Saint Louis FC Defeats Sporting KC II and Weather

 Last night (15 August), I was at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton for the USL Championship ( https://www.uslchampionship.com/) match between Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) and Sporting Kansas City II (https://www.sportingkc.com/sportingkcii).

Before the match, I joined the St. Louligans (https://stlouligans.com/) in their tailgate in the parking lot. I made a donation to the St. Louligans' Charity du Jour, Pride STL ( https://www.pridestl.org/). There was a bit of talk about the name and crest reveal two days before of St. Louis City SC (https://stlcitysc.com/), the Major League Soccer (https://www.mlssoccer.com/) team that will start play in 2023.

After the raffle drawing, the St. Louligans walked into West Community Stadium for the match. We were just settling into our seats when word came to evacuate the stadium, due to lightning in the vicinity. We had to go back to our cars to wait out the weather delay. The all-clear did come and the match kicked off about 50 minutes later than the scheduled 7:00 pm start time.

Russell Cicerone put the home side ahead five minutes in; however, Sporting KC II leveled it 35 minutes later. It began to rain as the first half came to an end, and the rain soon came down harder. A report of lightning in the vicinity meant another weather delay. We walked back to our cars to wait this out. It would be about one hour before the second half kicked off.

Mour Samb put Saint Louis FC back ahead in the 69th minute, after several earlier efforts came up short. Joaquin Rivas put the dagger in the 90th minute and Saint Louis FC came out 3-1 winners.

After the match, the Saint Louis FC players came over to the corner where the St. Louligans were located and they sang with us as they do after a win.

Saint Louis FC is on the road this coming weekend, then hosts Louisville City FC next Saturday, 29 August.

Later.

Twice with Saint Louis FC This Past Week

Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) had two home United Soccer League Championship (https://www.uslchampionship.com/) matches this past week at West Community Stadium of World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

The first was this past Wednesday night (5 August), when Sporting Kansas City II (https://www.sportingkc.com/sportingkcii) came to town. The St. Louligans (https://stlouligans.com/) gathered in the parking lot before the match to socialize, then walked into the stadium for the match.

After a scoreless first half, Sporting took a 1-0 lead. Saint Louis didn't give up, and scored in second half stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw. We celebrated like it was a victory.

Three days later (8 August), I was back at WWT Soccer Park for Saint Louis FC's contest with FC Tulsa (https://www.fctulsa.com/). Prior to going, I made an online donation for the "Schlaffle" raffle the St. Louligans have at their tailgates, in association with Schlafly Beer (https://www.schlafly.com/). My ticket was drawn, and I won the night's prize package: a wooden Schlafly beer sign, two Schlafly/Saint Louis FC key fobs/bottle openers, and a Saint Louis FC pre-match shirt autographed by midfielder Russell Cicerone. I put these items in my car before walking into West Community Stadium for the match. The Schlaffle's real winners were that night's Charity du Jour, the National Alliance on Mental Illness--St. Louis (https://www.namistl.org/).

Although Saint Louis had its chances, FC Tulsa proved the better side, running out 2-0 winners. They scored well into the first half, then added another in the 90th minute.

I hope Saint Louis FC finds good form soon, with a rematch against Sporting Kansas City II at home this Saturday night.

Later.

Evading Fake Bullets and Real Rain

One week ago tonight (21 April) found me at Creve Coeur Airport (http://www.crevecoeurairport.com/) for the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (https://moavhist.org/) meeting. The late Missouri aviator Gene Talbott was remembered, with his movies taken while serving as a McDonnell Douglas engineer during the Vietnam War were screened. They were silent films, but most interesting in showing carrier operations off Vietnam and the shore bases in South Vietnam and the Philippines. We also got an update on the Spirit of St. Louis Air Show and STEM Expo (http://spirit-airshow.com/) on 14-15 May. I am looking forward to that show.

Saturday morning (23 April) found me at Jefferson Barracks County Park (http://www.stlouisco.com/ParksandRecreation/ParkPages/JeffersonBarracks) in south St. Louis County for the annual World War II Weekend (http://2ndrangers.org/wwii_weekend.php). Hundreds of reinactors played American, German, British, Canadian, Australian, and Soviet troops. I came in time for a battle where these reinactors battled--shooting blanks, of course--in demonstrating how soldiers fought in World War II. After the battle, I toured the various encampments where the reinactors talked with visitors and displayed their uniforms, equipment, and weapons. It is always a most interesting time for this history buff.

That night, I was at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park (http://saintlouisfc.com/soccerpark) for the St. Louligans Trivia Night. I joined with others to answer various trivia questions while raising money for the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) tailgate fund and the Soccer Park refurbishment. My team did very well, finishing second. After the trivia, we watched the Saint Louis FC away match at Sacramento Republic. (Saint Louis won, 1-0.) A very good night overall.

Back to work on Monday after a relaxing Sunday at home. Monday night, I was at home watching the St. Louis Blues (http://blues.nhl.com/) defeat the Chicago Blackhawks and advance in the NHL (https://www.nhl.com/) Stanley Cup Playoffs. Go Blues!

Around midday Tuesday (26 April), we got some stormy weather. Thunderstorms, a touch of hail, and winds battered our area. Fortunately, the worst passed Ellisville. After work, I drove to Rick Keasey's house in Edwardsville for the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting, where we planned next month's meeting and discussed club business. A lot of driving that day.

This morning on my day off, workers came to the house to replace the mattresses on my and my mom's beds. The old mattress was badly in need of replacement, and the new one should work out very well for years to come.

I have a busy weekend ahead, starting with volunteering Saturday afternoon at the Greater St. Louis Book Fair (http://stlouisbookfair.org/) at West County Center. I'm also volunteering at Sunday morning's Roller Coaster Race at Six Flags St. Louis (http://rollercoasterrace.com/races/st-louis-mo-10k-5k-six-flags/). More on all that in my next post.

Later

Highs and Lows This Week

A week ago tonight (26 March) found me at the International Tap House in Soulard (http://www.internationaltaphouse.com/#!locations/c5ob), where I joined with other St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) in cheering on Saint Louis FC's (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) season opening match. Saint Louis FC opened the season at Real Monarchs SLC, which we witnessed via YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/). Real Monarchs won 1-0 with a 90th minute goal. A disappointment for sure, but it was fun with the large crowd (about 180) of St. Louligans in the house. (Saint Louis FC lost its second match, 3-0, at LA Galaxy II Wednesday night; they are at Orange County Blues tonight.)

Work this past week has been good, with some busy stretches. A particularly interesting time was had yesterday (1 April), and that wasn't an April Fool's joke. I was detached with a colleague to deliver vehicles to the Kirkwood branch, which was very busy. I ended up cleaning up a vehicle there, helping keep the counter going well, and going to our Creve Coeur branch to get another vehicle for Kirkwood. I was returned to Ellisville some three hours later. It was real calm back at Ellisville while I was gone, but picked up before closing time. I worked this morning there and it was quite busy, but our customers were taken care of in good order, as usual.

After flexing out Tuesday afternoon (29 March), I stopped by HobbyTown USA in Ballwin, which is going out of business. The cashier told me the store owner was retiring. I bout a model kit and a die-cast aircraft model, both at 40 percent off list price. That night, I was at the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting, held at Marion Morris' house in Maplewood. We planned the April meetings and discussed other club business.

My off day Thursday (31 March) was full. I got my hair cut at Great Clips (http://www.greatclips.com/) at Tenholder Plaza in Mehlville. After starting my laundry, I headed to the Enterprise branch at Lambert Airport to drop off a card for my friend and colleague Kerry, who gave birth to a baby girl earlier in the week. Then, I drove to the Saint Louis Science Center (http://www.slsc.org). I went there to tour the exhibit "Above and Beyond," which looks at aerospace technology today and in the future. Very nice, with many hands-on exhibits. The exhibit runs until 8 May.

After grabbing lunch in one of the Center's cafes, I took in the Omnimax film "Living in the Age of Airplanes." It's a movie about the role of aircraft in connecting the world through tourism and business. I was very impressed with this movie. I then browsed at the Center's James S. McDonnell Planetarium, where Mercury and Gemini spacecraft were on display. I also viewed an F/A-18B Hornet fighter in Blue Angels colors and markings displayed just outside the Planetarium. Overall, a very nice day. I needed that, after feeling rather down the day before as I wondered if I really was somebody with a future. My colleagues assured me I did.

After work today, I grabbed lunch at Steak 'n Shake (http://www.steaknshake.com/), then drove to the St. Louis County Library Headquarters in Ladue (http://www.slcl.org/content/headquarters). The STL Aspies Meetup group (http://www.meetup.com/STL-Aspies/) met for the first time in about a year. About eight of us got together to tell ourselves how we're doing. It was a nice discussion and then we retired to St. Louis Bread Company (https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html) at nearby Plaza Frontenac (http://www.plazafrontenac.com/en.html) for refreshments and discussion. A good time, and we'll meet again in August.

Later.

Work at the Branch and Home

Things are going well at the car rental branch in recent days. We're going at full strength to keep our customers satisfied. It has been a challenge in the past couple of days with limited parking space for our vehicles immediately by the branch, but we're working around it.

At home on my off time from the day job, I've been editing articles for the Spring issue of Naturally Autistic magazine (http://www.naturallyautistic.com/), the semiannual publication of Naturally Autistic ANCA. There are just a couple of short columns left to be edited and this issue will go to press. There are some fascinating items in this upcoming issue. I'll hold off mentioning more until the issue comes out in a few weeks.

Also this past week, I proofread some web site copy a friend was writing for one of her clients. I'll keep it confidential, but the job went very well.

Last Sunday (6 March), I was at the International Tap House (iTAP) in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis (http://www.internationaltaphouse.com/). The occasion was the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the St. Louigans (http://stlouligans.com/), a soccer supporter group. A large group of over 160 members attended the AGM, packing iTAP. The St. Louigans discussed plans for the upcoming season of Saint Louis FC (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index), including trips to selected road matches and making tifos (huge banners) for matches. Several Saint Louis FC players, along with the club's general manager Jeremy Alumbaugh and head coach Dale Schilly, also attended. Alumbaugh, Schilly, and a couple of players spoke to our group. It was quite a great get together and I am feeling pumped for the start of the Saint Louis FC season later this month. I also came away with a St. Louigans scarf, which I had pre-ordered.

After work Wednesday night (9 March), I was at PW Pizza (http://pwpizza.com/) just southwest of downtown St. Louis for dinner. It was a dinner for the Friends from Around the World Meetup group (http://www.meetup.com/Friends-from-around-the-World/). It was a large crowd there, including many foreign interns here in St. Louis, so I had to wait a few minutes to get a seat. When I did, I did chat a bit with a few of the others there and enjoyed a Magherita pizza (tomato sauce, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella & parmesan cheeses).

Daylight Savings Time starts here tomorrow at 0200 hours local time, so I'll let my clocks ahead one hour before retiring for the night. This Tuesday is the presidential primary election. I'll cast my vote after work.

Later.

One Week Closer to Christmas

Work this past week has been very good. We are keeping things moving along with exceeding our customers' expectations. My manager presented my annual review on Friday (18 December), two days ahead of my three-year service anniversary. I am most happy to report that the report was all positive, with high marks all around. I really had nothing to add to that, but am most happy.

Tuesday night (15 December) after work, I was at the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) meeting at Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) in Mehlville. After two years as the club's secretary, I was elected vice president for the coming year. It was also a great night in two other areas. One, I had the highest score in the annual recognition contest (22 of 25 correct). This contest consisted of photos of aircraft, cars, armor, ships, and miscellaneous subjects. Four of the five photos in each category was of the subject, with the last being the sprue of parts for the subject. We had multiple choice answers to choose from on the answer sheet.

The second great takeaway from the night was in winning one of 10 kits the club was giving away. Each member had one ticket and if it was draw, one could pick from any of the kits on the table. I chose the Revell 1:32 UH-1D Huey Gunship kit.

The next night, the old and new club officers gathered at Brad and Julie Vaughn's house in House Springs for the IPMS/Gateway business meeting. (It was moved up by six days due to Christmas this coming week.) We planned the January general and business meetings, planned the 2016 Modeler of the Year contest special categories, and handed off from the old board to new.

Off work Thursday (17 December), I got my hair cut at Great Clips (http://www.greatclips.com/) in Mehlville. The stylist did the usual splendid job on my hair. Then, it was off to the Enterprise branch in O'Fallon, Illinois where my former colleague from Ellisville Tommy is the manager. I gave him his Christmas card and some cookies for the staff. I then visited the Kirkwood branch to give its new manager Kelley her Christmas card.

I also activated my new phone, which arrived the day before. It's a Samsung Galaxy 6S (http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/all-products?filter=galaxy-s) from CREDO Mobile (http://www.credomobile.com/), a quantum leap over the LG Volt I was using from Virgin Mobile. After settling matters with Virgin, I got my phone activated and transferred my contacts and apps from the old phone to the new.

I went after work Friday night to Elmo's Love Lounge (http://www.elmoslovelounge.com/) in University City for Stress Free Fridays (https://twitter.com/stressfreefri), a networking happy hour meeting at various establishments in the St. Louis area. I brought two cans of food for donation to a food drive being held there. It was very nice seeing Mark Anthony Jones and the group again; due to my work, it's hard for me to get to these events after a long day of work.

Yesterday, I completed my Christmas shopping and mailed just about all remaining Christmas cards. Glad to get all that done. Last night, I went to the International Tap House (http://www.internationaltaphouse.com/) in St. Louis' Soulard neighborhood. The St. Louigans (http://stlouligans.com/) supporters group held its annual Christmas party. I had a nice time there, that included bringing some clothing for the group to donate to Peter and Paul Community Services. While there, I ran into my colleague Cayla, who was with others for dinner at a nearby restaurant and was waiting for her table to be ready. We chatted a bit before Cayla's party was called.

After a while at the International Tap House (including two beers), I had a slice of pizza and a soda at Epic Pizza & Subs (http://www.epicpizzaandsubs.com/) next door. I had the Toasted Ravioli pizza and it was most tasty.

I attended service at Calvary Presbyterian Church today, staying around for fellowship afterward. Then, I stopped by Best Buy Mobile (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/promo/cell-phones-20151220) at South County Center (http://www.shopsouthcountycenter.com/), where I got a screen protector and a car charger for my new phone. The guy from Best Buy even applied the screen protector to my phone for no charge while I was there. Very good of him.

Later.

The Balloon Goes Up on Thanksgiving 2015

Work at the car rental branch has been going well, with the increased traffic going out for the Thanksgiving holiday. We said goodbye to Alex as he left our branch to become assistant branch at the Lambert Airport location, and we welcomed Liz back to our branch as our new manager. (She had been assistant manager in Ellisville before going to the Airport earlier this year.)

The weather last weekend did cause some concern. Enough for the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (http://moavhist.org/) to cancel a member's holiday lunch last Saturday afternoon (21 November) at Creve Coeur Airport. I did make the most of the day, though, going to lunch at Noodles & Company in Chesterfield (http://www.noodles.com/Chesterfield) and getting a coffee and dessert at The Wolf Public House in Ballwin (https://www.facebook.com/TheWolfPublicHouse).

That night found me at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park (http://saintlouisfc.com/soccerpark) in Fenton for a town hall meeting bringing together the management of Saint Louis FC (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) with members of the St. Louigans (http://stlouligans.com/), the supporter group. It was a very nice program, with the STL FC management talking about this past season and looking ahead to 2016, plus taking questions regarding the club and the game experience. I asked about the Pub2Park shuttle bus service, and was told there were no changes anticipated to it in the coming season. It was especially nice chatting with two of STL FC's management team, Chief Executive Officer Jim Kavanaugh and Chief Financial Officer Tom Strunk, who I both knew from Saint Louis University when they played for the Billikens. Kavanaugh and Strunk also hold those titles with Worldwide Technology, Inc. (https://www2.wwt.com/), an information technology integrator.

I was back at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park the next morning to referee soccer games. It was the last Sunday of the Fall youth season and I worked three small-sided (8v8) matches. Yours truly was in the middle for the first and third matches of the set--my first this fall. It was fine, despite a bit of concern over not having done any games in several months. Futsal will start next month.

My mom left town on Monday to spent the week with my brother Rick in Charleston, South Carolina. I carried on at home. After flexing out of work Tuesday afternoon (24 November), I took care of some personal business, then was at Del Miller's house in Sappington for the IPMS/Gateway business meeting. That went well and we got the December meetings planned.

After work Wednesday night, I was along Cherokee Street in south St. Louis volunteering at the Condom Crawl, a program put on by Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-st-louis-region-southwest-missouri). Along with a few other volunteers, I passed out safe sex kits to people in the bars and shops along Cherokee Street. It was a nice thing to do and it was appreciated by those we met.

The next morning found me in downtown St. Louis for the Ameren Thanksgiving Day Parade (http://www.christmasinstlouis.org/thanksgiving-day-parade/). I was there as a balloon handler, invited by our family friend Kit Weis (nee Maxwell), a 1985 Mehlville High graduate. She's a financial advisor with Edward Jones (https://www.edwardjones.com/index.html?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=edward+jones&utm_campaign=Brand_Exact), who sponsored the Kermit the Frog balloon in this parade. I and others handled Kermit, while Kit and some others took charge of the balloon depicting Animal of the Muppets. It was a challenge with the wind kicking up at times, but we got through the parade route very well.

That night, Kit and her husband Dan invited me to their house in Oakville for Thanksgiving dinner. I happy accepted, as I would have otherwise been alone that day and night. It was a very nice dinner with turkey and the trimmings. I joined Kit, Dan, their three children, Kit's mother and step-father, Dan's mom, and Kit's brother Rob, who got along famously with me. It was a very nice time and I greatly appreciated the time I spent with them.

Back at work yesterday and this morning, and things are doing well. I stopped by CRM Hobbies (http://www.crmhobbies.com/) in south St. Louis this afternoon to pick up an airbrush hose and regulator I ordered. I got them hooked up tonight, although with some connection difficulties that necessitated a return visit to CRM for a connector. Now I look to resume working on some scale models soon.

Later.

A Terrific Scale Modeling Show

A week ago Saturday (5 Sept.), I co-hosted "Writer's Block," from Autistic People. Host Tim Pylypiuk and I discussed the unique languages of some literature, including works of William Shakespeare and Anthony Burgess' novel "A Clockwork Orange." You can listen to the archived program (and download it for podcast) here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/autistic-people-/2015/09/05/writers-block-loose-lips--10am-pstradio-drama-grooming-hour-11am-pst. The next edition of "Writer's Block" is Saturday, 3 October, at 10 am Pacific Time (Noon, Central Time; 1800 hours GMT).

After the show, I went to an ATM to get some cash for the weekend, and I picked up several copies of the South County Times. That newspaper had a piece on International Plastic Modelers' Society (IPMS)/Gateway Chapter and the Regional Contest we're hosting a week later. The newspaper interviewed me and others from the club for the story, which was prompted by show information I shared with the paper's calendar section. It was a very nice article and the club members who saw it agreed. Here's the online article: http://www.southcountytimes.com/Articles-Features-c-2015-09-03-196405.114137-sub-Plastic-Modelers-Share-OldSchool-Art-Form.html.

I went to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in St. Louis' Central West End (CWE) for its 98th annual Greek Festival. It's a great ethnic festival, with food, music, dance, crafts for sale, and church tours. I have gone the past few years and have enjoyed it every time. After spending time at the Festival, I walked up Euclid Avenue to Left Bank Books (http://www.left-bank.com/), an independent book store, where I browsed for a while before walking back down Euclid. After having a ginger ale at Coffee Cartel (http://thecoffeecartel.com/), I walked back to my car and drove home.

I chilled out at home that Sunday and enjoyed some more of the Labor Day holiday on that Monday (7 Sept.). (The rental car branch was closed that day.) Late that morning, I joined members of the St. Louigans at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton to help them paint two banners for Saint Louis FC's final regular season matches this month.

Back to work the next day, it was VERY busy, with much traffic coming in (mostly renters back from the holiday weekend), plus renters getting vehicles for the start of the short week. We got through it, though, and the rest of the week was much calmer by comparison.

On my off day Thursday, I went to Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield (http://spiritairport.com/spiritairport/index.jsp) to see aircraft from the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) on display this past week. The three World War II-era aircraft I saw were a Beech C-45 Expeditor transport, a General Motors (Grumman) TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, and the star attraction, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress named "Fifi." I saw these aircraft on the ramp and took a good number of pictures. I also entered the B-29's cockpit and admired the view. It was a great time for the aircraft buff. More on the CAF's aircraft on tour here: http://www.airpowersquadron.org/.

Yesterday (12 Sept.), I was at the Holiday Inn St. Louis SW--Route 66 in Sunset Hills, Missouri (http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/st-louis/stlsw/hoteldetail?qAdlt=1&qBrs=6c.hi.ex.rs.ic.cp.in.sb.cw.cv.ul.vn&qChld=0&qFRA=1&qGRM=0&qPSt=0&qRRSrt=rt&qRef=df&qRms=1&qRpn=1&qRpp=12&qSHp=1&qSmP=3&qSrt=sBR&qWch=0&srb_u=1&icdv=99504440&siclientid=9948&sitrackingid=733967223&glat=SEAR&dp=true&icdv=99504440). This was for the International Plastic Modelers' Society (IPMS) Region 5 Convention, hosted by IPMS/Gateway. (Region 5 was made up of IPMS/USA chapters in the Midwestern US.) It was a terrific show all around. I took money from attendees at one of the two entrances, and later helped judge the model contest. I don't have figures for how many people attended, but it was a lot for a show of this sort. People came from as far away as Minnesota and Kentucky for this event. We did have nearly 400 contest entries, including four of mine. My 1:48 scale Jupiter C rocket took second place in the Real Space category (within Space and Science Fiction)--my first regional IPMS contest award since a second back in 1995, also in St. Louis. No complaints from attendees and we all had a great time. We can't do much better than that.

After the show, I had dinner at Smugala's Pizza Pub in Sunset Hills (http://smugalas.com/smugalassunsethills) before boarding the shuttle bus for Worldwide Technology Soccer Park. There, I cheered on Saint Louis FC as they defeated Charlotte Independence 2-0 in the next to last match of the season. They had a record crowd of over 5,600 for the match. Yes, the St. Louigans were there in full force. Saint Louis FC (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) finishes the season this Saturday night at home against Louisville City FC. By the way, this past week I renewed my season ticket for 2016.

Several of us in IPMS/Gateway were at the club's annual picnic, hosted by Brad and Julie Vaughn in House Springs. We enjoyed a barbecue lunch and good company. Our club's next meeting is this Tuesday night at 7:30 pm at Calvary Presbyterian Church in Mehlville. More on the club here: http://www.ipms-gateway.com/index.html.

Later.

Work, Meetings, and A Thrilling Match

Work continues to go well, and keeping me busy. A week ago Saturday (15 August), I stayed nearly an hour over our closing time to help our assistant manager get some last minute customers into vehicles. It was a lot of effort with only two of us in the branch that day, but we got the customers taken care of, and that's the important part.

After that, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to Creve Coeur Airport for the Missouri Aviation Historical Society's meeting, held on a special day. This was to accommodate the guest speaker, John Roper, co-author of the book "Kansas City B-25 Factory." It tells of the factory in Kansas City that produced B-25 Mitchell medium bombers during World War II. I missed Roper's presentation, due to being held over at work, but I did catch the screening of the movie "Catch-22" that followed the talk. I had never seen that movie before in its entirety and thought it was pretty good. More on that meeting and the group here: http://moavhist.org/.

After work Tuesday (18 August), I headed right for Calvary Presbyterian Church in Mehlville for the IPMS/Gateway meeting. I opened the fellowship hall up and helped get it set up for the meeting, which featured a demo on judging ships and figures. We also had another very nice turnout for the Model of the Month "Beauty Contest," plus one more plug for the Region 5 Convention we're hosting on 12 September. More on the club here: http://www.ipms-gateway.com/.

Two days later, I was off work and headed for Lambert-St. Louis International Airport to pick up my Mom, who was flying back from Los Angeles. She spent two weeks with my brother Doug, his wife Helen, and their twin boys born over four months ago. Before arriving at the airport, I said hello to a colleague now working at our firm's Airport location and shopped at the Boeing Store near the airport. After arriving at the airport, I read on the monitors that Mom's flight was delayed, so I headed to lunch at a fast food restaurant and visited some stores before returning to Lambert. Mom's flight arrived and she was there for me to welcome her home. After getting her baggage, I drove Mom home.

That night, I was at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park for Saint Louis FC's match against Charleston Battery. This was the return fixture, as both teams played to a 1-1 draw in Charleston the previous Saturday. Charleston went up 2-0 scoring in the first 18 minutes of the match before Saint Louis FC pulled one back later in the first half. Saint Louis FC leveled it seven minutes from time, and won it in second half stoppage time off a free kick. I was seated as usual near the St. Louigans supporters group and we went nuts over that winning goal at the death. Right after the match, I joined other fans on the pitch celebrating the win before walking over to catch the shuttle bus back to Smugala's Pizza Pub. Quite a game. You can read more here: http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index. Also, http://stlouligans.com/.

Next weekend, I'll be at Tower Grove Park in St. Louis to help out at the Festival of Nations, a multicultural celebration. Hope you can come. Here's their website: http://www.festivalofnationsstl.org/.

Later.