Trivia Night, Museum Tour, and Soccer Refereeing: My Weekend

After a busy Friday at work (25 April), I drove to the Crestwood Community Center for the Eliot Chapel Trivia Night. Julie had reserved a table at this fund raiser for her church. Julie's roommate Joan and some others joined us at our table, one of 22 tables of trivia players.

The night's theme was "It's a Jungle Out There," and Julie had plastic sun helmets for our party to wear that night. The night's questions had animal themes. We did fair, finishing in the middle of the pack among the tables. I did have good luck in the raffle, winning a book lover's basket of books, snacks, a mug, and a candle. Overall, a fun night with friends.

Yesterday morning (26 April), I made my way to downtown St. Louis, going around the course for the St. Louis Marathon, to get to Soldiers Memorial Military Museum. There, I joined with several other Missouri Professional Communicators members to get a guided tour of the Museum's current display: "Ghost Soldiers: The Combat Con Artists of WWII." This exhibit, on loan from the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, has been at Soldiers Memorial since last January and will run there until this Memorial Day (26 May). 

I had toured "Ghost Soldiers" last January and found it most interesting to see the efforts of a group of US soldiers in Europe who used inflated vehicles, fake radio traffic, sound effects, and phony generals to confuse the Germans and help the Allies in World War II. (I took these photos during my January visit.)

After the museum tour, I got lunch at QuikTrip, gas for the car at Circle K, and groceries at Walmart.

Early this morning, I drove to the Lou Fusz Athletic Training Center in Earth City, Missouri to referee three matches in the Midwest Invitational Tournament. (This facility was formerly Rams Park, where the National Football League's St. Louis Rams had their practice facility and office before the team returned to Los Angeles.) After checking in at the referee table in the lobby, I made my way to the field where I worked three seven-a-side matches involving boys' teams in the under 8/9 and under 10 age groups. Each match had 25-minute halves, with about 10 minutes between matches, and I was working them alone. Fortunately, the matches went well and there were no serious issues with them.

After my games, I went to a MotoMart convenience store to add air to one of my car's tires, then had lunch at the attached McDonald's. Today, it was the Quarter Pounder with Cheese combo. A satisfying end to my morning.

Relaxing at home after lunch, I was watching the Blues on TV in Gane 4 of their Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Winnipeg Jets. The Blues won 5-1 to even the best of seven series at two games each. (Yes!)

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Eliot Unitarian Chapel: Home

Crestwood Community Center: Community Center | Crestwood, MO

Soldiers Memorial Military Museum: Soldiers Memorial Military Museum | Find Yourself Here.

Missouri Professional Communicators: Missouri NFPW affiliate | Missouri Professional Communicators | Clayton

Lou Fusz Athletic Training Center: LFA Training Center - Lou Fusz Athletic

MotoMart: Home - MotoMart

McDonald's: McDonald's: Burgers, Fries & More. Quality Ingredients.

Road Trip to Springfield for 2024 MOSS CON

It was an early wake up call for me yesterday (18 May). Up at 3:00 am, I got ready to welcome my IPMS/Gateway mate Don Will, who came to the house just before 4:00 am. Together, we got into my car to travel to Marion Morris' house in Maplewood. The three of us got into Morris' minivan to begin our trip to Springfield, Missouri. 

Along the way, we picked up clubmate Randy Kleeschulte. We stopped at a McDonald's in Rolla to get breakfast before resuming our trip. The four of us arrived in Springfield just after 8:00 am and arrived at The Arc of the Ozarks, site of MOSS CON. This is the annual contest and swap meet hosted by IPMS/Missouri Ozarks Scale Specialists.

After checking in at registration, I placed my two contest entries--a Bren Gun Carrier and a 6pdr Anti-Tank Gun--on the appropriate tables and began to make the rounds of the show. I brought some flyers promoting our Invitational this September. Morris brought a lot of model kits to sell at his vendor table, while Will and Kleeschulte entered contest models as well. Three other Gateway members arrived separately for the show.

It was great to admire the contest models, browse among the vendors, and chat with fellow scale modelers at the show.  I purchased six raffle tickets and won three items: two kits and a framed painting. A good rate of return on investment.

At midday, I joined with several other attendees to help judge the contest. Free pizza was served during the judges meeting, which was most welcome. I worked with two others to judge Ships, Junior (Ages 12-17), and Miscellaneous (Real Space, Sci-Fi, Gundam/Anime Mecha, All Others, and Out of the Box). There were some tough choices in a few categories, but we were able to reach a consensus on our choices for the three places.

This was all done in plenty of time before the awards were announced at 3:00 pm. IPMS/MOSS President Nate Jones thanked the attendees for coming before announcing the results. He said that over 200 items were raffled off, and that 62 modelers entered 321 contest models--the latter a record for MOSS CON. My two entries did not place, but four of my clubmates--Will, Kleeschulte, Matt Hoeckelman, and Dave Roeder--picked up awards. 

After the announcements, I packed up my models and other items. Morris sold many of the kits he brought to the show, which insured plenty of room in his minivan for the Don, Randy, and I were bringing back. In my case, I had acquired six kits from vendors. The four of us left Springfield around 4:00 pm.

We stopped for dinner at a Freddy's Steakburgers in Saint Robert on the way home. After dropping Randy off, the three of us returned to Marion's house. Don and I got out things out of the minivan and got into my car to drive home, where Don took his leave. It was just after 8:00 pm when I came home.

This was a rather long day, but always satisfying after a great scale modeling road trip.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

IPMS Gateway Chapter: IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)

IPMS Missouri Ozarks Scale Specialists: IPMS M.O.S.S. Missouri Ozarks Scale Specialists (ipmsmoss.com)

The Arc of the Ozarks: The Arc of the Ozarks: Serving People with Disabilities in Missouri

McDonald's: McDonald's: Burgers, Fries & More. Quality Ingredients. (mcdonalds.com)

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers:  Home | Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers (freddys.com)

Road Trip to Kansas City for 2024 KC CON

Early yesterday morning (9 March), my IPMS/Gateway colleague Don Will arrived at my house. He got in my car, and we drove to Marion Morris' house in Maplewood. The three of us, plus Dave Thomas, got into Morris' minivan and we drove to St. Peters to pick up Jim Triola and Tom Aldred before we headed west to Kansas City, Missouri. We were bound for KC CON, a scale modeling contest hosted by IPMS/Great Plains.

Our westbound trip included a stop at McDonald's in Boonville to get breakfast to go. We arrived in mid-morning at First Church of the Nazarene, the show venue. I brought along two entries in the model contest; Will, Thomas, and Triola also entered models. My entries were in Armor: a Bren Gun Carrier and a 6 pounder Anti-Tank Gun, both in 1:72 scale. These models were built for last month's IPMS/Gateway Modeler of the Year Contest.

After placing my contest entries, I began to walk among the contest tables to see what was also entered to that point. I also bought some raffle tickets and browsed among the vendors. Among the latter was another IPMS/Gateway mate, Gary Chambers. Additionally, I said hello and chatted briefly with fellow scale modelers I know. Seeing fellow scale modelers and admiring their work is one of the great attractions to these shows for me.

I got lucky in the raffle, winning two kits (one of which had photo etched metal detail parts included). Shopping among the vendors yielded another kit from one vendor and some finishing supplies from another.

Late in the morning, I attended the contest judges meeting, where pizza was served for lunch. They had plenty of judges, which is always good. I joined four others in helping judge aircraft entries, with Bill Pettyjohn and I forming one of two teams to help judge the categories more efficiently. The teams judged all the aircraft entries in good time. I was then asked to help judge entries in mecha (science fiction giant walking machines or robots). Although I have had a little experience with these models, it's not something I have built yet. Fortunately, my two fellow judges were more familiar with mecha, and we got these entries judged.

I took some more photos of contest entries for the IPMS/Gateway Facebook page and chatted with IPMS/USA Second Vice President Scott Hackney for a while before the contest results were announced. Both my entries took Third Place in their respective categories: The Bren Gun Carrier in 1:72 Allied tracked vehicles to 1945, the 6pdr Anti-Tank Gun in 1:72 Ordnance. Neither was a terrific model, but it was entered in categories with little competition.

Triola took a First Place for his F-4C Phantom II, and Will's Joker and Harley Quinn placed Second in Fantasy Figures. I was happy for them.

After the show ended, I packed up my things and got into Morris' minivan. Our party then began the journey home, stopping for dinner at a Culver's in Columbia. After we got back to Morris' house, Will and I entered my car and I drove home, where I let Will out to get back into his truck to return home. It was definitely a good day.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

IPMS/Gateway: IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)

IPMS/Great Plains: IPMS Great Plains

McDonald's: McDonald's: Burgers, Fries & More. Quality Ingredients. (mcdonalds.com)

First Church of the Nazarene: KC First Church of the Nazarene | Welcome (kcfc.org)

IPMS/USA: IPMS/USA | IPMS/USA Home Page (ipmsusa.org)

Culver's: Culver's Restaurant | Frozen Custard, Butterburgers & Cheese Curds (culvers.com)