06/28/05 Geospeakers Meeting Summary

President Ann Gunderson called the meeting to order. Stephanie Ross galvanized us with a series of quotes about the joys of PERAMBULATORY activities.

Club business:
Robert’s Rules were in order as Ann led us through the procedures of voting for 3 changes in Toastmasters International bylaws. The changes involved: 1) increase of dues; 2) disciplinary procedures to be specifically written into the bylaws, even though they are the same as they've always been; and 3) (I didn’t catch this last one in my notes; can someone help me on this one?) In any event all three votes were a unanimous "Yes."

Ann thanked all the outgoing officers by presenting them with copies of "words of wisdom" from a new book she has, "The Art of Doing Nothing" by Veronique Vienne. Though I doubt any of our "retiring" officers will be significantly less busy in the coming months, the techniques described will be just what are needed to catch our breaths.

Fran Hostettler served as Toastmaster today, introducing the theme of "Hiking," a favorite pastime in such beautiful country as we live in. Master Evaluator Gretchen Luepke Bynum introduced the evaluation team, with 2 substitutions being in order. Chris Gutmacher volunteered to be timer. New member Daniel Malmon courageously stepped in as ah-counter (a.k.a. "the wizard of ahs"), substituting for Neil Shapiro, who could not be with us today. Stephanie Ross was our wordmaster/grammarian.

Gary Curtis enlivened the meeting with a his intriguingly-titled speech "A Bad Day Fishing" (C&L manual #4 How to Say It). The title came from his observance of a bumpersticker that reads, "I’d rather have a bad day fishing than a good day at the office." Gary, who has been a commercial fisherman, described one really bad day when an unexpected wave in a narrow bay threatened to make driftwood of his boat, and indeed ended up breaking ribs – of the boat! His vivid stories, which included a reference to the best seller "The Perfect Storm," should "help us to identify more with the people who produce our food," another phrase he worked into this well-executed speech. Carol Reiss evaluated the speech.

Ann served as Table Topics master. Our members came up with a wide array of interesting adventures in PERAMBULATION.

• Chris was Most Eloquent in describing one hike to a beautiful swimming hole and some anxious moments in another hike through a slot canyon, where flash floods are always a concern.
• Fran was Most Humorous in describing an encounter with nudists on a beach where she and some male colleagues were doing fieldwork.
• Most Interesting was new member Daniel, who went skinny-dipping in the ocean, saw a bear on the beach and scared him off with much jumping and shouting – and then discovered there was a Boy Scout camp nearby!

Thanks to everyone for making this such a fun meeting!

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