First Full Week of 2010

Rang out the old year, hopefully with some end-of-year contributions to our Rotary Foundation, and now the new is underway.
For those of us in the District Governor "track," governor-elect Prasad Menon, myself, the governor-nominee, and governor-nominee-designee Eileen Rau, the focus was a day in Nashua, NH, where we joined others on the Northeast Multidistrict Presidents-elect Training Seminar (NE PETS) Planning Committee, meeting with leaders around New England who have agreed to help train this year's class of incoming presidents.  For our district, and the other seven districts we join, leadership training is a major task, but something Rotary takes very seriously.
Prasad and his wife, Sree, will be heading to San Diego third week of this month for a final training session for incoming governors before he embarks on training his presidents.  That process begins with pre-PETS the morning of Thursday, February 11th.  Attending is an absolute must for incoming presidents who will meet with Prasad and current presidents who will have their mid-year meeting with Governor Herb.
If you have not registered for this, you can find the form via a link from the district website --
http://www.rotarydistrict7890.org/docs/2010-Pre-Pets-PresMtg.pdf
So, back to the week -- hopefully, yours began with a great club meeting.  Our club welcomed Rotarian Steve Bates, a member of East Hartford and an accountant, to alert us to significant tax changes affecting all of us this year.  Excellent program for a business group.  If you do not do something akin to this, talk to your program chair.  It's not a yawner!
After working on some bylaws proposals with DGE Prasad (you'll hear more about those in the next few months), I prepared for a meeting of the Northeast Link Committee today (Sunday).  Did you know we have a multidistrict group which helps Rotary-Foundation-supported scholars as well as Group Study Exchange (GSE) teams know more about Rotary before they embark on a month or year abroad.  It's a very critical training program, and one which will increase in importance as we adapt to some changes being made over the new few years by The Rotary Foundation.
It is very important if any of you are Foundation alums (former scholars, GSE team members) that you attend these meetings; share your experiences with folks who are heading out in the next few months.
To read more about Northeast Link and the days when you can participate in these events, go to
http://www.northeastlink.org/
If you know you want to attend the meeting for the GSE teams, especially if you are an alum of a team and can share your experiences, please go directly to the online registration
http://www.northeastlink.org/html/nel_rotreg_2.shtml
So, it's been a busy week.  Business, since I am not retired, actually must be tended, but my being self-employed has helped meet the demands of the Rotary world.  A great world!