Scouts In Action-Tsunami Tragedy

Scouts In Action-Tsunami Tragedy
A picture of a man in Sri Lanka cradling his dead nephew made an impression on Gus Winner. The 11-year-old Omahan was so moved that, like many people in the Midlands, he decided to do what he could to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged south Asia on Sunday.

A great story. I love to see Scouts jump into action quickly.

New Design is done

Finally! I've been working on this for a couple of days now. I finished the design a week ago, but didn't know a thing about working with Radio.

I finally went through the trouble to learn just enough to change the RSS feed to include enclosures (I swear I'm going to do a podcast), change the back-end a little, and get my design working.

By the way, the picture at the top of the page is me and my oldest, Curtis, taken in early December at our Pack's Winter Campout.

Maybe I'll quit messing with the design and actually focus more on content.

Scouting recruitment for all

Scouts busy recruiting (The Herald Tribune)
There's magic in the number 100. That's the number of new scouting recruits that the local Boy Scouts of America wants to sign up during a special recruitment drive this week.

This story got me to thinking: Has anyone ever done a joint Cub Scout/Girl Scout/Boy Scout recruitment drive? If so, drop me a comment, I'd love to know if it was worth doing and how to do it.

The calm before the storm

I really forgot how nice the holidays can be. Sure, the gifts, family, food and fun are all great, but I mean the break from Scouts!

While I was cleaning off my desk and getting ready to regroup for the week, I realised I hadn't done anything Scout related in the last week. I hate to say it, but I was glad.

I give a lot of time and effort to Scouting September through Mid-December and January through May; I forget that I'm not really burned-out, just need a small break.

I'm sure you other Scout Leaders can relate.

So, I'm off to spend a few minutes getting the kids up. Hopefully, Curtis and I will work on his Pinewood Derby car some more today. We'll see if I can get a podcast recorded before Tuesday morning also.

Pinewood Derby Award List

Here's a list of my favorite Pinewood Derby awards. Our Pack is running our PWD at the end of January. We do give out participation awards to everyone, but I really think the Scouts who put in the extra effort should be recognized above and beyond.

Cubmaster's Award-Most representative of Scouting
Most Realistic Car
Best Old-Time Car
Most Valuable Car-The car that ended up with the most money glued to it to make weight
Best Crash
Strangest Shape
Most Futuristic

We usually make the awards ourselves. They mostly consist of a stained wood block with some sort of gold painted item glued to it (a 6" ruler for Most Realistic, a giant penny for Most Valuable). They're fairly cheap and quick to make and the Scouts really like seeing a big pile of awards on the table.

Capitol Area Council will get a new home!

Former Boy Scout donates $2M for new center (BizJournals)
The Capitol Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America plans to build a new service center in Austin, thanks to a $2 million gift from council board member Frank Fickett.

All I can say about this is: THANK GOD! The current Capitol Area office/shop is a former church and it is cramped. They've been talking about a new Scout shop somewhere in north Austin for a year or two, but nothing has ever come of it. Maybe they'll find a site a little closer to my neck of the woods.

Our Winter Campout (Review)

So here's the story on our Pack's campout-only a week too late.

Beautiful weather both nights (12/10 and 12/11). It got to 32 degrees on Friday night, so everyone earned their "Polar Bear" badges. It was not nearly as cold as the 17 degrees it was last year.

When Curtis and I showed up to the campsite (Canyon of The Eagles-Burnet, Texas) we were all ready to set up our tent, which has been really messed up since the "lantern incident" a couple of years ago (more on that another time). One of our Den Leaders comes up and tells me that the beautiful tent set up next to the spot we were going to set up on is our NEW TENT! Kick-ass! It was all uphill from there.

Saturday, the Scouts all had a great time, lots of Capture the Flag and playing down by the lake. Saturday evening, we did our flag retirement ceremony.

I've been part of retiring American flags for 3 years now; this one was the best so far. We had 4 Scouts as our color guard and they were spot-on perfect. Not bad for Scouts who only got to practice once 2 hours beforehand. All of the other 24 Scouts who participated were very respectful; I wish they were that way all of the time. It's the only time during the Scout year that I get emotional.

Came back on Sunday, exhausted, but happy. We had a good time and we're going to book the same place again next year.

Bye Dime.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. No one deserves to go out like that.

Here's the story.

You'll be missed.

Our Pack's Winter Campout

Our Pack has a campout coming this weekend. We've got 75-100 people coming. I've been so busy working on the Pack's website, my Mom's website, I have barely had time to even think about this campout, let alone the impact it will have on our Pack.

For the last couple of years, we have had a Winter campout. It usually gets down around freezing (for us in Texas, that's COLD!), but we always have a good turnout. Since it is colder and the days are shorter, I've noticed a marked difference between this campout and our Fall and Spring campouts. Winter campout is usually a more somber feeling; not a much activity. The "Council Fire" is a more subdued event; more quiet.

Not this year. I've got a flag retirement ceremony planned, some religious items and a firestarting ceremony that should wake up the December night. Unfortunately, right now they are just concepts.

I've got less than 24 hours to come up with a full-hour program; I really didn't mean to wait until the last minute, but this week has been so distracting.

So instead of writing in this weblog, I should go work on my campout ceremony. Maybe things will look better tomorrow night.

Weblog Design

I've spent the better part of this morning trying to get our Pack's website back online. Some sort of error at my ISP. I haven't gotten a damn thing done on the campout for this weekend, not even packing or buying food. It's going to be a long couple of days.

While I was waiting for technical support, I realized how terrible this blog looks. I'll get it cleaned up...sometime.

Why am I here?

Why am I here?

Blame Dave Slusher.

I've been listening to a lot of Podcasts in the last month, and I love them. Check my links and you'll see my favorites. Getting those Podcasts has changed my entire commute. Instead of the usual MP3 banter I listen to (Motley Crue, Neil Diamond, stuff like that).

My wife has a skill for writing-something I've always wished I had, but never have. Writing will never be my strong-suit. That's when it hit me. I could do my own Podcast. I've always wanted to be a D.J.- this would be perfect. I like music; I like talking... what could be better?

Enter Dave. In a couple of recent Podcasts, he mentioned another Podcaster with a southern accent and how great it was. Over the next couple of Podcasts, he mentioned how he wanted to hear Podcasts done by people who are "real", not just D.J., "Morning Zoo", generic stuff. He wanted to connect to other bloggers. It definitely resonated in me.

So I threw out the D.J. idea and began to think about the things that make up who I am: my family, parents, brothers; and what I enjoy doing: Cub Scouting, technology, gadgets, web design.

There are a lot of Weblogs and Podcasts dealing with design, gadgets, stuff like that, but none about Scouting.

So here is my weblog about my adventures in Cub Scouting.