Christmas 2019

It was a mild Christmas Eve last Tuesday (24 December). The Ellisville branch of Enterprise Rent-A-Car (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html) closed at 3:00 pm. On my way home, I stopped by my friend Del Miller's house in Concord Village, where I gave him a get-well card signed by my IPMS/Gateway (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) mates and my annual newsletter. Miller is recovering from a stroke he suffered last month. He was up and about on his walker when we talked.

I then came home, and early that night joined Mom in a Christmas Eve service at Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) in Mehlville. It was a moving service.

Then, we came home and began opening our presents. I opened one from my brother Doug: a black SpaceX (https://www.spacex.com/) hoodie, which I really liked. He knows of my great interest in aerospace. I also opened a package from my brother Rick, with two books from Arcadia Publishing (https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/). One was "St. Louis Advertising," on ads that ran in the St. Louis area (print and billboard) since the 19th century. The other book was "St. Louis: Bridges Highways and Roads," a pictorial look at the area's road network over the years.

The next morning, Mom and I had breakfast before returning to the living room to open our remaining presents. Rick sent me two more Arcadia Publishing books: "Area 51," on the top-secret CIA (https://www.cia.gov/index.html) and US Air Force (https://www.af.mil/) test site in Nevada; and, "Flight Research at NASA Langley Research Center," on aircraft test work performed at this NASA (https://www.nasa.gov/) facility in Virginia.

Also for me were: a 2020 calendar "Historic Warbirds," with illustrations and history on several classic World War II combat aircraft from Osprey Publishing (https://ospreypublishing.com/); insoles for my work shoes; four pairs of wool work socks; and, a bag of candy. Plus, Brian, sent me a Barnes & Noble (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/) gift certificate. Not bad at all.

After that, Mom and I relaxed at home.

Later.

Christmas 2018

Christmas this past week went well. After a shortened day at work on Monday (24 December), I went with mom to a Christmas Eve service at Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/). This was a joint service with Affton Presbyterian Church (http://afftonpc.org/), which is co-located with Calvary. The service was pleasant, including seeing my friend Lisa Crain with her parents, sister and sister's family. Lisa and I chatted for a bit before the service.

After the service, Mom and I came back home, where she asked me to open one of my presents. It had come earlier that day from the delivery truck. It was a camera I had ordered just over a week before from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/). This is a Canon (https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog) PowerShot SX530 HS, a digital point and shoot camera with 50x zoom lens. This came with a host of accessories, including: carry case; two batteries and charger; two memory cards; lens cleaning kit; mini tripod; carry strap; and view screen protector. I charged the battery up overnight, so I could use it the next morning.

The next morning, after a small breakfast, Mom and I opened our presents in the living room. I must have been very good this year, as I received several presents. They included: two calendars; two DVDs and a few books from my brother Rick (I sent him a book in exchange); and a few other things.

Mom greatly appreciated the bedroom slippers and restaurant gift cards I gave her for Christmas. We spent the day relaxing around the house. I also did some test shots around the house with my new camera.

Normally off work on Wednesdays, I worked this past Wednesday (26 December). It was a fairly quiet day for the most part. The rest of this week went well at the branch. Late Friday afternoon, I filled in at the Ballwin branch as they lacked a car prep that day. My services there were most appreciated.

Yesterday, after helping Mom pick up leaves from the back yard, I went to the Church of the Immacolata (http://www.immacolata.org/) in Richmond Heights to catch the last day of the 10th annual Mary McDermott 3rd Grade Basketball Tournament (https://www.glennon.org/mary-mcdermott-basketball/). This was a tournament for boys and girls Catholic Youth Council (http://www.cycstl.net/) teams. Proceeds from admissions, concessions, and a silent auction of sports memorabilia will go to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Foundation. This event is a memorial to Mary McDermott, an Immacolata parish member and athlete who died for a heart ailment in 2008. She was the daughter of my friend Bill McDermott, a graphic designer and soccer commentator. It was a pleasure for me to watch some of the action and to support this effort in at least a small way.

Back to work until mid-afternoon tomorrow, then time to celebrate New Year's Eve. This past year was good, and I am hoping for better in 2019.

Later.

Christmas, and 2017 Nears Its End

It was a busy Friday (22 December) and Saturday morning at the rental branch, with a lot of people renting vehicles for Christmas vacation journeys. It was quite a bit of extra work involved, but my colleagues and I were able to meet the challenge and keep our customers most satisfied. My manager Cory gave me my annual review on Friday--two days after my fifth anniversary with Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html)--and he had nothing but high marks for me. Cory had little to say but to appreciate the great job I'm doing for the firm, and I had hardly anything to add.

Home after work that Saturday afternoon (23 December), I took care of the last presents to wrap up and put under the Christmas tree at home. Mom and I chilled out at home. I viewed the Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) presentation of "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians," which was the only way to see that awful film. Plenty of campy fun with this movie, as presented on MST3K. It was a good day to be inside: The morning before, we got about 2 inches (5 cm) of snow, to make this a White Christmas. (Cue Bing Crosby.)

I went to Sunday morning service on Christmas Eve at Calvary Presbyterian Church's sanctuary (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/), though it was actually a service conducted by Affton Presbyterian Church (http://afftonpc.org/), which began nesting with Calvary a few weeks ago. (Affton normally holds Sunday services in the Fellowship Hall.) It was nice and I stayed around in the Fellowship Hall afterward for refreshments.

After time at home, I took Mom back to Calvary for the Christmas Eve evening service. It was very nice, and Mom and I were called that night to help serve Communion, which we did. It ended with the sanctuary lights turned off and our individual candle lights (actually electric lights) on during the singing of "Silent Night, Holy Night," which made this more moving.

After the service, Mom and I came home and we each opened a present before retiring to bed.

The next morning, we opened the rest of the presents. I especially prize two pairs of shoes Mom gave me: a pair of black dress shoes (which I hope to wear to some job interviews in the coming months), and a pair of cross training shoes, to replace the worn pair I had. I also got a replica St. Louis Blues sweater, and a necktie from my Uncle Harold--Mom's brother. My brother Doug, teaming up with my brothers Rick and Brian, gave me the DVD of the recent PBS documentary series "The Vietnam War," along with its companion book and soundtrack album. Very nice items, indeed. Mom really enjoyed the necklace and matching earrings I gave her.

I basically chilled out at home the rest of the day.

Up early the next morning (26 December), I drove to work and had a long and very busy day with cleaning cars and picking up and dropping off customers. Mostly, these were customers coming off the holiday weekend. We got through the day fine. It was also the last day for my fellow car prep Jesse, who stepped down due to his arthritis. Sad to see someone go, but I can fully understand his situation.

Since I am working this Saturday morning, I flexed out Wednesday afternoon. That came after a long (distance and time) road trip to ferry a vehicle to our Washington, Missouri branch, then to ferry a passenger van to the Manchester branch, and finally getting a getting a ride back to the Ellisville branch.

That night, after getting dressed up with the new dress shoes and tie, I came to Double D Karaoke Bar (https://doubledstl.com/) in Brentwood for our area's Secret Santa party. After getting beer and appetizers, we received our presents. The person I was buying for wasn't there to get my gift card, but I received an Amazon gift card from my Secret Santa from another branch. I added that card to the one Brian gave me for Christmas. Looks like I'll be getting into my Amazon wish list in the New Year!

Off on Thursday, I headed to Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis to ice skate at Winterfest at the Arch (https://www.archwinterfest.com/). It had been at least two years since I last ice skated, but I did well in the hour I had at the rink. After that, I walked to a nearby Saint Louis Bread Co. (https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html) for a cup of hot chocolate and a cookie.

It was another busy day at work today, but things went well. I got word that afternoon that I had been voted the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the branch for this week. That's an honor that usually goes to management personnel, so I was most pleasantly surprised to get the MVP Award. I must be doing something right at the branch!

See you next year!

Later.