Saratoga Sampler

Tempus goal: Longer life at a healthy weight

By Mary Ann Cook

TO HEALTH: The Tempus Clinic may be too steep for most of us, with its $25,000-a-year price tag, but it promises measurable results in a year's time through a tailor-made program of diet and exercise. Its comprehensive physical is so thorough that metabolic changes are measured every few months.

A personalized one-year diet and physical training plan is drawn up in conjunction with one's own doctor. Longer life at a healthy weight, increased fitness and general well being are the expected results. The health club is newly located at 536 N. Santa Cruz Ave. in Los Gatos and should open in mid-April.

The club's president, Dr. Mike Nichols, is on sabbatical from his practice in Saratoga in order to devote himself fully to preventive medicine. Other personnel are Joe Politi, chief operating officer; Phil Tonry, physical trainer; and Barry Benight, director of engineering and new products.

Politi is a product of the system. He lost 40 pounds of fat in the past year and gained 10 pounds of muscle. Whether the weight is fat or muscle can be determined by a Bod Pod, a mechanism designed to measure the ratios exactly.

The Bod Pod is one of the club's many state-of the-art pieces of equipment. The Tempus phone number is 408.354.0801.

BEST OF SHOW: The motorcycle that Ricky Bunch built from a '94 Fatboy frame and parts for a 2001 Harley Chopper won Best of Show at the Easyriders Bike Show in Sacramento recently. Bunch, 16, is a sophomore at Saratoga High School.

Other motorcycles he has helped with have won prizes, too, but this is the first time he did all the work himself, plus this show was the creme de la creme of bike shows. His father, Richard Bunch, no stranger to motorcycle restoration himself, bankrolled the project. The entire motorcycle was nickel-plated.

It was Ricky's idea to commemorate the tragic events of 9-11 with a painting of the flag and the New York City skyline on the motorcycle's coffin gas tank. The Los Angeles-based painter enhanced the concept with an American Eagle emerging from the American flag, flying above the New York skyline. The painting brought tears to some adult eyes at the show, Ricky says.

The Bunches are nothing if not motorcycle-addicted. Richard Bunch owns a private motorcycle museum in San Jose with perhaps 90 bikes in the collection. The Guggenheim Museum just called: they want to buy one and borrow 17 others for a show.

ANTIQUE SHOW: With the popularity of antique shows on TV, it's no wonder Assistance League drew so many people--more than 200--to its second Antique Show and Tell luncheon recently. Experts were on hand to offer informal appraisals of the artifacts brought in.

A turn-of-the-century clock (20th century) still working, a chest of drawers made by the owner's grandfather out of cigar boxes, and a miniature derringer were some of the items that the experts singled out for comment.

Appraisers stepped to the microphone to acknowledge unusual pieces, though they were reluctant to publicly place a dollar amount on the objects. Appraisers were Michael Berry, Lynne Denman and Chris Redford of Saratoga; Shirley Henderson and Sue Okey of Los Gatos; and Pat Nauer, David Dittmann and Steven Wayne Yvaska.

SPRING TEA TALLY: Activist Georgia Travis, for whom the homeless women's drop-in center in San Jose is named, died 10 days before the annual AAUW event that raises money for the center was held. That event is the Spring Tea, held annually by the AAUW Committee on Homeless Women and Children.

Mrs. Travis, an advocate for the disadvantaged, was 93 and lived at the Meadows in her last years. JoAn Lambert and Nancy Anderson were again the tea co-chairwomen, jobs they have held for the 14 years since the initiation of the fundraiser.

Entertainment was provided by the Dancing Divas, a tap dance group of seniors from the Camden Rec Center. Servers were members of Saratoga High School California Scholarship Federation. Food was homemade by committee members.

CHOCOLATE: Rivers of Chocolate chalked up a healthy total for its yearly gala, despite the economic downturn and the cold weather. Held at the Mountain Winery, the event is a benefit for Social Advocates for Youth (SAY). Though ticket sales were down, businesses came through.

There were more high-ticket auction items and more underwriting. A Harley Davidson was sold for $9,500; a 36-inch slim TV produced $2,000; and a dinner hosted by Gene Burns of KGO radio brought in $1,800. Guitarist George Kahumoku helped secure the Hawaiian vacation that added $3,000 to the coffers.

SAY sponsors programs for at-risk youth, such as shelter, transitions from foster care and tutoring. A recent Packard grant means case managers now at two Sunnyvale schools and monthly parenting forums.

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