Sunday, June 14, 2015

June 8, 2015 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

June 8, 2015

Attendees: Aditi, Annamarie, David, Lara, Lefteris, Martin, Randy Lee, Samya and Suzanne
Guests: Marina, journalist and author

Theme of the day: Secrets
Word of the day:  paranoid

Samya and Annemarie shared new items they purchased for the club:
     Table Talk cards
     Name tags
     Officer tags
     Word of the day cards
     Speech and Project ribbons
     Best Table Topics ribbons

Samya also reminded the group there will be an officer’s meeting following this meeting.

Suzanne was the Toastmaster, Samya was the General Evaluator, Lara was the Ah Counter, Suzanne was the Grammarian,  Aditi was the Timer and David N. Vote Counter

Speaker:  Lefteris
Speech:     The power of empathy, the need for empathy   Project #4 How to say it

Lefteris started the speech with a leg injury then asked the audience what they thought or would think if they saw someone on the street experience a leg injury.  He went on to describe mirror neurons in the brain.  Lefteris spoke of “my pain versus your pain”.   He went into detail about how empathy is a function of the brain and that all of us have this function in our brain.

Lefteris asked how a person can relate to a newborn as a parent, and that most people would try to figure out how the newborn feels to treat them appropriately.  He says that empathy can be a choice and that parenthood demonstrates that.  Lefteris says empathy can help a speaker relate to their audience, which would improve the delivery of information.  He encouraged the audience to be more empathetic. 

Speaker:  Annamarie
Speech: Failure and taking exams   Project: Research your topic

Aditi introduced the speech’s objectives.
Annamarie spoke about taking a standardized assessment test.  She noted how the standardized tests measure the school, not the students.
Annamarie shared the story of an experience of taking a test to get into a private school.  She shared how she prepared and some tips and tricks.  Annemarie spoke about how hard she worked on an essay about Mark Twain.  She said the results were that she would be placed into a “Remedial” class.

Annamarie practiced writing essays, because she continued to get feedback that she needed improvement.  She chose to attend another school and spoke with another teacher who encouraged her to write what she felt and not worry about diagrams and structure.

Annamarie said the new teacher’s feedback was more encouraging and she continued to write and had the opportunity to write for her parents’ magazine.  Annamarie concluded that standardized tests aren’t assessing skills accurately and if a person receives a poor rating, they shouldn’t let it hold them back from developing skills and pursuing interests.

Martin led Table Topics about keeping secrets.  Marina, David, Lefteris, Annamarie, Randy Lee, Lara, Samya, Suzanne and Aditi participated.  Randy won the ribbon.

Evaluator #1:  Randy Lee evaluated Lefteris’ speech.  Randy said Lefteris scored 99 out of 100.  Randy spoke about the questions Lefteris raised and appreciated the speech.  He commented that the pronunciation of empathetic at times sounded like “pathetic”, because he said it very fast.  Randy Lee liked how Lefteris tied empathy to “know your audience” when giving a speech.

Evaluator #2: Aditi evaluated Annamarie’s speech

Aditi said Annemarie’s speech was fantastic.  She thought the topic was relate-able, as everyone has encountered standardized tests.  Aditi said the part about how a person who said something encouraging was really wonderful.  She said the anecdotes were supportive.  Aditi thought that due to the project criteria, some statistics could have been added, facts and references to back up the concept of her speech.  Annamarie used some wonderful phrases “bubble tests”, and “label you” when giving her speech.  She had a great ending, “Don’t let your test results define you.”

The meeting ended at 7:15

Toastmaster Roles for the next meeting:  6/15/15
Co-Toastmasters: Lefteris and David Theme:   
General Evaluator:   Lara
Speaker 1:   Randy Lee
Evaluator 1:  Annamarie
Speaker 2:  Trey
Evaluator #2: Suzanne
Table Topics:  Samya
Grammarian: OPEN   Word of the day: 
Timer: Aditi
Ah Counter:  OPEN
Vote Counter:  OPEN


Sunday, June 7, 2015

June 1, 2015 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

June 1, 2015

Attendees: Annamarie, Randy, Samya, Trey, Martin, and Suzanne
Guests:  No Guests

Theme of the day: Summertime
Word of the day:  dog days

Samya went over her role at the beginning of the meeting as president and how that was different from the roles she participated in as a Toastmaster member.

Randy was the Toastmaster, Suzanne led Table Topics, Aditi was the General Evaluator, Suzanne was the Grammarian, Trey was the Timer, Martin was the Ah Counter, and Aditi was the Vote Counter

Speaker:  Annamarie
Speech:  Secret that was healed

Annamarie began her speech by describing her experience when she was at the DMV to get her first driver’s license at the age of 18.  She was asked to bring her birth certificate and present it to them.  When she reached the window and looked at her birth certificate, she discovered that she had a middle name.  Annamarie went home and demanded some answers from her mother as to why she was never told. 

Annamarie’s mother told her she was named after her grandmother, who had passed away at the age of 50 just before Annamarie was born.  The family was still grieving and it was decided not to mention her middle name.  Her mother began telling her stories about her grandmother.  It is important for us to talk about those who have passed away and were close to us because they always remain with us. 

Annamarie went back to Omaha to visit her relatives and learned many more things about her grandmother.  She felt she discovered her identity.  Annamarie was so inspired that when she returned home, she was able to complete the books she was writing.

Table Topics:  Suzanne led Table Topics on the topic of “Summer time”.   Everyone at the meeting was able to participate in Table Topics.

Aditi called on her team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  Annamarie had an evaluation from all the members at the meeting.  She was told that she had a full range of vocal variety.  She had a softer voice during some of her speech, which provided a good contrast.  Annamarie gave excellent gestures and her story gave us vivid visual images that were very effective. 

The speech was well organized and she had good eye contact with the audience.  Annamarie made her grandmother come alive for us.  The pacing across the stage made it a bit distracting at times, but she has really improved in this area. Annamarie was so much “softer” today.   “It was the best speech that we have heard from you.”  She ended her speech by giving us her full name and said how proud she was to have this name.  This was a great ending for her story.





The meeting ended at 7:15

 Roles for next week 6/8/15:





Toastmaster: Suzanne Theme: Secrets
General Evaluator:   Samya
Speaker 1:  Trey
Evaluator 1:  Annamarie
Speaker 2:  Lefteris
Evaluator #2:   Aditi
Table Topics:  OPEN
Grammarian: OPEN   Word of the day:  “Paranoid”
Timer: OPEN
Ah Counter:  OPEN

Vote Counter:  OPEN

May 18, 2015 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

May 18, 2015

Attendees: Aditi, Annamarie, Chris, David N., Lara, Randy Lee, Samya and Sergio
Guests:   

Theme of the day: Memorial
Word of the day:  veteran

Samya spoke about the recent district conference from May 16th.  She said there were 20 speakers.  Samya said the district will soon be split into two districts, since there are now over 260 clubs.  She mentioned some area governor roles will be available.  Samya also indicated there are officer roles becoming available in this club.  She mentioned the club may have to move locations and/or change frequency of the club meetings.

Samya also reminded the group the next meeting will be 6/1 due to Memorial Day.

Aditi was the Toastmaster, Lara was the General Evaluator, and Chris was the Timer and David N. Vote Counter

Speaker:  Samya
Speech:    I wish you were there with me

Randy introduced the speech’s objectives.  Chris operated Samya’s video camera.  Samya spoke about the district conference.  She described the setting dramatically, using gestures for emphasis.

Samya detailed the reactions she saw on other people’s faces in the audience.  She described one speaker who was battling addiction and how an officer changed his life by asking him “When are you going to get on track?”  

Samya started to speak about how words can be powerful.  She described the keynote speech about the 2003 competition champion talking about how he had failed to be champion in 2001 and 2002.  Samya thought about how lucky he was to have failed, because it made him try harder and persevere.  She thought that was magical and that there were lessons to be learned.

Samya reminded everyone to practice and persevere.  Samya encouraged everyone to practice because perseverance leads to excellence.

Speaker:  Sergio
Speech: How I ended up in Wealth Management

Annamarie introduced the speech’s objectives.

Investopedia defines Wealth management as a professional service which is the combination of financial/investment advice, accounting/tax services, and legal/estate planning for one fee.

Sergio started his speech by asking the group if they were doing what they envisioned when they were in high school.  He said he wasn’t pressured to attend college when he was finishing high school.  Sergio decided to attend community college after being inspired by his friends.  He went through a discovery process to figure out what he liked doing and what he would be good at.  Sergio realized he liked talking to people and helping people.

In 2008 Sergio was finishing his community college education, when he realized this is what he liked doing. In 2008 there was a financial crises, this was when he took his first economics class.  Sergio enjoyed the class and did well, so he went on to figure out how to help people.  

In 2009, Sergio began attending San Jose State University to study economics. He got an internship with Morgan Stanley, helping clients manage their existing money.  Sergio got a second internship with the City of Fremont helping needy people with their food stamps and trying to find money.  Through his internships, Sergio discovered this is what he likes doing: helping people.  He now has a position at Newins helping people manage their money every day.


David recommended Table Topics not be held in order to have time to discuss club business at the conclusion of the meeting.

Evaluator #1:  Randy Lee evaluated Samya’s speech.  Randy spoke about nervousness and the video camera and that Samya spoke very well.  He noted how she repeated the title and phrases, Perseverance and Excellence to emphasize their importance.  He recommended that Samya say these words with more use of tonality for better clarity.  “What you say and how you say it” was an idea Randy really enjoyed.

Evaluator #2: Annamarie evaluated Sergio’s speech

Annamarie commended Sergio’s speech, his strong voice and projection.  The structure was very good, beginning with a question to the audience, passing out his business cards, sharing a little bit about his family background, and how his gestures were natural and good.  Annamarie said he did have some nervousness and glanced at his notes, but it was overall a terrific first speech.

The meeting ended early in order to complete club business at 6:55

 Roles for the next meeting 6/1/15:





Toastmaster: Randy Lee Theme:    
General Evaluator:   Aditi
Speaker 1:   Lefteris
Evaluator 1:  Samya
Speaker 2:  Annamarie
Evaluator #2: Sergio
Table Topics:  Chris
Grammarian: OPEN   Word of the day:  
Timer: OPEN
Ah Counter:  Lara
Vote Counter:  OPEN



May 11, 2015 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

May 11, 2015

Attendees: Annamarie, David N., Lara, Martin, Randy Lee Samya, Trey
Guests:   No Guests

Theme of the day: Body, Mind and Spirit
Word of the day:  balance

Samya reminded everyone about the upcoming district conference on May 16th.  Samya mentioned Aditi and Annamarie would attend the District conference.  

Randy Lee was the Toastmaster, Samya led Table Topics, David N. was the General Evaluator, and Lefteris was the Timer and Vote Counter

Speaker:  Annamarie
Speech: Forgiveness and the Legend of Blackcorn  

Annamarie started her speech about her initial knowledge of forgiveness, that it was simply accepting someone’s apology.  Annemarie shared a story about being served papers.  She spoke of humility and forgiveness.  She began to share the story of a Native American woman named Blackcorn who was 6 feet tall.  

Blackcorn had deep resentment against herself for being so tall.  She felt agony within herself and was sacrificing herself slowly because she could not forgive.  She began to forgive others and take responsibility for herself.  Annamarie empathized with Blackcorn because she could not forgive herself.

Annamarie had a disagreement with her neighbor blocking her driveway, and felt awkward and angry.  She, in time, let her anger go.  Annamarie encouraged everyone else to learn to take responsibility.

Speaker:  Samya
Speech: The Philosophy and Science of Yoga

Samya spoke of how yoga is well known to be good for the physical body.  She started with a strong voice speaking about what is generally acknowledged to be the primary benefit of yoga: a great physical body.  Samya got everyone’s attention by noting that everyone wants a great physical body and this is usually the only aspect of yoga that people discuss.

Table Topics:   Samya led Table Topics on Mind, body and spirit.  Martin, Trey, David, Lefteris, Annamarie and Randy Lee  participated in Table Topics.

David called on his team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  Trey evaluated Annamarie’s speech

Evaluator #2: Lara evaluated Samya’s speech

There was also a round table evaluation for Samya’s speech.


Annamarie and Lara won the Table Topics contest


The meeting ended late at 7:20

 Roles for the next meeting 5/18/15: 





Toastmaster: Aditi Theme:   Memorial
General Evaluator:   Lara
Speaker 1:   Samya
Evaluator 1:  Randy Lee
Speaker 2:  Sergio Project #1 icebreaker
Evaluator #2:   Annamarie
Table Topics:  Trey
Grammarian: OPEN   Word of the day: veteran
Timer: OPEN
Ah Counter:  OPEN
Vote Counter:  David N.



May 4, 2015 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

May 4, 2015

Attendees: Annamarie, Lara, Joe, Randy Lee Samya, Chris, Trey, Sergio
Guests:  Pieter, Marika, Jorge

Theme of the day: Music
Word of the day:  discordant

Samya reminded everyone about the upcoming district conference on May 16th.  Trey is unable to attend.  Samya mentioned Aditi and Annamarie would attend the District conference.  Samya indicated she would send out an email with more information and ask for confirmation.  District conference is in Santa Clara on May 16th.

Lara was the Toastmaster, Joe led Table Topics, Marika was the General Evaluator, Randy was the Grammarian and the Timer, Sergio was the Ah Counter, Jorge was the Vote Counter

Speaker:  Trey
Speech: Immigration Process Project #5 Your Body Speaks

Trey fired up the projector to use with his presentation.  Trey spoke about his work as an HR Specialist and shared basics about the immigration process that he regularly deals with.  He compared immigrants and non-immigrants.  Trey reviewed the different statuses: visitor, student, job transfer and special skills. 

Trey distinguished that visitors who receive ten year visas still need to go in and out of the country every six months.  Company-sponsored immigration are the ones Trey works with most often.  Employees must have a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in the field.  Permanent Residency is the main objective most people have.

Speaker:  Pieter
Speech: Another Viewpoint  Project #10 Inspire your audience

Pieter began his speech by describing a course he taught with Marika.  Pieter indicated he would be quoting Harry Palmer.  He asked the audience “What, aside from money, gives them the most difficulty in life?”.  Pieter made a list from audience responses that included: Co-workers, time management, health and excessive busy-ness.  

Pieter said the course he teaches takes only nine days and would address the aforementioned issues, it was about living deliberately.  He first took the course in 1999.  Pieter learned how to use the tools and began to apply them.  A month prior to beginning the course, at least six families approached him angrily, calling Pieter arrogant.  He took the course, not focusing on anger or arrogance and returned to his practice.  Pieter’s staff remarked that the patients were noticing how kind Pieter is now.

Pieter then addressed the issue of physical health and spoke about his own experience with feeling pain a year earlier.  He took a course in the desert, and on the return journey, he felt an impending heart attack and decided to use one of the tools he had learned called “The attack handle”.  Two minutes later, he felt better and landed in Albuquerque.  He saw his doctor and took tests for his heart.  Pieter did another process for the following six weeks and then visited his cardiologist who let him know his vessels had cleared.  

Five years later, Pieter had another procedure, and he hadn’t done any more work on his vessels, but they were still clean.  He then passed out a pamphlet with exercises to the members of the audience and led them in the first exercise.
Pieter suggests that people buy the set of books by Harry Palmer.

Table Topics:  Joe led Table Topics with post-its on the wall with topics on music.  Samya, Marika, Jorge, Lara and Annamarie, Randy Lee and Sergio participated in Table Topics.

Marika called on her team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  Annamarie on Trey’s speech

Annamarie liked how informative Trey’s presentation was, the visuals were very good and he used concise terms for explanations.  He cleared up misnomers.  Trey had enthusiasm and a positive clear manner with natural gestures and clear eye contact.  Annamarie indicated Trey could be more forceful with gestures which was difficult due to using the remote.  A bit more vocal variety would help as well.   Overall it was a great subject and compelled Annamarie to find out more.

Evaluator #2: Samya on Pieter’s speech

Samya noted how inspiring Pieter was, how he began with a question and engaged the audience.  He asked for feedback and was listening for the answers.  Pieter addressed everyone’s responses in his speech.  He gave good and vivid examples in his speech.  Samya indicated Pieter could relate his vivid stories to the answers from the audience.  She thought the story of a heart attack was very vivid.  Samya indicated that he could have linked some of the stories and answers.  She mentioned that Pieter should not apologize for going over time as it broke the focus.  Samya noted the change in voice when Pieter spoke as the doctor.  Samya suggested re-ordering the speech to be a fantastic speech.

Annamarie won the Table Topics contest

Samya reminded people to applaud and to be aware of the agenda and their roles.

The meeting ended late at 7:39

 Roles for meeting 5/11/15:





Toastmaster: Randy Lee Theme:   
General Evaluator:   Aditi
Speaker 1:  Annamarie project #?
Evaluator 1:  Trey
Speaker 2:  Sergio Project #1 icebreaker
Evaluator #2:   Lara
Table Topics:  Samya
Grammarian: OPEN   Word of the day: _______
Timer: Joe
Ah Counter:  Jorge
Vote Counter:  OPEN



April 27, 2015 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

April 27, 2015

Attendees: Lara, Leif, Randy, David the Area Governor, Annamarie, Martin, Joe, Samya, Chris, Trey
Guests:  Jorge, Belinda

Theme of the day: Sleep
Word of the day:  tender

Samya reminded everyone about the upcoming district conference.  She mentioned Aditi, Annamarie and Trey would attend the District conference.  Samya indicated she would send out an email with more information.
District conference is in Santa Clara on May 16th.

Aditi reminded everyone about the video contest and wants to get lines from people after the contest.

Aditi was the Toastmaster, Randy Lee led Table Topics, Trey was the General Evaluator, Chris was the Grammarian, Annamarie was the timer, Leif was the Ah Counter, Martin was the Vote Counter

Table Topics:  Randy Lee led Table Topics

Speaker:  Joe
Speech: Mental Fatigue Awareness Project #5 Research your Topic

Hours of Service – Department of Transportation employee research established the basic rule.  The Basic Rule established 8 hours to get quantitative sleep?
Good sleep is defined as quantitative sleep – people could risk their own lives and co-workers’ lives by not getting quality rest.  Joe noted exhaustion could affect immune system and personal system, circadian rhythm.

Joe related to most of us when discussing using the alarm clock.  He discussed sleep centers that could help with sleep disorders diagnosis.  Joe shared he had discovered he had a sleep disorder and described the wires that were applied for the sleep test.  He said his sleeping improved after discovering he had a sleep disorder.  Over-sleeping is as bad as poor sleep quality.

Speaker:  Samya
Speech: Yoga for Voice improvement and tonality  Project #3 The Persuasive Approach
David introduced the objectives.

Samya spoke about being a polished speaker, being seen as trustworthy and credible.  She outlined ways to become a better speaker.  Practice is the first one.
Samya indicated that feedback helps, but asked what we can do with the feedback?  She shared that she consistently received feedback saying her voice needs to improve.  She indicated the weakness of her voice made it hard for people to hear what she is saying and they are interested.

Voice tonality has to do with breathing, not shyness.  Samya connected this with yoga, which is focused on breathing and her focus of study.  She started practicing yoga exercises for breathing.  Samya paused, breathe and projected her voice in demonstration of what she learned when practicing her mantra.

Samya went into detail about the Om Mantra and the steps, using gestures to show how she learned how to project her voice.  With Mantra, the intent is to build energy and attune the body with the earth.  She demonstrated how to use the same sound with her voice.


Asanas:
·         Kokikasana
·         Sarvangasana
·         Simhasana
·         Yoga Prathna

·         Breathing:
·         Ujjaji
·         Bharamani


Samya listed the exercises on the board that would help speakers improve vocal tonality and improve physical and mental health.


Trey called on his team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  Lara evaluated Joe’s speech

Evaluator #2: David the Area Governor evaluated Samya’s speech

Chris noted terrific phrases used in today’s meeting.

David the Area Governor noted the enthusiastic applause throughout the meeting.  He recommended technical problems should be let go and suggested people should move to the front when participating in Table Topics.

Leif won the Table Topics contest.

The meeting ended at 7:18

 Roles for the next meeting 5/4/15:

Toastmaster:  Lara,  Theme:  Music

General Evaluator:  Aditi
Speaker 1:  Trey project #4
Evaluator 1:  Annamarie
Speaker 2:  Pieter pieterkark@gmail.com
Evaluator #2:   Samya
Table Topics:  Chris
Grammarian:    Word of the day: _______
Timer: OPEN
Ah Counter:  OPEN
Vote Counter:  OPEN



April 20, 2015 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

April 20, 2015

Attendees: Aditi, Chris, Joe, Lara, Lefteris, Randy Lee, Samya and Trey
Guests: JP, Sergio

Theme of the day: Spring
Word of the day:  configuration

Samya reminded everyone about the upcoming district conference.  She mentioned there are funds available to apply to someone’s trip to the District conference.  Samya proposes having a special event with multiple speakers or a raffle to determine who would go.  District conference is in Santa Clara on May 16th.  Trey and Aditi are interested in attending,  Samya will send an email to follow up with missing club members.  All the winners of the division contests will be competing.

Aditi reminded everyone about the video contest and wants to get lines from people after the contest.

Trey was the Toastmaster, Joe led Table Topics, Lara was the General Evaluator, Sergio was the timer, and Randy Lee was the Ah Counter

Table Topics:  Joe led Table Topics, on the subject of work: good days and bad days.  Lara, Randy Lee, Chris, Trey and Lefteris shared stories using the word of the day: configuration.

Speaker:  Samya
Speech: How to Prepare and Present a Speech Communicating on Video Project #5 Instructing on the Internet
Part 1: Presentation recording

Chris introduced the objectives.
Samya started her equipment and after getting set up, she went over how to select a project, outlining the objectives and sharing images of the pages from the book.  Samya verbally explained the content such as the executive summary, detailed description and advised on how she customized her presentation based on the project criteria.
1.    Executive Summary
2.    Project description
3.    Objectives – what she will be evaluated on
After points 1, 2 and 3, develop a strategy:
·         Where – selecting a room
·         Selecting a time – offering online training available anytime
·         Choosing the equipment, rehearsing the speech
·         Don’t read the slides, focus on main points
·         Select the best tool for the presentation
o   Example: preparing a PowerPoint, recording the audio and slide transitions. 
Samya ended her presentation by encouraging others to develop and implement their own strategies for communicating with video.

Speaker:  Aditi
Speech: To know or not to know, that is the question, Project #9 Persuade with Power

Lefteris introduced the objectives.
Aditi spoke about the availability of information, and how much data can be recorded.  She spoke about how information is collected and then pondered where the collected information goes.  Aditi declared that we should all know what happens to information on ourselves and saying there should be more transparency, since someone is making these decisions in secret.
She spoke about Julian Asange and Edward Snowden as well as Sony’s information security breech.  Aditi thinks the public should decide what information should be public and what should be private.  

Political information should be shared in order to hold governments responsible.
Aditi gave an example of an actress disputing a salary discrepancy with Sony based on information shared from the Sony information leak.  Wikileaks had released information about brutality, letting everyone know what water-boarding really was and that this was happening in prisons run by the United States.
Instead of condemning the people who reveal information, we should educate ourselves on what we should know and what should be kept private and we should have the right to dictate where our information goes.
Aditi encourages everyone to think about it and get involved in the politics.

Lara called on her team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  Chris on Samya’s speech: How to Prepare and Present a Speech
Chris thought Samya’s voice was consistent and gestures were good.  He said she was making eye contact with her audience, but not with the camera.
Chris thought Samya was informed and connected well with her physical audience.  He recommended being more aware of camera presence

Evaluator #2: Lefteris on Aditi’s speech To know or not to know, that is the question

Lefteris said Aditi has a natural stage presence that always comes across.
He said she met her objectives when she encouraged everyone to be more politically active about data privacy issues.  Lefteris said Aditi made logical arguments, had an easy to follow structure, with short and effective sentences.
He said Aditi should share where she works to improve credibility.  Lefteris said her examples (show business versus human rights) should be aligned with her calls to action.


There was no Table Topics contest

The meeting ended late at 7:20




Roles for Meeting 4/27/15:


Toastmaster: Aditi Theme:  
General Evaluator:  Trey
Speaker 1: Joe
Evaluator 1: Lara
Speaker 2: Samya
Evaluator #2:  OPEN
Table Topics: Randy Lee
Grammarian: Chris  Word of the day: _______
Timer: OPEN
Ah Counter:  OPEN
Vote Counter:  OPEN