Catching Up

You may have noticed that I have not written here much in recent weeks. I have had one thing, or another come up that has prevented me from writing posts here. Let me try to get you caught up on what has been happening with me of late.

After coming home from my vacation on 7 August, I returned to work the next day. Work has been going well in recent weeks, with plenty of business to keep me busy. I have started to look at more career-oriented positions and hope to make some progress in that area in the coming month.

After the IPMS/USA National Convention held in San Marcos, Texas in early August, I kept up with IPMS/Gateway activities and IPMS/USA Regional Coordinator duties. I attended local scale modeling contests in Grimes, Iowa; Liberty, Missouri; Leavenworth, Kansas; and West Burlington, Iowa. In September, I helped IPMS/Gateway stage its annual contest in Affton. It went very well.

In recent weeks, I attended St. Louis CITY SC matches at CITYPARK. In many of them, my girlfriend Julie went along with me. Late last month, CITY SC clinched the MLS Western Conference regular season Championship and home field advantage for the MLS Cup Playoffs through the Conference final.

Julie and I continue our great relationship. We are in daily communication with each other and meet up as often as our schedules permit. Late last month, I helped her move from her house in Florissant to her new apartment in Creve Coeur. (Donna Flamm--my friend and high school classmate--was the realtor who sold Julie's house.) 

At home, I am still helping my mother take care of the house and to help take care of Mom. She has been having difficulties getting around and needs my help at times with simple matters.

One week ago, (1 October), I was a volunteer at Festa Junina, a Brazilian folk festival presented by Viva Brasil STL at Kirkwood Park. Early on, I helped at a food booth, then was transferred to the information booth to help attendees exchange cash for tickets used for purchasing food, drinks, and games. It was a fun day with a good crowd in attendance. I was happy to help out.

That should take care of things for the moment. I will do my best to be more frequent with my posts.

Later.

Links to Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

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

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

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

Donna Flamm: Gateway Real Estate - Donna Flamm - Welcome (mygatewayhomes.com)

Viva Brasil STL: Viva Brasil STL

Fun Helping Out at Festa Junina

One week ago today (16 June), I was at the Kirkwood Community Center (https://www.kirkwoodparksandrec.org/home-parksrec) to volunteer at Festa Junina, a Brazilian folk festival staged by Viva Brasil STL (https://www.vivabrasilstl.org/). I showed up about 20 minutes before the event began to check in and to get started on my volunteer assignment. I was assigned to the admission table, where I helped take in money from attendees and to place wristbands on attendees, which allowed them in and out privileges all day.

This event featured Brazilian music played by a disk jockey, Brazilian food and drink, games for children, a photo booth, a silent auction, and quadrilha (a form of square dancing). We had many attendees--mostly from the Brazilian community in St. Louis, but some from outside it. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

After the show ended, I stayed around for about one hour to help clean up and put away the furniture and decorations. Organizers were most appreciative of my efforts for the show. I know I really enjoyed myself there.

Later.

Hot Times with Saint Louis FC and the Festival of Nations

It was quite busy the latter part of this past week at the rental branch, including on Saturday morning (25 August). After work and grabbing a bit of lunch at Quik Trip (https://www.quiktrip.com/), I shopped for work shoes at Walmart (https://www.walmart.com/).

I came home to rest a bit, then headed to World Wide Technology Soccer Park (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/SOCCERPARK) for that night's Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) match against Tulsa Roughnecks FC. The St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) tailgate that night featured a barbecue dinner from Sugarfire Smoke House (https://sugarfiresmokehouse.com/) and beer from Kirkwood Station Brewing Co. (http://www.kirkwoodstationbrewing.com/). Funds raised by donations went to the St. Louis Area Foodbank (http://stlfoodbank.org/).

About 30 minutes from kickoff, the St. Louligans marched into Toyota Stadium for the match. A 1-0 loss away to Fresno FC a week before had snapped Saint Louis FC's four-match win streak. This night, the home side started a new streak as Saint Louis FC ran out 3-2 winners. The hosts scored twice early in the first half before Tulsa pulled one back. Saint Louis put the game out of reach in the second half before Tulsa got one in the waning seconds. This win was Saint Louis FC's 10th of the season--a new club record. They currently stand in 7th place in the Western Conference of the United Soccer League (https://www.uslsoccer.com/)--one place about the last playoff spot--with nine matches to go.

This morning, I went to Tower Grove Park (https://www.towergrovepark.org/) in south St. Louis for the Festival of Nations (http://festivalofnationsstl.org/), an annual multicultural fair. This is presented by the International Institute of St. Louis (https://www.iistl.org/), an organization that welcomes immigrants to St. Louis. I stopped by the Viva Brasil STL (https://www.vivabrasilstl.org/) booth and stayed there for about an hour, chatting with volunteers and guests. Then, I got some lunch from a Filipino food booth.

I then checked in at the volunteer booth and--after receiving my volunteer t-shirt--went to the festival merchandise booth. I worked there for about 2 1/4 hours, helping sell festival t-shirts, mugs, water cups, and cookbooks. It was very hot today, with heat indices topping 100 degrees F (38 degrees C). Things went well and I got a bottle of water after my shift. I walked the grounds a bit--including a return to the Viva Brasil STL booth--before walking back to my car and going home.

Later.

Volunteer Sunday, Movie Tonight, and Brian in Town

I had a busy day of volunteering last Sunday (24 June). First, I was in downtown St. Louis with about 100 other Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html) employees in marching in the St. Louis PrideFest Parade (https://pridestl.org/). After waiting in the staging area for about two hours, we stepped off onto Market Street for the 12-block long parade. We had a truck from Enterprise Truck Rental (https://www.enterprisetrucks.com/truckrental/en_US.html#_ga=2.97405727.1020205400.1530151678-1638779697.1529286224) and three convertibles from Enterprise Car Sales (https://www.enterprisecarsales.com/) with us in the parade. There was a great crowd there, and we got a great response from the crowd. (Perhaps, this response to us was helped by the candy we were throwing out to the crowd.) I was very pleased and happy to march again (my third Pride Fest Parade) to show my support--and Enterprise's--for Lesbian Bisexual Gay Transgendered Queer (LBGTQ) people, including those I know and have come across in life. I am proud to be a straight ally for LBGTQ rights.

Right after the parade ended, I got into my car--parked at St. Louis Union Station (http://www.stlouisunionstation.com/)--and drove to the Kirkwood Community Center (http://www.kirkwoodmo.org/content/City-Departments/1856/community-center.aspx). There, I was a volunteer at Festa Junina, a Brazilian folk festival presented by Viva Brasil STL (https://www.vivabrasilstl.org/). After checking in, I served as a floating volunteer, mostly clearing dining tables. Festa Junina was very nice; this festival included Brazilian food, children's games, a silent auction, and Brazilian music played by a disk jockey (DJ). They also had Quadrillha (a Brazilian form of square dancing), for children and then for adults, plus a demonstration of Capoeira (Brazilian martial arts) by a local group, Capoeira Luanda St. Louis (http://www.capoeirastl.org/). I then helped to clean up and pack up after the festival. Overall, a long but satisfying afternoon.

Back at work Monday morning, it was busy, but we got it done. During my lunch break, I contacted customer service at CREDO Mobile (https://www.credomobile.com/) regarding my replacement mobile phone. After about 40 minutes on the phone, they were able to fix the problem with my phone not getting service. The SIM card for this phone was not set to my phone number. CREDO Mobile fixed the problem at their end and my phone is working good now.

Off work today, I went downtown to help Mom find the hotel where my brother Brian (http://www.bddrums.com/) stayed the night. He arrived the night before with Melissa Etheridge (https://melissaetheridge.com/), for whom Brian plays drums. Brian spent the day at home with Mom and I. That included watching some FIFA World Cup (https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/) matches on TV. (Vamos Brasil!) Etheridge performs tomorrow night at the Sheldon Concert Hall (http://www.thesheldon.org/). Looking forward to that. More on the concert in my next post.

Tonight, I went to the Saint Louis Science Center (https://www.slsc.org/) to join with other Missouri Aviation Historical Society (https://moavhist.org/) members in watching a screening of "Aircraft Carrier: Guardian of the Seas" (https://www.slsc.org/omnimax/aircraft-carrier/) on the center's OMNIMAX theater. It was a terrific documentary of modern aircraft carrier operations, filmed during a RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) exercise.

Later