To Wichita and Back for TrailCon 2022

Before dawn yesterday (15 October), I left home to begin driving to Wichita, Kansas. I was heading to Midway Baptist Church, the site of TrailCon, the annual model contest and swap meet held by the Chisholm Trail Scale Modelers Chapter of IPMS/USA.

After a trip of some 6 and 1/2 hours, counting stops for fuel and refreshment, I arrived at the show site. I brought two models to enter in the contest, a 1:72 155mm M1 Gun and a 1:720 battleship USS Alabama. After placing my models in the contest area, I began to make the rounds of meeting people I know and seeing the other contest entries and vendors. Yours truly was the only IPMS/Gateway member to attend this show. I also went in my capacity as IPMS/USA Region 14 Coordinator.

At midday, I joined with other contest judges for a pizza lunch and briefing. I then joined two others in judging the aircraft entries. There were a few categories with no entries or only one entry, but those with several entries each were scrutinized for how well they were built. After carefully looking over these entries and questioning each other, our team agreed on the category award winners.

After our team judged the aircraft categories, we joined with other judges to determine the Best of awards in aircraft and the other major awards. Once that was all done, those awards were announced to end the show. Category awards were placed with the winning models.

Both of my entries were the sole entries in their respective categories and thus received First Place awards. My M1 won in Armor: Towed Weapons and Missiles, while the USS Alabama won in Ships: Surface Vessels 1/401 and Smaller.

After packing my models and awards and saying my goodbyes, I got back in my car and started the long drive home. This included a stop along the way for fuel and dinner and another for refreshment. I listened on the 101 ESPN app on my phone to the St. Louis Blues game, their season opener at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blues won, 5-2.

Late last night, I arrived home after an 897-mile (1443.6 km) round trip--tired, but happy.

IPMS/Gateway meets this Tuesday night at 7:00 pm at Affton Elks Lodge 2635.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:

IPMS/Chisholm Trail Scale Modelers: (1) Chisholm Trail Scale Modelers | Facebook

Midway Baptist Church: Midway Baptist Church | HOME (midwaywichita.com)

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

IPMS/USA Region 14: Region 14 - Mid Central | IPMS/USA Calendar (ipmsusa3.org)

101 ESPN: 101 ESPN - Sports Talk for St. Louis

St. Louis Blues: Official St. Louis Blues Website | NHL.com

New Year 2022

The New Year of 2022 began at last weekend, with the stroke of Midnight on Friday 31 December/Saturday 1 January. It was all low key for my mom and I. Work ended early for me, and after making a shopping trip, came home for dinner. I was actually in bed when Midnight came, so I just slept through the beginning of 2022.

I was home all day yesterday, watching various programs on TV. They included the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California (which I had attended in person in 1992), and some documentaries on various channels. I also set up my account on IPMS/USA's new online membership and event system, which went online that morning. It should make it much easier for everyone to sign up for society membership and national convention registration.

That night, mom and I watched the Discover NHL Winter Classic, in which the St. Louis Blues played the Minnesota Wild in Minneapolis. It was a cold night for an outdoor hockey game, the temperatures ranging from -5 Fahrenheit (-21 Celsius) at face off to -10 Fahrenheit (-23 Celsius) at the end. and wind chills reaching -20 Fahrenheit (-29 Celsius). Mom and I were happy, as the Blues won the game 6-4.

Home again today, with freezing conditions outside. Started work on this month's The Arch Scaler News for IPMS/Gateway. I am trying some new ideas for the newsletter, especially moving the club officer's directory from the back to the second page and adding pictures of these officers. The club meets next on 18 January, with the annual Swap & Sell and Kit Auction.

Back to work in the morning. Should have plenty to keep me occupied.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:

Tournament of Roses: Tournament of Roses

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

Discover: Rewards Credit Card - Cash Back Credit Card | Discover

NHL: Official Site of the National Hockey League | NHL.com

St. Louis Blues: Official St. Louis Blues Website | NHL.com

Minnesota Wild: Official Minnesota Wild Website | NHL.com

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

Moment of Gloria for St. Louis Blues Fans

Last Wednesday night (12 June), in Boston, the St. Louis Blues (https://www.nhl.com/blues) completed an incredible playoff run by winning Game 7 of the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup Final. The Blues' 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins gave St. Louis its first ever Stanley Cup championship in the club's 52-year history.

I watched the playoffs on television at home, with my mother. I have been following the Blues since I was young. My parents took me to my first Blues game at the Arena in early 1970, when I was 6 years old. That Spring, my family and I watched on TV as the Bruins swept the Blues in the Stanley Cup Final. Through the years, I hoped the Blues would return to the Cup Final, but it would not be until this season that they would finally do so.

I went to a few Blues home games over the years, including a late season game this year against the Tampa Bay Lightning. I got the impression that night that the Blues--which had been in last place back in early January--would do so well in the postseason. By this time, the team had adopted as its victory song "Gloria," the 1982 hit by the late Laura Branigan. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HGaJHhUJR4). (I loved that song then, and still do.) The Blues finished the regular season strong, then began winning their playoff series one at a time. That's when I knew they could possibly win the Stanley Cup.

When the Blues won Game 7 last week and took the Stanley Cup, I was so happy. (So was mom.) I had hoped I would see this happen in my life, but was still shocked when it actually occurred. The Blues were Champions of the NHL, and claimed the last of the Big 4 pro sports trophies missing from St. Louis' mantle. (The Cardinals have won 11 World Series Championships, most recently in 2011; the Rams won the 2000 Super Bowl some years before returning to Los Angeles; and, the Hawks won the 1958 NBA Finals a decade before relocating to Atlanta.)

The team arrived back in St. Louis before dawn on Thursday, and began plans for a victory parade. While I was at work on Friday (14June), Mom got me an official Blues Stanley Cup Champions cap and t-shirt. Both look great on me.

The parade was held yesterday afternoon in downtown St. Louis, followed by a rally under the Gateway Arch. I was at the Missouri Professional Communicators planning meeting in Clayton that morning, and heard the first part of the parade on the radio as I drove home, where I saw the rest of the event on TV. (I recorded the whole event on my DVR.) It was quite a scene with the players interacting with the many spectators along the parade route. This was not something you normally saw in sports team victory parades, where the team members just waved from their vehicles. It was estimated that 1.5 million people were downtown that day to honor the Blues. Best part, though: No riots or other violent acts by anyone right after the Game 7 win or during yesterday's events. That's a great tribute to St. Louis sports fans.

This has been a great few days for the Blues and their fans--among myself.

Later.

Rainy and Sunny Soccer Weekend

Last Saturday evening (1 June), I drove out to World Wide Technology Soccer Park (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/SOCCERPARK) for the USL Championship (https://www.uslsoccer.com/usl-championship) match between Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) and Memphis 901 FC (https://www.memphis901fc.com/). The night began as usual at the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) tailgate, which had bratwurst and beans for dinner and for which money was collected for Playing for Pride (https://www.playingforpride.org/), which supports Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transaction, and Queer or Questioning (LGBTQ) rights.

Some players of Fire & Ice WPSL (https://www.fireandicesoccer.com/page/show/4693840-fire-and-ice-wpsl), a club in the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) (https://www.wpslsoccer.com/), and head coach Lindsay Eversmeyer were at the tailgate. The team was there to promote their season, which began the next day. (More on this later in the post.)

I marched with the St. Louligans into the stadium for the match and we were settled in ready to go, when the match was postponed just before kickoff. Lightning was detected in the vicinity of the stadium, so we were ordered to evacuate the metal seats and take shelter in the tented Budweiser Biergarten (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/biergarten) to ride out the storm. We were there for just over two hours when word came that the match was postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date.

During the delay, we were watching Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final between the St. Louis Blues (https://www.nhl.com/blues) and the Boston Bruins. We were disappointed as the Blues lost this game, 7-2; however, a 4-2 win two nights later evened the best-of-seven Final at two wins apiece.

The weather was much better the next day, when I traveled to Althoff Catholic High School (http://www.althoffcatholic.org/) in Belleville for Fire & Ice's season opening match against FC Wichita. A number of fellow St. Louligans were also there to support the home side.

The teams traded first half goals, then Fire & Ice scored in the second half to win the match 2-1. It was a very nice time in the sunshine.

After the match, I shopped for cargo shorts at two shops in the Belleville and Fairview Heights area. I found two pair that should work for me.

Later.

Photographing Models at the IPMS/Gateway Meeting

After work Tuesday night (21 May), I headed to Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) for this month's meeting of the Gateway Chapter of the International Plastic Modelers' Society (IPMS) (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home). Stormy weather outside--including a tornado warning--kept the crowd low this night, but the meeting went on without weather incident.

This meeting had the second 2019 Modeler of the Year contest, with the Special Category "6 is a Serious Number." That is, the subject has a 6 (six) in its name or designation. We had 20 total contest entries, including eight in this Special Category.

We also had a clinic on model photography. Rick Keasey brought in his photo studio and invited members to bring their models to be photographed, and their cameras to take pictures. I took photos with my Canon (https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/cameras) PowerShot digital camera, including of my submarine Turbulent, which took Third Place at the Military Modelers Club of Louisville (http://www.mmcl.org/) Invitational the previous Saturday. This clinic was a lot of fun and I hope we can do it again another time, when we hope to have more members attending to take part in this.

During the meeting, we got updates on the St. Louis Blues (https://www.nhl.com/blues) playoff game. I was home later that night when the Blues won the game, becoming Western Conference Champions, and sending them to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1970. The Best-of-Seven Final against the Boston Bruins starts this Monday night.

Later

St. Louis vs Tampa Bay Sports Doubleheader

Yesterday (23 March) began for me at Toyota Stadium of World Wide Technology Soccer Park (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/SOCCERPARK) in Fenton. I went to the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) tailgate in the parking lot, where I enjoyed a bratwurst with sauerkraut washed down with beer.

We marched into the stadium for the USL Championship (https://www.uslsoccer.com/usl-championship) match between Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) and Tampa Bay Rowdies. Saint Louis scored in the 26th minute to take the lead; however, Tampa Bay equalized from the penalty spot in 50 minutes later. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, and the two teams stood atop the Eastern Conference table. (Tampa Bay is ahead on goal difference.) It was disappointing to settle for a draw when we had a win in our grasp; however, having 7 of a possible 9 points after the first three matches of the season is good going.

After the match, I came home to rest, then headed for the Enterprise Center (http://www.enterprisecenter.com/) in downtown St. Louis for a NHL (https://www.nhl.com/) game between the St. Louis Blues (https://www.nhl.com/blues) and the Tampa Bay Lightning. My brothers bought me a ticket for Christmas, and I finally got around to redeeming it this month. After shopping in a souvenir store and getting a soda from a food stand, I made my way to my seat in a corner of the lower deck.

It was quite a game, with the Blues taking a 3-0 lead in the first period, scoring these goals in a 1 minute 15 second span against a team that had the NHL's best record. Tampa Bay came back with two goals early in the second period, then the Blues got one back in mid-period to lead 4-2 after two periods. The Lightning scored late in the third period to make it 4-3, but an apparent tying goal late in the game was waived off after the Blues challenged the call, citing a Tampa Bay player being offside before the goal was scored. Thus, the Blues held on to win the game, 4-3. They are now close to clinching a playoff spot with seven games to go over the next two weeks.

I was one very happy man among many when I walked out of the Enterprise Center after the game. I think my brothers did me very good with their Christmas gift for me.

Later.