2024 IPMS/USA National Convention (4)

After a nice night's sleep, Julie and I woke up, got dressed and packed, and checked out of Baymont Inn & Suites in Janesville. It was a good place for the two of us to spend the nights during our vacation in Wisconsin. 

After checking out, we topped off the vehicle's fuel before we headed to Wedge Inn Cafe in Janesville, where we would have breakfast with Julie's sister Dianne and Diane's husband Dennis. The four of us had a nice time chatting and enjoying a good breakfast. In my case, it was eggs, hash browns, and toast. 

After the meal, the four of us posed for a selfie before Julie and I started off to return to St. Louis. Dianne and Dennis were very happy to see the two of us and I really enjoyed their company.

The drive home went smoothly. We had a stopover in Bloomington, Illinois to stretch out and get refreshment at a Starbucks. Weather along the route was pleasant and we had no serious traffic issues.

Julie and I got into St. Louis late that afternoon. She dropped me off at home, where I unloaded my luggage and contest entries. We hugged and kissed before she drove off to her home.

Back home, I unpacked and made sense of my haul from Madison. That included the Convention t-shirt (I bought Julie one while up in Madison), other items in the convention packet, and items bought from Convention vendors and at the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh the previous Thursday.

Overall, this was a great vacation. I spent it with fellow scale modelers in a most happy place, and I spent some quality time with Julie in our first vacation. We're looking forward to more such good times together.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Baymont Inn & Suites: Baymont by Wyndham | Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Janesville: Janesville, WI | Home (janesvillewi.gov)

Starbucks: Starbucks Coffee Company

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

Christmas 2023 with Julie: Lights, Gifts, and Movies

It is safe to say that Julie Rodriguez and I had a most wonderful Christmas season together. It started last Thursday night (21 December) when I came to her apartment right after work. Julie, her roommate Joan Burke, and myself rode together to Tilles County Park in Ladue. We rode through Winter Wonderland, a major drive-through Christmas lights display. There was a long line of vehicles to enter the park, but after about 20 minutes we were in the park and slowly driving through the display. There were plenty of beautiful lighted items--including animated lights--for the three of us to enjoy.

After our visit to Winter Wonderland, Julie decided to head to Candy Cane Lane, a stretch of Murdoch in south St. Louis near Francis Park. There was another long line of vehicles in the area, but once in we were treated to some beautiful residential light displays.

 

The next night (22 December) had the three of us hitting the road again. This time, we went to Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Eureka to check out Santa's Magical Kingdom. We wound through a hilly, forested trail to see the lights. There was another great crowd of tourists there. (The weather that week was unseasonably warm.) 

Saturday night (23 December) saw Julie, Joan, and I back to the road, heading for World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Illinois. The motor sports facility was hosting Wonder Lights Christmas, an annual light show that Julie and I took in last year. There was quite a good crowd again at this facility. Once in the raceway, we enjoyed some terrific light displays accompanied by music that we could hear on a dedicated radio frequency.

The three of us greatly enjoyed seeing the light displays in the days leading up to Christmas.

I was home on Christmas Eve, apart from getting fuel for the car that afternoon. Christmas morning, I opened my presents that were under the Christmas Tree. From Mom, I got a Starbucks gift card and a three-pack of Moleskine journals. Rick sent me three books: The Complete Screenplay for the Movie "Oppenheimer;" "Defeat: Napoleon's Russian Campaign;" and "The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film."

I left home at midday to drive to Julie's apartment, where we had a nice lunch featuring chicken. Afterward, we exchanged gifts. I gave Julie a colored pen set and a nice magenta sweater; these items were on her wish list sent to me. I opened a box she had given to me a few days earlier, but which I brought along for this occasion. It had a St. Louis CITY SC baseball cap, which was on the wish list I sent Julie.

Julie and I then settled down on the couch to watch the classic 1980 comedy film "Airplane!" on her home video. It's one of my all-time favorite movies, and hers as well. A great laugh fest.

After watching a movie at home, we decided to watch a movie in the cinema. After finding it sold out at the first theater we went to, Julie and I were able to get tickets to see "Ferrari" at the Marcus Des Peres Cinema. This new drama from director Michael Mann opened on this day. We both enjoyed "Ferrari" and especially liked the auto racing action sequences.

After the movie, we returned to Julie's apartment, where she gave me some leftover chicken to enjoy this week. We hugged and kissed each other goodbye after a terrific Christmas Day.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Tilles County Park: Tilles Park - St. Louis County Website (stlouiscountymo.gov)

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park: Eureka Jellystone – Your Vacation Destination for Six Flags® and St. Louis

World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway: New Home Page - World Wide Technology Raceway (wwtraceway.com)

Starbucks: Starbucks Coffee Company

Moleskine: Moleskine® Official Website - Notebooks, Planners and More | Moleskine

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

Marcus Des Peres Cinema: Des Peres Movie Theatre | Marcus Theatres

Celebration, History, and St. Louligans with Julie

After work Friday night (10 February), I drove to Julie's house. We had dinner and exchanged gifts. I gave Julie a small heart-shaped box of Russell Stover chocolates and a card for Valentine's Day. She enjoyed the sweets, my card, and the short love letter I included with the card. In turn, Julie gave me some flowers for Valentine's and a book for my birthday three days before. She gave me "Way Beyond the Blue: The Memoirs of Colonel Jackie Jackson, USMCR, Retired," as told to Laine Boyd. I look forward to reading this soon.

We sat on the couch to watch a very funny movie Julie streamed to her TV, the 1971 comedy "And Now for Something Completely Different," which starred the Monty Python troupe.

The next morning, after breakfast, I drove us to the Missouri History Museum. Julie and I browsed among several exhibits, including Coloring STL. That exhibit spotlighted architecture in the St. Louis area and we used colored markers to color within the lines on several large drawings of noted St. Louis buildings on the walls of the exhibit space. 

We also toured the exhibits "The 1904 World's Fair" and "Seeking St. Louis," then we shopped in the gift shop. Julie and I then went to get cash from an ATM in Richmond Heights and got lunch from a Starbucks in west St. Louis before heading to the Schlafly Tap Room in Downtown West.

There, we attended the St. Louligans Annual General Meeting. Julie and I drank Schlafly Beer and bought St. Louligans scarves while chatting with fellow soccer supporters. This meeting laid out our plans for the St. Louis CITY SC season that starts later this month. This included parties by Schlafly Tap Room before and after home matches. Help was requested in painting a tifo for the home opener and for other projects. I contributed some money to the tifo effort.

After the meeting, I drove Julie home and then drove home, arriving early last night.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Russell Stover: Russell Stover Chocolates | RSC

Monty Python: Monty Python Official Site

Missouri History Museum: Missouri History Museum | Find Yourself Here. (mohistory.org)

Starbucks: Starbucks Coffee Company

Schlafly Tap Room: Tap Room Brewpub - Schlafly Beer

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

At Fleacon 2021

Just before 2:30 am yesterday (17 April), I left home to drive to Monticello, Iowa. I was going there to attend Fleacon 17, the annual scale modeling contest and show hosted by IPMS/Alexander Lippisch (http://lippischmodelclub.org/). After nearly six hours (driving plus stops for refreshment and break), I arrived at the show venue, the Monticello Berndes Center (http://www.ci.monticello.ia.us/parks-and-recreation/).

This was my first time at this club's show, and I was going both as a representative of IPMS/Gateway (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) and as IPMS/USA Region 14 coordinator (https://calendar.ipmsusa3.org/region/region-14-mid-central). Despite wearing face masks for safety during this COVID-19 pandemic, attendees were having a good time.

Arriving at the show site, my three contest entries were registered and then taken to a judging table, where two judges looked over my entries. After they recorded their scores, my models were released to be placed on the contest tables. This was my first experience with this system in an overall contest, although when I had a armor model entered at KC CON last year in Kansas City, Missouri, that used a similar judging system. (The rest of KC CON's model contest used the standard judging system for IPMS/USA contests.) I entered my 1:48 scale Jupiter-C Explorer 1 rocket in Real Space, my 1:48 Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis in Aircraft, and my 1:700 Turbulent in Ships. Depending on the judges' evaluations, a model could receive a Gold, Silver, or Bronze awards, and there were no limits regarding how many awards could go in each category.

I got to chat with several attendees, including Bill Kreuger, Alexander Lippisch's chapter contact; Jeff Hearne, IPMS/US Region 5 (Midwest) coordinator (https://calendar.ipmsusa3.org/region/region-5-midwest); Jim Coatney, Hearne's predecessor as RC-5; and Joachim (Joe) Lotz from IPMS/Plastic Surgeons (http://www.ipms-plasticsurgeons.com/). It was great having face time with people I had mostly or only known via email and social media. There were 30 vendor tables at Fleacon, and it was fun to browse among the kits and related products on sale. I came away with four kits for my stash. I got lunch there at the Berndes Center. A walking taco, chips, and soda were most satisfying and very inexpensive. There was a very nice crowd on the day, helped in part by the pleasant weather for all of us who traveled from as far as Wisconsin and Nebraska, and in part by this being the first scale modeling show in this area for many months. (Fleacon was cancelled last year due to the pandemic.) Walking around the contest tables, I was impressed by the number and quality of contest entries on hand. The final tally was 214 models entered by just over 60 entrants. My three entries were in very good company. I also bought a few raffle tickets. Besides the regular sort of scale modeling show raffle (kits raffled off to winners of regular tickets), there was a premium lottery with higher cost tickets for special kits. The latter prizes were given away just prior to the awards ceremony. I did not win any of the regular and special raffle prizes, but that's fine. I always enter raffles at these shows to show my support for these events and their organizers.

The awards were announced late that afternoon to conclude Fleacon. individual awards for the models were announced. My Turbulent earned a Silver in Ships, while Bronze awards were bestowed upon my Jupiter-C in Real Space and the Spirit of St. Louis in Aircraft. I was most happy to receive these awards. The major awards (such as theme, best of these categories and Best of Show) were then presented.

The hosts asked me to speak briefly to the crowd, and I thanked everyone for coming as well as promoted upcoming contests in Region 14--including the Regional contest IPMS/Gateway will host on 11 September in St. Louis. Then, I packed my models and said my goodbyes to Jeff Hearne (including posing for a joint selfie) and to Bill Kreuger. I also chatted with someone from the the Blackhawk Model Builders Society (https://www.facebook.com/groups/441475143864531/about) from Burlington, Iowa. Several of their members were at the show. They are seeking to join IPMS/USA, and I gave the representative my support for this effort.

After I departed Monticello, I stopped in Marion, Iowa to refuel my car and to get dinner from the drive through lane at Culvers (https://www.culvers.com/) before resuming my journey home to St. Louis. I mostly listened to the radio during my journey, although I did play some CDs in my car during parts of the trip up and back. They included a compilation of Brazilian music that Starbucks (https://www.starbucks.com/?utm_id=bi_cmp-376187578_adg-1233652236403352_ad-77103379775987_kwd-77103416797954:loc-190_dev-c_ext-_prd-_sig-785eacefb5a9155ce210cc93d5dc1082&utm_source=bing&utm_term=starbucks&utm_campaign=BR-Brand-HighVolume-Desktop-Exact&utm_medium=cpc&utm_query=starbucks&utm_matchtype=e&msclkid=785eacefb5a9155ce210cc93d5dc1082&utm_content=Brand%20-%20Starbucks) came out with in 2014, and two jazz CDs: the classic 1959 album "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis (https://www.milesdavis.com/) and the 2004 album "Motifs" by the French ensemble Paris Combo (https://www.pariscombo.com/). They all made my journey more pleasant.

I made a stop in Hannibal, Missouri to stretch out and get some refreshment last night before arriving home after 11:00 pm. I covered 654.3 miles (1053 km) on the day. I was tired when I got home, but happy about how the day went.

IPMS/Gateway meets this Tuesday night (20 April) at Affton Elks Lodge 2635 (https://www.elks.org/lodges/home.cfm?LodgeNumber=2635). I am making a presentation on current Chinese military aircraft colors and markings. Hope to see you there!

Later.