03/22/05 Geospeakers Meeting Summary

Many MOODS (theme of the day) were displayed at our meeting. Ann began with club business which included sending our availability for the upcoming quarter to Shane (see his email on 3/23/05 for our new schedule) and discussing the upcoming contest. It will be held this Thursday (March 31) at Allstate (next to the USGS) at 7pm. The contest categories are International Speech and Table Topics (see today's email from Neil for information). Mitch is the International Contest Toastmaster, but, so far, there are no other Geospeaker participants. Congratulations to Mitch! Embarassment for the rest of us for lack of participation!

Chris announced our TM of the year, Shane Detweiler! Hooray for Shane and his fellow nominees (Mitch and Neil) for all they've done for Geospeakers! Jubilation! Joy! Celebration! Gratitude! Well-deserved!

Mitch introduced the theme of the day with an amazing tour de force including (among many others) mood music, mood disorders, mood swings, mood stabilizers, Judy Moody, Moody Blues, mood lighting, mood rings, imood and mood.com. Speechless!

Ann elegantly presented a speech on Mentoring from the Successful Club Series. She personalized it so well, that it was impossible to tell which bits came out of the can. She pointed out that everyone can use a mentor for something -- for example, you can have a mentor that helps you with a specific topic, like humor. Impressed! Convinced!

Mood-theme-chooser Fran led Table Topics, with a large poster showing cartoons of different moods. She asked us what mood we were in and how various things affected our mood. Mitch was Most Humorous (and co-Most Eloquent), giving us a rapid-fire description of how the first mood he feels when he wakes up in the morning is behind and it gets worse from there. Between his job at Stanford, his work with the Green Party and community access TV, Geospeakers and other projects, he finds himself pulling weeds at 11 pm to take care of his community co-op obligation! Gary was equally Eloquent discussing how his recent fieldwork (in a cold, windy area working from 6 am-11 pm each day) contributed to his current exhaustion, and how he's working towards relaxation but heading next week towards overwhelmed. We found it Most Interesting that our gracious Ann could be so mischievous as to cut the shoelaces on a pair of her ex's shoes!

In addition, Chris was ecstatic and delighted to be at Geospeakers; Neil was so frustrated yesterday that his stress ball got a workout (sounds effects and all); Lauri starts meetings with apprehension and anxiety because of his shyness but comes away feeling fulfilled; Shane thought the mood list needed several additions including apathetic, itchy, and comatose; Carol is dealing with the shock of her daughter's recent CAPRICIOUS grades; and I find music helps my moods. Our visitor, Liz, was hopeful attending her first Toastmaster meeting ever and happy to be at the USGS after watching many NOVA specials.

Congratulations again to Shane! Welcome to Liz! Thanks to Ann for a great speech, Fran for a wonderful Table Topics and to Mitch for setting the mood!

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