Fall Camporee

I'm super excited to be writing this post. I might have other work that ought to be getting done but .. oh well.

The Great Plains District just held their fall camporee at Lewis and Clark State Park. 4 troops attended. We had 42 registered attendees. What a great number.

The activities I organized for the scouts were to make kites, Paint posts for the park, explod eggs with bb-guns, and set fires using flint and steel.

of course there was a whole lot of normal troop things happening. like cooking and yelling and capture the flag and some strange stick/gun/war game which they didn't have a name for but i'm blaming on video games. I am saying it's the video games because they made more reloading movements and weapon changing movements than i did as a kid. I'm not a big gun enthusiast but i honestly thought reloading just meant pointing the gun away from the target and pulling the trigger.

i am pretty sure no one really fell asleep till after midnight. and one of the troops left a lantern on all night, or at least i think it was all night, it was on when i feel asleep and on when i woke up. sure i fell asleep early and woke up after some of the older fellows but still that lantern was on.

no one died or was injured during our camporee (actually i think one scout twisted an ankle but it was minor and his mom was one of the leaders she wasn't worried about him and i saw him running around afterward as well). we did lose two troops on saturday after lunch though. i supose they were just anxious to start the activities again and so they did. but they didnt tell me or anyone else. it was odd. but it all worked out in the end.

some pointers for future camp organizers:

1 prepare:

bring extra glue and supplies.

a map of the area with designated activity spots for easy communication.

volunteers should know what they are doing. have a "staff training day" spend the time to walk through each event with the volunteer.

an accurate schedule, pick a clock time set it and make sure people understand the rotation scheme.

show up early and set up props and such to set the stage or theme of the event.

2 get help:

i bit off more than i could chew. don't do that to your self.

get people to help.

every event needs a volunteer heading it up.

every activity of the event need volunteers helping at it.

3 get the word out:

advertise effectivly.

preregistration is a great idea but 3 out of 4 troops didn't do it.

and dont forget to brag about it afterward.

call the paper, or bring a person who will be photographing everything.

yeah i had fun. Vanessa went camping with me too.

Home schooling

I've been thinking about how I would teach my own children. I've been reviewing my personal education. I've made friends and visited elementary schools. I work for the boy scouts and I read blogs on the internet. I have no children of my own yet, but like the D.A.R.E program taught me "if you make the choice now, it'll be easier when you are tempted..." or something like that.

First I want to put forward some totally true ideas:

The education of my children is my responsibility.

Knowledge is power.

Great power = great responsibility.

Education is more than acquiring knowledge.

The only stupid questions are either not asked, or insincere.

Yeah. those statements above are true. And i likely will not discuss them all fully but let me try any way.

The education of my children is my responsibility.

My own education is my responsibility, I am not a child any more. I'm not sure when I stopped being a child but sometime between elementary and high-school I figured out that my education is my responsibility. Until I have a child that makes that transition, I am responsible to make sure they are educated. I might decided to have the government teach them, i might higher a private tutor, I might do the job with Vanessa's help, I might neglect the responsibility all together with any of the above methods. But still i will be judged by their level of education, and am therefore responsible for it.

watch any super hero movie or movie about nerds/geeks for more insight into the next two statements.

education is more than just gaining knowledge.

if Knowledge where all that education provides, I could get a diploma after loading the encyclopedia onto my cell phone.

knowledge, skills, logic, and character are all connected with education. I think the goal of education is to ensure "well rounded" individuals.

education should not be specialization but should be considered as a fractal. Infinite complexity defined by simple rules. Education is the journey of discovery.

Questions vs stupidity:

Sometimes children don't know which questions to ask or they want be shown which path to explore. Questions should be answered. Lies are not required. I don't know everything, and perhaps I will have to learn more to answer some of their questions correctly. Because honestly I don't know why the "e" in Lowe in silent, and of course any question followed by 5 follow up "why?" questions would leave all of us stumped. I might change the rules of the game by allowing myself to ask questions of them, or by requesting that all questions be submitted in writing. But I'll leave the Umpa Lumpas with the chocolatier.

It's nap time now.

kites are cool

Don't miss understand I enjoy fish. They taste great. But as far as pass times go kites are opposite of fishing and I like to fly.

Vanessa and I went for a short walk this afternoon. T-shirts and sunglasses. Took the kite along to prove that North Dakota has 365 good kite flying days in it's year. We got most of the string out and then I was convinced to call my Mema. She's a great old lady.

I've been reading Walden, by Mr. Thoreau. It's a long book, mostly it feels like he is trying to defend his life style choice. He chose to be a bum... but a very classy bum, for about a year. It makes me want to go camping. Thinking about a Yellow stone trip in May. But I'm open to suggestions.

A year in ND

WOW!

Today is my Anniversary of working with the boy scouts and of living in ND.

It's starting the thaw here, I know what is coming for work, and Vanessa still loves me.

Life is Awesome!

These Economic Times

Hello Anonymous

I got a call from my dad today. During lunch, it's a good time for a phone call. I enjoy getting advice from my parents and I try to follow their advice. He thinks I should have gold and silver. For a hedge during tough times, or a financial down turn.

I do not believe in retirement. I do not agree with the idea that I should work very hard and squirrel away little bits of money for the next 40 years so that I can live "the easy" life when I'm old. I have a lot of reasons not to believe in retirement.

Reasons:
1. I have never met anyone who is currently enjoying their retirement.
My grandparents worked and lived long, hard, and important lives. Most of them are still alive living the longest and hardest parts right now. I can't say for certain what their jobs were or how much they made but they raised my parents and that is more important. It would not matter if they were rich or poor right now because they are old and sickly. That sounds rude, but it's true and no amount of money would make them not sickly.

2. Quality vs. Quantity, either way with a differed life plan you lose.
I remember an experiment with Marshmallows. But it's about how long you wait and what happens in the mean time. Olympians don't deffer practice in their sport until competition. And we should not deffer living until we are too old to do it. I was told that "you can do anything you want to do", and then I was told "you can't chose the consequences", and then I was told "go do the dishes". They may not have occurred back to back every time but generally that's how the conversation went. But I still believe it. I want to write this blog so I am. I want to help the boy scout movement grow so I visit strangers and ask them to donate money or to be a troop leader. I wanted a car so I got a loan and bought one... enter the consequences. And of course washing the dishes is the best way to think.

4. If I have no debts, I have no need for money.

Really most of my money is spent paying bills. A few dollars are left over every month that get spent on dodads. Vanessa and I have spent as little as 200 a month on food maybe less, but I never really paid attention. If I stopped paying my bills I would lose some things, but things only make life comfortable, and a comfortable life makes you weak. (I read too much DUNE)

Second reason for not needing money: it's all a lie. money is a tool, like a hammer, a socket wrench, a voltmeter, c compiler, or word processor. just a tool to get a job done. Its a hassle trying to find the perfect trade and so we assign a dollar value to a good or service, but the value is always subject to change. ALWAYS. I would much rather have a thing or experience than the money.

5. The family is my insurance plan

You all know that I don't like insurance, and planning for the fictitious retirement is just another form of insurance. If I break something I should pay for it, but I shouldn't have to pay for it before I break it. As for real emergencies, if your last name is Lowe or Peet I'll be asking for help.

6. I am my families insurance plan
For crying out loud, we're family of course I will help. I've got my first aide badge, and a spare room. Just ask because that's what families are for.

9. I can live my life now.
I am already the master procrastinator. If I were a transformer I would be that flying repair bot that didn't leave the ship until 4000 years after they crashed on earth. Seriously? whats up with that? My problem is already not doing things, if I could use "waiting for retirement" as a valid excuse I would never go camping again.

I took out some of the stupid reasons.

Food Poisoning

I am blaming it on the the root beer.
NEVER buy home made root beer from a mall kiosk. You have been warned.
And I had a new experience tonight. I got to throw up on the side of the road!

miracle cure!!

Hello world! I am still alive!
I don't like to complain so I'll just tell you how I got better.
I stood on my head a had a spoon full of honey.
Upon going upright again I had a clear head and a smooth throat. To prove it I even ate some crackers before chugging a cup of water chased by four little ibprofins.
Time for bed now.
And vanessa just taught me about basal tempature.

A good reason to buy snow shoes

It was a beautiful day! Saturdays normally are because I have an excuse not to focus on work. So I took Vanessa to spend the day with Audra, while her husband, a couple of kids, and I went for a walk and possibly into a cave.

We were not in a hurry, and I had brought the camera along. I took some pictures and each picture had a conversation. If they are worth a thousand words then we may as well share the load right?

We had enough rope to play with on the way down the hill and a cliff just high enough to be real for the younger explorers. I brought my kite along. Something about kites makes me happy. I think it is because the ending of Marry Poppins.

And because I think he says it better than I can I present to you the thoughts of a crazy man:

Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you're no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are the things you should notice anyway. To live for only some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top. ``Here's where things grow. But, of course, without the top you can't have any sides. It's the top that defines the sides. So on we go . . . we have a long way . . . no hurry . . . just one step after the next . . . with a little Chautaugua for entertainment . . . Mental reflection is so much more interesting than TV, it's a shame more people don't switch over to it. They probably think what they hear is unimportant, but it never is.
--Robert Pirsig, from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Just to the left of center is the cliff we rappelled down.

That is me and my kite walking up the hill. Our fearless decision making leader is up ahead.

The Killdeer mountains were the sight of a "battle". The cave we had purposed to explore is the subject of many myths, I can't deny any of them.

Mini Black-Out

I'm having a great day. Although Vanessa just got a scare. While she was in the shower suddenly the whole apartment got dark. I grabbed the flash lights and saved the day. Then I slowed down a bit and noticed that the wii light was still on, and a power strip was glowing a faint red in the living room. I cleared away the breaker box and sure enough we had just flipped a breaker. It's really an easy fix but this apartment is getting a little touchy about how much power we use at a time.

Lesson I was taught but did not learn while I in Argentina that I now wish I had practiced to the point of habit but didn't

That's a long title. I was thinking about calling it "things i learned on my mission but forgot" but that seemed too straight foreword. I'm writing this blog about how i should be working instead of working. thats called hypocrisy.

Lesson one: planing (3 parts) weekly plan, daily plan, appointments

Every week on my mission my companion and I would sit down in our Pinch (apartment) with a blank weekly planing sheet. (well to be truthful if we were doing a good job with part 3 of this lesson they weren't always blank). We knew that we had to be out doing "work" and so we would check our list of contacts, and investigators, and inactive families and we would make goals for conversations and lessons and baptism's and how many books we would sell ( yeah we sold them for 2 pesos(about 2 dollars, not really but close enough(nested parenthesis are cool))) we would block out time for each type of activity and sometimes we would even write in specific one sided appointments.

Each morning we would check the daily plan, fill it up if there was blank spots, and go and do the work we had set for our selves. Sometimes we had 4 hours of "walk the busy streets talking to families" but it was planed we weren't just wasting time. we planed it. Each evening we would review the day, and we would check the schedule for tomorrow add any appointments we had made that day to the rest of the week and make sure we were on making progress on our goals.

Making Appointments rocked! If we had a week with 0 appointments during our weekly planing session we knew that we would have a long hard week that would not be any fun. The successfulness of our time was directly associated with the number of appointments we had. Every morning that we woke up to a day full of appointments was a good day because we didn't have to make up things to do. It is so much easier to stay on task when you know what your task is.


Lesson two: Study

Every day I was in Argentina I spent 30 mins studying the Spanish language, and 2 hours studying the scriptures and such. Let's be honest: I watch more TV than that right now. I wasn't in school during my mission but I still studied. I felt the whole time that I was down there that I could never know enough and that everyone else knew more than me, I HAD to study or I would never be able to keep up with my fellow missionaries, and I wouldn't know the right words to say or how to say them if I was asked a question, or if I was asked to preform an ordinance. I was motivated to study for three reasons. First it was a rule and I like to follow rules, Second I am curios and just wanted to know some things, Third FEAR lots and lots of FEAR of Failure.

Lesson three: You can't stay home

The worst time I had in Argentina has to be when Elder Garrett was told to stay off of his feet for a week. I was stuck in side. I went crazy. I wasn't working, I couldn't work because I was in my apartment. The work only happens when we were out talking with people. Any people I remember riding elevators on purpose just to talk with people. The only people in my apartment are already on our team we don't need to spend all day in side.


That's all for now. Those are the lessons I know that I was taught but seem to have forgotten. There is some good news though. I'm able to change.

So the next time we talk ask to see my weekly calendar, or give me a call sometime and tell me I owe you a dollar if I'm in my apartment. Ask me what the requirements are for Pinewood derby cars or who the scout master is with the largest troop.

Good luck to everyone but especially me.

away from home

Being away from Vanessa is tough. Now that she is 500 miles away I wish I could hug her. We are both keeping busy, but still we call each other and sit listening to silence because we haven't got anything to say but we don't want to hang up. I really do like her.

First post of the Decade

Good morning all. It's time from me to finally type up and post my resolutions or goals for the year. These are my personal goals not a list of all my work goals. I think that has been a big reason that it's taken me so long to get this list.

1. I want to play my violin more, at least once a week. and I'm going to memorize a song so that I can play it on demand. I don't know which song yet, but I am open to suggestions.

2. I want to go camping every month. I am defining camping as sleeping out side in a tent. It would be awesome to take a trip to a different spot each time and really explore North Dakota, maybe there is a rock somewhere to climb on... If your looking for some one to go camping with give me a call. I have vacation time to use, so it doesn't have to be North Dakota either.

3. I want to pay off my credit card. Each year I say i'm going to get completely out of debt, but that hasn't happened yet. So this year we are killing the credit card. We haven't spent any thing on it for a while, and we've been paying it down. this year it should get a zero balance! I'm excited about it.

Those are the only 3 big personal goals I've got. I'm chock full of Business goals, but I'll save those for my Power point presentation on the 19th. I guess it was a skill I would need in real life.

It's a new year and I'm excited to see the days get longer. I am enjoying life and starting to feel like a grown up. It's still strange to hang around older people all the time and even stranger that they listen to me and think I know what I'm talking about.