Step One. Tradition One. Concept One. January We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.

Central Intergroup Office of the Desert 35-325 Date Palm Drive

Suite 134

Cathedral City CA 92234 Open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Mon.-Fri.

10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sat. & Sun. West Valley 760.324.4880 East Valley 760.568.4004

Fax 760.324.4851

Web site: www.AAintheDesert.org manager@aainthedesert.org

Intergroup Meeting

1st Thursday of the month, 7 p.m. Board of DirectorsMeeting 3rd Thursday of the month, 6 p.m.

General Service, District 9 1st Sunday of the month, 4PM

Fellowship Hall 45940 Portola Ave.

Palm Desert

Mailing Address: P O Box 3684 Palm Desert 92261-3684

Hospitals & Institutions

Last Wednesday of the month, 6:00 p.m. Fellowship Hall

45940 Portola Ave. Palm Desert

Mailing Address: P O Box 1843 Palm Desert 92261

Mid Southern California Area (MSCA) P O Box, 51446, Irvine CA 92619-1446

Web site: www.msca09aa.org TheGeneral Service Office, P O Box 459,

Grand Central Station NY 10163 Web site: www.alcoholics-anonymous.org

January 2009

A publication of the Central Intergroup Office

of the Desert serving the Coachella Valley.

Step One

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol

-that our lives had become unmanageable.

Tradition One

Our common welfare should come first;

personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.

Concept One

Final responsibility and ultimate authority for

A.A. world services should always reside in the

collective conscience of our whole Fellowship.

Surrender

-

to give oneself up, as into the power

of another; submit or yield.

We thank all of the birthday celebrants for their contributions to the Central Office Birthday Club.

Central Office Activity

for November

We are Responsible!

Meeting Info

12 Step Calls

Visitors

Literature Sales

Al-Anon

Other 12 Step

Misc.

Business

Answering Service

12 Step

Meeting Info

Other

TOTAL:

November

230

5

90

105

10

15

60

32

18

25

2

592

Letters to the Editoror Articles for the Desert Lifeline

must be received by the 15th of the month for consideration of publication in the following month’s issue.

Please submit your material forThe Desert Lifelineto: Central Intergroup Office of the Desert

35-325 Date Palm Drive, Suite 134, Cathedral City, CA 92234. E-mail: manager@AAinthedesert.org

Central Intergroup Office of the Desert

Board of Directors

Chairman: SherAli J. Vice Chairman: John E.

Treasurer: Mike B. Secretary: Lee F. Directors Garrett D. Jim D. Paul A. Paul R. Rebecca K.

Desert Lifeline Editor: Jim K.

Birthday Celebrations

Dakota R 1 John B 1 Keith W 1 Liz H 1 Jessica G 2 Rolando N 5 Mary L 8 Mario R 9 Jeremy 12 Dani M 13 Mike G 16 Jeff M 20 Don M 23 Helene H 26 Curt C 30 Ruth F 43 Connie L 45 Chad S 1 Chris R 1 Kenny M 1 Syble B 1 Mark H 2 Doug R 5 Bridgett 6 Heather B 6 Maryann A 16 Wendy B 16 Pat S 23 Jana 24 Jerry G 28

Change is

inevitable _{Maps now available for most meetings …..Check it out!}Please visit us at: www.AAintheDesert.org

NEW MEETINGS & MEETING CHANGES New Meetings:

Palm Springs, 10PM Attitude Adjustment, AA Attitude Adjustment Group, 559 S Palm Canyon Drive, B105, 10PM Daily

Ranch Mirage, Just The Black Print Big Book Study Group, Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert, 72425 Via Vail, Wednesday, 6:30 PM

Location Name Change:

La Quinta—all meetings listed as Francis Hack Park are now listed as La Quinta Community Park

Location Change:

Palm Desert, Desert Men’s Big Book Study, Tuesday, 7:00 PM has moved to St Margaret’s Church, 47535 Highway 74

Time Change:

Attitude Adjustment, Rancho Mirage AA, 41750 Rancho Las Palmas, Bldg F—all meetings Monday—Friday 6:30 AM

Wanted!

We need a volunteer to be the publisher of the Desert Lifeline. The job requires

5—10 hours per month—usually in the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the month.

Skills required are Microsoft Publisher. If interested, contact Central Office at

760.324.4880 or email manager@aainthedesert.org.

Get involved!

November Web Site Hits

November Website

Usage

Highest # of sessions in a day: 184 Highest # of hits in one day: 10,189

Avg. sessions/day: 140.93 Avg. hits/day: 7,135.83

Total sessions: 4,228 Total hits: 214,075

Session: A series of Hits to your site over a spe-cific period of time by one visitor.

A 'Hit' is simply a successful request to your web server from a visitor's browser for any type

of file, whether an image, HTML page, an MP3 file, or any other type. A single web page can cause many Hits -- one for each image included

Book of the month!

As Bill Sees It

Hard Cover Edition

Normally $7.00 — this month $6.25

November VOLUNTEERS – Central Office

DESERT LIFELINE

Subscription Form

Name: _____________________________________ Address: ______________________________________

City: _____________________________________ State: ___________ Zip code: ____________ Phone: ____________________________________ Home Group: ________________________________

Please mail the Subscription

form with your annual

subscription fee of $20 to the

address on the front of the

Desert Lifeline for your

Central Intergroup Office.

Don’t miss an issue, have the

DESERT LIFELINE

delivered to your mail

box each month.

Ann T

Brenda F

Carol W

Dallas E

Dave O

Dennis H

Don P

Dorit R

Emil M

Gene S

Jerry G

Jill J

Jim D

Kathy P

Lynda B

Mike B

Pat W

Patrick L

Pat W

Paul A

Peggy M

Phillip F

Rebecca K

Steve C

Steve P

Stuart H

Suzy & Bob A

Tony M

December Puzzle Solution

Tradition One

Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.

The long form of tradition one states “we are small part of a great whole”.

What a change to the old way of life, when we thought so much of ourselves, made drastic, dumb life changes without any help from another person. We did it all by ourselves which brought many of us close to death.

Then we walk through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous and learn the ‘Great Whole’ is the brothers and sisters of Alcoholics Anonymous of which we become a part of.

When so done, AA continues to grow and we learn as a group the AA design for living. John E

Puzzle answers will appear in next month’s Desert Lifeline.

You can also find them on our web site — www.aainthedesert.org

The Spiritual Spiral

I wake up

I give up

I get up

I clean up

I brush up

I make up

I suit up

I show up

I sober up

I listen up

I open up

I grow up

A day at a time,

Dallas Ann E.

Happy, joyous & free!

Concept One

Final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A. world services should

always reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship.

The concepts were developed out of necessity, the necessity that our founders were mortal. A structure for the continuance of AA World Service needed to be developed. The Twelve Concepts of World Service is that structure. Concept 1 is based upon Tradition 2 “For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern”.

The 12 Concepts gave AA the upside-down triangle to represent the service structure of Alcoholics Anonymous. The triangle depicts how our service structure works, from the individual AA groups (Concept 1) at the top, the District below the groups, then the Area, to the annual General Service Conference at the bottom of the triangle. There will be new service needs and new problems will arise. Structural changes will be necessary and these changes will be driven by the collective conscience of our fellowship (Concept 1), starting with our individual groups consciences.

Paul S

Oxy-Moron Group, Elmer's Restaurant, Palm Springs

The Ones We’ve Lost

Gloria Decker

Fredricka Saldivar

Mark You Calendars!

Secretary Workshop at Central Office

Sunday, February 22, 2009

CENTRAL INTERGROUP OF THE DESERT INTERGROUP MINUTES

November 6, 2008

SherAli called the meeting to order with the Serenity Prayer.

Board Members

Chairman: SherAli J. Vice Chairman: John E. Secretary: Wendy B. Treasurer: Rebecca K.

Directors

Jim D. Garrett D. Paul A. Paul R. Mike B.

Also Present:

Jim K., Office Manager 31 people were in attendance

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: SherAli read the Reason for Central Office and passed around the 12 Traditions to be read by attendees.

INTRODUCTION OF NEW ATTENDEES: Linda-Stepping Stones, Tuesday 10AM Fellowship Hall-P.D., Shannon-Questions and Answers, Friday 10AM Fellowship Hall-P.D.

MINUTES:Wendy read the minutes for October 2, 2008. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the minutes were approved with the following corrections: Manager report-bid for AAWS Seminar would be for the year “2”011.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Rebecca presented the Monthly Financial Report for September, 2008. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Financial Report was approved with the following correction: Should read Profit and loss “Summary” not “Comparison”

MANAGER’S REPORT: Jim reported on the following:

A. Please sign in at the door. This is used for calling with the meeting reminder and also used for the election eligibility determination. Please take any Desert Lifelines to your meeting location if the rep isn’t here tonight.

B. Thanks to Jane T. for Step 11, Tony C. for Tradition 11, and Stuart H. for Concept 11. Ann M. volunteered for Step 12, Connie Z. for Tradition 12, and Rebecca K. for Concept 12. C. Book of the month is Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) soft cover edition-usually $5.50, this

month only $4.60.

D. 2 new books, 12 Concepts and Grapevine Beginner’s Book

E. Please take forms for the Grapevine subscription back to your group.

F. If Intergroup grows in size, we can rent the room next door for our meeting for about $30 month. Also the room may be available to rent for AA meetings. Call Jim at Central Office for phone number of the person to contact.

G. Elections will be next month. We will be electing 5 board members.

SPECIAL EVENTS:

A. Gratitude Dinner: Jim read a Thank You letter from Fran. We have made a profit of $1,586 so far, but not all the money is in yet.

B. Men’s Banquet: Tony C. reported that the banquet was a big success and that we should be getting an $800 donation.

OUTREACH COMMITTEE: Tony C. reported that he has still not been working on it due to the Men’s Banquet, but that he is now ready to start reaching out.

WEBMASTER:Jim K. reported on the following: Stats for October

Highest # of sessions in one day- 172 Highest # of hits in one day-8,944 Average sessions-138

Average hits-6,537 Total sessions-4,268 Total hits-202,637

Our web hosting company was having more database problems during th e month so Jim decided to move to a different hosting company.

OLD BUSINESS: General Service will be putting the posters in the buses soon for a 3 month period. The posters will say something like “Is Alcohol a Problem? Call Alcoholics Anonymous”

NEW BUSINESS: None

GROUP REPRESENTATIVES - COMMENTS AND/OR CONCERNS:

Q- Some meetings have a lot of people breaking the traditions by mentioning recovery homes.

A-This can be brought up at the business meeting. The meeting can take a group conscience and choo se to put something in the format such as “a group conscience has been taken and we ask everyone to refrain from mentioning the Name of any outside recovery homes (as compared to just saying “a local recovery home) in your sharing as this breaks our traditions in that we do not endorse any outside enterprises. It can also be confusing to the newcomer that they may think that these centers are part of Alcoholic’s Anonymous.

Q-Regarding people bringing pets to meetings

A-First check with the facility where the meeting is being held. Some facilities do not allow dogs in which case the group must abide by this. If the facility does allow dogs then a group conscience should be taken at the business meeting. The business meeting should be after the meeting becaus e the meeting is only for “one alcoholic talking to another.”

Q-Secretary Workshop

A- There will be another Secretary Workshop in probably January or February. Many of these questions will be addressed.

Q- Saying the Lord’s Prayer at the end-some people do not say it due to religious affiliations

A-It is up to the group, suggested format to read “for all those who care to please join us in the Lord’s Prayer”

H&I/G.S. Dist. 9 REPORTS:Rebecca reported for H&I that there are forms in the back and on our AA website if you want to sign up for any panels.

SEVENTH TRADITION: Passed

Upon motion duly made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned followed by the Lord’s Prayer. NEXT INTERGROUP MEETING: Thursday, December 4, 2008@ 7:00 PM

NEXT BOARD MEETING: Thursday, November 20, 2008 @ 6:00 PM Respectfully Submitted,

Wendy B. Secretary

Step One

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol

-that our lives had become unmanageable.

My understanding of this step is this:

1. We = I am not alone, others have done this too. 2. Admitted = to accept as true or valid.

3. We Were = past (before walking in the door of AA). 4. Powerless = have lost the battle.

5. Over alcohol = above the drink

6. That our lives = I am not alone, others have done it too. 7. Had = past (before walking in the door of AA).

8. Become = to undergo change or development. 9. Unmanageable = unable to achieve ones purpose.

So when we put them all together, it means that once we make the first step as others have done, we are not alone. We accept the fact that we have lost the battle with alcohol, we cannot change or develop beyond this point, and we are unable to achieve our purpose because alcohol has control over us. Now that we have made this step, we open the door for the second step and are well on our way to gaining back control of our lives.

Lisa K

Friday Night Speaker Meeting, ABC Recovery Center, Indio

Before A.A. I judged myself by my intentions,

while the world was judging me by my actions.