Do you know...?

Today I received 3 Rotarian magazines in the mail. These are the first that I received, so I had to take a moment to look through one. I learned something almost immediately. Do you know what the object of Rotary is? I hadn't thought about that much, but it was printed right there in the magazine, and reminded me very well about why I joined in the first place.

The Object of Rotary is, to me, so important that it actually prompted me to write this blog, just so I could share it with you. So here it is, verbatim:

First. The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;

Second. High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupation, and the dignifying of each Rotarian's occupation as an opportunity to serve society;

Third. The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian's personal, business, and community life;

Fourth. The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

To me, these are worth while and easy objectives to buy in to. Rotary is a means to an end, and as an organization can facilitate multiple goals and objectives to make the world a better place than we found it - "The Object of Rotary."

Always wear your Rotary pin

I'm a commercial real estate broker in San Diego. As part of my job I have a lot of meetings and meet a lot of people. While doing so, I've found that it is important to establish common ground with them because it helps us to get to know each other better. That's important.

So I've taken to wearing my little Rotary pin on my lapel. Twice now within just the past month people have asked me if that is a Rotary pin. They recognize it right away because they, too, are Rotarians. Immediately a rapport is generated that might otherwise not occur. We immediately have something in common. Further, it breaks down a lot of barriers because now we know that we share common values. After all, people do business with those whom they know, like, and trust. Having Rotary in common with others that I meet everyday goes a long way toward establishing that important bond of commonality.

This is better than a secret handshake! Always wear your Rotary pin!

By the way, I can be reached via e-mail at paul.gorman@svn.com, my Sperry Van Ness Commercial Real Estate Advisors e-mail address. Our web site is www.svn.com. And you may phone me at (858) 204-9547.

Until next time.....

We're baaaaack......

Well, it's good to be back after the holidays. As I mentioned before, I really missed those early morning meetings and all they had to offer.

This week's meeting was particularly interesting to me for a couple of reasons. First, one of our members recently passed away. Although I did not know him because he apparently became ill before I joined, I was very impressed by the outpouring of remembrance for the guy by the RB Sunrise Rotary. He was clearly highly respected and loved. That, of course, reflects right back on the club itself.

At the meeting we also had a guest speaker who was not a Rotarian, but was a local entrepreneur. A physical therapist by training and occupation, he owns his own gym and does personal training as well. His excellent speech motivated me to high a personal trainer to tune up my own routine and to set some goals. I have a much better understanding of what is going on as I get older, and what I can do about it.

Finally, as a Red Badge Rotarian, one of the things on my checklist of things to do toward full membership is to attend a Board of Directors meeting. I checked that off tonight. I particularly enjoyed the wine and snacks! The meeting impressed me as cheerful, rather loose (we didn't have THAT much wine), but very productive. I got a good sense of what goes on to keep this great organization running.

Good to be back!

Time Flies

Hello again.

Here it is 2008 already! And it's been too long since my last blog. So this one is meant to catch up, and start the new year right.

I could talk about the great Christmas party we had, the wonderful hosts, the fantastic food, and great company, but I can save those words by suggesting that you just imagine the best Christmas party you've ever been too. Ours was like that.

Our club has been "dark" since Christmas. I have to admit that I miss dragging myself out of bet at "zero dark thirty" and commuting 12 miles for rather cool scrambled eggs. I really miss the opportunity to meet or re-meet new people and to hear about all the great opportunities for service that Rotary offers. I'm looking forward to next Tuesday morning.

One of my concerns has been that nobody reads this blog, and I'm wasting my etherial breath by stimulating electrons on my computer when I could be doing more productive things. But yesterday I got living proof (for the second time) that someone actually found this blog. Her name is Sandra Swanson, and she is writing an article for Rotarian Magazine that discusses how local Rotary clubs are capitalizing on technology. Since this blog is unique in many ways, she asked me for my 2-cents worth of input. Look for her article in the April Rotarian Magazine.

April will be here before you know it!

Opportunity, Opportunity, Opportunity

At yesterday's meeting, I again witnessed numerous opportunities to be involved and to be of serice being presented. Everywhere I looked I saw worthwhile causes being presented where I could contribute time and money. It quickly became clear to me that I simply couldn't do it all, and would have to pick and choose. Otherwise, I would be working full time for Rotary, and would soon also be broke! That gives me a headache!

Luckily, Steve Sayler - the President, himself, of RB Sunrise - offered to spend some time with me after the meeting to explain how things fit together, and how we are organized. Thanks Steve! I found that invaluable.

It turns out that RB Sunrise is actually organized into 6 divisions: Club Service; Vocational Service; Community Service; International Service; Foundation; and Membership. Within each division are various functions and programs. Therefore, a new guy like me can pick and choose which divisions and which programs that I would like to participate in. No need to do it all! Just pick and choose from the numerous opportunities that are there, based on my own preferences and comfort level.

Now that's how you spell R-e-l-i-e-f!

Got my Red Badge - so what does that mean?

Yesterday, Oct. 30, I was inducted (indicted??) into RB Sunrise Rotary in a painless ceremony. As part of the ceremony, I was handed an information packet which answered a couple of my questions.

The first question I had was what does Red Badge mean? It turns out that a new member has a little red badge placed on his name tag to identify him as a new member. In order to have the red badge removed - a goal - the new member must complete enough tasks to earn 10 points. There is a smorgasboard of tasks that can be completed, or the member could probably cheat a little, and do 1 task 10 times! Tasks include, for example, leading the pledge of allegiance; giving a short "who am I" icebreaker speech; attending a board meeting; etc. Nothing that will kill you outright!

The second question I had is, now that I'm a member, what are my responsibilities and obligations? I was told that there are numerous ways for me to get involved in Rotary, and the president himself would brief me on some of those ways. Otherwise, I stand the chance of becoming a RINO - Rotary in Name Only. That could be fatal, so I'm looking forward to the discussion.

Why join Rotary?

I was asked why I joined Rotary? What caused me to make the drive at 6:45 AM to my first Rotary meeting? Afterall, for some of us, 7:15 AM meetings are EARLY.

Well, it wasn't the scrambled eggs, although they are just that - scrambled eggs.

There are 2 reasons that I decided to check out Rotary. First, I'm in business. Recently, I became acquainted with several people who mentioned that they are Rotarians. After hearing this a number of times, and they are people I respect and am comfortable being associated with, I decided that perhaps I should look into Rotary for purposes of business networking.

This decision was made just after I decided to leave another networking group that I found to be a very poor fit for me. It's not that I expect lots of business to come immediatley flooding to my door as a result of networking with other Rotarians, but, rather, that I can associate with others on a professional level. I hope to be able to develop both friendship and business relationships with these people - over time.

The second reason for joining Rotary is, again, another vacuum - community involvement and service. I recently left another organization where I served as Vice President. There, unfortunately, I had discovered some rather unethical behavior by the leadership of the organization, and felt that I should resign and remove myself from the organization. There was no way I, alone, could cause improvement or change. Who needs that kind of distraction in a service organization?

So I'm looking for involvement and service on a personal level. Rotary seems to offer that.

So those are the two main reasons I'm in my car driving to mediocre scrambled eggs at 6:45 AM. It ain't just the eggs!