October 10, 2006 Meeting Summary
Kelly T served as our Toastmaster, choosing the theme “The Twins”.
Wordmaster/Grammarian, Laura B, chose propitious for the word of the day.
The Timer was Mary W.
Speaker #1, Marian J, presented “Frederick”. Frederick is a field mouse who “gathers sunrays for cold dark winter days”, “color, for winter is gray,” and words for winter days where the mice will run out of things to say. In the beginning of the winter, the mice were happy…until they ate all of their food, it grew cold in the wall, and no one felt like chatting. Then, they remembered Frederick’s supplies and asked him to share his rays of the sun, colors, and words. Following the story, Marian reminded us that we can work like little field mice, but we have to remember the other things in life, including the importance of the arts that bring the sunshine, clouds, and textures to our lives. (Time: 5 minutes, 40 seconds)
Speaker #2, Mark H, presented “Crossing the Finish Line”. He wore the metal that he earned by running the Twin Cities Marathon and reminded us of the three Cs that he had shared in preparing for the marathon: curiosity, consistency/commitment, and crazy. He also suggested that we need a bit more than the advice columnist suggested—Mark said that it’s not enough to do your best…that’s not all that matters…you need a bit more… In order to share his story, Mark referred to the three Os: Optimism, Obstacle, and Overcoming.
v Optimism: Mark got up for the marathon at 4:15am, picked up his brother and went to his other brother’s. They wanted to be at the beginning of wave two, so they arrived at 7am. Mark and his sister-in-law went into the Metrodome for warmth, bathrooms, and stretching. The 8:15 start to the marathon had beautiful weather and 10,500 people. For the first time ever, Mark had to go to the bathroom at the beginning—fortunately, that feeling passed after three minutes of running. For the first 5-8 minutes, Mark felt great…so great that he got swept away. He was suppose to run eight minutes, then walk one minute, but the water breaks messed him up. Still…he smiled…
v Obstacle: At about the eight mile mark, Mark hit an obstacle. An old knee surgery began acting up earlier than expected, so Mark decided to smile every time it hurt. By the time he’d reached the half-way point of the marathon, his time was 2 hours, 5 minutes. Mark’s second obstacle hit him when he reached the 20 mile mark with a time of 3 hours, 20 minutes—at that point, they’d erected a wall to remind the runners that they were going to hit a wall, then be through the wall. The third obstacle hit when Mark’s left quad froze up—he walked and rubbed it, and the pain went away. At 22 miles, Mark’s wife gave him some running gel—he hurt everywhere and didn’t think he could finish the race.
v Overcoming: After 25 miles, Mark realized that he could fall down and crawl to the finish line and still finish in time, so he decided to jog from then on. The crowd cheered, “It will be over soon!” “You’re almost done!” “The hill is behind you!” The only reason that Mark finished the marathon, though, was because that was the last time he was going to do it. He began to sprint when he thought he saw the finish line—it was further than he thought….
After the race, he found out that his sister-in-law dropped out and that someone actually died during the race (he’d told his co-workers that he might die, so was feeling bad that many of them looked his time up to make sure that he’d survived). Through the marathon, Mark learned that overcoming obstacles and finishing what you start are the true measures of success. (Time: 10 minutes, 30 seconds)
The Table Topics Master was Jeff S. He was only in 5th or 6th grade when the Twins went to the World Series in 1991, so doesn’t remember it, but he does remember being on the A’s team in Little League. His grandma asked him if that was because he got A’s in school! The first professional baseball game that Jeff went to was in Kansas City with his Dad; his brother didn’t get to go along. Jeff asked Kathy J what is her first/favorite memory of America’s Favorite Past-time?
v In high school, Kathy had a crush on the catcher—she was glad to always be able to see him. On Saturday (October 7th), Kathy went to her class reunion and was looking forward to seeing the catcher to see if he was still good looking. (Time: 1 minute, 10 seconds)
Jeff lucked out when he asked Dan Babout the AL MVP, because Dan made a case about the designator hitter and whether or not he should be considered for MVP.
v Dan noted that statisticians tend to like baseball. Big Pappi, David Orteze, sits on the bench, then hits a homerun when he’s called into play. Johan Santana only pitches once every five days. Dan argued whether or not players like these should be considered for MVP. Dan decided that the designated hitter should not be able to win the MVP award, because both glove and bat should be required. They should, however, be considered for the Homerun Award. (Time: 1 minute, 20 seconds)
Dan Bwas also Evaluator #1, evaluating Marian’s folk tale. He commended Marian on her interpretation of the story into every day life, her pauses and her pace. He also liked that she cleared her throat and clapped when the characters in the story did. For next time, Dan suggested that Marian show us the pictures to help us see Frederick in the field and that Marian use more vocal variety. (Time: 2 minutes)
Evaluator #2, Lori G, evaluated Mark’s speech. She liked Mark’s prop (the medal around his neck), that he pushed back the lecturn, his humor, and organization. She did notice some rocking back-and-forth at the beginning of Mark’s speech and suggested that he use the whole room rather than just the right side. (Time: 1 minute, 40 seconds)
Mary Ellen G provided the Inspiration for the day. She shared a story with us about the Clark family (Mr. & Mrs. Clark and their nine children) who had a dream to travel to the USA. Finally, they’d saved enough and purchased tickets on an ocean liner. Seven days before they left, the youngest boy was bitten by a dog, so the entire family was quarantined for 14 days. Mr. Clark cursed the ship as he watched it sail away and cursed God for keeping them from their dream…until the Titanic sank. Then, Mr. Clark thanked his son and God for their blessings. Mary Ellen concluded by reminding us that everything happens for a reason. (Time: 1 minute, 50 seconds)
Reports
Wordmaster/Grammarian - The word of the day was used by Kelly & Marian. Laura also liked Marian’s sunshine and texture, Mark’s O’s, Jeff’s reference to the hawks and crops report, and Kathy’s comment that she hopes the catcher isn’t looking good. There were quite a few ahs/ums—we’re reminded to pause….to make it a period at the end of the sentence.
Timer – see each section for times.
General Evaluator, Keri O, enjoyed the meeting. She applauded Kelly for her topic choice and keeping the meeting moving despite interruptions, Laura B. for choosing a good word and providing a good description and report, Mary for stepping in to time and keeping the lights visible to the speakers, Jeff for giving us some background on the questions and picking good people to answer them, Kathy for using good structure in her response, Dan for his stall and explanation, the evaluators for listening and for providing compliments and suggestions, and Mary Ellen for keeping it short and making us think.
Spirit Award: Mark H
Business Items:
v Speechcraft volunteers are needed.
v Eastern Division Contest was held at St. Paul Travelers. Kelly competed in the Evaluation
Wordmaster/Grammarian, Laura B, chose propitious for the word of the day.
The Timer was Mary W.
Speaker #1, Marian J, presented “Frederick”. Frederick is a field mouse who “gathers sunrays for cold dark winter days”, “color, for winter is gray,” and words for winter days where the mice will run out of things to say. In the beginning of the winter, the mice were happy…until they ate all of their food, it grew cold in the wall, and no one felt like chatting. Then, they remembered Frederick’s supplies and asked him to share his rays of the sun, colors, and words. Following the story, Marian reminded us that we can work like little field mice, but we have to remember the other things in life, including the importance of the arts that bring the sunshine, clouds, and textures to our lives. (Time: 5 minutes, 40 seconds)
Speaker #2, Mark H, presented “Crossing the Finish Line”. He wore the metal that he earned by running the Twin Cities Marathon and reminded us of the three Cs that he had shared in preparing for the marathon: curiosity, consistency/commitment, and crazy. He also suggested that we need a bit more than the advice columnist suggested—Mark said that it’s not enough to do your best…that’s not all that matters…you need a bit more… In order to share his story, Mark referred to the three Os: Optimism, Obstacle, and Overcoming.
v Optimism: Mark got up for the marathon at 4:15am, picked up his brother and went to his other brother’s. They wanted to be at the beginning of wave two, so they arrived at 7am. Mark and his sister-in-law went into the Metrodome for warmth, bathrooms, and stretching. The 8:15 start to the marathon had beautiful weather and 10,500 people. For the first time ever, Mark had to go to the bathroom at the beginning—fortunately, that feeling passed after three minutes of running. For the first 5-8 minutes, Mark felt great…so great that he got swept away. He was suppose to run eight minutes, then walk one minute, but the water breaks messed him up. Still…he smiled…
v Obstacle: At about the eight mile mark, Mark hit an obstacle. An old knee surgery began acting up earlier than expected, so Mark decided to smile every time it hurt. By the time he’d reached the half-way point of the marathon, his time was 2 hours, 5 minutes. Mark’s second obstacle hit him when he reached the 20 mile mark with a time of 3 hours, 20 minutes—at that point, they’d erected a wall to remind the runners that they were going to hit a wall, then be through the wall. The third obstacle hit when Mark’s left quad froze up—he walked and rubbed it, and the pain went away. At 22 miles, Mark’s wife gave him some running gel—he hurt everywhere and didn’t think he could finish the race.
v Overcoming: After 25 miles, Mark realized that he could fall down and crawl to the finish line and still finish in time, so he decided to jog from then on. The crowd cheered, “It will be over soon!” “You’re almost done!” “The hill is behind you!” The only reason that Mark finished the marathon, though, was because that was the last time he was going to do it. He began to sprint when he thought he saw the finish line—it was further than he thought….
After the race, he found out that his sister-in-law dropped out and that someone actually died during the race (he’d told his co-workers that he might die, so was feeling bad that many of them looked his time up to make sure that he’d survived). Through the marathon, Mark learned that overcoming obstacles and finishing what you start are the true measures of success. (Time: 10 minutes, 30 seconds)
The Table Topics Master was Jeff S. He was only in 5th or 6th grade when the Twins went to the World Series in 1991, so doesn’t remember it, but he does remember being on the A’s team in Little League. His grandma asked him if that was because he got A’s in school! The first professional baseball game that Jeff went to was in Kansas City with his Dad; his brother didn’t get to go along. Jeff asked Kathy J what is her first/favorite memory of America’s Favorite Past-time?
v In high school, Kathy had a crush on the catcher—she was glad to always be able to see him. On Saturday (October 7th), Kathy went to her class reunion and was looking forward to seeing the catcher to see if he was still good looking. (Time: 1 minute, 10 seconds)
Jeff lucked out when he asked Dan Babout the AL MVP, because Dan made a case about the designator hitter and whether or not he should be considered for MVP.
v Dan noted that statisticians tend to like baseball. Big Pappi, David Orteze, sits on the bench, then hits a homerun when he’s called into play. Johan Santana only pitches once every five days. Dan argued whether or not players like these should be considered for MVP. Dan decided that the designated hitter should not be able to win the MVP award, because both glove and bat should be required. They should, however, be considered for the Homerun Award. (Time: 1 minute, 20 seconds)
Dan Bwas also Evaluator #1, evaluating Marian’s folk tale. He commended Marian on her interpretation of the story into every day life, her pauses and her pace. He also liked that she cleared her throat and clapped when the characters in the story did. For next time, Dan suggested that Marian show us the pictures to help us see Frederick in the field and that Marian use more vocal variety. (Time: 2 minutes)
Evaluator #2, Lori G, evaluated Mark’s speech. She liked Mark’s prop (the medal around his neck), that he pushed back the lecturn, his humor, and organization. She did notice some rocking back-and-forth at the beginning of Mark’s speech and suggested that he use the whole room rather than just the right side. (Time: 1 minute, 40 seconds)
Mary Ellen G provided the Inspiration for the day. She shared a story with us about the Clark family (Mr. & Mrs. Clark and their nine children) who had a dream to travel to the USA. Finally, they’d saved enough and purchased tickets on an ocean liner. Seven days before they left, the youngest boy was bitten by a dog, so the entire family was quarantined for 14 days. Mr. Clark cursed the ship as he watched it sail away and cursed God for keeping them from their dream…until the Titanic sank. Then, Mr. Clark thanked his son and God for their blessings. Mary Ellen concluded by reminding us that everything happens for a reason. (Time: 1 minute, 50 seconds)
Reports
Wordmaster/Grammarian - The word of the day was used by Kelly & Marian. Laura also liked Marian’s sunshine and texture, Mark’s O’s, Jeff’s reference to the hawks and crops report, and Kathy’s comment that she hopes the catcher isn’t looking good. There were quite a few ahs/ums—we’re reminded to pause….to make it a period at the end of the sentence.
Timer – see each section for times.
General Evaluator, Keri O, enjoyed the meeting. She applauded Kelly for her topic choice and keeping the meeting moving despite interruptions, Laura B. for choosing a good word and providing a good description and report, Mary for stepping in to time and keeping the lights visible to the speakers, Jeff for giving us some background on the questions and picking good people to answer them, Kathy for using good structure in her response, Dan for his stall and explanation, the evaluators for listening and for providing compliments and suggestions, and Mary Ellen for keeping it short and making us think.
Spirit Award: Mark H
Business Items:
v Speechcraft volunteers are needed.
v Eastern Division Contest was held at St. Paul Travelers. Kelly competed in the Evaluation
posted by Mutual Voices Toastmasters | 6:24 AM
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