Just keep breathing. Just keep breathing.

I went to pull up my blog and the system tells me it doesn't exist.

Uh oh - time to panic.

Actually, anyone who's been in Rotary for a while knows there's lots of stuff every day that could make you want to panic. The web site is down (or non-existent). Computers and projectors don't work for the speaker. The speaker doesn't show. The list goes on endlessly.

A week after I first joined Rotary the new president (who had helped recruit me and been in the position for ... a week) abruptly left office. Seems there was something unseemly going on, and what she was doing wasn't considered to be good for all concerned. So here I was, committed to being in a room full of strangers with absolutely no concept of what I'd gotten myself into.

I've been that speaker whose projector pooped out 30 seconds before going "onstage". And I've learned the value of the advice from Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy: - Don't panic.

Oh yes - and always carry your towel (it's a Ford Fairlane thing).

Anyway, I've obviously found my blog, more or less intact, though I still wonder whether anyone is reading the silly thing. No? Well, I'm no surprisedzzzzzzz...

Sorry - I kinda dozed off there myself. It IS kind of boring, isn't it? Well, Rotary isn't always exciting, but it is kind of fun.

The big event this week was seeing my friend Marc at the hospital. No, he's still sick. In fact, he looks terrible. But the fact is the son of a gun is still alive. They predicted he'd last three days after his brain surgery, and nine weeks later he's still around. Go figure. I like to think he knows I'm there, but even if he doesn't recognize me, his family appreciates my being there, and that's the most important part right now. So I go. And I want to hope there's a miracle. And I guess the miracle is that he's still alive. I'll take what I can get, I guess.

Oh yes - there was a meeting this past Tuesday. We held 4-way test speeches for the district. Eight speakers were due, five showed, four went on to the next level. And we need to find a more positive way of announcing the winners, since the young lady who came in last looked like she was going to cry.

This, too, is nothing to panic about. We'll learn from this and do better next time. So will that young lady.