I just returned from Fargo, ND attending the annual convention of SCAFRA (Shrine Circus and Fundraising Association). First of all, Fargo is the flattest city in the world and the infamous river that crested over 47 feet a couple of years ago, in its normal state, is about 10 feet wide. Fargo is a quaint town, which means pretty uneventful. I asked what I had to see before I left and I was told the Roger Maris Museum. As I hate the Damn Yankees, I passed on this shrine to a mediocre ball player.
Anyway, there were a couple of presentations that gave me some ideas for future fundraising projects for our shrine center. I am going to talk to the board members and perhaps assist in conducting at least one.
I am now back in the place I love, I have been out of town 10 of the last 14 days, and on 6 planes. I am done traveling for a while.
Unfortunately, our Shrine family has lost a couple of loved ones, while some others have suffered serious injuries. They are all in our thoughts.
I have had to adjust this weeks schedule slightly due to funeral visitations, but basically we are in the final stages of organizing the Fall Ceremonial, and getting ready for the Annual Holiday Party.
It is almost Halloween, which is one of my favorite events. I have passed out the large candy bars since I purchased my house, and I love seeing the smile on the kid's faces when they get to choose.
The World Series begin Wednesday and how happy am I that the Yankees are watching from home, YEAH!!!! I expect a very good series, and cannot wait to see Lincecum pitch game one. I am indifferent as to the winner, just want some good games.
My Wolverines are going to try to recover this Saturday Evening in Happy Valley. Although they have a good history against Penn State, it is going to be prime time in happy valley, and the weather can always play havoc in that part of the country. Yet, I still plug away, GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Monday October 18, 2010
I know that it has been almost a week since my last blog. I took a little time away from the Shrine to travel to Los Angeles and attend my cousin's wedding over the weekend. Carrie did not travel with me, but she did go to the Oktoberfest party and stated what a great time she had, and all the people. Once again it is proven that affordable, casual social functions will bring our membership together, and only strengthen our bonds. It puts a smile most of the faces of the Board to see this occurr.
It was not a totally shrine-free weekend. I did get a tour of the Al Malikah Shriner Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, This is the famous auditorium that used to host the Academy Awards. It seats over 6000 people and is beautiful. The temple also a has an entire floor dedicated to a historical museum, that is partitioned into about 15 time periods, exhibiting incredible memorable, uniforms and other prized possessions.
I also had the honor of having breakfast on Sunday morning with 7 members of the Awesome "A" Shrine Club of Al Malikah. This club is the largest club of the Los Angeles area and is comprised of Nobles of middle eastern background. The Illustrious Potentate from Minneapolis, MN, who I met during our travels is also of middle eastern heritage, and told them about my heritage. They contacted me about a month ago and we were able to set up a little get together. It was a very nice gathering, and I had some incredible discussion about Masonry, Shriners and all things fraternal. It is is great to see the fraternity thriving in other areas.
I finally got home about 1:30 A.M. this morning, slept a little and am going over to the Shrine Center this afternoon to hop on the Shrine Coach and attend the Annual Branch County Amish Dinner in Coldwater, MI (perhaps I will get some rest on the coach).
This week is another travel week. I am attending the annual convention of SCAFRA (the Shrine Circus and Fundraising Association). Many Noble have asked what I am planning on doing in the future. I think that some of my talents may lie in the fundraising portion of the fraternity, in order to increase revenues and publicity within the public and decreasing the financial burden on our membership. I hope that I will find some ways to improve our fundraising at this conference.
If you do not hear from me, do not fear, I will be living it up in beautiful, upper 50's and partially sunny Fargo, North Dakota.
MJD
It was not a totally shrine-free weekend. I did get a tour of the Al Malikah Shriner Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, This is the famous auditorium that used to host the Academy Awards. It seats over 6000 people and is beautiful. The temple also a has an entire floor dedicated to a historical museum, that is partitioned into about 15 time periods, exhibiting incredible memorable, uniforms and other prized possessions.
I also had the honor of having breakfast on Sunday morning with 7 members of the Awesome "A" Shrine Club of Al Malikah. This club is the largest club of the Los Angeles area and is comprised of Nobles of middle eastern background. The Illustrious Potentate from Minneapolis, MN, who I met during our travels is also of middle eastern heritage, and told them about my heritage. They contacted me about a month ago and we were able to set up a little get together. It was a very nice gathering, and I had some incredible discussion about Masonry, Shriners and all things fraternal. It is is great to see the fraternity thriving in other areas.
I finally got home about 1:30 A.M. this morning, slept a little and am going over to the Shrine Center this afternoon to hop on the Shrine Coach and attend the Annual Branch County Amish Dinner in Coldwater, MI (perhaps I will get some rest on the coach).
This week is another travel week. I am attending the annual convention of SCAFRA (the Shrine Circus and Fundraising Association). Many Noble have asked what I am planning on doing in the future. I think that some of my talents may lie in the fundraising portion of the fraternity, in order to increase revenues and publicity within the public and decreasing the financial burden on our membership. I hope that I will find some ways to improve our fundraising at this conference.
If you do not hear from me, do not fear, I will be living it up in beautiful, upper 50's and partially sunny Fargo, North Dakota.
MJD
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tuesday October 12, 2010
Well the last week went by really, really fast (of course except for the 4 hour period of hell on Saturday afternoon).
I have had a few meetings at the Shrine Center, however, in general it appears that the major remaining events for the year are being covered by the Event Chairmen, and life is running pretty smoothly. The Units are back in full gear until the Fall Ceremonial and it is good to see all the guys back at the Shrine Center.
I was at the Shrine Center last night for Divan Photos. I took my official photo that will eventually be placed on the wall of Past Potentates. I seriously cannot beleve the year is almost complete.
I am really looking forward to see how the nobility and their wives/ladies appreciate this weekend's Oktoberfest. We are having german food, camel's milk and a German band. It is one more affordable, fun-filled social event that many of us beleive is one of the things the Shrine has lacked the last several years.
So far, between the two poker progressives, the Oktoberfest, and next month's annual Trivia Night, we are convinced we are providing our membership with a manner in which to bond with each other and bring the fraternal brotherhood back into the fold.
I also attended the Director's Staff meeting last night, and I am confident that they will be well prepared to introduce our new Nobles into the Shrine during the upcoming Fall Ceremonial.
We are also continuing talks with a possible month long fundraiser during the holidays. If this comes to fruition it will possibly be a long term event and I hope to bring you the news in the near future.
For now, enjoy the beautiful weather, the fall colors and have a cup of fresh apple cider.
Enjoy
Mike
I have had a few meetings at the Shrine Center, however, in general it appears that the major remaining events for the year are being covered by the Event Chairmen, and life is running pretty smoothly. The Units are back in full gear until the Fall Ceremonial and it is good to see all the guys back at the Shrine Center.
I was at the Shrine Center last night for Divan Photos. I took my official photo that will eventually be placed on the wall of Past Potentates. I seriously cannot beleve the year is almost complete.
I am really looking forward to see how the nobility and their wives/ladies appreciate this weekend's Oktoberfest. We are having german food, camel's milk and a German band. It is one more affordable, fun-filled social event that many of us beleive is one of the things the Shrine has lacked the last several years.
So far, between the two poker progressives, the Oktoberfest, and next month's annual Trivia Night, we are convinced we are providing our membership with a manner in which to bond with each other and bring the fraternal brotherhood back into the fold.
I also attended the Director's Staff meeting last night, and I am confident that they will be well prepared to introduce our new Nobles into the Shrine during the upcoming Fall Ceremonial.
We are also continuing talks with a possible month long fundraiser during the holidays. If this comes to fruition it will possibly be a long term event and I hope to bring you the news in the near future.
For now, enjoy the beautiful weather, the fall colors and have a cup of fresh apple cider.
Enjoy
Mike
Monday, October 4, 2010
Monday October 4, 2010
"The weekend in review" - Some Good News, Some Better News, and some challenges
Friday night was a pre-birthday evening with my lovely and talented bride. We cleaned the house, did some shopping and went out to dinner.
Saturday morning was very relaxing. We did go visit my sister to get some delicious chocolate desserts for the evening's Poker Progressive Party.
We watched the first half of the Michigan game (GO BLUE!!!!) and then went to the Shrine Center. This was the 2nd Poker Progressive Party of the year. We had about 5 Unit Rooms open, and over 150 People in attendance. We saw a 100% increase in participation and everything went back in prizes and unit participation. Great food, Great commradarie, great music, GREAT NIGHT. We left around 11:30 P.M. and there were still people partying. This type of affordable, casual fun-filled event is exactly what the Shrine needs in order to bring people our membership out to bond and increase interest. I believe that we have proven that there is a large part of our membership that wants more events like this, where there is no pressure to purchase expensive tickets, wear formal attire, or attend boring meetings. There are other opportunities to do all that, and there is a need for those type of events. However, in order to survive and flourish you have to provide a reason why our members should come out, along with their wives and friends and enjoy themselves. I am so proud of our Chairman of this event and his wife for organizing a successful event. I am grateful to my wife and her co-general chairlady for bringing this event to our attention. If you missed it, I believe that there will be more next year, keep your eyes open.
Sunday: "Challenges" we were about to leave the house to meet Carrie's family, to celebrate her birthday weekend, when I heard her say, in a very loud manner, that the dryer was on fire, then the fire alarm went off. I ran into the laundry room and saw smoke coming out of the bottom of the dryer. I grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and went to work. There were no flames, but a lot of smoke and heat. We unplugged everything and removed the dryer from the house. We decided that since the dryer was over 11 years old, it was probably worth looking at a new dryer. We ended up with a great deal at a local depot that sells home products and after a couple of hours of connnecting new gas lines, cleaning out the vents and testing the new dryer, we finally were able to relax. (From the wife: There were flames. I saw them. And I quickly ran away from them-- thinking to myself: This is a job for the Potentate!).
I have to tell you, Carrie and I handled the situation very well, knew what to do and accomplished a lot on a Sunday afternoon. Of course, we bought another fire extinguisher and changed the batteries in the fire alarms. We feel very lucky, because we always run the washer and dryer and leave the house on errands/events. If we left, as we were planning, we can only imagine what may have happenned.
We know that our Treasurer's son's family had a similiar trajedy this weekend, involving their dishwasher, with more extreme damages and some hospitilazation, however, thank the Supreme Architect that everyone turned out to be well, eventhough the house was damaged. Weekend lessons: have Fire alarms, change their batteries regularly, have fire extinguishers, and make sure you have insurance.
Ready for the week.
Friday night was a pre-birthday evening with my lovely and talented bride. We cleaned the house, did some shopping and went out to dinner.
Saturday morning was very relaxing. We did go visit my sister to get some delicious chocolate desserts for the evening's Poker Progressive Party.
We watched the first half of the Michigan game (GO BLUE!!!!) and then went to the Shrine Center. This was the 2nd Poker Progressive Party of the year. We had about 5 Unit Rooms open, and over 150 People in attendance. We saw a 100% increase in participation and everything went back in prizes and unit participation. Great food, Great commradarie, great music, GREAT NIGHT. We left around 11:30 P.M. and there were still people partying. This type of affordable, casual fun-filled event is exactly what the Shrine needs in order to bring people our membership out to bond and increase interest. I believe that we have proven that there is a large part of our membership that wants more events like this, where there is no pressure to purchase expensive tickets, wear formal attire, or attend boring meetings. There are other opportunities to do all that, and there is a need for those type of events. However, in order to survive and flourish you have to provide a reason why our members should come out, along with their wives and friends and enjoy themselves. I am so proud of our Chairman of this event and his wife for organizing a successful event. I am grateful to my wife and her co-general chairlady for bringing this event to our attention. If you missed it, I believe that there will be more next year, keep your eyes open.
Sunday: "Challenges" we were about to leave the house to meet Carrie's family, to celebrate her birthday weekend, when I heard her say, in a very loud manner, that the dryer was on fire, then the fire alarm went off. I ran into the laundry room and saw smoke coming out of the bottom of the dryer. I grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and went to work. There were no flames, but a lot of smoke and heat. We unplugged everything and removed the dryer from the house. We decided that since the dryer was over 11 years old, it was probably worth looking at a new dryer. We ended up with a great deal at a local depot that sells home products and after a couple of hours of connnecting new gas lines, cleaning out the vents and testing the new dryer, we finally were able to relax. (From the wife: There were flames. I saw them. And I quickly ran away from them-- thinking to myself: This is a job for the Potentate!).
I have to tell you, Carrie and I handled the situation very well, knew what to do and accomplished a lot on a Sunday afternoon. Of course, we bought another fire extinguisher and changed the batteries in the fire alarms. We feel very lucky, because we always run the washer and dryer and leave the house on errands/events. If we left, as we were planning, we can only imagine what may have happenned.
We know that our Treasurer's son's family had a similiar trajedy this weekend, involving their dishwasher, with more extreme damages and some hospitilazation, however, thank the Supreme Architect that everyone turned out to be well, eventhough the house was damaged. Weekend lessons: have Fire alarms, change their batteries regularly, have fire extinguishers, and make sure you have insurance.
Ready for the week.
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