In Wednesday’s blog, I remembered a couple of Pittsburgh personalities who recently passed away. Elvis left the building for the last time on February 19 when former Pittsburgh Penguins announcer Mike Lange died. “Scratch my back with a hacksaw” was one of his many catchphrases every time the Penguins scored a goal. Last Thursday, former KDKA personality Jon Burnett passed away. He had been diagnosed with CTE in early 2024. He was a man of many hats at Channel 2, as a host of newsmagazine shows and as a weatherman. If you’re from Pittsburgh, you know who I’m talking about.

Today, we’re looking ahead to March and springing ahead. We turn the clocks ahead next weekend so while it’ll still be dark when you’re waiting for the bus, you’ll get that extra hour of daylight in the evening.

Next weekend begins the division leg of the speech contests in our Toastmasters district. The area contests are like the wild card playoffs in the NFL. You sometimes have your surprises and that change the whole narrative. Barring any schedule changes, I’ll be in Oakdale next Saturday to attend the Division Awesome contest. On the 22nd, our division will have its speech contest. Next week, I might have to do a Market District run afterwards at the Robinson location unless I find a good place to eat, or I’ll do both. I may channel my inner Ana_Eats_PGH. #James_Eats_PGH

Needless to say, my Spirit of Toastmasters fire will be burning in March with visits to Western Maryland and Allegheny Mountains coming. Next month, Indiana and Johnstown visits are in the cards. All of these visits will be done online. In my Toastmasters Monday blog, I’ll highlight the final area contests as divisional contest season draws near.

Rewatch podcasts and mental health podcasts won it for me in February. Pod Meets World and Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown got my attention the most with a little Keanan and Lakin Give You Deja Vu, and YaJagoff sprinkled in for good measure. But it was the pod swap of classic ’90s rewatch pods that reeled me in. It was like reuniting with old friends after 25 or 30 years.

On Mayim’s podcast, I’m learning that I can identify with some of these ‘90s child stars in terms of mental health. I have a few Breakdowns on my list next month including her interviews with her co stars from the Big Bang Theory.

As we turn the calendar to March, I’m making plans for what to drink at my favorite coffee place. One thing I didn’t do in February was take a lot of coffee or outfit pictures. I saw this on Instagram stories yesterday and thought it was cool. I didn’t have six pictures, but two and they were both from Cutie’s.

The Lucky Charms and Over the Rainbow lattes are on my radar as is the Lucky Girl Latte and the Pistachio Coffee. The Spring menu launches on April 5 along with a market in the lot across from Cutie’s. In the picture are the Samoa Cookie Latte and the Thin Mint Latte. The fish sandwich tour kicks off soon and Eat’n Park is on my radar for their Whale of a Cod sandwich.

Finally, I’ve graduated in my book about John Hughes and his classic ’80s movies. I finished the chapter on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, thus moving on from the high school movies and into films like Some Kind of Wonderful and Say Anything, as well as Uncle Buck. Some of these films I’ve never seen to this day but I’ve enjoyed this look back at a great decade and Brat Pack films which some are still relevant to this day. It’s hard to believe that The Breakfast Club turned 40 a few weeks ago.

Stay warm as March comes roaring in like a lion.

Last week, Pittsburgh lost two icons in 24 hours. Former voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins Mike Lange died on February 19 at the age of 76. A day later, I read of the passing of former KDKA weatherman Jon Burnett.

Mike Lange served as the Penguins’ play-by-play announcer in 1974 and again from 1976 to 2021. He was with the team during their lean years when their future was uncertain before drafting superstar Mario Lemieux in 1984. He was known for his catchphrases everytime that the Penguins scored. “He shoots and scores” was the most popular, as well as “Buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too”. Another one was “Scratch my back with a hacksaw!”. When the game ended, it was “Elvis has just left the building”. When news broke of Lange’s death, that marked the final time that it happened.

Last year viewers learned that Jon Burnett, who retired in 2019 from KDKA, had been diagnosed with suspected CTE likely from head trauma from many years of playing football. Before joining the KDKA Weather department in the early 1990’s, Burnett was a co-host on Evening Magazine upon his hiring at KDKA in 1982. In 1985, he also hosted Pittsburgh 2Day with Patrice King Brown.

Both shows ended in 1990 and he made the switch to the weather department soon after. Later, he was a host on Pittsburgh Today Live (not to be confused with the former show).

Credit for this part of the blog goes to pbrtv.com, who posted this news on February 20. I found out through Ray Petelin’s Facebook page that same day.

On Wednesday, I also read about the passing of former child star Michelle Trachtenburg. Her film credits include Harriet the Spy and Eurotrip. Her TV credits include the hit Nickelodeon show the Adventures of Pete and Pete (where she made her acting debut in the mid 1990’s). She also starred in the UPN/WB show Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Buffy’s younger sister, Dawn Summers, and on Gossip Girl as recurring character Georgina Sparks.

Her cause of death remains undetermined.

Speaking of memoriams, The Washington Mall will be demolished this Sprjng after it was abandoned over ten years ago. It opened in the late 1960s only to later fall into disrepair and be practically abandoned as store after store moved out.

The only two remaining tenants are Grand China Buffet and Harbor Freight, although information was not released on what would happen to those two businesses once the mall is razed.

JCPenney closed in May 2014 after it was announced of a plan to close over 30 stores. Toys R Us closed in April 2018 in wake of the company’s bankruptcy. Staples closed in February 2024 due to the owners not willing to bring the building up to code.

Fun fact about the former Washington Mall JCPenney: it closed in February 2007^[6] and relocated to the defunct Foundry shopping center less than a mile away in March 2007; however, due to ground settling problems at the aforementioned retail complex and financial difficulties with the property owner, JCPenney moved back to the Washington Mall in mid-September 2008.

I counted this JCPenney early in my WIS career before the store closed in 2014.

Credit for the news of the Washington Mall demolition goes to Wikipedia and the Weirton Daily Times.

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.