My Odds & Ends: The Polar Express Special!!!

[BrandonDaCollector]

I really never saw George Brett play by time I was a major fan but yeah, The KC Royals jerseys are great looking. Fernando Tatis was a really good player, often I think of his unreal record. You'll be seeing more of the 99 Cardinals and a whole lot more next year come Spring

[BrandonDaCollector]

Today is Election Day. I got these in the mail recently. Click the pics for bigger view in a new tab. This is about Amendment 2 which legalizes Sports Betting in My home State of Missouri. I've been seeing many commercials on the Streaming Services featuring "The Wizard" Ozzie Smith, check this out




Now, this says it's "deceptive" so with most of everything you gotta do your research and your best decision




Here's these two videos with the info from Channel 5 KSDK, the Ozzie Commercial and MO's Sports Mascots




I'm not saying if I'm for it or not, I wanted to post that stuff on this Election Day especially since that had Ozzie Smith there and that I just finalized My special Baseball Showcases for this year

[BrandonDaCollector]

So here's a very special showcase. It's sort of a hybrid one because it is similar to one of My Journeys. This is about a one-woman mechanic that is very special Me. Her name is Elaine. Unlike most of today's society, I think of the great people that I once knew from My childhood years thru My later years. If your one of the people that follow Me faithfully then you know from this great Topic of Mine as well as others that I always mention Verna's Mr. T's Video Rental Outlet, Annie Burke & her daughter' Movie Mogul, Judy's Spectrum SuperStore among others. I don't know why people can't talk about the people of their past, by doing so there's such a chance for all of that history to fall to Oblivion...so much of Mine has already that's why I do what I do so it doesn't any further. While people are doing this about likes on SM and being distracted by things that only lasts for a short time until the next distraction...I'm preserving My past as best as I can. So this is how I met Elaine. I was doing My rounds with My Grandma MiMI in the mid 2000s. We needed her Hyundai Accent, her Garfield Express to be fixed fast. So We turned to Holly Hills Auto Service as We see it's by new ownership. It was originally owned by Kreitzer who My Grandpa PoPo knew. He sold his huge Ford to him which I loved that car, it was so comfortable to be in, it smelled so good and I loved it when he picked Me up from school in it as it was a bonus thing to look forward to after school was over. So right away Me & MiMI were surprised how good Elaine was. She was so nice, gave Us discounts and more. We went to her all the time from then on, sometimes just to stop by and say hi which that is what you do to good people. She was also very talkative and actually a ball to have a face-to-face conversation with, this was long before today's obsessive phone age where people are staring at them and phubbing with family & friends She wasn't techy anyway as she was very old school. She had a bald, lazy boyfriend that was there but never did any work and her son that was also named Brandon sometimes worked with her but most of the time she did most of the work. She was a master mechanic and could fix just about any issue with your vehicle. She knew how to get old parts too and ad to order them special. She was wonderful. Before I show some stuff about her, here's where her Auto shop was and still is. Notice the Black Pickup Truck in front of the shop, that's her truck and like Verna, she came to the house and did special stuff for Us These pics come Instant Street View, look at how this was back in the day








Across the street was The Flower Box & The Pumpkin Patch that unfortunately has been gone for a very long time now Look at how cool this was






Behind Elaine is an Advanced Auto Parts. Their still there and are nice nice, Elaine would direct Us to there. They'd come out and put Our windshield wipers on and more




Here's a recent picture of Holly Hills Auto Service that was renamed Fix'em All LLC. After she went out of business, they took her business over, but I never knew them, and they didn't last long and I'm sure they weren't as skilled as her



So, as I try to do, I try to post who the people in My life looked like. Elaine was easy thank goodness because the first time I saw Traci Dinwiddie from CW's Supernatural, I thought holy crap, she looks like Elaine



Now I ask this world, how in the heck could you ever ignore and never ever talk and/or think about such a special woman like that I told her once that if she was younger or if I was the same age as her (she's in her 60s now), I would have hit on her and asked her out She was quite flattered



When I was badly injured and recovering in early 2014, 10 years ago this year (you can see about it back in 2013 - 2014). She gave Me this special, custom-made Keychain for her shop...look at her Logo & Slogan



It Glows in the Dark too



Since then I have placed it on My Insane Keychain which you can see on the very first page of My all-crucial Odds & Odds



In such unfortunate events, her son was gunned down and killed by a gang banger She revealed this to Me one day I saw her at the Holly Hills Walgreens. I was shocked. She was happy to see that I recovered. However, I was even more surprised that she caught & confronted the young killer, got him took him to justice...I said to her...she is one hell of a woman Here's her Business Card



Now, very recently during a couple trips going to the stores with My Mom, I took pics of Elane's Shop. She has been on My mind rather strong all year for some reason. Her shop is still vacant and I would hate to think that her history is in limbo Here's My pictures that I took







Here's this as I wanted to show the inside of her shop as you see many of her tools and stuff that she left behind.







Now here's the inside of the waiting room, many, many a time Me & MiMi were in there as Elaine was talking to Us & checking Us out





Here's the Sno Shack that has been there for a while, look at their lights



They closed on Octotober 1st but will reopen on April the 1st



Here's Advance Auto Parts, sadly there's a chance that this location will close because their closing many locations all over so I wanted to get some pics of this as well






There as you see a hint of all three buildings.



So there's a special of Elaine's Holly Hills Auto Service plus more. I haven't spoke to her since 2018/2019 which is such a shame that We haven't had contact in so long. I know so much changed since 2020 as companies & times continue to milk crap...she wasn't in good physical health, so I just hope that she is still fine I have much more to come very soon, until the next one, I'll see you around

[BrandonDaCollector]

I hope at least someone here saw My great showcase of the one-woman-mechanic Elaine. She was so great, if you didn't then do so as she was My previous Showcase Special, you'll see what a great woman she was/is Today is Christmas Eve so that means there's going to be a special Showcase from Me that will be all about the...



What your about to see is a special duo of the franchise that I got at My local Target not too far after they rebuilt it. It was so cool shopping during the Holiday Season in the mid to late 2000s. First, here's My DVD as you see the front & back of the DVD Case



Here's the inside of it



Now, I also got the Soundtrack to the epic film as well. When I used to buy a movie, I would always want to get the Soundtrack and/or Score I mean this is the funnest part of a movie but sometimes that's not possible but most of the time it is as we should be grateful for it because even with some tremendous films like 89's Ghostbusters II, the score has never been released which is beyond pathetic Target has a good selection of soundtracks and I bought many fine ones from there which is very fun with this hobby seeing & purchasing them in person, it's really one of the coolest things you can buy plus it makes you feel really special So, here's the Soundtrack that is by various artists but I mostly cared for Alan Silvestri because I knew him from when I was a youngster as he did Predator, Back to the Future Trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and so much more. He's one of the best composers ever and one of the last of the originals



Here's the inside of the Album




Here's a complete look at the great looking Booklet













Here's the back of the Album



Here they both are together as you see the 2004 & 2005 Copyrights, always check them to see who made what & when which this year celebrated the 20th Anniversary of The Polar Express hence why I posting this Showcase



Here's My local Target on Hampton & Chippewa, the super fun area that I've known since I was little that I have talked about and shown prior as I have so many good memories from there









This is the US Bank that Me & My Grandma MiMi used to go to before We'd stop at Target. To the left is the great Buder St. Louis Library...Hampton Village is right across the street that I've shown before within My all-crucial Odds & Ends



Earlier today, I posted two great Cues by Alan Silvestri in Packer's Christmas Music Topic which you can hear that they are two of the all-time best I hope you liked this...there's much more coming soon. Have a very Merry & Safe Christmas