. If we don't have at least 5 players by Wednesday evening, we may cancel and go to Cripple Creek instead. Sunday, June 20th, 4:30 pm: Kimball’s Peak Three Movie! Join some of your fellow Mensans at Kimball’s, which is a downtown (Pikes Peak and Tejon) first run movie theater showing “the very best of current independ-ent and foreign films.” The plan is to meet at 4:30, have a drink in Kimball’s full service bar, select a movie to attend together, and then afterwards, have another drink and discuss the movie. We’ll be taking a chance on what Kim-ball’s is showing on this date - but you never know! Could be the best movie you’ve ever seen!! Saturday, June 26th, 5:00 pm: Ultimate Saturday Sup-per at the Flying W! It’s the time of year to go off and enjoy the Flying W Ranch chuck wagon supper and en-tertainment by the Flying W Wranglers! If you haven’t been before, the chuck wagon supper features tender slices of beef or BBQ chicken, foil-wrapped potatoes, Fly-ing W beans, chunky applesauce, old fashioned spice cake, biscuits, and coffee, lemonade or iced tea. After din-ner we will be entertained by the Flying W Wranglers with beautiful 3-part vocal harmonies about the American Cowboy. Your check (or cash, if you see him) to Al Ack-erson, 3627 Hayman Ct, 80910, by 16 June reserves you a place at the picnic table. The price scale is: $22 per adult; children 6-12 - $12; children 3-5 - $5; children under 2, free. Upgrade to a 13-oz. Kansas City Strip Steak for $29. If you’re older than 60 or active duty or retired military, it’s $20 (or $27 for the steak). ADVANCE NOTICE: Saturday, July 10th, 9:30 am: ExComm Meeting and Breakfast. Join us for a short (very short) business meeting and then breakfast at Bon Ton’s, 2601 W. Colorado in Old Colorado City. If the weather is nice, we’ll dine al fresco! For a peek at their breakfast menu, visit www.bontonscafe.com. As always, all Mensa members and their guests are invited to this event.
Tuesday, June 8th, 6:30 pm: ExComm Meeting and Dinner. Join us for a very short business meeting and then dinner at McCabe’s Tavern, 520 S. Tejon St. When you get there, look for the Mensa logo sign on the table! And - here’s McCabe’s web-site for a menu preview: www.mccabestavern.com. As always, all Mensa members and their guests are invited to this event. Friday, June 11th, 6:30 pm: Main Monthly Meeting: Guest Speaker Barbara Toney. Barbara Toney is a Hoo-sier native who moved to Colorado Springs in 1973 and taught psychology and social studies in D11 for 31 years, including an exchange year of teaching at Kaimuki High School in Honolulu. After retiring, she enrolled in a certifi-cation course through Eric Jensen Learning Corporation and in 2008 became a certified trainer in brain-research-based learning. Ms. Toney offers seminars, speeches, train-ings and presentations on brain research to educators and anyone interested in learning how to improve their own brain functioning. In addition, she is a guest history lec-turer for Princess Cruise Lines and is the president of the FACCMasters Toastmaster Club of Colorado Springs. Join us for an evening with Ms. Toney and learn to im-prove thinking capacity – and challenge your mind! We’ll be meeting at Sandy’s house, 6066 Del Rey Drive (near Dublin and Union). Snacks, soda, wine and beer will be provided. E-mail [email protected] or call 528-5483 for directions. Sunday, June 13th, 1:00 pm: Mensa Admission Testing. We will be conducting Mensa Admission Testing at the East Library, East Conference Room II, 5550 North Union Blvd, Colorado Springs. Registration will be from 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm, with testing starting promptly at 1:30 pm. If you know someone who wants to test for Mensa member-ship, please have him/her contact Sandy at 528-5483 or [email protected] for details. NOTE: In June, American Mensa is reducing testing fees by $10! Tuesday, June 15th, 6:00 pm: Trivia at TGI Fridays! We’re playing NTN Buzztime Trivia at T.G.I. Friday's, 7061 Commerce Center Drive (I-25 and Woodman). Good eats, good prices, and plenty of TVs to look at and control boxes to play with. Look for a Mensa “M” flag at a table in the bar and join us for a fast paced Trivia round! Wednesday, June 16th: Ultimate Saturday Supper Res-ervations Due! Reservations and pre-payment are re-quired for this event, folk, so if you’ll be joining us at the Flying W – this is the final day to get your reservation and money to Al Ackerson!
June Events
Page 6
JUNE 2010
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1
2
3
4 5
6 7 8
6:30 PM
ExComm
Dinner @
McCabe’s
Tavern
9 10
11
6:30 PM
MMM @
Sandy’s with
Barbara
Toney
12
13
1:00 PM
Mensa
Admission
Testing
14 15
6:00 PM
Trivia @
TGIF
16
8:00 PM
Reservations
Due for USS
17
8:00 PM
Reservations
Due for Poker
18 19
6:00 PM
Poke Night @
Dave & Jen’s
20
4:30 PM
Movie @
Kimball's
21 22 23 24
25 26
5:00 PM
USS @
Flying W
27
28 29 30
Page 7 Vol. 27, Issue6
Mensa® is an international organization made up of people who have
scored in the top 2% on standardized IQ tests. Mensa is non-profit and
has no political or religious affiliations. The purpose of Mensa is to
serve as a means of communication for its members and to foster in-
telligence. PlainsPeaking is the official publication of Plains & Peaks
Mensa (#808). Mensa itself has no opinions; any opinions expressed in
PlainsPeaking, if not otherwise designated, are those of the individual
contributor or of the editor. The appearance of any paid advertise-
ment, should such an unlikely event occur, in PlainsPeaking does NOT
imply any endorsement of products, services, or anything else men-
tioned in said ad by either Plains & Peaks Mensa, PlainsPeaking, Ameri-
can Mensa, Ltd., or Mensa International. Mensa® is registered at the
U.S. Patent Office as the collective mark of an international member-
ship organization.
PlainsPeaking is published monthly by Plains and Peaks Mensa Editor,
1061 Hummingbird Ct, Colorado Springs, CO 80921-5696. All material
within is copyright©2009 by Plains & Peaks Mensa, except where oth-
erwise indicated. Subscriptions are $6.00 (12 monthly issues) for non-
Mensans and for Mensans who are not members of the P&P local
group. Single issues are available on a first-come, first-served basis at
no charge (but please include SASE).
Editorial Policy: We (deliriously) welcome your letters, articles, poems,
artwork, and puzzles. Items submitted to PlainsPeaking should be the
ORIGINAL work of the author, and should be emailed if possible. If
PlainsPeaking AMERICAN MENSA LTD.
229 CORPORATE DRIVE WEST
ARLINGTON, TX 76006-6103
POSTMASTER: ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
previously published, please include where and when. Word 2007,
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or GIF for artwork. Equations should be typeset with MS Equation
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we cannot guarantee accuracy in publication. The editor’s e-mail ad-
dress is [email protected]. Please check with the editor about other
acceptable media and formats. Artwork will be reproduced as black
and white or grayscale (drawings or photographs). The Editor reserves
the right to refuse to publish submitted material and to edit as neces-
sary.
Note to Contributors: By contributing material to Plains and Peaks
Mensa, you are giving permission for your material to be published in
both the newsletter and the web-based newsletter archives. You MAY
withhold your name, email address, or any other address from the
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and PlainsPeaking are credited and the material is not individually
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wise.
Note to Reprinting Editors: a courtesy copy indicating the material
reprinted wold be greatly appreciated. To: PlainsPeaking Editor, 1061
Hummingbird Ct, Colorado Springs, CO 80921-5696
