Tuesday, 12 June 2012
So, I have kind of this Janus-faced approach to tasks at my job. A few weeks ago, in a moment of forward-looking caffeine-enhanced vigor, I volunteered to give a speech at an upcoming forum.
It’s a week away now, and I’ve spent a good chunk of today preparing for it. A couple co-workers have epxressed that I’m a good fit for giving this presentation, since, you know I am in Toastmasters. “Well, yes,” I respond, “but see, in Toastmasters, I get to speak on topics that I’m an authority on, and the audience is made up of people who know I am there to craft my speaking skills. At the upcoming forum, by contrast, I will be speaking in front of people with greater education, experience, and positions than me – so I’m clearly not the authority. Also – in contrast to Toastmasters – they’re rightly expecting a good presentation.”
I’m actually co-presenting, which offers its own benefits and challenges. On the one hand, it means I only need prepare about 8 minutes of material (instead of 15, which most other speakers will have). It also means that, during the Q and A session, I can just gesture toward my co-worker as if to say, “Ask him. He knows.” But the downside is, it’s tough to finalize what I’m gonna say without my co-worker there with me, so we keep having to get together.
Anyway, my supervisor thinks it’s great that I offered to speak. So, I guess that’s good. I’ll see if he feels the same way next Tuesday. Thankfully, I’m splitting for a class in Chicago right after the forum, so hopefully by the time I see my co-workers again, they’ll have forgotten about whatever may or may not happen.
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Did you know that right now our Congress is so unpopular, they have an approval rating of only 17%. Part of me wonders: who are these 17 people out of every 100? But the other part of me thinks this is what they should expect.
I don’t feel like getting into a political discussion right now, but some sites I visit feel this bodes poorly both for freshmen (who were supposed to get in there and fix things) and for the more senior members (who, come on, still don’t have their crap together).
But instead of talking about all that, just visit the Washington Post. They put together a hilarious slide show presentation of other things in recent history that have been more or less popular than our current congress. Included among this presentation is a comparison between the current congress and Nixon during his final week in office. Which one do you think was more popular? Go here and find out: Washington post article.
Thursday, 14 June 2012
I keep forgetting to talk about this here, but I signed up for a workout class at my job. It’s every Wednesday at 4:00 for eight weeks. It started in early May – actually, the day before my final exam in my last class – and it goes through the month of June.
It’s a great way to end the day! The exercises cover the whole body (or, at least, it feels that way) and almost everything the instructor shows us can be modified. For example, let’s say she’s having us hold our arms out and raise them up and down. Well, she suggests holding weights in our hands, and I usually hold the ten-pounders. But there are weights of varying amounts and, as she points out, you can opt to not use any weights at all or, if you need to, just alternate arms during each rep.
I also like that the class is such a mixed group. There are some co-workers there who are younger, fitter, and trimmer than me. There are also many who are older – including some who I would estimate are in their 60s – and several who need to lose quite a bit of weight. To them, I say: good for you for for joining the class!
Anyway, yesterday, the instrucor focused (moreso than usual) on the muscles around the shoulders. So, today I’m sore there. It’s like I’m even weaker than I was the day before. Even holding Isla makes my upper arms shake. And if anyone asks me lift something heavy, forget it! I won’t be able to assist.