Nice First Week of October So Far

The weather has been nice--not too cold and not too hot. That's fine with me.

The week has been good at the branch this week. Enough to keep us busy. Yesterday, I said goodbye to Katie, one of our management assistants, who's leaving the firm this week. She's moving to Chicago and pursuing opportunities there. I certainly wish her all the best. We hope to touch base soon after she settles into her new place.

After work Tuesday night (6 October), I was at Mark Twain Hobby Center (http://www.hobby1.com/home.php) in St. Charles for the IPMS/St. Louis (http://www.ipms-stlouis.com/) meeting. We had six members and guests present and we talked for a bit about our latest projects, news from around the hobby, and admiring two figures one member brought in. I also browsed for a bit in the store before the meeting.

Off work today, I typed up a short article for Middle Marker, the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (http://moavhist.org/) newsletter. It was a summation of our most recent meetings. Still feel good about editing this newsletter, after my initial anxieties subsided. Still wish I had it all ready for us to put it out by our next meeting (Thursday, 15 October), but it should be ready by the beginning of November.

Also, found my backup thumb drive that has my resumes and related materials on it. I was able to call those files up and print out several of them, and save the files to my computer's hard drive and external hard drive. I plan to update these materials in the coming weeks, and let some of my trusted connections have a look over. I'm looking to get myself out there and see about opportunities in publishing or public relations. (Not that I hate what I'm doing now; it's just I want to do something more in my career wheelhouse.) You can check out my LinkedIn profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsdelaney

Later.

Articles Edited as October Begins

It's been some good, productive days at work lately. We're having plenty of business and we're working hard keeping the customers satisfied. This past Friday (2 October) marked our manager David's last day with the firm. He's left to take a sales position outside our firm. Sad to see him go, as he's done very good work since beginning to manage our branch last spring, but happy that he's found a good position going forward.

After flexing out this past Tuesday (29 September), I stopped by the Kirkwood branch to say hi to a colleague, Melissa, who used to work with me at Ellisville. We briefly got caught up on things and I asked her to say hello to her boyfriend and her mother for me.

I made much of my day off last Thursday (1 October), getting the oil changed on my Corolla in the morning. Then, I spent some time editing articles for Middle Marker, the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (http://moavhist.org/) member newsletter. I worked on four articles, including my feature for the cover story and a smaller photo feature. Scheduled for publication in mid-October, it has now been pushed to beginning of November, due to some late items we need from our society's president. Still, it was a productive time.

After working yesterday at the branch, I headed to Coffee Cartel (http://thecoffeecartel.com/) in St. Louis' Central West End for the Saint Louis Area Sippers Meetup. Three of us were there most of the time, before a fourth arrived late in the event. We enjoyed drinks there and chatted about this and that. Plus, we observed many people walking by our corner. A nice time we all had. On the way home, I stopped at CRM Hobbies (http://www.crmhobbies.com/) in south St. Louis to browse for awhile.

Later.

Meetings and a Dentist Visit

Last Thursday night (17 September) saw me at Creve Coeur Airport for the monthly meeting of the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (http://moavhist.org/). A presentation on aviation photography was made by four of the society's members, which I found most interesting. I also touched base with others regarding the member newsletter, Middle Marker, which I am now editing. The society's board is meeting this Saturday morning, so I can get them up to date on things from my perspective.

Work at the car rental branch has been going well. I was working last Saturday morning (19 September), and we got through the shift very well. This week has been fine so far.

Saturday night found me at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park for Saint Louis FC's final match of the season. Saint Louis came from behind to defeat Louisville City, FC, 2-1, before a packed house. I briefly joined the celebration on the pitch after the match. Although Saint Louis FC (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) missed out on the playoffs, I feel they have a great start on next season, on the pitch and in the stands.

After work Tuesday night (22 September), I got dinner at a Jack in the Box, then drove to Bill Wagner's house in Oakville for the IPMS/Gateway business meeting (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/). The board members discussed the very successful recent Regional we hosted, and planned our next general meeting for Tuesday, 20 October, plus some other club business.

Today, on my off day from work, I went to my dentist for my semi-annual cleaning and checkup. It's going pretty good, although the dentist's assistant recommended I modify my brushing technique a bit to reduce plaque buildup. The dentist also wants me in next month for a minor tooth repair, so I will.

Later.

Back to Warm Weather, and the IPMS/Gateway Meeting

Back to work this past Monday (14 September), after quite a good weekend. Plenty busy in the morning, as usual, and leveling off as the day went on. Work has been going well. Warm weather has returned after a mild stretch, with temperatures approaching 90 degrees F (33 degrees C).

Flexing out Tuesday afternoon (as I am working this Saturday morning), I relaxed at home, then opened up Calvary Presbyterian Church's fellowship hall for the IPMS/Gateway (http://ipms-gateway.com) meeting. We had a nice turnout of entries in the quarterly contest, including two of mine. I entered my Jupiter C model--the one that took second in its category at the Regional last Saturday--in the Made in America special category. Neither model won, but at least I got some points for entering this contest. We also had a wrap up of our very successful Regional.

Off work today, I did my laundry and going tonight to the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (http://moavhist.org) meeting, with a presentation on airshow photography. Should be interesting. Also, I hope to get materials together to put together the Society's member newsletter, Middle Marker. It will be quite a challenge, but I believe I am up for it.

Later.

A Terrific Scale Modeling Show

A week ago Saturday (5 Sept.), I co-hosted "Writer's Block," from Autistic People. Host Tim Pylypiuk and I discussed the unique languages of some literature, including works of William Shakespeare and Anthony Burgess' novel "A Clockwork Orange." You can listen to the archived program (and download it for podcast) here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/autistic-people-/2015/09/05/writers-block-loose-lips--10am-pstradio-drama-grooming-hour-11am-pst. The next edition of "Writer's Block" is Saturday, 3 October, at 10 am Pacific Time (Noon, Central Time; 1800 hours GMT).

After the show, I went to an ATM to get some cash for the weekend, and I picked up several copies of the South County Times. That newspaper had a piece on International Plastic Modelers' Society (IPMS)/Gateway Chapter and the Regional Contest we're hosting a week later. The newspaper interviewed me and others from the club for the story, which was prompted by show information I shared with the paper's calendar section. It was a very nice article and the club members who saw it agreed. Here's the online article: http://www.southcountytimes.com/Articles-Features-c-2015-09-03-196405.114137-sub-Plastic-Modelers-Share-OldSchool-Art-Form.html.

I went to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in St. Louis' Central West End (CWE) for its 98th annual Greek Festival. It's a great ethnic festival, with food, music, dance, crafts for sale, and church tours. I have gone the past few years and have enjoyed it every time. After spending time at the Festival, I walked up Euclid Avenue to Left Bank Books (http://www.left-bank.com/), an independent book store, where I browsed for a while before walking back down Euclid. After having a ginger ale at Coffee Cartel (http://thecoffeecartel.com/), I walked back to my car and drove home.

I chilled out at home that Sunday and enjoyed some more of the Labor Day holiday on that Monday (7 Sept.). (The rental car branch was closed that day.) Late that morning, I joined members of the St. Louigans at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton to help them paint two banners for Saint Louis FC's final regular season matches this month.

Back to work the next day, it was VERY busy, with much traffic coming in (mostly renters back from the holiday weekend), plus renters getting vehicles for the start of the short week. We got through it, though, and the rest of the week was much calmer by comparison.

On my off day Thursday, I went to Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield (http://spiritairport.com/spiritairport/index.jsp) to see aircraft from the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) on display this past week. The three World War II-era aircraft I saw were a Beech C-45 Expeditor transport, a General Motors (Grumman) TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, and the star attraction, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress named "Fifi." I saw these aircraft on the ramp and took a good number of pictures. I also entered the B-29's cockpit and admired the view. It was a great time for the aircraft buff. More on the CAF's aircraft on tour here: http://www.airpowersquadron.org/.

Yesterday (12 Sept.), I was at the Holiday Inn St. Louis SW--Route 66 in Sunset Hills, Missouri (http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/st-louis/stlsw/hoteldetail?qAdlt=1&qBrs=6c.hi.ex.rs.ic.cp.in.sb.cw.cv.ul.vn&qChld=0&qFRA=1&qGRM=0&qPSt=0&qRRSrt=rt&qRef=df&qRms=1&qRpn=1&qRpp=12&qSHp=1&qSmP=3&qSrt=sBR&qWch=0&srb_u=1&icdv=99504440&siclientid=9948&sitrackingid=733967223&glat=SEAR&dp=true&icdv=99504440). This was for the International Plastic Modelers' Society (IPMS) Region 5 Convention, hosted by IPMS/Gateway. (Region 5 was made up of IPMS/USA chapters in the Midwestern US.) It was a terrific show all around. I took money from attendees at one of the two entrances, and later helped judge the model contest. I don't have figures for how many people attended, but it was a lot for a show of this sort. People came from as far away as Minnesota and Kentucky for this event. We did have nearly 400 contest entries, including four of mine. My 1:48 scale Jupiter C rocket took second place in the Real Space category (within Space and Science Fiction)--my first regional IPMS contest award since a second back in 1995, also in St. Louis. No complaints from attendees and we all had a great time. We can't do much better than that.

After the show, I had dinner at Smugala's Pizza Pub in Sunset Hills (http://smugalas.com/smugalassunsethills) before boarding the shuttle bus for Worldwide Technology Soccer Park. There, I cheered on Saint Louis FC as they defeated Charlotte Independence 2-0 in the next to last match of the season. They had a record crowd of over 5,600 for the match. Yes, the St. Louigans were there in full force. Saint Louis FC (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) finishes the season this Saturday night at home against Louisville City FC. By the way, this past week I renewed my season ticket for 2016.

Several of us in IPMS/Gateway were at the club's annual picnic, hosted by Brad and Julie Vaughn in House Springs. We enjoyed a barbecue lunch and good company. Our club's next meeting is this Tuesday night at 7:30 pm at Calvary Presbyterian Church in Mehlville. More on the club here: http://www.ipms-gateway.com/index.html.

Later.

The Festival of Nations, and a Hospital Visit

After much work at the auto rental branch last Friday (28 August) and Saturday morning, I was off to Tower Grove Park in St. Louis. There, I pulled the first of two volunteer shifts with the International Institute's Festival of Nations, a large multi-cultural fair. That Saturday, I staffed a drinks booth and was busy getting water, sodas, and beer to our customers, as well as taking customers' money (and getting them change as needed), and restocking the drinks at our booth. It was a rather busy stint of about three hours, but we got it done. I got some dinner from a Senegalese food booth, and toured the grounds before going to my car and going home.

The next morning, I was back at the Festival, where this time I helped staff a souvenir booth for some three hours. I helped with various Festival items--T-shirts, water cups, carry bags, cookbooks, and pins--that customers asked for. This also went well and I treated myself to lunch from Brazilian and Thai food booths. Overall, the Festival of Nations went very well as far as I was concerned. More info here: http://www.festivalofnationsstl.org/.

Also over the weekend, I accepted the position as editor of Middle Marker, the member newsletter of the Missouri Aviation Historical Society. I will be in charge of getting our newsletter back on track (not having published since early this year). It's quite a bit to do, but I believe I can do it. More on this group here: http://moavhist.org/.

Back to work on Monday morning (31 August), we had plenty of business--and plenty of vehicles to prep. Plus, the temperatures and the humidity had both risen over the week before, so it was a bit of a challenge to stay hydrated and cool. Still, I got through the work week just fine, and so did our branch.

After work Tuesday, I was at Mark Twain Hobby Center (http://www.hobby1.com/home.php) for the IPMS/St. Louis meeting. We had a fascinating demo on using pigments in armor modeling, as Brent Avants showed the products and techniques used for realistic weathered finishes. There were five others (including myself) at the meeting, and we all learned something useful from Avants' demo. More on the club here: http://www.ipms-stlouis.com/. By the way, the next club meeting will be Tue., 6 October at 7:00 pm at Mark Twain Hobby Center's meeting room.

The next morning (2 September), I began test preps in earnest for the colonoscopy I was scheduled to undergo today. (I began some early preps one week ago.) This was a procedure my primary care physician requested a few weeks ago. Yesterday, I went with a liquid diet all day, plus later in the day and night drinking a mix of laxative powder and sports drink. This did have the desired effect of loosening my bowels. Fortunately, my colleagues at work were most understanding and let me off early that day. (Besides, things were well in hand at my end of the business.)

I finished the prep early this morning and my Mom drove me to St. Anthony's Medical Center in south St. Louis County (http://stanthonysmedcenter.com/). After admission, I stripped down to the gown and I was prepared for the procedure before doing into the room. The doctor and his assistants had me put under anesthesia and I was soon asleep, before the procedure was performed. I woke up about one hour later, a bit groggy but fine. The doctor gave me most welcome news, in that he did not find any polyps associated with possible cancer in my colon. After a few minutes, I dressed and was taken to my Mom's car, where she drove me to a nearby Saint Louis Bread Co. (https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html/) for lunch. I rested at home much of today (it was my off day from work, anyway), and feel better now. I'll be back to work bright and early tomorrow.

This Saturday, I co-host Writer's Block, the monthly online radio show from ANCA Radio Shows, which is returning after a summer break. Host Tim Pylypiuk and I will discuss using a different language in writing, such as in the works "A Clockwork Orange" and "Dune." The show airs live this Saturday at Noon, Central Time 910:00 am, Pacific Time; 1800 hours GMT), and will be immediately archived for download. You can get more info here: http://www.naturallyautistic.com/radiotv-oline/, and http://my.blogtalkradio.com/autistic-people-lat. Hope you can tune in.

A couple of reminders before I go. First, the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) will bring its CAF AirPower History Tour to Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield next week (9-13 September). This tour will include "Fifi," the world's only flying B-29 Superfortress, and other aircraft. Details here: http://www.airpowersquadron.org/#!st-louis-mo-/caf. More on this in my next post.

Second, next Saturday (12 September) is the IPMS Region 5 Contest, hosted by IPMS/Gateway at the Holiday Inn St. Louis SW--Route66 in Sunset Hills. It opens at 9:00 am, with contest entries accepted until 1:00 pm, and awards announced around 3:00 pm. Admission is $3 for touring the show, and $10 to also enter the model contest. Children 14 and under are free with an adult. More info here: http://www.ipms-gateway.com/2015-Region5/IPMS-region5-2015contest.html.

Later.

Not a Bad Week

It was rather pleasant this week, with mild (for August) temperatures making the days go easier. Plenty of work so far at the car rental branch, with many vehicles to prep for rental.

Off early on Tuesday (25 August), as I'm working this Saturday morning, I chilled out at home. After supper, I traveled with two clubmates to Doug Barton's house in Foristell for this month's IPMS/Gateway business meeting. We planned the September general meeting and discussed the upcoming Region 5 Contest on 12 September. Preparations for that show are going well. I am looking forward to that event. More on the club and the regional here: http://ipms-gateway.com.

Off work today, I got my hair cut and did a bit of shopping. The latter included a nice new external hard drive for my computer. That will make it easier with all the images I have and will have. I was also put in contact with a local newspaper reporter wanting to do a story on the IPMS Regional Contest next month. It will be great to get some more publicity for this event.

I also spent some time this week editing a few more items for the Fall issue of Naturally Autistic magazine, due out in early October. I had some glitches in getting some stories downloaded from email to edit, but once that was overcome, the editing went well. More on the magazine here: http://www.naturallyautistic.com.

This weekend after work, I'll be a volunteer at the International Institute's Festival of Nations, a multi-cultural celebration in St. Louis' Tower Grove Park. I'll help staff a drinks booth on Saturday and a souvenir stand on Sunday. Hope to see you there! More at: http://www.festivalofnationsstl.org/.

Later.