Maria served as Madame Toastmaster for today’s Rodeo themed meeting.  Kristina chipped in with an invocation to start the meeting and wise words to close the meeting: “Cowboys, don’t squat with your spurs on.”  Stuart, an experienced Rodeo Clown, served as Timer and Patrick with a southern drawl was General Evaluator.

Louis was Table Topics Master calling on Brandon, Robby and Leif.  In his debut meeting as a member, Brandon talked about how living in Austin made him feel a little more like a cowboy in a city compared to back home in Oxford, Mississippi.  We learned Robby thinks bull riding is a little crazy, but it seems plausible he’d get hooked after a ride or two.  This is a guy who has barreled down the Santa Barbara mountains on a mountain bike sans body armor and with just a bit of styrofoam protecting his head.  As always, Leif enlightened us, this time by sharing tales of working with livestock.  Apparently, it’s a lot like parenthood – no wait, the drug trade is a lot like parenthood.  Oh darn, so confusing – Leif it seems like time for a speech to clear things up for us.

Today was our lucky day in terms of speeches.  We heard from three Toastmasters that we have not heard from in awhile – it was a treat.  Russell, Taline and Corky were today’s speakers.

In his third speech, Russell talked about the loves of his life: football and his girlfriend.  Well, actually he recounted some of his girlfriend’s sweet, innocent questions about the mysterious ways of football.  We learned about those little dash things on the field, what a wheel route is, and how teams like the Longhorns end up with plays called “Wildcat”.  Hopefully, in his next speech Russell will cover how they move that yellow first down line that stretches the width of the football field so quickly after each play.

Taline had the perfect Valentine’s Day and we got to hear about it in her third speech from the Entertaining Speaker Manual.  Taline spent Valentine’s Day morning running the Austin Marathon.  During the 26.2-mile race she observed a variety of shirts, signs, and people – some inspirational and others just plain amusing.  Some of the shirts worth remembering read “Running: Cheaper than Therapy”, “ Running my mass off,” and “In my dreams, I am Kenyan”.  The most memorable sign was the set of four by Mr. Fisher offering to escort women at their marathon goal pace from mile 19 on into mile 26.2.  What woman wouldn’t want a man that puts her needs and goals in front of his own?  In the end, Taline was happy to have picked up a pair of running shoes and joined the race with the masses.

Corky confessed he is a “businessaholic” not to be confused with a workaholic.  Corky is addicted to starting businesses; his entrepreneurial spirit is strong and never ending.  This is a man that collects businesses like some collect baseball cards.  We learned he has started about 40 businesses over roughly the same number of years.  Everything from bike shops to drywall to baby clothes to computers.  He has had some grand slams most notable of which are his pawnshops called EZ Pawn.  He has also had a fair number of losers, but you have to be willing to go down swinging for the fences if you want to be an All Star.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Leif

Best Speaker – Taline

Most Enthusiastic – Corky

Best Evaluator – Robert

Best Humor – Taline