A Publication of the Niles Noon Optimist Club
Meetings every Tuesday at Noon
Riverfront Cafe on Front Street in downtown Niles, MI
Zone 4, Michigan District
Editors: Michelle and Robb Morse

Note: Sergeant-at-Arms Andy Plym advises us that we need to wear something Halloween related to this coming Tuesday's meeting to avoid a 50-cent fine. This could be as simple as a Halloween pin or an orange tie with a black shirt, but feel free to wear a costume and promote the Halloween spirit! Any and all fines go directly into the Youth Fund.

Notice: I will be sending out an email to the entire membership tonight that will include five attachments in MSWord format. These attachments include the club bylaws, club policies, and a list of all fineable offences. Watch for it!

Call to Order: President-Elect Diane Bass

Invocation: Reverend Lloyd Phillips

Brags:

Debbie Asmus bragged on her Dad's 77th birthday on Monday.

Rudy Kappe bragged on John Willis's work on the banquet organization and signage. He bragged on Liz offering his wife one of the beautiful pumpkins that Liz made that served as centerpieces at the banquet. He also bragged that his recent absence from Tuesday meetings was due to his service on Jury Duty in Benton Harbor. He served as foreman on the jury that put away a 20 year old triple murderer.

Lloyd Phillips bragged on running into our International President in Martin's, who was picking up some bubbly in preparation for his trip to St. Louis. He was unable to provide Michel any advice on his spirits purchase. Lloyd also bragged that he has been busy helping his wife recover from her flu that became pneumonia. Her leukemia is 6 years in remission, and her blood count is at 12, which is perfect. She was unable to be with us as she was out delivering meals on wheels.

O.C. Skinner bragged on the attendance of his Optimist sponsor, Rev. Lloyd Phillips.

John Willis bragged on the Saturday and Sunday race crews last weekend. These were our last race timing events of the year. Next race is at the Battell Center on the 3rd Sunday in March. (Editorial comment: Thanks to our extremely hard-working race timing volunteers for another productive and profitable season!)

Lloyd decided that he bragged so long that he owed a dollar, so he squeezed in a brag on the Optiview that keeps us all updated on Michigan Optimism via mail, and encouraged us all to read them when they arrive.

Michelle Morse bragged on taking her 12 year old son Aaron to his first Notre Dame pep rally Friday at ND Stadium. Around 45,000 people attended the pep rally, making the stadium over half full! She also bragged on receiving some nice emails in reply to the Optizette, including one from our Governor-Elect Lou Moss, and another from Past President Jon Martin.

John Willis added a late brag. He has been having a great time working with the Homeschool Robotics Club for the last month or so, and only wishes there was a program like that when he was younger.

Proxy brag by John on behalf of Carole Zachary, who missed the meeting for an interview for a job as an Events Coordinator for Notre Dame. John also mentioned that he and Carole recently determined that they are related by marriage. Carole's mom's sister is married to John's dad's brother. (Or something like that.)

Guests:

Dennis Hinsey introduced Cathy Doria, who works in Sales at Leader Publications.

Liz introduced her mom (and member-in-waiting) JoAnne Krueger.

Our program guest, Scott Joyce, introduced his father Dan Joyce. You may remember Scott's mom Kathy (not in attendance today) who has been with us as a guest a few times in the past due to her involvement with homeschooling and the homeschool robotics competition.

Announcements:

O.C. announded the presence of our Sergeant-at-Arms, Andy Plym. Bring your quarters, for he's looking for fineable offenses. Welcome back, Andy!

Pancake Breakfast: Andy Plym asked me to include information regarding a Pancake Breakfast on November 6th at Niles Township Fire South Station on South 3rd street from 8-11?am.

There will be a New Member Orientation Monday, November 14th at 6:30pm at the Greater Niles Federal Credit Union. Dave invites everyone who has joined the club in the past two years to come and learn more about the club's activities and organization. Pizza and pop provided. This meeting immediately follows the regular club board meeting, which begins at 5:30pm and which everyone is also welcome to attend.

Niles Safe Trick or Treat: October 29th, 4-5pm. Optimists will be handing out funbooks, balloons, and candy. See Liz if you'd like to participate. Location still unconfirmed: we are usually across from Majerek's Reader's World, but an alternate location in front of the old Woolworth's location was also discussed.

Second reading for JoAnne Krueger. JoAnne has been at Simplicity Pattern for nearly 38 years, where she works in Accounts Payable. Her husband's name is Larry, and her daughter Liz Capron is a club member. JoAnne is also a member of the Niles Eagles, and suggests holding a Spaghetti Dinner jointly with that club as a fund-raiser.

Second reading for Brent Braaksma's fiancee Katie, who works for the South Bend Community Schools as a teacher.

50/50: $14, won by JoAnne. JoAnne kindly attempted to donate her winnings to the Youth Fund, until we were reminded by John Willis that this is against club policy.

Curious the Monkey: Andy Sabat brought us a one-minute interesting collection of facts. Andy prefaced his presentation by telling us that until last week, he thought the worst thing that could happen when you entered a raffle was just not winning ;) Among other things, Andy informed us that 12% of all Americans think Joan or Arc was Noah's wife. That there are more people in China that speak English than there are in America. And that drivers kill more deer than hunters nationwide. Curious the Monkey goes to Dennis Hinsey.

News of the Day: Rob Clingaman brought us some late-night sports scores, plus told us that the Ex-CEO of AT&T, who was let go after only 6 months for basically being no good at his job, was rewarded with a severance package worth $26 million.

Program: We had a fun and unusual program today. Scott Joyce brought us a highly entertaining juggling demonstration. Scott is a freshman at Andrews University, where he is studying accounting and business. Scott met Robb and Michelle Morse at a recent Toastmasters Open House, where he is a member. We asked him to come demonstrate his juggling to our club as a program in the future, and when Dave VanStrien contacted him he agreed to be this week's program.

Scott started out by telling us that you're never too old to learn how to juggle, and that his mom is even taking it up. He showed us how to get started in juggling. First, take one ball in your dominant hand and toss it at eye-level to your other hand. Once you've got that down, you start with a ball in each hand, and when the first ball reaches it's peak you throw the 2nd ball up underneath the first one. The third step involves two balls in your dominant hand and one in your off hand. Just throw the third ball underneath the 2nd one as it comes across. As Scott says, "Now you know how to juggle". (After lots of practice at each step, we're sure). Scott's tip for the new juggler is to watch the balls at their peak. If you know where the ball's flight peaks you can tell where it will come down, but if you try and watch your hands you'll never be able to juggle.

Scott proceeded to show us many variations of the standard juggle pattern, drawing regular applause. He even juggled some clubs which are good for juggling with a partner. He also had some knives in the car but thought that might be a little dangerous.

Scott has been juggling for 7-8 years. He started with hacky sacks, though he says tennis balls are also suitable for starting out with. The specialty balls he uses are made of silicone and cost $40 each! His favorite part is trying something different to come up with a new trick or pattern.

Shirt Orders: If anyone is interested in ordering polo shirts like those awarded at the optimist banquet, please see Tom. We will try to have a sign-up sheet at the meetings. The minimum order is 15 shirts, so we will take down names and contact people for payment if enough interest is generated to support an order. White polo shirts with the optimist logo are currently available from Tom for $10 each.