OneHour

One of our District' goal in order to earn quality district title is x new troops in the district. Hence, our DE and district staff will try to find avenues and venues to create new troop. Sometimes, it is needed. Other times ... it is counter productive to have a 10 boys troop!

We are 6 years old and we have 8 eagles. 13 are Lifes. Of those 13, 4-5 might be Lifers! They simply lost interests. 10-11 are new Lifes. 1Hour

scoutldr ... you and I have the same dream! I usually dream about missing my English 301 final and I took that class over 20 years ago! Michelle ... the boys in your den are very lucky to have such a dedicated leader such as yourself! Have a wonderful new year ... and don't worry ... be happy ... and nutty! 1Hour

Wait for PS3 ... end of 1st quarter (http://www.ps3land.com/ ) ... so the projection went. I think that PS3 is backward compatible with PS2 games which should be very cheap by the time PS3 is out. It is HiDef capable (HDMI). or Wait until February and get XBox 360. That's when the Xmas rush is through and they restock those XBox 360. XBox 360 is HiDef capable! I saw the demo and if I were their ages again, I would have fallen in love with it. Not for long though, I can't play any of my sons' games at all! No eye-hand coordination when it comes to these types of games! Why? We're in the same dilemma. Our second son has been very good and he (and his brothers) asks Santa for a PS2. (btw he knows about "Santa"). So I did a little research. I just can't see myself buying and outdated technology, but then again it's about 1/2 the price of the new one. Otherwise, if your son can't wait, then PS2 is the better choice. There are far more choices in terms of games. 1Hour(This message has been edited by OneHour)

Prairie ... agree with ya. The problem is that there are too many well designed and constructed cars (due to the proliferation of information and "short cuts") that the results are very close to each other (to the 100th and 1000th sec). We run Stern's method to ensure all lanes are run by each car. The average time is then counted for the standing. The hardest part is to explain to the kids the average time method. We always ended up with one or two kids wanting to know why his car finishes first in one or two heats but he doesn't place overall! Forever is the battle of fairness in pinewood derby. The laser starting and finish line beats the heck out of eye-ball these fast racers any time and the headaches of determining who came in first, second, ... 1Hour

We bought the 6-lanes aluminum track from Best Track and bought the timer from Micro Wizard. This January will be our 5th year with the track. So far it has been great. We used to have a wooden track, but the Houston humidity did a number on the track ... resulting a lot of "flying" cars. We swapped over to aluminum and loved it. It's easier to put together and it is fast! We even bougth an extension to conduct our open "18-wheeler" class. The Best Track guide rails are hollowed in the middle. So, we don't have to worry about cars with weight mounted on the bottom. The only negative is that the curve is not as gentle as that of the wooden tracks. So if the car is back-heavied, it will pop a wheelie. I understand that Best Track as revised the curve section to have a gentler curve. Best Track will predrill the starting gates and finish line holes to fit the particular gates vendor that you have bought (ours happened to be Micro Wizard - Fast Track). As for Micro Wizard, it has been good so far, except for two years ago when the starting gate laser decided to fail on race day. It turned out that there were a bunch of starting gates from Micro Wizard that have bad batch of laser installed. They replaced the laser and even provided a manual starting gate. Our finish line is Micro Wizard K2 gates that have large LED of the places. Best Track has a sticky foam stop section at the end that works decently. We still have a comforter at the end to catch the ones that get away! As for software, we bought Derby Master from Micro Wizard. It has a variety number of race options and variations. So far ... so good! It is kind of pricey, but not much more than the wooden tracks from Piantedosi. For our area and the lack of air conditioned environment to store the wooden track safely, aliminum track is the right choice for us. It shaved about 1.5 seconds off the fastest time compared to wooden tracks. Good luck, 1Hour(This message has been edited by OneHour)

For us ... it's Mr./Ms. and the first name. It's a little bit formal but not too formal. It shows respect. Until they are the adults' peers, then it will be Mr/Ms. and name. 1Hour

Thank you, gentlemen, and all for your services to keep us safe. 1Hour

We had a crop of 23 new Webelos last spring. 20 remained this year. 1 left the troop because his parents were divorcing. 1 left because his mother didn't think that we are doing enough for him to advance (I found out later that his mother really wanted for him to camp closer to home ... the other troop apparently sometimes camps in the SM backyard! Go figure), and one just was never a scout ... he's only there because I asked him to give it a year ... and he did. Almost 4 years ago, when my oldest came into the troop with 25 other Webelos. After the first year, we had 19 left. Most left because of sport, move, or parents. Of those remaining 19, 14 are now Lifes and 1 is a still a 2nd class. Key to retend 1st year scouts for us? The same as Semp pointed, but mostly keep them busy with lots of fun things to do.

what to give the scouts in your life? a lot of love, a lot of encouragement, a lot of respect, a lot of support, a lot of time, a lot of distance, a lot of chances, a lot of room to grow, a lot of trust, and a lot of space! Other than that ... I usually give my boys what they ask of Santa. 1Hour

Happy Anniversary everyone. Just got our 16th this past Thanksgiving and we are still on our honeymoon! This may sound corny, but we still hold hands while we sleep! (alright ... on a count of three ... ahhhwwwwwwwwww)! She indicated to me once upon a time ... "since you did not give me a girl, this scouting stuff is all yours!" (Lovingly of course!) Yes, she does support me and my three sons through the years ... so far. Just as MikeF and Barry, "I [and my sons] love this scouting stuff (even if she doesn't)!" 1Hour

as for me ... it's a reminder of the amount of hours that I put into scouting every week! One hour per scout per week! 1Hour ps: an hour per parent is a whole other issue!

Cubmaster Jerry, Now ... look at yourself in the mirror and repeat after me. "No No No No 'because, I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me." Now, take three "why does a chicken cross the road" and sing "God Bless My Underwear" and let the activity fails if neccessary! Now, why do adults quit? 'cause of other adults and pride do not mix! 1Hour Come back next

You're welcome ... what's friends are for and besides, I'm trying to live up to what I'm preaching to the boys! After all, a scout is helpful, friendly, kind, and courteous ... to name the relevant ones! You can easily repaint their uniform in blue and gold and no one is the wiser! I personally like the second set of figures from greenway product http://www.greenwayproducts.com/buy_f_sprt_boyscouts.htm. Anyway, have fun and a great Thanksgiving. 1Hour

Oh, okay, dudes, do I have a link for you! How about O Gauge painted 1.5" pewter scout figures? $3.50 each! http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/006/164fhyml.asp or http://towncountryhobbies.com/Painted%20Pewter%20Figures.htm As my son would have said it, sweeet! If you want smaller size like HO Gauge, then these look a whole lot better: http://www.discounttrainsonline.com/Preiser-People-Figures-6-Pieces-Boy-Scouts/item590-10260.html http://www.greenwayproducts.com/buy_f_sprt_boyscouts2.htm http://www.greenwayproducts.com/buy_f_sprt_boyscouts.htm Good luck, 1Hour(This message has been edited by OneHour)

Huntr, Your best bet is still eBay. Here is a metal boy scout bank figurine: http://cgi.ebay.com/Metal-Boy-Scout-Bank-Figurine_W0QQitemZ7726992085QQcategoryZ886QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem There is another metal boy-scout figurine from the Belgian eBay: http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/BOY-SCOUT-figurine-in-white-metal_W0QQitemZ7725242725QQcategoryZ69659QQcmdZViewItem But if you buy these and use 'em for pinewood derby car, it'll be an expensive proposition! For pinewood derby, couldn't you use the standard race car driver figure that they sell the hobby stores and paint him blue/gold? http://www.abc-pinewood-derby.com/car-accessories.htm http://h1071118.hobbyshopnow.com/products/description.asp?prod=PIN348 http://www.hobbymasters.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=471 Here is one called the "Mad Racer Cockpit and Driver" that you can paint to look like a cubscout! http://www.a2zhobbies.com/PineCar/Custom_Parts/PIN-P3920.html Good Luck, 1Hour

Alps Mountaineering tent that I have has been great so far. (see the last post on it http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=48114). Their price is cheap enough to where you can't really go wrong. The Mystique 1.5 that I bought held up through sleet and snow as well as as a rain storm or two with very little water inside. I did, however, resealed every seam as I normally do with all of my tents. It doesn't matter which tent one has, all seams need to be resealed. Got a backpack from them, an internal frame that resembles their current Denali (5000 cu.in.). Great backpack and I have used it for 3 backpacking trips. As they have always said, the bigger the backpack, the more you are going to stuff it and the heavier the load that you'll be bearing! My 2-men tent has come to a point where I may need to retire it. I'm looking at their Taurus or Meramac 2 tent. From time to time, they have sales that are even cheaper than the Pro-Tester discount of 45%. Can't really beat their price and Dennis is fairly good to talk to. 1Hour

Why do you even need to write a letter, dlw? This is not a resignation from a job ... a simple "See ya!" would be suffice! But all seriousness aside, why the long face? If I were you and I was, I would call an all parents meeting and tell 'em about the situation. Give them the ultimatum to roll up the sleeves and pitch or find a new CM. Get the opinions of the peeved off leaders to see what gripes them. Erect a committee out of the remaining parents (I'm assuming that you have a good size pack ... 30?). Solicit the help of the COR, CO, or your friendly neighborhood Unit Commissioner or even the District Executive. The way it sounds ... the pack is on a dive pattern. Once you get the infrastructure group up ... get 'em trained. Finally, act silly and have fun with the kids, because that's your job and only job! That's what I had to do. Now, the Pack is thriving with about 102 boys strong and about 30+ parents helping out. Tonight was our cake auction. There were 7 moms from one den ran the auction. Our CM just sat back and enjoyed the show! We had a live auctioneer as well. If you have other questions, feel free to PM me and I will share with you our experience. 1Hour ps: welcome to the forum. Quitting shouldn't be the only answer. When you quit, the only ones who lose out are the kids. Of course, switching to another pack can also be answer as well.

Lisabob ... the problem is how to determine whether or not it's a precut body or a pre-polished and trimmed axles and wheels. It's easy to figure out non-BSA materials, but it's the car that is completely made from prefab BSA kit! I don't know how anyone ccould tell even from at the district's level or higher. We have open races where everything goes as well as an 18-wheeler truck division to keep the more enthus. parents busied. They really have not broken any pinewood rules other than the spirit of pinewood derby. 1Hour

Semp ... here are some ... Disclaimer first: I do not and will not endorse the following links, manufacturers, products, or their ideals. http://www.maximum-velocity.com/kits.htm#Kits http://www.pinewoodpro.com/pinewood-derby-pre-cut-car-designs.htm http://cgi.ebay.com/PINEWOOD-DERBY-CAR-CUB-SCOUTS-BEST-SPEED-DESIGN_W0QQitemZ7724099899QQcategoryZ404QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&fstype=1&from=R10&satitle=pinewood+derby&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&bs=Search&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1&fsoo=1 You're right. The precut ones at Hobby Lobby and Michaels are fairly easy to spot (the PineCar precuts), but others (from these pictures) will be hard to figure out. Yes, that would be poetic justice if a $5 pinewood brick beats the heck out of the $60 car. It's getting tougher and tougher to make it fair. 1Hour

So ... we now have a plethora of outfits that sell pre-cut BSA pwd cars as well as polished axles, wheels, etc. Our CM asked the question to head off the conflict in our Pack's rules: namely the car has to be from the original BSA kit only. I went online and sure enough there are a lot of outfits sell them. By the time that you have purchased everything, it would have cost you about $40-$60 for a BSA pre-cut car/axles/wheels and that's not include any paint yet nor assembly yet. If you look at eBay, they even sell $80 completed car! His questions were: What should our Pack do with regards to precut bodies? With regards to polished axles and lathed wheels? My answer to him is that: This is a parent/son project. We can't limit them even if we wanted to, because technically they have not done anything illegal. They are using BSA specified kit (eventhough they are precut). They are using specified axles and wheels (eventhough they are polished and balanced). They have not altered any specifications that where the rules of pinewood derby. I pointed out that when we held our pinewood workshop, this is exactly what we were doing ... pre-cut cars, assist in polishing the axles and wheels, teaching them how to lub their wheels, etc. This is to help the power-tool challenged families. By their purchasing the online stuffs is the same principles. The steps that are left are the assembling of the car and the paint job and all that can be done by the boy! As a matter of fact, the more that I think about this, the better is the idea. One thread there was a concern that the parent was doing too much of the car! Well, 60% of the hard work is using the powertool to cut the car (I'm not talking about the coping saw). This is done by the parent. What if the car is pre-cut, unfinished, and the remaining steps can be done 100% by the boy? Would this be good? Anyway, I further told our CM that if any parent willing to shell out $40-$60 to win, then he should convince him/her to go ahead and spend $20 instead of the $40-$60 to purchase the trophy for his/her son, because for $20, his/her cub will guarantee him a nice size 1st place trophy while saving $20-$60! To me it is impossible to determine if the car is professionally pre-cut or not. It is also impossible to tell if the axles have been pre-polished or not. So, I'm not sure how we can uphold the rule that the pinewood derby has to from the original block of wood. What do you think? Have y'all run into this dilema in your Pack? How do you resolve it? Thanks, 1Hour

the blue face got there because you got a colon with an open parenthesis (a typical emoticon). nevertheless, great story. 1Hour ps: check out the available emoticons that are recognized on the forums ... have fun. (This message has been edited by OneHour)

Hi Mike, What I have done in the past with my oldest's den and currently with my second son's den is that we work on a group of pins that are required for Webelos and AoL advancement and a few that I think that are worth emphasizing with the whole den that prepare them for scouting (ie. Readyman, Aquanaut, and Outdoorsman). Each pin usually takes a month to two worth of den meetings to do, because only 40 minutes per den meeting is devoted to advancement, 15 minutes worth of games, and 5 minutes for the business section. For the rest of the pins, the boys can work on it at home with his parents and turn their work in to me, or they can attend a number of webelos pin day/opportunity at our district, summer day camp, nearby museum of natural science or with other pack(s), pins such as traveller, handiman, and scholar can be done at home; engineer, scientist, handyman, athelete can be done at pin day, etc. I usually point out these opportunities and offer to drive (with another parent of course). I also offer to work with them on a few of these other pins on the weekends throughout the Webelos year if they want. All of these are strickly on a voluntary basis. If they have the drive and the initiation then they deserve the recognition. With this format, here is the tally: - 7 out of 8 of the boys in my oldest's den got the 20 pins. - With 1 moved, 1 opted for soccer): 6 out of 8 webelos continued on with Boy Scout - With 1 opted for baseball, 1 dropped because of divorcing parent: 4 made it 1st class - With 1 dropped because of sport and 1 moved: 3 are currently Life Scouts As for my second son's current Webelos 2 den, it looks as if we will have 5 out of 6 boys continue on with Boy Scout and 2 will receive the 20 pins award. I don't believe in setting up the 1.5 years of Webelos program around all 20 pins. It can't be done without boys' having fun (as you have pointed it out very well). We also need to point out to a lot of the new leaders the fact that these kids have been in school for 8 hours. They don't need another 1 - 1.5 hours of lectures and work. I'm with you, Mike ... do the 20 pins but don't over do them. Work the Webelos years to prepare them for scouting and not burn 'em out. See ya, Mike. 1Hour(This message has been edited by OneHour)

OGE ... from my son's account, it started since the end of the last school year. In our area, the school started mid August. Should I have correctly identify it as the past three school months? Anyway, it started last school year and continued onto this one. I love my oldest dearly! He is quiet and reserved. He is very patience and friendly. He is tall, but lanky. He is everything that any bully would look to pick on. I was in his shoes, close to 30 years ago, but mine was more racially motivated. The three month misinterpretation or misrepresentation is my fault. My son told me that "it started at the end of last year and continued until now" (to quote him correctly). I feel that these boys have gotten what they deserved and should have this lesson stuck in their subconscience. If it hasn't and they have learned nothing, more legal approach will wake them and their parents up ... including my recommendation that the District/Council not grant this one scout his eagle if it comes down to it. 1Hour ps: one thing still bothers me though ... if these parents were truly sorry for their sons' action as they indicated to me over the phone, why haven't their sons apologized? We are listed in the directory! I would have made my son comes over and apologizes if he were one of the guilty parties! But then ... that's just I.(This message has been edited by OneHour)

anarchists, You and CA_Scouter are correct. All facts (from my pov) were not presented to me except from the point-of-view of the three victims. The scout may just be an inocent bystander who happens to tag along for the ride, but for three months straight, he has allowed his friends to conduct an act of misdeed that totally contradicts everything that he has been taught by the scout law and oath? I also found out last night that one of the remaining boys was a scout in the same troop. He quit scouting late last year. ... that was my initial plan. I wanted to give these parents a chance to correct their sons' problems (knowing that I do not have both sides of the stories). If it were to occur again, I then would take it to the school's officials and if further retaliation or occurrence continues, then it will result in my legal friends' involvement. Yesterday after school, my son told me that the little girl's mother wrote the principal an email about the incident. The principal got the little girl into her office and they started to call each boy to the office. So, I would figure that both sides of the story would have been heard at that time with an unbiased principal being the judge and jury. This was trictly the little girl's account of the events. My son was not called to the office to serve as witness or complaintant. The final result was detention for all four. Our school district has 0 tolerance on bullying/harrassing. There's always a bad apple in the bushel, but we as scouters should be proud that we can make a difference and allow the rest of the apples shine! Thank you all for your inputs as always. 1Hour(This message has been edited by OneHour)