A Good Saturday: MPC Awards and a CITY Win

Yesterday morning (11 May), I drove to Helen Fitzgerald's Irish Grill & Pub in Sunset Hills for the Missouri Professional Communicators (MPC) celebration luncheon. The organization was inviting those who won awards in their annual Communications Contest to receive their awards as well as enjoy appetizers and drinks.

There were about nine of us there for the event. Helen Fitzgerald's served us several appetizers, including potato skins, toasted ravioli, onion rings, and nachos using potato chips made on the premises. They were most satisfying for my colleagues and me.

The awards were presented in the entrant's alphabetical order. I entered three items from 2023 in the contest and earned two First Place and one Second Place awards. One of the Firsts was for editing The Arch Scaler News, the monthly member newsletter of the Gateway Chapter of the International Plastic Modelers' Society (IPMS). The judges cited this entry saying, "There's a lot of work put into this newsletter and the writing is clear and understandable."

My other First Place honor went to the press release I wrote and distributed to promote last September's IPMS Gateway Invitational model contest. The judges' comments for it said, "This is nice! Your statement is brief but to the point, and it shows you had a realistic understanding of your goals and achievements. Even though your event had a limited draw (kind of at the opposite end of a Super Bowl crowd), your work shows champion-level professionalism. The release, like your statement, is properly clear and concise. Calendar editors like submissions like yours because you make their job easy."

The judges awarded Second Place to the IPMS Gateway Facebook page, saying "This growing page is very informative and well-organized. There is good interaction with the page as well, which means members are relying on it." These judges' comments also include suggestions for improvement. In the case of the Facebook page, it suggested going to a less-text heavy banner photo, more frequent posting (daily or almost daily), and looking into posting video content. I will take these comments to heart.

The First-Place winners in the MPC Contest are eligible for awards from the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW), to which MPC is an affiliate. The NFPW Contest awards will be presented at the closing of their National Conference, which will be held in Frontenac, Missouri on 20-22 June. I was informed by one of the MPC organizers that one of those two First Place entries has won a NFPW award. I am very much looking forward to that event next month. All of us there had a good time and left Helen Fitzgerald's happy. 

After this event, I ran off some IPMS Gateway Invitational flyers at Office Depot, which I then took to Schaefer's Hobby Shop. After that, I came home to change clothes and relax.

Later that afternoon, I went to Downtown West in St. Louis for St. Louis CITY SC's match against Chicago Fire. Before the match, I went to the St. Louligans' Street Party near Schlafly Tap Room. I got a Schlafly Raspberry Hefeweizen beer and a Buffalo chicken pizza from the Doughboys food truck. I enjoyed this dinner before milling around the area. Around 6:30 p.m., many of us gathered to chant for about 15 minutes before beginning the march around CITYPARK. We entered the stadium after about 20 minutes of marching.

It was yet another sellout crowd as CITY and Fire met in this regional rivalry match. Just before kickoff, a giant tifo was displayed in the North End over the Supporters Section, spelling out CITY's aspirations in the rivalry.

CITY took charge from the kickoff and was rewarded by a goal by Rasmus Alm just 84 seconds into the match--the fastest goal in club history. Chicago leveled the match in the second half's opening minute, but CITY kept pressing. Joao Klauss put the home side back ahead with a 56th minute tally, then put it away with his second of the night in the 67th minute. CITY ran out 3-1 winners.

I joined hundreds of other CITY supporters to stay after the final whistle as the players and coaches walked around the pitch to acknowledge their supporters. They finished in front of the Supporter Section and jumped as one to thank us for their support.

Overall, yesterday was a very good day for me.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Helen Fitzgerald's Irish Grill & Pub: The Irish Grill & Pub in Saint Louis - Helen Ftizgerald's - Since 1992 (helenfitzgeralds.com)

Missouri Professional Communicators: Missouri NFPW affiliate | Missouri Professional Communicators | Clayton (moprocommunicators.org)

IPMS Gateway Chapter: IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)

National Federation of Press Women: Home (nfpw.org)

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)

Schlafly: Schlafly Beer Homepage - Schlafly Beer 

Doughboys Wood Fired Pizza:  "It's doughlicious!" (stldoughboys.com)

Strange Weather

A week ago Friday night (6 January), I went right after work to Helen Fitzgerald's Restaurant and Pub (http://helenfitzgeralds.com/) in Sunset Hills. I was attending a Lock and Key Dating Event (http://www.lockandkeyevents.com/) for singles in my age range. The men got a key and the women got a lock, and the men were supposed to find women and try to open a lock. After finding such a match, we would get a new lock and key and start the process again. I was able to open 10 locks in just over 90 minutes. I was able to chat briefly with the women taking part, but did not get anyone I would talk to after the event. It was fun, though.

I was at work the next morning at the rental branch, and we busied ourselves with getting vehicles prepped and rented out. It was a busy, but successful morning. I then chilled out at home for the weekend.

This has been one strange week for weather. It's been said, "If you don't like the weather here in St. Louis, wait a few minutes." The past seven days were proof of this statement. Early in the week, we got as warm as 60 degrees F (16 degrees C) and sunny at times. That changed drastically later in the week, as it went down to 15 degrees F (-9 degrees C) at night.

The week at work was busy, but went well. Finding space to park our vehicles on our lot was a major challenge at times, even with a backlot in play. Still, things were handled very well as expected.

My off day Thursday (12 January) saw me go to Berry Park in Eureka (http://www.eureka.mo.us/departments/parks-recreation/park-locations-amenities/), where I took a brief walk with a friend. It was brief, as the temperature got colder. Then, I got my hair cut at Great Clips (http://www.greatclips.com/) in Tenholder Plaza in Mehlville, followed by a hotc hocolate and bear claw at the nearby St. Louis Bread Co. (https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html). I got home in time to beat a Winter Storm Warming for our area. Starting that night and into the next few days, we got freezing rain that started making travel most hazardous. At work that Friday morning, it was a rush to get vehicles prepped and spotted ahead of the worsening weather. Fortunately, many people stayed off the roads, which made it easier for the highway crews getting anti-freezing materials laid onto the roads. I was sent home early that afternoon, as the branch had all the vehicles ready that it would likely need that day and Saturday. After stopping for lunch at Penn Station (http://www.penn-station.com/) in Ballwin, I made it home fine.

I stayed in the house throughout the weekend, venturing outside only to get the mail. The ice storm came in three waves over the weekend, dropping up to 3/4 inch (1.9 cm) of ice by mid-Sunday morning. Fortunately, the temperature warmed up late this morning and the ice melted, so it should not be too bad to travel tomorrow morning.

Later.