Real Cold with Some Snow

The end of last week went well. Work on Friday (15 January) went well. I brought some doughnuts from Krispy Kreme (https://www.krispykreme.com/), as I usually do every other Friday. My co-workers greatly appreciate my gesture and it gives them a treat to help with getting through the day.

I also remembered my friend in Cuiaba, Brazil, Eliana, on her birthday that day. We are in contact just about every day via WhatsApp (https://www.whatsapp.com/), and she is a very special friend to me.

I made a trip that Saturday morning (16 May) to a branch of First Bank (https://www.firstbanks.com/) in south St. Louis for a bit of IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business. As the club's vice president this year, I needed to get my signature registered with the bank holding our account, so that I am authorized to sign checks as needed. After that bit of business was done, I headed to CRM Hobbies (http://www.crmhobbies.com/) to do a bit of shopping. After browsing awhile and seeing some of the new items for sale, I bought a couple of decal sheets for model kits I have that I hope to build in the coming year.

It got real cold over the past weekend, with temperatures getting down to 10 degrees F (-12 degrees C). On Tuesday afternoon (19 January), before I flexed out of work, it started to snow. We got about 2 inches (5.1 cm) by early the next morning. Due to the anticipated snowfall, myself and the rest of the IPMS/Gateway board decided that afternoon to postpone our general meeting by one week. That meeting--which features our annual Swap & Sell, and Kit Auction--will be held this coming Tuesday night (26 January). We made this decision out of consideration for the safety of our members traveling to and from the meeting.

I spent some time that night working on the new issue of Middle Marker, the journal of the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (http://moavhist.org/). It's a bit of a process, laying out on the computer when I'm trying to get more comfortable with this process. I should have some of it done to show to the society's board at tonight's meeting at Creve Coeur Airport (http://crevecoeurairport.com/).

Later.

Down and Up Temperatures This Week

We had ourselves a cold start to this past week, with temperatures below freezing. It got down to 10 degrees F (-12 degrees C) on Monday morning (11 January), which meant I had to bundle up for work. Being outside and in the cleaning bay much of the time, I felt the chill. I certainly welcomed the times when I was in the office or in a warm vehicle.

Despite the conditions, we at the rental branch got our customers taken care of in good order. We are in good spirits and putting in our utmost efforts every day.

After a real cold start yesterday, the temperatures warmed up to reach 45 degrees F (7 degrees C). It had reached that level today, under a clear sky. I'll try to get out a bit later today.

I was doing my laundry this morning and will be doing some editing work later today.

Later.

Back on the Online Radio and Into 2016

A week ago yesterday (2 January), I co-hosted Writer's Block, from ANCA Radio. Host Tim Pylypiuk and I discussed Miguel de Cervantes' classic novel "Don Quixote" and its influence on Western literature. The program--followed by Radio Drama--can be accessed here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/autistic-people-/2016/01/02/writers-block-don-quixote-10am-pstradio-drama-the-princess-pt-one-11am-pst.

After the show and lunch at home, I headed to the Church of the Immacolata (http://www.immacolata.org/) in Richmond Heights, Missouri. There, I took in the 7th Annual Mary McDermott 3rd Grade Basketball Tournament for boys and girls Catholic Youth Council (CYC) teams. This tournament was a fund raiser for a new hybrid cardiac catheterization suite being set up at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital (http://www.cardinalglennon.com/Pages/default.aspx). This unit will be named for Mary McDermott, an Immacolata parish member and student who died at age 24 in December of 2008. I am friends with Mary's father, graphic designer and soccer commentator Bill McDermott (http://www.mcdermott-design.com/bio/), and I saw Bill at the tournament. Funds were raised through admissions, concessions, and a silent auction of memorabilia. I was very happy to help out this cause in at least a small way.

Back at work last Monday (4 January), I did my part to keep out rental branch going great. We said goodbye to Hannah this past week, as she transferred to the Airport location, and welcomed Alex from the Airport to Ellisville.

After flexing out of work on Tuesday afternoon, I started work on the new issue of Middle Marker, journal of the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (http://moavhist.org/). I spent some time going over the tutorials for InDesign, the software for laying out the publication, and got going. I am anticipating getting this done by next Thursday, when the Society next meets. I worked on it some more on my off day Thursday (7 January).

Friday saw a change in our TV service at home. After about 5 1/2 years using AT&T U-verse, my mom and I switched to DirecTV (http://www.directv.com/). Mom found they had a better package for the money than U-verse. We made sure our televisions were hooked up and running properly, and we could find the many channels available to us. Our voice and Internet remain the same.

While working at the branch yesterday morning, it started to rain, then snow. We got a nice temporary coverage of snow on the ground, but it would not last. The ground was too warm, so the snow melted early that afternoon. It wasn't too comfortable being outside in any case, but my colleagues and I got things taken care of in good order.

After work yesterday, I headed to Kitchen House Coffee (http://www.kitchenhousecoffee.com/) in St. Louis' Tower Grove East neighborhood for the Saint Louis Singles Group 40+ Meetup. There were four others there at the coffee house--more had reserved, but several backed out due to weather concerns. We did have a fine time enjoying coffee and scones, produced locally. (The facility is an extension of an urban farm, with chickens in the back.) This Meetup group can be found here: http://www.meetup.com/Saint-Louis-Singles-Group-Ages-40/.

Last night was cold and windy, with the temperature early this morning reaching 10 degrees F (-12 degrees C). Fortunately, the heater in my room was operating well.

Tonight will find me at the IPMS/Gateway banquet in Oakville. Details on that event in my next post.

Later.

A Wet End to 2015

We got a lot of rain in St. Louis since last weekend. At least 8 inches (20.3 cm) of rain fell the previous weekend. That caused rivers to rise and flooding to occur. The upshot for our rental branch has been that busy Manchester Road became even more crowded, as westbound traffic diverted around the flooded portions of I-44 spilled onto our street. That made it a longer drive for customer pick ups and drop offs, and for just going down the street to put fuel into the vehicle.

The flood waters also altered my commute, as the I-44 and Route 141 interchange was flooded. This made my trip to and from work longer each way. Wednesday night (30 December) was especially bad, as I-55 was blocked due to Meramce River flooding. I had to drive down I-255 all the way to Telegraph Road to get home.

At least the weather is dry for the next few days and the flood seems to have crested, so it should get better in the coming days. There was slight seepage of water into the basement of our house, but no real damage.

Last night (31 December), I was home with Mom, watching TV while the last hours of 2015 ticked away. At midnight, we stepped out onto the front porch to make some noise for a minute in welcoming the new year of 2016. After waking up this morning, we just stayed around the house, going out to Culver's (http://www.culvers.com/) in Mehlville for lunch.

Tomorrow morning (2 January), I co-host the first Writer's Block of 2016 with Tim Pylypiuk on Blog Talk Radio (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/autistic-people-). We'll talk about Miguel de Cervantes' classic story Don Quixote. The show airs live at Noon, Central Time (10 am, Pacific Time; 1800 GMT), and will be immediately archived for reairing from 2 pm, Central Time. I hope you can tune in.

Best wishes to everyone in the New Year. May we all find peace, happiness, and success.

Later.

Christmas 2015

Back at work a week ago (21 December), my colleagues and I busied ourselves to getting our customers taken care of as Christmas approached that week. We had plenty of business in the days before the holiday. I flexed out Tuesday afternoon, as I would work the following Saturday. (More on that later.)

I got the last of the gifts wrapped and put under the tree at home. During that time, though, I came down with a chest cold, which did not feel well. I was able to take some medicine, which helped, but which left me somewhat fatigued. Still, I managed to press on with work and life, and trying to get into the Christmas spirit.

Off work on Christmas Eve, I attended a service at Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/). It was moving and very nice.

The next morning, my mom and I went to our living room, where the Christmas tree was set up, and opened our presents. I gave mom--on behalf of my brothers--an electric knife, which she needed. I received some clothing from mom--including a sweater, lounge pants, casual shirt, and athletic-leisure shirt. I also received a gift card from Rick for Barnes & Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/), in lieu of a book he mailed me that disappeared in transit. Mom and I relaxed at home during the day.

The next morning (26 December), I worked at the rental branch. It proved less busy than expected, due to the rain that was falling. A number of reservations were cancelled due to weather concerns. We got through the morning well, but driving home, some flooding at the I-44/Highway 141 interchange slowed my trip. I had planned to attend a movie that afternoon in St. Charles County with a Meetup group, but bowed out due to weather and driving concerns, plus my lingering chest cold.

That day's mail included two more gifts from Rick to me. One is the DVD "JFK;" the other is the book "To Hell and Back" Europe 1914-1949" by Ian Kershaw. Rick thanked me for the book I sent him, and for the St. Louis Cardinals onesie I sent to her daughter--and my goddaughter--Kate.

I basically chilled out this past weekend, trying to save my strength for the week ahead. I was at work today and it was not as busy as normal for a Monday, due to the rainy weather, but things went well nevertheless.

Later.

One Week Closer to Christmas

Work this past week has been very good. We are keeping things moving along with exceeding our customers' expectations. My manager presented my annual review on Friday (18 December), two days ahead of my three-year service anniversary. I am most happy to report that the report was all positive, with high marks all around. I really had nothing to add to that, but am most happy.

Tuesday night (15 December) after work, I was at the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) meeting at Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) in Mehlville. After two years as the club's secretary, I was elected vice president for the coming year. It was also a great night in two other areas. One, I had the highest score in the annual recognition contest (22 of 25 correct). This contest consisted of photos of aircraft, cars, armor, ships, and miscellaneous subjects. Four of the five photos in each category was of the subject, with the last being the sprue of parts for the subject. We had multiple choice answers to choose from on the answer sheet.

The second great takeaway from the night was in winning one of 10 kits the club was giving away. Each member had one ticket and if it was draw, one could pick from any of the kits on the table. I chose the Revell 1:32 UH-1D Huey Gunship kit.

The next night, the old and new club officers gathered at Brad and Julie Vaughn's house in House Springs for the IPMS/Gateway business meeting. (It was moved up by six days due to Christmas this coming week.) We planned the January general and business meetings, planned the 2016 Modeler of the Year contest special categories, and handed off from the old board to new.

Off work Thursday (17 December), I got my hair cut at Great Clips (http://www.greatclips.com/) in Mehlville. The stylist did the usual splendid job on my hair. Then, it was off to the Enterprise branch in O'Fallon, Illinois where my former colleague from Ellisville Tommy is the manager. I gave him his Christmas card and some cookies for the staff. I then visited the Kirkwood branch to give its new manager Kelley her Christmas card.

I also activated my new phone, which arrived the day before. It's a Samsung Galaxy 6S (http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/all-products?filter=galaxy-s) from CREDO Mobile (http://www.credomobile.com/), a quantum leap over the LG Volt I was using from Virgin Mobile. After settling matters with Virgin, I got my phone activated and transferred my contacts and apps from the old phone to the new.

I went after work Friday night to Elmo's Love Lounge (http://www.elmoslovelounge.com/) in University City for Stress Free Fridays (https://twitter.com/stressfreefri), a networking happy hour meeting at various establishments in the St. Louis area. I brought two cans of food for donation to a food drive being held there. It was very nice seeing Mark Anthony Jones and the group again; due to my work, it's hard for me to get to these events after a long day of work.

Yesterday, I completed my Christmas shopping and mailed just about all remaining Christmas cards. Glad to get all that done. Last night, I went to the International Tap House (http://www.internationaltaphouse.com/) in St. Louis' Soulard neighborhood. The St. Louigans (http://stlouligans.com/) supporters group held its annual Christmas party. I had a nice time there, that included bringing some clothing for the group to donate to Peter and Paul Community Services. While there, I ran into my colleague Cayla, who was with others for dinner at a nearby restaurant and was waiting for her table to be ready. We chatted a bit before Cayla's party was called.

After a while at the International Tap House (including two beers), I had a slice of pizza and a soda at Epic Pizza & Subs (http://www.epicpizzaandsubs.com/) next door. I had the Toasted Ravioli pizza and it was most tasty.

I attended service at Calvary Presbyterian Church today, staying around for fellowship afterward. Then, I stopped by Best Buy Mobile (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/promo/cell-phones-20151220) at South County Center (http://www.shopsouthcountycenter.com/), where I got a screen protector and a car charger for my new phone. The guy from Best Buy even applied the screen protector to my phone for no charge while I was there. Very good of him.

Later.

Meetups, Visiting Colleagues, Referee Clinics, and Hot Chocolate

A week ago Saturday (5 December) was busy, although I didn't have an episode of Writer's Block to co-host, as it was cancelled for this month. However, I did attend a pair of Meetups. First, the Saint Louis Area Sippers (Coffee Meetup) (http://www.meetup.com/Saint-Louis-Coffee-Meetup/) got together at Cafe Ventana (http://cafeventana.com/) in midtown St. Louis. Nine of our group got together over coffee and caught up on things. A very nice time we had together, and at a wonderful place.

That night, I was with the Ethnic Restaurant Fans (http://www.meetup.com/Ethnic-Restaurant-Fans/) Meetup group for dinner at Flavor of India (http://www.flavorofindiastl.com/) restaurant in Creve Coeur. Our group of 20 enjoyed a very tasty buffet of Indian cuisine, and I greatly enjoyed the food and company that night.

Back to work on Monday (7 December), things have been going well. Plenty to keep us busy. After flexing out Tuesday afternoon, I paid a visit to the three nearest branches to mine. First, in Ballwin, I brought cookies to the staff and gave Christmas cards to Cory and Adam there. Next, I was at the Manchester branch, with cookies for all and cards for Maggie (who just started as manager there) and Meggie. Finally, I went to the Kirkwood branch with cards for Derek, Mel, and Kim, plus cookies for all. At these branches I visited, they all greatly appreciated the gesture.

After coming home that Tuesday (8 December), I took and passed the online futsal referee test, and took that result with proof of payment to Lamborghini Gold Coast Athletic Centre (http://lamboathletic.com/) in St. Charles for the annual recertification clinic. A good crowd of referees was on hand to learn of points of emphasis, plus time on a court for exercises in mechanics. At the end, I got my 2016 futsal badge for my uniform.

My off day Thursday found me visiting more branches in the morning. This started with the one in Columbia, Illinois, where I left cookies and card for Tim, who was away when I arrived. Then, it was the Airport branch, where I had cards for Alex, Kerry, and Adrian. I chatted a bit with Alex and Kerry, who were there. Traveling northwest, I stopped by the St. Charles Car Sales location and chatted with Anthony, bringing him cookies and a card. I then left a card and cookies for Dan at the St. Peters rental branch. Finally, it was the branch in Fenton, where I chatted with Drew and Kevin. A most productive morning.

That afternoon, I took and passed my outdoor referee test. All was ready for the recertification that night at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park (http://www.stlcc.edu/FP/). We went over the rule changes (very minor), plus viewed video of game situations and went over points of emphasis for our youth soccer matches. I received my 2016 referee patch and Laws of the Game at the end of the night there. I treated myself to a milkshake at a nearby Steak 'n Shake (http://www.steaknshake.com/) before driving home.

After work yesterday (12 December), I got the car washed and bought some cargo pants. I also went to bed early that night, for an early wake up call the next morning.

Today, I was up around 4 am, as I had to be in downtown St. Louis by 5:45 am. For the second year in a row, I was a volunteer at the St. Louis Hot Chocolate Run (http://www.hotchocolate15k.com/stlouis), 15 kilometer and 5 kilometer runs through downtown St. Louis. Hundreds of runners took part in this event, whose proceeds (along with other Hot Chocolate Runs around the country) benefit Ronald McDonald Children's Charities. I was one of the volunteers working the 15K gear check in, near the start and finish lines south of Soldiers Memorial (http://stlsoldiersmemorial.org/index.php). I and other volunteers took the runners' gear (like wallets, keys, etc.) and stashed them in boxes in the tent. We kept the gear secure, then returned it to the runners after the run. We had no real problems with this process, all runners got their gear back in good order. After my shift ended, I was treated to hot chocolate and some treats (banana, rice krispies treat, mini pretzels, marshmallows) and chocolate syrup to dip the treats in.

After the run, I walked through Citygarden (http://www.citygardenstl.org/) and past Ballpark Village (http://www.stlballparkvillage.com/) back to my car, parked just west of Ballpark Village, and drove home. Time to rest up and get ready for another week of work.

Later.