Continuing to get caught up on this blog, New Year's Day was rather low key. I just stayed home for the holiday. The following Saturday (4 January), I was at World Wide Technology Soccer Park to play for St. Louligans against American Outlaws--St. Louis in the annual Winter Classic. It was a cold day, but a fun outing for the two supporter groups as we played, consumed sports drinks (OK, beer), and raised donations for the St. Louis Area Food Bank. Julie was there to lend her support from the grandstand.
Two days later, we got a wintry mix of freezing rain, sleet, and snow. It came to a total of 5 inches (0.1 m) at my house. The road was so slick I could not drive to work that day. I stayed home to shovel the driveway and walkway to the porch. The snow persisted in the area for about two weeks, due to the cold weather.
On 19 January, Julie and I went to the Schlafly Tap Room for the St. Louligans' Annual General Meeting. Plans for the coming St. Louis CITY SC season were discussed, and this year's jersey and scarf were unveiled. I ordered a scarf, which should be ready for pickup later this month. It was an informative time with plenty of socializing.
I completed my first model of the year (having started it late last year), a 1:72 J-8II "Finback." At the January IPMS/Gateway meeting, I successfully bid on several kits in the annual Kit Auction. Proceeds from this auction benefit club activities.
Late last month, I took in my first IPMS/USA executive board Zoom meeting, where I was unanimously approved to serve as acting Director of Local Chapters (DLC). I am replacing John Figueroa, who stepped down to concentrate on being 2026 IPMS/USA National Convention Chairman. I am the only candidate for DLC at this year's IPMS/USA e-board election, which will be held later this year. It will be a lot of work for sure, but I am looking forward to serving the society and its members.
I have my hotel room reserved in Hampton, Virginia for the IPMS/USA National Convention on 6-9 August. I am looking forward to this event.
My birthday on 7 February was nice. My Enterprise branch colleagues signed a greeting card for me and bought me lunch from Pepper's Deli & BBQ in Ellisville. Two days later, Julie picked me up from home and took me on a date to celebrate my birthday and Valentine's Day. We first shopped at Left Bank Books, where I selected two books Julie paid for, plus she also got me a pair of socks. After walking around the Central West End for a few minutes, we then went to Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in the City Foundry for dinner and a movie. We ordered dinner from our seats, which was brought to us as we enjoyed "Casablanca." It's one of my all-time favorite movies and a great choice for Julie and I to watch together. I had given her a small bouquet of flowers and a personal accessory set (necklace, earrings, hair pin). The latter item was something I bought a few years ago and (as I told Julie) was being saved to give to a worthy woman. She greatly appreciated those items. It was a great date.
Been at work lately on another model, a 1:35 BMW R75 motorcycle with sidecar. I hope to have it done by this Tuesday's IPMS/Gateway meeting, which will have the Out of the Box Contest. For sure, I will enter the J-8 in that contest.
Yesterday (15 February), I joined two other IPMS/Gateway members in staffing a booth at Fox Con, a student-run fair at Fox High School in Arnold, Mo. We had a variety of models on display with club literature. The show was mostly cosplay and gaming enthusiasts, but we had a few visitors stop by and pick up our flyer. It was good to get ourselves out in the community.
That's it for now. I should be more frequent with my posts in the near future.
Later.
Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:
St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer
St. Louis Area Food Bank: St. Louis Area Foodbank | Member of Feeding America
Schlafly Tap Room: Tap Room — Schlafly | St. Louis' Original Craft Brewery
St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC
IPMS Gateway Chapter: IPMS Gateway Chapter
IPMS/USA: IPMS/USA | IPMS/USA Home Page
Pepper's Deli & BBQ: Sweet Peppers Deli
Left Bank Books: Left Bank Books | Customer Service | Community Service
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema--City Foundry: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Fox High School: Fox High School / Homepage
No comments:
Post a Comment