Upcoming Events

Dec. 11 - Informal Mixed Curling (See Below)

Dec. 12 - Sunday Morning Brunch & Curl

Dec. 18 - Holiday Party

Dec. 19 - Another Sunday Morning Brunch

A Request From Our President

By now you have received your bill covering dues for the rest of the year and Ken McPartlin requests that you pay same promptly since there is a little cash flow problem at the present time. He also wants to remind you that recruiting for new members is never over so please bring prospects to the club any time to watch and/or if you come to the Sunday breakfasts, invite them to partake of our delicious cuisine and a little informal curling.

Mixed Invitation Playdowns

The format of next weekend's competition has been changed so that it is now scheduled as an informal club fun event and will take place on Saturday only. There will be two draws, one in the morning followed by lunch and another one in the early afternoon. Eight teams are scheduled to participate. Times, etc., will be announced when plans are finalized. Charlene Fitzgerald is the one to see if you're confused.

Holiday Party

Once again Mary Laviano and staff will be in charge of the Holiday Happening which, this year, will be on Saturday, Dec. 18 starting at 6:00 PM. This is a good time to take a respite from the frenzy of the season, have a drink with friends and a nibble or two of somebody's favorite party dip. If you already have plans stop by long enough have a toast or two with curling buddies.

We'll repeat what we said last year since it seemed to work out fine. Check the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board. The cost is $5.00 per person or bring an hors d'oeuvre to share. HOWEVER, if you're going to bring a snack you must sign up on the sheet and you're not allowed to change your mind at the last minute. One year everybody did just that and we ended up with an overabundance of food and an underabundance of money to pay for the food we bought since nobody signed up to bring any. In other words, sign up for food, bring food. Don't sign up for food, don't bring food. With or without, bring yourselves to the club for a festive evening.

Albany/Schenectady Friendly

So it's not the National Mixed Championship, it's just the Albany/Schenectady Friendly but we won it and that's good news since that hasn't happened for a while. Albany has had the coveted plaque at their club for several years and so it's nice to have it back where it belongs. And it does give us bragging rights until our next encounter. In a "total stones" format, we won 41-23 and we also had the opportunity to introduce several of our new curlers to inter-club competition at its most relaxed. Al Squire, the Brunkhorsts and Willi Joyson of Albany planned the event but thanks also must go to Elisa Dannemann who was in charge of the continental breakfast, the Soviks who did lunch, and Jim Holmblad who was clean-up manager. All of this with the help of many other SCC members, of course. Apparently it wasn't as "warm and friendly" an occasion as it might have been since the temperature on the ice was even colder than usual and nobody seemed able to improve the situation. Do you suppose we quite literally froze them out? Vic Temple was the hero of the day since he came back from a major deficit in stones part way through his match to end up winning by two. After a couple of unsuccessful years when the event was not held at all or was held with mixed Albany/Schenectady teams it was great to have enough curlers from each club to have games on all four sheets.

Membership - Sort Of

Margaret Beaton, who has given up curling for the time being due to impending motherhood, has organized a group of fellow workers from MA0 to try their hand at the sport. They'll take over a time slot from 5:00-6:20pm prior to the Tuesday night mixed on Dec. 7 and also have plans for three other nights during the season - times to be announced. Approximately 20 people will be involved and the evening will include a four-end game, a pizza party and the opportunity to watch some seasoned curlers at play. There's a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board for people to help the Beatons so please lend a hand and, hopefully, we'll get some of the participants hooked enough to want to join us as full members.

On The Road

The Lisuzzos were in Baie d'Urfe this past weekend sans (note how we slipped in that French) a downrink since they were taking the long way home to do some skiing, etc., and couldn't find anyone else interested in that much exercise. The host club has supplied the front end and we'll just have to wait for their return to find out how they did in all their athletic endeavors.

A group of the guys (Jim Sinkins, Dave Spencer, Matt Staccone and Pete Sheehan) are off to Rochester next weekend. A likely foursome to win the party regardless of how they make out on the ice.

From the House Manager

(or whatever her official title is), Jane Caruvana

For those of you with sensitive noses who have been concerned about the odor of gas from the kitchen range, I am happy to announce that the "Old Black Vulcan" is in perfect working order. It has been inspected, cleaned and thoroughly checked out and was given a clean bill of health.

If you do smell gas, look under the grill and make sure that the three (3) pilot lights are lit. When the kitchen door is open these three are very affected by moving air. There is a butane lighter with a green handle that makes it very easy to light the pilot.

Thanks for your concern. Now you can relax.

SCC Website

A reminder that SCC has its own website thanks to Bill Rolston who is our resident computer guru. The address is: http://members.localnet.com/~wrolston/. No need to memorize it, just look on the cover of your directory - last year's or this year's when it comes out. Pictures of curlers on the ice and a copy of the T-Line can be seen as of our last viewing. Thanks Bill, for all the work you put into it.

Tribute to John Steadwell

In the last few weeks SCC has lost two fine fellow curlers. Below is a tribute to John Steadwell written by long-time friend and admirer, Pete Sheehan.

On Tues., Nov 23,1999, the Schenectady Curling Club lost a true friend. John Steadwell passed away after a long illness. A member for the past 29 years, John had become a wonderful example of the true spirit of volunteerism in the club. There was no project or problem that was beyond his interest and desire to solve and complete. John had become the "go to" guy for everything from light bulb problems to compressor malfunctions and his knowledge and support will be missed by all of us.

Thoughts about "Steady":

• Quiet, sincere, intelligent
• Curious, always eager to learn new things
• Loyal and devoted to what he believed in
• Charming sense of humor (in a disarming way)
• Made you feel important
• Tough-minded but fair
• Never asked anyone to do something he was not prepared to do himself
• Had a great little chuckle
• Liked a good martini