Taxes Aren't Much Fun

Good news? I worked January, February, and March to pay my taxes for 2010.

Yep, no refund for me. I'm just complaining because it's cathartic, that means like therapy right?

I don't like the government at all. I didn't vote for any of those politician fellows. I sure didn't get to approve their budget. And I don't have any friends in the IRS that can help me pay less.

It's really silly that if I could have paid off my credit card and 2 of my student loans with the amount of taxes I paid this year.

How is this any different than left?

Dinner and Catan with friends makes me introspective

I fell like I've been slacking lately. It's time for an update. We just had a couple and their little girl over for the evening. we had dinner for breakfast and played a game with dice. the little girl wandered around getting into stuff. It was a fun relaxing evening. But now I'm thinking too much and have decided to refresh my memory of my new year goals.

a. Play more Violin; upload to youtube? Play at campfire? Play at least 1 time a week.

I am learning "If you could hie to kolob" I can play it all the way through. I mess up a lot but I am getting better. I am playing about once a week. This week I played for 15 mins while I was trying to decide what to write as a reply to an email.

b. Be awesome at my job. Ask my boss for specifics.

I don't feel awesome at my job right now.

c. Go Rock Climbing!

I did go rock climbing, Vanessa and I took a trip to Utah to say goodbye to her father. Matt and Micheal and I found a cliff and jumped off it. Then we climbed up it too. I'll be going again as often as I can.

d. Keep Vanessa in love with me.

Doing alright with this one. Going camping tomorrow evening so that will keep us close.

e. read books.

We got a kindle. I've read too many books. I even read the Hunger Games (barf). I've filled in the gaps from the disc world series, I've read a couple little house on the prairie, the sequels to enders game, and yeah with the audio books on long road trips and a digital library that doesn't hurt my eyes... I've read too many books.

That's my update. I'm going to make a podcast for work soon. Or at least I'm going to keep telling everyone that untill I do it.

why start the day at midnight?

I think the last "self improvement" book I read was "the energy bus" and I read that for work. I must have outlived that addiction and I feel better about myself now than I did while I was reading them.

But it's been a good habit of writing new years goals and resolutions and reflections and such. so I'll do it again. But I don't really have any. Lets start by reviewing my previous goals and plans.

2011: More Violin, More Camping, Less Debt.

2010: Adult Job, More violin, Make a game, Keep Reading

2009: no sleeping in, blog weekly, play the violin, get good grades.. and i made predictions (funny stuff)

That should be enough of the past.

Goals for 2012: I'm lettering them.

a. Play more Violin; upload to youtube? Play at campfire? Play at least 1 time a week.

b. Be awesome at my job. Ask my boss for specifics.

c. Go Rock Climbing!

d. Keep Vanessa in love with me.

e. read books.

Predictions for 2012

e. We will get a new president. (I won't like the new guy either. Actually the new guy wont start till 2013 right?)
f. the world will not end.

g. Vanessa and I will make a baby.

i. Netflix will add all those old musicals to the streaming selection.

Haha. This is great, now all I need to do is write a Christmas letter and send off the gifts.

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!