THE GRAPEVINE “The Somewhat Official Newsletter of the Rotary Club of Livermore Valley”

December 8, 2015 www.facebook.com/livermorevalleyrotary

Month 7, Meeting 19 in the Administration of Young Dave

1. Football Follies: We are down to 24 finalists. 8 people have byes this week, based on their outstanding

performance so far. The other 16 are facing off against one another. Only 8 will survive this week. We will then take a break through the holidays and resume with the games on January 10

Club Happenings: 1. Save the Date: Club Christmas Party—December 15th—We will be dark that morning. Venue: Charles

Crohare’s place—Ag Building at 4555 Arroyo Road. $20. Bring a $20 gift to participate in a White Elephant exchange. Fred is in charge of the food. Need I say more? Wear comfortable clothing, probably your ugly sweater.—We are dark next Tuesday

2. Mark it on your calendar—Veteran’s Holiday Celebration—December 10th— 3-4PM, Bldg. 90. We passed

the hat for gifts for the veterans and received $400. Thanksgiving has started. THANKS! 3. Hats off to Bill Stevens—he has volunteered to take over the Treasurer’s duties!!!!

4. Dinner with the President (the real Prez at Doubletree Hotel in San Jose—January 3, 2016. Contact Dave

5. The Dictionary Project is approaching. There will be a meeting to get the dictionaries in order on January

7th at 7pm. More details at the next meeting, but this is a great project to get involved with. Student of the Month: Megan McCandless Whew, last month Philomena brought us a world-class swimmer and today Megan is another gifted student/athlete. She just won the North Coast Cross Country title and came in second at the State Meet. Then she ran in the Nike event in Oregon and was named All American! In addition, she is an outstanding student (4.45GPA) with a math/science emphasis. Wants to attend the Naval Academy, but also has Cornell and MIT in her sights. 2015 Fall Grants We distributed over 2K in grants this morning. More details on the recipients later.

A special “Thanks” to Rosemary (far right) for organizing this effort!

Jill made it back from “Margaritaland” and brought Young Dave a nice gift.

PROGRAM: Darrell Avilla, Del Valle High School Darrell made us relive a frightening adventure—going back to school. He gave us a little exercise on group dynamics as we learned about Del Valle. It is a continuation school, but only one of 25 that has the label, Model Continuation School. Basically it meets the needs of students who have struggled for one of many reasons in a comprehensive high school. The school emphasizes small class size and student engagement to its 165 students

THOUGHTS FROM LEFT FIELD:

1. I went to a football game over the weekend and sat in the stands. Does that make sense? 2. Another question to ponder: Why do they call it a TV set, when you only have one?

3. How about the Heisman finalists: This should be exciting. Derrick Henry from Alabama, Christian McCaffrey from Stanford, and Deshaun Watson from Clemson. All real qualified. C. McCaffrey is Stanford’s fourth finalist since 2009. Will two finalists from the south split the southern vote? Stay tuned Saturday night.

Knucklehead of the Week: I’m not sure who the biggest KOW is in the case of USC v. Sarkisian. Former Coach Steve Sarkisian filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against USC for wrongful termination. This is actually a serious case because alcoholism is a disease and one cannot be fired for having a disease, but the university fired back, "Much of what is stated in the lawsuit filed today by Steve Sarkisian is patently untrue," the statement read. "The record will show that Mr. Sarkisian repeatedly denied to university officials that he had a problem with alcohol, never asked for time off to get help and resisted university efforts to provide him with help. The university made clear in writing that further incidents would result in termination, as it did." What’s your thought Jeff Bickerton? Speaking of Jeff—where the heck are you? Runner-Up—KOW—Yours Truly. Having gone to the Veteran’s Hall in the past for our Children’s Holiday Party, that is where my wife and I went last Sunday. Our first clue that something was wrong—everything was set up for a wedding reception. I should probably read my own newsletter. 4. Remembering John Lennon, who would have been 75 today. CNN airs a special report tonight—6pm our time. 5. Yesterday was the 74th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation is still a great read.

Today’s Final Thought: Life is pretty simple: Do what’s right, do your best and treat people the way you expect to be treated.

Kevin Drake After all is said and done, there is usually more said than done.