Wednesday kicked off a new month (aka Pumpkin Fall) and being the first Wednesday meant it was a Toastmasters night in Greensburg. Overall, it was a good night. We had one speaker as our Ice Breaker speaker wasn’t able to make it. Our President taught us to turn our I Can’t into our I Can and how to trim our words to make our speeches (and for me, blogs) better. We saw the return of one of our members after some time away. She served as our Timer. We had our four in-person attendees (me included) and three online. The club success plan is in, so we can qualify for Distinguished. We just need to get guests in the door and develop them into members and continue giving speeches.
Speaking of that, I’m leaning towards a return to giving prepared speeches again in November.
Our Topics master was creative with her questions and the Wheel of Topics. My question had to do with apples and what to do with them. Of course, the number one answer to that question is to make an apple pie. It also led me to reminisce about the annual Apple festival in Delmont. That’s actually coming up this weekend.
I went a few times in the late 2000’s when I worked at Kings and early on in my WIS career. The festival got a great turnout as it supported a local cause and also did good business for Kings that weekend. It was cool to see them making apple cider and looking at some of the farm machinery. My dad always enjoyed seeing the tractors at the old Harrold Fair ages ago.
It looks like perfect weather Saturday and Sunday if you’re headed out to Delmont for the festival.
Our next three meetings are October 15, November 5 and 19.
On Thursday, I finished the last two episodes of the Peacock series The Paper. Here’s my take on the show. I was skeptical at first that this could be anything like The Office. As the season went on, it got much better. You saw little comparisons to the iconic mockumentary here and there. Mare and Ned were my two favorite characters, Oscar was all right, and Esmeralda was an acquired taste. She was a bit over the top for me. As The Office put Scranton on the map, so will the Paper for Toledo. Fun fact: both cities are big Triple A baseball markets (like Allentown).
What’s next on my viewing list? I’ll continue with the Great British Baking Show and have some Halloween movie nights watching Beetlejuice and Hocus Pocus. Maybe the Nightmare Before Christmas will be on my list too.
Thursday Night football continued to impress as the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams did battle. The Niners built a big two touchdown lead but the Rams kept it close in the second half and forced overtime. With most of San Francisco’s starters out, Kyle Shanahan worked with who he had available and that’s why his team is 4-1 and ahead in the NFC West. The division looks very competitive and right now, it’s anyone’s race.
A quarter of the way into 2025, who’s the biggest surprise? I’d say it’s both the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars. Tied at 3-1, both teams have been impressive in the early going. If Houston can get it together, this could be a three team race like 2023 was for the AFC South. The biggest disappointment so far has been in the North, as injuries have hindered Baltimore and Cincinnati. The Ravens D is struggling, and Cincinnati’s offense is lost without Joe Burrow. The division might just be Pittsburgh’s to lose, but they’re an injury away too. So far the teams to beat are Buffalo and Philly, but both teams need to work on their certain flaws. The biggest takeaway (no pun intended) is that Kansas City isn’t dead yet. I’d like to see Jacksonville challenge them Monday night.
Finally, another mild weekend is on tap as we toy with the 80’s on Saturday and Sunday. While we will have perfect weather for any fall festivals you may want to attend, the workweek is a different story. Rain is in the cards (which we need). Following that, it will feel more seasonal as we look ahead to the end of next week. I’m not sure what next weekend will be like, but so far it looks favorable.
Stylish 🍒 