Gallery of J.R.'s Halloween costumes

At our Monday night Toastmasters meeting I gave the seventh of ten speeches toward my Competent Communication Award, titled "Dress for the Job You Want." Really, it was a thinly-veiled excuse to update and show off the gallery of my Halloween costumes.

Not counting the two photos that convey the idea but aren't actually photos of my Halloween costumes, I now have 8 photos of costumes so my photo collection is 18.6% complete. If anyone's got photos to add to my collection, please let me know.

Update 10/31/2009:

Update 2/23/2010: My friends Laurie and Jay gave me a picture of myself as Rorschach that I now use instead of that picture of some other guy as Rorschach. Thanks!

Update 10/31/2010: Halloween 2010: Stork with twins

Toastmasters progress tracking

I'm working my way through the Toastmasters Competent Communication Award. I'll use this sticky post to track my progress.

9 of 10 speeches required for Competent Communication Award:

1. Icebreaker
   Status: Presented "Organized" on 4/16/2007.
2. Organize your Speech
   Status: Presented "The Ultimate Speech" on 4/16/2007.
3. Get to the Point
   Status: Presented "Harry Potter and the Pirates of Penzance" on 7/16/2007.
4. How to Say It
   Status: Not done yet.
5. Your Body Speaks
   Status: Presented "Dress for the Job You Want" on 10/20/2008.
6. Vocal Variety
   Status: Presented "Let me tell you the story of a man named Charlie" on 3/17/2008.
7. Research Your Topic
   Status: Presented "Joy and the Mayflower" on 11/19/2008.
8. Get Comfortable with Visual Aids
   Status: Presented "Banjo versus TV" on 1/21/2008. (Blogged about it, too.)
9. Persuade with Power
   Status: "Roast Us With The Most Us"l on 5/18/2009.
10. Inspire your Audience
    Status: Presented "Someday Maybe" on 8/18/2009.

Other speeches:

1. The Entertaining Speaker
   Status: Presented "50 Degrees Below Windchill" on 9/17/2007.

Banjo versus TV at Touhy Toastmasters

At the Touhy Toastmasters we choose a different theme topic for each month's meeting. This month the theme was new year's resolutions, so it was only natural that I give a speech about my Banjo versus TV project. Here are the slides from that speech and the tabulature from the song I (kinda) wrote.