Capital City Toastmasters

With Amy away, Albert attempted to lead us in a somber, serious meeting wholly devoid of any fun of any sort.  (If you believe this, I have ocean-front property to sell you in Arizona.)  Our Emperor did attempt to lead us in a serious meeting, but Taline’s fits of giggles, Carol’s shrieks of laughter, and Stuart’s witty sarcasm kept us smiling and utterly unserious.  And, if that wasn’t enough to get people chuckling, our speakers made our sides hurt and eyes water as we laughed uncontrollably.

The ever-so-serious Patrick was Table Topics Master.  Stuart, Brad, Joey, Wendy, and Li were his victims — challenged to answer some purportedly serious but truly random questions.  Stuart wowed us with a nearly flawless Amy impersonation; the only thing missing was a floral print sweater.  (Okay, maybe not the only thing.)  Brad advocated for more animosity between Republicans and Democrats, encouraging the “nuclear” option over cooperation to push through the healthcare reform bill and move on to something else.  Joey shared with us his thoughts on sexual innuendos and their use in Capital City Toastmasters.  He has never really noticed them used, so clearly Corky has some mentoring to do.  We learned Wendy is fun-loving and could offer no on-the-spot changes to make our club to “straighten up”.  Li encouraged us to be mindful of the H1N1 virus still out there (no need to give pork a bad name by calling it swine flu), but not to be a sucker for those vaccinations.

The speakers of the day were Becky and Robin.

Becky gave her second speech, which she titled “Gone to the Dogs”.  It was fun, entertaining and humorous story about the rewards and challenges of volunteering at the Humane Society.  As Becky said, “It is not always hugs and kisses”.  We learned about embarrassing puppy problems, poo eaters, and the challenges mom dogs face in regaining their girlish figures after giving birth to a litter of puppies.  More importantly, we learned the value of helping community, non-profit organizations provide care to those (including our four-legged friends) in need.  It was a wonderfully entertaining and funny speech – one, we know Amy will be sad to learn she missed.

Robin, oh, Robin, the man Keith declared has a voice for radio. Good thing Robin has spent much of his life as a radio personality, huh?  (Yes, if you weren’t here, you missed a rare appearance by Keith as an evaluator.  He did storm out after his evaluation, but we’re hopeful he’ll return in the near future.)    Robin gave his 10^th speech, officially completing the Competent Communication Manual.  He inspired us to “Go For it” in life with anecdotes vividly illustrating his points.  When people “go for it” in life, they become more interesting, memorable, and serve as great main characters for hilarious stories recounting their “go for itness”.  In any given context, you only need to push the envelope a little bit to join the ranks with those “go for it” people.  You don’t have to cross that line by much.  Just take a party to the roof, moon people to raise money for charity, or trip out on acid while watching Star Wars in a packed theater.  According to Robin, any of these or something similar will make you a “go for it” person.  You might also consider popping open a can of beer during a Toastmaster’s meeting.  Not that anyone we know has ever done that…

As Robert so cleverly pointed out, this meeting reeked of anti-Samet-ism.  Nothing so evil will thrive in this club.  Albert, though it was a valiant effort to impose dignity upon us, we will return to our regular fun-filled, lovingly Sametic ways when Amy returns to us next week.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Stuart

Best Speaker – Becky

Most Enthusiastic – Robin

Best Evaluator – Erin

Best Humor – Robin

No one does a contest like Capital City Toastmasters.  We had a well attended and well conducted meeting that featured some fantastic competition by new and old Toastmasters.  Is anyone surprised?  With Amy as chair, Corky as Toastmaster, and Rey as Chief Judge, could anything go wrong?  Nope.  Not a chance.

First up was the Evaluation Contest.  Our test speaker was Betty, an area governor and member of Balcones Toastmasters.  She delivered a thoughtful and entertaining speech about her venture into her family’s history and her discovery of the home of her great great grandfather, Cornelius, a Confederate soldier, in Burnet, Texas.  Five of our members offered evaluations: Lora, Patrick, Robin, Joey and Louis.   Betty got lots of great feedback on content, on vocal variety, on her stance, on pacing.  Our evaluators were thorough!  At the end of the day, Robin placed third, Patrick placed second, and Louis placed first. 

Then came the International Speech Contest.  We had three contestants:  Brad, Erin and Stuart.  Brad spoke on the value of delayed gratification and offered tips to help us set ourselves up to make the best choices.  Erin spoke of labels – or rather the importance of not living in labels - as she described a time when a label got in the way of a friendship.   Stuart asked us, “When is it time to give up on your dreams.”  His answer?  “Not yet.  Not now.”  All three were great performances.  Scooter Brad placed third, not-so-gumpy-this-time Stuart placed second, and our adorable Erin placed first.

Louis and Erin will represent Capital City Toastmasters at the Area K-52 contest on Monday, March 22.   The contest will take place across the hall from our regular meeting room.  We hope each of you will come out to support them at the next level of competition.

Thank you to everyone who had a hand in this contest.  Thank you to everyone who came as a member of the audience.  You made this contest great.

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

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

Robert served as Toastmaster for our “Ground Hog Day” meeting and helped lift our spirits despite the six more weeks of winter we face.

Lora pitched in as Table Topics Master picking Neil, Amy, and Brenda to answer questions.  From Neil we learned working in manufacturing is a lot like ground hog’s day, where you get to keep doing everything over until it’s right.  Amy told us about the sign foretelling her future that she didn’t quite read right when dating her future ex-husband.  And finally, Brenda told us how she survived a hurricane while living in Houston (her secret a candle, closet, and Honey).

Louis and Brian were the “Ground Hog Day” speakers.

Louis gave a speech titled “Diffusing Verbal Criticism”, which was really much more like a performance.  With Wendy’s enthusiastic help, Louis illustrated how to handle verbal criticism as well as some solid punches from Wendy (not to worry, the punches were an analogy for verbal criticism).  We learned the keys to diffusing a tense situation are empathy and curiosity.  Essentially, to diffuse criticism validate and agree (carefully) with the criticism and then explore why the criticism was given.  All in all, it was a very entertaining and solid performance by Wendy and Louis.

Brian gave his fourth and final speech regarding “Backup and Recovery at Dell – Lessons Learned”; Stuart was crushed by the news of this series coming to a close.  Brian used this speech as an opportunity to revamp his introduction.  He incorporated a new opening story from his days in high school.  He also introduced the key lessons from Dell’s backup and recovery system upgrade.  We now know simple is good, first adopters of new technology work out the bugs, understanding old and new technologies is key, the right people need to be involved, and it’s paramount to know the environment in which you’re working.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Amy

Best Speaker – Louis

Most Enthusiastic – Stuart

Best Evaluator – Robin

Best Humor – Stuart

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

Corky stepped up to lead us in a New Year’s resolution meeting consistent with his strong belief in setting goals and writing a specific plan to achieve those goals.  He even shared some colorful ones that various role players and speakers have made for 2010.

Our Rey of Sunshine was Table Topics Master pitching questions to Taline, Carol and Leif.  Taline told us about her top two New Year’s resolutions.  Now we know by the end of 2010, Taline will be back to tip top triathlon shape and rich in spiritual clarity after reading the Bible from cover to cover.  We learned Carol once had a crazy New Year’s Eve dancing into the New Year with some friends until one was hit smack dab in the middle of the forehead with a champagne bottle cork.  Turns out that New Year started in the emergency room.  Leif then enlightened us with an analogy relating new fatherhood responsibilities to the drug trade – we all seemed to learn a little something in those 2 minutes.

Today’s speakers were Erin, Brenda, and Stuart.

Erin delivered her sixth speech focused on practicing vocal variety.  Her speech was titled “Out of Tune” and was she ever!  Through demonstrations and lively stories we learned and experienced Erin’s tone deafness, but unwavering enthusiasm and love for music.  Her performance even inspired Albert to display his musical skills by serenading Brenda when he was evaluating her speech.

Brenda entertained us with her speech titled “Life”.  She brought us through her experiences in finding her prince charming (our Toastmaster of the day, Corky) and the family she had dreamed of having as a child.  Although the road she took to get to where she is now was not the road she envisioned, she has arrived and is blessed to be living her dream.  It was a story to which so many of us can relate to in some way – you just can’t be quite sure how life will unfold, but with perseverance you can find your way.

Stuart got us all fired up about going on a Jamaican cruise with his fact-finding report, “Report on the Best Shore Excursions at Montego Bay, Jamaica”.  Of little surprise, it seems many of our crew will be spending the majority of our time on the Appleton Estate Rum Tour before making our way to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville.  There are of course many many more options such as Dolphin Encounters, Dunn’s River Falls, and Chukka Canopy Experience.  Overall, it was a thorough and informative report by Stuart.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Leif

Best Speaker – Erin

Most Enthusiastic – Erin

Best Evaluator – Amy

Best Humor – Erin