2020 Small Business Saturday; Christmas Tree is Trimmed

 

Yesterday (28 November), after a nice Thanksgiving holiday two days before, I mostly hung out at home. That afternoon, I received in my mail a large envelope from my IPMS/Gateway (IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)) colleague Rick Keasey It had some club flyers Keasey designed and printed off for me. (He finalized the flyer design after the IPMS/Gateway business meeting this past Tuesday night.) 

I took these flyers, along with some flyers advertising the 2021 IPMS/USA National Convention (2021 IPMS USA NATIONAL CONVENTION (natslv2021.com)) in Las Vegas, to four St. Louis area hobby shops. In order of my visit, these shops are: Checkered Flag Hobby Country (Checkered Flag Hobby Country) in Mehlville; Schaefer's Hobby Shop (Schaefer's Hobby Shop - Arts, Crafts, Beads, & R/C | Schaefers (schaeferhobby.com)) in Sappington; North Central Hobbies (North Central Hobby (nchobby.net)) in Overland; and, Mark Twain Hobby Center (Mark Twain Hobby Center (hobby1.com)) in St. Charles.

 

At each stop, I also made a small purchase--usually of model paint or a paint brush--to support these shops on Small Business Saturday. Also, making these purchases makes it easier to get the stores' cooperation in displaying our flyers for their customers to look at and hopefully pick up. I and IPMS/Gateway's e-board felt it was important that we get these flyers out to the shops with the start of the Holiday shopping season. Of course, it will be seen how much foot traffic is in these shops with the pandemic restrictions in place for the time being.

IPMS/Gateway's meeting scheduled for 17 November was cancelled, when Affton Elks Lodge 2635 (Elks.org :: Lodge #2635 Home) closed the hall to us due to these restrictions. Hopefully, the restrictions will be eased in time for our scheduled meeting on 15 December.

Today, after lunch, I helped my mother to decorate the Christmas tree in our living room. (The tree was put up on Thanksgiving.) We installed a strand of lights around the tree, then hung up ornaments from our collection. Mom and I also put up  a Nativity scene and some other Christmas decorations in our house.

 

Back to work tomorrow morning.

Later.

 

Two Items Bought from Mark Twain Hobby

Yesterday afternoon (27 June), I drove to Mark Twain Hobby Center (https://www.hobby1.com/) in St. Charles. I went to pick up an item I ordered on their website that morning, a Super Casting Kit from Alumilite (https://www.alumilite.com/). It has materials for making rubber molds and resin castings. This would enable me to make duplicates of model parts for my projects. I have one in mind in the coming weeks for a model kit I'm working on now, and another kit I want to work on in the future. I just have to learn how this all works and put it in practice.

Before picking up that kit, I browsed among the scale modeling items on the shelves--model kits, tools, finishing supplies, and publications.

I was about to check out with that casting kit when I noticed a book on a shelf near the check out counter. It was "Up There with the Biggest: The Story of Ozark Airlines." My friend Alan B. Hoffman, who I know from the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (https://moavhist.org/), wrote the book and he self-published it last year through The Book Patch (https://www.thebookpatch.com/). "Up There with the Biggest" tells the story of Ozark Airlines, a Local Service Airline based in St. Louis that operated from 1950 until 1986, when it was merged into Trans World Airlines (TWA). This book has stories about the airline, its leadership and personnel, aircraft it flew, services provided, and generally tells the highs and lows of Ozark. I added this to my purchases, and I hope that Hoffman can sign my copy sometime.

After checking out at Mark Twain, I headed home, stopping on the way at QuipTrip (https://www.quiktrip.com/) to add fuel to my car.

Later.

Tablet Training and Soccer Refereeing

One week ago tonight (26 September) found me at the Centene Center for Arts (https://keeparthappening.org/centene-center-arts) in midtown St. Louis. I went to a volunteer training session from Cinema St. Louis (https://www.cinemastlouis.org/) in advance of the St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) in early November. Along with a handful of others, I learned how to use tablet computers to ring up sales of film tickets, SLIFF merchandise, and Cinema St. Louis memberships. I had never used an Apple iPad before, but it was very simple to understand, and I feel I can get this done well when I volunteer at SLIFF. Volunteer assignment requests will be accepted from mid-October.

Work went well late last week. I chilled out at home on Saturday (29 September), and was back refereeing soccer the next morning at Sportport International (http://www.sportportintl.com/) in Maryland Heights. It was a set of three St. Louis Youth Soccer Association (SLYSA) (https://www.slysa.org/) under-13 matches. Our crew worked a girls contest, then two boys games. I had the middle on the last match of the set, a rather close affair.

After the matches, I grabbed lunch at a Subway (https://www.subway.com/en-US) restaurant, then drove to Mark Twain Hobby Center (https://www.hobby1.com/) in St. Charles. There, I found and bought some paints for the model I am working on next. I also browsed around the shop. There is always plenty to browse through at hobby shops.

Back to work Monday (1 October) and our new vehicle prep, Brandon, was with us on his first full day. (He worked the previous Saturday morning.) I think he will do well for us, and his presence is most welcome.

Off today, I delivered some treats to colleagues at corporate headquarters in Clayton and the rental branches in Ladue and South County. They were most welcome by the recipients, who I briefly chatted with before going on. I also took care of my laundry, and went to dinner with mom at Culver's (https://www.culvers.com/) in South County.

Later.

More Soccer and Work

Late Sunday morning (4 March), I was back at World Wide Technology Soccer Park (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/soccerpark) for Saint Louis FC's (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) second pre-season match of the weekend against FC Denver. I joined the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) in a tailgate before we marched into Toyota Stadium for the match. Just like the previous day's match, Saint Louis FC had much more class than their opponents, running out 5-0 winners this day. FC Denver's goalkeeper did his best to keep his side in the match with his saves, but it was too much for him and his teammates in the end.

Before the match, I chipped into the St. Louligans' raffle for an FC Denver warm-up jersey. I didn't win, but the visitors sure did: St. Louligans' tailgate raffles and donations yielded $1000 for FC Denver's Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (https://www.ussoccer.com/lamar-hunt-us-open-cup) campaign this season.

Back to work Monday morning at the branch, and it was a busy one as usual. We all pitched in and got the job done well.

Right after work, I drove to Hollywood Casino (http://www.hollywoodcasinostlouis.com/) in Maryland Heights for Saint Louis FC's Meet the Team event at 99 Hops House. I joined with other season ticket holders and with corporate sponsors to meet the 2018 squad. They payers and coaches were introduced to the crowd, the 2018 uniforms were modeled by some players, and the crowd was addressed by a few players, head coach Anthony Pulis, and assistant coach Tim Leonard. There was complimentary beer and food for the crowd, and the new home jersey was available for sale. I had to guy one, and did. It's a hunter green color, darker than the kelly green shirt used in the previous two seasons. I do like it a lot and will be proud to wear it to matches.

By the way, Saint Louis FC plays its final pre-season match this Saturday in Evansville, Indiana against defending USL (https://www.uslsoccer.com/) Cup Champion Louisville City FC. Oh, Louisville, we hate you!

After another full day of work on Tuesday (6 March), I drove to Mark Twain Hobby Center (https://www.hobby1.com) in St. Charles for this month's Mark Twain Model Club (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1908352139489409/) meeting. I plugged IPMS/Gateway's (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) contest in September, and then took in a very nice demo on car model finishing. I won an aircraft kit in the raffle held after the demo.

Yesterday at work alternated between busy and quiet, ending in an extended session getting some dropped vehicles to bring back to the branch and cleaning them up so they would be ready for the next morning. Earlier that day, I picked up a customer in Wildwood and we struck up quite a conversation on the drive to the branch. This woman had been an editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and was now doing some other work. I mentioned my background and she was very interested in my story. Just after arriving at the branch, I gave this woman my networking card, in case she ran into anyone who could help in my job search. I added to the card the site for this blog; she mentioned that she wanted to check it out.

On my off day today, I did my laundry and got my contest entries ready for this Saturday's KC CON (http://www.ipmsgreatplains.org/KCCon2018.aspx) show in Kansas City. I will enter four of my models in this contest, and I typed out the registration forms from the show's website, to save time when I get to the show. I also had some IPMS/Gateway show flyers run off to take with me to KC CON. I also got the car washed and bought a couple of items for my model workbench.

Later.

Besides Work, Going to Press

It was work last Saturday morning (6 January) at the rental branch, despite the sub-freezing weather. Marvin and I got the vehicles cleaned on the inside, but held off on washing the outsides due to the cold temperatures. The morning went very well for us.

Back home that afternoon, it was time to relax and start work on this month's issue of The Arch Scaler News, newsletter of IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/). I did some work over the weekend, selecting and editing photos and composing copy. Then, it was time to relax at home.

The week at work has gone well. There was plenty to keep me moving around, getting vehicles cleaned as well as picking up and dropping off customers. After the usual hectic Monday (8 January), things settled down by mid-week.

I flexed out yesterday afternoon, then went to Mark Twain Hobby Center (http://www.hobby1.com/) in St. Charles. After browsing for a few minutes among the shelves, I bought two model kits--a Vostok carrier rocket, and a 1957 Chevrolet convertible--to build for next month's IPMS/Gateway Out of the Box Contest. Actually, before checking out, I had to head to a convenience store and get cash from the ATM, as Mark Twain's credit card processing system was down. It was making purchases the old fashioned way.

At home that night, I finished work on The Arch Scaler News, and set it aside to proofread it this morning. After making final changes today, I printed off the newsletter and ran off a few copies at Office Max (https://www.officedepot.com/) for those few members who can't get email. I then addressed and stamped those newsletters before putting them in the mail. The rest of the members (including myself) were sent The Arch Scaler News via email late this afternoon.

Also this afternoon, I had a pleasant telephone conversation with my friend Linsey Daman (http://cacstlouis.com/index.html). We chatted and got caught up on things.

Glad to be home right now. It was strangely warm, hitting 60 degrees F (15.6 degrees C) early this afternoon, but it going down to about 26 degrees F (-3.3 degrees C) overnight. Looks like subfreezing temperatures for the next week. We are still in the midst of winter here.

The Missouri Aviation Historical Society (https://moavhist.org/) was to have met tonight, but the weather threat has caused it to be postponed until next Thursday night (18 January). This month's meeting is the annual State of Aviation program, with area aviation organizations discussing their plans for 2018.

Later.

Plenty of Work and Some Soccer as October Begins

I was at the rental branch Saturday morning (30 September) for work. We had a fine morning of business, and I stayed to help clean up the rest of the branch's vehicles to get them ready for Monday morning. After that, it was lunch, then chilling out at home.

I was at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park the next afternoon to referee some youth soccer matches. I had four scheduled, according to my assignment, but there was no match for the first slot of my assignment. Thus, my crewmates and I waited around until the next match time. The three matches I worked--two as referee, one as assistant referee--went well.

Back at work Monday morning, it was quite a busy week for us. Things did go well, overall. I did flex out Tuesday afternoon, as I am working this Saturday morning. After flexing out, I came home to relax.

Tuesday night found me at Mark Twain Hobby Center (http://www.hobby1.com/) for this month's Mark Twain Model Club meeting. We had a show and tell--I told of the JH-7A model I was working on and asked for decal advice--and there was a demo on opening car doors and trunks, including how to make hinges for these items. It was quite interesting.

Yesterday was a full day of work, but things went very well for us. After coming home, I opened a package of souvenirs I had ordered the previous weekend from the Experimental Aircraft Association (https://www.eaa.org/eaa). These were related to the Ford Tri-Motor flight I had undertaken in Mt. Vernon, Illinois a week ago. I ordered a t-shirt, pin, postcard, and a fact sheet. Very nice items.

Off work today, I bought some doughnuts at Krispy Kreme (http://krispykreme.com/) in Mehlville and drove to the Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html) branch in Festus. There, I gave the doughnuts to Meggie, the branch manager, which she really appreciated. We chatted briefly and I also gave her a card to wish her and her husband-to-be all the best when they get married in a month from now.

Going to a happy hour with colleagues tonight. More on that in my next post.

Later.

Back to Work After Labor Day 2017

Back at work Tuesday morning (5 September), it was a rather busy morning, coming off the holiday weekend. Still, we at the rental branch got our business taken care of in good order.

After work, I headed to Mark Twain Hobby Center (http://www.hobby1.com/) for this month's Mark Twain Model Club meeting. I helped plug this Saturday's IPMS/Gateway Invitational (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/invite2017.html) model contest and swap meet at the Holiday Inn St. Louis Southwest--Route 66. We also had a demo on science-fiction scratch building that was quite interesting, and they raffled off some kits and publications. I won a four year old aircraft modeling magazine.

Mom is still out in Los Angeles with Doug and his family. I saw a few pictures they took and they all seem well, especially Doug's twin boys, Luca and Matteo.

I put in another full day of work yesterday, and things went well that day as well. (I did find out that the candidate who interviewed for a vehicle service job with us decided to work elsewhere.)

Off work today, I did my laundry, mowed and watered the lawns, jogged for a half hour, and tried (with little success) to transfer some photos from my phone to my laptop. I wanted to make some space on my phone for the photos I will inevitably take at Saturday's show. I also printed off admission charge signs and attendance survey forms for Saturday.

Later.

Ethnic Festivals and Back into Soccer

After work on the end of the last full week of August, I was at Tower Grove Park in St. Louis for the International Institute's Festival of Nations (http://www.festivalofnationsstl.org/) on that Sunday (27 August). I spent some time walking around the grounds, checking out the various food, shopping, and information booths. I then spent two hours helping at the Viva Brasil STL (http://www.e.vivabrasilstl.org/) booth, where I helped spread the word about Brazil and our organization. I then helped tear down the booth. After that, I worked at one of the Festival's drinks booths for the final shift of the day. Then, I assisted in tearing that booth down. It was a very nice day and a real good turnout of people for the Festival.

Back at work the next day, it was a busy morning as usual, and quite busy the rest of that Monday. The work was fine that week. Hopefully, I will get help in vehicle service soon at the branch.

I flexed out Tuesday afternoon (29 September), and got the oil changed on my Corolla at Jiffy Lube (https://www.jiffylube.com/) in Mehlville. They also changed the automatic transmission fluid (well overdue) and rotated the tires. All this should help my car run better in the coming months.

That night, I hosted the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting at home. We discussed the final preparations for our contest this Saturday in Sunset Hills. Overall, things are in very good shape for the show. We also discussed some other club business, including my taking over as editor of the club's newsletter in the near future.

Off work Thursday (31 August), I took Mom to the airport, where she caught a flight to Los Angeles. She's spending a few days visiting my brother Doug, his wife Helen, and their sons Luca and Matteo.

I worked Saturday morning (2 September) and it went very nicely. Then, I began to enjoy my holiday weekend. I relaxed at home the rest of the day and night.

Yesterday morning, I was at World Wide Technology Soccer Park (http://www.saintlouisfc.com/soccerpark) in Fenton to referee matches in the SLSG Gallagher Friendlies (http://slsgsoccer.com/tournaments/gallagher-friendlies). I worked three matches, including the middle on a under 13 girls contest. The referee coordinator there gave me a new referee shirt, which I changed into after the first match, which is of the new style and pattern. It feels cooler than the previous one. My legs were tired--these were my first matches since last spring--but am looking forward to more games this fall.

After the matches, I drove up to Mark Twain Hobby Center (http://www.hobby1.com/) in St. Charles to drop off some flyers for this Saturday's IPMS/Gateway show. They had a few already at the front of the store, but the manager was happy to have some more flyers promoting the show.

Today, I was at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (http://www.sngoc.org/) in St. Louis' Central West End for the final day of its 100th annual Greek Festival (http://www.opastl.com/). I stayed briefly, enough for a lunch (gyro and spanakopita) and watching a bit of Greek dance in the auditorium. Still, it was a nice little time.

Back to work tomorrow. Should be busy. The rest of this week will be too.

Later.

Going Downtown at the IPMS National Convention

The first two days of last week (24-25 July) were busy ones at the rental branch. Things were challenging at times, but not enough to trouble us and we made sure our customers were well taken care of. At the end of business that Tuesday, I picked up a Nissan Sentra that I would drive on my vacation, which started the next morning.

Early Wednesday (26 July), I headed for Omaha, Nebraska, site of this year's International Plastic Modelers' Society/USA (IPMS/USA) National Convention (http://ipmsusa2017.com/). It's slogan was "Going Downtown," harking back to the US air attacks on North Vietnam's capital of Hanoi during the Vietnam War. After arriving in Omaha, I checked in at the convention venue, La Vista Conference Center (http://embassysuites3.hilton.com/en/hotels/nebraska/embassy-suites-by-hilton-omaha-la-vista-hotel-and-conference-center-OMAESES/index.html). I then registered my contest models and placed them in the contest room, and started checking out the vendors at the show. A few people I knew were there and briefly I chatted with them.

Late that afternoon, I checked into the Travel Inn Omaha hotel, which I found on hotels.com (https://www.hotels.com/). It was a rather sparse room, but it was enough for me, since I would hardly spend much time in it. I got dinner at the nearby Hog Wild Pit Bar-B-Q restaurant (http://www.hogwildpitbbq.com/), then turned in for the night.

There was much to see and do at the convention, including a raffle of model kits. I bought a few tickets on the first day, and they paid off on day two when I won a very nice ship model kit. (I also had won an aircraft kit from one of the vendors, but I missed that and could not claim that prize. Win some, lose some.) I also took in a seminar on using computer programs to catalog your model kit and reference stash. Quite informative.

Thursday night, I joined with other attendees to go by bus to the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum (http://sacmuseum.org/) in Ashland. We enjoyed a buffet dinner before checking out the aircraft and other artifacts on display. It was very nice to go through there and see the aircraft up close.

Friday (28 July), I took in a seminar on the F-105 Thunderchief, then saw my old friend from the Scouts, Tom Tokos, an Omaha resident. I showed him around the contest and vendor rooms and he was impressed. Tom told me he did some car models when he was young. We then had lunch and had time to get caught up on our lives before Tom had to leave. It was great seeing him.

There was to have been a tour of the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base that day, but that was cancelled when the convention began. I understood it was due to the aircraft that was to be displayed not being able to be at Offutt that day.

That night, I joined with 219 others to judge the model contest. After a briefing by the head judge, I joined with other aircraft judges to get our team and category assignments. I joined with three others--a team head, another experienced judge, and an On the Job Trainee (OJT) rookie--and we set about doing one of the propeller aircraft categories, which had 16 aircraft. It took us about 90 minutes to evaluate the entrees and to determine the three places for awards. I then helped with one of the special awards, for US Navy Vietnam War subjects. I was in the contest room for about 4.5 hours, leaving there about 10:30 pm for my hotel room. There were 2160 contest entries in 199 categories at the contest.

Saturday morning, I did some last viewing of the contest room models and shopping from the vendors. I also took in one more seminar, on little known colors used on US Army and Navy aircraft between the World Wars, which I found most informative. I retired to my hotel room for some rest. Early that night, I returned to the conference center where the banquet was being held. I and others went to an adjoining room to listen to the awards presentation that followed the meal, which included a slide show of the award winning models in each category. A few people I know from the St. Louis area placed in the contest, so I was very happy for them. None of my models placed, but I wasn't too concerned.

Soon after that, I went into the contest room to get my models out of there and to talk to a few people I knew or wanted to know. It was quite a show. An online gallery has been posted for the convention: http://www.ipmsusa3.org/gallery/v/events/2017Nationals/.

I retired for the night at my hotel, then checked out early the next morning and began the drive back to St. Louis. I arrived home in mid-afternoon, and unpacked at home. The next morning (31 July), I returned the Sentra to the Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html) and put in my full day of work.

After work yesterday, I went to Mark Twain Hobby Center (http://www.hobby1.com/) in St. Charles for the Mark Twain Model Club meeting, which had a recap of the IPMS Nationals and the World Expo figure show earlier in July in Chicago.

I was off work today and will be tomorrow. My manager asked me to take the extra day off this week so I could work all week (Monday through Friday) next week. We have some personnel changes, with assistant manager Cayla leaving after this Friday to go over to Enterprise Car Sales (https://www.enterprisecarsales.com/) in St. Charles.

Later.