by Robert Larios, COO, The Club
I send greetings from me, Robert Larios – alternatively known as the always-cooking Chef Larios, the waiting-for-reopening Sports Dude, the Discount King of the past, and solidly the Club’s Chief Operating Officer. I’m writing John Hawkins’ blog this month, in what social media would call a takeover, a different take on matters. As Chef Larios would say, I hope it’s to your taste.
John’s been writing his blog in these pages for nearly 20 years now, and it’s high time he gets a break. (I have much practice, of course, as I’ve been penning “Cooking With the Club” entrée entries for the same amount of time.) As our society and association endeavor to transition past the worst part of the pandemic and into the gradual opening up, the boss gets to take a breath. So vamanos!
I was overjoyed when Club Member Pamela Perez at Sanitation and Environment informed us of the exquisite life-saving exploits of Carlos Aldape and Johnathon Truong. While doing their jobs and protecting Angelenos from pollutants in the rainwater runoff, they pulled a drowning man out of the basin. That was precisely the tale we needed to hear after a year of pandemic panic. As Carlos explains, duty exceeds that of his work tasks. Duty calls for watching out for one another, and paying forward the goodness of life. I concur. Thank you for the reminder, Carlos.
In helping to interview Carlos, I was struck at what an enjoyable and satisfying experience it turned out to be. I trust reading this month’s powerful cover feature will be the same for you.
One additional note about the feature – it might have set an Alive! record for the number of Johns involved: lifesaver Johnathon Truong; Jon Ball, Johnathon’s and Carlos’ supervisor; and of course Alive! editor John Burnes. The Johns were wild on this one.
I wish a happy retirement to loquacious Linda Rorex, one-time Alive! reviewer, who just said goodbye after 30 years of City service. We never got to say a proper thank you to our reviewers after we “retired” that section a few years ago, so I will do so as I see their names cross my desk.
As I complete this month’s blog takeover, I thank you, Club Members, for this was most enjoyable. I wish you hope in the new things in life: springtime, a ranch-ful of fresh avocados, USC basketball (who would have guessed), and Club services and discounts that we continually renew for you. Let’s take care of one other like Carlos and Johnathon did. I will see you soon. Adelante.
