Pool Time; Travel Preparations

Off work last Wednesday (31 July), I headed to the pool at Kennedy Recreation Complex (https://stlouisco.com/Parks-and-Recreation/Recreation-Complexes/Kennedy-Recreation-Complex) in south St. Louis County. For the first time in two years, I swam in the pool. This pool is closing for the season this coming weekend, so I wanted to take a dip while I had the chance.

After paying my fee, I entered the men's locker room to change down to my swim trunks, which I wore under my cargo shorts. After locking up my things, I walked out to the pool and entered the water near the deep end. There were a few other swimmers there, so I didn't feel crowded in the pool. Lifeguards were on duty to watch over us.

I was there for about 1.75 hours, mostly swimming. However, I did get out of the water two times to relax for a few minutes in one of the lounge chairs near the pool. It wasn't too warm and was mostly sunny, and the cool water felt good.

Last weekend included getting some items for my vacation trip to Chattanooga this week for the IPMS/USA National Convention (http://www.ipmsnationals.com/), which runs tomorrow through Saturday. These items included a larger memory card for my camera, a camera battery charger, and a power strip with surge protection. These were purchased at Best Buy (https://www.bestbuy.com/?ref=212&loc=BM01&msclkid=155ac6441eb910be92869b0d960d2922&ds_rl=1266837&gclid=CKSghtS07uMCFSmkZQoda7wIVw&gclsrc=ds) in Mehlville. I plan to shoot many photos on this trip of the convention, including those for the IPMS/Gateway Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/IPMSGateway/?eid=ARCK7Pjm-t6TUI9FNkulyzJmD_-xbIwv98G5Eyu1SKbHC1U59sSKeF1GNCbwumKFeVQXICF6M9eXN9bR) and the club's newsletter, The Arch Scaler News. Looking forward to the trip. I'll post on that event after I get back to St. Louis.

Before I hit the road, I'll be at World Wide Technology Soccer Park (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/stadium) for the rescheduled match tonight between Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) and Memphis 901 FC. This match was originally scheduled for 1 June; however, lightning in the vicinity just before kick off and subsequent stormy weather postponed the match until now. Weather should be much better tonight.

Later.

Pool Time, Busy Work Week, and Family in Town

One week ago Thursday (3 August), on my second off day from work that week (I was also off the day before), I went off to Kennedy Recreation Complex (http://stlouisco.com/ParksandRecreation/RecreationComplexes/KennedyRecreationComplex) in south St. Louis County to do some swimming. I haven't done any swimming in the past couple of years, so I was really looking forward to it. I hit the pool, and had no problems--even in the deep end of the pool, which was 13 feet (4 m) deep. I enjoyed my swim there, helped by sunny weather. If only I put on some sunscreen. I sure paid for that in the coming days!

It was back to work the next morning, after an early morning area-wide meeting to review procedures. The rest of the work day went well.

Saturday night (5 August) found me at Smugala's Pizza Pub (http://smugalas.com/smugalassunsethills) in Sunset Hills, where I caught the Pub2Park shuttle bus to Toyota Stadium at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park for that night's match between Saint Louis FC (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) and Swope Park Rangers. I arrived at the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) tailgate to take in the scene, then marched in with them to the stadium for the match. It was fun as usual to sing along with the St. Louligans, but the match ended in a 0-0 draw.

After a calm Sunday at home, it was bright and early at work on Monday (7 August). Due to personnel changes from the previous week--assistant manager Cayla was off to Enterprise Car Sales (https://www.enterprisecarsales.com/) and intern Mike left to return to college--I worked all five days a week, 10 hours a day. Yes, it was a lot of work, but at least it wasn't too hot. Things worked out well, even if we were shorthanded. That should change next week, with a new assistant manager on board.

Thursday (10 August), my brother Rick and his daughter (and my goddaughter) Kate came in town for a few days with Mom and I. It was my first time seeing Kate in person and it was very good. This morning--after I got my hair cut at Great Clips (https://www.greatclips.com/)--we all went to the Saint Louis Zoo (https://www.stlzoo.org/). It was my first time there in a few years and we had a fine time there. We then came home and had dinner.

Later