Into February 2026

After being bedridden at New Year's with influenza Type A and catching up with personal and business matters in January, I was happy to turn another year older this month.

My birthday (7 February) began with a haircut at Great Clips, followed by hair coloring at home using Just For Men. I was ready in mid-afternoon when Julie came by to begin the birthday celebration. She gifted me a handsome ring from Helzberg Diamonds, which I love. I told Julie I owed her a ring.

Julie then drove me to Maggiano's Little Italy at The Boulevard in Richmond Heights for dinner. We had such a wonderful meal, enjoying great food and service.

Following dinner, we browsed among the stores at nearby Saint Louis Galleria. Julie and I bought books at Barnes & Noble. Then, it was on to downtown St. Louis for the evening's main event.

Julie surprised me by taking me to The Boom Boom Rom, a burlesque theater on Washington Avenue. We had refreshments in the lobby before the theater opened for us and the other ticket holders for that night's show. Julie and I had a table right by the stage and I got a crown for my birthday.

The Boom Boom Review we saw was their signature burlesque show, with a mistress of ceremonies and the five dancers of the Boom Boom Bombshells. Over two hours, the dancers performed a high energy, teasing show.

Just after the intermission, I was on stage with other audience members celebrating milestones (birthdays and upcoming wedding or divorces). It was interesting, for sure! Later that night, Julie and i posed for a picture on stage.

After the show, Julie and I tipped the dancers as we left the theater and then got back into her car for Julie to drive me home. This is a birthday I won't soon, if ever, forget.

The next morning (8 February), I attended a service at Eliot Unitarian Universalist Chapel in Kirkwood. It's Julie's congregation and I will be joining it later this month. I stayed after the service for coffee and conversation.

After church, I headed to Leviathan Bookstore on South Grand in south St. Louis. There, soccer historian Dave Lange and St. Louis soccer legend Ty Keough were signing copies of Lange's new book "St. Louis Soccer: An Illustrated Timeline." It has some 150 moments in St. Louis soccer history from 1875 to the present. I chatted with Dave and Ty for a bit before they signed my copy, which I then paid for before leaving the store.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:

Great Clips: Haircuts Near Me | Check In Online | Great Clips

Just For Men: Just For Men: Hair Color For Men | Beard Dye | Gray Reduction

Helzberg Diamonds: Fine Jewelry: Shop Luxury Jewelry | Helzberg Diamonds

Maggiano's Little Italy: The Boulevard | Maggianos.com

Saint Louis Galleria: Saint Louis Galleria - Shopping Mall in St. Louis, MO

The Boom Boom Room: The Boom Boom Room - downtown, St. Louis, MO

Eliot Unitarian Universalist Chapel: Home

Leviathan Bookstore: Leviathan Bookstore

Dave Lange--Reedy Press: Dave Lange – Reedy Press

A Birthday Amidst Fluctuating Weather

Last Sunday (4 February) was spent at home. Rather quiet. Did work a bit on a couple of scale models I'm looking finish so I can enter them in the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) contest on 20 February.

Back to work Monday morning and we had lots of vehicles to clean up and ready for the many customers that passed through our door that day. The same was the case the next day, with the added concern for freezing weather. I had some snow to clear off windows that morning, but easily handled. Concern with the weather did force postponement that Tuesday night of this month's Mark Twain Model Club in St. Charles. That meeting has been rescheduled for this Tuesday night.

My birthday in Wednesday (7 February) passed rather quietly. No mention of it at work. After work, I came home to dinner with mom, along with cake and presents. The latter included three casual shirts, which were most appreciated, along with a motivational book mom found, and a movie on DVD I had ordered, "Russian Ark." That night, I chilled out at home watching on DVD one of my all-time favorite movies, and one that was the top movie at the box office the day I was born: "Dr. Strangelove; Or, How I Learned to to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."

Off work Thursday, I went to Jiffy Lube (https://www.jiffylube.com/) to get my Corolla's safety and emissions inspections, as its state registration was due at the end of this month. After finding that my usual location in Mehlville was closing in three weeks, I headed a Jiffy Lube in Concord Village. They were able to do the safety inspection--it passed--but computer problems prevented them from doing the emissions inspection, even after rebooting the computer a few times. They folks there apologized for that, and promised they would get this fixed in the next day or two. I told them I would return in a week to try to get the emissions inspection done.

Home after that, I worked on my 2017 federal and state income taxed. Using TurboTax online (https://turbotax.intuit.com/), I followed the step-by-step instructions to work out my taxes. I ended up getting a nice refund from the federal government, and paying just a bit for the state. I successfully filed my taxes electronically, and printed off copies for my files and to mail to both the IRS and Missouri Department of Revenue--the latter with my payment. This was done during my lunch break the next day.

After getting my taxes done, mom took me out to Red Lobster (https://www.redlobster.com/) in Concord Village for my birthday dinner. I had a nice dinner featuring stuffed tilapia with langostino lobster. Yum. I washed that down with lobster lovers punch, a cocktail of Captain Morgan, Bacardi, and Malibu rum, shaken with berry and pineapple juice and served in a Red Lobster 50th Anniversary glass that I could keep. Very nice.

Back at work Friday--after buying doughnuts from Krispy Kreme (http://krispykreme.com/) for my colleagues--and we had a day that started off rather warm for this time of the year, only to get much colder later that day. Assistant manager Miranda got a big decorated cookie for my birthday, and I had a bit of that after getting lunch from Penn Station (http://www.penn-station.com/) in Ballwin. I helped get it all done by the time we closed up Friday night.

Yesterday, I was home during the day, doing a bit of work on my models and getting some preliminary work done for the IPMS/Gateway newsletter, The Arch Scaler News, which I need to get out this week. I also relaxed at home, mindful of the worsening weather coming that night. A wintry mix--ice and a bit of snow--was coming our way. That night, I learned by email that two soccer games I was to have officiated the next morning were cancelled, due to weather concerns.

Thus, I slept in a bit this morning, relaxed at home, then headed at midday to C4 at Creve Coeur Racquet Club (http://www.c4stl.com/) for boys futsal matches. I was scheduled to work four high school age matches; however, this past week, I was asked to yield my place in the third match of the set so a colleague could be assessed for upgrade. I agreed to this and so I watched that match from near the scorer's table. I trust my colleague passed his assessment. My three other matches went well, though they were a challenge at times and I had to pull out my yellow card a couple of times in these matches. Overall, though,they were fine and all was well at the end.

Watching the Winter Olympics (https://www.olympic.org/) from PyeongChang on TV tonight. I always enjoy the great smorgasbord of sports that is the Olympic games, and these games are wonderful to watch so far.

Later.

Another Birthday in the Books

I worked a week ago Friday (5 February) and the next morning, and things went well. I did my best to help make sure our branch took care of its customers and exceeded their expectations.

Last Sunday (7 February) marked my birthday. It was a quiet time at home, with my mom giving me a gift card and treating me to lunch at TGI Fridays (http://www.tgifridays.com/#gmms-landing-popup) in Concord Village. It was a very nice lunch and then we went home. Watched some of the Super Bowl that night, mostly for the commercials running between the action. I also acknowledged the greetings I received online from friends around the world for my birthday.

The next day (8 February), my colleagues at work celebrated my birthday by giving me a decorated large cookie. That was very nice of them to do so. We got some snow on Tuesday afternoon and night, which came up to about 2 inches (5 cm). I had a real rough drive into work on Wednesday, as a three-vehicle accident on northbound Highway 141 made me an hour late from work. At least I got into work safe and sound.

The past few nights (and weekend days) saw me at my model workbench, working on a couple of models. I am getting them ready for the Out of the Box contest this coming Tuesday night (16 February) at the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) meeting. I am getting close. It was the first use I made of my airbrush since I got the new hose and regulator, and it was been working very nicely for me.

Yesterday morning (12 February), I stopped by Krispy Kreme (https://www.krispykreme.com/) as I usually do every other Friday to get some doughnuts for my colleagues. I also went to Hardee's (http://www.hardees.com/) to buy a sausage and egg sandwich. Proceeds from yesterday morning's purchases are going to Heat Up St. Louis (http://www.heatupstlouis.org/), which helps needy people in the St. Louis area afford their heating bills. I was glad to help people in need.

This morning, I braved the sub-freezing cold to attend this month's Missouri Professional Communicators (http://www.mpc-nfpw.org/cpsiteframepage.lasso?-token.lpuserref=113815.113118) meeting at the St. Louis Artists' Guild (http://www.stlouisartistsguild.org/new/) in Clayton. An intellectual property attorney spoke to the group about the legal side of creativity, covering copyright law, intellectual property ownership, and social media. It was a most interesting talk and I found I learned much from it.

Later.