A Birthday Amidst Fluctuating Weather

Last Sunday (4 February) was spent at home. Rather quiet. Did work a bit on a couple of scale models I'm looking finish so I can enter them in the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) contest on 20 February.

Back to work Monday morning and we had lots of vehicles to clean up and ready for the many customers that passed through our door that day. The same was the case the next day, with the added concern for freezing weather. I had some snow to clear off windows that morning, but easily handled. Concern with the weather did force postponement that Tuesday night of this month's Mark Twain Model Club in St. Charles. That meeting has been rescheduled for this Tuesday night.

My birthday in Wednesday (7 February) passed rather quietly. No mention of it at work. After work, I came home to dinner with mom, along with cake and presents. The latter included three casual shirts, which were most appreciated, along with a motivational book mom found, and a movie on DVD I had ordered, "Russian Ark." That night, I chilled out at home watching on DVD one of my all-time favorite movies, and one that was the top movie at the box office the day I was born: "Dr. Strangelove; Or, How I Learned to to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."

Off work Thursday, I went to Jiffy Lube (https://www.jiffylube.com/) to get my Corolla's safety and emissions inspections, as its state registration was due at the end of this month. After finding that my usual location in Mehlville was closing in three weeks, I headed a Jiffy Lube in Concord Village. They were able to do the safety inspection--it passed--but computer problems prevented them from doing the emissions inspection, even after rebooting the computer a few times. They folks there apologized for that, and promised they would get this fixed in the next day or two. I told them I would return in a week to try to get the emissions inspection done.

Home after that, I worked on my 2017 federal and state income taxed. Using TurboTax online (https://turbotax.intuit.com/), I followed the step-by-step instructions to work out my taxes. I ended up getting a nice refund from the federal government, and paying just a bit for the state. I successfully filed my taxes electronically, and printed off copies for my files and to mail to both the IRS and Missouri Department of Revenue--the latter with my payment. This was done during my lunch break the next day.

After getting my taxes done, mom took me out to Red Lobster (https://www.redlobster.com/) in Concord Village for my birthday dinner. I had a nice dinner featuring stuffed tilapia with langostino lobster. Yum. I washed that down with lobster lovers punch, a cocktail of Captain Morgan, Bacardi, and Malibu rum, shaken with berry and pineapple juice and served in a Red Lobster 50th Anniversary glass that I could keep. Very nice.

Back at work Friday--after buying doughnuts from Krispy Kreme (http://krispykreme.com/) for my colleagues--and we had a day that started off rather warm for this time of the year, only to get much colder later that day. Assistant manager Miranda got a big decorated cookie for my birthday, and I had a bit of that after getting lunch from Penn Station (http://www.penn-station.com/) in Ballwin. I helped get it all done by the time we closed up Friday night.

Yesterday, I was home during the day, doing a bit of work on my models and getting some preliminary work done for the IPMS/Gateway newsletter, The Arch Scaler News, which I need to get out this week. I also relaxed at home, mindful of the worsening weather coming that night. A wintry mix--ice and a bit of snow--was coming our way. That night, I learned by email that two soccer games I was to have officiated the next morning were cancelled, due to weather concerns.

Thus, I slept in a bit this morning, relaxed at home, then headed at midday to C4 at Creve Coeur Racquet Club (http://www.c4stl.com/) for boys futsal matches. I was scheduled to work four high school age matches; however, this past week, I was asked to yield my place in the third match of the set so a colleague could be assessed for upgrade. I agreed to this and so I watched that match from near the scorer's table. I trust my colleague passed his assessment. My three other matches went well, though they were a challenge at times and I had to pull out my yellow card a couple of times in these matches. Overall, though,they were fine and all was well at the end.

Watching the Winter Olympics (https://www.olympic.org/) from PyeongChang on TV tonight. I always enjoy the great smorgasbord of sports that is the Olympic games, and these games are wonderful to watch so far.

Later.

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.