02 November 2017

Communicators, Model Cars, and Halloween

We had a good day of work at the rental branch on Friday (27 October). Jesse, a new vehicle service agent, reported for work with us that morning. He, like Marvin, was an older man there to work part time. I really appreciated the extra hands in the wash bay, and so do my colleagues. We also said goodbye to management assistant Kory, who was leaving our branch and car rental to work for Enterprise Car Sales (https://www.enterprisecarsales.com/) in Manchester.

The next morning saw me going to the St. Louis Artists' Guild (http://www.stlouisartistsguild.org/new/) in Clayton for the Missouri Professional Communicators (http://www.mpc-nfpw.org/cpsiteframepage.lasso?-token.lpuserref=113815.113118) meeting. After a continental breakfast, we took in a presentation by Deb Reinhardt (http://www.deborahreinhardt.com/index.html) on the National Federation of Press Women (https://www.nfpw.org/) work shop in Alabama in September. Deb recapped the workshop speakers and their presentations. Janice Denham then gave a talk about MPC's communications contest, and those in attendance talked a bit about themselves and any lessons or tips they have from their careers.

Sunday morning (29 October), I was at the Kirkwood Community Center (http://www.kirkwoodmo.org/content/City-Departments/1856/community-center.aspx) for the Midwest Model Vehicle Association--St. Louis (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/MMVAStLouis.html) Fall Swap Meet and Model Contest. IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) had a table with a model display and some club literature, and I helped staff our table and provided several models for the display. Additionally, I was able to walk around the room visiting the other vendors, chatting with scale modelers I know, and admiring the contest models. This was a nice show and we got the word out on our club.



Back at work Monday morning, having three car preps in the morning was quite a difference, as we got through the backlog of returned vehicles in rather short order.

Halloween was the next day. Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html) branches were all decorated for the day, in themes chosen by each branch's manager. In our case, it was the long-running television game show "The Price is Right." The lobby was decorated with signs like those on the game show's initial game, and we--Manager Cory, assistant manager Miranda, management trainee Tyler, and I--wore color coordinated outfits, while Jesse was the master of ceremonies. A judging team from the area office--costumed as dolls or something like that--came around to evaluate our decorations and costumes, as prizes would go to the best branch setups. All in all, it was fun.



Off work today, I first went to the Firestone Complete Auto Care (http://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/) in Mehlville, where they installed a replacement hubcap on my Corolla. Mine had gone missing soon after I drove off that lot a week ago, probably due to it not being fully installed in a likely inadvertent misstep. I greatly appreciated this gesture, which was done in about one minute and at no charge. Great bit of customer service by the staff there.

I then had my semi-annual dental exam in Kirkwood. My teeth were cleaned, and the dentist noted no problems with my teeth. I then celebrated with a mocha and coffee cake at Kaldi's Coffee (https://kaldiscoffee.com/) in downtown Kirkwood, before going home for lunch.


Before I go, two plugs for this weekend. First, I'll be in Columbia, Missouri on Saturday for TigerCon, a scale model contest presented by IPMS/Central Missouri Scale Modelers (http://www.cmsm-ipms.org/). I will join with several other IPMS/Gateway members to attend and support this show, which will be held at the Event Center of Hickman High School from 9 am to 2:45 pm. Hope to see you there.

Sunday night, I perform my first volunteer assignment at the Whittaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) (http://www.cinemastlouis.org/about-festival), which begins tonight. I will be at .ZACK in midtown St. Louis from 7 to 10 pm. I have four other SLIFF volunteer assignments: Tivoli Theatre, Thu., 9 November, 8 to 11:55 pm; Missouri History Museum, Sat., 11 Nov., 10:30 am to 3 pm; Winifred Moore Auditorium at Webster University, Sat., 11 Nov., 6:45 to 10:30 pm; and Brown Hall at Washington University, Sun., 12 Nov., 7 to 10 pm. Hope to see you there!

Later.