Really long posts about nothing.

10:49 am - Marines VS. hippies GoogleBattle: The latest indicator of cultural relevance.

Just because I'm feeling a bit saucy today. (I would blame Megiloth, but that assumes that I am opposed to chest-thumping.)

Marines VS. hippies GoogleBattle: The latest indicator of cultural relevance.

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01:23 am - Wait, what?

Sarah Palin is a spokesperson for the 'tea party' thing? To bring a 'revolution' by being a pundit celeb rather than running on policies?

Ok, I -did- ROFL at the "How's that hope-y, change-y stuff workin' out for you?", but she should have kept it at that.

::shrug:: She's funny. I like her. I can't say I'd vote for her, but she's cuter than Rush.

The thing that had me confused is that right now it's like she read the "How Obama won the election" book, and is totally trying the same thing. Although it sounded like the 'Tea Party" is supposed to not be a party, but a new way of not voting with your party or something. Hopefully that comes out as more than just a gimmick.

06:45 pm - Another semester, another WTF day...

I was happy to hear that the President of the college called me up directly to let me know that she enrolled me in the last semester ever ( I hope)

But then it all went south when advisers started calling and asking me questions about paperwork.

I could itemize the annoyances, but it's all the same stuff. They need a transcript from MCC (I personally went to both colleges to pick up and deliver it last time), they asked if I filed for graduation (filed and paid at least twice), and a comment that my file seems really thin (they keep creating new files for me, because they can never find the last one).

NAU in Colorado Springs was pretty awesome.
NAU in Overland Park has a few awesome people, and a lot of transients.

I suspect that I will not be going there for graduate work.

11:17 pm - Holy Aphrodite! Air Force Academy getting a pagan worship area???

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100201/ap_on_re_us/us_air_force_academy_earth_religion

A quick background - 10-12 years ago when I left Active Duty, there was a big surge in making sure we all had a bit of the Lord in us... and the movement had come from the officer Corps downward. I thought it had something to do with the new Commandant, but when I moved to Colorado, the pressure to show your face at prayer meetings was pretty stout. And there was not a whole lot of tolerance for anything 'wierd'. There was a very close tie to the Air Force Academy and Focus on the Family which was across the street. The climate was so bad, I would not have admitted that my wife was pagan to USAA which was also part of that government complex neighborhood.

I've caught a lot of scandals coming out of the Air Force Academy since then. From religious persecution to 'sexual harassment' which was a nice was of saying that rapes were not being taken seriously, because Tailhook was just those dirty sailors and unfathomable Marines.

I'm glad progress has been made... and that "PLeasantville" is going to see some color.

08:15 am - Not keeping up with my own meme...

Awesome dinner #1 - Garam Masala... made when there was a spare band-geek over. For visiting kids to enjoy my curry as much as my own kids, that's something special.

Awesome Dinner #2 - Salisbury Steaks with Green Beans and mashed Taters. The steaks were Banquet, so why was this awesome? Sauteed half an onion and some garlic and put it in the taters, then caramelized the other half-onion and drizzled it over the steaks. The kids licked their plates clean. Yay!

Awesome experience - Got to sign off on my first Eagle Scout last night. I keep learning things myself, but it is cool to be part of some of the serious formative moments with these kids. It was also a pleasure because while the boy hasn't been horribly active in scouts over the past two years, he was a Tiger-to-Eagle, so we got to hear about his accomplishments over 12 years of scouting. Considering this starts before first grade, it was sort of humbling to realize how much they've done for scouting as well as how much scouting has done for them. The 'kid' is now 18, has been working for two years, and has a really bright future.

12:53 pm - Yesterday's Attitude of Awesome

(New thing I'm trying out)

Good Turn - Sewed up the belly of a stuffed puppy for a little girl.
Ancillary task accomplishment - Christmas tree down.
Paid it Forward - Steam cleaner delivered to friend with a puking puppy.

01:37 pm - Odd note -

My Salsa comes from Connecticut, and my Rice comes from Texas. They make rice in Texas? I recall a lot of barbed wire, cows, and a HUGE freaking cross, but no rice paddies. But then I'm not sure why my salsa is from Connecticut, except that I LOVE lime and cilantro, so perhaps that is where all the lime orchards are. I've never heard any place called the 'Lime State', but I think Connecticut just has that attitude where they don't care what people think about them.

I'm clearing out my cabinets a bit, which for me means that I am eating things that are not fresh, but not bad enough to toss. So today I am having Seattle coffee. It is "Winter Blend" which works well for Samuel Adams but Starbucks was always overly acidic and overly roasted, so trying to make that more 'robust' just added a layer of fail. I bought this back of beans back when the ex still lived in the house and we were still getting along. Yeah, that long ago... '05 maybe?

01:02 am - 4000 people.

4000 people is the estimate from quivera Council. 4000 people are camping out here in the fog and frost and mud. The kids are enjoying themselves, adults are hanging on. I have some coping mechanisms, although I forgot my RDBMS texts so I can't study. I figured I wouldn't have the chance. I suppose I am half right, I could study, brainweasels are calling, but this is really no place to stay up late. Granted, I am cheating this year, so I'm not horribly uncomfortable at the moment. Other than enough sciatica to kill a lesser being.

Why do I do it? Why do WE do it? I see a lot of the esteem-building from boot camp here. You can survive and THRIVE in generally miserable conditions if you are prepared, and if you have the mental toughness. I admire the kids here, particularly those making due without the wood-burning stoves and all the ammenities money can buy. Those kids will not have near the fears or anxieties that many of us have picked up. At 10, 12, 14 years old, they've lasted through some harsh stuff. And lasted with a smile.

So I will strip down and try not to shiver much, and think about how much character this builds. And how glad I am to retire from each leg of it. Don't get me wrong, I have fun hanging out with the kids. But I also know that sleeping in the stupid cold is not something I would decide to do on my own.
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02:35 am - Wherein I lament about brainweasels...

Seems like my days never end, but with the help of a stiff drink, this one should end shortly. But a quick summary of things on my mind -

A cute moment - saffronhare presented me (us) with a teakettle for Christmas. I have one, but it is from the Wal-Mart camping section and I tend to keep it with camp gear. This led fionnabhar to heat up a stockpot with water, and a ladle was used to 'pour' tea at a Wild Hare movie night. Thus, a TeaKettle NOT from the camping section. Since the arrival of the TeaKettle, the kids have had tea parties, had tea with breakfast, and at just about every other occasion. I now have more teacups in the wash than cereal bowls... which may or may not be a good thing. Also adorable - before using the TeaKettle, the kids flipped it over and announced "Not Made in China, so it's safe to use". I love my kids.

Jabob. JAAAACOB!! I have been keeping my eyes out for a Jacob poster, specifically one where he has no shirt and short hair. If one of the boys was asking for a a picture of. . . someone, and specified that it should be in a swimsuit and laying out, then I would have to have the "objectification is Wrong" talk, but for some reason beefcake is ok. I'm ok with the double standard, but it was interesting to note.

When worlds collide - I took my LJ link off FB, but will note that my 'alias' on FB is the same as LJ. Feel free to friend me, and then block notifications about lost sheep and slaying dragons. I don't spend near the time on apps that I used to when babysitting jobs, but they thrive on shout-outs so you'll see as many of those as you will status updates.

On that, I noted (on FB) that I have Scout Stuff every day from now through next Thursday, including camping this weekend. I should note that I am NOT complaining. In fact, I figure that these years will be some of the ones I remember most fondly in my twilight. Even with Mercedes hitting 15 next month, there is still a good close family bond, and I will not have to worry about the kids going off to college and worrying that I 'missed' something. Granted, I don't suspect that I would be too horribly sad if they DID take off and never write, I assume that is part of the birds leaving the nest. If they fly off and never look back, that means I did a good job. Either that, or I did a horrid job and they hate me, but either way I won't have angsty kids in my basement until they are 50 and I move into a nursing home.

There is more, but the stiff drink is done, and I will go lay down and let the weasels slow to a simmer until morning.

03:50 pm - Attitude of Gratitude

I am grateful that no matter how many times I fall off the exercise wagon, protein powder never goes bad. Or if it does, there is really no way to tell as it tastes like nutrasweet fluff even when fresh.

04:06 pm - Surviving into the weekend

Reminders of things that happen during long cold snaps -

Cars don't start - electrolytes in batteries are similar to salt water, they don't freeze at 32 degrees, but as we hit 0 degrees, batteries stop working. In this area it's not worth having a battery blanket, but don't let a car sit too long or the battery can freeze. Even solid-state batteries (like C and D cells in flashlights) will not work if they are frozen. Emergency flashlights are better kept in the glovebox rather than the trunk.

Oil gets REAL SLUDGY, making sure oil is recently changed helps, and you can even change to a lighter weight oil if you want, but it's never consistently cold out here (at least not for three months straight). One trick I used years ago was to run a small ceramic space heater under my engine and let it warm up ALL the bits for an hour before I tried to start the car. Other guys who feared dripping water into the space heater used a hairdryer on the top of the engine. Either way, you're trying to trap heat under the hood of the car to heat up core elements. Using a tarp over the hood (and down to the ground as a windbreak) also helped retain heat.

Tires may freeze, slush may freeze in rims, slush may freeze EVERYWHERE. Keep speed low, your car may shake and shimmy after hitting a drift... tires often get unbalanced in drifting snow like what we have now, especially with slush re-freeze. Wait until a good thaw before getting alignment checked.

Also - Tires that were inflated to 35 PSI in summer are going to be close to 20 PSI at 0 degrees. AIR THEM UP! Properly inflated tires dig into snow better and will last much longer on dry pavement. Remember to check them again when it gets warm though, as 35 PSI tires today will scream at 45+PSI in June.

Wiper blades - I'm not good about replacing mine every six months either, but it makes a HUGE difference during the worst days. Also, Rain-X is the best thing since Turtle Wax. They never really tell you how to replace them, but once you have the u-hook clip figured out, you will become everyone's hero. It is also much easier to do this when you WANT to, with sunshine and a warm house right there, than it is to do it when you NEED to, which is usually during wet freezing snow, in a Walmart parking lot, and far from home.

De-icer - Alcohol is a quick-fix but isn't the nicest thing on plastic trim. We would sometimes add methyl to the windshield wiper fluid, but I also recall using it to unfreeze stuck locks and windows. Alcohol does not freeze at 0 degrees... so it is often used in deicers. I haven't seen the spray-deicer that used isopropyl alcohol for years, but I suspect that is due to environmental concerns. We used to buy that stuff by the case.

Doors sticking - seals get real sticky, read your owner's manual and do all that weird stuff like using silicone grease around where the doors 'seal' with that foam weatherstripping. If you oil creaky hinges, use 3-in-1 oil, NOT WD-40. They're sold in the same aisle, and 3-in-1 is a lubricant, not a cleaner.

Anything else I missed?

03:50 pm - How awesome is Boy Scouts?

Awesome enough that next month, the newest silver dollar will be released... and it is a BOY SCOUT silver dollar!

We also have a postage stamp coming out this year.

Much more is happening this year, due to it being the BSA's centennial year, but a silver dollar is pretty rock-on! Although I would be more stoked if the last one wasn't that indian girl, Sacagawea. And as a commemorative coin, it may not see circulation like the Sacagawea dollars did. So that one young girl still has more clout than 111 MILLION young boys. Granted, she was a scout long before Baden-Powell's day.

07:48 am - Let it snow, let it snow, let it snowwwwwww.....

... because the more awful it is this week and next, the better it will (hopefully) be next weekend when we're out camping. Even if it's still ass-blistering cold, 30 degrees will seem a lot warmer compared to -4. I still suspect that it will be a stupider cold than I would like, but I'm hopeful that it will only be mildly stupid, and not stupid-stupid cold.

03:37 pm - Didn't fall into a rabbit hole...

...plunged perhaps, but did not fall.

I've been enjoying the snow in many ways for many days, this has been AWESOME! I have also been keeping my walk shoveled, which is fun (I'm on a corner lot with a LOT of yard) but I am totally out of salt.

Also had the girlfriend over for a few days, which is the fist time in a month or two, so that was fun. Even survived the hyper-puppy of +5 initiative.

Got to have a week which was pretty devoid of scout and school stuff. Lots of sledding, fixing things, clearing house. It seems like I clear house all the time, but until I set fire to it, it will keep unclearing itself. If my parents are any indication, it gets a LOT easier once the gerbils (kids) move out. You also stop having random catastrophic failures of durable goods.

Did I mention how awesome it is to have REAL snow? I even shoveled the parking lot out at saffronhare's place so that she can get in and out. I watched an Indian gal down the way pull her car in and out of her parking spot a dozen times to tromp down the snow. Poor girl will probably be parking on a glacier from now until April.

01:59 pm - Aeropostale observations -

The line at a store the size of my living room contains more people than the whole of the Gardner Wal-mart.

No one there knows what is so significant about '1987', but I'm guessing that everyone there was born -after- that year.
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01:57 pm - Test

Tickle
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12:36 am - Ice Cap gone by 2016.

Along with the Mayan Calendar thing, Al Gore has not decreed that the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in the next 5-7 years (rather than the 20 that the other pundits predict).

I predict that by 2016, we will still have an Ice Cap, and Al Gore will somehow still be respected and not laughed at like the folks that said our oil would be ALL GONE before 2000.

I will point out this article to my kids, and ask them to watch the Ice Cap for the next 20 years.

Hopefully, the new hybrid car trend will kick off along with Home Depot's locally available solar panels, and wind farms, and then I can be wrong. I would like to be wrong. But instead, I wrote down in my planner to point and laugh at Al Gore in 2016. Being dishonest or overly dramatic for a Good Cause is still being dishonest, whether you are Al Gore or Charlton Heston.

06:42 am - Amusing...

I've seen the Girlfriend a record 4 times this week, and every time, I was in a different scout uniform.

Like my mother, I can get very dedicated to things. (Others might call it obsessed, or addicted) But if I have to be obsessed with anything, Scouting is not a bad thing to be hooked on.

That said, I am really looking forward to the time when I'll be able to step down from everything and let the new parents pick up the torches. My ex once mentioned that scouting was a 'me' thing, which isn't entirely untrue, but it's not something I look forward to doing once the kids are grown and gone. Granted, there are certainly groups within scouting that look to retain experienced leaders... so only time will tell.

06:19 pm - Not my label,

but one I made up that could probably be a pin/button for a number of people -

Warning - May flood during Kilt season.

03:32 pm - Warning! Poster will point and laugh at the Stoopid!

I often don't follow celeb stuff (someone needs to pull the plug on the Jon and Kate stuff) but Tiger has got me pretty entranced. Partly because I've met the guy, and partly because the new photo spread of women looks like something out of Criminal Minds, and Tiger's "Golfer's Chub" has made him look as goofy as an "UnSub".

I'm also amused at how golfers are considered 'athletes'. I equate golf to Skeet or Trap shooting. You DO have to develop the right muscle memory, but since I've also met John Daly, Tom Watson, and Chi-Chi Rodriguez (while I was a rather svelte Marine) I should note that these are NOT guys who I would consider athletes.

I suppose it doesn't surprise me too much that Tiger is a swinger though... he didn't marry a high school sweetie, he married a model. Pretty fades... competence stays. Interesting note, given the people I know - some people are inherently non-monogamous at their core. Just like some people are decidedly monogamous, some people are homosexual, some are monotheistic, some are vegan, some feel an obsessive need to control body hair, etc. I wonder if this will come out as an 'illness' of Tiger's, or if he will reach down and come out as someone who prefers multiple more superficial relationships. Either way is fine by me... he's got a definite type, and a definite pattern of picking up gals for 6 months or more. As long as everyone is open and honest, I can see that working for them.

Or, we can stuff the round peg back in the square hole and continue to read about him for years to come, his personal life outshining his golf prowess.

04:37 pm - Whoa! I got a cookie!

Two actually, one for being in a community that I don't remember being in. and one for being active in divorce and relationship communities. That made me grib, because I perform weddings, but don't perform divorces (yet). Both are community services, and a bit part of the aging and maturing process. I think what I would REALLY like to be involved in is helping young people NOT get married or have kids before they're ready, but outside of a fascist regime, I don't think there is any way to really prevent people from making really unwise decisions when they're head over heels. I -do- hope that social networking gives us a bit more of 'family' resource for those that are estranged from their families, but experience also tells me that a number of people who make life harder on themselves will only friend online people who support their bad decision making.

So for all of you who "keep it real" by challenging my assumptions or decisions, Thank You. It is very helpful to have other adult eyes looking over each other. I also know that if I'm about to do something that I would not be proud to share with my friends (particularly those with higher standards, and a serious snark streak) then it often gives me pause. I would rather be respected for doing the right thing, than snarked for being indulgent or half-assed. That doesn't mean I'm always successful, but at least it gives me a good direction to try and head (when I am thinking about it).

Also newsworthy - Cub Scouting has new belt-loops for next year.

• Disabilities Awareness (More and more classes have been available on Austism Spectrum Disorders, because we get a lot of them coming in)


• Family Travel (often doesn't count for much before Webelos)


• Good Manners (er? I thought that was a large part of scouting already?)


• Nutrition (Useful, except that scout leaders have no special training in nutrition, some adults consider Pop Tarts or Ramen a meal)


• Pet Care (makes sense)


• Photography ( makes sense)


• Reading and writing (Um, I'm a bit annoyed with Cub academics that mimic what they already get in school)


• Video Games (snarkable, but we've been working to make Mario Kart addictions useful for years)


• Hiking


• Hockey (cool!)


• Horseback riding


• Kickball (ermm...)


• Skateboarding (from obscurity to criminal mischief to youth academic/sport? Wow!)

09:43 pm - Tree up, Scouts educated, and nau - ice cream!

Tree is up, lights on. The ex was dealing with a fibro flare-up so I was asked to bring the kids to her place. Got to watch the Goonies. It was a decent day.

Taught Map and Compass to the Webelos tonight, one boy had been up hunting at 5AM, another was benadrylled into apathy, and the third was an Asperger's working through a regression/attitude phase. There was also our no-show which continued to no-show. For those not familiar with Scouting Map and Compass, we taught them to orient the map, get a bearing on the compass, and then use the compass to face/walk in the direction of the destination they had chosen. That's a difficult skill for some Tenderfoots to pick up, but we got through it.

Tree has it's two strips of lights on, I still don't have the budget to re-string the outdoors lights, but I may be able to add more to the tree to even it out. I'm still putting a 7'tree on a 2' table to try and fill the window. 'Great' rooms are a PITA, but we're making it work.

Oh, also amusing, I figured out why being a scout leader looks good on a resume - you manage to train those who often don't want to be trained, for half a decade, and you survive without throttling anyone.

06:52 pm - Yay Endreign!

Wow, I show up a bit late and miss . . . probably something I didn't want to be there for. Ended up with a young player being walked off the field and up to the ER. It sounded expensive.

Two bloody noses later, we had a GREAT sign-in sheet, and I had all my awards and such printed out, signed, and even decent looking. Next step is to get them logged quickly... because that is important to me.

I was also out in Red-Tailed Hawk district at the butt-crack of dawn, and am now fully trained for all Venturing positions. That puts a 'trained' patch on the last of my shirts. Yay!

And now, I must make fried rice before the children bother me again.

11:57 pm - Random

First night as the Committee Chairman was ok... few issues to deal with, but most of them were already known and solutions were in-process. Did good work, fought the good fight, and felt really good about myself as a contributing human being. It is also nice to be chair of a group with a great Scoutmaster, eight assistant Scoutmasters, and decent & capable people in all of the 8-12 different offices between the committee side. Installing Troopmaster now.

Oh, and Southern Comfort is probably the least manly thing one can drink and still call oneself straight.

07:55 am - Another Semester, another Screw-up...

I'm glad I'm almost done...

I was supposed to order books last week, I got the voucher while I was on the way to Arkansas last week, so I was going to be late ordering. I also forgot what classes I took, so I was digging around yesterday trying to figure THAT out when I realized that my on-line classes were not loaded and they start TODAY (or so my student portal says).

I am really glad that I only have four classes left...

I am also grateful that for all the things that have the screwed-upness of the old DMVs, that the Kansas DMVs are pretty squared away.

I am ALSO ALSO grateful that spellcheck is here to tell me that it isn't 'greatful', as I thought it should be (full of GREAT!). Although it is amusing that when I was mentioning polyamory/polyamoury, the only recognized spelling was 'polygamy'.

12:40 pm - Back

Spent a week in the land that cell phone reception forgot. That also meant no 3G or EVDO coverage, so I was persona-non-intranetata for a week.

I read back a bit, Life went on, I continue to fall out of touch with old friends despite the advent of blogs and Facebook which gets major Kudos for having most EVERYBODY except my mother on it. Not that I would mind having my mother on Facebook... she has this really neat style of attention deficit - if I say something too awful, she often doesn't hear it. Like a kid not hearing a request to wipe the table before he leaves the kitchen.

Funny thing, missing a week's worth of LJ used to bother me, but nowadays I just sort of take solace in the fact that no one will feel invalidated if I don't respond to something. Or perhaps I'm much more focused in RealLife. I've got two new positions to step into after being 'elected' last week in my absence. I also am working on dropping two positions in my life, and so it is a fair trade-off. Still need to find a job someday, but at least the unemployment thing may be solved now. I got to talk to a Real Live Person from Topeka last week (they actually called during a few moments of reception and we possibly worked out the glitches. Time will tell.

Other people seem to me much more observant of my pain level nowadays... I think I only read it as stiffness. Although I -have- been relatively short-tempered over the past few days, so I'll work my routine as if I am trying to deal with pain, and see if that relieves the shorter fuse. Luckily I don't really 'snap' much, I just am not as eager for adventures. Whoa, I just realized I may be hurting from an adventure where a lake level was down, and we were exploring a streambed. My aunt started building a dam with one child while a cousin and another child started redirecting the flow of water across the stream bed. I was all over that, hauling rocks and digging ditches. ::sigh:: Of all the things we did, that will probably stand out the most in the kid's memories.

We also watched New Moon... the wolves were fun, the vampires were more victimy than ever. Ugh... that's all we need is more emo madness. You're top of the food chain, but hate your life? Ick. We need a resurgence of role models like superman, who overcame everything without scars and bitterness, and when anything REALLY oppressive came up, he would buckle down and kick it's ass. Captain Kirk too... and Ben Franklin. ;-)

07:36 pm - What happens at Webelos Camp, stays at Webelos Camp.

I was going through pictures for Blue & Gold and came across something that was pretty cool, Kieran getting his eagle feather.

This is one of the parts of scouting where the honor camping groups add some mystique to progression in scouting. This is something that has made scouting really stand out in the local area... while Native Americans do not have quite the appeal that they did in the 1930's, the intensity of the Eagle Feather ceremony has always impressed me.
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01:00 pm - Better than the FB feed.

It was a quiet night... we had gone to bed late after hitting a few episodes of BSG (Yay, they offed Callie!) and a Guiness, along with snorting some dog pheromones (don't ask).

We had thought the dog was getting into something he shouldn't, and Nikki(Mine) had even gotten up to check on him once or twice. Suddenly she sits bolt-upright in bed and says something about a Raccoon. Sure enough, I se a shadow moving on the porch, which is pretty amazing because I'm REALLY freaking blind without my glasses on.

The window had been cracked that night (again, don't ask) and there was a critter checking out the smells inside. I of course popped right up and wanted to check it out... "Hi there little fellow!" which suddenly had Nik hissing at me not to make friends with it... I start looking around for pepper spray or something else to deter the critter with, but I think the hottest thing at her place is probably ketchup.

I did manage to grab a glass of water, and as the raccoon came up to the window, I threw it in his face. I quickly remembered that raccoons are curious, not timid, and not easily spooked. ::sigh::

So we go around to the porch and Nikki wants to collect the trash so that they won't keep poking around. Since Ranger Rick was wet but not really dissuaded, I went out to go help and put myself between Nik and the raccoon. At this point the raccoon looked up at me, stopped going after trash bits, and stared... noticing before I did that I was only wearing my glasses and my tattoos.

Things calmed down after that... I think the commotion and scene was not condusive to raccoon curiosity. We walked the trash down to the dumpster, and when we came back it was 2:30 AM and there wasn't much left to do but put the dog up and go back to sleep. However, it was noticed that there were still critters about. Nik wanted me to spray bitter apple on the windowsill, but we disagreed as to how effective that would be. I decided to make the best of it, and waited until I saw the whites of his eyes and then sprayed the bitter apple in his face. Knowing that this really wasn't going to do much, I combined it with an explosive dog-barking sound.

It hadn't occured to me that not only was Nik not aware of my plans to do anything other than apple-mace the raccoon, she was also relatively terrified by the prospect of 30 pound critters held back only by a thin screen. Guess who jumped more? ::sigh:: I spent the next half hour or more, lying in bed, giggling, with Nik telling me "Oh, get up and blog about it already so I get get some sleep". All I could think of is how the RACCOON would blog about the night... I may write that up later. ;-)

07:19 pm - omg omg omg... (Or - why I have no energy come Monday)

I knew there was going to be a blitz today... Sadie had a football game and Bryce had an early departure for the Mosey Outdoor Adventure campout.

I got a call about 3:00, one or two more for dinner... that was fine, I was making pork fried rice which is easily dividable. I had it started up shortly after 3:30 which would get us to the Legion Hall in plenty of time before I needed to drop off Bryce, then run back home and grab whatever girls I had, and got the to The Game and then I was going to work concessions.

As dinner was cooking, Bryce asked me where the 'food dude' stuff was. He was in charge of food for his patrol, and we had forgotten to go shopping. We were due at the Legion Hall in 20 minutes. I put my Kara Thrace face on and grumbled "Frack!". Triage time!

Huge bowl of Prok Fried Rice was tossed on the table... Rubbermaid bin had the start of the food, then a uber-fast wal-mart run. Since Bryce is a scout, he had a meal plan and had the shopping list well written. I was in and out of walmart in under 10 minutes. Back to grab Bryce, and whatever girls were in the house had decided to walk to the game. Some girls were unaccounted for, but they were not my concern as plans seemed sketchy.

VROOM!!! Got to the Legion Hall, poured out Bryce plus gear, and got to hang out with parents I like. We've been doing this for years... it's fun to survive the camping drop-off. The unbridled precise anarchy is always amazing to watch... somehow we get a few dozen teen boys plus all their food, clothing, and shelter to survive in ANY condition into an unknown amount of vans and trucks, and have them all accounted for, paid, and permission slip'd within 30 minutes. Watching the caravan of Chaos move out is always a bit inspiring... more so than with military movements I did because THIS is all organized by boys who can't even drive... and Kansas let's 'em drive EARLY!

So... I head back home, and as I pull in the development I see Hannah and Emma, two other woodwind players walking down the sidewalk. I thought to pull over to say hi, because these are not people who live close by, nor do they normally walk around my neighborhood on Game Night (or any other night) because there's not much of interest here other than Sadie, and she had left a while ago. Apparently they were the unaccounted for girls... "Have you eaten dinner?" No, they had not... so along with whisking these gals off to various academic drops, I needed to feed them. Hannah, who is sort of punk-rock, decided she would be fine with a popcorn ball. Bullshit. So I stopped by my house to give them disposable bowls with fried rice. No dice... the kids in the house had polished off the whole mixing bowl's worth.

Four taquitos, two paper towels, and 90 microwaved seconds later I was swooping out the door and figuring out drop-off points. The tailgating had started, so dropping them off at opposite sides of the school was fun. Did I mention this was Game Night?? In a small town like Gardner, everyone seems to be involved with The Game. Banks fly the Blazer flag, there is a restaurant named for the High School team, and everyone is wearing blue and is doing stuff around the school. (Friday nights used to be REAL boring for me).

I got through that, found out my concessions slot was taken, so I went home... and looked at the kitchen full of empty dishes and empty of food. I heated the pan back up and fried the remains of the batter I had used on the pork... essentially I made hush-puppies... but without the veggie droppings. Still a few strips of pork though... I was still doing better than the Joads.

And now, boredom... until The Game ends. Luckily, One boy will be in Witchita by then, and I only have to worry about my Clarinetist and her 3-4 friends which organize themselves and their rides pretty much on their own. I may be taking 4 girls to different homes, I may not take any. I would be worried about this except that the girls are all decent and well-behaved young ladies. At least I've had no reason to worry, and I'm the sort of dad who pops into practice unannounced at random times to bring food and check for shenanigans.

It has been an exhausting but AWESOME evening, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. So much pride in the kids, and our ability to make things work.

12:33 pm - Fun with vacuums!

Mercedes finished her Den Chief training, and now her and Bryce are all excited about 'teaching the Cubbies'.

Last night, they put on lab coats and had a Mr. Wizard type night. The fun part of that is taking an aluminum can, heating up a little bit of water in it (on the stove) until it is filled with steam, and then plunging it upside-down in ice water.

My thought was that because the can is open, it wouldn't slowly crinkle in like the old metal gas cans did... my guess was that water would be sucked up into the can.

Anyone care to guess what happens?

01:52 pm - Been cheating on LJ with FB...

And really, I don't even like FB that much... more family there, which is good, but it's hard to post like *I* post on Facebook... Status feeds just weren't meant for a five-paragraph update. It's easier for the twit crowd... and I do ok with random tweets form the phone... but it leaves me sort of all over the place.

University was yesterday, I am now trained for more positions I do not yet have, and failed to get trained for the one I DO have. I love University of Scouting though... it is a who's who of civic movers and shakers around the 19-county mega-metro area.

Did you know that the Kansas City Chiefs were not named after indians? H. Roe Bartle's nickname was Chief, he started the tribe of Mic-O-Say in 1929. Note that Major Things in this town bear the name Roe or Bartle? Add the Chiefs to that list. He was like a blue-collar Kemper I suppose. Granted, I heard about the 'Chiefs' thing from the Legion Hall, not scouts... but Bartle's name comes up more than Jesus when you're at university.

Duane and Nikki got handfasted, and while I knew I knew about 80% of the people there, I recognized maybe 8. Partly because we were not at Faire or Gaea, and partly because people don't wear nametags with LJ names. FB is a bit better at this I suppose... not as many 'extra' names to remember. Unless people are using their LJ names as their FB names. (Half-guilty here... www.facebook.com/Diermuid)

Working on making the kid's uniforms more 'modular', using velcro on the sleeves so that they can swap out badges of office easier. I got the idea from the lesser branches of the armed forces ::rib rib::, Nikki (mine) says it's a 'Modular Army Brigade' so I am calling the uniforms "MAB-Modded".

Also amusing, Mercedes left her belt at Nikki's(mine) so I picked it up this morning while picking up milk and I put it around my chest so that I wouldn't forget it. (Sadly, that is the sort of shape I have fallen to recently) I then became amused at being "Hennett, mid-life edition" so I will have to ham that up, take a picture, and post it to Facebook, where Clinton Boomer is a friend. I think he's friended here too, but is like 80% of my friends who have become inactive over the past 10 years.

03:34 pm - Can we stop with the stupid?

On Orlando -

Asked by a reporter outside the police station why he did it, he replied: "Because they left me to rot."

11:12 pm - Legion Liaison

Finally hit a Legion Meeting tonight, and was very good about not hopping into anything. Although I was bestowed some sort of liaison title anyway... which was easy enough, once a month I'll report to the legion on what the troop is doing.

Along with that, I have dates written down for meetings with the American Legion Riders, the VFW, and a bug put in my ear about Colorguard for the Legion. Whoa.

But it was a fun group of guys, some older than my grandmother, some younger than me. And they were glad to hear about the boy scouts, they seemed really interested.

08:40 pm - Progress towards nowhere...

Got the yard mowed... it needed one last good shearing before the winter snows.

Found all the mangled bodies that the Dingo dug up, they all had small ears, so there was much praise. The bunnies have been vexing her because they can scamper under the fence (not skitter!) and she has to slow down and brace for the face-plant into the boards.

Camping stuff is still getting sorted... energy is low. But Bryce poked a pocket of energy when he tracked Dingo Poo all the way up to his room and back down again. Not that I have cleaned it yet, I just had a good 20 minutes of "What the unorthodox holy fuck made you leave your shoes on NOW???" (Any other day, hd drops coat, shoes, gloves, scarf, bookbag, armor, weapons, hobbits, frogs, etc right inside the door in a big pile. Which is nice, because I am always reassured that he is home, and that in the event of emergency he had enough clothing to shelter like a hobo, plus enough books, water, GPS, rope, and knives to survive a small civil emergency.

What else? ? ? Um, did dishes and unknowingly hated on Lizzie. ;-)

12:08 pm - Bank of America...

Bank of America was mad that the federal bailout czar called for pay cuts. The complaint was that pay cuts could send talent fleeing.

This is the same talent that ran the bank on the tightrope, necessitating a federal takeover? The same Talent that made BOA one of the top three places I've known NOT to take my money to for years, because they will gobble it up with fees, fines, and other shenanigans?

Screw'em, they should have failed. They had to become the master of back-end loans... buying mortgages or other loans to manage because most middle-aged Americans won't walk through the front doors, no more than we will hit Sonic's for a healthy meal.

Speaking of that... I have done food pyramid stuff with the kids every year, but for some reason, Kieran still thinks that a ham and cheese sandwich is the healthiest thing his school has served all year. ::sigh::

09:31 pm - A quick thought on Faire...

I've heard a lot of people 'give up' on Faire over the years, and many years ago when I started, I heard many of the same complaints. Funny thing is, as acts or persons age and move on, the Faire is actually not that far off from where it was years ago. Many of yesterday's Rock Stars have moved on, many of tomorrow's Rock Stars are just starting.

And who the hell is Toy? That guy IS a machine! Unchanged for at least 15 years.

I was happy to see that the "Made in China" vendors were just a quick fad. I forget what year that was. It was also sad to see Mother Pocket's place turned into a parking lot (for patrons) but such is the way of things. I still go by the SCA Dell every once in a while and sigh. That's where I was brought into Faire, back when the whole area behind it was pavilions and blankets and people duct-taping armor and fingers back together. I suspect that at some point that area will be re-done and the Faire can make better use of the 'dead' backstage space.

It was also fun to be out there when it was cold. I'm not sure why.

02:32 pm - Writer's Block: Happy go lucky

07:45 pm - Made my day...

I hate pranks that are abusive. I like seeing assholes get what they deserve. I like instant Karma.


Hidden Camera Prank Goes Very Wrong - Watch more Funny Videos

Really, only the first ten seconds of this video matter.

And the guy with the quick thinking and the Chuck Norris kick to the face? Nobel Prize of awesome right there.

01:09 pm - Zero tolerance overreaches again...

I was happy to see that in the media poll, 92% found that the punishment for a 6 year old bringing a mess kit to school was overreaching.

To be fair, the knife in a mess kit is sharper and pointier than other knives that have had elementary school kids expelled, to include cake knives, butter knives, and plastic miniature GI Joe 'guns'. Locally, the Cub Scouts are not certified to carry a blade with them until Bear level (Graduated second grade) but on the Missouri side, my boys got their whittlin' chip before first grade. Part of that is knowing that schools have zero tolerance, so they are only to have their knives at camp. Most of them who have been to resident camp (before third grade) have already started a collection of small knives.

I am blessed to be in an area of reason... at times I forget to take my pocketknife off of my keyring before entering schools. Other times, I feel really odd because I have a cake knife at school functions but the kids are allowed to use it, so I relax a bit. I think the biggest distinction I make is that I prefer that knives have a sheepfoot point rather than a clip point. A knife that cannot be used to stab makes sense. You don't need to 'stab' food, and the point is too often used for the wrong reasons... trying to pry things, or stab open holes in canned goods. I blame hollywood for that last bit. ;-)

It's a funny thing, I am not a very aggressive person, but when stuck in tense situations even the most mellow of us can snap. My moment came during mess duty in boot camp. There was a dorky kid who had been assigned to trash cans and he was in our salad room where people with food prep experience were. He was being an ass and wouldn't leave. Given the level of testosterone in Marine boot camp, it is understandable that he got stabbed for his efforts. Luckily, I was peeling carrots, and he was wearing dog tags. It was a wake-up call for many of us... as many things were at the time. It is very easy to lose your cool and swipe at someone. Making sure that non-combat implements are kept less lethal is not a bad thing, as long as function is not impacted.

Where was I going with all this? I think I am avoiding laundry... ::sigh:: I should go do that now.

12:57 pm

You Are a Blackberry

You are one of those super hard working, cellphone to your hip types. You like gadgets that do what they're supposed to do, especially when they keep you super connected to the world. You prefer function over flash, so things like a long battery life and easy features appeal to you. You may not look as cool as all of the iPhone kids, but you're probably being more productive than all of them!

01:47 am - Homecoming pic

12:29 am - Thought on Mandatory Health Insurance...

I was listening to the discussions on NPR today, and had an odd thought.

Imagine you are riding a bicycle down the road, and you hit a sandy patch. Let's say you slide into a curb and crack your head and break an arm. Someone calls an ambulance, and they arrive. They ask you who your insurance carrier is, and when you tell them that you don't have insurance they just sadly shake their heads, get back in the ambulance, and drive away.

This doesn't really relate to the debate, but it was a really sobering idea... imagine if we didn't have the baseline healthcare availability that we DO have today. Man, that would SUCK!

Funny thing, for those who DON'T have health insurance, how often is it by choice?