2016 Ends

After the Christmas holiday, it was back to work Monday morning (26 December). The week as a whole was rather quiet compared to most weeks, primarily due to the Holidays and with customers wanting to keep their vehicles longer during this time. Things went well for us at the branch, and we stayed on top of things. So much, in fact, that I was released from work about 35 minutes early last night. Not that I was complaining.

Off work on Thursday, I took care of my laundry, and had some shopping done.

Late this morning, I drove to the Church of the Immacolata (http://www.immacolata.org/) in Richmond Heights to watch final day action in the Mary McDermott 3rd Grade Basketball Tournament (http://www.glennon.org/mary-mcdermott-basketball/). I caught one full game and parts of two others in this 8th annual tournament, whose proceeds benefit SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. I bought my lunch from their concession stand, and I looked at the sports memorabilia offered up in the silent auction. (I passed up on the latter; this was too rich for my blood, unfortunately.) At the tournament, I saw my friend Bill McDermott, Mary's father, who acted as public address announcer and as a guiding light for this event. (Mary McDermott died at age 24 in December of 2004; a new Hybrid Cardiac Catheterization Suite at Cardinal Glennon is being named for her.) I was very happy to help in at least a small way in this most worthy cause.

Home that afternoon, I turned on the TV and watched the NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game between the St. Louis Blues and the Chicago Black Hawks at Busch Stadium. It was neat to see all those legends from those teams playing at least one more time, and before a packed crowd. The Winter Classic is Monday afternoon at Busch. I just hope the weather isn't too bad; there's a strong chance of showers that day. (I'll be at work that day, but I'll record it on the DVR to watch later.)

I'm home tonight to welcome 2017. Nothing special. There were good things that happened to me in 2016, and some not so good things. I hope for all of us a great, prosperous, and above all Happy New Year!

Later.

Christmas Day 2016

This week started very cold. At work on Monday (19 December), I was spending time warming up cars and scraping ice off their windows so I can get them to the customers. We had a lot of customers, due to the ice storm the previous weekend. It was hectic, but we got things done and our customers satisfied and in rental vehicles.

After flexing our Tuesday afternoon, I brought cookies to the Enterprise Car Sales (https://www.enterprisecarsales.com) location in Manchester, then dropped off some cookies at the St. Charles Enterprise Car Sales location, along with a newsletter for my friend Anthony, who worked there. I also shopped at Mark Twain Hobby Center (https://www.hobby1.com/), where I bought a car model to build for the February IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) contest and dropped off some IPMS/Gateway flyers for the shop.

That night, I attended the IPMS/Gateway meeting at Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/). We had final nominations and voting for the 2016 Bob Stroup Award for Outstanding Service and for 2017 club officers. I was reelected vice president by acclamation. We also had a drawing for several kits; however, I did not win. Club president Bill Wagner mentioned our donation the previous Friday of $560 to Toys for Tots. I mention the publicity this received on local online media. This meeting also had our annual recognition contest; I scored the best, with 20 or 25 correct.

Off work Thursday (22 December), I finished my Christmas shopping, ordering some skin care products for Mom from my high school and church friend Lisa Campise, a Mary Kay (https://www.marykay.com/) representative, and an Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/) gift certificate for Brian.

Friday, we had a fairly busy day at work, and I met our new management trainee, Melissa, who just started the day before. This is her first assignment with the firm, and I think she'll do very well for us.

That night, after dinner at home, I met my good friend and Mehlville High classmate Tim Popp at OSP Tap Haus (https://www.osptaphaus.com/) in Oakville. Over glasses of beer (one for me!), Tim and I got caught up on things. He lives in Oklahoma City and was visiting family over the holiday weekend. Always great to see Tim.

I worked at the branch yesterday morning. We had some customers and everything was settled by noon, when we closed--one hour earlier than usual, due to the holiday. After doing a bit of shopping for myself, I came home. I went with Mom to Christmas Eve service at Calvary, where I saw my high school and Sunday school friends Susan Shrum and Lisa Crain. After the service, Mom and I came home to open our presents. I told Mom about the source of the skin care products when she opened the package, and she was very impressed.

Santa was very nice to me. Among other gifts, I got: an emergency flashlight, suitable for my car; the books "General Ignorance: There's a Lot of It Out There" and "The Nation's Hangar: Aircraft Treasures of the Smithsonian"; thermal underwear; a flannel shirt; the DVDs "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and "The Fugitive"; and, a Bluetooth music hat. (The latter gift was from my Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Harold in Fircrest, Washington.) My brothers got me a ticket to an upcoming St. Louis Blues (https://www.nhl.com/blues/) game.

Mom picked up her friend from church, Michael Knuckles, and brought him here for dinner with me. We watched some DVDs of Bob Hope specials this afternoon, before Mom took Michael back to his home. I'm back to work tomorrow.

Later.