Road Trip to KC

After working at the rental branch Saturday morning (20 August), I drove to the Barnes & Noble Bookstore (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/) at West County Center (http://www.shopwestcountycenter.com/) in Town and Country. There, I had lunch in the cafe (redeeming a coupon for a free iced tea) and bought two magazines.

I then drove to Amsterdam Tavern (http://amsterdamtavern.com/) in south St. Louis, where I joined others in watching the Olympic men's soccer (football) gold medal match between Brazil and Germany. I and others were happy when Brazil won the match on penalty kicks (5-4 in the shootout, after 1-1 draw after extra time). Very happy for Brazil, after a very entertaining match at the Maracana.

After the match, I drove to Stone Spiral Coffee and Curios (http://www.stonespiralcoffee.com/) in Maplewood for the StL Tea Club Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/StL-Tea-Club-Meetup/events/233317713/). I joined four others there to sample some fine teas from East Asia and to have some fine conversation.

Late Sunday morning, I drove to Hotshots Sports Bar & Grill in Fenton (http://www.hotshotsnet.com/locations/stlouisarea/fenton.aspx) for lunch before boarding the chartered bus with others from the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/). After stopping in St. Peters to pick up a few others, we headed for Kansas City, Kansas to cheer on Saint Louis FC (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) in its match against Swope Park Rangers. After our bus arrived at Children's Mercy Park, the St. Louligans marched into the stadium, where we had a section to ourselves. The match in the stadium--which holds 20,000--was sparsely attended. Saint Louis FC took a 1-nil lead in the 80th minute, but Swope Park leveled it two minutes from time. It was a fine match, but we would prefer a win at this point. We then got on the bus for home, arriving back at Hotshots abound 1:20 am. It was my first such road trip, and I hope it was not my last.

I took Monday (22 August) off from work, to get some nice down time. Back to work Tuesday, things went well. We also said goodbye to Hannah, who is now assistant manager of our Brentwood branch. I promised her I would bring her and her colleagues doughnuts soon after Hannah settles in at her new post. After work, I came home to host the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting. Besides discussing club business (including our contest next month), we talked of the shocking news that CRM Hobbies in south St. Louis closed for good last Saturday. Owner Chris Merseal sold his inventory and will just order items for us and sell through his ebay site.

After work yesterday, I drove to St. Louis Community College at Meramec (http://www.stlcc.edu/MC/) for my first session of Portuguese Language: Beginning I. It is an eight-week course, for two hours on Wednesday nights. There are about 12 of us in the course, with Priscila--a native of Brazil--as our instructor. She comes courtesy of Viva Brasil St. Louis (http://www.e.vivabrasilstl.org/home). We spent the first session getting acquainted, starting to learn the pronunciation of the Portuguese, and starting to learn a few words. It should be great, and I'm looking forward to it.

Speaking of Viva Brasil St. Louis, I have volunteered to staff their information booth this Saturday from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at the International Institute's Festival of Nations (http://www.festivalofnationsstl.org/) an annual multicultural festival in St. Louis' Tower Grove Park. I hope to see you there!

Later.

Transitions at Work; Dinner with a Group

After a relaxing weekend at home, it was back to work for me this past Monday (25 July). It was warm and humid, though not as bad as it was the previous two weeks. Tuesday marked the last day for Liz as our branch manager, as she is taking over the branch at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Area employees gathered at Double D Karaoke (http://doubledstl.com) in Brentwood after work on Tuesday to celebrate. I could only stay briefly, as I had to drive down to Bill Wagner's house in Oakville for the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting. Liz appreciated my stopping by, though. The IPMS/Gateway board planned our August general and business meetings, and discussed other club business.

Wednesday (27 July), I started to contact some recruiters about help in finding career opportunities in marketing communications and publishing. Hope to get some action going soon in that area. Any assistance that you can give me in this regard is much appreciated.

Off work Thursday, I got my hair cut at Great Clips (http://www.greatclips.com/) in Tenholder Plaza in Mehlville. The stylist did such a good job getting about two months' growth of hair cut from my head. I bought some hair color on the way home and applied it myself, covering my gray hairs.

After a personal appointment, I shopped a bit at CRM Hobbies (http://www.crmhobbies.com/) in south St. Louis, buying two bottles of paint for models I'm working on now.

That night, I was at Yemanja Brasil Restorante (http://www.brazildining.com/) in south St. Louis' Benton Park neighborhood for dinner with the Ethnic Restaurant Fans Meetup group (https://www.meetup.com/Ethnic-Restaurant-Fans/). Approximately 12 of us attended, and it was my third visit to this restaurant. Yemanja is one of my favorite restaurants in St. Louis and the experience did not disappoint. After an appetizer of Empanadas de Bife and a cup of soup, I did into the main course: Xin Xim de Galinha, a spicy chicken dish. Dessert was Pudim de Coco, mainly bread pudding, all washed down with a Caipirinha cocktail and water. A great time was had by all at this dinner, and I highly recommend both Yemanja and Ethnic Restaurant Fans.

Today at work, an electrician came by in the morning to install two oscillating fans in the wash bay. When the fans were up and running, they blew plenty of cool air inside the bay, which made conditions much more tolerable. It was challenging at times to get vehicles parked on our crowded lot, but things got taken care of in good order. By the way, a new manager reports to our branch next week.

Relaxing at home now, but an interesting weekend awaits. More on that in my next post.

Later.

"Who are we?" "S-T-L!"

I kept hard at work at the car rental branch late last week, including Saturday morning (16 April). The latter was one of the calmer Saturdays I've been working at the branch--not that many rentals, not that many vehicles to clean and park. It went smoothly, needless to say.

That night, I drove to Smugala's Pizza Pub in Sunset Hills (http://smugalas.com/smugalassunsethills), where--after having a beer--I got aboard the Pub2Park shuttle bus that took me to Worldwide Technology Soccer Park for the Saint Louis FC (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) home opener against Tulsa Hurricanes. I was part of a sellout crowd of just over 5500--myself joining in the chants of the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/)--but the match ended in a 0-0 draw. Still, it was great fun and I'm looking forward to many more great matches this season.

The next morning (17 April), I was at Sportport (http://www.sportportintl.com/) in Maryland Heights to referee two under 10 boys league matches. These are 8-a-side, on a smaller field with 25-minute halves. It was my first matches since last fall and I did feel a bit rusty at first, but overall things went well.

After the matches, I drove to Shameless Grounds (http://shamelessgrounds.com/) in St. Louis' Benton Park neighborhood for the Sex Positive STL Meetup (http://www.meetup.com/Sex-Positive-St-Louis/). After lunch there--I had the Chauvinist Pig sandwich of ham, pulled pork, and bacon--the meetup had a discussion of Autism & Dating, with a certified analyst and a group member with Asperger's syndrome (like me) leading the discussion. It was very interesting and I got much out of it. The analyst invited me to contact me about how he could work with me to help me out in the social sector, and I plan to take him up on that.

Work this week has been good, and busy. Plenty to keep me occupied, for sure.

After work on Tuesday (19 April), I headed to Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) in Mehlville for the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) meeting. Rick Keasey gave a demo on making display cases, and we had our Model of the Month "Beauty Contest."

On my off day today, I visited the IKEA store in midtown St. Louis (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/st_louis/indexPage) for the first time. I was most impressed by the place, with the size, variety and quantity of home furnishings available for purchase. I bought a couple of small items--a lazy susan for use on my model workbench, and a small picture frame--and had a nice lunch in their restaurant. Plenty to see there and I hope to be back in the near future.

After that, I went by CRM Hobbies (http://www.crmhobbies.com/) in south St. Louis, where I bought some filler putty and a small armor kit, which I hope to finish by next month's IPMS/Gateway meeting. I also have three other kits in progress, and I hope to have them all done next month.

Off to the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (https://moavhist.org/) meeting tonight. More on that--and this weekend's World War II Weekend at Jefferson Barracks County Park--in my next post.

Later.

Real Cold with Some Snow

The end of last week went well. Work on Friday (15 January) went well. I brought some doughnuts from Krispy Kreme (https://www.krispykreme.com/), as I usually do every other Friday. My co-workers greatly appreciate my gesture and it gives them a treat to help with getting through the day.

I also remembered my friend in Cuiaba, Brazil, Eliana, on her birthday that day. We are in contact just about every day via WhatsApp (https://www.whatsapp.com/), and she is a very special friend to me.

I made a trip that Saturday morning (16 May) to a branch of First Bank (https://www.firstbanks.com/) in south St. Louis for a bit of IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business. As the club's vice president this year, I needed to get my signature registered with the bank holding our account, so that I am authorized to sign checks as needed. After that bit of business was done, I headed to CRM Hobbies (http://www.crmhobbies.com/) to do a bit of shopping. After browsing awhile and seeing some of the new items for sale, I bought a couple of decal sheets for model kits I have that I hope to build in the coming year.

It got real cold over the past weekend, with temperatures getting down to 10 degrees F (-12 degrees C). On Tuesday afternoon (19 January), before I flexed out of work, it started to snow. We got about 2 inches (5.1 cm) by early the next morning. Due to the anticipated snowfall, myself and the rest of the IPMS/Gateway board decided that afternoon to postpone our general meeting by one week. That meeting--which features our annual Swap & Sell, and Kit Auction--will be held this coming Tuesday night (26 January). We made this decision out of consideration for the safety of our members traveling to and from the meeting.

I spent some time that night working on the new issue of Middle Marker, the journal of the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (http://moavhist.org/). It's a bit of a process, laying out on the computer when I'm trying to get more comfortable with this process. I should have some of it done to show to the society's board at tonight's meeting at Creve Coeur Airport (http://crevecoeurairport.com/).

Later.

Articles Edited as October Begins

It's been some good, productive days at work lately. We're having plenty of business and we're working hard keeping the customers satisfied. This past Friday (2 October) marked our manager David's last day with the firm. He's left to take a sales position outside our firm. Sad to see him go, as he's done very good work since beginning to manage our branch last spring, but happy that he's found a good position going forward.

After flexing out this past Tuesday (29 September), I stopped by the Kirkwood branch to say hi to a colleague, Melissa, who used to work with me at Ellisville. We briefly got caught up on things and I asked her to say hello to her boyfriend and her mother for me.

I made much of my day off last Thursday (1 October), getting the oil changed on my Corolla in the morning. Then, I spent some time editing articles for Middle Marker, the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (http://moavhist.org/) member newsletter. I worked on four articles, including my feature for the cover story and a smaller photo feature. Scheduled for publication in mid-October, it has now been pushed to beginning of November, due to some late items we need from our society's president. Still, it was a productive time.

After working yesterday at the branch, I headed to Coffee Cartel (http://thecoffeecartel.com/) in St. Louis' Central West End for the Saint Louis Area Sippers Meetup. Three of us were there most of the time, before a fourth arrived late in the event. We enjoyed drinks there and chatted about this and that. Plus, we observed many people walking by our corner. A nice time we all had. On the way home, I stopped at CRM Hobbies (http://www.crmhobbies.com/) in south St. Louis to browse for awhile.

Later.

One History Discussion, Two Soccer Matches, One Dinner at the Circus

One week ago tonight (18 June) found me at Creve Coeur Airport for the Missouri Aviation Historical Society's monthly meeting. This meeting was a panel discussion about Project Gemini on the 50th anniversary year of the first manned Gemini flight. Earl Mullins, curator and founder of The Space Museum in Bonne Terre, Missouri (http://www.space-mo.org/), moderated a most interesting discussion with a panel of five engineers and designers who worked on the Gemini spacecraft for McDonnell Aircraft. There was a good crowd at the meeting, including several from the St. Louis Space Frontier Meetup Group, which I am in, and was so happy to see them in attendance. More on that meeting here: http://moavhist.org/2015/06/03/moavhist-to-hold-exclusive-qa-panel-for-50th-anniversary-of-project-gemini/. (There will be video of this discussion to be posted on that website in due course.) More on the Meetup group at: http://www.meetup.com/Saint-Louis-Space-Frontier-Meetup/.

Right after work Friday, I was at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton to cheer on Saint Louis FC against Colorado Springs Switchbacks. The home side lost 1-0 in the USL match, but granted it was Saint Louis FC's third match in nine days (including a Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tie three days before), I should not be too disappointed. Anyway, Saint Louis FC returns to action this Saturday night, when they host New York Red Bulls II. Tickets available; for more info, visit http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index. By the way, I read online this week (http://coachbailey.blog.com/2015/06/20/usl-attendance-2/) that Saint Louis FC is 5th in average attendance among USL teams to this point of the season. The team has averaged 4,573 fans per match--88 percent of Marshall Wireless Stadium's 5,200 capacity. Good going, Saint Louis FC supporters! Let's keep it up.

Late Saturday afternoon (20 June), I drove to Lutheran High School of St. Charles County in St. Peters, Missouri to watch St. Louis Lions face PDL rivals Springfield Synergy FC. (The match was moved to this artificial turf field from the Tony Glavin Complex in Cottleville, Missouri due to heavy rain this past week.) The Lions prevailed, 2-1, on a hot and muggy day. They are on the road for several games before returning home early next month. For more, visit their website: http://www.stllions.com/.

Sunday was spent at home staying cool and working a little on a scale model on my workbench. That night, I was at Circus Flora right after their 5:30 p.m. show to take in their annual volunteer dinner. The circus was thanking us volunteers for all our hard work during this season's show, "One Summer on Second Street." After posing for a photo, we entered the ring where a buffet dinner--including fried chicken, salad, baked beans, and strawberries--awaited. I had some food and took in the moment before going home. I'm back there to help out at tonight's show. "One Summer on Second Street" ends its run this Sunday, but you can still take in this marvelous show. More info, including tickets, here at: http://circusflora.org/.

It's been real hot and humid here this week, but at least the rain has held off (unlike the week before). Work has been going well, although the hot and humid conditions outside (as well as inside the wash bay) makes me realize the importance of staying hydrated during the day. Things are going real well for us at the branch.

Tuesday night (23 June) I was at CRM Hobbies in south St. Louis for the IPMS/Gateway business meeting, hosted by club president Chris Merseal at his shop. Those of us board members attending planned next month's general and business meetings, and discussed a bit of other club business. I also got in a bit of shopping at the store, which was normally closed those nights. More on the club at http://www.ipms-gateway.com/. The shop's website is: http://www.crmhobbies.com/.

Later.