Air Conditioning and Summer

This past weekend, we visited some lovely seaside communities for Official Visits and I was introduced to Ocean Air Conditioning. That was when the lady in the Masonic Hall in Ventura explained to me that they had a manual air conditioning system. When I asked about it, I was informed that the air conditioning is the Pacific Ocean and that they open the windows by hand. So although the meeting itself was a lot of fun, it was a touch warm for me. Now I will be the first to admit that I am completely sun soluble. (Everyone knows that evil witches melt in water, well good witches melt in sunlight - go figure. :-) Heat and I are not friends and I have discovered after now almost three years of travel, that from June to September, most of California is rather quite warm. Some places are just uncomfortable and others let you cook your eggs in your car or on the hood without actually having to start the engine. Some places are absolutely lovely once the sun goes down, but of course it's not going down until 8:30 or so. So in putting together a calendar and in choosing spring clothes, heat seems to be an important factor. The problem is, there are just too many hot places to go. You just can't put them all on days that are not in the summer. So what I have to figure out is where can we go in the summer that has air conditioning that is not "manual" and then we can go there. As if putting a calendar together wasn't hard enough. Normally I wouldn't be worrying about this just yet, but I have some groups that are having anniversaries during what we all expect to be my year and they already want to discuss possible dates because halls and big meeting places get filled up and often book thirteen to twenty-four months ahead. This makes my head spin because I don't want to consider that I am just twenty-four months or so away from presenting a calendar. Oh my Beeeeeeeeeeeeep! AAAHHH! So in considering these anniversary dates, I have to ask myself if I can accommodate what the group wants, which is usually a date close to the anniversary and to figure that out, I have to consider when I can be in that group's area, flow of travel and temperature in their area, fixed event dates I can't change, like Grand Assembly for Rainbow and Grand Bethel for Job's Daughters, Grand Lodge, Grand York Rite etc., etc., and then how to mesh this date with other dates I can set, travel time from work if I need to take days off and the general availability of airports and flights. How does anyone actually get the calendar done?! I guess it must be like the dress selection. A quarter of the people will love their dates, a quarter of the people will hate their dates and the other half will just say oh and go along. I guess the secret is to make sure that the same quarter of the people is always the one hating what you do. :-) Of course, if the doomsayers are right and the world is going to end on December 21, 2012, then I just have to be installed, go to some Chapter installations, and have the Christmas Party at our Senior Living Community and forget the rest of the calendar for my year because the world will come to an end. But I am told that they expect me to put a calendar together anyway, just in case the world survives. That doesn't seem very fair. :-) Next weekend, we are off for Fourth of July. Wow, I wonder if I will get any of my house picked up? Probably not, but if you're going to dream, dream big!

Wild Blue Yonder

The weather over the weekend started out good and then turned not so good unexpectedly, but it was good enough on Friday to allow me to fly myself up to Redding for the Official Visit. Flying is an important part of my ability to travel because I just can't sit in one spot for long enough to get to some of our events. There was a time, when I was younger and had better joints when I could climb into my car in Riverside and drive to San Jose without stopping, usually taking about five to five and a half hours to do it. But no more! Those days are long gone. Now, my car limit is about three to four hours. After that, I can't get up out of the seat. I am sure that seeing me folded into a permanent pretzel is probably pretty funny for the audience, less so for me. It falls into what some of my male friends call football in the crotch humor. They tell me that watching a football hit another guy right in the crotch and watching him fall over moaning is pretty funny ( the guys said - you wince while you laugh, but you still laugh) right up to the point where you are the guy. Some people can get out of the car for an hour or so and then get back in and get going, but that doesn't work for me. If we stop for a meal, that is more sitting and then another car stretch, pure agony. It's not like at work, where I can get up every hour or so and walk around. That I can do. But hours and hours in the car, OW! So when we go south of Santa Maria on the coast or Bakersfield inland or north past about Oroville, I prefer to fly. Now going south is easy. I can fly from San Jose to Burbank or Ontario or Santa Ana or San Diego and there's lots of flights and cheap prices. But going north can be very tough because there just isn't any good deals to do it unless you are going all the way to Portland, Oregon. Luckily for me, I have a touch of a wild card, a pilot's license and a great flight club. So this weekend, I was able to go from San Jose to Redding in my plane. It was only two hours to get there, but almost two and a half coming back because of the wind. You see, flying is one activity where it really can be uphill (or downhill) both ways. I had a great tailwind flying up the state, which boosted me along wonderfully, just like riding a bike down a really tall mountain, but a headwind coming back home, which is the uphill part. It is also more expensive to fly "uphill", because for an airplane, you don't measure the gas by the distance you can travel on a gallon the way you do in a car, you measure how many gallons an hour it takes to run the engine, so more hours equals more gallons. However, when you look at what it costs to fly to Redding or Eureka or any of those smaller northern airports, flying your own plane is very, very cost effective. While driving used to be far cheaper, as the price of gas climbs, the difference becomes less. So the plus side of flying yourself is that there are little airports everywhere and you can't be late because the plane won't take off without you. You also don't have to take off your shoes or unpack your laptop to get in the plane. Also, if you call ahead, the place where you park your plane can also arrange your rental car and they will bring it to you so you can just load your luggage and drive off. It is awesome! The down side of flying yourself is that you become very weather dependent and the weather is not often very predictable. I had to cut my trip north a bit short because unexpected thunderstorms were coming into northern California and a retired Navy flier friend of mine told me that there is no excuse for flying into a thunderstorm in peacetime. But usually in California in the summer, you can fly around pretty easily, unlike the other side of the Rockies, where it rains every day and twice on Sunday. Tornados and thunderstorms and hail, yuck! No wanna fly, no wanna fly! Next week, I will be in Santa Maria and Ventura. I will not be in Orland, Visalia or Tulare.

Watching v. Doing

In my discussions with people about things that should change in our Order and things that should stay the same, I have come across a very funny dichotomy. It has arisen in a couple of different contexts and I think I understand the problem, but I haven't yet figured out how we get around it. The split is between what people prefer to do v. what people prefer to watch. I mean, in a more ordinary context, this split is easy to work with. I didn't have any trouble understanding my doctor sister when she told me that shots are easier from the plunger end of the syringe. I get that. And giving is certainly better than receiving when it comes to bullets, bombs and cold germs. Again, no big brain teaser here. And of course, there's that study that one of the newspapers sponsored which asked what you like most about lawyers and what you hate most about lawyers. The answers were that the two things people liked most about lawyers were that they would keep what you told them in confidence and that they were on your side and would really fight for you. And of course the two things people hated most about lawyers were that we are so secretive and so argumentative. Funny how that works. But then we come to the more difficult dilemmas of two halves of the same coin, which first came up in connection with a discussion I had with some members about the form of Official Visits which they enjoyed. The particular group of members that I was speaking with started off by telling me that they liked the traditional style of Official Visit better than any other kind because they enjoyed getting to display their skill in our ceremonial work to the visiting dignitaries. Okay, I said, that is good to know, but can I ask you another question? They said yes, so I asked them this: If you had to attend an Official Visit in another District, not your own, and you were not going to be participating, just watching, what kind of Official Visit would you like to see? Can you believe that more than half of them said that they would rather attend a Social Style Official Visit? When asked why, they said it was because if they weren't going to be able to participate, they'd rather have an interesting and informative speaker and more social and refreshment time. If they have to sit there for two hours, they'd rather eat, hear a good program and visit with their friends. So I asked them well, then would you like to put on that sort of program for your Official Visit? And I got back, oh no, we like doing the traditional style ourselves. So then I asked them if they were happy with the number of people who came to their Official Visit, which was traditional style and earlier in the year, and they said that they enjoyed the people who came, but of course it's always nicer to have more. So here's the puzzle. How do you close the gap for groups like this who want to do one thing, but want to watch the other thing? In some areas, this is not a problem because both answers are the same, they prefer the same kind of OV, coming and going, but lots of areas seem to have this conundrum. It is a puzzlement! I have also seen this problem in clothing choices. Sometimes the same people who like to see others in formal wear prefer to dress less fancy themselves. Again, some people have the same preference both ways either formal or less formal for themselves and everyone else, which is easy to deal with, because you know what they want. But what do you do with the ones who want one way for themselves and something else for others? Help! I hope someone else comes up with a good idea for dealing with this dilemma before I inherit this particular difficulty. :-) Next weekend, I will be in Redding and Yreka. If the weather holds good, I will fly myself up there and back home. I am not going all the way to Oregon and will miss Orland because I will be in Sacramento on business.

A Day In The Sun

This past weekend was our Sand and Surf Summer Festival at our Senior Living Community down in Yorba Linda California, commonly knows as the Fiesta. I have never heard of the origin of this event, but it is traditionally held the first weeked in June at our SLC and each Grand Officer and her or his subordinate officers from all over the State fill and man a booth of stuff to sell to those who attend. In addition, it is traditional for last year's Grand Family to have a booth, the WGM's fraternal mom's year to man a booth, the Deputies and Grand Representatives to each have a booth and the SLC residents have one too. Some of the appointive Grand Officers go in together on one bigger booth. When you add some vendors, it can make for a fair number of booths. There are also other attractions set up. This year there was a car show in the morning and a health fair all day with different providers and several vendor booths. I have discovered that it is more fun doing this as a Grand Line Officer than as an Appointive Officer. For starters, your subordinate officers are your girls and you've not only had more chances to meet them and get to know them, but you are all thinking of yourselves as in it together for the long haul, so I think that it is easier to find people to help with the booth. All our members are great about volunteering to help, but some appointive offices tend to attract more older members or those less able to walk so it can be hard to find helpers to man a booth for a whole day. The other advantage of being in the Line is that the Line Officers pretty much have traditional booths to man, mostly involving food items, and while you can do whatever you like, it is simply easier to do a known booth and especially a food booth where it's been done before and most of the bugs are out. Since we pick in protocol order, the Line Officers have the advantage there as well. While there are a few appointive officers that have traditional booths, such as the Chaplains selling books, others do not have it so easy. The others have to come up with some sort of something to sell that fits the theme of the event, which changes every year, and have few if any prior examples to tell them how to do this. So between less people and less experience, it is just all around tougher. All our Grand Officers were troopers though, and came up with some great ideas. So early in your year of service, you identified the poor, confused soul who couldn't get out of the way of the train fast enough, I mean the wonderful, enthusiastic volunteer, who agreed to serve as the Chairman for your booth. This person is supposed to go to meetings to find out about the set up and rules and such and is then in charge of getting out a flyer and signing up volunteers to man the booth through the day. This is also a mixed bag sort of situation. Two years ago, my Chairman fell of the face of the planet and was never heard from again. They didn't go to any of the meetings and didn't come the day of the event. Can you say thirty foot Twinkie bad? Guess who ended up doing all the set up and manning the booth all day? I still say a small prayer of thanks for the two members who had mercy on me that day and gave me a teeny bit of time off to grab a meal and use the bathroom. Luckily, that was the low water mark and my booths and Chairs have been getting better ever since. This year they did fabulous! Each booth was named for a beach and we were the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and some dear friends brought decorations and name tags and cups and taffy and everything! The sign looked great too! We sold hot coffee and hot tea, but only a bit in the morning because it heated up right quick, and we sold icy frappachinos and iced tea all afternoon. We refilled both frappachino machines and went through over twelve gallons of iced tea. It was awesome! However, it was a tough day for me on a personal level. You see, I am sun soluble. Vampires like the sun more than I do, I fear. You see, when the sun hits them, they burn and die. When the sun hits me, I burn and have to live with the pain. I think they've got the better deal. People think I am exaggerating, but even twenty minutes in the unprotected sun and I am turning red, an hour and you are going to mistake me for a boiled lobster. You'll have to notice that I don't have drawn butter dripping off me to tell the difference. I slathered on the sun screen and I wore a huge hat, but I still managed to singe my left shoulder (the hat tilted to the right) and my nose a bit (sometimes I had to take the hat off in the wind.) But wait, there's more . . . Even standing in a booth so the sun is not directly on me helps some, but not enough. Just looking out of the booth into the bright day all day is enough to burn my eyeballs out of their sockets. I know exactly how that evil Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark felt as his eyeballs melted down his head. But again, he has it easy. He melted and died. I melt and have to ache all night and all day. There is no way I have yet seen to put sunscreen on the backs of my eyeballs. Now I do have prescription sunglasses and I bet you are wondering why I didn't wear them. Well, when you are trying to be friendly with the members and are trying to sell them stuff, eye contact is very important. No one likes to deal with a person where you can't see their eyes, so you sell more stuff and are more open and accessible to people when you are not wearing sunglasses, unless the tint is so light as to be merely an accent color. Unfortunately, I have my sunglasses tinted so dark that people wonder if I am blind because no one can see through that much dark. So if I want to be able to see people and talk with them and interact with them well, I can't wear the sunglasses. The moral of the story is . . . . . Sun BAD!!! Just to add insult to injury, Sunday was another outdoor festival thing, so I have now had my quota of sun for the entire summer. I just want to crawl back into the nice dark, deep cave from which I emerged and come out only at night. I doubt I will get that, but you can't get what you don't ask for, right? Despite the sun though, the day was a lot of fun with good food and better company, lots of wonderful visitors and friends with whom to chat and great entertainment too. Next weekend I am in Roseville, Carmichael and Stockton. I will not be in Oroville or West Sacramento because I took a day and a bit off work last week and am taking a day next week, so I can't take another two days this week.

Extra, Extra, Read All About It

By mail and by e-mail, I have the pleasure of receiving newsletters from various Chapters and groups throughout the state. I enjoy hearing about the different Chapter activities and community service projects and in most Chapters, the line officers write little articles, so I get to see some words and thoughts from my girls. Even if I don't read the whole newsletter, I love to read those parts. But a friend of mine who has done this journey told me that when she became Associate Grand Matron, the year before she reached the top, she stopped reading the newsletters. I asked her why that was and she introduced me to the concept of Didn't See It. In some ways, this concept is similar to Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but goes a little farther in a different direction because it has to do so. You see, there are all sorts of rules that may not make a lot of sense, but nevertheless are rules that have to be followed. For example, no gambling is allowed to be sponsored by a Chapter at any time, as it is viewed as inconsistent with our principles, but Chapters are allowed, under very strict conditions, to have a Bingo night as a fun event. To keep it from being gambling, you can't sell extra cards for extra chances to win, you can't use the event money to give cash prizes, and a bunch of other rules to keep this to just a fun social event, like playing Parcheesi or Life or Yahtzee or Monopoly or any other family board game. (I must say though that I have seen some people play just a vicious game of Monopoly. If you want to see a person's true character, you can divorce them, split an inheiritance with them or play Monopoly. Anyone one of the three will give you a very clear snapshot!) Well, there is some other game with which I am not familiar, which is called Bunco, which I am told is sort of a dice game which a lot of people now play instead of Bingo. It is very popular in a lot of areas in the state, I am told. However, it is not an allowed game currently because the Bingo exception does not yet include Bunco. So some Chapters have held a Bunco night and they've advertised it in their Chapter newsletter and some of those Chapters have been told that you can't do it and they ask why and there is no good answer other than "That's the Rule." I don't really know enough about the game to know why the rules aren't changed to cover both Bingo and Bunco, but I do know that we are not in a position to change the rule and it is what it is. The other side of the problem is when people ask you for permission to do something that you know they can't do. For example, I have heard that there is one area where they hold Poker Runs, another thing I had never heard of before. I am told that a traditional Poker Run used to be held with motorcycles or ATVs, but nowadays, they can be done with any sort of vehicle. People go to different locations to pick up playing cards and when they get back to the starting point they have a meal and whoever has the best poker hand gets money or prizes. It is unquestionably a NOT PERMITTED activity for a Chapter. But every now and then, someone will bring it up to a leader type person and ask for permission to do it and then they get upset when the permission is not forthcoming. My friend said that the problem with being AGM or WGM and reading the newsletters is that if you know that a Chapter is violating the rules or about to violate the rules, then you are honor bound to do something about it because you are supposed to be the Chief Executive, the Enforcer of All Rules, Big and Small, Who Sees All, Tells Little and Does The Right Thing. So if you read an article that a Chapter is having a Bunco night, your duty would be to call the head of that Chapter and tell them they can't do it. Who wants to do that? Or if they ask you for permission to do something they are not supposed to do, you not only have to tell them no, you have to follow up to make sure they don't do it. Bleah! Don't Ask, Don't Tell doesn't work here because the Chapter is already telling the whole, wide world about their Improper Activity or asking you for permission to do it. I truly believe that our members try very hard to follow all our rules and that they don't set up these sorts of activities knowing they are doing wrong. The ones that are asking for permission are especially trying to do what is right, but it is disappointing to have to tell them no. The last thing you want to do is crush someone's enthusiasm, especially for an event that friends and family members might really enjoy. We want those sorts of things for our members and our Chapters. But if you know that they are violating a rule, you have to be the bad guy and squelch it. Thus enters the more workable policy Didn't See It. If you don't read the newsletters, you don't have to act on what's in them. If you didn't see the bad thing, you don't have to stop the bad thing. That doesn't stop people from telling you what they are doing and having to tell them that it is against the rules and nothing spares you the heartache of having to deny permission to earnest people who are asking because they are really trying to do the right thing, but at least you don't have to cancel someone else's party over something that you read in the newsletter they sent to you in all innocence. The policy may seem like you are trying to shirk your duty, but truthfully, nobody likes a person who goes looking for mistakes and opportunities to scold, so not looking for trouble seems okay for me, at least for now. So for this year and next year I will keep reading the newsletters and getting the news. After that, I may have to stop reading them or maybe have someone else censor them for me and just give me the good and safe parts to read. Next weekend, I am in Yorba Linda for our Festival at our Senior Living Community. It is a Sand and Surf theme and promises to be great fun.