Riverwalk, Great Rotary speakers and the Ranch

Had a nice breakfast outside on the hotel patio by the Riverwalk, lots of birds visited for handouts! Then a 30 minute stroll amount the loop. The Rotary session this morning was a very interesting talk by media consultant Paul Rand who spoke about the Rotary brand and ways we can make it more identifiable - specifically we have to embrace social media (I knew that but I don't want to!)

For lunch we were bused a few blocks to the HUGE San Antonio convention center. This was the traditional "All club" luncheon where Rotarians from all over the SA area could attend. (I'm told there are 50 Rotary clubs in the SA metro area).So, there was a large crowd. After a so-so chicken dinner, and an excellent mariachi band, we heard from John Germ, from Kentucky, the Rotary International President for next year.

Then back to the hotel for two more afternoon sessions. The first was interesting and very relevant. as Dr. Robert Lufton from Atlanta has written a book called "Toxic Charity".His premise is that our good deeds can do more harm than good. We can undermine a person's sense of worth and make them ultimately dependent on our charity. (Think Emmett Friendship Coalition)

Our second speaker was Ms. Dean Rohrs a soon-to-be Director of RI. She told about her time growing up in South Africa under Aparteid.

For our dinner and evening's entertainment we were bused a hour west of town, on I-10, to an event venue called Don Stange Ranch. We were all encouraged to wear our western attire (which we did, sort of). It was really hot and humid, the band was good but very loud, and the meal of green chile enchiladas and Lone Star Beer was excellent! Back to our room by 9:30.

So that's enough Rotary, we head out early in the morning for Big Bend.