Erin led us in an Australia Day celebration.  Australia Day is a national Australian holiday with the purpose of celebrating key dates in the country’s early history with the dual purpose of providing Australians another day off from work.  As Lee has come to learn, Australians are quite skilled in taking holidays.

Brian was our Table Topics Master today.  Among other things, he taught us that “rooting” for a sports team in Australia is a much larger commitment than one undertakes when rooting for a favorite sports team here in the states.  If you need more specifics, you should ask Brian.  Joey, Neil, and Li were the fortunate souls chosen to answer Brian’s questions.  Joey told us about the time he had few too many “eucalyptus leaves” and the barely memorable night to which it led.  Neil recounted the time when he nearly encountered his “Steve Erwin esque life-ending-moment”: In nothing but his skivvies, he discovered a rattlesnake in his bedroom.  He graciously spared its life by skillfully capturing it a trashcan and releasing it the next day.  Finally, Li shared with us her wildlife survival knowledge regarding how to deal with rattlesnakes and other poisonous snake species.

Today’s speakers were Robby, Wendy, and Brad.

Robby gave his second speech, which was focused on organization.  His speech was titled “Mountain Biking: Heaven or Hell”.  It was an entertaining and character-revealing speech about a rough and adventurous mountain bike ride down the Santa Barbara Mountains.  Risking life and limb to keep pace with a die-hard roommate, barreling past cliffs, rocks, and trees, Robby’s primary concern was preserving the pristine condition of his roommate’s $3000 bike.  Clearly, Robby is a good guy, putting others before his own well-being.  In the end, he had the time of his life.

Wendy had has laughing and grimacing right along with her as she told us about that one surfer dude she used to date.  Her speech was her fourth from the CC manual and titled “In the Eye of the Beholder: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished”.  It was a tragic romantic comedy (a little dark) as we learned this surfer dude took off to California while Wendy stayed in Texas.  He then lost an eye in a surfing accident and called upon Wendy for support.  Wendy, with her warm, big heart could not say no to a man with one eye, so she spent her MLK Day weekend helping this surfer dude move into a new apartment.  Her good deed was met by only harsh words and disdain.  Not to worry, she got in the last word (and it was a good one) before boarding a plane back to Texas.

Brad shared with us the conundrum of the “Tragedy of the Commons” and ways in which we can address such tragedies once we identify them in every day life.  This was his fifth speech from the CC manual and was titled “My Sheep, Our Land”.  Tragedies of the commons come about when individuals use a common resource, but do not experience the full or actual cost of their use of the resource.  The classic example is when farmers share a common grazing area for their respective sheep and the grazing area becomes overgrazed bringing about the decline of all the farmers.  Government regulation and privatization are a few of the ways tragedies of the commons can be addressed.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Neil

Best Speaker – Robby

Most Enthusiastic – Robby

Best Evaluator – Stuart

Best Humor – Wendy