Quiet on Memorial Day

Last Wednesday night (23 May), I was with the St. Louis United FC group at The Pasta House Company in University City. We enjoyed some appetizers and beer (the latter from 6 Row), and I watched my well-heeled colleagues bid on teams taking part in UEFA Euro 2012 next month in Poland and Ukraine. Several hundred dollars was bid in this Calcutta auction, with half going to the winning bidder and half to a priest in Honduras who's helping improve lives through soccer.

The next afternoon, after a call from my financial adviser who was touching base with me, I attended a business networking event at The Hive @ 44 Business Coworking Community in Fenton. It was the grand opening of the place, where several small businesses have space to start and grow their firms. I did meet a few people there who may be of help in my job search, and my friend Kimberly, who works at The Hive, was co-hosting the event.

It was a rather quiet Memorial Day Weekend for me. No soccer; a youth tournament scheduled for that weekend was called off. (Insufficient interest by teams, I think.) I was going to help register some voters Saturday afternoon in Concord Village, but the person who was supposed to meet me there with the materials did not show. I waited for 25 minutes before calling it a day. What a waste.

I was home Sunday to watch auto racing on TV: first, the Grand Prix of Monaco; then, my favorite, the Indianapolis 500. Monday afternoon, I went to Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Town and Country for their annual St. Louis County Greek Fest. It was an ethnic festival; food, crafts, dance, music. Lots of fun and they had a great crowd. It's one of my favorite ethnic festivals (as is its bookend, the Labor Day weekend festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in St. Louis).

Tuesday (29 May) found me at GO! Network's workshop in downtown St. Louis. The group is shutting down by the end of June, unless am 11-th hour addition of funds came their way. I did chat with two fellow job seekers, so maybe we could help each other out. Tuesday night, I went to the Mehlville High Class of 1982 Reunion Committee meeting, where we went over the classmates contacted and those to be contacted, as info on our reunion in October will be emailed by this weekend. Plus, we got to chat about old times.

Dad was rushed to the hospital this morning. He's been complaining of pains in his lower back and abdomen and hasn't slept well at all. Hopefully, the doctors will get that fixed soon.

Later.

The Answer is: Two Road Trips

The correct question: What did I do this past weekend? More on that shortly.

Mom turned a year older last Friday (18 May), one day after she helped Dad come home from the nursing home. Dad's adjusting pretty well to life back at home, although he still has some pain issues. Therapists come here to help Dad with exercises to help him regain his upper body strength.

I really hit the road this past weekend. Early Saturday morning, I left St. Louis and drove to Overland Park, Kansas (a Kansas City suburb) for the IPMS/USA Region 5 Convention. Several IPMS/Gateway mates were also there, including two who were there as vendors. It was quite a nice affair, doing a bit of shopping, promoting our Invitational this September, socializing with fellow scale modelers, and participating in the model contest. I had two models in the contest (one in aircraft, the other in automotive); neither won, but that's OK with me. Just to enter was victory enough. I did help judge in armor and there were some real good entries which made it hard to determine the top three in some categories. I also took a lot of photos of the models and the show, which I will be presenting at the next IPMS/Gateway meeting. It was a satisfying show and I drove back to St. Louis, arriving that night.

Early Sunday afternoon (20 May), I got back in my car and drove to Chicago, arriving there early that night. I was in Chicago to attend a contestant interview for the game show Jeopardy!, having passed the online test a few weeks ago. That interview was late Monday morning to early afternoon at The Westin--Michigan Avenue, on the north end of the "Magnificent Mile." In about two hours, I: provided the show's producers with contact information and signing an agreement on eligibility to participate as a contestant; took a 50-question written test on various subjects; and, played a mini-round of Jeopardy! with signaling devices, and answered some questions about myself from the coordinator. I felt real good about the process. As a result of this, myself and the 17 others who attended are in the Jeopardy! contestant pool for the next 18 months. There's no guarantee I'll get called to come to Los Angeles to be a contestant on the show (there's about 1500 in the contestant pool, and about 400 regular contestants on Jeopardy! in a year), but at least I'm on the radar.

Also, during that session at The Westin, the coordinator asked us to check under our chairs for a Jeopardy! pen taped to the bottom. Whoever did find that pen won the Jeopardy! video game for the Wii game system. Well, that lucky person was me! I don't have a Wii system, but told the coordinator this gives me an excuse to get one.

Before and after the Jeopardy! session, I drove around part of downtown Chicago, up and down the "Magnificent Mile," as the stretch of North Michigan Avenue with its high end shops and hotels is called. Thus, I stayed well away from the NATO Summit and the protests that was happening well to the south of where I was going. I also drove on a bit of Lake Shore Drive, and had Aliotta Haynes & Jeremiah's 1971 song "Lake Shore Drive" running through my mind.

The Corolla performed brilliantly on my road trips. I was getting up to 37 miles (59.5 km) per gallon (3.8 l) for the highway driving, and there were no mechanical problems at all. From Saturday morning to Monday night, I drove about 1200 miles (1931.2 km).

Back in St. Louis, I was at Larry Ehret's apartment in south St. Louis last night (22 May) for the IPMS/Gateway business meeting. That went well, as we planned the June meetings (general and business) and discussed other club business. I'm off to the St. Louis United FC meeting in University City tonight. Should be fun.

Later.

Doug Visiting; Dad Back Home

Dad was in the nursing home--Nazareth Living Center--when he turned 88 years old last Monday. He came home today after his stay there. I know he's glad to be back on familiar found, and so are Mom and I. He'll still be going rehab for his recovery from hip replacement surgery and regaining his upper body strength.

While Dad was still at Nazareth, my brother Doug flew in to St. Louis from Los Angeles a week ago for a visit. He and I visited Dad and Doug got to spend a few days back here. He showed my parents and I photos of his trip last month to the Bahamas, where he successfully proposed to his girlfriend Helen. Before he flew back to LA on Monday night, Doug invited me to come to Los Angeles this summer, and is offering to help with expenses, and I intend to take up this offer.

I had soccer games last Saturday night (three youth games at St. Louis U. High) and Sunday afternoon (two men's games at DeSoto Park). They went well, including the first game Sunday, when a colleague was getting his annual maintenance assessment. He passed that and the assessor also appreciated myself and the other assistant referee to helping our partner out. After the Sunday games, I came home, showered, changed, and joined my parents and Doug at Nazareth for Mother's Day dinner. (I got some flowers the day before on behalf of my brothers and I, which Mom received with great surprise the next morning.)

Tuesday night at Calvary Presbyterian Church, IPMS/Gateway had its May meeting. Being a contest night, it was a build night and I got some work done on an aircraft model I just started. I also won a gift certificate to CRM Hobbies for having my completed trivia quiz from the club newsletter drawn at random at the meeting.

Last night, I was in Clayton for the monthly Missouri Aviation Historical Society meeting, which featured a talk about a pioneering pilot and flight instructor from southeast Missouri. Prior to the meeting, I was with about 12 others at the initial working meeting for a group planning a history of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. This would be written for the airport's centennial in 2020. I'm offering to help with research, fact checking, proofreading, and rounding up info on Lambert from IPMS members.

Mom's birthday is tomorrow, and this weekend I have two long distance road trips. Saturday, I'm off to Overland Park, Kansas (Kansas City area) for the IPMS Region 5 Convention. Back home that night, I then head for Chicago on Sunday. I have a Monday late morning interview with a contestant coordinator for the game show Jeopardy! If I pass the interview and the quiz, I'll go into the pool of contestants for the show. Wish me luck!

Later.

On My Feet in Various Ways

Last Saturday (5 May), I co-hosted this month's edition of Writer's Block, from Naturally Autistic Radio. Tim Pylypiuk and I discussed comedy and horror writing on the May show, which is now available for podcast download: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/autistic-people-/2012/05/05/writers-block-10amradio-drama-11am-hollywood-hijinx. We'll be back for a new Writer's Block on Sat., Sat., June 2 at 10 am PT/12 pm CT/1700 GMT.

The next day (Sun., 6 May) was a busy one. I started at the Kirkwood Community Center, where I spent nearly 1 hour at the Midwest Model Vehicle Association (MMVA) model car contest and swap meet. MMVA has shows there on the first Sunday in May and the last Sunday in October. IPMS/Gateway had a table at Sunday's show, as they usually do for the May event, to promote us and our Invitational in September. Our club debuted new promotional brochures, postcards and information cards, all very nicely done. I shopped a bit before leaving the show for Laumeier Sculpture Park in nearby Sunset Hills. There, the St. Louis International Connectors (SLIC) Metup got together to walk a trail there. About six of us were present and we walked, admired the sculptures in the park, and got to know each other better. It was a fine time, although rather warm for such an outing. (It was unseasonably warm that day.)

Late that afternoon, I was at St. Louis U. High to officiate two boys' soccer matches. My middle in the first one (an under-16 contest) included my sending off a player for getting two cautions in the match, both for unsporting behavior (here, fouls that injured the opposing player). After we got done that night--and the second match was delayed for 15 minutes due to lightning threat in the area--I had to write out a report on the sending off. I turned that in to the league office the next morning, along with the game cards.

Monday night, I went to the Maplewood Public Library for another SLIC Meetup. This time, our group coordinator, Linsey Daman, demonstrated flamenco dancing, aided by videos of flamenco performances. It was very nice and I learned a lot about this kind of dance.

Tuesday morning (8 May), I was in Creve Coeur for a Yellow-Tie networking event at Centerco Office Suites. It was pretty nice, meeting a few people for the first time, including a freelance copywriter. That night, I was a Crusoe's for the Mehlville Oakville Alumni Association (MOAA) Board Meeting. As Mehlville Class of 1982 representative, I updated the board on the reunion plans, and the board discussed some other matters.

In the meantime: Dad's still at the nursing home, doing OK one moment, and wracked by pain the next. Hopefully, that will be fixed soon. I did a bit of proofreading this week for an editor's client. Additionally, I got IPMS/Gateway's bid proposal for the 2014 IPMS/USA National Convention closer to completion. I should have that wrapped up tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, my brother Doug comes in from Los Angeles for a few days. Should be fun.

Later.

An Interesting Weekend with Books and Soccer

A week ago tonight (26 April), I worked as a bagger at the Greater St. Louis Book Fair in the east garage by Macy's at West County Center. It was my first volunteer assignment at this event, and it came off well. I also worked bagging and cash wrapping at the fair the next afternoon, then I did a bit of shopping that night and again Sunday afternoon. Found a few good reads at inexpensive prices. Currently, I'm well into one of those finds, the book "Rome 1960" by David Maraniss, about the Summer Olympics that year. The Book Fair will be back same time next year, so feel free to visit their website: http://www.stlouisbookfair.org/

Saturday morning (28 April), I refereed some games in Lou Fusz's Midwest Cup Tournament at the SLYSA Complex in St. Charles. I worked three and a half games in the small sided (8v8) games. One of the assigned officials didn't show for the three games I was scheduled for, so I had to do two middles and a line (instead of one middle and two lines), and use a club linesmen for those games. (However, a regular referee did relieve the club linesmen for the second half of the third game.) Then, I filled in as an assistant referee for one half while the assigned official for that crew was late coming from another field. A busy day under sunny skies. Not so that afternoon at St. Louis U. High for three league games. The first and third matches were cut short by severe weather (lightning and strong winds in the second half of the first match, my middle; a tornado warning before halftime in the third). At least all of us--players, coaches, spectators, and officials--stayed safe. Heavy winds and rain on the drive home caused me to stop at a Starbucks for awhile until the weather improved enough to drive home safely.

No weather problems the next day (29 April), as I worked three small sided (two 8v8, one 9v9) matches at the Soccer Park. No real problems on the field, although the first game was missing one team, so the side that showed up pulled players from adjoining fields to play a practice game. At least the kids got to play and the time was not wasted.

Monday the 30th started with a bit of website copy proofreading, which I got done with in short order. That night, I was at Fred Amos' house in Hazelwood for the 2014 IPMS/USA National Convention planning meeting. Things are looking good for the plans, with packets from the Convention and Visitors Commission on the way. I'll be finishing up our part of the packet by this time next week. Should not be a problem getting that all good to go.

I ran the IPMS/St. Louis meeting Tuesday night (1 May), which went well, if generally uneventful. Week's been rather calm. Dad's doing OK in his rehab, although dealing with a bit of pain of late.

I'll be back online this Saturday, 5 May, at 10 am Pacific Time (noon Central Time; 1700 hrs GMT) with this month's edition of Writer's Block from Naturally Autistic Radio. Tim Pylypiuk and I will be discussing comedy and horror writing during the hour. Hope you can tune in (or catch the archived show later that day). Info at http://www.naturallyautistic.com./radio-show. The show is steamed through Blog Talk Radio, http://www.blogtalkradio.com

Later.

Meetings and Refereeing, with a Book Fair Ahead

One week ago tonight (19 April), I attended the Missouri Aviation Historical Society's monthly meeting in Clayton, where a presentation on the US Navy's Blue Angels was made. It was an enjoyable and informative program, which included a history of the display team and video of one of the Blue Angels' shows. I touched base with the presenters after the meeting, and told them about IPMS/Gateway. They were interested enough to give me their business cards, and I hope to contact them soon regarding speaking at a club meeting or banquet.

I had a busy weekend of soccer refereeing, starting Friday night (20 April), with lines on two under 14 boys matches at the Scott Gallagher Complex. The next afternoon found me at the Soccer Park, where I worked four 8v8 (under 11 and under 10) boys matches. The plan was for me to do two middles and two lines, but the colleague scheduled to do the other middles had to help cover an adjacent field, so I ended up with all four games in the middle. It was fine, working with two colleagues with little experience in officiating, but it ended up well. Sunday afternoon (22 April) had me at Scott Gallagher again for three under 14 boys matches. My middle was in the first contest, a rather even match (1-1 draw) that was rather interesting near the end with an injury causing me to add time. I sure felt tired by the end of the third game that day, but satisfied in having been an effective referee that day. That's nine matches worked in 48 hours.

Gokul, an Indian restaurant in west St. Louis County, was the site of the Human Sexuality and Relationships in the 21st Century (HSR21) Meetup Monday night (23 April). About 12 of us were there to discuss ideas for cheap first dates in Metro St. Louis. We had a fine time, I thought. The next morning had me at the GO! Network weekly meeting at the St. Patrick Center in downtown St. Louis. Several GO! alumni discussed how they landed their jobs, with ideas for the audience (including myself). That night, I was at Brad and Julie's Vaughn's house for the IPMS/Gateway business meeting. We planned the May meeting and discussed other matters, including my proofreading a club brochure. (Very little needed changing, I thought.)

Last night, I was refereeing under 14 boys matches at Sportport in Maryland Heights. It was unseasonably warm (upper 80s F for the day's high) and the action got rather hot in my middle in first match. It ended up 3-1, with all goals in the first half, but one or two more goals could have been scored in the second half. I had an injury to deal with (a player off the ball fell down hurt, possibly a knee ligament problem), and a player I cautioned for running into the opposing goalkeeper late in the match, but overall things worked out well. I have a busy late this weekend: Three 8v8 games in St. Charles for a tournament on Saturday morning, three under 14 league games in west St. Louis that afternoon, then three more 8v8 games the next day in Fenton.

Tonight, I work the first of two volunteer shifts at the Greater St. Louis Book Fair, which runs tonight through Sunday at the lower level of the Macy's East Parking Garage of West County Center in Des Peres, Missouri. This book fair--which I have attended often in previous years--is the Midwest's largest charity book sale, with proceeds benefitting local education and literacy programs. I work tonight and tomorrow (Friday) late afternoon-early evening. Hope to see you there! For more information, please visit www.stlouisbookfair.org.

Later.

A Wet Weekend, and Dad's Good News

Last weekend, a lot of rain fell on St. Louis. Last Saturday (14 April), I was first in Richmond Heights, Missouri to attend the monthly MPC (Missouri Professional Communicators) meeting at The Heights. It was a presentation on getting published by two authors--one of trade books on nutrition, the other on social good writing. I was the only man there among some 18 women attending the meeting, but I felt welcome and it gave me a chance to do a bit of networking.

Right after that meeting, I headed to Mueller Field in St. Charles, where I was scheduled to referee tournament games that day. I knew before I drove to the MPC event that the early games at Mueller were called off due to the heavy rain, but when I arrived for my first scheduled game, nobody was there. I called my assignor and he confirmed that all games in the tournament were cancelled, due to the wet field conditions. (I explained that I had been away from my computer late that morning, and he understood.) The next morning (15 April), I did two league games on the artificial turf football field at St. Louis U. High, and they went well.

Monday afternoon (16 April), Dad had his right hip replaced by an artificial one at St. Anthony's Medical Center. I arrived in the waiting room, where Mom was, while Dad was under the knife. The surgeon arrived after the operation to tell us that it went well. This afternoon (19 April), Dad was being released from St. Anthony's to go to an assisted care facility near our house to recover. He's been rather weak lately, with little appetite, and this care center would be better for him than at home for a few days. Our family's received quite a bit of support from family, friends and well-wishers in recent days, which has been most appreciated by us.

Last Tuesday night (17 April), I got Calvary Presbyterian Church's Lewis Fellowship Hall set up for the IPMS/Gateway meeting. Two days before, Rich Dann said he had to go out of town, due to a death in his fiance's family, and asked if I could give his Centennial of Naval Aviation Heritage Paint Project presentation in his place. I said yes and Rich emailed the presentation to me. It worked out well, as I presented this as best I could. The attendees liked the talk a lot. I'll probably see Rich tonight, at the Missouri Aviation Historical Society's monthly meeting in Clayton.

This afternoon, I proofread some website copy for a editor's client. I got all 19 pages proofed and sent back right away, and may have some more work from her next week. Always welcome.

Yesterday, I broke down and bought a new computer printer. My two-year-old HP printer finally bit the dust. After shopping around and evaluating projects on CNET, I bought an Epson printer/copier/scanner unit on sale at Office Max. It's hooked up and doing good so far.

Later.