MPC, Missouri History Museum, and Time with Julie

Yesterday morning (21 January), I drove to the St. Louis Artists' Guild for the Missouri Professional Communicators (MPC) meeting. Writer and illustrator Lynnette Schuepbach spoke about "How to Refill Your Creative Tank." This was about finding creative freedom when you are dealing with creative block in your writing. Schuepbach spoke about factors in both creative block and creative freedom and lead exercises by the audience (both in person and via Zoom). 

In one such exercise, the in-person attendees were divided into groups of three and each group was given a sentence by Schuepbach. The group members had four minutes for each person in that group to add a sentence to that previous one to create a short story. The program was most interesting and should help me out in my creative writing endeavors.

After the meeting, I was able to get Deborah Reinhardt, co-president of MPC, to sign my copy of her recently published book "St. Louis Coffee: A Stimulating History." My brother Rick edited the book at The History Press. 

Speaking of coffee, I stopped by Kaldi's Coffee in Kirkwood on my way home from the meeting. I had a Gibraltar with a lemon raspberry scone before returning home for lunch with my mom.

Sometime after lunch, I drove to Julie's house. First, I took her to a post office for her to purchase stamps and put Christmas cards in the mail. Then, I drove us to the Missouri History Museum. Their exhibit "St. Louis Sound" was in the final weekend. Julie and I toured the exhibit, which traced the history of pop music in this area from the late 19th century until the present. It was fascinating seeing the story of the music and the personalities, venues, and media involved, ranging from Scott Joplin's ragtime to Nelly's rap. Julie and I shopped in the gift shop before we returned to her house for dinner. 

After eating, we saw the movie "Hidden Figures" that was streamed on Julie's TV. This was the first time I had seen it and I was impressed. We then called it a night.

This morning, Julie and I had breakfast before watching some episodes of "Ted Lasso" and a soccer match from yesterday. Julie's son Dave came by in mid-afternoon, along with his wife Barbe and daughter Little Bird. Dave took out the old sink and faucet in Julie's kitchen before installing a new sink and faucet. Barbe and Little Bird watching "PAW Patrol" on TV with Julie and I. 

After Dave, Barbe, and Little Bird left late this afternoon, it was time for me to take my leave. Julie and I hugged and kissed each other and we promised to keep in touch before meeting up again next weekend.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

St. Louis Artists' Guild: St. Louis Artists' Guild (stlouisartistsguild.org)

Missouri Professional Communicators: Missouri NFPW affiliate | Missouri Professional Communicators | Clayton (moprocommunicators.org)

Lynnette Schuepbach: Books * Art * Poetry – by Lynnette Schuepbach (kidsdoread.com)

The History Press: The History Press (arcadiapublishing.com)

Kaldi's Coffee: Kaldi’s Coffee - Specialty Coffee Roaster, St. Louis, MO – Kaldi's Coffee (kaldiscoffee.com)

Missouri History Museum: Missouri History Museum | Find Yourself Here. (mohistory.org)

Communicators, Model Cars, and Halloween

We had a good day of work at the rental branch on Friday (27 October). Jesse, a new vehicle service agent, reported for work with us that morning. He, like Marvin, was an older man there to work part time. I really appreciated the extra hands in the wash bay, and so do my colleagues. We also said goodbye to management assistant Kory, who was leaving our branch and car rental to work for Enterprise Car Sales (https://www.enterprisecarsales.com/) in Manchester.

The next morning saw me going to 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) meeting. After a continental breakfast, we took in a presentation by Deb Reinhardt (http://www.deborahreinhardt.com/index.html) on the National Federation of Press Women (https://www.nfpw.org/) work shop in Alabama in September. Deb recapped the workshop speakers and their presentations. Janice Denham then gave a talk about MPC's communications contest, and those in attendance talked a bit about themselves and any lessons or tips they have from their careers.

Sunday morning (29 October), I was at the Kirkwood Community Center (http://www.kirkwoodmo.org/content/City-Departments/1856/community-center.aspx) for the Midwest Model Vehicle Association--St. Louis (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/MMVAStLouis.html) Fall Swap Meet and Model Contest. IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) had a table with a model display and some club literature, and I helped staff our table and provided several models for the display. Additionally, I was able to walk around the room visiting the other vendors, chatting with scale modelers I know, and admiring the contest models. This was a nice show and we got the word out on our club.

Back at work Monday morning, having three car preps in the morning was quite a difference, as we got through the backlog of returned vehicles in rather short order.

Halloween was the next day. Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html) branches were all decorated for the day, in themes chosen by each branch's manager. In our case, it was the long-running television game show "The Price is Right." The lobby was decorated with signs like those on the game show's initial game, and we--Manager Cory, assistant manager Miranda, management trainee Tyler, and I--wore color coordinated outfits, while Jesse was the master of ceremonies. A judging team from the area office--costumed as dolls or something like that--came around to evaluate our decorations and costumes, as prizes would go to the best branch setups. All in all, it was fun.

Off work today, I first went to the Firestone Complete Auto Care (http://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/) in Mehlville, where they installed a replacement hubcap on my Corolla. Mine had gone missing soon after I drove off that lot a week ago, probably due to it not being fully installed in a likely inadvertent misstep. I greatly appreciated this gesture, which was done in about one minute and at no charge. Great bit of customer service by the staff there.

I then had my semi-annual dental exam in Kirkwood. My teeth were cleaned, and the dentist noted no problems with my teeth. I then celebrated with a mocha and coffee cake at Kaldi's Coffee (https://kaldiscoffee.com/) in downtown Kirkwood, before going home for lunch.

Before I go, two plugs for this weekend. First, I'll be in Columbia, Missouri on Saturday for TigerCon, a scale model contest presented by IPMS/Central Missouri Scale Modelers (http://www.cmsm-ipms.org/). I will join with several other IPMS/Gateway members to attend and support this show, which will be held at the Event Center of Hickman High School from 9 am to 2:45 pm. Hope to see you there.

Sunday night, I perform my first volunteer assignment at the Whittaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) (http://www.cinemastlouis.org/about-festival), which begins tonight. I will be at .ZACK in midtown St. Louis from 7 to 10 pm. I have four other SLIFF volunteer assignments: Tivoli Theatre, Thu., 9 November, 8 to 11:55 pm; Missouri History Museum, Sat., 11 Nov., 10:30 am to 3 pm; Winifred Moore Auditorium at Webster University, Sat., 11 Nov., 6:45 to 10:30 pm; and Brown Hall at Washington University, Sun., 12 Nov., 7 to 10 pm. Hope to see you there!

Later.

Two Nights of Soccer Activities

After a busy Friday at work, it was time to relax a bit on the weekend. Late Saturday afternoon (15 October), I met with my friend and fellow referee Austin Gomez at his house, then we and another colleague, Kevin Winkelman, met with two others--Zorinko Milicevic and his son, Ivan--before we headed to America's Center (http://explorestlouis.com/meetings-conventions/americas-center/) in downtown St. Louis. There, we attended the 46th Annual Induction Dinner of the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame (http://www.stlsoccerhalloffame.com/). After a happy hour, we entered the dining hall for dinner, followed by the program, which was hosted with his usual aplomb by Bill McDermott. Four future soccer stars (two boys and two girls) were recognized, and ten people were inducted. These inductees included my Saint Louis University (SLU) classmate, Steve Maurer; my former refereeing colleague, Nancy Lay-McCormick; and Karen Lombardo-Baker, wife of my friend from SLU Pat Baker.

Several other awards were presented, including one to the 1966 Quincy College men's soccer team, which went undefeated and won the NAIA National Championship, and to the New Dimensions Soccer Program, which uses soccer as an outreach program for refugee, immigrant, and underserved children in Metro St. Louis. I also saw a few people I knew there, including several fellow soccer referees (among them: Holly Hollingsworth, Randy Masterson, Sam Chan, and Tom Lutker), former Webster University men's soccer coach Marty Todt, and my SLU classmate Steve Hunsicker. Overall, it was a very wonderful night for remembering St. Louis soccer's greats and looking forward to the future.

Sunday morning, I proofread a calendar for my friend, Janette Lonsdale (http://janettelonsdale.com/), which she had prepared for her client. It went very well, with hardly anything needing correcting. That night found me at the Lou Fusz Soccer Complex in Maryland Heights. I ran line on two St. Louis Youth Soccer Association (SLYSA) (http://www.slysa.org/) matches. They went well, although my legs were a bit sore afterward.

Back at work Monday morning, it was a busy time at the rental branch. We all worked hard to keep things moving forward and getting our customers completely satisfied. It was unseasonably warm early in the week, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) on Monday, but things cooled down to more fall-like temperatures by mid-week. It was rainy yesterday afternoon (19 October), with temperatures getting down to about 45 degrees F (7 degrees C) that night.

After flexing out of work Tuesday afternoon, I took care of personal business at home, then went to Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) for this month's IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) meeting. I supplied photos our Invitational last month, which were projected on a screen during the meeting. We also had a good turnout for the Model of the Month "beauty contest."

After work last night, I went to St. Louis Community College at Meramec (http://www.stlcc.edu/MC/) for the first session of Portuguese Language: Beginning II. There were four others in this class--all but one had been with me in the Beginning I class that ended the week before. We are instructed by Elizabeth Bittencourt, provided to the college by the Viva Brasil Association of St. Louis (http://www.e.vivabrasilstl.org/home). I enjoyed the first session, despite noise from the air conditioner making it hard to be heard at times in the classroom, and will be back for the remaining seven sessions.

On my off day from work today, I went to Kaldi's Coffee (http://kaldiscoffee.com/) in Kirkwood, where I met Norm Podorski, a networking contact. We chatted for nearly 45 minutes before he had to leave, and got caught up on things. I then had my semi-annual check up at my dentist. It went well--no cavities. After lunch at Qdoba (https://www.qdoba.com/), I bought some cookies and brought them to the Enterprise branch in Kirkwood, in thanks for my helping them out last week when they were short staffed. The manager there, Kelley, greatly appreciated the gesture.

Later.

Two Nights of Soccer Activities

After a busy Friday at work, it was time to relax a bit on the weekend. Late Saturday afternoon (15 October), I met with my friend and fellow referee Austin Gomez at his house, then we and another colleague, Kevin Winkelman, met with two others--Zorinko Milicevic and his son, Ivan--before we headed to America's Center (http://explorestlouis.com/meetings-conventions/americas-center/) in downtown St. Louis. There, we attended the 46th Annual Induction Dinner of the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame (http://www.stlsoccerhalloffame.com/). After a happy hour, we entered the dining hall for dinner, followed by the program, which was hosted with his usual aplomb by Bill McDermott. Four future soccer stars (two boys and two girls) were recognized, and ten people were inducted. These inductees included my Saint Louis University (SLU) classmate, Steve Maurer; my former refereeing colleague, Nancy Lay-McCormick; and Karen Lombardo-Baker, wife of my friend from SLU Pat Baker.

Several other awards were presented, including one to the 1966 Quincy College men's soccer team, which went undefeated and won the NAIA National Championship, and to the New Dimensions Soccer Program, which uses soccer as an outreach program for refugee, immigrant, and underserved children in Metro St. Louis. I also saw a few people I knew there, including several fellow soccer referees (among them: Holly Hollingsworth, Randy Masterson, Sam Chan, and Tom Lutker), former Webster University men's soccer coach Marty Todt, and my SLU classmate Steve Hunsicker. Overall, it was a very wonderful night for remembering St. Louis soccer's greats and looking forward to the future.

Sunday morning, I proofread a calendar for my friend, Janette Lonsdale (http://janettelonsdale.com/), which she had prepared for her client. It went very well, with hardly anything needing correcting. That night found me at the Lou Fusz Soccer Complex in Maryland Heights. I ran line on two St. Louis Youth Soccer Association (SLYSA) (http://www.slysa.org/) matches. They went well, although my legs were a bit sore afterward.

Back at work Monday morning, it was a busy time at the rental branch. We all worked hard to keep things moving forward and getting our customers completely satisfied. It was unseasonably warm early in the week, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) on Monday, but things cooled down to more fall-like temperatures by mid-week. It was rainy yesterday afternoon (19 October), with temperatures getting down to about 45 degrees F (7 degrees C) that night.

After flexing out of work Tuesday afternoon, I took care of personal business at home, then went to Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) for this month's IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) meeting. I supplied photos our Invitational last month, which were projected on a screen during the meeting. We also had a good turnout for the Model of the Month "beauty contest."

After work last night, I went to St. Louis Community College at Meramec (http://www.stlcc.edu/MC/) for the first session of Portuguese Language: Beginning II. There were four others in this class--all but one had been with me in the Beginning I class that ended the week before. We are instructed by Elizabeth Bittencourt, provided to the college by the Viva Brasil Association of St. Louis (http://www.e.vivabrasilstl.org/home). I enjoyed the first session, despite noise from the air conditioner making it hard to be heard at times in the classroom, and will be back for the remaining seven sessions.

On my off day from work today, I went to Kaldi's Coffee (http://kaldiscoffee.com/) in Kirkwood, where I met Norm Podorski, a networking contact. We chatted for nearly 45 minutes before he had to leave, and got caught up on things. I then had my semi-annual check up at my dentist. It went well--no cavities. After lunch at Qdoba (https://www.qdoba.com/), I bought some cookies and brought them to the Enterprise branch in Kirkwood, in thanks for my helping them out last week when they were short staffed. The manager there, Kelley, greatly appreciated the gesture.

Later.