Halloween 2018

One week ago today (31 October), I was off work as usual on Wednesdays. However, I did pop into the Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html) Ellisville branch, because--like virtually all branches and offices--it was decorated for Halloween. This year, our branch did the theme of Garden Gnomes. I showed up wearing a red plaid shirt and blue jeans, and Assistant Manager Rebe had a red cap for me to wear. We posed for a picture. It was fun.

I then returned home, after a brief shopping trip. That included stopping in Marshalls (https://www.marshalls.com/) in Ballwin, where I found a winter coat I could use while working during the winter.

Home for dinner with Mom, I helped her out when we had a few children from our subdivision stop by to Trick or Treat. Mom and I listened to their jokes before giving them candy. Not that many children came by--we don't have that many youngsters in our subdivision--but it was nice.

Later.

A Weekend Around the Lou

Mid-morning last Saturday (27 October), I drove to the Enterprise Fleet Management (https://www.efleets.com/) in Olivette, Missouri, where a Trunk or Treat was organized for the children of their employees. I came by to lend my support to this event. Several vehicles had their trunks open so kids in costume could come by and get treats in a safe, friendly environment. Two employees I knew brought their children along. It was quite a lot of fun to see.

Then, I drove to the American Czech Educational Center (http://acecstl.org/) in south St. Louis for their Fall Czech Festival. I stayed rather briefly--just over an hour--but enjoying hearing the Czech music and wandering among the vendors for crafts, food, and drink. I entered a raffle for a few donated items--didn't win, though. Still, a good time.

Before leaving South St. Louis, I stopped at two venues--a Starbucks (https://www.starbucks.com/) and a Schnucks supermarket (https://nourish.schnucks.com/)--to drop off promotional postcards for the St. Louis International Film Festival (https://www.cinemastlouis.org/).

I then came home to rest for awhile, then headed to the Schlafly Bottleworks (http://www.schlafly.com/bottleworks-brewpub/) in Maplewood, Missouri for their Full Moon Festival. The parking lot was transformed into a festival site, with open fires, a stage for entertainers, dining tents, and booths selling food and beer. I had a pork sandwich with a Schlafly White Lager. It was all very nice. I also ventured inside the Brewhouse to use the men's room and to browse the souvenirs on sale. A good time had at this festival.

The next morning, 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/MMVASt.%20Louis.html) Fall Show. Bill Wagner and I represented the Gateway Chapter of the International Plastic Modelers' Society (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) at the MMVA show, where IPMS/Gateway had a table. Bill and I brought some models to display, along with flyers for our contest in September 2019 and information on the club's website and social media pages. We had a number of people stop by to look at our models, pick up our flyers, and talk with us. The show was nice, with a good turnout of car models, plus I brought two kits--an aircraft and a ship--from vendors there.

After the show, I stopped by a Saint Louis Bread Co. (https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html) in Sunset Hills to drop off another SLIFF promotional postcard, and have a snack before going home.

Later.

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.