A Weekend with Coffee, Soccer, and Car Models

One week ago today (22 October), I spent some time at the Drury Inn & Suites (https://wwws.druryhotels.com/PropertyHotelServices.aspx?Property=0164) in Brentwood for a business expo, presented by the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce (http://www.brentwoodmochamber.com/). My friend Gina March--a former Webster University colleague--is the chamber's executive director and she invited me to this event. I wondered around tables staffed by Brentwood merchants of many kinds, ranging from financial services and restaurants to healthcare. I ran into two people of note at this expo. One was Peggy, aka Krazy Peg, who I knew from a Meetup group I was in a few years ago. She and her husband run a print shop and we chatted for a bit. I was also chatting with Kitt Weis, an Edward Jones financial advisor who graduated from Mehlville High three years after I did and who knew my brother Brian. It was nice getting caught up on things with Kitt.

After some time at the expo, I headed to the Tivoli Theatre in the Delmar Loop for the volunteer orientation for the St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) (http://www.cinemastlouis.org/about-festival), which runs 5 to 15 November at several St. Louis area venues. The volunteer coordinator went over the duties of the volunteers--including offering programs, survey forms, and ballots to the attendees entering the theater; and, collecting survey forms and ballots after the show. I have volunteered for three shifts; I will tell you more closer to the time. I also received several SLIFF posters and promotional cards to have posted around the St. Louis area to promote the festival. This will be my fifth year as a SLIFF volunteer and I'm looking forward to this!

At work last Friday morning (23 October), I brought in some doughnuts from Krispy Kreme (http://www.krispykreme.com/) in Fenton for my colleagues. They included Hannah, the new management trainee who joined our branch the day before. She is brand new to the company, but I feel she will do very well. We had a busy Friday (especially in the late afternoon), but the day closed out very nicely. I was back the next morning to work, and we got through the morning very well.

After work Saturday, I headed to Rise Coffee House (http://risecoffeestl.com/) in the Grove for the Saint Louis Area Sippers (Coffee Meetup) (http://www.meetup.com/Saint-Louis-Coffee-Meetup/) get together. Eight of us got together for some refreshments and talk, which is always most interesting. It it great with these meetups in checking out various coffeehouses I would not have otherwise known, and each place having a charm of its own.

Back home after the meetup, I changed clothes, ate supper, and headed to Saint Louis University's Robert R. Hermann Stadium to cheer on the Billikens men's soccer team (http://www.slubillikens.com/SaspxportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27200&SPID=93202&SPSID=632571&DB_OEM_ID=27200) against Atlantic 10 Conference rival Davidson. SLU won the match 1-0, scoring early in the second half of a match they pretty much dominated. The win keeps the Billikens' chances of qualifying for the season-ending A-10 Tournament looking good.

The next morning (25 October), I was at the Kirkwood Community Center (http://www.kirkwoodmo.org/content/City-Departments/1856/community-center.aspx) for the Midwest Model Vehicle Association-St. Louis (MMVA) (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/MMVAStLouis.html) Fall contest and swap meet. I joined with two other IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) colleagues in staffing our table at the show. I brought in an assortment of my models and Doug Barton brought in two club displays: "The King and His Court" (stock cars from Richard Petty's final NASCAR season in 1992) and St. Louis-built Chevrolet Corvettes. We also had flyers promoting our contest on 10 September 2016. I didn't stay for the entire show, but I did have a look at the contest models and shopped at several of the vendors.

That night, I went online and made hotel reservations for my trip to Chicago early next month. Going on hotels.com (http://www.hotels.com/), I got some very nice deals for the two nights I'm staying--first in Springfield, Illinois on the way over, and then in Chicago after the model show that day. More on this trip in the upcoming posts.

Work has been going well this week. Busy much of the time, but we are getting our customers completely satisfied, which is the important part. After work Tuesday night (27 October), I joined with other colleagues from our area for a happy hour at Double D (http://doubledstl.com/) in Brentwood. I enjoyed the company for a few minutes before having to leave to attend this month's IPMS/Gateway business meeting at Marion Morris' house in Maplewood. There, the board members present planned next month's meetings and discussed a bit of other business.

Last night after work, I drove to Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) to get my photograph taken for the church directory. I brought a blazer, dress shirt and tie that I changed to for the photo session. It was done in just a few minutes and I was on my way home.

Today on my off day, I bought some sanding tapes and a magazine from CRM Hobbies (http://www.crmhobbies.com/) in South St. Louis, and dropped off a pair of dress trousers at a tailor shop for a minor repair. I used those sanding tapes in smoothing out some parts for a model kit I hope to finish in time for the IPMS/Butch O'Hare Chapter (http://butchoharemodelers.com/) show I'm attending next Saturday (7 November) in Downers Grove, Illinois. Looking forward to it.

Later.