October 1, 2003

Kicking off Fall of 03, Leon tapped Country Boy Duran Brown to lead the Pledge and the always inspirational Jim Balistreri to give the Blessing.  Russ Tooker was again the guest of Chuckles McLaughlin and former member and constant supporter of the Club Ted McLaughlin was the guest of Lucky Bob McSweeney. 

 Don Parrish, co-chair of this year’s 150 bash, had gift solicitation letters for the members to use in their attempts to secure items for the silent auction.  If you did not get one we are working on having them available for download off the XC website.

 John Ghee reported that Operation Brave Kids has ratcheted back up since the Defense Department has decided to extend the tour of duty of our Guard and Reserve units called up during Iraqi Freedom and it appears call more up. The original plan was to wind it down after the initial year but that no longer seems possible.  Special kudos to old Hundred Ton who was the center of the feature article in last weekend’s edition of the Pompano Pelican.  It was a great article that accurately chronicled John’s accomplishments with OBK.

 Please note the monthly calendar insert in your Cuff and post it on your fridge.  You will also note a late edition to the calendar – the FAU football tailgate party on Saturday, October 18^th.  You will all be receiving special email invitations from Jim Balistreri who will be the master of ceremonies for the event.  Those of you without email will have to rely on future editions of the Cuff for details.  Save the date if you are interested.

 October is a busy month for XC activities.  This year’s first Great Invite Nite will be on October 16^th, 7PM at Johnny V’s home in Lighthouse Point.  The next 150 organizational meeting will be on October 21^st, 6:30PM at Don Parrish’s recreation hall also in LHP and the Pompano Beach office of HUGS for Kids will be sponsoring an open house on October 29^th. 

 Fall means a new school year and that means new Students of the Month.  Under the able direction of Jim Balistreri we were introduced to twelve outstanding students from six local high schools.  David Reyes and Vernicca Beard were the selectees from Ely High, Joy Mathisen and Jon Scheets from Highlands Christian Academy, Ashley Meiners and Daniel Ott from Cardinal Gibbons, Shama Agtey and Stephen Gonot from Deerfield Beach, Melisa Sweet and Robert R. Kane, III our of Coconut Creek and Zenovia Johnson and Thomas Hibert from our own Pompano Beach High School.  Each student was queried as to what he or she believed to be the most significant issue facing society today and what they would propose to do about addressing it.  There were some really interesting answers.  Good job as always Jim.

 The news concerning the wellbeing of our friend Johnny Garneau continues to be encouraging.  It has been reported that he is now back in his own digs and has been cleared to drive.  This means that if he can get by the Dairy Queen we are likely to see him one of these Wednesdays.  Some skinny stranger also announced that Joanne Williams, the talented and beautiful wife of Tad, has been once again honored for her photography and that they will be traveling to Washington, DC to accept an award.  Way to go girl.  Happy birthdays to Phyllis Zahn (10/01) and Nancy Brown (10/06) and congrats to Diane and Alfonse Grunskis who will be celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary this Monday, October 6^th.  Hope Alfonse reads the Cuff before Monday.

 There was an apparent breakdown in communication about this week’s super double secret shaking man but when all was done it appeared to be our own webmaster Jim Horn who selected Johnny V for the honor of a free lunch (like he really needs a free lunch!).  Big Al Linn took home the pot.

 A Husband and wife are getting ready for bed. The wife is standing in front of a full length mirror taking a hard look at herself. "You know love" she says, "I look in the mirror and I see an old woman. My face is all wrinkled, my boobs are barely above my waist, my bum is hanging out a mile. I've got fat legs and my arms are all flabby." She then turns to her husband and says, "Tell me something positive to make me feel better about myself". He thinks about it for a bit and then says, "Well, your eyesight is 20/20".