December 16 potluck and meeting

Due to the Christmas holiday potluck, President Eva Stimson began the meeting at 1:16, after those present had served themselves lunch. Invocation Leader Linda Patton, who had earlier prayed a blessing over the food, shared a poem entitled, “The Treasures of Christmas.”

After leading the Pledge of Allegiance, Eva conducted the business portion of the meeting. During the business meeting, the minutes from the December 2, 2009 meeting were approved as written.

Eva introduced Patricia Longfellow as Toastmaster. Patricia asked members of the evaluation team to explain their responsibilities: Table Topics Round #1—Eric Darnell; Table Topics Round #2/Championship Round—Joelle Anderson; Timer—Vince Patton; Ah Counter/Grammarian—Glenn Lewis; Vote Counter—Deborah Hoff.

Glenn announced exhaust as the word of the day:
EXHAUST (verb transitive)
Note—a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects.
To use up; expend completely: as, he exhausted his resources.
To deal with, study, or develop completely and thoroughly: as, she exhausted the subject.

In lieu of a speech, the meeting was set up as a “Table Topics Smackdown.” The winners from the first two rounds of Table Topics would face off in the final championship round to see who would take home the trophy. Eric Darnell led the first round of Table Topics, and Joelle Anderson led the second round and the championship round. The first two rounds of Table Topics asked questions relating to Christmas, and the championship round asked questions about the New Year. Ada Middleton won the first round, and Linda Patton won the second round.

After the Table Topics competition, Patricia called for reports from the evaluation team.

Vince reported the following times:

Table Topics Round #1:
- Vince Patton 1:43
- Eva Stimson 1:36
- Faith Aeilts 1:37
- Glenn Lewis 1:55
- Ada Middleton 2:25


Table Topics Round #2:
- Kim Kaberle 2:09
- Jonathan Moody 1:05
- Deborah Hoff 1:10
- Linda Patton 1:00

Table Topics Championship Round:
- Ada Middleton 2:02
- Linda Patton 1:05

Glenn counted 19 “uhs” and 3 uses of the word of the day (four uses after Eva used it in her closing comments).

Deborah Hoff reported that Linda Patton won the Table Topics Smackdown.

Patricia Longfellow gave her final remarks as Toastmaster, and Eva ended the meeting at 2:05.

-- Joelle Anderson