Nils Gran-Olsson will speak about the New York Stock Exchange.
 

Nils grew up in Norway and studied finance over there. He had a strong interest in numbers and finance from a young age on. At the age of 23 he decided to become a day trader and turned into a swing trader and investor later on in life. He trades NYSE and NASDAQ listed stocks. Thanks to the internet he could realise his dream to settle down in tropical paradise Thailand at a young age for being an expat.

"Trading is my first and last job in life" he says. it is also a 'lifestyle" for him and his passion.

 

PP Sam - Training for Trainers at the Rotary Centre in Bangkok as preparations for the Multi-PETS training in Khon Khaen, for all Presidents Elect of next year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten members of the International Fellowship of Rotary Scuba Divers, motto “Surface Above Self,” and 13 Rotarians had a very pleasant all Thai lunch at the Millenium Resort on Friday, 9 January.

 

 

 

The Fellowship donated $USD5,000 toward President Andy’s presidential project to provide vital equipment to Patong Hospital. The American based Fellowship, which has members from Italy, Brazil, Spain, the UK and Australia provided the $5,000 by way of hiring a full dive boat for their week-long trip on the Andaman Sea which entitled them to two free berths worth, surprise! B5,000.
They have done the same sort of thing at other places around the world, for example to a fire department in Honduras, according to Dan Shepherd (Missouri) who spoke on behalf of the visitors.
The Fellowship members have also dived in places like the Maldives, Indonesia, Fiji and the Tokelau Islands. Tom, the trip organiser, presented President Andy with a cheque (we hope we can cash it in Thailand). Treasurer Hans promptly grabbed it.

 

Pennants were exchanged to the flashing of lights.

 

   

 

Also present was Khun Nae, who 21 years ago, was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Tongkah on Phuket, to Dan’s club in the USA as a Rotary scholar.
Walter informed the guests that the $5,000 will go toward the total of $58,000 global grant to be spent on equipment for Patong Hospital. The Fellowship members were introduced by Dan by their first names, Mike, Jack and Tom (Nebraska), Annette, Jan and Jackie (Alaska) Keith (Ohio), Jo and Bruce (California). Members were also asked to stand as called out by Andy.
Karen ordered an all Thai lunch for the visitors. It would have been exciting to some of them, a bit into the “phet” Thai salad.

 

Reporter: Alastair Carthew - Photographer: Karen Eidsvik Moody

Board Meeting

An excellent lunch meeting was held at The Millenium at 1 PM on the 9th February where we enjoyed the company of the Rotary International Scuba Diving Group. I sat next to two Rotarians who were Pecan Nut growers from California. They had a great story and could easily be guest speakers.
However, this lunch followed a board meeting which commenced at 11 AM. This is the first time since the change of the bylaws on Board membership when we held a meeting adjacent to the lunch meeting. I felt the Board meeting went very well and we are fortunate to have a secretary who prepares the detailed agendas so well. Each item was dealt with fairly and in due time (apart from one). The great thing though was there were 10 members in attendance representing wider interests of the club. It would be worthy to consider that the Board meetings are held prior to a lunch meeting (meaning one time instead of two) at the adjacent room to the lunch meeting with an open invite to all members to join.

Over the last week, Honorary Member Songkran Kongmuang, was an invited guest of the Chiang Mai International Rotary Club.
During the time he met with the committee, joined the Rotary Club meeting, shared the training project and handed out the medals to grade 4 nine-year-olds for successfully learning to swim.
The Learn to Swim Project will commence in Patong with 96 grade 4 classes from the BanSiamYen School on June 3rd.
These initial classes will be funded by the Safe Child Thailand Grant. Each student will have 10 ninety minutes classes, followed by water safety procedures.
PP Larry, working with Honorary Member Jimmie, have investigated a pool in Kathu and will coordinate the project.

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goldfish
Mick goes to the vet with his goldfish. "I think it's got epilepsy", he tells the vet.
Vet takes a look and says, "It seems calm enough to me".
Mick says, "I haven't taken it out of the bowl yet".

Letter
Paddy spies a letter lying on his doormat. It says on the envelope: "DO NOT BEND ".
Paddy spends the next 2 hours trying to figure out how to pick the bloody thing up.

Trees
Paddy was driving home, drunk as a skunk, suddenly he has to swerve to avoid a tree, then another, then another. A cop car pulls him over as he veers about all over the road. Paddy tells the cop about all the trees in the road.
Cop says "For God's sake Paddy, that's your air freshener swinging about!"

Reilly
Reilly went to trial for armed robbery. The jury foreman came out and announced, 'Not guilty.'
'That's grand!' shouted Reilly. 'Does that mean I can keep the money?'

Missing Dog
An old Irish farmer's dog goes missing and he's inconsolable.
His wife says: "Why don't you put an ad in the paper?"
The farmer does. Two weeks later the dog is still missing.
"What did you put in the paper?" his wife asks…… "Here boy" he replies.

Jail
Paddy's in jail. The Guard looks in his cell and sees him hanging by his feet.
"What the hell you doing?" he asks.
"Hanging myself", Paddy replies.
"It should be around your neck", says the Guard.
"I know", says Paddy, "but I couldn't breathe."
An answer I can understand.....
An American tourist asks an Irishman: "Why do Scuba divers always fall backwards off their boats?"
To which the Irishman replies: "If they fell forwards, they'd still be in the bloody boat."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica Connors and Club President Michael Della Rocca plant a tree, an example of the kind of projects that can give new members ownership and responsibility.
By Michael Bucca, membership chair of the Rotary Club of Central Ocean – Toms River, New Jersey, USA
So many Rotary membership events focus on engagement and retention. It makes sense. For every member that joins Rotary, it seems there’s another member walking out the door. Long term engagement and retention are an important part of successfully growing a club for the simple fact that new membership gains can be quickly wiped out by non-engaged members choosing to leave.
The advice being given by membership chairs and leaders is sound: get new members involved right away. Our club has taken this one step further by explaining something important to our new members:

This is your Rotary club!

A Rotary club is chartered by Rotary International, but who ultimately operates it? The membership does! All Rotarians pay the dues that allow the club to function, attend the meetings, and perform the work needed. In a sense, members are partial owners of the club in the way shareholders are of corporations. Rotary club membership can be just like a stock, except the dividends are derived from the active participation of the member!
So now that a new member has joined, how do you help them cash in on their Rotary dividends? They must be given a role that they can take ownership of. Most members of Central Ocean Rotary have a purpose. Many have found their niche that suits their own interests. For example, some are dedicated to an operational function of the club, while others work almost exclusively on community or international service projects.

BYOP

The best method for implementing this is letting a new member commission a service project or fundraiser for your club. This BYOP (bring your own project) approach gives the new member immediate ownership of something important. Your service projects and fundraising committees may have a few ideas for this new member, or simply let the person bring a project to the table. With this method, our club was able to complete nine service projects just in the first half of this Rotary year.
However, if a new member feels they are not ready for this level of responsibility and would rather sit back and observe, you can find another area of the club that they can contribute to and get their feet wet. Let the new member serve as club greeter or guest sergeant at arms to get them involved at a lower level of responsibility and work their way up via a committee or through mentoring.
Don’t let your new members slip through the cracks. If you show them that the club belongs to every member, they will stick around for many years to collect dividends of fulfillment that Rotary service can provide!