Late last night as I was thinking about my "to do" list and the relative lack of progress I had made on it, i.e., thinking about "all I didn't do," I was getting overwhelmed, even depressed.
I didn't make it out to the store, in fact I didn't go anywhere, which let me lounge around all day in my pajamas.
I didn't get my resume modified for teaching.
I didn't complete two chapters in my review of geometry for my CSET II test scheduled for March 13. In fact, I didn't complete the problem set for the chapter I was on the previous day.
I didn't dig out the speech I am going to use in the upcoming Toastmasters International Speech contest or modify it so that it is appropriately worded for delivery this year.
I didn't stick rigorously to my no more than 10% of my calories consumed being fat calories.
What I did do isn't memorable, other than the fact that I must have eaten well, even if I had to prepare it all myself.
Then this morning, I had an epiphany, which has left me feeling rather good about myself. The good feeling wasn't hurt by the fact that I weighed a full 1.5 pounds less this morning than I did yesterday morning even eating like I did yesterday. My epiphany came from really thinking about "all I didn't do" -- not the things not done on my "to do" list, but all the other things I didn't do.
I didn't lash out in anger or frustration at my situation, the demise of the middle-class, the collapse of the economy, the current job market, the party of radical NO or their ineffective opponents, ... and I'm not likely to.
I'm a good person who would rather do constructive things. This resolve and thinking about all the constructive things I CAN do makes me feel better, about myself, about the future. Now to get to them.
Showing posts with label Toastmasters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toastmasters. Show all posts
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, October 2, 2009
Speaking at Toastmasters...
It all started this way...
I prepared a somewhat humorous speech about riding my motorcycle, incorporating some of the experiences I "enjoyed" in my cross-country trek this last summer. Then three hours before I was to give it, I decided to edit it and add a couple other items. This meant cutting out words that I had already written. (Some of those words were deleted, gone from the electronic copy and as soon as I recycle the paper, gone from the hardcopy as well. Some of them I just put in parentheses as kind of optional words. If I am to keep it under 7.5 minutes, I doubt that I will be able to say many of them.)
I was done with this editing about an hour before I left for Toastmasters. Then I took another look at the Toastmaster book and the instructions for this particular speech. My attempt to be humorous didn't fit. So I pulled out some notes I had been making on Global Warming, less than a page of handwritten facts and decided to make my speech on "Climate Change." While I did review them, I really didn't refer to them for most of my speech.
I was planning on posting my speech, but I didn't write the one I gave out. I will write some of it here with the caveat that my written word is never exactly what I said, even if it were written in advance and practiced.
The speech:
While there are some who still question whether global warming is occurring, the thinning ice fields in Greenland and Antarctica, the ice free Northwest passage, and world-wide receding glaciers make it a fact. Not only that, it's accelerating. In 1910 there were 150 glaciers in Glacier National Park. Today there are 27.
Then there are those who claim it's a natural cycle and mankind has not contributed to it let alone be its cause. The evidence they use is that carbon dioxide always rose after a warming cycle. This is true as warmer oceans are unable to absorb as much carbon dioxide. While I believe the evidence refutes mankind's lack of involvement, which I will get to soon, ultimately it doesn't matter. Whether by the hand of man or nature, the fact of global warming will kill animals and plants up to entire species. As the sea level rises and storms surge higher millions of humans will be displaced. As weather becomes more extreme and temperate climates march further north and south, millions of acres of farmland will no longer be arable. Whether by man or nature, we are already to late to avoid the effects of global warming.
There are a lot of greenhouse gases, gases that accept light from the sun and inhibit the radiation of heat back into space. Carbon dioxide is but one. Water vapor is another. Methane is as well. Even though cows produce methane, I can make the argument that much of their production is also the hand of man. I can make similar arguments that some portion of water vapor is also due to mankind. The real bell weather still is carbon dioxide.
Now as I've already said, past warming cycles atmospheric carbon dioxide rose after the warming as the warmer oceans couldn't absorb as much. Since 1880, the oceans' average temperature is up only 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Over the past 300 years, since the Industrial Revolution, the atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen 35%. There is evidence that this is accelerating and for good reason. In 2006 the U.S. had over 250 million passenger vehicles, excluding buses and trains. These vehicles combined to produce over 1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide in that year. There are also 600 coal fired electricity generation plants in the U.S. An average plant produces 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide for another 2.2 billion tons. In point of fact, the U.S. on a per capita basis produces 19.5 tons of carbon dioxide, which is 6 billion tons. Unfortunately, on a per capita basis, Australia produces more at 20.6 tons per person.
Far down on the list on a per capita basis are China and India at 4.5 tons and 1.16 tons respectively. Unfortunately, their production is rising almost exponentially. India has introduced the Tata Nano, a cheap car for the masses of the new lower middle class. A gallon of gas produces 19 pounds of carbon dioxide and the refining and delivery of each gallon produces another 6 pounds. On an absolute basis, China is already the largest producer of carbon dioxide. While it is unlikely that India will surpass China, one is already ahead of the U.S. and the other will be soon.
In the face of this, what can we do? I'm not even sure whether we can become carbon neutral. Even if we were, China and India will keep the manmade cause of global warming moving right along. I also don't recommend buying carbon offsets. In my opinion, this is just a self-imposed fine to enable the excessive polluter to feel better. Even though the Northern Arctic is supposed to be ice free by 2040, I also don't recommend donating to Save the Polar Bears.
What I do recommend is taking the small steps, making sure your next car purchase gets well above average gas mileage, turning off lights in rooms, replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs or LEDs, unplugging chargers not being used...
It's not just about saving the planet, it's about saving humankind, the lives of our children.
I prepared a somewhat humorous speech about riding my motorcycle, incorporating some of the experiences I "enjoyed" in my cross-country trek this last summer. Then three hours before I was to give it, I decided to edit it and add a couple other items. This meant cutting out words that I had already written. (Some of those words were deleted, gone from the electronic copy and as soon as I recycle the paper, gone from the hardcopy as well. Some of them I just put in parentheses as kind of optional words. If I am to keep it under 7.5 minutes, I doubt that I will be able to say many of them.)
I was done with this editing about an hour before I left for Toastmasters. Then I took another look at the Toastmaster book and the instructions for this particular speech. My attempt to be humorous didn't fit. So I pulled out some notes I had been making on Global Warming, less than a page of handwritten facts and decided to make my speech on "Climate Change." While I did review them, I really didn't refer to them for most of my speech.
I was planning on posting my speech, but I didn't write the one I gave out. I will write some of it here with the caveat that my written word is never exactly what I said, even if it were written in advance and practiced.
The speech:
While there are some who still question whether global warming is occurring, the thinning ice fields in Greenland and Antarctica, the ice free Northwest passage, and world-wide receding glaciers make it a fact. Not only that, it's accelerating. In 1910 there were 150 glaciers in Glacier National Park. Today there are 27.
Then there are those who claim it's a natural cycle and mankind has not contributed to it let alone be its cause. The evidence they use is that carbon dioxide always rose after a warming cycle. This is true as warmer oceans are unable to absorb as much carbon dioxide. While I believe the evidence refutes mankind's lack of involvement, which I will get to soon, ultimately it doesn't matter. Whether by the hand of man or nature, the fact of global warming will kill animals and plants up to entire species. As the sea level rises and storms surge higher millions of humans will be displaced. As weather becomes more extreme and temperate climates march further north and south, millions of acres of farmland will no longer be arable. Whether by man or nature, we are already to late to avoid the effects of global warming.
There are a lot of greenhouse gases, gases that accept light from the sun and inhibit the radiation of heat back into space. Carbon dioxide is but one. Water vapor is another. Methane is as well. Even though cows produce methane, I can make the argument that much of their production is also the hand of man. I can make similar arguments that some portion of water vapor is also due to mankind. The real bell weather still is carbon dioxide.
Now as I've already said, past warming cycles atmospheric carbon dioxide rose after the warming as the warmer oceans couldn't absorb as much. Since 1880, the oceans' average temperature is up only 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Over the past 300 years, since the Industrial Revolution, the atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen 35%. There is evidence that this is accelerating and for good reason. In 2006 the U.S. had over 250 million passenger vehicles, excluding buses and trains. These vehicles combined to produce over 1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide in that year. There are also 600 coal fired electricity generation plants in the U.S. An average plant produces 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide for another 2.2 billion tons. In point of fact, the U.S. on a per capita basis produces 19.5 tons of carbon dioxide, which is 6 billion tons. Unfortunately, on a per capita basis, Australia produces more at 20.6 tons per person.
Far down on the list on a per capita basis are China and India at 4.5 tons and 1.16 tons respectively. Unfortunately, their production is rising almost exponentially. India has introduced the Tata Nano, a cheap car for the masses of the new lower middle class. A gallon of gas produces 19 pounds of carbon dioxide and the refining and delivery of each gallon produces another 6 pounds. On an absolute basis, China is already the largest producer of carbon dioxide. While it is unlikely that India will surpass China, one is already ahead of the U.S. and the other will be soon.
In the face of this, what can we do? I'm not even sure whether we can become carbon neutral. Even if we were, China and India will keep the manmade cause of global warming moving right along. I also don't recommend buying carbon offsets. In my opinion, this is just a self-imposed fine to enable the excessive polluter to feel better. Even though the Northern Arctic is supposed to be ice free by 2040, I also don't recommend donating to Save the Polar Bears.
What I do recommend is taking the small steps, making sure your next car purchase gets well above average gas mileage, turning off lights in rooms, replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs or LEDs, unplugging chargers not being used...
It's not just about saving the planet, it's about saving humankind, the lives of our children.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Olio / Hodgepodge / A Mixture
Most of my postings are a mix of things, but this one is likely to be such a mixture that nothing stands out as a possible title, hence the title.
I was concerned that my Macbook was fried this morning when I couldn't get the screen to light up. I had left it open and the larger cat of the two, Humphrey, was laying on the keyboard while I was taking care of stripping the beds for a day of laundry. Since I am typing this after the fact, you already know that it wasn't but it was definitely warm and I had to power it off before I could reboot it and see that indeed it was truly working.
The load of laundry I started, I started without detergent. (I must not do enough laundry to forget such a critical component.) I did put in the scoop of Oxy Clean and set it up for presoak. While they weren't all that soiled being primarily the sheets off of the guest bed, I am rewashing the load with detergent but this time without the Oxy Clean and presoak. What with sheets, towels, and regular laundry, I have at least two more loads to do. I don't mind the washing nearly as much as the folding. Now with the two cats, it is difficult to find a cat hair free surface to do it on. Thank goodness I haven't moved the TV out of the guest bedroom. Now that most of the trail supplies are moved out of the guest bedroom and the fact that I've also kept the cats out, gives me a surface to fold on. Plus, the TV can provide a distraction.
I'm knocking the easy things off of my long list of things I have to do before I travel across country on my motorcycle. This week I picked up a box to mail clothes, essentially to myself at my parents' address, and tried out my new straps that hopefully will keep my 85 liter backpack held upright on the backseat of the motorcycle. Now all I have to do is go camping to get it loaded and ridden rather than just strapped on.
Since I missed the April 30th Toastmaster meeting, I was not a speaker as originally scheduled at the May 7th meeting. I now do not have a speech scheduled before I'm scheduled to ride out for the trip to Alaska, but I have one prepared. (You'd think that with all my use of scheduled in the previous two sentences that my life is well planned. It's not.) I am the Toastmaster for the first time at the May 14th meeting. My theme is "And I Quote." I still need to call the other participants and confirm all of their attendance. In addition to speaking to the uses and abuses of quoting, I plan on referencing one of my favorite quote sites: http://www.brainyquote.com/ and an article in the June, 2009, issue of Reader's Digest.
My reference of Reader's Digest is not all that positive. Their featured wrongly cited misquote is wrong. They prominently use the example: "If you stop telling lies about me, I'll start telling the truth about you." Their claim, in the article titled "They Never Said That," is that the person to whom, Lincoln, it is most often attributed never said that. Now I don't know whether Lincoln never said anything similar to that or not but they have a rather significant typo in their version. It is missing a "don't." As I've heard it, it should be: "If you don't stop lying about me, I'll have to start telling the truth about you." But still, accidentally or intentionally trying to obtain credibility by a false quote is a good contribution to my theme.
There is definitely a tradeoff here. I'm of very mixed minds about getting this last point across and by doing so admitting that I read Reader's Digest. Saying I read it for the jokes reminds me of my college days of "reading" Playboy for the articles, well, come to think of it, also the jokes.
I have received my 48-page instructional brochure on "Program Planning and Proposal Writing." This is yet another thing for me to schedule. I still like the thought of developing my expertise for proposal writing and offering that expertise to the Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund and its sponsor the National Lymphedema Network but also to other non-profits. While whatever writing I do for the NLN will be strictly volunteer, I am not adverse to having it develop into a true job.
Speaking of jobs, I am reaching a milestone and am to officially submit my "retirement" paperwork. I need to talk with someone knowledgeable as well as find hopefully cheaper health insurance. Ideally I will be able to get unemployment after this milestone and am somewhat concerned that "retirement" paperwork may preclude unemployment. If I don't find an alternative to what is essentially Cobra health insurance, I will have to "retire" to get insurance.
I was concerned that my Macbook was fried this morning when I couldn't get the screen to light up. I had left it open and the larger cat of the two, Humphrey, was laying on the keyboard while I was taking care of stripping the beds for a day of laundry. Since I am typing this after the fact, you already know that it wasn't but it was definitely warm and I had to power it off before I could reboot it and see that indeed it was truly working.
The load of laundry I started, I started without detergent. (I must not do enough laundry to forget such a critical component.) I did put in the scoop of Oxy Clean and set it up for presoak. While they weren't all that soiled being primarily the sheets off of the guest bed, I am rewashing the load with detergent but this time without the Oxy Clean and presoak. What with sheets, towels, and regular laundry, I have at least two more loads to do. I don't mind the washing nearly as much as the folding. Now with the two cats, it is difficult to find a cat hair free surface to do it on. Thank goodness I haven't moved the TV out of the guest bedroom. Now that most of the trail supplies are moved out of the guest bedroom and the fact that I've also kept the cats out, gives me a surface to fold on. Plus, the TV can provide a distraction.
I'm knocking the easy things off of my long list of things I have to do before I travel across country on my motorcycle. This week I picked up a box to mail clothes, essentially to myself at my parents' address, and tried out my new straps that hopefully will keep my 85 liter backpack held upright on the backseat of the motorcycle. Now all I have to do is go camping to get it loaded and ridden rather than just strapped on.
Since I missed the April 30th Toastmaster meeting, I was not a speaker as originally scheduled at the May 7th meeting. I now do not have a speech scheduled before I'm scheduled to ride out for the trip to Alaska, but I have one prepared. (You'd think that with all my use of scheduled in the previous two sentences that my life is well planned. It's not.) I am the Toastmaster for the first time at the May 14th meeting. My theme is "And I Quote." I still need to call the other participants and confirm all of their attendance. In addition to speaking to the uses and abuses of quoting, I plan on referencing one of my favorite quote sites: http://www.brainyquote.com/ and an article in the June, 2009, issue of Reader's Digest.
My reference of Reader's Digest is not all that positive. Their featured wrongly cited misquote is wrong. They prominently use the example: "If you stop telling lies about me, I'll start telling the truth about you." Their claim, in the article titled "They Never Said That," is that the person to whom, Lincoln, it is most often attributed never said that. Now I don't know whether Lincoln never said anything similar to that or not but they have a rather significant typo in their version. It is missing a "don't." As I've heard it, it should be: "If you don't stop lying about me, I'll have to start telling the truth about you." But still, accidentally or intentionally trying to obtain credibility by a false quote is a good contribution to my theme.
There is definitely a tradeoff here. I'm of very mixed minds about getting this last point across and by doing so admitting that I read Reader's Digest. Saying I read it for the jokes reminds me of my college days of "reading" Playboy for the articles, well, come to think of it, also the jokes.
I have received my 48-page instructional brochure on "Program Planning and Proposal Writing." This is yet another thing for me to schedule. I still like the thought of developing my expertise for proposal writing and offering that expertise to the Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund and its sponsor the National Lymphedema Network but also to other non-profits. While whatever writing I do for the NLN will be strictly volunteer, I am not adverse to having it develop into a true job.
Speaking of jobs, I am reaching a milestone and am to officially submit my "retirement" paperwork. I need to talk with someone knowledgeable as well as find hopefully cheaper health insurance. Ideally I will be able to get unemployment after this milestone and am somewhat concerned that "retirement" paperwork may preclude unemployment. If I don't find an alternative to what is essentially Cobra health insurance, I will have to "retire" to get insurance.
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