A Whirlwind of Activity

Work has sure kept me busy of late. Our branch is still taking care of many customers, including many who have their vehicles in the shop due to last month's hailstorm. It's been hectic at times, but we're doing very well.

Saturday night (9 May) found me at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton for Saint Louis FC's match against Wilmington Hammerheads. A threat of rain kept the attendance down a bit, but those who came saw Saint Louis prevail 1-0 on an 82 minute goal. More info on the club here: http://www.saintlouisfc.com.

The next afternoon, I was officiating youth matches at Fox High School in Arnold. The weather was sunny for the first two matches I worked, including my middle in the first match of the set. However, conditions worsened during the final match of the day, and lightning struck some distance from our field, followed soon after by rain, just as the first half ended. After waiting out the storm for a few minutes, we ended up abandoning the match.

I have been working lately on two scale models I'm hoping to complete in time for this Tuesday's IPMS/Gateway meeting and the model contest there. Here's the club's website: http://ipms-gateway.com.

Speaking of scale modeling, I registered online last Sunday for the upcoming IPMS/USA National Convention in Columbus, Ohio in late July. I'm looking forward to this event.

Later.

Into May 2015

Last Saturday afternoon (2 May), I did co-host the monthly online radio program Writer's Block, from ANCA Radio Shows, Autistic People and streamed through Blog Talk Radio. Host Tim Pylypiuk and I discussed fictional languages in writing on this show, such as Vulcan from "Star Trek." It is now available on archive here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/autistic-people-/2015/05/02/writers-block-10am-pstradio-drama-the-grooming-hour-11am-pst.

After that, I was at West County Center in Town and Country, Missouri to volunteer at the Greater St. Louis Book Fair. This was an annual charity used book sale, with proceeds benefitting education and literacy programs in Metro St. Louis. I worked a 3.5 hour shift as a cashier, and rang up quite a few customers. I did a bit of shopping before and after my shift, getting four books in the process. This book fair returns the same time next year. You can get more info, including donating items for next year's fair, here: http://stlouisbookfair.org/.

I relaxed on that Sunday, doing a bit of work on my model workbench with a couple of models I'm hoping to finish for IPMS/Gateway's contest on 19n May. I also went to the Kirkwood (Mo.) Community Center for the Midwest Model Vehicle Association/St. Louis (MMVA/STL) semi-annual car model contest and swap meet. IPMS/Gateway had a table there with a couple of car-related group entries we've done and some info on the IPMS/USA Region 5 Convention we're hosting on 12 September 2015. I saw a few familiar faces and admired some nice car models and items on the vendor tables. More info on MMVA/STL here: http://www.ipms-gateway.com/MMVASt.%20Louis.html.

Work continued to be busy, with quite a few customers renting from us--many still needing to get their vehicles repairs after last month's hail storm. It's all good, though.

After flexing out on Tuesday afternoon (5 May), I was home and relaxed some before going to the IPMS/St. Louis meeting at Mark Twain Hobby Center in St. Charles, Mo. I showed off my three most recent models and discussed the hobby with the other three in attendance, including a first-time attendee. We had a very nice meeting, I thought. More info on IPMS/St. Louis is found here: http://www.ipms-stlouis.com/.

On my off-day Thursday (7 May), I got my hair cut at Great Clips, got my hair colored at home, and went to Crown Vision Center for my annual eye exam. My eyes are fine, and there was no need to replace my glasses at this time. That night, I joined seven others from the South/SW STL County Social Club Meetup at Pi Pizzeria in Kirkwood for dinner. It was my first time at that restaurant and we all had a good time in each other's company there. The food was very good--I enjoyed some good deep dish and thin crust pizza and a salad. Definitely recommend Pi, which has several St. Louis area locations. More info on that on their website: http://pi-pizza.com/.

Relaxing at home now after another busy Friday at work, allowing me to write this post. I'll be working in the morning and cheering on Saint Louis FC that night. More in my next post.

Later.

Out in the snow (briefly)

We got about 2 inches (5.1 cm) of snow last night and this morning, and a bit more is expected this afternoon as I write this. I went out this morning with the snow blower to remove snow from the driveway. It took a while to start and warm up the machine (it had not been used since last winter), but once up and running, it did its job. I took some photos of the yards with my cellphone. Enjoy!

This weather may force postponement of the IPMS Gateway business meeting, when I am supposed to hand off the Secretary's duties to my successor. We'll see about that.
I refereed soccer last Thursday night and Saturday afternoon, and futsal Sunday night. Games went well. Nearing the end of the winter seasons in both soccer and futsal.
I also looked at an option of getting certified as a school teacher, in case I can't find work in my chosen fields (editing and PR). I got info from the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE), which has an online study course for this subject. I may go in this direction, once I get more info about this program, its success rate, and some advise from friends and people in teaching on this course. You're welcome to add your two cents to this discussion.
While I'm out looking, I am thinking about finding part time interim work. My dad suggested I look at being a courier; there are some openings for that locally.
That's it for now. Talk to you soon.

First weekend of 2009 in the rear view mirror

I had a rather quiet few days after New Year's Eve. I just relaxed at home New Year's Day, and the day after. Did not do much Saturday. Today was different, as I officiated three under 18 boys soccer matches in Fenton. The games generally went well. The teams did show a bit of rust from the Holiday break, particularly in game fitness, but that should improve over the next week or two. I had a rather exciting match in the middle, as the lead see-sawed and it was a rather spirited match. Fortunately, it ended well, with no bad feelings by the teams towards each other, or me.
Tomorrow, I plan to follow up on some jobs I applied to just before the Holidays. The people I need to speak to should be back in their offices tomorrow. I also have the IPMS St. Louis meeting to run Tuesday night, plus remembering to remove my models from the library's display cases, where they were for a month now.
Hope you are getting to this new blog site (http://bobbyd0702.blogspot.com) fine. Feel free to tell your friends about this. Take care & talk to you again soon.

A New Beginning, as this year ends

I found out this morning that Journalspace, the host of my old blog My Journal (http://nevert.journalspace.com) is no more. Their files were lost and count not be reclaimed. So, now I will make this my prime blog. I'm sorry to everyone who has lost their blogs at Journalspace.

Christmas last week went well. It was just my parents and I at home, but we had a good holiday. Got a few presents from my parents, including: new underwear (t-shirts and briefs); a Barnes & Noble gift card, and two casual shirts. My brother Doug (who drew me in the gift exchange among my brothers) gave me a Barnes & Noble gift certificate, via e-mail. I have some good ideas about what to apply the certificate to. In that exchange, I gave Brian an iTunes gift card.

I refereed futsal games last Saturday and Sunday afternoons. They went well, although in one game I cautioned a coach for dissent after he got a little too uppity for this game's good. I'm back to refereeing outdoors this weekend.

No plans for New Year's Eve, except for staying at home. My parents and I are going to lunch at a Chinese & Vietnamese restaurant in this area, which we have had lunch at in the past and enjoy a lot. Turner Classic Movies is running the "That's Entertainment!" movies tonight, so I plan to watch some of those. I also plan to watch CNN's coverage from New York's Times Square.

I also hope to hear back soon on some jobs I applied for in recent weeks, which are in the public relations field. If anyone reading this knows of some people for me to network with in either PR or publications editing, please let me know.

That's it for now. I hope all of you have a very Happy New Year. May 2009 bring you much joy and prosperity.

My blog to start

I just signed up with blogger.com to have a blog here, so I'll briefly stick in my thoughts right now. I'm home again -- haven't gotten any calls yet for temp work. At least I can check on a few job leads this afternoon after lunch. I'm then refereeing girls' soccer games tonight.
I should have more in the coming days. Talk again before too long.