About Networking and Community Service

On Tuesday Dee and I had a "home decorator" come to our place to help us pick paint colors for the walls, and to suggest other things that would dress up the place a little now that we've been here 14 months. (I met this gal at the Chamber networking" sessions.) She and Dee hit it off well, and the gal even offered to go shopping with Dee for some of the ideas suggested.

Then, I went to the "networking" lunch time meeting with the Chamber. It's always fun. I used my 60 seconds to talk about "hobbies" and that my hobby is singing. And that the great thing about my hobby is that we can use it to bring pleasure to other people. "We lift spirits and put smiles on people's faces." During the second half-hour we brainstormed together ways that have worked for us to make connections and to engage others so that they'll be interested in whatever service you have to offer them. A lot of good stuff was shared. A theme running through was "you have to listen to others in understand them before you they'll want to listen to you." That is, "encourage others to talk while you practice focused listening."

In the late afternoon we went to the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show with the Campbells. It was fun walking around looking at the stuff and the demonstrations. Especially since we don't really need anything for the house. We did meet a guy Dee knew from high school who now owns Furniture Galleries on Route 8. He had some really nice chairs (very comfortable) for a mere $2,300! And we found a guy who installs window shades and blinds (remote control) which we are considering for the dormer windows at the front of the house. Those two windows let in the afternoon sun and they are so high up that we can't get to them even if they had regular blinds on them.

Afterward, we went to the Bettis Restaurant for dinner. I like that place because of their unique men's room. HA HA! I've never been in a place that has a one way window that looks out onto the restaurant area from the inside the men's room In fact, you have to be standing at a urinal in order to see through the window into the restaurant. (Of course from the restaurant side it looks like a large mirror). Amazing!

Rotary today was good - the people who went to the Hondorus medical trip for 8 days had returned and shared what they'd done there. (Water filtration, stove assistance as well as giving out meds, pulling teeth and checking eyes and giving out eye-glasses.) After the meeting we delivered Apple Dumpling Gang Coloring/ Activity books to the second graders of the Pine and Mars School districts. They have a teacher's storybook that tells a story that emphasises the "Four-Way Test" of Rotary. (Is it the Truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Does it build good will and better friendships? Is it benificial to all concerned?) The children can color the pictures, solve the puzzles and figure out the "word search" answers. It was fun. The teachers seemed to enjoy getting the books and the kids were thrilled. It seems the WORD SEARCH pages were a favorite. It was a nice afternoon.