Getting My Kicks, and Seeing an Old Friend

It's been unseasonably mild here in Metro St. Louis this week. The low temperatures were into the upper 50s F and the highs were in the mid-to-upper 70s F. Those temperatures will start to pick up to more seasonably normal temperatures in the coming days, but I'll enjoy these days while I can.

Last Saturday (10 Aug.), I was at the Edward Jones Dome in downtown St. Louis for the friendly between Real Madrid and Inter. Kevin, my colleague from work, and I took Metrolink from Brentwood to the dome, which was much better than driving to the dome and parking. We were among 54,000+ spectators (a record for a soccer match in Missouri) to see Real win 3-0. The Spanish side soon showed its great class against their opponents. Overall, it was a good day.

The next day found me at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois, where a hot rod show was taking place. I was there with two IPMS/Gateway colleagues to run a make and take for the kids, as we did with earlier shows at the raceway. It was a lower turnout for this make and take, but we had some happy kids and their parents when they had their model cars done.

Work has been well. Kept busy with getting vehicles cleaned and ferried, and with picking up and dropping off customers. I switched shifts with a colleague, so I was off Tuesday and worked yesterday (Wednesday, 14 Aug.). Tuesday morning, I was at a law office in Clayton for this month's Yellow Tie networking event. It went well, and I got to talk to a few new people and saw a few familiar people. Still hoping to work out some connections to better help me find full time work.

That afternoon, I took and passed the online recertification test for soccer refereeing. Out of 50 questions in the multiple choice test, I only missed one. I also ran that afternoon, getting tuned up for the start of the youth soccer season this Saturday. I have games on Saturday and Sunday, part of a busy weekend for me. (More on that in my next post.)

Last night, I was at the Kirkwood Station Brewing Co. for some socializing with an old friend I had not seen in person since 1986. Stacy (Alcorn) Davenport was my classmate at Saint Louis University, and previously graduated from Oakville High School. She now lives in England with her husband and their twin sons. Stacy's visiting her parents in this area and she was at Kirkwood Station for live music and to see some friends in town. We caught up with each other's lives and I got to meet some of Stacy's friends who were there. Overall, it was a great time and the evening was a success. (It didn't start out that well for me: Leaving work, I locked my keys into the car and feared I would not be able to get my duplicate key from home. Fortunately, a colleague was able to jimmy the lock and my evening was saved.)

Later.