Down and Up Temperatures This Week

We had ourselves a cold start to this past week, with temperatures below freezing. It got down to 10 degrees F (-12 degrees C) on Monday morning (11 January), which meant I had to bundle up for work. Being outside and in the cleaning bay much of the time, I felt the chill. I certainly welcomed the times when I was in the office or in a warm vehicle.

Despite the conditions, we at the rental branch got our customers taken care of in good order. We are in good spirits and putting in our utmost efforts every day.

After a real cold start yesterday, the temperatures warmed up to reach 45 degrees F (7 degrees C). It had reached that level today, under a clear sky. I'll try to get out a bit later today.

I was doing my laundry this morning and will be doing some editing work later today.

Later.

Back on the Online Radio and Into 2016

A week ago yesterday (2 January), I co-hosted Writer's Block, from ANCA Radio. Host Tim Pylypiuk and I discussed Miguel de Cervantes' classic novel "Don Quixote" and its influence on Western literature. The program--followed by Radio Drama--can be accessed here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/autistic-people-/2016/01/02/writers-block-don-quixote-10am-pstradio-drama-the-princess-pt-one-11am-pst.

After the show and lunch at home, I headed to the Church of the Immacolata (http://www.immacolata.org/) in Richmond Heights, Missouri. There, I took in the 7th Annual Mary McDermott 3rd Grade Basketball Tournament for boys and girls Catholic Youth Council (CYC) teams. This tournament was a fund raiser for a new hybrid cardiac catheterization suite being set up at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital (http://www.cardinalglennon.com/Pages/default.aspx). This unit will be named for Mary McDermott, an Immacolata parish member and student who died at age 24 in December of 2008. I am friends with Mary's father, graphic designer and soccer commentator Bill McDermott (http://www.mcdermott-design.com/bio/), and I saw Bill at the tournament. Funds were raised through admissions, concessions, and a silent auction of memorabilia. I was very happy to help out this cause in at least a small way.

Back at work last Monday (4 January), I did my part to keep out rental branch going great. We said goodbye to Hannah this past week, as she transferred to the Airport location, and welcomed Alex from the Airport to Ellisville.

After flexing out of work on Tuesday afternoon, I started work on the new issue of Middle Marker, journal of the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (http://moavhist.org/). I spent some time going over the tutorials for InDesign, the software for laying out the publication, and got going. I am anticipating getting this done by next Thursday, when the Society next meets. I worked on it some more on my off day Thursday (7 January).

Friday saw a change in our TV service at home. After about 5 1/2 years using AT&T U-verse, my mom and I switched to DirecTV (http://www.directv.com/). Mom found they had a better package for the money than U-verse. We made sure our televisions were hooked up and running properly, and we could find the many channels available to us. Our voice and Internet remain the same.

While working at the branch yesterday morning, it started to rain, then snow. We got a nice temporary coverage of snow on the ground, but it would not last. The ground was too warm, so the snow melted early that afternoon. It wasn't too comfortable being outside in any case, but my colleagues and I got things taken care of in good order.

After work yesterday, I headed to Kitchen House Coffee (http://www.kitchenhousecoffee.com/) in St. Louis' Tower Grove East neighborhood for the Saint Louis Singles Group 40+ Meetup. There were four others there at the coffee house--more had reserved, but several backed out due to weather concerns. We did have a fine time enjoying coffee and scones, produced locally. (The facility is an extension of an urban farm, with chickens in the back.) This Meetup group can be found here: http://www.meetup.com/Saint-Louis-Singles-Group-Ages-40/.

Last night was cold and windy, with the temperature early this morning reaching 10 degrees F (-12 degrees C). Fortunately, the heater in my room was operating well.

Tonight will find me at the IPMS/Gateway banquet in Oakville. Details on that event in my next post.

Later.