Well, it took four years but, I am getting into the Spring Baking Championship. I started in mid-March with the latest season premiere, as the show has been on since April of 2015. Since 2021, I’ve been a regular viewer for the Holiday Baking Championship as well as the Halloween installment that airs in September and October. Halloween will take a back seat this year as I try something new instead. Jesse Palmer hosts the Spring Baking Championship and like former teammate Michael Strahan, Mr. Palmer keeps busy. Jesse also hosts the Bachelor and the Bachelorette. On Monday’s show, the bakers made cheesecakes and madeleines. I learned something new that night and that what a madeleine is. So far I’m enjoying this show. I’m also going to check out Buddy vs. Duff which ran for three seasons on Food Network from 2019-2021.
I was a little lax on podcasts in March, not enjoying the rewatch podcasts as much as I did in February. It was a bump in the road and I’ll be back. I’m looking forward to Monday’s Pod Meets World when they interview Nick Bakay (who was the voice of Salem on Sabrina The Teenage Witch). I know a lot of people who named their cats Salem in the ‘90s. The Office Ladies podcast from Wednesday was amazing and the show is back on my list to be watched. That along with a rewatch of Gilmore Girls, beginning around Easter week. Hey, Scranton to Stars Hollow isn’t a bad road trip either. They both get me away from the craziness going on in our world right now.
The Division Contest run is over and I was appreciative of the time off (I had Friday and Saturday off three weeks straight but not this past weekend). Despite missing yesterday’s contest, I still enjoyed myself and was able to hear some great speakers at the other contests I was able to attend. Some of the contestants will be moving on the District Contest on April 26, thus completing the slate for the upcoming speech contests. Yesterday in Division D, Bakery Square’s contestants competed in the Tall Tales and International Speech contests, among other clubs in Division D. I attended this contest in 2019 and 2022. Yesterday’s event was held in Downtown Pittsburgh at BNY Mellon.
After weeks of waiting, I received my long-awaited book in the mall that chronicled the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2024 season. This past season was fun to watch, unlike the previous one. While the Pittsburgh Steelers would disappoint in the end, the Eagles would ride their much improved defense and amazing running back to an amazing playoff run. The Eagles came off a lackluster end to the 2023 season, which included a wild card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The start to this season wasn’t good either. It paralleled how I was feeling for most of the Spring and about half the summer (it’s complicated so don’t ask). Watching the newly acquired Saquon Barkley on TV rack up yards and challenge a 40 year old record for rushing yards was fun too.
I’ll be finishing the John Hughes book very soon as I’m now at the end of his life, so around 2009 which is the year he passed. I look forward to my new season of reading and also growing spiritually again. Time to close off the blog by talking up Toastmasters.
While the dues are due period is coming to an end, we sit back and count down the days until the Spring Conference which is less than a month away. There’s still plenty of time for us to attract new members to our clubs. In the last blog post for March, I’m taking a few minutes to celebrate two of our clubs that just made Distinguished. Laurel Highlands Toastmasters just made Distinguished and looking to aim higher (we want to go for Presidents’ Distinguished). I will help when I complete my next speech which wraps up Level 2 in my Presentation Mastery path. Today, I also read that Western Maryland Toastmasters also became a distinguished club themselves. The club is just under a year old (they chartered at the end of May 2024). For them to achieve this goal is a testament to the hard work of the members and officers in the club. I plan to visit on April 10.
Stylish 🍒 