It occurs to me that I haven’t provided an update recently. Last weekend, while I was at Glimmerdark (a convention in New Jersey), I got word that I’ll be speaking at Central New Jersey Mensa’s Snowball Regional Gathering on Saturday, March 4th. My topic will be “Any President but Donald Trump,” because I realized I haven’t spoken on the Presidents at Snowball in about eight years. And no, this will not be a partisan talk bashing any particular President(s). The write-up is: “When writing The Presidential Book of Lists, Ian Randal Strock calculated the “average President” and the extremes. But the election of Donald Trump apparently broke the mold… or did it? While it’s true that President Trump is very far from the average set out by his 43 predecessors, in many respects he may not be as unique as you might think. This look at how Donald Trump compares to other 43 men we’ve called President will be non-partisan, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see the Presidents in a new light, or have some of your preconceived notions confirmed.”

The farther-reaching news is that the petitioning season has ended, and since I had no opponents, I have been declared the winner of this year’s American Mensa election, and will be the next Regional Vice Chairman for Region 1. For those not in the know, I describe the position as a cross between governor and a Cabinet member (in a parliamentary form of government). Region 1 includes all of New England, New York State except for Western New York, and Northern New Jersey. There are ten Regions in American Mensa, and all of those RVCs plus the five national officers constitute the American Mensa Committee (board of directors); we take office July 1st for a two-year term. Thanks, everyone, for your support.