Coral Gables RotaryGram: Vol. 65 No. 6 Notes From the Podium

President's Time
This Week in America, shoppers have filed a lawsuit against the "99 Cents Only Store" chain for raising the price of items to $0.9999. The chain's CEO says the $0.0099 increase is "a very tiny amount," but concedes that prices are rounded up to a dollar at the cash register, producing $12 million annually. "If they call themselves '99 Cents Only,'" said a lawyer for the plaintiffs, "it should be 99 cents."

DON'T FORGET THE YARD SALE is coming in November. This is one of our club's major fundraisers for this year. And this one doesn't require that you open your wallet. Just clean out your storage units. We have plenty of space to fill up so keep the goodies coming.

HELICOPTER BALL DROP IS NOVEMBER 4TH.

Chris Morrison announced the 7th Annual Rotary Golf Classic that creates the excuse for the Golf Ball Drop. The "Drop" is a District-wide fundraiser for PolioPlus. It provides our share of the matching funds for the Gates Challenge to End Polio. Bill Gates gave Rotary a challenge to match his donation of $225 million for the final push to end polio. Rotary accepted and split the responsibility between all of the clubs and districts. The last two Golf Ball Drops have raised almost $100,000. This year's will put us over the top in our donations. The tickets are the same price before ... only $25. The grand prize is a 7-day cruise aboard RCCL (ship to be announced soon). If every Rotarian in the whole District - all 2,600 of us - each sold (SELL, not BUY) one ticket, well you can do the math. Yoli is selling balls. She has a whole team selling balls. Buy your balls today!

The Golf Ball Drop is all wrapped up in the Rotary Golf Classic. November 4th is the date. The Biltmore is the course. Our Rotary meeting that day will be on the terrace in front of the 19th hole. It's a terrific event. We always have a lot of FUN. So will you. We're looking for sponsors, teams, individual golfers, so watch your email for the Golf Classic package.

Dick Golden reminded everyone to purchase their tickets early, and often, for the December 5th Rotary Day at the Dolphins. We've got a bus - leave the driving to us! Tickets including bus fare is $45 per person. It's the Dolphins vs. Cleveland.

Honest, expansive, proud and dogmatic describes just a few of the personality characteristics of Leo natives. Say HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week to Andrew Dixon tomorrow, Graham Miller on the 8th and Ramon Ferrer on August 11th.

Jim Brown is celebrating 35 years as a Rotarian this week. Lan Nghiem-Phu is celebrating too. He's been in our club for 14 years.

Happy Dollars $$

Dr. Randy had some questions of Bill Martinez regarding his dress today but black is back! Scholarships Groh when people like Dan Scipione give $20 just to unload. Seems vacation was "good"... three dogs, one cat and his six year old daughter. His wife flew out with the dogs. He followed with his daughter and the cat. They spent vacation walking dogs, taking care of the cat and entertaining his daughter. THEN, to top it all off, he drove home 3,333 miles with all of them in the car. He's happy t be back! J.B. Spence is really happy that Elena Kagan is about to be confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice. But don't take that to mean that he's a liberal or a Democrat! Judy Pantoja is back from all her business travel and bout with the flu. She presented us with a banner from the St. Croix Rotary Club that she visited while she was away on business (? business?). Carol Brock is happy that Yoli Woodbridge taught her how to do Matching Rotary Grants. While she's in Tennessee she attends a Rotary Club and she wrote a Matching Grant for them for a school project in Bolivia. The Grant was awarded $30,000 and she leaves for Bolivia next week to start implementing. In an effort to avoid turning the microphone over to Dick Golden, Randy proclaimed his pleasure at having had Elizabeth Lovables cater a lunch for the girls in his office. It was swell and he highly recommends the lovely Liz's treats. Finally, Dick got his turn and told us a story about a fellow who was celebrating 50 years of marriage. When asked how he did it he said he took his wife to Israel for the 25th anniversary. He expected to return to Israel again for his 50th. To pick her up. Keep smiling. Happiness pays!

Working Rotarians - August 5, 2010

Greeters - Rodney Langer
Registration - Aaron Glasser
Collections - Abe Horowitz
Head Table Assignments - John Wallace
Special Needs - Rolf Frankfurter
Invocation - Pastor Perry
Pledge - Tom Dixon
Singers - Bill Quesenberry, Arne Themmen, Dan Scipione and Visiting Rotarian Patricia Pardinas
Introductions - Dick Bullman (solo)
DeWitt Law Silver Dollars - Rodney Langer
Given to - Yoli Woodbridge & Rolf Frankfurter
Pin Drawing Gift - Deena Bell
Pin Drawing Winner - Bill Quesenberry
50/50 Raffle - Gloria Burns & Donald Trombly
50/50 Winner - Tom Dixon
5-Way Test - Donald Trombly

Today's Speaker

Robert Molleda
National Hurricane Center
“Preparing for the Inevitable"

We are now entering the most active part of the hurricane season. September is the peak, but South Florida has the most hurricane hits in the month of October. Over the past 150 years, a hurricane center passed within 75 miles of South Florida every four years on average, which along with the Upper Keys, is the highest frequency of anywhere in the US. South Florida had17 years without a direct impace before Andrew hit in 1992. Hurricane are uncommon events, unless they directly affect you.

The greatest hazard from a hurricane is the storm surge. You can hide from wind, but you cannot hide from the rising water of a storm surge. A category 3 hurricane hitting from the east would cause a 10 foot storm surge. Evacuation zones have been defined based on expected storm surge depending on the storm strength. The 1926 hurricane caused an 8’ – 11’ surge on Miami Beach, and caused Collins Avenue to be buried under 2 feet of sand. Hurricane Irene in 1999 was not a significant wind or storm surge storm, but caused flooding from rainfall. Tornadoes often form in out bands. Much of the wind damage is actually due to flying objects that become projectiles

NOAA has just revised its forecast for this year’s season based on current conditions. Forecasters consider sea surface temperatures, rainfall amounts over Africa, pressure patterns over the Atlantic Ocean, and intra-seasonal activity to develop forecasts. This year there are light winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere, warm sea temperatures, and lower surface pressures – all conducive to increased hurricane activity. The new forecast anticipates 8 – 20 named storms, and 8-12 hurricanes this season. But no matter how active the season will be, where it hits is more important than how many there are! The “Bermuda High” plays a huge role in steering the storms from the east, depending on its exact location.

The National Hurricane Center develops a forecast track known as the “Cone of Uncertainty”. It shows the likely track of the storm. The important thing is to be prepared; and follow the official warnings (meaning a storm is likely to impact in 48 hrs), watches ( impact is expected in 36 hrs); and listen to your local media for information when a storm is active. Everyone is advised to have a NOAA weather radio to get the real scoop!

Thought of the Week