Today is Wednesday so it is the day for our weekly Toastmaster meetings. For anyone not familiar with Toastmasters, my description is this:
A club made up of individuals whose common goal is to become better public speakers and leaders by participating in weekly roles that utilize communication and leadership skills.
The roles within each weekly meeting are designed for each participant to practice speaking in a group setting for 1 - 2 minutes or longer if you give a prepared speech on the topic of your choice. I have enjoyed being involved in our club but plan to call it quits in June due to the time commitment.
Anyway, each meeting everyone votes on the Best Speaker, Best Evaluator and Best Table Topics speaker. Table Topics are so fun! It is when the Table Topics Master picks people in the audience at random and give them a topic to speak on for 1-2 minutes. Any topic is fair game. Today's Table Topics Master had topics for us to draw from that range from your best dream to how to become a millionaire to describe the rules of your favorite game. My topic was to describe my favorite moment as if I was a famous sports player.
This was perfect because my favorite moment in sports is a true story. When I was in the fourth grade I was asked to be on my elementary school's girls basketball team. I was the only fourth grader and thought that was cool. Most of the season I rode the bench but toward the end of the season I was let in the game because all the other subs had fouled out.
I recall being so excited and scared at the same time. I knew no one would pass me the ball but at least I got in the game. I remember pulling my socks up to my knees and making sure my shirt was tucked inside my shorts as tight as possible.
Needless to say the ball was passed to me with 10 seconds left in the game. I remember I was in the corner but too far from the goal for anyone to think I would make the shot. Everyone screamed, "Shoot! Shoot!" I closed my eyes and threw it towards the basket. Swish!!!!!!! The roof came off the gym. I could not believe it. My Assistant Coach who later was my sixth grade teacher can tell the story to this very day. This was the best moments of my entire athletic career, and I played basketball through my sophomore year of college.
Anyway, I told this story with as much zeal as I probably had during that moment. After all the speeches for Table Topics were done, we voted on who was the best speaker. Jodye won second place for telling us how she received the nickname Sunshine and I won first place!
This is my third 1st place ribbon for speaking at our Toastmaster's meetings. I have to wonder though if I win because I am a good speaker or because I have exciting things happen in my life. The other two ribbons I won was when I spoke about my college roommate and I shaving our legs in the sink in the dorm because we did not know you are suppose to shave in the shower. We had never done it before and thought we could talk to each other while we did it. Later we realized how disgusting that was.
The other ribbon was when I picked the topic of "Do you love your job?" I gave a resounding No! and shared with them that I would love to spend eight hours a day teaching young people and adults how to manage their money. I appreciate having a job so do not get me wrong but eventually I want to run my personal business full-time. I think I won that time because of my honesty and conviction. Regardless, I celebrate me today for winning... again!
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
Gadless is not God-less
I found this story in an October 2006 Sports Illustrated and not only is it a demonstration of wisdom but of inspiration to never take life for granted.
`I'm living my youth now'
NEW YORK, New York (AP) -- When Sam Gadless was in his 70s, his body was a mess and a doctor told him he might not last much longer. He decided it was a good time to start life over again.
On Sunday, at 91, he's competing in his seventh New York City Marathon, along with his son and grandson. "If you can do it, I can do it!" he yelled at fellow runners last year at the starting line.
This year, as the 26.2-mile (42.16-kilometer) marathon's oldest entrant, the Boca Raton, Florida, resident hopes to beat his 1997 time of 8 hours, 10 minutes. It would be a triumph of mind over body, since Gadless missed six weeks of training this year recovering from being hit by a car September 1.
If the Einstein lookalike with the flying white hair makes it, he'll cross the finish line in Central Park Sunday wearing a peace-and-love ring in his left ear.
"I had one ear pierced for my 90th birthday. There was so much killing in my life that we need to run for love and peace," said Gadless, his English thick with the Yiddish he spoke as a child in his native Poland.
He survived German attacks in World War I and escaped the Holocaust by boarding a ship in 1939 and landing in Cuba. He spent nearly two years there before sailing to New York.
Later, as an immigrant tailor in California, he chain-smoked his way through hard times until an ulcer forced him to have more than half his stomach removed.
"I was very unhealthy all my life and I don't have good genes," he says. "My father died when he was 42."
When he moved to Florida during the 1970s, he had arthritis so severe he couldn't lift an arm and had to have the bones in his big toes replaced with artificial ones. His cholesterol and blood pressure were high and he was a borderline diabetic.
The future looked bleak, a doctor told him.
Then Gadless started reading "Prevention" magazine and other health publications. He entered his first New York City Marathon at 85, and has since completed races in Los Angeles, Buffalo, Miami and Orlando.
His secret?
He cooks his own meals, skipping meat, dairy products, sugar and white flour, and eating fruit, vegetables and grains - with some red wine. He also eats red salmon, sardines and white tuna.
"I don't eat the bad stuff, like milkshakes, or the (matzo ball) soup my wife used to cook," with butter or chicken fat.
He's replaced it with a 16-bean soup. "And I eat garlic by the pound. It's an antibiotic," he said.
Gadless trains by doing aerobics, stretching and swimming, as well as light weightlifting. And he walks up to 40 miles (60 kilometers) per week, alternating among 10 pairs of shoes.
He has to watch his money, since he lives off a $755 monthly Social Security check, plus help from his children. He lost his life's savings paying his late wife's nursing home bills.
Gadless goes into Sunday's race hoping to acquire a corporate sponsor. This year, marathon sponsors didn't pay his expenses to New York as they had in the past.
Three years ago he was surprised by his 56-year-old son, Lou, and grandson, Steve, 26. They trained secretly so they could be at the start line as "Team Gadless" with T-shirts that read, "Three Generations" - one with "Grandpa," the others "Son" and "Grandson."
"Age is just numbers," Gadless said. "When I was younger, I was sick as could be. I'm living my youth now."
`I'm living my youth now'
NEW YORK, New York (AP) -- When Sam Gadless was in his 70s, his body was a mess and a doctor told him he might not last much longer. He decided it was a good time to start life over again.
On Sunday, at 91, he's competing in his seventh New York City Marathon, along with his son and grandson. "If you can do it, I can do it!" he yelled at fellow runners last year at the starting line.
This year, as the 26.2-mile (42.16-kilometer) marathon's oldest entrant, the Boca Raton, Florida, resident hopes to beat his 1997 time of 8 hours, 10 minutes. It would be a triumph of mind over body, since Gadless missed six weeks of training this year recovering from being hit by a car September 1.
If the Einstein lookalike with the flying white hair makes it, he'll cross the finish line in Central Park Sunday wearing a peace-and-love ring in his left ear.
"I had one ear pierced for my 90th birthday. There was so much killing in my life that we need to run for love and peace," said Gadless, his English thick with the Yiddish he spoke as a child in his native Poland.
He survived German attacks in World War I and escaped the Holocaust by boarding a ship in 1939 and landing in Cuba. He spent nearly two years there before sailing to New York.
Later, as an immigrant tailor in California, he chain-smoked his way through hard times until an ulcer forced him to have more than half his stomach removed.
"I was very unhealthy all my life and I don't have good genes," he says. "My father died when he was 42."
When he moved to Florida during the 1970s, he had arthritis so severe he couldn't lift an arm and had to have the bones in his big toes replaced with artificial ones. His cholesterol and blood pressure were high and he was a borderline diabetic.
The future looked bleak, a doctor told him.
Then Gadless started reading "Prevention" magazine and other health publications. He entered his first New York City Marathon at 85, and has since completed races in Los Angeles, Buffalo, Miami and Orlando.
His secret?
He cooks his own meals, skipping meat, dairy products, sugar and white flour, and eating fruit, vegetables and grains - with some red wine. He also eats red salmon, sardines and white tuna.
"I don't eat the bad stuff, like milkshakes, or the (matzo ball) soup my wife used to cook," with butter or chicken fat.
He's replaced it with a 16-bean soup. "And I eat garlic by the pound. It's an antibiotic," he said.
Gadless trains by doing aerobics, stretching and swimming, as well as light weightlifting. And he walks up to 40 miles (60 kilometers) per week, alternating among 10 pairs of shoes.
He has to watch his money, since he lives off a $755 monthly Social Security check, plus help from his children. He lost his life's savings paying his late wife's nursing home bills.
Gadless goes into Sunday's race hoping to acquire a corporate sponsor. This year, marathon sponsors didn't pay his expenses to New York as they had in the past.
Three years ago he was surprised by his 56-year-old son, Lou, and grandson, Steve, 26. They trained secretly so they could be at the start line as "Team Gadless" with T-shirts that read, "Three Generations" - one with "Grandpa," the others "Son" and "Grandson."
"Age is just numbers," Gadless said. "When I was younger, I was sick as could be. I'm living my youth now."
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