Xmas and Toastmasters, Part I

Sunday, 19 December 2010

Today my sister and her husband came over to our home and we celebrated Xmas together. They bought some gifts for Owen and Isla, and we had a gift for their dogs. (I also gave a 4-pack of homebrew to my brother-in-law).

We had decided a few weeks ago to not buy gifts for each other. As my sister explained it, if she wants something, she’ll just go buy it…so there’s not much fun in asking each other what we all want and then buying it for each other. She said she just likes to buy stuff for kids. I said that was fine with me, except that then I feel like it’s unfair, since she and her husband have to buy stuff for our kids, but we don’t have to buy anything for them (since they don’t have kids). So that’s when she suggested that we get something for her dogs. I think that’s a good arrangement, and I’m gonna stick with that for future Xmases.

Later, we all went out to eat at Olive Garden. Jennifer and I had tried to eat at Olive Garden a few weeks ago, but it was so busy there – with a wait time of about an hour – that we left and went to eat somewhere else. So, today we tried again. The wait was predicted to be at a half hour. Which, I guess, isn’t so bad. The entryway was packed with people – lots of them clearly having come from church. My sister said, “Getting brainwashed must make them hungry.” Ha! I’ll have to remember that.

Anyway, we were seated about 25 minutes later. One of my co-workers is married to a guy that works at Olive Garden, and she said they always overestimate the wait time. Very smart of them.

Monday, 20 December 2010

Today I gave my first speech in Toastmasters.

Well, technically, I suppose this is my second speech, since I was called on to give an extemporaneous “table topic” speech two weeks ago. But this was my first prepared speech – and it was the first one out of the Competent Communication handbook.

Speech #1 is called the “Ice Breaker” speech. It’s supposed to be 4-6 minutes long.

I decided to title my speech “Four Unique Events” and briefly talk about four things that have happened in my life that are, probably, considered unique by most standards. Actually, at the beginning of my speech, I defended my choice of the word ‘unique’ by stating that these events were unique to me – in that I have only experienced them one time, though I wouldn’t mind doing any of them again.

I also had four slides that I used. I am not really a big fan of Power Point, but that’s what I used. There were five slides, and each one was just a photo; I had no intention of using bulleted lists or just reading from the screen!

Here are the five images I used:

Hey look! It’s my old buddy Tim, in Belgium, shaking hands with me, in France!

Yep, here I am on Oprah. That necktie is made out of hemp, by the way.

Here I am as Right Reverend Zimmerman. As I said in my speech, I’m happy to announce that these guys are still married.

Wow. That’s a big tub for the third floor of an apartment. I’m glad I wasn’t worried that it was going to crash through the floor or anything.

I ended with a picture of mini-me and mini-Jenni.