Last Thursday night (26 May), I went to a business networking happy hour at The Stable, a brew pub in south St. Louis. It was rather interesting, although I did see a few people I know, most folks there were younger than I. It was crowded and loud, so it was a challenge for me to get around and to talk, but it was OK.
Saturday afternoon found me at the Amsterdam Tavern in south St. Louis with quite a few other soccer fans to watch on TV the UEFA Champions League Final in London, in which FC Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3-1. I was happy with that result, pulling for Barca, and so were quite a few other patrons. A nice time had by all, whether their team won or not.
The next morning found me on the pitch, refereeing men's soccer at DeSoto Park in downtown St. Louis. I had the middle for the first two games I worked that day, and cut that match short by 5 minutes. That was due to two players I sent off from the same team in quick succession. I had just informed one player he was being sent off for using offensive language (he used the f-word in criticizing me for having just cautioned him for dissent), when his teammate shoved me on the chest. Not very hard, mind you (I stayed on my feet), but it was enough violent conduct to warrant his being sent off and (on the advice of my near assistant referee) my terminating the match. I got the ID cards of the players I sent off with both teams' rosters, and wrote up and filed the report to the league the next day. I wasn't scared by this at all; actually, I was more concerned about a blister on my one heel that flared up. I'm taking this week and weekend off from games to let it rest properly.
The rest of the Memorial Day weekend was rather quiet: I listened to the last few laps of the Indianapolis 500 on the radio driving home from Sunday's games; worked on that P-51 Mustang model I'm doing for this month's IPMS/Gateway "Same Kit Contest"; and got the IPMS/Gateway Invitational (on 10 September) posted on a few local community calendar web sites.
Tuesday, I received from an author a thumb drive containing a book manuscript to edit and fact check. I started reading it yesterday (having printed a hard copy), and made notes on what should be changed (usually in punctuation) and what facts to especially check. It should be interesting. I'll be able to tell you more on this project in due course.
Later.
