Coral Gables RotaryGram: Vol. 65 No. 28 Notes from the Podium

President's Time

It was a good week for the entrepreneurial spirit after muscular rapper 50 Cent rented himself out to shovel snow in his wealthy Connecticut neighborhood. Fiddy charged $100 per mansion. He charged extra if you wanted to take his picture.

It was a bad week for polygamy after a Pakistani man was publicly beaten by two of this three wives who accused him of having a secret fourth wife and planning to marry a fifth.

BRUCE'S WINGS REPORT Thanks to more than 30 Rotarians who came out to help Bruce Kerestes sell chicken wings this past weekend at Beaux Arts. The fellowship was awesome but the results weren't. By the time the wings were discovered the festival was over! We had a great time but broke even. Our food costs were $1,152. Our total sales were $1,167 for the weekend. We tried. It was fun. But we won't be doing it again next year.

SEEKING SPONSORS for our upcoming Birthday Party, Chance & Dance, benefiting low income seniors in Coral Gables through CoralGables@HOME. Our Club keeps 15% of whatever we make on this fund raiser so sponsorships are important. What companies do you know who primarily serve the senior market?
Give them a sponsorship brochure.

Disciplined, practical and grudging, Capricorns are still around. Say Happy Birthday this week to Lloyd Miller on January 19.

Lots of Rotary Anniversaries this week including Mike Freeman, 35 years, Pastor Arnie Perry, 25 years, Carol Brock, 7 years and David Sanchez, 5 years.

AND TODAY ....

Rodney Langer Permanent Badge


Hadley Williams 9 Years Perfect

Witherspoon Gives Craft Talk

Frank Sexton, Vocational Service Chair, presented another Craft Talk today. This time the featured profession was insurance. Gene Witherspoon was the expert and specialist in Professional Liability. He's currently with Bentrust Financial, a full service financial company that writes all kinds of insurance including Long Term Care, Property & Casualty and specialty insurance for med-spas, medical malpractice and much more. He's an independent contractor. He's got all kinds of credentials that qualify him as a specialist in his field. So when you're in the market for insurance, be sure to contact Gene.

For whatever reason, Sexton asked the difference between an attorney and a tick ... seems the tick falls off when the host dies...guess he's taking over for Dick Golden?

Coral Gables Employee of the Month

January, 2011

Patricia Arocla is a Manager in the Automotive Department. Her boss, Steve Riley said that he would never be able to implement cost cutting measures and meet his budgets if it wasn't for the excellence and devotion that Patricia brings to her job. Congratulations Patty - keep up the good work!

Happy $$$$

Everyone seemed rather subdued today. Maybe they're just cold. J Guarch was all kinds of happy ... happy about being interviewed by NBC News for a case that he's working on; happy that he and his son took a trailer to the championship game between Oregon and Auburn. They didn't have tickets so they visited the Grand Canyon and spent the entire game in the parking lot, tailgating with fan, eating fabulous food and watching the game on TV. Bill Oates is happy to be back in Miami after spending six months as an assistant professor at Indiana University and shoveling snow. Chris Tyson was happy that in his senior year in college his dad bought him a car. He had one accident in his entire life...Christmas Eve 1948 while driving between Philadelphia and New Haven. Never another. Abe Horwitz was happy to tell us that after he did his Craft Talk he actually got a phone call from someone in the club who wanted his services. So Craft Talks work .... volunteer for one sometime. Keith Phillips was happy to announce that he has officially retired from Cool Breeze on January 1, 2011 and is now starting a consulting company that works for the client, now the a/c company, with no axe to grind. Chief Skinner wanted to defend the lawyer bashing. Although he's never played one on television, he's married to a lawyer, his daughter is a lawyer, his son-in-law is a lawyer, his brother-in-law is a lawyer, he has three cousins who are lawyers too. AND his third grandchild was born January 5th at 10:30 a.m. His name is Donato and they're already saving for law school. Keep smiling, happiness pays.

Working Rotarians - January 13, 2011

Greeter - Rodney Langer

Registration - Aaron Glasser

Collections - Abe Horowitz

Head Tabe - Deena Bell- Llewllyn

Special Needs - Hadley Williams & Frank Sexton

Invocation - Greg Martini

Pledge - Kelly Sastre

Singers - Dan Scipione & Bill Quesenberry

DeWitt Law Silver Dollars - Jim Roen

Given to - Greg Martini & Frank Sexton

Pin Drawing Gift - Dan Scipione

Pin Drawing Winner - Walter Alvarez

50/50 Collections - Gloria Burns & Don Trombly

50/50 Winner - Jon Arthur

5-Way Test - Jon Arthur

Today's Program

David Arisco, Artistic Director
Actors’ Playhouse
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”

Actors’ Playhouse treated us to select performances from their upcoming musical, which opens on January 19 at Actors’ Playhouse on Miracle Mile. “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is a hilarious tale about overachievers' angst, and chronicles the experience of six adolescent outsiders vying for the spelling championship of a lifetime. The Tony Award Winning musical features music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, and was conceived by Rebecca Feldman. The cast performed “My Friend, the Dictionary,” “I Speak Six Languages” and “The I Love You Song.”

The show runs from January 19 - February 13, 2011. Tickets can be purchased online by going to their website at www.actorsplayhouse.org, or by calling 305-444-9293.

NEXT WEEK'S PROGRAM Marli Lutz, Executive Director of CoralGables@HOME tells us "Why Retiring in Coral Gables Isn't Always Beautiful. Charity Begins @HOME"