A Hectic, But Satisfying Weekend

After a hard, but ultimately successful week of work at the car rental branch, I had quite a weekend. I spent some free time during Saturday (30 April) morning and early afternoon working on a couple of scale model kits. I'm looking to get them done in time for the contest at the May IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) meeting in just under two weeks from now. In mid-afternoon, I headed to West County Center (http://www.shopwestcountycenter.com/) in Des Peres for the Greater St. Louis Book Fair (http://www.stlouisbookfair.org/). After a brief bit of shopping, where I bought two history books, I reported for a volunteer shift. Four about four hours, I helped count the merchandise customers had selected and supplying the totals per price range to the nearby cashier, and packing the items in bags or (in some cases) boxes. I found it wasn't as busy as at previous Book Fairs, perhaps due to the stormy weather that hit the area late in my shift. Still, it was most satisfying to helping out at this event.

Right after getting off my shift, I headed to Worldwide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton for Saint Louis FC's (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) match against Vancouver Whitecaps II. That was the plan; however, Mother Nature had other plans. Lightning in the vicinity postponed the match. After about a three-hour delay, the match was called off as it was clear that the lightning would not leave the area soon. It will be made up later this season. Hopefully, there won't be stormy weather this Saturday, when Saint Louis FC hosts Swope Park Rangers.

After a bit of sleep at home, I was up early the next morning (1 May) and heading for Six Flags St. Louis (https://www.sixflags.com/stlouis) in Eureka. There, I was a volunteer Course Marshal for the Roller Coaster Race (http://rollercoasterrace.com/), a 10 km and 5 km footrace through the theme park. After some difficulty, I found my station on the course just before the first runners came my way. I was there for about an hour, directing and encouraging the runners as they passed through my position. It was a lot of fun helping out at this event, with proceeds going to Operation Food Search (http://www.operationfoodsearch.org/), which helps provide food to the needy in the St. Louis area.

After my volunteer stint at Six Flags, I headed to the Kirkwood Community Center (http://www.kirkwoodmo.org/content/City-Departments/1856/community-center.aspx). There, I attended the Midwest Model Vehicle Association/St. Louis (MMVA/STL) (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/MMVAStLouis.html) Spring Contest and Swap Meet. IPMS/Gateway had a table there with two model car displays, and I chatted with club members there and elsewhere in the room. I also bought an aircraft model kit from one of the vendors before going home. The IPMS/Gateway display plugged the club's Invitational this September.

I spent more free time this past week working on those models. If all goes well, I will have three kits done to enter in the club contest.

Like quite a few people in and around St. Louis, I have been following the St. Louis Blues (http://blues.nhl.com) in the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Let's go Blues!

Tuesday afternoon (3 May), after flexing out of work, I went home and made contributions on Give STL Day (https://givestlday.org/). This was an effort on behalf of various non-profit organizations. The website was down, though, due to heavy traffic, so I ended up phoning in my contributions. This year, I pledged to: Viva Brasil STL (http://www.e.vivabrasilstl.org/home); Cinema St. Louis (cinemastlouis.org); Circus Flora (http://circusflora.org/); Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-st-louis-region-southwest-missouri); and, Saint Louis Power Soccer United (http://www.saintlouispowersoccerunited.org/).

Later.