Christmas, and 2017 Nears Its End

It was a busy Friday (22 December) and Saturday morning at the rental branch, with a lot of people renting vehicles for Christmas vacation journeys. It was quite a bit of extra work involved, but my colleagues and I were able to meet the challenge and keep our customers most satisfied. My manager Cory gave me my annual review on Friday--two days after my fifth anniversary with Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html)--and he had nothing but high marks for me. Cory had little to say but to appreciate the great job I'm doing for the firm, and I had hardly anything to add.

Home after work that Saturday afternoon (23 December), I took care of the last presents to wrap up and put under the Christmas tree at home. Mom and I chilled out at home. I viewed the Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) presentation of "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians," which was the only way to see that awful film. Plenty of campy fun with this movie, as presented on MST3K. It was a good day to be inside: The morning before, we got about 2 inches (5 cm) of snow, to make this a White Christmas. (Cue Bing Crosby.)

I went to Sunday morning service on Christmas Eve at Calvary Presbyterian Church's sanctuary (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/), though it was actually a service conducted by Affton Presbyterian Church (http://afftonpc.org/), which began nesting with Calvary a few weeks ago. (Affton normally holds Sunday services in the Fellowship Hall.) It was nice and I stayed around in the Fellowship Hall afterward for refreshments.

After time at home, I took Mom back to Calvary for the Christmas Eve evening service. It was very nice, and Mom and I were called that night to help serve Communion, which we did. It ended with the sanctuary lights turned off and our individual candle lights (actually electric lights) on during the singing of "Silent Night, Holy Night," which made this more moving.

After the service, Mom and I came home and we each opened a present before retiring to bed.

The next morning, we opened the rest of the presents. I especially prize two pairs of shoes Mom gave me: a pair of black dress shoes (which I hope to wear to some job interviews in the coming months), and a pair of cross training shoes, to replace the worn pair I had. I also got a replica St. Louis Blues sweater, and a necktie from my Uncle Harold--Mom's brother. My brother Doug, teaming up with my brothers Rick and Brian, gave me the DVD of the recent PBS documentary series "The Vietnam War," along with its companion book and soundtrack album. Very nice items, indeed. Mom really enjoyed the necklace and matching earrings I gave her.

I basically chilled out at home the rest of the day.

Up early the next morning (26 December), I drove to work and had a long and very busy day with cleaning cars and picking up and dropping off customers. Mostly, these were customers coming off the holiday weekend. We got through the day fine. It was also the last day for my fellow car prep Jesse, who stepped down due to his arthritis. Sad to see someone go, but I can fully understand his situation.

Since I am working this Saturday morning, I flexed out Wednesday afternoon. That came after a long (distance and time) road trip to ferry a vehicle to our Washington, Missouri branch, then to ferry a passenger van to the Manchester branch, and finally getting a getting a ride back to the Ellisville branch.

That night, after getting dressed up with the new dress shoes and tie, I came to Double D Karaoke Bar (https://doubledstl.com/) in Brentwood for our area's Secret Santa party. After getting beer and appetizers, we received our presents. The person I was buying for wasn't there to get my gift card, but I received an Amazon gift card from my Secret Santa from another branch. I added that card to the one Brian gave me for Christmas. Looks like I'll be getting into my Amazon wish list in the New Year!

Off on Thursday, I headed to Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis to ice skate at Winterfest at the Arch (https://www.archwinterfest.com/). It had been at least two years since I last ice skated, but I did well in the hour I had at the rink. After that, I walked to a nearby Saint Louis Bread Co. (https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html) for a cup of hot chocolate and a cookie.

It was another busy day at work today, but things went well. I got word that afternoon that I had been voted the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the branch for this week. That's an honor that usually goes to management personnel, so I was most pleasantly surprised to get the MVP Award. I must be doing something right at the branch!

See you next year!

Later.

A Happy Hour and Some Soccer

One week ago tonight (5 October) found me at Double D Lounge (https://www.facebook.com/doubledstl/?rf=163570467015377) in Brentwood, where our company's area had a happy hour. It was nice to chat with colleagues, drink some beer, and play a bit of pool--something I haven't done in some years. The latter was a fun match, as Cory from Creve Coeur and I played Miranda of Ellisville and Melissa of Creve Coeur. It was a nice match, but the ladies just beat Cory and I.

It was a full day of work Friday at the rental branch in Ellisville, plus a good Saturday morning there. That night, I drove to Smugala's Pizza Pub (http://www.smugalas.com/smugalassunsethills) in Sunset Hills to catch the Pub2Park bus to Worldwide Technology Soccer Park and the final Saint Louis FC (http://www.saintlouisfc.com/) home match of the season. After partying with the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) in the parking lot, I marched into Toyota Stadium for the match against Richmond Kickers. The home side was playing for pride, having been eliminated from a post-season berth; however, an early second half goal by Richmond was the difference in a 1-0 loss for Saint Louis FC. They end the season at Bethlehem Steel this Sunday.

I was back at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park late Sunday afternoon (8 October) to referee youth soccer games. Originally scheduled for three 9v9 under 12 matches, my crew ended up doing four matches--I had two middles. They went well.

Back at work Monday morning, it was a usual busy start of the work week. Although two of our staff were out on vacation then, with a temporary addition we got through Monday just fine. More work on Tuesday and Wednesday, including making some trips yesterday to ferry some vehicles to our branch.

After flexing out yesterday afternoon, I browsed at some stores before going home. Today was rather quiet, mostly doing my laundry and watching some history documentaries on home video. Back to work tomorrow morning, where a new vehicle service agent is expected to report to Ellisville branch. I'll be helping that person learn the ropes.

Later.

Transitions at Work; Dinner with a Group

After a relaxing weekend at home, it was back to work for me this past Monday (25 July). It was warm and humid, though not as bad as it was the previous two weeks. Tuesday marked the last day for Liz as our branch manager, as she is taking over the branch at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Area employees gathered at Double D Karaoke (http://doubledstl.com) in Brentwood after work on Tuesday to celebrate. I could only stay briefly, as I had to drive down to Bill Wagner's house in Oakville for the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting. Liz appreciated my stopping by, though. The IPMS/Gateway board planned our August general and business meetings, and discussed other club business.

Wednesday (27 July), I started to contact some recruiters about help in finding career opportunities in marketing communications and publishing. Hope to get some action going soon in that area. Any assistance that you can give me in this regard is much appreciated.

Off work Thursday, I got my hair cut at Great Clips (http://www.greatclips.com/) in Tenholder Plaza in Mehlville. The stylist did such a good job getting about two months' growth of hair cut from my head. I bought some hair color on the way home and applied it myself, covering my gray hairs.

After a personal appointment, I shopped a bit at CRM Hobbies (http://www.crmhobbies.com/) in south St. Louis, buying two bottles of paint for models I'm working on now.

That night, I was at Yemanja Brasil Restorante (http://www.brazildining.com/) in south St. Louis' Benton Park neighborhood for dinner with the Ethnic Restaurant Fans Meetup group (https://www.meetup.com/Ethnic-Restaurant-Fans/). Approximately 12 of us attended, and it was my third visit to this restaurant. Yemanja is one of my favorite restaurants in St. Louis and the experience did not disappoint. After an appetizer of Empanadas de Bife and a cup of soup, I did into the main course: Xin Xim de Galinha, a spicy chicken dish. Dessert was Pudim de Coco, mainly bread pudding, all washed down with a Caipirinha cocktail and water. A great time was had by all at this dinner, and I highly recommend both Yemanja and Ethnic Restaurant Fans.

Today at work, an electrician came by in the morning to install two oscillating fans in the wash bay. When the fans were up and running, they blew plenty of cool air inside the bay, which made conditions much more tolerable. It was challenging at times to get vehicles parked on our crowded lot, but things got taken care of in good order. By the way, a new manager reports to our branch next week.

Relaxing at home now, but an interesting weekend awaits. More on that in my next post.

Later.