Meeting of 04/12/2011 - Darrel Austin with Jennifer Hansen of NV Energy

Las Vegas West Rotary Club

April 12, 2011

Winning checks of the Final Four fund raiser were distributed. Mike Link, the winner who can’t figure out how he won, received $ 400 and donated 1/2 to the charity account and 1/2 to Polio Plus. Kudos Mike! Ted Baker, traveling to Pittsburgh, won $ 200 and Brett and I got $ 100. I quickly stuck the money in my pocket, happy to break even. Oh, yes, the charity account has an extra $ 800. Yahoo!

There were numerous happy and sad fines; the only one that mattered was that Ashley went back to the hospital. If you are inclined to get on your knees, please pray for her recovery. Not going well right now.

Pres. Bill gave a pin for doing something I enjoy, the newsletter. Far more deserving, in my judgment, are Brett for his fund raising, Francie for her leadership, and Ken, Lynn , Lynn, Steve, Steve, Ted, Duncan, Jan, Ted, Jerry, Mike, Chris, Cleo, Luke. Who did I forget? A bunch of great Rotarians, please forgive me if I left you off my impromptu list. We don't have an 80 – 20 club, where 20 % do 80 % of the work. We are better, and we all know it. And we have fun! Oh, yeah, I forgot Tom and Robin, the best ever. Vegas Baby is coming and I know everyone will pull together for our only major fund raiser.

Our speaker was Darrel Austin with Jennifer Hansen of NV Energy, on the new smart meter program. The meters are already installed on 173,000 homes, including several of our members. The meters allow the consumer to monitor power usage as a car uses a dashboard to determine speed and ongoing gasoline usage. You can manage your usage on-line now, and in the future we will be able to control power usage and even manage certain appliances with a smart phone. Buck Rogers is smiling. The new meters are more accurate and safe, according to NV Energy. This is the wave of the future, clearly. There are operational savings for the company, of course. For issues call 702-402-4273.

And now, for news of the weekly golf game. Don Logan, multi-year speaker to our club and Rotarian Larry Brown, County Commissioner, joined Brett, Scott and me. Brett played 18 holes, a record for the past year or so, counting many pars on this fine day. Next week we have A.D. Hopkins on the history of Las Vegas. Every week we have great programs. Don’t miss it!

Tom Lott