Obscure Idioms, Poo-Bahs, Giants and Replanning Life - an interesting morning at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends:

 

TM Tom boggled our minds with obscure idioms that no one has ever heard of:

 

• DTM Mary Helen affably wishes that, besides having the common touch, she could have more vocal regulators in the U-Haul of life.
• TM Aleta pondered about the Aborigenes who practice (/ˈkuːiː/) , a shout originated in Australia to attract attention, find missing people, or indicate one's own location. The word "cooee" originates from the Dharug language of Aboriginal Australians in the Sydney area. ... It means "come here" and has now become widely used in Australia as a call over distances.  She also complained that her metal roof is very noisy during hailstorms in Western Pennsylvania.
• I, Ana, evoked those distant days of raising  children, who are expert at crocodile tears to manipulate their way through life.  I was trained not to believe adult Poo-Bahs and their crocodile tears!  I Won Best Table Topics Award.
• DTM Kip broke into song when asked if he's ever been cruel to be kind.  Check it out!  https://youtu.be/b0l3QWUXVho
• TM Carmine 'fessed up that, while in his cups, he was a book cooker until the Grand Poo-Bahs of External Revenue took him down an Emeril notch.
• TM Jim G.  cudgels his brain – not easy to do – as he brings in the EarlyBird banner and all such accoutrements of the Sargeant-At-Arms.
• TM Jose fondly took us back to the Moorish conquest of Spain – which lasted a mere 900 years- which still takes the blame for Spaniards' food sharing poor habits.  It's all forgiven because they later invented tapas.
• TM Marie reminded us that ALL of us, Poo-Bahs and Non-Poo-Bahs, are in the dress rehearsal before the final curtain drops. Let's practice!

 

As far as prepared speeches go….

 

• DTM Jim D. forgot that he had retired… 7 times… and is loving his current work at a friend's airline with a periodic commute to… Anchorage! From Harleys to jetliners… it's all in a day's work and a variety of virtual backgrounds!
• TM Randolph reminded us of what we already knew:  behind every Poo-Bah in history, there's been a Mrs. Grand Poo-Bah or a Mommy Grand Poo-Bah.  Fullstop.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

 

In the realm of evaluations…

 

• TM Aleta thoroughly enjoyed DTM Jim D.'s speech and marveled at his non-negotiation pause skills which landed him a very lucrative job!
• TM Marie admired TM Randolph's praise of noteworthy female Poo-Bahs and encouraged him to incorporate a personal story to make a great speech more impactful.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

Zoom Watcher TM Paolo  keenly watched us,  and reported that:

 

• Virtual backgrounds enhance or detract from our communication.  He gave us some easy, failsafe formulas to properly position ourselves in our Zoom screens:

 

• Distance Formula: d=√(x₁ – x₂)² + (y₁ – y₂)² ...
• Slope Formula: Slope = y₂ – y₁ / x₂ – x₁ ...
• Slope Intercept: y=mx+b. ...
• Midpoint Formula: (x₁+x₂) / 2, (y₁+y₂) / 2.

TM Paolo  personally favors corner-angle real backgrounds which give depth to the pie r squared area of the room.    <![if !vml]><![endif]><![if !vml]><![endif]>

 

In case you didn't guess the Word of the Day yet, I encourage you to cudgel your brain = think hard.  Something's definitely amiss.

 

POO-BAH, noun

1. A person holding many public or private offices.
2. A person in high position of great influence.

 

Example:  We are all Poo-Bahs in our own legendary minds.

 

YouTube Link for today's recording-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io15OBfllQo

 

See you next week at Tall Tales!

 

Ana

Recap Writer

Earth Day, Earth Day, Earth Day and Robert's Rules of Order - today at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TM Lorena started the meeting with an inspirational Zulu invocation regarding UBUNTU, which means “I am because we are” – translated into 2021 USA vernacular,  “sharing is caring”, or “step aside and let’s all sustain the candy!!”.

 

TopicMaster Jeff led us in Earthly themed table topics….

 

• TM Lorena profusely thanked the Earth for the sunrise, the warmth and the raindrops that keep falling on her head and keep her hair nice and curly.
• I, Ana, proudly divvy up recyclables into 3 categories as prescribed by the City of Fort Lauderdale and that’s a long way from growing up in Madrid amidst sunflower seed shells and shrimp corpses in tapas bars.
• DTM Kip is the proud owner of a Prius which specializes in reining in drifty seniors who are loose on I-95 and this car simply takes him where he needs to go.
• TM Chris highly praised technology and its influence on a healthy environment, especially their favorite RV home away from home.
• DTM Jim D. and DTM Mary Helen, popularly known as the DTMs (Day ToastMasters) practice premeditated driving to control their carbonated footprints.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.
• Guest Ariadna reported that her country of origin, Peru,  has had to increase imports of eyedrops, since  pharmacies and drugstores constantly run out due to PWES (pollution watery eye syndrome).

 

And then came the prepared speeches…

• TM Jose regaled us with a tongue-twister of a speech about drivetrains, powertrains, front wheel and rear wheel drives, and it was all started by the trusted 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado.  Who knew???
• TM Jim G. reminisced about 1970’s first Big Environmental Push and rode his bike 16 miles to school to prove to his Dad that he could compete with  the old parental sob story of ‘walking uphill in the snow to get to school’.  So there!  He Won Best Speaker Award.
• TM Aleta made a motion to prevent hissing, coughing or spitting at any time during a Bored Meeting (errr… that is, Board Meeting), seconded her own motion, discussed it, voted on it and although a minority voice (Aleta’s counterpoint) was heard, the majority (Aleta) prevailed. It’s the best way to run a meeting – by discussion, vote and unanimity, loosely.

 

As far as evaluations….

• TM Tom instantaneously gave Jose the honorary title of Engineer and Head Researcher at EarlyBirds, who can easily sell ice to eskimos.
• Visiting TM Andrew praised TM Jim G.’s masterful use of visuals, pausing, pacing, voicing over a storytelling weave of Earthly disintegration.
• DTM Mary Helen declared TM Aleta Consiglieri of the Godmother Order of Business and Professional Women of the Red Light District 12.  She Won  Best Evaluator Award.

 

Although I was not asked, I won’t take it personally, and here is my first-ever Zoom Master report:

• EarlyBirds can be divided into 4  Zoom categories:  a) solid color backgrounds, b)  intellectual backgrounds (libraries with stepladders, binoculars on tripods, c) action-packed backgrounds (Star Wars, bikers’ picnics or biker rest area)  and d) assorted background messaging (commercial,  philosophical, and undetermined)
• In my book, we are a Zoom-A+ Club as we do not maniacally ask “Can you hear me?” every time it’s our turn to speak. 
• During one evaluation there was background noise of a keyboard stroke nature.  Antidote:  Keep yourselves muted at all times.
• Election Fraud took place today.  Not sure about anybody else, but I voted at least 4 times for Best Evaluator.  Just sayin’…..

 

The Word of the Day was

SUSTAINABLE, adj.

Able to be maintained at a certain level

Example:  In order to be a sustainable Club,  which Officer Position do YOU want to stand for in June’s election?  Geez.  (Ask Kip for job descriptions).

Requirements:  Regular attendance, willingness and having a pulse.

 

YouTube Recording of this meeting is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIGwyS9ou70

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

The Oscars, Valuing Others, Jobs and Learning Labs, all in a day's EarlyBirds meeting

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TM Aleta walked us down the Red Carpet of Tinseltown….

 

• DTM Jim D. thinks most Hollywood award winners belong in the 12-Step program of those who can’t stop talking – called On and On and On.  Use that mute button, somebody, please!!
• TM Pam revealed that she had a risqué grandmother who had a torrid affair with debonair, hunky, stud of studs Charlie Chaplin…. And his mustache!  Oh if we only told our descendants half of what we did while in our prime!   She Won Best Table Topics Award.
• I, Ana, would like to star in a biography titled My Life As A Katherine Hepburn Wannabe, and my wardrobe would consist of pantsuits, while my props would be married Catholic men.
• TM Jose prefers to take long walks but ‘fessed up to watching -at times- gruesome miniseries about current events – they are more accurate than the actual news! He reminisced about the good old days of movie censorship under Generalissimo Franco -who is still dead- when kiss scenes were obliterated and no one in the country understood any movie plots.
• TM Paolo agrees with General Patton, who thought the Oscars are a 2-hour meat market anyway,  and who refused to rise from his grave to accept the award for his no-show portrayer, George C. Scott. 
• TM Carmine’s favorite child actor is Dopey, but his all-time favorite is the cartoon character Carmine who marvels at how people live vicariously through other people’s dopey lives.

 

Today we had extraordinary prepared speeches….

 

• TM Lorena spoke about valuing others and not treating them as invisible beings, much like adults did with us when we were children.  Gossiping behind their back is a socially acceptable practice in HOA circles.
• TM Jim G. regaled us with a whirlwind tour of his job history which was quite remarkable for someone who doesn’t even like to work.  He’s simply a Jim Of All Trades, Master of Computers.
• TM Marie outdid herself as a Level 5 Visionary Communicator all right, full of props, metamorphosing in plain view and nearly blowing up the learning lab with a candle blowing in the wind.  She was last spotted at the grocery store buying a case of pineapples to ship out to her fans.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

 

As far as evaluations go….

 

• TM Jeff praised TM Lorena for the quality of her speech, which included a moral of the story, although he would have preferred that she flat out sue the Board of her HOA for cruel and unnecessary shortsightedness and be done with it.
• TM Aleta -like the rest of us- appreciates the fact that his career in a multitude of polifacetic jobs in Joisy -including saxtuba player in a marching band- landed him in his true calling – EarlyBird TM trusted tech guru and lasting friend.
• TM Joe -also like the rest of us- was awed by TM Marie’s trajectory down 5 levels of Pathways as a Visionary Communicator, which transformed her into a powerful speaker and propmeister– all while under the influence of rose wine, indigestion from eating too much pineapple and hot wax burns from lit candles.  She Won Best Speaker Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

FOCUS, noun

 

In geometrical optics, a focus, also called an image point, is a point where light rays originating from a point on the object converge. Although the focus is conceptually a point, physically the focus has a spatial extent, called the blur circle.

 

For the rest of us non-geometrical opticians, it means “get with the program”.

 

Ex.:  Seances are also called hocus-focus.

 

Recording Link for today’s meeting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jci_v3wmQ24

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Idioms, Icebreaker, Patio Control and The Hills of Tipperary, a fun morning at Early Birds

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

TM Carmine chose his favorite American idioms as Table Topics.  We discovered that…

 

• TM Jim G. is tired of all the red tape he encounters everywhere except when he wants to do some Christmas gift-wrapping – then it’s nowhere to be found.
• TM Paolo thinks in order to drive a hard bargain, in Italy you must practice the old Renaissance adage “qui la dura, la vince”.  He resolutely parla italiano until the red light appears.
• DTM Mary Helen has crushed some people’s Achilles’ heel but later mended fences by gifting them a free pedicure.
• TM Joe’s Dad thought Joe found his buddies and dates by scraping the bottom of the barrel.  Ahhhh those lovely teenage years….
• TM Marie likes dressing to the nines and dreams of her husband daintily carrying her from her beach chaise to the ocean, much like the beach boys did to Bo in the timeless movie “10”. 
• I (Ana) did not know the origin of passing the buck, I simply know that in Spain it’s a national pastime and you don’t have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to injure your heel.   I Won Best Table Topics Award For Most Incomprehensible Table Topic.
• DTM Jim D. prefers to be in the front seat, namely Harley, not Davidson.

 

And then came the anticipated speeches…

 

• TM Randolph delighted us with a lovely icebreaker, where his faith, loyalty, kindness and gentleness shone through.  Like many of us, he’s on a pilgrimage to find the User Manual for Parents.  He Won Best Speaker Award.
• TM Jeff was literally all hands on deck to fix his crumbling yard and patio, where his little dog stuck her paw.  PETA intervened, sent along Manuel and his Dos Amigos, who bought the equivalent of Mt Everest worth of sod, and the rest, as they say, is fodder for Pathways.
• TM Tom took us on a pilgrimage of his Pathways trajectory, starting with the sinking of the Costa Concordia to be blamed on the Captain’s paramour, a bella signora de la notte, only to realize that It’s a long way to Tipperary.

 

As far as evaluations…

 

• TM Tom praised TM Randolph for creating a strong emotional connection through the screen and delivering a nearly perfect speech ironically titled “Why I’m Not Perfect”.
• TM Marie commended TM Jeff for motivating us to take another look at our decades-long To Do Lists – and then set them aside.  Gusto will give it added zest!!  She Won Best Evaluator Award.
• DTM Kip said to TM Tom that the secret to success is to knock off a Pathways project conclusion a year, and the rest is a mere pilgrimage.

 

TM Paolo, as first-time Zoom Master, delivered a full baritono rendition of the opera O Sole Mio, A Virtual Background.  Congratulazioni!

 

The Word of the Day was

 

PILGRIMAGE, noun

The journey of a pilgrim, especially one to a shrine or sacred place.

 

Example:  In the olden days, Early Bird Toastmasters undertook a pilgrimage to The Shrine of Denny’s every Thursday morning, rain or shine - Thanksgiving Day (reluctantly) excluded.

 

 

Here’s the link to today’s YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a00CgAz96n8

 

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

April Fools, Rose All Day, Greek and Unwanted - what a morning at Early Birds!

Dear Members, Friends and Guests,

 

In honor of April Fools’ Day, I started us off with some pertinent Table Topics:

 

• TM Jose confessed that he laughed when others fell in icy Madrid, only to find himself landing on the cold hard ice and being the object of derision from others.  Oh that pesky Karma!!
• TM Joe tricked his now wife into thinking that their date was a bet, and now, after 20 years of (happy) marriage, she knows that he married her on a bet!!
• TM Lorena has been able to switch her work schedule so she can stay till the end of our meetings.   Her bosses think it’s just a prank on April Fools’ Day!
• TM Jim G. solemnly stated that he will not attempt to trick the IRS on April 15, especially since the IRS has postponed tax filing day till June!   He Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM Chris started an April Fools’ Blog last year inspired by the pandemic, but her wildest imagination could not have matched the reality of what was to come!
• DTM Mary Helen lives by  the phrase ‘fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”  She’s a big fan of renowned prankster George Clooney, who was recently pranked by his wife with a dirty diaper switcharoo in complicity with their alert twins.

 

And then came amazing prepared speeches….

 

• TM Paolo delighted us with an early morning degustation (aka Rose Renaissance)  of Cote de Roses, which goes through a short process of maceration of seeds, stems, crushed red grapes and Paolo can’t bring himself to throw away the beautiful empty bottles.  A questo punto, he has had to buy a Public Storage facility to keep the empty bottles.  Mamma Mia!

 

 

<![if !supportLists]>·     <![endif]>TM Tom impressed us with his solid knowledge of Greek στάθμευσε το αυτοκίνητό σου 

Which he used on his eccentric rogue Polish neighbor but alas, it impressed the Pole too  – after 20 years, the covered car disappeared from the street never to be seen again.  Go Condo HOA!!

• Guest TM JOB Mogire made a heart-rendering speech about the hardships and isolation he endured growing up and how he was able to let the pain instruct him, rather than destruct him.  Good luck in the contest!  You are well on your way to a win!  Come visit us again.  He Won Best Speaker Award.

 

As for evaluations…

 

• TM Aleta absolutely loved TM Paolo’s wine tasting class and was subsequently spotted headed for the nearest Wine & Spirits in West Pennsylvania.
• DTM Kip is brimming with pride that TM Tom has reached Level 5 of Pathways, and is proposing Lasik surgery for Tom to avoid eyeglass glare on the camera lens.
• Back with great gumption, TM Carmine praised Guest TM JOB for his touching speech and will propose  to TM International to start giving out prizes to Mentors of Speech Winners at Contests.  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

GUMPTION, noun

 

shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness.

 

Example: 

 

It takes gumption to be the minority opinion in any controversial discussion.

 

Recording for the meeting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkwlt-5dhw

 

See you next week!

 

Ana

Recap Writer