Amy “The Sledgehammer” served as referee for our annual Battle of the Sexes meeting.  As Amy pointed out, it is a wonderful way to celebrate Valentine’s Day – creating animosity and cutthroat competition between men and women.  It was a tough battle with both genders putting up a good fight in each competitive category: Best Table Topics, Best Speech, Best Evaluation, Most Enthusiasm, and Most Humorous.  No doubt, the men’s team did their best, but it was not enough to overcome the women’s team.  We are women, hear us “ROARRRRRR”.

The women won the Best Speech, Best Evaluation, and Most Enthusiastic categories.  The men took home the Best Table Topics and Most Humorous categories.

John “the Jumper Cable” served as Table Topics Master.  He enlisted help from 14 delegates visiting from South America; these delegates teach English in Chile and Argentina.  The delegates peppered toastmaster’s Brian, Maria, and Albert with questions about U.S. mating rituals, Texan lovers, and the philosophy of love.  Brian compared and contrasted the wooing ways of California surfer dudes and Texas cowboys.  Maria strutted the room as she cooed about her ideal Texan lover  – strong voice, sweet lips, and long legs.  Albert led us all in a heart-warming (and ear-ringing) rendition of “Love is All You Need”.

The day’s speakers were Joey “The Beast”, Erin “The Firecracker”, and Brad “The Knockout”.

In only his second speech, Joey painted vivid pictures and imagery for the audience in his speech titled “Traversing the Boundary Waters”.  It was an enrapturing story of a rugged trip through the waters separating the U.S. and Canada.  With Joey’s descriptive story telling, the audience could see the bald eagles in flight over the open water and the juvenile moose tromping through the dense forest.

Erin gave her seventh speech, which she titled “Well, it Happened.”  She revealed she has fallen in love and this self-revelation motivated her research into how such a thing could happen.  We learned that one theory among psychologists is personality types play a significant role in whom we fall and stay in love with.  Erin strongly encouraged us all to learn more about own personality types and how they influence our relationships.  She recommended the book, “Why Him? Why Her” by Dr. Helen Fisher, as a great initial resource.

Brad presented us all with useful tips for creating a stellar online dating profile.  We learned the keys to a solid profile are your username, photos, as well as what you write in the profile and how you write it.  Usernames should leave a clean slate, guys (and gals) should keep their shirts on for their photos, avoid disclosing too much information (no one should know how many toenail clippers you have), and be sure to use colorful words to describe your hobbies.  In short, be interesting (not creepy) and be interested (not stalkerish).  Most importantly, get a second opinion.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Men’s Team

Best Speaker – Women’s Team

Most Enthusiastic – Women’s Team

Best Evaluator – Women’s Team

Best Humor – Men’s Team