Tuesday Jan. 12

The business day begins with a 10:00 AM meeting at the Shrine Center with my Chairman of the Imperial Convention, which will take place in Toronto the first week of July. We are preparing an event in February to give information to the membership regarding hotel and transportation costs. We have secured a beautiful hospitality room at the top of the Sheraton Centre, and are looking forward to the trip.

11:30 lunch appointment with the new President of the Highlanders, our world-famous bagpipe and drum band. The new President, who happens to be new to the Shrine, is in charge of the daily activities of the Band and we had a pleasant conversation about Shrinedom in general, and the direction he would like to see the band be directed.

5:00 P.M. The First Financial Advisory Committee of the year. We meet the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at the Shrine Center, to review all the bills and accounts, financial situation of the Temple and Child Care, and ensure the budget is on track. The Board of Directors (Divan) has been mandated by the Imperial Council to be directly in charge of every financial transaction of the Shrine, including investments, possible revenue and all expenses. We accomplish this with advice given by the elected Financial Advisory Committee (3 Nobles), of which there currently is a vacancy. It is up to me to find a Noble to occupy a vacated position for the remainder of the year.

7:00 P.M. Unit Directors Meeting. The Shrine consists of 19 Units, the majority of which are our famous parade units (i.e. Lancers, Highlanders, Motor Corps, Americans, etc). Each Unit is lead by a Director that was appointed by me for the year. I also appointed a Director of Units, who throughout the year, conducts meetings to disseminate information to all the Units. This meeting went very well, with a lot of discussion on the years events.

Early evening, I am home by 10:30 P.M.