The first in person Division Contest in three years surely did not disappoint.
On Saturday I attended the Division A contest which was held at West Allegheny Library in Oakdale. It was the first in person division-level contest I attended since March 31, 2019. That was the Division C International Speech and Tall Tales contest. That contest was held at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Blairsville and Greensburg Toastmaster Jim Teague was competing in that contest.
Representing Division A were members from Bettis, Moon, and South Hills Toastmasters. Our model speaker for the Evaluation contest was from the oldest club in District 13, Pittsburgh Club 144 (established in 1939). His speech was titled “Everything Sucks” and he started off talking about the state of the world today, before listed four ways we can live a better life. One was the celebrate the wins and another was to stop comparing ourselves to others.
Our evaluation contestants all gave great responses to the model speech. All points of view were different. The first half of the contest was really good and we were now awaiting the start of the Speech contest.
I was happy to have the opportunity to talk up my new job with all of my Toastmaster friends. Four months in at Giant Eagle and I am at home with my new job (nice play on words that I enjoy saying). They have a corporate club in District 13 but that club hasn’t met since COVID shut everything down in March of 2020. That gave me inspiration to come up with an open club for the company. It could be out of District 13 but open to Toastmasters in Cleveland, Akron-Canton, and Columbus (Districts 10 and 40). Therefore it would likely be an online club.
Our District Trio promoted the upcoming District Conference, which would be a hybrid event. The conference will be held at the Marriott in Cranberry located just off Interstate 79. I’m hoping to attend at least one day of the event.
The winners of the Division A International Speech and Evaluation contest will be moving on Cranberry. John Harshman (Bettis) and John Sinclair (Moon) will compete in the Evaluation contest. John Sinclair and Donna Morasco (South Hills) will compete in the International Speech Contest. The evaluation contest will be held Friday night (Apr. 29) and the speech contest will be held on Saturday (Apr. 30).
After the contest I joined up with my fellow Toastmasters for lunch at Mad Mex in Robinson. For all the times I’ve seen my cousins post about the place, this was first time eating there. I’ll be coming there in the Fall for my Gobblerito.
Mad Mex has locations all throughout Pittsburgh. Check them out in: Monroeville, Shadyside, Fox Chapel, Cranberry, Robinson Township, Green Tree, and McMurray.
I ordered the Shrimp Tacos with rice and black beans and a “Big Azz” 22 oz. black cherry 🍒 margarita. My tacos also came with sour cream and guacamole 🥑. The service, atmosphere and food were excellent. I give the experience a 4.7/5.
I appreciate all the opportunities that I’m able to get together with friends now due to the last couple of years being awash due to the pandemic. I won’t always be able to set too much in stone because of my work schedule but when I can, it’ll always be a good time. I’m glad I can attend next week’s Division C contest in Punxsutawney on March 26.
Congratulations to Dave Jones who competed in Saturday’s Area 21 International Speech and Evaluation contest. He placed first in both events and will compete next Saturday against Sharon Joseph and Jim Teague in the Division Contest.
Stylish 🍒 