Thanksgiving 2016

One week ago last night (19 November) found me at Yemanja Brasil Restaurante (http://www.brazildining.com/) in St. Louis' Benton Park neighborhood. I came for a delicious Brazilian dinner and a concert by Brazilian musician and movie director Gustavo "Buda" Acioli (https://soundcloud.com/budasongs; http://www.ouvirtopmusicas.com/musicas/gustavo-acioli.html). This evening was presented by the Viva Brasil Association of St. Louis (http://www.e.vivabrasilstl.org/home), and a few people I know from that group were also there. It was a wonderful show--even though I did not understand most of the words, I understood the passion and feeling "Buda" put into his music. (He played an electric guitar.) For my meal, I had an entrada (appetizer) of torradinhas, followed by the prato principal (main course), piscado miranda, which features cod. I washed those courses down with two caipirinhas. Overall, a very good night.

Up early the next morning, I was at World Wide Technology Soccer Park (http://saintlouisfc.com/soccerpark) in Fenton, where I officiated three youth soccer (football) matches. These were all under 12 boys, 9v9 matches, on the final day of the Premier League fall season. My matches went well, including my middle in the second match.

This past week at the car rental branch was rather busy through Wednesday night, as quite a few customers were renting out for Thanksgiving Day weekend travels. Our branches were closed on Thanksgiving Day itself, and I was back the next day (25 November) for a rather quiet day, especially in the late afternoon. Same for yesterday morning, when I worked. Tomorrow will be a different story, for sure.

I flexed out of work on Tuesday afternoon (22 November), and came home. That night, I was at Brad and Julie Vaughn's house in House Springs for this month's IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting. After enjoying a supper of red beans and rice, prepared by the Vaughns, the club executive board (eboard) planned the December general and business meetings, and discussed some other club business.

Thanksgiving morning found me at home, watching parades on TV: The Ameren Thanksgiving Day Parade in St. Louis, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. Mom and I had a nice, if low-key, dinner with turkey breast and trimmings. That afternoon, I camped in front of my computer, watching the annual Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) Turkey Day Marathon on MST3K's YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/mst3kofficial). It was fun watching these classic episodes of the show, especially "Manos: The Hands of Fate," one of my (and many other show fans') all-time favorites.

I skipped shopping on Black Friday (as I was working), and Small Business Saturday (working, and not having my shopping lists in yet). Maybe something will happen tomorrow, Cyber Monday.

Later.

Transitions at Work; Dinner with a Group

After a relaxing weekend at home, it was back to work for me this past Monday (25 July). It was warm and humid, though not as bad as it was the previous two weeks. Tuesday marked the last day for Liz as our branch manager, as she is taking over the branch at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Area employees gathered at Double D Karaoke (http://doubledstl.com) in Brentwood after work on Tuesday to celebrate. I could only stay briefly, as I had to drive down to Bill Wagner's house in Oakville for the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting. Liz appreciated my stopping by, though. The IPMS/Gateway board planned our August general and business meetings, and discussed other club business.

Wednesday (27 July), I started to contact some recruiters about help in finding career opportunities in marketing communications and publishing. Hope to get some action going soon in that area. Any assistance that you can give me in this regard is much appreciated.

Off work Thursday, I got my hair cut at Great Clips (http://www.greatclips.com/) in Tenholder Plaza in Mehlville. The stylist did such a good job getting about two months' growth of hair cut from my head. I bought some hair color on the way home and applied it myself, covering my gray hairs.

After a personal appointment, I shopped a bit at CRM Hobbies (http://www.crmhobbies.com/) in south St. Louis, buying two bottles of paint for models I'm working on now.

That night, I was at Yemanja Brasil Restorante (http://www.brazildining.com/) in south St. Louis' Benton Park neighborhood for dinner with the Ethnic Restaurant Fans Meetup group (https://www.meetup.com/Ethnic-Restaurant-Fans/). Approximately 12 of us attended, and it was my third visit to this restaurant. Yemanja is one of my favorite restaurants in St. Louis and the experience did not disappoint. After an appetizer of Empanadas de Bife and a cup of soup, I did into the main course: Xin Xim de Galinha, a spicy chicken dish. Dessert was Pudim de Coco, mainly bread pudding, all washed down with a Caipirinha cocktail and water. A great time was had by all at this dinner, and I highly recommend both Yemanja and Ethnic Restaurant Fans.

Today at work, an electrician came by in the morning to install two oscillating fans in the wash bay. When the fans were up and running, they blew plenty of cool air inside the bay, which made conditions much more tolerable. It was challenging at times to get vehicles parked on our crowded lot, but things got taken care of in good order. By the way, a new manager reports to our branch next week.

Relaxing at home now, but an interesting weekend awaits. More on that in my next post.

Later.