After work was done, I headed right away to Immacolata School (http://www.immacolata.org/immacolata-school-about-us.cfm) in Richmond Heights for the conclusion of the 9th Annual Mary McDermott 3rd Grade Basketball Tournament (https://www.glennon.org/mary-mcdermott-basketball/), which began the previous Thursday. This tournament for boys and girls Catholic Youth Council (CYC) teams raised money--through admissions, concessions, and a silent auction of sports memorabilia--to fund a Hybrid Cardiac Catheterization Suite at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. This tournament is named for Mary McDermott, an Immacolata parishioner, who died in 2008 at age 24 from a heart condition.
I arrived as the girls final was ending, and caught the boys final--a game that went into overtime. While there, I chatted briefly with Mary's father, Bill McDermott, a graphic designer and soccer commentator, who I have known for many years. I told Bill I was very happy to help out, in at least a small part, for this cause in her daughter's memory. There was a great crowd for the final game, and it was most supportive and positive of the action on the court.
After the final game, I got home as soon as possible to warm up. I basically stayed at home all weekend, including New Year's Eve. When the clock struck midnight, Mom and I walked out on the front porch to yell "Happy New Year!" I also rang a bell. After about 30 seconds of this, Mom and I got back inside and were in our respective beds soon after.
The next morning, I woke up for breakfast and to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade on TV. I spent much of the day watching episodes of "The Vietnam War" that I received for Christmas.
Back to work early Tuesday morning (2 January), it was one real busy morning. Vehicles jammed our lot when my colleagues and I arrived, and it took a while to warm them up to remove ice from the windows so we could move them around the lot. Eventually, we got a good handle on things and we took care of business very nicely. Because of the sub-freezing temperatures, we held off washing the vehicle exteriors, to prevent freezing of doors and windows.
After a not quite a busy Wednesday at the branch, I flexed out in mid-afternoon and came home. Off on Thursday, I took care of some chores in the morning before going out to two branches that afternoon. I first went to Kirkwood, where I left a greeting card and gift card for its manager, Hannah. She was out sick, but her assistant accepted it for her. This was celebrating Hannah and her boyfriend Justin recently moving into a new house.
I then headed to Ballwin branch, where I presented the same items to manager Tessie. She recently moved into a new home with her boyfriend, my former colleague Alex. Tessie really appreciated the gesture. (Alex told me the same tonight, by phone as I was driving home from work.)
That night, I was at Marion Morris' house in Maplewood for the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting. (This was technically the December business meeting, held off until now due to the Holidays.) We planned our upcoming meetings, discussed some business, and agreed to the special categories for this year's Modeler of the Year model contests. I also officially took over as club secretary at this meeting.
It was a pretty busy Friday at the branch today, but things still went very well overall. I'm back at work tomorrow morning. Time to relax and stay warm.
Later.
