GKlose

I'm about ready to embark on the practical phase (that is, I'm writing my ticket now). While I keep getting drawn to lofty goals, I have to constantly remind myself to not be so ambitious, and keep things reasonable. No single item seems to be too overwhelming, and I think I want to space them out over a full year and a half. Some individual "projects" are projects that I was hoping to do with the troop anyway. I've just now codified them into the ticket. I think my wife understands me -- she knows that this is important for me, and that I would like to Do My Best. At the same time, she is very supportive of the troop and scouting in general (she was a stand-in Cubmaster this last year, for my younger son's pack -- but so far no official involvement with my older son's troop). It helps that she had two brothers that are Eagles. Guy

One of the things I did, with both of my sons' bear dens, is the family history/tree part. I showed them a document I started with (an uncle drew an actual tree, with family members as branches, going back to the earliest known relatives -- albeit, with a lot of mistakes). Then I showed them how I looked up more information and showed them the "standardized" genealogy sheets I created. Took just a couple of minutes. We talked about "relative" and "ancestor" and terms like that. Then I gave them a blank copy of a kids' genealogy form I found (I don't know the link, but I think it is easy to find by Google searching for "genealogy for kids" -- this form was on a PBS kids' site). Then I had them sit down with a parent and fill in everyone they knew (parents, grandparents). Altogether, I think it maybe took 15 to 20 minutes of den meeting time. I didn't have my stuff in a genealogy program at the time, but I do now. I probably could take a laptop and show them stuff going back quite a few generations. Guy

One more quick thought: has anyone seen "A Mighty Wind" which was done by the same people that did "This Is Spinal Tap"? It pokes very good-natured fun at the whole folk music scene of the 60s. I especially enjoyed because that is the kind of stuff I grew up listening to...my parents were big fans of folk.

I have an old Smithsonian collection of children's folk music on CD, and the "Ridin' In The Car, Car" song I think goes back to Woodie Guthrie. Very cool song. Guy

My moment was my first "D" in school, ever. College, freshman Physics, which also happened to be my first ever physics course. I had zero clue. My dad saw my grade card, and simply said "what happened?" I think he understood because he had always told the story that his physics professor in college was an old German that had worked on the Manhattan Project, and that he couldn't make heads or tails out of what the guy was talking about. Thinking back about it, I'm laughing. I can't even count how many moments since where I've had zero clue. Guy

As a scout, besides our high adventure activities, I had two particular outings that were my absolute favorites. One was a patrol leader training course that took place on an overnight. Late the next day, Friday, the rest of the troop came in for the weekend outing. The other was an incentive outing. Our SM was worried about the popularity of a fundraiser, so he offered the top sellers a chance to "choose your own outing." I can't recall how many of us there were, but the small group of us chose to repeat our favorite all-around annual outing, a caving trip. Except that it was a different month (May versus March). Smaller group, and a different season more or less, in our favorite place. We had bats flying around rather than looking at tons of them hibernating above our heads. Guy

Lisabob -- that's what our pediatrician's office does too, except they have a special "camp form fee" of $20 for filling out the paperwork. I think they get overloaded with camp forms (seems like virtually every kid 12 or under goes to some sort of day camp, or resident camp, or something). Guy

Just another couple of quick experiences: I wasn't really sure about my troop guide, from the first meeting, but over the course of the weekend I realized that he was really growing on us. He's a first-timer in his role, just like we are, and I think all of us started to enjoy growing together. From the start, almost, there was pressure (I thought) to start thinking about tickets. On the other hand, I don't think we really were provided much guidance in either developing our own vision, or about turning goals into ticket items. I finally talked to another couple of troop guides, both of whom I know from previous projects. They were both very helpful, without overstepping, I think. The combination of all three helped me focus a little more, which has helped. My troop guide suggested that we'd probably lay awake at night, thinking about tickets, and you know what? First night at home -- early this morning -- he was absolutely right! When I got up, I organized some thoughts on paper, and I have what I think is a good start on four out of five items. I'll write them up, and present them to him as a first draft. I'm very pleased about that. Another thought about our weekend: overall, I think it was a polite bunch. There wasn't much in the way of inter-patrol rivalry going on. But that didn't stop me from attempting to instigate some. :-) A couple of patrol flags that had been left unattended found themselves being relocated. Not in a mean way, just relocated to a nearby, less visible place. They were quickly found :-). At a troop assembly, a member of the Buffalo Patrol was getting a little too "flowery" with a description of one of their projects, so I stepped forward and suggested that maybe the Buffaloes were spreading a little too much fertilizer, and that got a big laugh. But ultimately, it didn't go anywhere. I won't push it (too much) if everyone else doesn't want things to go that direction. Guy (Owl Patrol -- who would have dominated "Scout Jeopardy" if it weren't for the one Venturer in the troop -- he ran the category in both rounds, and beat us by a couple hundred points)

I was one of the few to bring a seat cushion, and I'm glad I did. Seating in the hall was on hard-seated folding chairs, and seating in our patrol area was on picnic table benches. I frequently stood up and moved around. In our case, the course was held at a local camp, and the craft lodge was open for us. We all had decorated our patrol flags (but we had to do so quickly). Bringing crafty-type stuff for decorations is not a bad idea. They give you lots of handouts (and we were provided a 3-ring binder), but having some extra paper isn't a bad idea. Bring a good attitude. Your future patrol members will thank you for it. Our patrol has had fun, even though we were rushed and always tired. I can't really recall spending much time in the "storming" phase -- then again, maybe that's still in store for us :-). Guy

I just got back last night from the 1st weekend of a 2-weekend offering. The next one is about a month from now. I'm still tired, but it was mostly a good experience. My patrol is looking forward to our tasks at hand and meeting again soon, and working through our projects for the second weekend. Yes, we had a "Gilwell Hall" too, and we spent a bit of time there. At first, I wasn't so hot on the idea of watching "the movie" for the 8th or 9th time (and I think it is a great movie; one of my favorites), but this time around I took advantage of the suggestion to watch it from the team-growth aspect we were asked to watch it from, and I enjoyed the discussion afterward where some others picked up on some themes that I hadn't noticed before (I'm trying not to give away too much right now). On the other hand, I felt like we spent more time in our patrol areas than any place else. I enjoyed meeting and working with them, and I wished we could have spent another couple of hours in the "Who Me" game. There was also a game held at Gilwell Hall (WBers will know what I'm talking about) that really irritated some patrols and troop members. I know it was designed to do that, and after about a half hour, coupled with the idea that I was very tired, I got irritated too, but I couldn't really put a finger on it. When I had a somewhat overbearing ASM suggesting to me that I pick up my energy level, I think I probably gave him one of those looks that a petulant teen gives an overbearing parent. I think someone walked out, and there was a rumor the next morning that someone left the course overnight, but that rumor later proved inaccurate (the course member wasn't able to get off work that day). One person, a district training chair in real life, gave an earful to the course director how "that game" is not what the BSA preaches (about positive messages and reinforcement). Other than that, honestly my least favorite parts were the lectures in Gilwell Hall. We had a string of rather weak presenters I think. Whenever we were dismissed from the hall, I felt relief that we could get back to work and having fun in our patrol area. Guy

Yes, I think that is what is meant by ODL. It is being phased out -- there is "yet another BOGO sale" (buy one - get one) that ends today. See Scoutstuff.org and click on the sale link. Until the stock is pretty much exhausted I would expect more BOGO sales to continue.

Whew! I know how much work this is -- I was part of a playground committee for a preschool back around '01, and my wife just finished a 3-year, 3-phase project (as a volunteer) to get a playground rebuilt at one of our local elementary schools (budget cuts in our district have forced elementary school PTOs to fend for themselves, fundraise and arrange for construction). We both were faced with a lot of "helpers" that really just wanted to look through the catalogs and pick out something cool-looking, but there is so much more to building a playground than that (site prep, federal safety regulations, etc). $60k sounds like a lot of money for a playground, but it isn't. It takes real talent to make the money stretch that far to make a usable playground. It's impressive what Alex has done.

My first weekend starts tomorrow morning.

Last night at our district roundtable, our DE went over the basics for our contingent (he's the staff adviser for the contingent). My son is signed up, so I already knew what was up. Our total cost is $1500pp. The DE told us it is "all inclusive" except for "walking around money and uniforms". But I also know they reserve the right to change the fee up until the last moment. Our transportation costs are fairly low -- we only live about 10 hours north of D.C. Guy

Smithgall, better start growing your hair out now. :-)

I ran into a circumstance this last year with our "feeder pack" -- the W2 den was a small and very gung-ho group. They'd finished all activity badges and AoL by early spring, however their pack doesn't award AoL or crossover until the end of their program year, which happened in early June. They've now since crossed over, but I kind of danced around the issue with the den leader dad (who is an Eagle and is now on our troop committee). I couldn't exactly tell him that the pack is dragging their feet on this, so I suggested he start bringing his den to our troop meetings. It was convenient -- their den meetings were usually held on the same evenings as our troop meetings. The applications were eventually turned in, but I don't know exactly when they officially transferred. Guy

Hey, I'd never propose such heresy! :-) It doesn't make sense to me either -- so I'm wondering if the "it's on Tuesday" or the "it's on Thursday" dodge was because of some other underlying problem with the roundtable. Another strange problem is that roundtable attendance seems to mirror district camporee attendance. I tend to see the same faces all the time. Guy

Look at the top of this webpage! Bill isn't overlooking all of us for nothing... But, to answer your question, Kudu's website is interesting (inquiry.net), but I don't know of any other sites that cover the legacy of Bill so thoroughly. And Bill's legacy is tied up in the manuals he authored. On suggestions from others here, I've found old Scout handbooks and the 3rd edition Scoutmaster handbook (2 volumes) he authored. They weren't that expensive, and they are easily found through amazon.com. Guy

Just a couple of quick data points: Our district does the rotating roundtable nights. Started last year, based on a suggestion. Seems like half the troops in the district meet on Tuesdays, and half meet on Thursdays. So the R/T commissioner is rotating Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our troop meets on Mondays, so I regularly drop in on roundtables. This isn't scientific, but it seems like I pretty much see the same faces all the time. Second item: at our district committee meeting this last week, the district commissioner told us that by request of the unit commissioners in our district, he'd like to schedule a combined commissioner and district committee meeting for next month. I think it's a good idea. It may take longer than usual for us to get through an agenda, but I think it would help to have everyone together every now and then. Maybe that's what a coordinated district meeting is. Or perhaps it is all district committees in your council meeting at once. I've requested, from my DE and Ass't. SE, to get in contact with others that serve the same function as me (membership) to talk about the possibility of arranging a meeting or workshop. Quarterly would be great, but I'd be happy if we could meet once and see how well it goes. Guy

My course starts up in about 3 weeks (one weekend in September, one in October). I'm looking forward to it. While I haven't started to think about a ticket yet, I thought it might be helpful if I started to write down some "improvement" ideas (for lack of a better term) that I've been thinking about for awhile. Whether or not they can lead to ticket items, I don't know. I just wanted to have a list to draw from, if necessary. My DE and I had lunch last week, and he told me something funny about one of his training sessions. The people who led it had a table filled with all sorts of "manipulatives" (various small toys, for those that don't know "edu-speak"). One of the trainers later told him that it was well-proven that some people learn better if their hands are busy with something (even something unrelated to what they are learning). My DE admitted he must be one of them, because he spent a few days with a Slinky in his hands. Guy

I'm attending a session that starts in about a month. I had similar questions a few months ago, prior to committing to attending. But I'm a "go with the flow" type of Guy too. I've already met at least half of the training staff, and a small handful of the participants. I'm looking forward to it. Although I haven't start to contemplate ticket items yet, I have started a list of projects, some of which may or may not become good ticket items. I'll work that out with my Troop Guide. Guy

Last summer, I registered to be an MBC (first timer). This year, I asked our DE if I would need to reregister, and he told me not to worry, that someone would be contacting me. Sure enough, after a few weeks, I received a list of the merit badges I cover, a blank application (and council CORI form), and instructions that told me I would have to reregister to be left on the council MBC list. I have no idea how much admin time and money it takes to create those lists, address envelopes and mail them, but it seems like a fairly convenient system. Guy

I got the beginnings of the idea here, but for a pack we belonged to last year, I thought it would be fun to do "Who's Smarter Than A Cub Scout?". The idea was to make up a series of questions in game-show format, and set up a competition of pack parents against their Cubs. If the questions were funny enough, and the stakes high enough, I thought it might be enough to keep a bunch of Cubs interested during a pack meeting. The questions would have been Tiger-level, Wolf-level, etc, most pulled directly from their achievements. I thought it might have been fun. CC/CM shot it down. Still might be fun for someone else to do, but we're out of Cubs now. Guy

That's the funny thing about all this. There are relatively new Scout swim trunks: http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=APPAREL&C3=AOTHER&C4=&LV=3&item=644BSST&prodid=644BSST^8^01RTL& The price is very reasonable, at $9.99 a pair. I'd agree, unnecessary, but reasonable. 100% nylon, mesh lining, pockets, logo, etc. Make a set of shorts with similar specs, and a fly I suppose, approved for uniform wear, and the price is now $20 more. Guy

Our troop just got back from a 6-day trip on the West Branch of the Penobscot and Chesuncook Lake in northern Maine. Unfortunately, I couldn't go. But according to my son, they didn't see a single other group person entire time up there. Guy