Fun in Columbia, Missouri

Saturday morning (5 Nov.), I drove from home in St. Louis to Columbia, Missouri to participate in TigerCon 2011, the first scale model contest and swap meet hosted by Central Missouri Scale Modelers. About a dozen of my IPMS/Gateway mates from St. Louis made the trip (one was a vendor), and the show at Parkade Center was good overall. The hosts did a fine job for the first time out. I helped with contest judging in a few categories. In a category I DIDN'T judge -- Aircraft: Jet, smaller than 1/48 scale -- my 1:72 scale Su-24M (Fencer-D) took third. Admittedly, there were only three entries in that category. Still, I was very proud to accept this award at the ceremony that formally concluded the show.

I stuck around Columbia for several hours afterward, to shop, grab some dinner, and pay a brief visit to my friend Denise in town. After that visit, I drove home and set my clocks and watches back an hour for the end of Daylight Saving Time overnight.

The extra hour of sleep helped, as I had four soccer games to referee Sunday morning, with the first kicking off at 7:00 am. (!) This was the St. Louis Scott Gallagher Girls' Fall Classic at the Soccer Park in Fenton. I worked four matches -- under 13s and 14s -- with two of those games in the middle as referee. I was assistant referee on the other two matches, including a semi-final that went to a penalty shoot out. The two colleagues on my crew were younger and less experienced, but did a fine job overall.

After I got home, right away I joined the panel for this month's edition of Writer's Block from Naturally Autistic Radio. The hour-long show talked about writing and editing work from the perspective of practitioners on the autistic spectrum. The next Writer's Block is Sun., 3 Dec. at 12:00 pm Pacific Time. Details at www.naturallyautistic.com/radio-show/. (The archived show from last Sunday is available for download from that site.)

Monday night, I was at the Tivoli Theater in the Delmar Loop for volunteer orientation for the St. Louis International Film Festival, which started tonight and runs to 20 Nov. It was a brief orientation for us volunteers, about 25 of whom were there. I'll be working screenings at Webster University's Moore Auditorium on Wed., 16 Nov. and at Washington University's Brown Hall two nights later. Details on this event at www.cinemastlouis.org. I then drove to Crusoe's in Oakville for the Mehlville High Class of 1982 Reunion committee meeting, but it was called off due to the absence of a key member. We'll meet again later this month (28 Nov.).

Tuesday morning, I was at the Men's Wearhouse in Brentwood for the Yellow-Tie business networking event. It was a nice event, as I meet a few people for the first time to exchange info. I also ran into a few folks I know.

Last night, I was at Ronnie's 20 Cinema in Concord Village for the St. Louis premier of the documentary film "Rise & Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story." I saw a rough cut of this film last spring at a St. Louis United FC meeting. This film is the story of DeMerit, defender and captain of Vancouver Whitecaps FC of MLS, who rose from childhood in Green Bay, Wisconsin, struggling in England just after college trying to break into pro soccer, finally catching on at Watford FC and helping it get to the Barclays Premier League, and being called up to the US National Team and playing in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. A real inspiring story of perseverance and following one's dream. You can read more on DeMerit and this film at jaydemeritstory.com.

That's it for now. Happy Veterans Day tomorrow (11 Nov.) and a big Thank You to all the veterans out there, like my father, Harold R. Delaney, US Army Air Forces in World War II.

Later.