Only two days after St. Valentine’s (wait, who was he again?) Day, President Joe gaveled our club into order only a few minutes late. Well Chris Ramirez led the party for maybe twenty minutes until the Executive Committee (ruling junta) of our Club completed their meeting and joined the crowd, and Joe magically appeared on screen. There were 26 of us, and President Joe was clearly enthused at news he was about to reveal, drumroll please.
But wait, first there were a few things to tend to, being good Rotarians who understand the concept of “doing things in decency and order.” First, ex-pastor, ex-cop, ex-merchant seaman Paul Watermulder was asked to lead the pledge and pulled it off without a hitch.
Then second, Father Michael Mahoney, in very fine form, led “thoughts for the day,” (AKA Invocation Prayer) with a wonderful discourse on the significance of water [that being the topic of our speaker who was in attendance and “sitting on ready” to speak eloquently on the subject.] Fr. Michael wrapped in water from the Flood [Moses} and from baptism [Jesus] as life-giving images that are parts of our consciousness on the subject.
Finally, third, Guests of the club were introduced: speaker for the day: Nicole Sandkulla. Also, assistant governor Matteo Rizzo, and Jim O’Donnell from the San Francisco club.
Then came “the BIG REVEAL” -- We will go LIVE, with in-person meetings starting in two weeks, on Wednesday, March 2 at Green Hills Country Club. This is BIG news, and the Junta voted unanimously for this “return to normalcy.” Hooray. And the price is very attractive, reportedly… Tell your friends, past members, back row members, people who might like to be guests: Burlingame Rotary is Back! Even our good ole’ square badges will be back. See you there, for sure. (Hybrid meetings, for those needing to “mix and match” in person with zoom)
In “other business,” our club will participate in a Bayshore clean-up on Saturday, April 9. Mark your calendar--More info to come. Thank you, Bobba.
Also – Reserve the Date for Sunday, October 23 for a District-wide Polio Awareness Expo in Novato. It should be fun / informative / helpful.
Also – Save the Date—on Wednesday, April 20 for a club-wide tour of the Transfer Station (waste management), hosted by our own Joe LaMariana. This will be one of those memorable events, both interesting and interactive. Lunch will be served.
Next, we had a chat room experience for a little bit of “up close and personal” time with other Rotarians as a brief respite from the whole big group scene of Celebrity Squares.
Newscast, with Fritz Brauner as lead dog and color commentary by Jennifer Pence. We learned that Sunday was a special day as national tortellini day, Pork Rind Day, and something else … oh yes, the Super Bowl. We reviewed favorite ads from the Superbowl show and heard Superbowl trivia, which basically showcased how the 49er’s have so many records that we deserve to be in LVII, next year!
Speaker: Nicole Sandkalla was introduced by
Nancy Bush and gave us all a big lesson in how our water is allocated especially during the drought. She represents the Agency which keeps San Francisco honest in what it charges the rest of us for their water, and thus recovers some $4 million annually for us in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda Counties.
Our three counties use 2/3 of all the Hetch Hetchy water available for consumption, and we have conserved so well that we use 30% water than we did in 1991, even though our population has grown by 27% in that time. Residential uses are the best at conserving, and the area that needs most work is outdoor water use (lawn and gardens, etc.). This will be the big focus for our future conservation efforts.
President Joe declared the presentation to be “good to the last drop,” and we adjourned as better informed, committed and fed citizens.
Next week: same time, same station, our last Zoom meeting before the hybrids begin March 2.
