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.

Songs I want to learn to play on my banjo

In search of tabs for:

• Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (YouTube)
• Brush Up Your Shakespeare (from Kiss Me Kate) by Cole Porter (YouTube)
• Don't Stop Me Now by Queen (YouTube) (I might need a Banjo-Tam.)
• Double Shot of My Baby's Love by Swingin' Medallions (YouTube)
• Happy Birthday To You (moveable chords) by Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill
• Hot Stuff by Donna Summer
• Love the One You're With by Stephen Stills (YouTube)
• Lydia the Tattooed Lady by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg (YouTube)
• Oh Canada by (traditional)
• The Raiders March ("Theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark") by John Williams (YouTube)
• Shop Around by Smokey Robinson & Berry Gordy
• Somebody to Love by Queen
• When the Night Wind Howls (from Ruddigore) by Gilbert & Sullivan (YouTube)
• You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive by

Frank Jenks

Here's something new for my wish list. I'd like to gather all of Frank Jenks' appearances. So if you're ever wondering what to get me, root through the bargain bins at your local used DVD store and see if you can find any of the more-than-160 movies and TV series that Frank Jenks appeared in.

Frank is a somewhat-distance relative of mine who started off in vaudeville. From 1933 to 1962 he was in movies and TV. He died of cancer before I was born and is buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery in the Los Angeles County, California.

Gathering all of his appearances will take a while. This post will be sticky; that is, I'll keep it updated as I round out the collection.

What I've got

1. Christmas in Connecticut (1945), which I recorded from TCM On-Demand on 1/12/2008
2. The She Creature (1956), which I'll be recording off of AMC on 1/16/2008 4:45 AM CST.

What I need

1. Everything else listed here

Banjo versus TV: The Rules

The rules, shown as a Venn diagram, from a presentation I gave for Toastmasters.

I'm going to lay down some rules for Banjo versus TV.

What counts as banjo:

• Banjo practice.
• Banjo lessons.
• Going to a banjo concert.
• Banjo Open Mic Night and Windy City Jammers on Mondays at the Lincoln Restaurant in Chicago.
• Creating tabs.

What counts as banjo but not TV:

• Banjo-related instructional DVDs and shows.

What counts as TV:

• TV.
• TV shows or movies on the Internet, on DVD or on video.*
• TV shows on a plane.*

What counts as both banjo and TV:

• TV shows that are about the banjo. (I'm going to stretch this to include, for instance, the 7 episodes** of The Beverly Hillbillies that feature Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.)
• Banjo-related TV shows or movies on the Internet, on DVD or on video.*

What count as neither banjo nor TV:

• Blogging about it.
• Instructional DVDs and such. (For example, I'm trying to learn American Sign Language and I have some ASL DVDs.)
• Listening to banjo music. Too easy. (No, not even the Sirius Bluegrass Gospel Train on Sirus Bluegrass, which I tape every Sunday Morning.)
• Movies on a plane.*
• Movies in the theater.*

* Added this clarification on Jan 9, 2007.

** Jed Throws a Wingding (6 February 1963), A Bride for Jed (18 March 1964), Flatt, Clampett, and Scruggs (31 March 1965), Flatt and Scruggs Return (16 March 1966), Foggy Mountain Soap (14 December 1966), Delovely and Scruggs (29 March 1967) and Bonnie, Flatt, and Scruggs (20 November 1968).