Buy a Stone--Help the Club

We are starting a new fundraising campaign this month. For a donation to the club, you may have a curling stone for your home. They are a fun conversation piece. If you are interested, please give me a check made out to The Schenectady Curling Club for a minimum of $100.00, and I will let you pick out the stone of your choice. These are old stones that have no value for curling, but can help us pay for our on-going improvements to the ice field and club house. For more information, call Dotty Sheehan.

Friday Social Curling

The Friday Social League is a huge success again this year!!

We have nine teams and will curl eight times with one date left over for emergencies (like snowstorms).

Chairs Jim and Charlotte Colton are sharing the duties. Charlotte prepares the dinners and Jim collects the money.

After curling eight ends we enjoy cocktails and hors d' oeuvres from 6pm to 7pm. Four of our curlers (men included) bring their favorite treats to share-from corn fritters to stuffed mushrooms-- the variety and tastiness is outstanding. Dinner is served at 7pm.

On Dec 20th we had "Christmas Dinner" and served 49 people turkey with all the trimmings. George Wedekind and Hal Clements brought their instruments and provided us with great music. George's sister, Bonnie, and Peg Clements led the Christmas carols. Peg wore her Santa antlers and pranced around encouraging everyone to participate. We had a great time!!

Each team takes a turn at clean up and the leftovers seem to disappear. We make a few bucks for the club on the dinners and Tom says the bar business is pretty good, too.

If you want to get on the sub list give Jim Colton a call.

Get Your Lottery Ticket

Mike wants to remind everyone to stop at the bar and get into the lottery. It is $15 and there are lots of chances to win. Sign up before January 17th to make sure you are in all of the opportunities to win. Check it out and see what it is all about. Anyone at the bar will be able to assist you.

Nancy Wurth Goes to Chicago

My team at the Chicago Curling Club was Nancy Clancy-Ardsley, Jennifer Stannard-Nutmeg (the wannabe), Nancy Pacheco -Chicago and me. Our team is called the Dancing Nancies. It was a two day event with 16 teams mostly from the mid-west, but the Curling Club of Aruba was there. We won the party!

Empire State Bonspiel

The Empire State Women’s Bonspiel will be January 23rd – 26th in Utica this year. Betty Sovik, Marie Pletenik and Dorothy Szymaszek will be going to this event. Let’s wish them all Good Luck and Good Curling!

Family Bonspiel

On December 26th there were 6 teams that participated in the Family Bonspiel. They were determined to curl and not be snowed in! The winners of the Family Spiel were Iain Monroe, Carol Monroe, Nancy Boone and Dwight Boone. Everyone had a very nice time. There was curling, pizza and drinks. A big THANKS to Ed Kennelly for bartending. Thanks to all who participated.

New Year's Brunch

For the New Years Day Brunch there was Drinking, Curling and Eating. Exactly that order. There was a champagne punch, hot butter rum (for Evie) and a pot luck brunch. There was a great turn out and I want to thank Carol and Maxine for putting the event together and making it a success to start out the new year!

Lose a Watch?

Mike has found a watch. If you have lost one recently connect with him at the bar to see if it is yours!

Wedding Bells

Congratulations to Becky and Shaun Paul who were married on December 21st. To a lifetime of Love and Happiness!

The Evie Blackhall Memorial Fund

For those of you who would like to give a gift in Evie's memory there has been a fund put together in her honor. The Evie Blackhall Memorial Fund is supported by Evie’s family and has been established to improve the appearance of the club based on areas that Evie wanted to see updated. There is a damaged window that Evie always wanted sealed. We would like to fix this and have it be "Evie's Window". Some other improvements could be to the outside of the curling club such as landscaping or a new fixed sign for the club. Judy McCullough is the organizer of the fund and would be happy to accept any donations in Evie’s memory.

What's (Been) Going On, Continued?

This installment of the “What’s (Been) Going On” concerns our heating system. Recently, we have completed the installation of a new method for warming the house temperature and for de-humidification. What’s this all about you might ask? Well, this past summer we asked NYSERDA, a public entity dedicated to energy conservation, to conduct a study of the feasibility of recapturing the heat generated in our brine chiller plant to heat the house.

This would let us eliminate the use of the natural gas heater mounted on the roof. The gas heater, by the nature of its operating method, was drawing in outside air with its ambient humidity, heating it, and then adding moisture from the by-products of gas combustion, and, finally, exhausting this warmed air into the house. While this led to more comfortable curling conditions, it resulted in the frosty conditions of our ice surface and a damp clammy feel to the air.

The NYSERDA study said it was feasible to use the chiller heat and so a system was designed and has recently been completed. The systems includes a boiler (for supplemental heat on a contingency basis) and an extensive plumbing, heat exchanger and valve system that is all solid state controlled for optimum performance.

If you have that techno-engineer-propeller head mentality and would like to know the gory details and the theory of operation see Jeff Mayott (see, another good reason to get to know Jeff) or one of our other illustrious ice shed wizards (you can get to know them too, there the ones with the robes and pointy hats).

Meanwhile back to the results. The heat from the chillers is transferred to a circulating system through a heat exchanger and the heated liquid is passed though two hot water air coils inside the dehumidifiers we installed before last season. House air is then drawn through, dehumidified, warmed and exhausted back out into the house through that long metal phallic object that runs overhead. What does this all mean, you may ask? Well, as many of you may have noticed the ice surface is keener than ever before at this time of year. The ice shed is more comfortable, less “clammy”. And, as an added bonus we use less energy. This will result in lower utility bills in the future (our largest budget item) as we will no longer use natural gas to heat the ice shed. So, now you may ask what next? That will be in our next installment.

Important Items to Note

• The LOVEJOY Event has been rescheduled to March due to a power outage.
• LADIES – remember to sign up for the All-American on Thursday nights at 6:30. This league starts 1/30/03. Sign up sheet is in the ladies locker room.
• Remember to visit the Curling Boutique to purchase equipment, clothing or even the Take Out Curling game for your computer. I got it for Christmas and I love it! The only downfall is that there are no women players, what is up with that?

Men's League Updates

By Skip Rock, Roving Reporter

Here’s the New Year’s Round-up:

VAN DE CAR

Our premier league has played its first four rounds of matches. The rink led by Bob Mulig remains the only undefeated team. Charlie McCullough follows closely behind with three wins. The Greg Kaczmarek and Jim Colton rinks are still gunning for their first win.

GRAHAM

The Graham League has played the first four rounds of its regular season games. Currently, only one team remains undefeated. This is the rink led by Jim Sinkins. There are four teams with even records of 2 and 2. They are Matt Staccone’s, Charlie McCullough’s, Howard Knudsen’s and Jack Stopera, Jr.’s. Bob Benjamin will be looking for his first win in the new year.

PLETENIK

With four rounds in this league completed there are no longer any undefeated teams. There is currently a five-way tie for leadership in the league. These teams are lead by Bill Jerome, Doug Spring, Marty Zavadil, Dion Warr, and Shaun Paul Manore. In the coming weeks a leader should emerge from this close race.

O’MALLEY

Our league for novice skips has two new teams joining it. These new rinks are lead by Dan Machold and Hank Cassidy. Our beginning four rinks have had their first four games of competition. Second year curler Pat Fitzgerald still leads the league with a 3 and 1 record. The other three squads have even records. Of our two new rinks Mr. Machold sports an even 1 and 1 record while Mr. Cassidy still searches for his first victory. Our new squads have not played as many games as the rest of the teams but we hope that some arrangement can be worked out so as to provide a comprehensive standings list.