Dave Vallelunga, left, and Ron Peterson staff the Polio Plus table at last year’s Twain Harte Rotary “You’re Invited” night. This year’s event will be held on January 20th at 6 p.m. at the Golf Clubhouse…and you’re invited. Photo by Don Escallier.

Twain Harte Rotary is hosting the second annual ‘Your Invited’ night at the Twain Harte Golf Clubhouse at 6 p.m. on January 20. It is an Open House to showcase the Rotary Club and its many community programs. Club President Don Escallier said he hopes for a big turnout. “We want everyone in town to learn about our Rotary Club. There will be displays showcasing our local programs and those of Rotary International. Each will be staffed by a club member who will answer any questions our guests have about our projects. We want people to wander around, ask questions and just enjoy our company. Dessert and coffee will be served.” A drawing will be held to determine the winner of a $50 gas card.

“We know how supportive Twain Harte is of our Rotary programs,” Escallier said. “We see that support when people attend our annual Deep Pit Barbeque, the Author Signed Book Auction and when they buy our gingerbread at Christmas time. This is an opportunity for everyone to meet the folks that make those events happen and a way for us to say ‘Thank You’ to our community members.” No reservations are needed and dress is ‘Twain Harte Casual’.

Supporting the Jerry Rice Toy Drives, from left to right are: Lorenzo Noto, of Noto’s Sicilian Restaurant, retired NFL player Don Peterson, former 49’er cheerleader Christine Castillo and Nugget Bar owner, Dennis Sanfilippo. 

The readers have spoken – or at least a few. After last week’s column, I got some callers on my hippy dippy hotline (209-559-8368); and the consensus was that Mike Hoffman should put his magic rain canoe back atop his truck racks – and bring forth more rain/snow. So he did – and it worked again!  (01/12/10 and 01/13/10)!!! And the chain monkeys, snow plowmen, skiers, snowboards and farmers are happy once again! I, myself, didn’t like April temperatures in January. So, let’s just enjoy the winter for now! And I’m still trying to decide where I should take my first ever ski lesson at. I must meditate, contemplate and deliberate this thoroughly.  

Here’s a trivia question for ya: The idea for forming which local band began on the film set of the movie “Back to the Future 3”? I’ll tell you in a bit.*

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Tree House Texting

Skane, Sweden – If you ever decide you need to hide out so you can search through your spouse’s cell phone’s text messages…make sure it is a place you can get out of. A Swedish wife who thought her son’s tree house was the best place to check her husbands cell phone for evidence that he’d been ‘messing around’ had to be freed by police from the elevated fort. Having a fit of jealousy, the woman snuck out of the house early in the morning to scour her other half’s text messages. However, the availability of the phone proved handy when she got trapped in the structure, and she called 911 for assistance. “We helped her down after a while. She thanked us and ran back into the house where her husband was still sleeping,” said a dumbfounded police officer. “The call was probably one of the strangest I have been involved in. The woman told us that she had found a text message that she didn’t like…but that’s it.”

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Sharing Your Internet Signal with a Neighbor 

From the mailbag (hey, out there readers, send more questions – you will never receive a bill with the answer and your name might make the paper, who knows, for something other than shooting your dog while cleaning one of your guns) comes an interesting question that I’ll answer somewhat circumspectly.

Writes (we’ll leave the writer’s name out here): “I have a question about routers. I was wondering if there was a way to use my satellite connection to help a neighbor get high speed internet service in his home. He has a laptop computer and is not happy about having dial up service. So is there a way to do this? If there is then I was hoping you could lead me in the right direction as far as equipment goes. Thanks for your time.”

The short answer is technically it’s not legal to share your Internet signal with any neighbor. See the fine print in the contract you agreed to when you got your service, be it DSL, cable, satellite or wireless. You people on dialup don’t need to worry about the legality of sharing your signal; trust me, no one wants it.

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Change

If change is the only constant, then why are most of us so scared of it? Change can be a good thing, but it can also be a scary thing. I started to think about it as I watched a girl looking lost walk around campus. I walked up to her and asked her if I could help her find something. The girl was looking for a bathroom I told her where to find the cleanest bathroom with hot water that actually works consistently. I realized how I had changed from the person trying every bathroom on campus to the person who knows which one is the best. I know this is not a big deal to some, but to me it was. I was scared to death going back to school after so many years, and now, although, I still get butterflies every time I start a new semester I am confident I will survive. 

With the new year in full swing it is time to buckle down and really go for it. I am hoping to encourage any of you who are considering falling off the resolution wagon to stay on it. Think about all that has changed in your life. Have you ever switched jobs, gotten married, had children, moved, or learned anything new? These are all changes, and some may not have been in your control, but you survived. Now, before you pick up that beautiful yummy Twinkies tell yourself that not eating it is a small change, and you will survive without it. I know this is easier said than done and I’m right there with any of you who are thinking, ‘I’ll have to eat all the Twinkies in the pantry before I start not eating them because I can’t throw away food there are starving children in Africa.’ Unfortunately this way of thinking is not going to get us any healthier. 

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