One Less Tooth to Chew With

Last Thursday night (15 January) found me at Creve Coeur Airport for the first Missouri Aviation Historical Society (MAHS) meeting of 2015. This event celebrated the 40th anniversary this month and next of record time-to-climb flights made by the St. Louis-built Streak Eagle, a modified McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighter. Several engineers involved in this effort were present, and we saw a documentary film about the Streak Eagle's record setting flights. A most interesting meeting. More info on the MAHS website: http://moavhist.org/.

Saturday afternoon saw a pair of Meetups for me. First, I was at Cafe Ventana in midtown St. Louis for the Saint Louis Area Sippers meetup. About 10 of us gathered for coffee and conversation, and that went very nicely. I met some people from our last Meetup earlier in the month and a few new people. A good time was had by all.

From Cafe Ventana, I drove to Panera Bread Co. in St. Louis Hills for the first get-together of the Multilingual Americans Meetup. There were four of us there and we discussed our experiences learning other languages. (I mentioned my recently starting to learn Portuguese; the group leader said one person who did not make this event knows that language and would be a good learning partner for me.) It was very nice and I look forward to getting together with them soon.

After working Monday morning (19 January), I drove to St. Louis County Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Sunset Hills for a tooth extraction--mine. One of the lower teeth on the left side of my mouth had its root go bad and the dentist could not save it, so he recommended this practice. I was in and out in about one hour, from check in to departure. It went really well and I did have some swelling and pain the next couple of days, but I was well enough to drive to get some prescriptions (for antibiotics and painkillers) filled on the way home. The dentist performing the surgery noticed my Enterprise shirt and he said he has rented from our Chesterfield branch and been very satisfied with our service. It was good to know I was in good hands! (I did pass the dentist's comments to the manager of the Chesterfield branch, who I know well.)

Back to work late the next morning, I got through the work day without any ill effects. I did stick with soft food, so I had a couple of milk shakes on the way in to work and some chili for lunch yesterday. I should be fine now with harder food, although I will need to keep the space where that tooth was cleaned well.

Tuesday night, I went straight from work to Calvary Presbyterian Church for the IPMS/Gateway meeting, which was our annual Swap & Sell and Kit Auction. Several members had their wares (kits and related items) for sale, and I bought something each from three of them. We then had our annual auction of kits and related items donated by club members, with proceeds going to club activities. There were about 60 people at that meeting--January meetings are highly attended due to the Swap & Sell--and included five first-time people. More info on this club here: http://ipms-gateway.com.

Off work today, I typed up the minutes from the IPMS/Gateway meeting and sent those to the board members. I also got out my resume and began to make a few tweaks, in anticipation of career opportunities that come my way.

Later.