Aloha kākou,

This week we had three Paul Harris events.  I heard from Lee LaBrash that her “Bones & Beetles” session at the JABSOM Willed Body program, presented by her husband Steven, was very well received.  Several folks stayed well into the evening afterwards enjoying each other’s company. As for my event “AI Questions Answered” at the University of Hawaii Mānoa, I received a number of enthusiastic expressions of how much the participants enjoyed that discussion.  Today (Friday) Adam Bogucki is hosting a group of our members at the StretchLab in downtown Honolulu. My son and I actually ran into Adam serendipitously twice at the Kahala Mall while he was at the Stretch Lab location there, and I learned that Kahala was their first location in Honolulu.

I am posting this Tradewind message from Taipei, as several of us from our Club and District prepare for the Rotary International Convention here.  I just arrived a short while ago after a 20-hour adventure to get here.  Perhaps not taking the most efficient route, I flew five hours to LAX and then fourteen hours direct to Taipei, with less than two hours to make the connection.  Luckily, my relationship with both time and sleep is somewhat tenuous, so once here I was able to jump right into the local day with just an hour’s nap.  Not for everyone, but just another day “at the office” for me.  I am looking forward to engaging in a number of Rotary-related activities with the many members of our Club who are also here, including Paul Saito, Rich Proctor, Nancy Youngren, Carolann Biederman, Hai Cha Lambert, Gwen Yamamoto-Lau and Jim Harrow.  We may even pick up a new member while we are here, as I received an email while en route from another Rotarian who is moving to Hawaii and saw in a previous Tradewind message that Carolann and I would be here.  He asked if perhaps we could get together.  It is truly a small world!

Because I am in Taiwan for the next several days, I will not be able to lead the regular meeting next week, although I do hope to join by Zoom.  However, I have left you in the capable hands of Immediate Past President Tom Coyne, who will lead the meeting in my absence.  Those in the room (and hopefully I, by Zoom) will hear from Dr. Jill Omori, who is the Director of the Office of Medical Education at JABSOM, as she gives us an introduction to the Houseless Outreach and Medical Education (HOME) Project that she founded and has run for the past 20 years.  And then, the following week, once all of us are back from Taipei, we will hear from the mayor of Kauai, Derek Kawakami, who will tell about the happenings on his island and across the state from his perspective.  I look forward to seeing many of you there.

Mahalo nui loa,

Brian Dunkel

President

The Rotary Club of Honolulu