Interests Meetings and Honors for My Writing

Work this past week was good. Monday (17 April) was the last day at Ellisville for our manager, Justin, who became manager of our Florissant branch. It was hard to see him go, what with the great job he did, but am happy for him moving on in the firm. Justin told me he was very appreciative of my work with him and the Ellisville branch these past few months. We should get a new branch manager in the coming week.

After work Tuesday night, I was at Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) for this month's IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) general meeting. This meeting featured a demo by Marion Morris on removing mold seams from aircraft canopies, which I found most informative. We also had our Model of the Month "Beauty Contest."

Off work on Thursday (20 April), I stopped by Dierbergs (http://www.dierbergs.com/) in Creve Coeur to get some miniature cupcakes. I took one package of these treats to the Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html) branch in Creve Coeur as a belated thanks to Scott for filling in at Ellisville recently and for Miranda recently passing the Management Qualification Interview (MQI). They greatly appreciated my gesture. I took the other miniature cupcakes over to our Chesterfield branch, where they were also warmly received.

That night, I was at Creve Coeur Airport (http://crevecoeurairport.com/) for this month's Missouri Aviation Historical Society (https://moavhist.org/) meeting. Steve Dobronski, a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, was the guest speaker. He's currently F-15/F-18 Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS) global product manager at Boeing (http://www.boeing.com/) and Dobronski spoke about improvements to the F-15 Eagle in recent years. It was a most fascinating presentation, complete with PowerPoint slides and video of F-15s in an air combat training exercise.

Since this past Friday was pay day, I stopped by Krispy Kreme (https://www.krispykreme.com/) in Fenton on the way to work and bought a douzen doughnuts for my Ellisville colleagues. This was greatly appreciated by Assistant Manager Cayla and Management Trainee Lauren. It got hectic the last couple of hours, but we got our customers most satisfied.

Yesterday, I was at the St. Louis Artists' Guild (http://www.stlouisartistsguild.org/new/) in Clayton for the Missouri Professional Communicators (http://www.mpc-nfpw.org/cpsiteframepage.lasso?-token.lpuserref=113815.113118) Spring Connect Luncheon. The event began with greetings and tastings of wines from the Missouri Grape and Wine Board (http://missouriwine.org/), followed by a buffet lunch. This was followed by brief remarks by MPC President Janice Denham and by Kathryn Nahorski of the St. Louis Artists' Guild. The featured speaker was former St. Louis television reporter Betsey Bruce, who retired last December after 46 years with Channels 4 and 2. Bruce spoke on "The Growing Conflict Between Journalism and Social Media," and it was quite a fascinating speech. She also took a few questions from the audience.

Then, Denham returned to the lecturn to present the awards for the 2017 MPC Communications Contest. There were entries submitted by 11 MPC members, including myself, and all three of my entries were honored. Two press releases I wrote and disseminated for IPMS/Gateway last year were recognized in the News or Feature Release--Single Release category. I took First Place for my release announcing the IPMS/Gateway Invitational Model Contest and Swap Meet last September, and Second Place for my release on the club's donation to Toys for Tots last December. The judges praised my releases for being succinct and kept to one page each.

I also earned Second Place in the Feature Story--Magazine, Newsletter, or Other Non-Newspaper Print Publication category for my piece on Missouri aviator Charles Morley, which ran in last year's edition of Middle Marker, the journal of the Missouri Aviation Historical Society. The judges noted that it was a very interesting article about a local hero, and that the pictures helped tell the story of Morley's tragic death.

I was most humbled and honored to receive this recognition from my peers. This was my first entry in this contest. I should tell you that I am the only male member of MPC, and the judges were all females within the organization. That First Place entry is also going on to the Communications Contest of MPC's affiliate, the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW), with results to be announced later this year.

I wanted to go to a bar to celebrate, but one was not open yet and the other was packed with hockey fans following the St. Louis Blues' playoff game that afternoon. (The Blues defeated the Minnesota Wild in overtime to win the first round NHL Stanley Cup series.) I settled for St. Louis Bread Co. (https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html) in Brentwood, where I treated myself to a frozen mocha drink.

After I got home, I changed clothes and headed to Smugala's Pizza Pub (http://smugalas.com/smugalassunsethills) in Sunset Hills, where I caught the Pub2Park but to Toyota Stadium and Saint Louis FC's (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) match against Charlotte Independence. I took in the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) tailgate in the parking lot before marching in with them to the stadium. Unfortunately, an early lead by the home side did not stand, as Charlotte won the match, 2-1.

Home now, with youth soccer games to officiate tonight.

Later.