A recently discovered Aesop Fable: Grandfather and the Cereal Box.

A grandfather lived in a beautiful neighborhood with his wife and they walked each morning before breakfast. The grandfather also played croquet and sports with his grandchildren. One day the grandfather drove to the store to buy some supplies, including cereal. He found the cereal on the top shelf and put the two boxes in his cart. When he took the two boxes, he noticed that a third box was available at the back of the shelf and he wanted it. He climbed up on the lowest shelf and stretching on his tippy tippy toes, he was just able to reach the box and simultaneously tear his Achilles tendon. The moral of the story:

1. It is wise to ask younger people to do difficult tasks you used to do yourself
2. Don’t be greedy

Board meeting snippets

• Jan Shore, Scholarship Committee Chair, reported that our scholarship recipient had to withdraw from ASU. The University Scholarship Office told Jan that committee could offer the spring semester portion of the scholarship to another student and it was offered to the second place finisher from last year’s list. Jan also reported that a change in the ASU Scholarship platform has resulted in more than tripling the number of applicants. The committee is working out how to handle the evaluation of this larger pool.
• Terrie Ekin, ASURA’s Financial Operations Manager and member of the Finance Committee, reported on the annual review of the previous year’s expenses, as required by the Bylaws. The review was carried out in December and showed that the expenses were reasonable and consistent with the budget. The committee also felt that at this time it would not be prudent to make an additional transfer from Operations to the scholarship endowment.
• Maria Hesse, President, reported that the possible new office space for ASURA had fallen through and so the search continues. We have until the end of spring to be out of the Community Services Building.
  
  Maria Hesse also reported on work by the Bylaws Review Committee. The Board had previously approved applying for D and O (Directors and Officers) insurance to limit the impact of someone suing us. The problem with the old Bylaws is they did not clearly define who the Directors and Officers were. Once the committee got working, they considered some other aspects of the Bylaws that warrant updating; the last update was in 2013. A draft version of the proposed changes was discussed and the committee will review the comments and return with a final draft. Hopefully a final version will be available for membership approval this spring.

Upcoming Events

Be sure to periodically check out the Upcoming Events and Affiliated Events pages on our website for new events. Two you might be interested in are:

• ASURA February Seminar on AI
• The ASU Book Group – the January book is "The Nonconformists” by Brian Goodman.

Barry McNeill
E-News Editor