Where Did All the Proxies Go?

As the Governor of District ONE Toastmasters, I carried the proxies for our Clubs that did not send delegates to the International Convention - the proxies enable me to vote on their behalf at the business meeting.

The proxy forms are sent out to the Presidents of Record for whom good addresses existed on March 1 with very explicit instructions to mail the proxy forms to the District Governor.

I went to the International Convention with the proxies of 70 of the 107 Clubs in District ONE.

Because our very own Past District Governor Mary G. Russell from District ONE was running for the position of International Director we wanted to cast as many votes for her as possible (she won her election as International Director). In a last ditch effort we called the remaining Clubs from which we did not have proxies and we requested replacement proxy forms for those clubs that could not locate the original forms sent to them in March.

These Proxy forms are VERY IMPORTANT.

The candidate for 3rd Vice-President, John Lau, had just FOUR (4) votes less than his opponent, Mike Notaro on the first ballot.

As each Club proxy represents TWO (2) votes, that meant that if there were three additional proxies that were voted on behalf of John Lau, he would have won on the first ballot.

When I returned home from the International Convention I saw that although I had received five (5) Club proxies prior to leaving for the International Convention as the result of our last ditch effort to raise more Club proxies, I found that there were FIVE MORE proxies (ten votes total!) delivered to my house AFTER my departure to the International Convention Tuesday morning - they were obviously mailed too late for me to receive them before I left.

10/1/08 Update: I have since received another proxy, signed and dated in August but mailed in SEPTEMBER(?!!)

Next February we will notify all Club Presidents of Record that the Proxies were being sent out, and will do continuous follow-up to ensure that we have as many Club proxies as possible.

Poutine - A New Thing Learned at the International Convention

Just came back from the 77th Annual Toastmasters International Convention in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, August 13 - 16, 2008.

Tried for the very first time a Canadian regional delicacy called "poutine" originally from Quebec.

It consists of frites (french fries), fromage (cheese), and sauce (brown gravy).

I got my first taste at "A&W", a hamburger fast food place, a place that also sells a cup of gravy for 99 cents Canadian. I assume that you can either eat the gravy through a straw while it is still hot and liquid, or with fork and knife once it sets up at room temperature. Others have suggested that you can dip your choice of hamburger, fries, etc. into the gravy for greater enjoyment.

While at the Calgary airport, I tried a fast food hamburger place called "Harvey's", a made-to-order place where you can get a variety of hamburgers, including a Angus burger and a double-stacker that you can convert to a triple-stacker for a $1 more.

For an additional $1.79, I upgraded the combo changing the fries to the poutine - Yum! I had the Angus burger combo with no cheese (there's cubes of mozarella cheese in the poutine), and iced tea.

Check out the Wikipedia page on poutine.