My recap of Tuesday night’s Johnstown Toastmasters meeting is coming but before that, my “cold open”. It took me a while, but I’m on my way with the Gilmore Girls rewatch. I started it last Sunday, the 25th anniversary of the Gilmore Girls pilot. Currently, I am working my way through season one.
This afternoon, as I left the gym, I wanted to find a good Gilmore Girls playlist to listen to on the way home. Coincidentally, I would stumble across a new podcast related to the show, but it talks about the music on the show. The pod is simply titled, “Gilmore Girls Soundtrack”. At around 22 minutes, the episodes are easy to get through.
Last night, I visited the Johnstown Toastmasters club as I planned on doing on my week off. We had to fill some holes on the roster, as the Toastmaster couldn’t make it. I took over as the Word and Joke master. My word of the day was “Symposium” and my jokes were related to Fall. Our speaking lineup was amazing, with three speakers presenting topics that had us in awe and in stitches. One of those three speeches was a humorous speech about growing up in a rural setting and having a sense of adventure. I recently heard this one at the division contest and it was just as funny Tuesday night.
The other speeches talked about national parks. This was the first speech of the night and I complimented Sam on providing details on some of the iconic parks in our country. Also, he gave a nod to our state parks which I liked coming off of our family reunion on Sunday. Dave’s High Performance Leadership speech really connected with me, however.
Recently, the Johnstown Club President and Vice President Education did a workshop at the Commonwealth Technical Institute at the Hiram G. Andrews Center. Just hearing that school’s name made my heart happy. They worked with students from programs such as welding, culinary arts, networking, and medical office technology. The workshop featured speaking tips, fun impromptu challenges, and helpful feedback. Dave even mentioned Tinkertoys in his speech. This was a good one and I had to give them as well as Kurt a round of applause for working with these students and helping them build real world and public speaking skills.
I also learned that Kurt is an education supervisor at the Hiram G. Andrews Center. I didn’t think twice about talking to him about my history with the school, even though I was there in the early 2000’s. To me it still feels like yesterday but to others it is a long time ago. Kurt also collaborated with Dave and Barb on this project. One of the guests in attendance also connected with me.Â
Carole is the Director of the Pennsylvania Highlands Community College Foundation. She mentioned that in a Table Topic and like Dave’s speech, memories of my time in Johnstown opened up. Carole was happy to know that I am an alumnus of the Community College. I took classes at the college while living at the Hiram G. Andrews Center.
It was on to Slippery Rock from there for me after graduation.
Before my meeting, I ate dinner at a little place called Tire Hill Taco. Tire Hill is part of Conemaugh Township in northern Somerset County. Also included in the township are Jerome and Davidsville as well as plenty of countryside. I found out from the owner that it’s a refurbished Subway and it used to be a gas station as well. We had a nice conversation and the food was good. I got the burrito but the tacos are a great deal too. There is a little park nearby that overlooks the Stonycreek River and I could have taken my food and ate at one of the pavilions. I also could have eaten at the pavilion that was on the church grounds. That would have been a nice surprise for the Johnstown Toastmasters to see me there. They knew to expect me though.
I came home by way of US 219 and US 30. Not too bad this time of year but just wait a few months. I arrived home at 9:50, making sure to message those in the club of my safe arrival.
Stylish 🍒 