Friday night, I went to Johnstown to attend the Area 21 International Speech and Tall Tales contest. It was held at Arbutus Church of the Brethren, the meeting place for the Johnstown Toastmasters club. Representing the club were members from Johnstown and Allegheny Mountains Toastmasters clubs. You might ask yourself, did Johnstown have home field advantage in this area contest? I met some old friends from Johnstown and Allegheny Mountains and made new friends as well. I’ll be planning visits to the Area 21 clubs in March and April and these will be online. As for the contests, the speakers in the International Speech contest gave very heartfelt speeches. The Tall Tales speakers had us laughing and even doing a little disco dancing in our seats. The contest chair did a great job with the interviews. One of them does baking as a hobby and is quite talented at making Springerle. He led a session on AI at Winter TLI this past December.

After the contest ended around 7pm, we hung around and socialized. Our contest chair treated us to pizza from Capri Pizza. I was familiar with this pizza place and others when I was a college student in Johnstown. This location was in the Richland Towne Center, formerly Richland Mall. There were also baked goods at the contest, with the cookies made by our speech contestant and fellow DTM Dave Jones. Now that’s a random act of baking! I may have missed M’s birthday party last night but I was happy to be in good company with toastmasters last night.

Before going to Johnstown, I stopped at Cutie’s (like I said I would on Thursday) and kicked off my St. Patrick’s Day coffee run. I ordered a Samoa Cookie latte (came with a Samoa). Next week, I’ll get the Thin Mint latte (which comes with own Thin Mint). I was missed because one of the baristas hadn’t seen me in a while. I almost got a second one too because the owner thought I didn’t get mine initially. I enjoyed my drink en route to Johnstown and a podcast from Mayim Bialik where she interviewed Danica McKellar. That will be where I close off the blog.

On Thursday, I highlighted the epic pod swap that I listened to and I’ve been enjoying the rewatch podcasts this week, as well as a few from Mayim Bialik’s podcast. I’ve gone back to 2021 and 2022 on her pod, listening to interviews with Candace Cameron Bure, Alanis Morrissette, and yesterday Danica McKellar. Her interview with Mayim and the one from three months ago with Pod Meets World were almost identical. Danica talked about her time as a child star and The Wonder Years (one of my favorite shows growing up that I still enjoy). She also talked about her college years at UCLA and getting her degree in math. Danica has published books related to math and has done pretty well for herself. Like most child stars of the ’90s, she has appeared in Hallmark Christmas movies as well. Overall, it was a good interview and I’m feeling enriched with all that I’ve listened to this week on the pods.

I’ll do it all again tomorrow with a new YaJagoff!

This week I’ve really been getting into the ’90s rewatch podcasts and they’re trying to uplift my mood this week with all the cold air we’ve been dealing with. I also listened to another pod swap (in three parts by the podcasts involved). It was the shows that aired in the iconic TGIF block on ABC during the best decade of them all. I also got to learn more about TGIF from a marketing guru who created it. Thursday nights would always reign supreme with Must See TV on NBC, but TGIF was just as good if more family friendly. Maybe I found a new rewatch podcast as well.

I started off the week with Ya Jagoff! which I view on YouTube and sometimes on Amazon if I’m in the car. This local podcast interviews some people who are doing big things in the city, promoting local businesses, and highlighting local artists. The podcast drops on a Friday night but you can watch the live taping at their studio in Foster Plaza. I may view the next one late tomorrow night or early Saturday. One of the main sponsors is Rohrich and their family of dealerships. Prepare to be shocked but, jagoff is not a derogatory term that most people think it is. Actually, it’s a term of endearment. But it’s not beneath the hosts to make us laugh with some of those jagoff moments where people are making fools of themselves.

Thursday begins a new season of reviews for Pod Meets World, a rewatch podcast for iconic TGIF show Boy Meets World. It began in the summer of 2022 and they are already in season six. The show ran from 1993 to 2000 and was a Friday night staple. This pod will win the internet for me this week and I enjoy the interviews they do with producers and former ’90s child stars. I’ve been getting a lot of those pods in and they’ll keep me company en route to Johnstown tomorrow.

But this week, I also came upon an amazing pod swap that I really enjoyed. What is a pod swap for those who may not know? A pod swap is when two podcasters agree to promote each other’s shows. The goal is to introduce each podcaster’s audience to the other’s show. 

This was the pod swap I never knew I needed until this week.

This was a collab of “Pod Meets World” with “How Rude, Tanneritos” (Full House rewatch podcast) and “Keanan and Lakin Give You Deja Vu” (Step by Step rewatch podcast). All of the hosts came together (growing up, you knew them as your favorite child star actors) and played this holiday themed game where Danielle Fishel (Boy Meets World’s Topanga) asked questions to the group. It felt like a fun Table Topics session in Toastmasters. This aired on December 16, so I was a few months late to the party. But better late than never. Danielle did amazing leading this pod swap and these podcasts make me feel like I’ve reunited with old friends after 25 or 30 years.

For these TGIF icons, Thank God It’s Monday (TGIM). That was the day of the week in December that the podcast aired.

There was a mention of Sabrina Carpenter as well and she appeared on Girl Meets World, the sequel to Boy Meets World. Her star has really taken off in the last year. My niece likes a couple of Sabrina’s songs, but you won’t take the Taylor out of A. It was when Danielle was asking the group who they’d sing Christmas Carols with that Sabrina’s name dropped.

I got serious this week on the pod as well as I listened to Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown. This mental health podcast helps explain serious topics better so you don’t have to do it yourself or suffer in silence. Mayim has a Ph. D in Neuroscience and takes advantage of her degree and she talks about her acting days as well. Her podcasts this week that I listened to were from 2022 but still enjoyable. Since I’ll listen to Pod Meets World interview Danica McKellar this week, I’ll listen to Mayim’s interview with her as well. McKellar has a math degree from UCLA and appeared on a episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Let’s close off the blog by talking about the new St. Patrick’s Day menu at Cutie’s.

Cutie’s released their St. Patrick’s Day menu on Monday and both that and the Valentine’s Day menu will be up through March 31. They also have a St. Patrick’s Day flight, the Lucky You flight. I’ll make a stop before going to Johnstown and, I have my choices lined up through mid-March on what I want to order. It only takes a picture on social for me to make up my mind. They continue to impress and I can’t wait for the weather to warm up so I can have a drink outside.

Happy Presidents’ Day!

Some of you may have had today off school or work or you may not have. When I attended college in Johnstown (Hiram G. Andrews or the community college) and at Slippery Rock University, I always had Martin Luther King Day and Presidents’ Day off. This was because the schools honored the holiday and they were state schools.

On this day 22 years ago, we experienced a major snowstorm that would be known as the Presidents’ Day Storm. I was in my last semester of college in Johnstown at the community college. I was hoping to go back to school Sunday night but was snowed in at home until Tuesday and wasn’t happy about that. Back then, college was my safe space away from home and myself.

The major cities along the Eastern seaboard got the worst of the storm, as Baltimore and Boston received over two feet from the snow event. Garrett County saw four feet of snow, and Central Pennsylvania was hit hard as well. Seven Springs ski resort in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania got over 40 inches. That’s a skiers’ delight!

Yesterday, our temperatures dropped and the rain we got in the morning turned to snow. I woke up early in the afternoon on Sunday. Annabelle was hanging out with us and my parents beat the change in the weather by looking ahead to Summer and watching WQED specials. One was Kennywood Memories as well as “Don’t Stand Up”, which consisted of footage that didn’t make it into the 1988 WQED documentary. As old as Kennywood Memories is, it is still relevant to this very day. I own two books on Kennywood written the late Charles J. Jacques, Jr., who was an avid amusement park enthusiast. One of my favorite quotes from Kennywood Memories was from him, “I’m attempting to corner the market of three ring notebooks.” He’s also published books on the former West View Park and Hersheypark. Rick Sebak’s documentaries are a great way to beat a cold, snowy Sunday, especially now that football season is over.

I could have added another Rick Sebak documentary after dinner, but I felt tired and wasted time sleeping away the early evening in an unmade bed. Lesson learned? Make your bed when you wake up! Your mood will improve so much! I made up for lost time and practiced my speech, on top of listening to the local podcast “Ya Jagoff!”. The evening turned into a battle between that and the Saturday Night Live special (SNL50).

I began with Jagoff between the 7 and 8pm hour, and then it got interesting. I didn’t want to miss the SNL special, but I wanted to listen to my weekly podcast. I usually watch that on YouTube.

I’ve obviously heard about Saturday Night Live, but I’ve never watched the show in its entirety. I know that many of the people on there have gone to do big things; from Chevy Chase and Steve Martin to Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd to Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell. 50 years of a late night show means that there would be a lot to cover. Some of the skits had me in stitches. This was the first time we enjoyed something as a family in a long time (well, since watching Christmas movies back in December).

For the first hour, I alternated between SNL50 and Ya Jagoff, which was just as good. The local podcast has really grown on me. You really learn a lot about the city and the people who live and work there. Those guests whom John and Rachael have on their podcast become local celebrities to you. I enjoy the local ads as well, from Primanti’s and Dominion to Mancini’s. I want to try that Italian Twist bread and learn to make it as well.

Time to close off the blog with a recap of the weekend’s Area Speech Contests in Toastmasters. The Area 13 International Speech and Tall Tales contest did not get to go on Saturday due to the inclement weather they had in the area. It was going to be in Sharon and weather events along the I-80 corridor can bring a lot of snow and ice to that area during the winter months. So it will be rescheduled. However, the Area 2 & 3 contest did go as planned. The South Hills also battled the elements but not quite as bad as up north. The officials put on a great contest and the winners will move on to the Division A Contest on March 8.

Winners from the combined contest represented the South Hills Toastmasters, Priority Speakers, and Thermo Fisher. Other clubs in the areas include Moon, Covestro, and Gwen’s Girls (Area 2); Pittsburgh, Crown Castle, and Allegheny County Airport Authority (Area 3).

Pittsburgh (Club 144) had its 85th anniversary in December.

In the news yesterday, I learned that a major retailer would be closing stores. JoAnn Fabrics will be closing at least 500 out of their 800+ locations in the near future, which amounts to over 60% of their stores. Closing sales are set to begin very soon.

33 of these stores are in Pennsylvania, including 12 in the Pittsburgh area. Spared from this round of closures, surprisingly, is the Pittsburgh Mills location. That mall is pretty much abandoned, yet the stores around it seem to do very well. Also not closing in that mall is the Macy’s, though Altoona will be closing theirs.

So what does the closure of a craft store have to do with my life? Well, JoAnn Fabrics was a part of my long-running WIS career from 2009 to 2021. We had that account every year I was with the company. We also counted other craft stores like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and defunct chains AC Moore and Pat Catan’s (the latter of which got swallowed up by Michaels in 2019). The large format, superstore Joanns were always a challenge for us. They had more fabric than the smaller format stores that we took less people to. Would we have enough scales and tables to go around? For Greengate Center, losing this store will be a big hit for them, and you have to wonder what will replace it.

I remember when Pat Catan’s liquidated their stores in early 2019 as we were sent to count all of the stores in the Pittsburgh area and points north (DuBois and Hermitage). We also helped out around the Youngstown-Niles area. Some of those stores in our area become Michaels while others closed or were repurposed into something else. The McKees Rocks location was razed and is now a GetGo Cafe and Market. The former Pat Catan’s became Michaels in Dubois and that has recently closed. Now the JoAnn Fabrics by the mall is closing too, leaving craft enthusiasts with just Hobby Lobby and not many other options unless they want to travel.

Craft and fabric stores were one place my Gram loved to shop at. We always took trips to Minnesota/Hancock Fabrics in the past, as they had a location in the Eastgate Shopping Plaza, just past Westmoreland Mall. Gram always loved making crafts, including quilts. For many years, I had a quilt on my bed that she made for me for Christmas.

They say that things happen in threes, and that includes businesses closing. Party City is closing all of its stores, Big Lots is also closing stores or changing them to a different name, and now Joanns (which has been in bankruptcy) will be closing a lot of its stores as well. It’s like a link to my past that is going away, as Joanns was an integral part of my tenure at WIS. For my friends who work there, it means that they will be out of a job. For my crafting friends, it means less options on where to shop for the products that they need.

In District 13, contest season has begun with area contests taking place over the weekend and on Monday night. Area 22 held their International Speech and Tall Tales contests on Saturday in State College. This area consists of clubs in DuBois, State College, and Lock Haven. Monday night, Area 23 and 24 got together for a joint speech contest at the Eat’n Park Training Facility in the Waterfront at Homestead. The winners will all move onto the Division C contest scheduled next month.

Coming up this weekend are the Area 2/3 International Speech and Tall Tales contests and the Area 13 International Speech and Tall Tales contest. Next Friday on the 21st, I will be at the Area 21 contest.

The dynasty is over, for now. There won’t be a three peat in Kansas City, so we can all pop the champagne like the 1972 Dolphins do when the last undefeated team loses. The Eagles came to play on Sunday, riding their hard hitting defense and making the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes look very ordinary. While the defense in Philly is prolific, so is their offensive line (even without Jason Kelce at Center). Even my 12 year niece switched her allegiance to Philadelphia just to see the Chiefs lose. NFL rushing champion Saquon Barkley wasn’t as effective on Super Bowl Sunday but he didn’t need to be. The defense recorded six sacks of three time MVP Patrick Mahomes and the old adage, “Defense Wins Championships” rang true Sunday night. Also, line play is important, and the Eagles had that too.

Eagles fans can thank Carson Wentz, their supposed savior at the Quarterback position in the late 2010s, for this Super Bowl victory and this season. The draft capital from his trade to the Indianapolis Colts netted them Devonta Smith, AJ Brown, Jalen Carter, and Cooper Dejean.

The Eagles surprised me with that early lead and the Mahomes stat line was astounding in the first half. You have to be perfect to beat KC and Philadelphia did just that. By halftime, the score was 24-0. I wanted to feel comfortable but I remembered 28-3 from several years ago. No lead is safe when your team has an amazing signal caller on their team. I had more confidence in Philadelphia’s defense over Atlanta’s, however. After the Eagles increased the lead to 34-0, it was pretty much over for Kansas City. Their chance to make history went right out the door.

Jalen Hurts went on to win Super Bowl MVP honors with three touchdowns, including one he ran in for a score. The defense deserves some of that well, as Josh Sweat recorded 2.5 sacks. Saquon Barkley and Kenny Pickett have Super Bowl rings and maybe the Giants and Steeelrs are regretting having cut them. Barkley has been one of the reasons why Philly was so good in 2024, also another reason would be that improved defense. That same unit they took to the Super Bowl two years ago completely regressed in 2023. Thus, changes needed to made. Making the necessary adjustments, those efforts really paid off. Philadelphia finished near the top on every defensive stat in 2024.

I ordered a new book by the Philadelphia Inquirer on Amazon about the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles season. It will be here at the end of February.

Philadelphia is my second favorite team, but they might be my number one after this championship season. I rooted for them in 2017 when they were en route to their first Super Bowl title. I learned about the Philly Special then.

This time, I familiarized myself with the Tush Push. Those of us who live in Steeler country, I know we’re frustrated with the one and done performances year after year when we have just about the same talent that Philly does. We become fans of teams that have success like Philadelphia or Buffalo (though that fanbase is pretty snake-bit too).

My niece is a Chiefs fan because she loves Taylor Swift, but she became an Eagles fan because she was ready for a new champion.

It’s been a fun NFL season but now it’s time to return to lifestyle and fashion blogs, people, and put together outfits, and look forward to longer days.

Last week, Pittsburgh lost a legend in the restaurant business. Hartley King, founder of Kings Family Restaurants, has passed away at the age of 91. King opened his first restaurant in 1967 in North Versailles (under the name Kings Country Shoppes). His restaurant chain grew to over 30 locations, many of them located in the Pittsburgh area with a few locations up north (Meadville, New Castle, and Franklin) and east (Somerset and two in Altoona). Past locations included the PA Turnpike and Moon Township. Both of these restaurants closed in the mid-2000’s.

The first locations were North Versailles, Monroeville, Plum, and Upper St. Clair. In Westmoreland County, Delmont opened in 1980, Willow Crossing in 1989, and Hempfield Pointe in 1998.

I worked for Kings in the late 2000’s (upon graduating from college) at the Delmont location. While there, I built good relationships with my coworkers and higher ups. I also took part in some of their corporate functions including the company picnic at Kennywood and a junior golf tournament at Nemacolin Woodlands.

I had the opportunity to see Hartley in person at these events during the summer of 2008. I was the Frownie for both of these events as well. I also wish I would have had the chance to introduce myself.

Pittsburghers will remember King as the man they’d see in King’s television commercials enticing you to come by for a meal and some ice cream afterward. Their specialty was their breakfast menu, ice cream, desserts and homemade pies. After growing to over 30 locations at one point, only four restaurants stay open, including the location in Hempfield Pointe across from Home Depot. On the front of the restaurants was a sign that read “Fine Food and Ice Cream”.

When ownership changed in the mid-2010’s, that was when the restaurant went downhill. The five locations that closed in the Spring of 2017 signaled the beginning of the chain’s demise. Redoing the logo and the exterior was also a sign that things weren’t changing for the better, either.

The Delmont location, where I was employed, closed in the Spring of 2021, and I posted a blog about the closure of that restaurant.

I worked at Kings when the company celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2007 and saw a feature inside the menu with old pictures of Hartley. One of the promos on the actual day of their anniversary (September 25) was 45 cent Apple Pie with Cinnamon Ice Cream. These were probably from commercials and billboards back in the day. Our District Manager found some old menus dated from 1994 that also served as placemats. I was shocked by the both the prices and the dessert items. The Tons of Fun for Everyone really got me. I think that was 24 scoops of ice cream. They also had a smaller version of that called The King’s Castle. While I wasn’t around for those, I did enjoy The Angry Mob (which was a dessert that consisted of ice cream and mini-Frownies.

What Lou Pappan was to Beaver County, Hartley King was to Allegheny County. Both were icons in the restaurant business and the communities they served, and now both are gone.

I read a book on the history of Eat’n Park last year as Pittsburgh’s other iconic chain which celebrated 75 years in business. Kings will always be the little brother to Eat’n Park even as only four stores remain open, including Canonsburg and Kittanning. Maybe one day a book about Kings will be out. If and when it is, I will definitely purchase a copy.

Coach C and I will kick off our 2025 dinner series at Kings in remembrance of Hartley.

We’re now into February, and it’s hard to believe it’s already the fourth day of the month. January lasted about a whole year and I never thought we’d thaw out from that extreme cold. At least I had football to keep me occupied this month.

I don’t find too many interesting pages on Instagram and the algorithm drives me completely insane. But being the TV buff that I am, I discovered a nostalgic page called “Retro Blast From The Past”. It’s mainly reels with this person who tells the viewer what they’d be watching on a given night and network during a given year. For example, Tuesday night on ABC in 1986. He’s evolved a lot since I started watching his channel on IG, as he is now including Saturday morning cartoons. Retro Blast From the Past would also give the ratings for the shows from the year, and there were some real clunkers amid the great shows that finished in the top 10 or 20. You weren’t beating NBC Must See TV Thursday in the 1980’s or 1990’s, or ABC’s Tuesday Night lineup (except for 1984-85).

Like most channels, this one has gotten some criticism because the content isn’t interesting. Maybe some people don’t give a shit about the show’s ratings. In the beginning, it was confusing the give the #1 show even if it wasn’t on that network. If you don’t like it, scroll on. Another complaint was that you always see the guy’s face on there, and some didn’t like that. Oh well, haters gonna hate.

When CBS used to carry the NFC games, usually towards the end of the game they’d announce the Sunday night lineup. I always loved the way Pat Summerall said “Murder, She Wrote”. He’d say Murder and then pause and say the rest of the title. The things you remember from watching YouTube (which is where I discovered this).

In my Facebook memories on Tuesday, I was reminded of a blog that I posted five years ago just after the Chiefs won their first Super Bowl in 50 years. Did this post age badly after that? Ever since, Kansas City has become what New England used to be, and that’s a successful team that’s hated by the rest of the league. I am happy for Andy Reid because he never did get the opportunity to win a Super Bowl in Philadelphia, and he did come close in 2004. Little did I know at the time that a new dynasty was beginning and this was the beginning of multiple Super Bowl appearances by the Chiefs. They’d lose to Tom Brady the next year and fall to Cincinnati in the AFC Championship game in 2021.

My niece is a Kansas City fan mainly because of Taylor Swift, her favorite singer. She’s hoping the Chiefs three-peat on Sunday. Since the Steelers let me down every year, I’m rooting for my second favorite team, the Eagles, to spoil that historic moment.

Finally, 15 years ago tonight, one of our biggest snowstorms that I can remember was just beginning. The forecast was calling for a lot of snow in SWPA, and this one was close to what meteorologists were predicting. When it was all said and done, we ended up with over 21 inches of snow, behind the Blizzard of ’93 and the big Thanksgiving storm of 1950. We ended up with the third snowiest winter on record, and our snowiest February with over 41 inches of snow. At WIS, we were affected as events were canceled and had to be rescheduled. We weren’t done yet as another one pushed through the next week. As bad as that month was, we recovered nicely that Spring and had a nice summer.

Emotionally, that year for me was a struggle as I was going through growing pains at WIS and dealing with some other problems that I seemed to bring on myself. Plus, I was still having regrets about my college years that lingered for a long time after graduation.

Ah, the pre-Toastmaster days.