Meeting was called to order by President Nicholas Welzenbach.
Erin Hartnett led us in the pledge.
Inspiration was from Erika Buck. She read from the book “100 Ways to Calm Yourself”. The essay was titled Be Grateful for Yourself. The essay reminded us to thank yourself for being you.
Today’s song was Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. The song was suggested by Gregg Butterfield. Gregg didn’t explain why he chose it, but Nicholas mentioned that it is a great song. No explanation necessary.
Spotlight member this week is Kirsten Bridges.
Guests:
We had several members joining us by Zoom. Thanks to Doug Brent for providing this opportunity for us. Doug is looking for someone to help him with the Zoom process. If you know anyone who would like to give back in this way, please let Doug know. Maybe a high school or college student?
Hal Rosen introduced his wife, Lydia. They are back after three months in the Sierras. He mentioned they had fires 25 miles away to the right and left and lots of smoke but they had a great time.
Tina introduced her son Collin, who hadn’t arrived yet but was very excited to hear our speaker, Toby Rosen.
Announcements:
- Tom O’Donnell is in the hospital. He is not receiving visitors at this time but phone calls, messages are welcome. Thanks to Lydia Norcia for letting us know.
- Maddie Smith spoke with Sarita Johnson. Sarita got back from the hospital yesterday. Maddie said she sounds good. Tina has been helping her with Zoom so she can join us at the meetings soon. She will be starting occupational therapy in a couple of weeks. Please send emails, messages, etc. she’d love to hear from you.
- Unclaimed lunches are available for $10. The money will go directly to our club.
- The movie night “No Time to Die” was a big success. Special thanks to Mike Norcia, Tina Orsi-Hartigan, Rami Wazni, Rachelle Lopp, and Amy Potts. Between ticket sales, donations and matching funds from an anonymous donor we raised $6,600! This money will go to Stanford’s Teen Mobile Van and Bill Wilson Center’s Peacock Commons, supported housing for young adults. Two wonderful causes, thanks everyone for your support.
- Rebuilding Together is Oct. 23. Signups are closed.
- Suzanne Boxer-Gassman announced we are unable to have an in-person fundraiser this year so we will have Winefest 2.0 on January 29, 2022. Tina and Patti filled in the details. The wine and sommelier will be from Rootstock. The cost will be $150 for 2 people. There will be four half bottles of wine from Argentina and goodies to eat. According to Tina, Patti has been the driving force behind the auction and now that she is the Treasurer, she will need lots of help. The auction jobs have been broken down; a signup sheet was sent around during the meeting. If you were unable to sign up at the meeting and you’d like to help please contact Patti or Suzanne.
- Thank you from Shelter Box. We raised $8,500 dollars for Shelter Box. We have been invited to the virtual event, An Evening to Experience Shelter Box on November 4 at 5pm. The event is free but you need to sign up in advance. Go to www.ShelterBoxUSA.org/virtual to sign up.
- Thank you from Josh Selo of West Valley Community Services for our support of their Back to School project. Our support helped to provide back to school supplies for 380 students the year! Getting these supplies is so important for these students. It helps them be prepared and to feel like a normal kid. By providing these supplies parents have the funds to pay for other essential family needs.
- Erika announced a new program from the Membership Committee “Coffee with a Rotarian.” This is an opportunity for you to get to know someone in the club that maybe you haven’t had a chance to meet yet. It doesn’t have to be coffee, it could be lunch, a phone call or a Zoom meeting. Sign up with Erika, the membership committee will match you with another member AND give you questions to ask. Every month or so a pair of Rotarians will speak at a meeting for 1-2 minutes to share what they learned. Erika and Nicholas will be the first pair soon.
- House of Hope is holding a clothing drive on Oct. 24 from 9-12. Donations of clothing and shoes for all ages are needed. Drop off location Calvary Church 16330 Los Gatos Blvd.
Red Badge Bio:
Dr. Erin Hartnett gave her Red Badge bio today. Erin was raised in Saratoga and got her Bachelor’s degree from U.C. Davis. She held a variety of jobs but after she was laid off, she decided to pursue her interest in Eastern medicine. She has a Masters and PhD. Her research was on a way to address cellulite, she had no trouble finding participants for her studies. She owns her own wellness center and is opening a second center soon. She also develops corporate wellness plans. A few fun facts about Erin:
- She was a Kappa Alpha Theta in college and through them was a CASA advocate. She is currently on the Theta advisory board.
- Working with veterans for the past ten years has been her give back.
- She loves old school manners and attended etiquette school.
- She worked on Extreme Makeover, Home Edition installing fireplaces.
- Service is her love language.
Welcome Erin!
Program:
Our speaker today was Toby Rosen, son of Hal and Lydia Rosen. Toby is a graduate of UC Berkley and Cal Tech. While at Cal he worked in the lab of David Julius and participated in the research that led to Dr. Julius’ recent Nobel Prize in medicine. After Cal Tech Toby went to Hollywood to get into the movies, as an animator. He started at Sony and is currently at Dreamworks as an Animation Effects Artist. He has worked on 25 films including Frozen 2, Moana, and Into the Spiderverse, which won an Oscar for animation.
Toby explained to us the four areas of effects animation: Natural Phenomenon (fire, water, smoke, clouds), Destruction (crashes, explosions, breaking glass), Other Worldly (magic, “forces”, transformations) Factor X (nobody else can figure it out). Effects animation doesn’t use pencils at all, it is physics modeling, process programming, and high end computer tools. He then showed videos illustrating each type of effect such as rigid bodies, fluids, and pyro. Layers are key. For example, an ocean wave will include all types to create the bubbles, mist and foam. It was a fascinating presentation. I’m sure everyone who has seen these movies enjoyed getting a behind the scenes look at how they are created.
There were some technical difficulties when Toby tried to show videos. Click here to see them:
Next week’s speaker will be Robert Schultz, Los Gatos Town Attorney.