March 3, 2011: Rotary Log (cosmetic surgery)

March 3, 2011 Portsmouth Rotary Log

For slide show, CLICK HERE

Our cold but sunny March 3rd meeting started with a lovely rendition of “Spring Fever” by Judy Ringer (highly appropriate as we fluctuate daily- hourly?- between snow and rain and sunny and gray skies) and an equally lovely prayer from Tenley Westbrook.

The beef stroganoff was fine.  Thanks, Red Hook, for consistently good lunches and service!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Rotarians were asked to remember a) to bring in those cell phones and b) to save flip-tops from soda pop cans.

Peg Millar announced Portsmouth Rotary’s 4^th Annual Auction, to take place April 7 from 6-9 PM at the Portsmouth Hilton Conference Center. 

Peg was pleased with the number of donations committed during lunch, but many more gifts are needed.  Every Rotarian is asked/ expected to contribute a bottle of wine.  Other great auction items include themed gift baskets (Peg said 10 are needed), vacation packages (have a time share?), Patriots tickets, golf packages, art, jewelry, etc…

GUESTS AND HAPPY BUCKS:

A half dozen or so visitors were introduced, among them Thomas Rice, introduced by proud dad John Rice; Joe Campbell from Guardian Life Insurance, introduced by Peter Grace; and Lenore and Jack from One Sky (they’re the Rotary-assisted organization that runs Operation WARM.

Several people had  “Happy Bucks” to give—my personal favorite was Eric Weinreib’s happy buck for being grateful to be able to be present at a Rotary meeting two weeks in a row.  Apparently Lady Fortune liked that, too, because – lo and behold – Eric proved to be the holder of the winning raffle ticket.  Not a match, but still a lesson to all of us with less than stellar attendance records…

SPEAKER:

Lynn-Del introduced our speaker and fellow Rotarian, Larry Gray, who provided some great information on the various types – reputable and not-so-reputable – of cosmetic procedures and surgeries.  Gray started his presentation with a smiling announcement that cosmetic procedures were up 5% nationally this year over last – something he attributed in part to the economy but also - perhaps - to the popularity of Reality TV…

Two things impressed me about Larry Gray’s presentation.  First, he never attempted to sell the idea of cosmetic surgery to those of us in attendance.  In fact, what Larry said was, “I never look at anyone and think, ‘Why haven’t you come to see me?’

That got a laugh, but the sincerity behind the joke was evident when Larry stressed that anyone contemplating cosmetic surgery should “Do it for yourself” because, really, no one notices you the way YOU notice you.  That resonated; I am pretty sure that the ten pounds or so I yo-yo between is noticeable to no one but my self and my mirror…because no one else cares…

The other thing was his belief that, despite the fact that 90% of his clients are women and just 10% men, “men are just as vain as women; there’s just more of a threshold for them to come into my office.”  Nicely put, Larry.  If I ever decide to take the plunge, tuck that tummy or fix those drooping eyelids (just for me) you’ll be the first one I talk to.

Respectfully submitted by,

Beth Wheland

Happy March to All!