The Peripheral View - Scott Rainey RVC-8
(was Wainey's Wascally Weigional Wamblings)

RG's and Leadership Development Programs.

If you have never attended a Regional Gathering, you're just not getting full value from your membership. We try to supply words and pictures to describe them, after the fact, but there is really no substitute for being there.

I attended the Sacramento Gold Country RG in October, as did about 100 Mensans from all around the country. If you weren't there, you missed a great party and excellent presentations on:

What Ted Kazinski, (the Unabomber) the Zodiac Killers, Charles Manson and assorted other unsavory-but-good-for-headlines types have in common.

A Doctoral Thesis on those otherwise normal rocks that clearly do move several feet a year across the flat desert floor of Death Valley; without the intervention of fraternity pranksters.

A live demonstration of whips, clips, paddles and floggers.

A stem winder by a real live lobbyist who was once a California legislator.

The biggest dang telescope I've ever seen pulled out of an SUV was used as a prop for a discussion on "doing the math" for life, and intelligent life like ours, on one of the 400 billion or so stars in our own smallish galaxy.

A chocolate orgy. Ok that's no surprise in this club.

A seminar on how to taste and rate wines, with plenty of samples.

The point here is that Mensa gatherings are fun and fascinating and you really should try to get to the next one that is close to you. Indirectly this is a plug for the Oregon Mensa Back to Nature RG, in April of 2002.

Leadership (and Volunteer) Development Workshop San Jose California - February 8, 9, 10

Ever wonder how things really work on a starship? Me too, but that's a topic for another day.

Ever wonder how to make things work in Mensa? There we may have some answers. An American Mensa Leadership Development Workshop (LDW) has been scheduled for February 8/9/10 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Downtown San Jose.

As this is written, all I can release is the date and location, presenters are still being scheduled. By the time you read this, you will be able to get more information online at: oregon.us.mensa.org/rvc8/

Oh yea, rooms are $75/night before taxes, surcharges and… more taxes.

If you are active in Mensa and have not attended an LDW, try to find a way to make it. If you are interested in becoming active in Mensa, or frankly any membership organization, a Mensa LDW is very much worth your time.

If you are at all interested, we can setup roommates, carpools, airport shuttles and other forms of assistance to get you there.

See ya next month.

--Scott Rainey rvc8@us.mensa.org