11 April 2012

A Less Than Happy Easter Weekend

Last Friday (6 April) was my parents' 49th wedding anniversary. They have put the celebration on hold, because Dad was taken to the hospital late last week. He has pain issues in his back and hip, which made it very hard for him to move around or to even sit in his recliner. He's resting at the hospital as I write these words. Mom said she and Dad will celebrate their anniversary after he is released from the hospital, which hopefully will be in the coming days. On behalf of my brothers, I ordered an arrangement of flowers, which I did not pick up until Monday morning. My Mom really liked that set.

Naturally, this did put a damper on our Easter. I was at home all day Sunday, just taking it easy. Been dealing with a bit of pain in my knees lately. I hope it's not too bad to prevent me from refereeing games (I have some this weekend). The day before Easter was more active for me. Early Saturday morning (7 April), I drove to the Thornhill Branch, St. Louis County Library to reserve IPMS/St. Louis' meeting dates for July through December. (The library takes meeting room reservations semi-annually.) I was first in line that morning, so it was no problem to get our meeting room for the first Tuesday night of the month. More info on the club at http://www.ipms-stlouis.org.

That afternoon, I co-hosted the April edition of Writer's Block from Naturally Autistic Radio. I phoned in my role (literally) on the hour-long show, which went well. It is now archived and available to download for podcast at http://www.naturallyautistic.com/radio-show. Our next edition of Writer's Block is Sat., 5 May at 10 am Pacific Time (12 pm Central Time; 1800 hours GMT).

Tuesday morning (10 April) found me at the GO! Network workshop at St. Patrick Center, taking in a presentation on accountability in your life. I'll be working on one of GO!'s projects, helping promote it. Details to come next week. Tuesdays night, I started at the Holiday Inn South County for the monthly Yellow-Tie networking event. It was pretty nice, talking with one or two people I know and meeting a few I have not met before. Then, I headed to Crusoe's in Oakville for the Mehlville High Class of 1982 Reunion Committee meeting. I joined with several classmates to find out how many of our classmates we have reached so far, at least to get their email addresses (just over 25 percent of the class to date). I broke away from the committee meeting to represent our class at the Mehlville-Oakville Alumni Association meeting, also taking place at Crusoe's. I briefed them on our reunion (Sat., 6 Oct.) and received an update on the alumni association's plans.

That night, my brother Rick and his son Alex arrived after a two-day road trip from Charleston, South Carolina. They are doing well and will be here for a few days.

Before I go: Tuesday of next week (17 April), the IPMS/Gateway meeting at Calvary Presbyterian Church will feature CAPT Richard S. Dann, USNR, who talks about the Heritage Paint Project he headed for the Centennial of Naval Aviation last year. Should be a real neat program. More info at http://ipms-gateway.com.

Later.