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A Time of Transition at Laurel Highlands Toastmasters!

Last night was an big night for us at our Laurel Highlands Toastmasters meeting. We were going to be nominating new officers for the 2025-26 Toastmasters year. Our President, Sharon, will be representing the District beginning July 1 as our Program Quality Director and I look forward to seeing what she has planned. We’re already looking ahead to Fall as well, more to come at a later date. Ryan will serve as President and he could very well be tasked with the goal of leading our club to Smedley Distinguished. That’s one of the new designations coming into the new Toastmasters year. It will require the 10 goals that would get the club to President’s Distinguished but a minimum of 25 members. We will get there at Laurel Highlands next year.

For the first time in my Toastmasters journey, I will be serving as Treasurer. I have plenty of people to answer my questions if I need to know what to do to properly carry out my duties next year. Our club Treasurer at Greensburg will become President of that club next year.

We had a nice speaker mix last night with an ice breaker and two mentoring speeches. Four guests attended as well, with two online and two in-house all excited to learn more about Toastmasters. Our President got us fired up for the meeting and stressed the importance of attending the meeting on this night. Out of our 14 members, we had enough in attendance for a quorum. The election of new officers did not take long at all, and it was a very smooth process.

Looking ahead, we have Summer Club Officer Training on June 21 at Westmoreland County Community College in Youngwood, but members will have the choice of attending online as well. Thus it is a hybrid (in person or online) event. Our last meeting of the year will be at Bud Murphy’s on June 24. I’m hoping we will celebrate as a President’s Distinguished Club.

Next Friday there is a demo meeting at the Panera Bread in Morgantown which is putting together by our Area 3 Director/Club Growth Director-Elect , along with one of our members at Laurel Highlands. This club will bring Toastmasters back into northern WV, if it charters. It will also benefit West Virginia University and the surrounding community. If I’m off, I’ll consider taking a drive down to Morgantown to attend this event. What’s needed to get this club off the ground: 20 members and so far a good number of people make up part of that magic number. Some volunteers are still needed. I’ll be reaching out to Greensburg via email tomorrow and get the word out about this event.

We are a great club representing many nations, achievements, and interests at Laurel Highlands. We will make history this year when we get to President’s Distinguished, and next year when we get to Smedley Distinguished!

May going out like a Lamb!

  • We are in the last weekend of May, and I couldn’t ask for more beautiful weather. The month started off cool and damp, the way that May 2025 ended. Some of us even saw snow flurries that first weekend. This month brought many good days yet there were bad days as well. I made the most of good days weather wise by getting outside and walking. I also made my fair share of visits to the gym. Exercise goals were met with some of the outdoor walks that I had taken. I got some good news at my doctor’s appointment as I was down 10 lbs. That’s something to address as June begins and when Summer comes. 
  • Three good takeaways from May:
    • Bible Study is back at Cutie’s! 
    • Spring Conference was a success! 
    • Chloe Grace (my “niece”) has arrived!
  • The unsettled weather patterns we dealt with made it easy to have a few down days. But I was able to pick my battles. We got a taste of summer last week with temperatures approaching 90 early on. My Ocean Breeze Latte that I got at Caleese gave off some serious beach vibes. I attended church online a few times but missed the last two weeks (due to conference and also feeling tired). That led to some missed opportunities last Saturday. 
  • Six things to look forward to in June:
    • Starting my Summer project (studying the Gospels. 
    • My first vacation (June 7-13) which will run through Flag Day. 
    • Summer coffee at Cuties and long-awaited visits to Pittsburgh area cafes like Latte Lane and The Roaming Bean. 
    • Visiting a few Toastmasters clubs on my vacation as well as going to the Strip and the River Rally in Connellsville.
    • Summer TLI (which will be virtual this year)
    • My birthday at the end of the month. I’m making 45 count as I focus on my health with outdoor walks during the summer. Hopefully as the weather attempts to warm up, more time in the pool as we approach Summer.

I’ve been reading Proverbs this month and only have two chapters left. I’ve been reading a chapter every day for 31 days. As we turn the calendar to June, I will be starting in John. While it’s been good to commit to reading the Word, there is always room for improvement.

Taking notes from the passage that I’m studying would help. Why don’t I do that with Duolingo when I learn new words? Also, I think I need to take time to reflect and to pray. Having a big walk in closet like on War Room would be sweet. As I prepare to read the Gospels starting with John, I’ll keep that in mind.

Vacation is a week away and I will be taking it easy this month. The plan is to visit a couple of Toastmasters clubs, check out a few cafes, and hopefully spend a lot of time outside. The last couple of years started off with Summer TLI. That’s not the case as this year it’s online. My first swim last year wasn’t until June 11 but it was one of my better summers in terms of going in the pool. We also shut down early, closing on Labor Day Weekend.

The cafes I want to visit include: Latte Lane in Cheswick. This will be a stop on the way to Cranberry when I visit the Cranberry High Noon club the Monday of my vacation. This has been on my radar for a couple of years now. I learned about Latte Lane when they were still operating out of a camper on Freeport Road in Harmarville.

On my vacation I’d like to discover a few new walking trails, and one of those is the Westmoreland Heritage Trail. Along there I’ll find a couple of cafes that I hope to visit this Summer. One is opening on the 10th of June (Caleese on the Trail in Export) but the other just recently opened and gets a lot of hype on the socials. That would be Groove Coffee Company in Murrysville. That might just be a breakfast stop one of the mornings that I am on vacation.

Later in the week, I may drive down to the Strip District. I may shop but also check out the Terminal as it’s been a while since my last time down there. Another cafe has opened there and I’ve seen them at past night markets in downtown Greensburg. I’m talking about The Roaming Bean.

New Beginnings at Laurel Highlands Toastmasters!

At Tuesday night’s Laurel Highlands meeting, we had two amazing speakers. One gave her ice breaker speech. We also held nominations for new officers for the 2026-27 Toastmasters year. We took the last half hour installing our new officers. I’ll be serving as Vice President Education for both of my clubs, so that will be a nice challenge for me. It will be rewarding and will keep my focused on the success and health of my clubs.

Greensburg will do the same Wednesday night at their meeting. I may step away from speaking as I need some more time. I may evaluate (if our current Vice President Education gives her presentation from the Better Speaker Series) or take on the role of time or grammarian/ah counter.

June 9 I plan to attend the South Hills meeting as a guest. Thus, I’ll be absent from the Laurel Highlands meeting. I have reached out to their officers about my plans. South Hills is one of two clubs in the District to achieve Smedley Distinguished (10 goals and 25 members). Maybe I’ll get some pointers on how to achieve their success. The other club to achieve highest honors is the Eloquent Speakers and Leaders Club (ESL).

I evaluated Ryan’s speech on ups and downs as he talked about his work in robotics and as President of Laurel Highlands Toastmasters. He began and ended with quotes that really stood out. “Life is like a Rollercoaster” at the beginning, and his famous coined phrase to close out the speech, “R. I. O. T.” The latter stands for “Relax, It’s Only Toastmasters”.

He was able to bounce back after sharing tragic news that derailed the high he was on during his holiday weekend at camp. I liked how he covered in the speech, using good vocal variety.

I have reached out to South Hills Toastmasters about visiting on the Tuesday that I’m on vacation. The club has 28 members and has met all ten goals. Also, the day before, I plan to visit Cranberry High Noon. They’re a few speeches and a couple of members away from Smedley Distinguished too.

A visit to the Johnstown club is in the plans for October.

Getting Nominated at Laurel Highlands Toastmasters!

This week, I found another gym to exercise at. It’s still a Planet Fitness but it was in North Huntingdon. I have a black card so I’m able to work out at other locations in the chain. 2026 has been my year so far as I’ve made more of an effort than I ever have to get to the gym. May has been busy but I’ve made the most of the time I’ve had available. I should have a lot more time in June. There might even be an opportunity for me to close my exercise ring for a whole week in one of the first two weeks.

The North Huntingdon location is different than Greensburg, and newer as well. Once a week, I‘ll make it a habit to visit another location, such as Latrobe or Mount Pleasant. This week I plan on an outdoor walk at Twin Lakes, Mammoth, or Legion-Keener/Downtown Latrobe.

This weekend was mostly wet with a few dry periods. Yesterday during our Memorial Day picnic, we did see a downpour. North of Pittsburgh there were Flash Flood Warnings. Despite the rain, it wasn’t a lost holiday but there were missed opportunities for me.

I’m hoping to make a coffee run at some point this week. But I think exercise wins out. There might be a Caleese stop on Friday morning and then my PB&J Latte Sunday or next Monday at Cutie‘s.

Most Toastmasters clubs at this time of the season are getting their new officers lined up for the July 1. That day marks the beginning of the new year and for our new District, it’ll be new beginnings.

Laurel Highlands will hold their elections Tuesday night at their meeting and Greensburg soon. Following the lead of the Imeses from a couple of years ago, I’m looking to hold down the same role in both Greensburg and Laurel Highlands. I’d be serving as Vice President Education.

The Pitt Season 2 is officially underway for me. Last night, I also checked out the podcast on HBO Max that reviews every episode. The hosts have experience with the show, with a medical doctor and pop culture writer deciphering every nook and cranny from that episode. I’ll be watching another episode Thursday night with the rewatch podcast on Sunday.

Thursday I’ll be celebrating Mr. Clougherty as it’s not only the last week of school. This week marks his final as a teacher as he announces his retirement. He taught 30 years at Hempfield and before that was at inner city schools both in Pittsburgh and Washington DC.

He’s not returning to the classroom but will continue to coach at the pool as he returns to coach swimming next year.

What Are Your 15 Minutes at Greensburg Toastmasters?

It felt great to be back at Greensburg Toastmasters on Wednesday night. The last two meetings I had missed. The first time was because I wanted to visit the Beaver Area club which meets on the same night as Greensburg. I had a great time there. The last meeting I missed was due to an early morning appointment; thus, I had to start work early that night. 

We had a zoom platform that worked perfectly on Wednesday night, and we had our backup meeting spot in the jury room. We’ll be there next meeting as well, and I will be speaking that night as I start to wrap up the Presentation Mastery path. Despite the Zoom platform not having any hiccups, we had no one attending online. We did have a guest attending in person, however. 

I actually met her at the Spring Conference over the past weekend. She is from the Bakery Square Toastmasters club and is an artist. 

Not many were in attendance but we still had a full speaking slate. Speech topics consisted of Spring, personal health, and painting. The last speech was from our guest, titled ‘What are your 15 Minutes?

When I first heard the title for this speech, the phrase ‘15 minutes of fame’ had come to mind. Our guest gave a completely different take on 15 minutes. Once I got the gist of what the speech was about, I thought what my 15 minutes were, asked she called on the audience. Mine may include:

Reading a passage from the chapter in whatever book I’m on.

Writing down ideas for my next blog post.

Thinking of how to spend my day or night off.

My speech was the same one I gave to Laurel Highlands last Tuesday. Mike evaluated me and gave me good feedback. Amanda, our guest from Bakery Square and the artist who showed us her watercolor paintings in her journal, also provided me with her take on my speech.

She delivered her speech very well, sharing her passion for painting, and gave us something to think about.

Table Topics hit on the subject of weather. Mary Ellen, our Vice President Education, came up with some fulfilling questions related to the topic. I included the Laurel Highlands in mine as I took the audience on a trip up the mountain to Somerset County.

We all gave our guest a few points of praise and some suggestions for improvement as she’ll present this speech on a bigger stage.

Our next two meetings are June 3 and 17. Summer TLI will be held on June 20, and it will be held online.

Thursday night went off as expected. I began Season Two of The Pitt. The addition of newer characters should help make the show better as should some of the storylines I’ve heard about. The reels help but I’ve disciplined myself to avoid spoiling this coming season. At least when the third season debuts, I’ll be caught up.

The Dinner Series was postponed a week as Mr. Clougherty had another meeting to tend to. It’s his last days of teaching coming up next week as he will enter retirement. He still plans to coach the swim team next year though. As plans changed, it gave me an opportunity to take an early evening walk around Twin Lakes.

We will meet next week in Latrobe as he has practice out there with the pool getting renovated. I always look forward to our meetings and getting to catch up. Maybe a walk around Twin Lakes, downtown Latrobe, or Legion Keener is in the cards. Maybe I’ll even get a picture with America’s favorite neighbor at some point in my travels on Thursday.

Cutie’s Bible Study on Love

The weather was summer like on Monday night for Bible Study at Cutie’s. With it being warm and humid, it almost felt like we were having Bible Study on the beach. Picture it: all the folding chairs and towels in the sand, a nice sea breeze, and the waves. Plus some talented guitar players singing a song or worship or two.

Reminds me of Panama City Beach during my Spring Breaks at Slippery Rock.

We had no worship but that was fine as the message was a good one. Victoria led the study reading from 1 Corinthians 12 and 13. We learned about love.

I stepped up my game Monday night and got a Cutie Pebbles Latte. It was a fitting send off to the Spring menu. Saturday ushers in the new Summer menu. My presence won’t be felt at the market, and I’m not sure the weather bring a lot of people out. We’ll see though. I’m hoping to come out this weekend of early next week for a PB&J Latte.

If you wanted to imagine that you were on the beach Monday night, picture this. The Cutie’s parking lot can be a stretch of a white sand beach. The auto repair shop and woods can be the water, and the sound of the train can be a crashing wave.

The summer like weather on Monday night reminded me of time spent on the beach during Spring Break in the 2000’s. The destination was Panama City Beach. Even though it was a long time ago, that was a great experience

The Ocean Breeze Latte I got at Caleese on Sunday had me dreaming of past Cape May trips. I’m overdue to make it back to the Jersey Shore.

Feeling an Ocean Breeze at Caleese Coffee!

The conference wrapped up Sunday morning, but not without a little networking and breakfast. We shared of our best takeaways at the Dubois/State College table. Wanting to follow my own lead and set my own agenda, I left a little bit before 10am. Unlike Friday afternoon, there was no traffic on the parkway for me to deal with as I made my way home. Just because I had a busy, fun filled weekend didn’t mean I had to crash when I got home. Taking advantage of the nice weather, I made some plans post-conference. Sunday’s 84 degrees with sunshine was a far cry from Thursday’s 48 degrees with drizzle.

My original plans were to have breakfast at Central Diner, afterwards shopping at Settlers Ridge. Once I got home, I’d crash at home. Instead, I walked around downtown Greensburg, and then had coffee at Caleese. After finishing my coffee, I went to the Greensburg Barnes and Noble. Either store had the books that I was interested in purchasing.

Central Diner has the best Challah French Toast and I’ve eaten there before. It’s been a while since my last meal there (pre-COVID) but each time I went I never left disappointed. Settlers Ridge has the big Market District, and on occasion I would stop and pick up a couple of things. If you follow Pittsburgh food influencer ana_eats_pgh, this is her go-to store.

While walking downtown, I almost stopped at the Art Museum since the Roaming Bean camper was there. I knew what I was doing though. That Ocean Breeze Latte was calling my name and it definitely tasted like Summer. It also gave me the opportunity to finish the chapter I was reading in Shapiro.

After my visit to Caleese, I stopped at Barnes and Noble to buy those two books I had my eye on. I took the roundabout way down White School Road (past the Free Methodist Church) towards Mountain View (I miss that little cafe I used to go to). Three Shades of Blue and Jane Austen’s Bookshelf will be late Summer reading projects. The latter choice was inspired by the girl who wrote that book on Gilmore Girls last year. 

This  weekend was nice with the conference going off like it did. A brilliant sendoff to District 13 as the merger takes effect on July 1. It’s also nice to get back into a routine though. Last week’s busy schedule didn’t leave me that much time to get out and exercise. Just one day where I made it to the gym. I’m grateful to have a little more time this week and I will be back at it on Thursday and Friday. 

With Thursday’s weather trending more seasonal, I may walk around Twin Lakes in the afternoon. As it’s my night off, that trip might be saved for the evening after dinner as it stays light until after 8pm now. It’s also my day to begin a new chapter in Shapiro’s book or start The Jazzmen. In terms of TV viewing, I’m due to start Season 2 of The Pitt. 

2026 District 13 Spring Conference Day 2!

Here’s my recap of the second day of the final District 13 Spring Conference. We will merge with District 10 to form the new District 219 on July 1, 2026.

First, the food. The Airport Marriott’s culinary team really came up clutch with the breakfast and lunch buffets. The dinner at the gala was also top notch. I think it goes without saying that I ate really good this weekend. The cheesecake was the chef’s kiss, and I had two pieces. 

As delicious as the spread was, the weekend wasn’t about the food but the great times we had. In addition, the speech contests pitted the district’s finest speakers. Plus, Richard Peck hit it out of the park with his presentations Saturday morning. 

The past international President (PIP) highlighted four types of animals that we want to be aware of:

  1. Crabs (people with a crab mentality will hold you and feel that if they can’t do it, neither should you).
  2. Parrots (people who repeat what you say and tell you that you can’t do it, or that you’re not good enough). Richard said that N & T are the scariest letters in the alphabet. 
  3. Mosquitos (these people suck the life out of you and leave you with a painful feeling).
  4. Crocodiles (these people will eat you alive, aka destroy or be overly critical)

I stepped up to bat as the Sergeant at Arms for the evaluation contest. My job was to keep the contestants in the room until it was their turn to speak. The model speaker (Michael Nelson from the Cranberry Area Toastmasters club) taught us to “shoot our shot”. This contest ran in the family as Ryan (representing Laurel Highlands) competed against his sister Dana. Both siblings were in the ESL club at one point. 

We had our choice of two workshops which we could attend. Sam from my home club presented “How to Master your Mindset to Make Magnificent Things Happen”. Lorie from South Hills Toastmasters, and also current Club Growth Director, did a fun one on club meetings. Titled “Reigniting Fun, Creativity, and Engagement”, we learned of the many fun ways (20 in all) to run a club meeting. Which one you choose, make sure you plan well and think it over well. Guests may feel a little bit confused if they’re attending a “backwards” meeting.  

The International Speech Contest was a nice mix of heartfelt, uplifting speeches. When it came to judging, I was disqualified as I had friends representing in both the evaluation (Ryan) and speech (Mike) contests. TJ Rose from the Johnstown club spoke about his autism journey. He shared his story on toastmaster Liz Kopco’s podcast “The L Podcast”. We didn’t have too many participants in either contest, with five for evaluation and six for international speech. Still, both contests were amazing and the best competed. 

Our group of Contest Chairs and Chief Judges did a bang up job as did their team. Hats off to James (Tamika’s husband) for helping me out with the Sergeant at Arms work. 

At our panel discussion with the District Directors, we got insight from those who served in that role. It was interesting to learn how Patti and Bob held District 13 down during the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel was led by current District Director Kathy Wolf. Dr. Elizabeth Carter served as a past director in District 18. I attended a Fall Symposium in her district in the Fall of 2019. 

At our dinner, we passed the torch to our new District Leaders. Sharon Imes of Laurel Highlands and Western Maryland Toastmasters will be moving up to serve as District 219 Director. Stephanie Hill and Edward Haller from District 10 will serve as the Program Quality Director and Club Growth Director. I look forward to working with all three in the coming year. At a future date yet to be determined, I also would like to attend a Diversity 4 Success Toastmasters meeting. This is our Program Quality Director-elect’s home club. 

During the gauntlet, we welcomed a few new Distinguished toastmasters into the fraternity. Our Club Growth Director Lorie and Webmaster Cameron, as well as our Parliamentarian Jim all received the honor. In addition, a few more who were online got theirs too. Others took part in the gauntlet at the Fall Symposium last October. Our leaders shared some closing words and thanked those who helped them along the way. 

I was happy to take part in the Parade of Banners for the second year in a row. We had a little more participation this time. Hopefully I’ll see a nice pic of all the banners. My photo frame needs some love, so look for a lot of new pictures in the coming weeks. 

We ended the conference like we did Friday Fun night, with some fun disco dancing. It was fitting to have “Last Dance” from Donna Summer be our final song. 

This was, indeed, the last dance for the District 13 Spring Conference.

2026 District 13 Spring Conference Day 1!

The day has finally come. I woke up around 2pm and got the car packed. Soon, I would embark on my Spring Conference adventure. The event this weekend is being held at the Airport Marriott. It’s not my first time here as I attended a conference in the Spring of 2019. The last normal year before we were introduced to Zoom, social distancing, and sheltering in place.  

I checked into my hotel around 5:30pm. With quite a hike to the front desk, I gladly accepted the help of one of my Toastmasters friends. I stuck a couple of my bags on the luggage cart while carrying two of them myself. That made it easier to get my stuff to the room as I still had a long hallway to ascend to get to my room. You’re never too proud to need a hand sometimes. 

Around 6:30pm, I made my way down to the main meeting room. I met up with some of my Laurel Highlands Toastmasters friends. I even spotted a hanbok that one of our members was wearing (he lived in South Korea for a few years). I know a family who dressed their kids in hanbok on their first birthday.

The spread included quesadillas, spanakopita, and pita chips. Veggies were included as well as spinach dip. There was also soda as well as potato chips and french onion dip.

We heard a presentation from our keynote speaker on how Toastmasters can help us achieve our life’s goals. Afterwards, we began our Friday fun night activities. The night started off with improv. Our hosts were members of the Jest Speaking club and had us playing some fun activities. The first was called “Yes, and” where the participants got a scenario and one had to continue the conversation with those two keywords. Yes, and it was a lot of fun. Yes, and in addition we got plenty of laughs. The second was an ABC activity that everyone got in on. The host went from table to table and when the next person and letter were up, they had to think fast. Some answers had us laughing, and some were hard to come by. Overall, this exercise was a lot of fun and there was even a QR Code to learn more about the Achievers Jest Speaking club. 

Once improv was over, we took some time to let loose and dance. From Disco to the Macarena, we were out there on the dance floor. I had to watch everyone to get the moves down but I still had a good time. That’s what Friday Fun Night is about, having fun and letting loose. In this season of getting fit, a little bit of dancing isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it helped me achieve my exercise goal a little bit.

Bloom where You’re Planted at Laurel Highlands Toastmasters!

Tuesday brought nice weather and our Laurel Highlands Toastmasters. The theme was “Bloom Where You’re Planted. We had three speakers (Nick pinch hit and put together a quick speech to present as he replaced Ryan). I’m in the final level of Presentation Mastery and I did the Professional Speaking project. I talked about my health journey and latest sleep apnea diagnosis. I’ll be presenting that speech again on Wednesday night at Greensburg.

Monday’s visit to the doctor went well. It feels like a crazy stretch with appointments and getting ready for Spring Conference. Plus, it has been unsettled and damp (kind of how May ended last year). The visit was good. I’ve been doing better with taking my blood pressure. There is some promising news, and that was being down ten pounds since my last visit.

The damp, unsettled weather pattern gives way to a very summerlike pattern early next week. I’ll definitely be ordering an iced coffee at Cutie’s Monday night for Bible Study. We are flipping the switch from damp and cool to sunny and warm like that. Thus, welcome to Pittsburgh in May. It’s not out of the question we may even see 90 early in the week. It will be nice to be above average though after being damp and chilly. Summer begins on June 21.

Is it too soon to open the pool? Maybe.

Is it time to get out the shorts? Yes.

Back to Laurel Highlands. We had a few guests at our meeting on Tuesday night. The President of Country Roads Toastmasters (chartered last June) led our Table Topics session. Our in person guest liked what she saw at the meeting and may be a prospective member. She took part in the impromptu speaking session as well. Our Area 23 Director did her official visit and offered some suggestions to grow our membership by June 30 to get to Distinguished.

Our next meeting on May 26 is also when we’ll be nominating new officers for the 2026-27 Toastmasters year. I put my hat into the ring for Vice President Education at Laurel Highlands (I had also expressed interest in being President). Don’t know what the slate of officers looks like for Greensburg, but if Education is open I’ll take it. I might be interested in following Mr Imes’ lead from a couple of years ago. He served the role at both Laurel Highlands and Western Maryland.

The race between which club was getting Presidents’ Distinguished first last year was a fun one. Gary and Autumn are awesome and both are passionate about Toastmasters.

Following this weekend’s Spring Conference, our final three meetings are scheduled for May 26, June 9 and 23. On the second date, I’m looking to visit South Hills Toastmasters. That’s my vacation week which is getting oh so close. I hope to touch base with some South Hills members this weekend.

I’ve experienced a lull in my fitness journey this week, and for good reason. It’s been a busy week leading up to this weekend’s events. Just counting down the hours tonight until I’m off the next three days. I’ll be back at it early next week (maybe Sunday if I feel lucky). As the weather trends more seasonal later in the week, I’d like to make time for some outdoor walks as well.

But after hearing the news that I’m down 10 lbs., could a weight loss journey be in my future?

In closing, I was thinking about Tuesday night’s theme, “Bloom Where You’re Planted”.

To me, this means to thrive in the environment that you are put in. It may not be the perfect college or the perfect job, but you make the most of it. It may not seem like much, but it could blossom into a stepping stone down the road.

Let’s travel back to the early 2000’s, when I started college at the Hiram G. Andrews Center. I had friends from high school who were enrolled at IUP and Slippery Rock as well as Pitt and Penn State (and their satellite campuses). With time though, I learned to bloom at Hiram G. Andrews Center and the local community college. Later on, that experience blossomed into Slippery Rock.

Later in the 2000s, upon graduating from college, I started my first job at Kings. For years, I never thought of it as much. Now, I look at it as the fact that I started on a path and seeing what worked for me. If I had a better attitude, maybe I could have stuck it out in the food service industry a few more years.

Life Update

Even though I’ve put up a few blogs this month, I figured I will share a little life update this evening. 

This has been an active start to the month so far as my focus has been on appointments and a speech project. I’ll give that speech tomorrow night at Laurel Highlands, plus get nominated for my officers’ role in 2026-27. Hard to believe June marks my 15th year with Toastmasters. With the conference this weekend and the weather warming up (which will improve my mood), look for more content. 

Yesterday was a quiet Mother’s Day for us spent at home. I gave Mom her gift on Friday, which was a geranium hanging basket from Wal-Mart. Mom suggested Moe’s for Mother’s Day dinner. I didn’t even know about it but nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the taco bar setup. 

Sometimes it’s nice not having to know everything. You may just get a nice surprise. 

It was a tough call on Saturday night for me. Do I go to church or to the high school for the final swim before the pool gets renovated? It would have made for a nice reunion (three of my friends were there) but I chose church instead. I attended online for the second week in a row at my former church and may do an in-person visit in a few weeks. 

The current series wrapped up on Mother’s Day weekend and a new one will begin soon. Likely around Memorial Day weekend but I’m not sure. My plans this weekend include the District 13 Toastmasters conference. It’s the final one before we merge with District 10 (Northeast Ohio) to form the new District 219. Lots of changes are coming, my friend. 

I was able to get a little bit of sun Sunday afternoon and sit outside. I also finished a couple of chapters in my books. I’ll begin reading “The Jazzmen” next week (and may look for a few more books on my way home from the conference). I’ll also be watching season two of The Pitt and checking out the rewatch podcasts that follow the episode.