Backpacking Oak Ridge

This is one of the groups of scouts I was helping with their map and compass work Saturday. Every group made at least one wrong turn because they weren’t using the map and compass like they’d been taught. I think they learned to take those skills a little more seriously as many turned their two mile hike into a five mile hike. I suppose the exercise didn’t do me any harm. The new scouts packed heavy and weren’t too happy about the situation at the end. Along the trail a few of the older scouts had used a moulage kit to create fake injuries on themselves which the younger scouts had to treat. They also had to read the coordinates off their maps to give their location to the 911 operator. Thank goodness they build GPS into cell phones now.

Blue Angels at MacDill Airfest 2010

I took this picture during the Blue Angels’ practice session Friday before the airshow. I was on a boy scout campout this weekend and so did not get to see the show Saturday. Sunday the weather was inclement and I figured they wouldn’t be flying. Kelton was disappointed that he didn’t get to see the Angels but maybe we can catch the show in Key West next month.

Checklists, rehearsal, and rain pants

At the council “36 hours of rain” camporee in December 2009, I was the only adult leader who was warm and dry because I had waterproof layers, most notably rain pants. I made mention of them as often as possible (which was quite often) until the indelible impression was upon everyone’s psyche. Another thing I’ve been harping on lately is how much easier it would be to remember to do everything and to stay on track if the boys used checklists. Mr. Steve, one of the assistant scoutmasters, often says his favorite things are checklists and rehearsal.

Tonight after the meeting:

Scoutmaster: I just don’t feel like he understands the scope of what he’s supposed to be talking about.

Me: You know what would help?

Scoutmaster: Checklists.

Me: And rehearsal.

Scout: And rain pants!

Back to SCUBA

This is a picture of me on the dock at Blue Grotto. A buddy from work and I went SCUBA diving there. We didn’t go all the way around it because he wasn’t comfortable under so much rock but we did go down about 80 ft. One of the things I liked best about it was turning upside down and watching the bubbles flow up the rocks. Chasing the catfish was fun, too. The next thing I’m going to have to buy is either an underwater digital camera kit or a case for my D300. It will probably be the kit since I don’t really want to spend $1500 or more for a case. On the way back we saw some accidents on the interstate that were pretty cool because they looked like they'd been caused by the gusting wind. We saw one car-carrier in a ditch, minus one of the cars which was across the road; and we saw another tractor-trailer that had a tow-truck trying to pull it sideways out of the ditch it was in. Lucky for us they were both on the northbound side.

Rear Admiral Fleet Escort

So now that I’m an Admiral I got another new ship. The USS Seraphim looks pretty mean. It doesn’t turn quite as fast as the Defiant class, but it does carry more guns, which I like. Now I get to go fight the Borg though I have not had a solo Borg encounter yet. The cruiser handled it pretty well but I’m not sure an escort has the hull points for it. We’ll see… I also did more scout web pages and went to a crossover ceremony for our newest scout. If I do enough other things it shouldn’t seem like I’m obsessed with this game.

I also bought a cruiser just for fun. I haven’t named it yet but I did take it for a test drive. It will take a lot of punishment.

Crossover Funnies

Eric and Kyle met me at the cub scout crossover ceremony to welcome our newest scout to the troop. After I made all the proper introductions, I decided now would be a good time to hike back to my car which was parked in a random campsite down the road and get my jacket and chair.

Eric: Mr. Troy! You missed it!

Troy: That figures. What did I miss?

Eric: There was a rope from the tree to the fire pit and they shot a flaming towel down to light it.

Troy: That sounds really cool. Ah well. I’ll just set up my chair and be comfortable.

Less than a minute later I had to stand up because our scout was the first to cross over.

Eric mentioned to me that he really liked the cup holder on the 5 gallon cooler. It had MacDonald's cups in it. After the crossover ceremony while we were standing around the fire waiting on the food to be served, Eric decided he was going to go over and look at it. Meanwhile I was talking to the kid tending the fire and found out that it was his cooler and cup holder.

Troy: Eric, this is the guy who owns the cup holder.

Eric: Really? It it for sale?

Scout: Yeah, I’ll give you $50 for it.

Eric: OK! $50 please.

Troy: LOL I think you meant to say you’ll take $50 for it.

Scout: Oh yeah.

Troy: You gotta be careful about that. Especially around Eric.

Eric: It would’ve worked if you hadn’t explained it to him!

First, I don’t think it would’ve worked. Second, Eric didn’t even offer me half to keep my mouth shut.

After the crossover I had to take Kyle to meet his mother at Burger King. On the way back to the car Kyle crushed the soda can he’d been drinking out of.

Troy: Why did you bring that with you?

Kyle: Because it still had drink in it.

Troy: Drink that’s now going to drip all over my car? I don’t think so. Throw it away. Is there a trash can around here? [The campsite in which I parked was far away from where we knew there was a trash can.]

Kyle: [After looking around] No.

Troy: I’ll drive you back to the campsite and you can throw it away. Just make sure it drips on you and not on my car.

Kyle: Oh that’s nice.

Troy: What? You are easier to clean than my car is.

Kyle: You know this is a one-way street right?

Troy: Oh yeah. I’m glad you said something before I started driving that way! LOL Well as we drive out look for a trash can.

As we were driving back to the gate we called his mother to tell her that we were navigating our way out of the park. Kyle spotted a trash can so I stopped, he jumped out and threw the can away. We then drove up to the gate.

Troy: Well we may be a little late… the gate is locked and they didn’t give us the combination. Kyle, go make sure the gate is really locked and it doesn’t just look like it’s locked.

Kyle’s mom: I think I have the number for the cub scout leaders. Hang on and I will call them and find out what the code is.

Troy: OK

Kyle reported that the gate was indeed locked. As we sat there we saw a car approaching the gate from the other side.

Troy: I hope that’s a camper that knows the gate combo, that way we can escape when they come in.

It turned out to be the ranger. He told us he’d lock the gate back after we left.

Kyle’s mom: I got hold of them.

Troy: Actually, the ranger just showed up and opened the gate for us. We’re on our way.

Kyle’s mom: OK, see you soon.

Troy: Kyle, what was the gate combo?

Kyle: 1 2 3 4

Troy: What?! You didn’t try 1 2 3 4? Sounds like the combination an idiot would have on his luggage! You should always try the obvious things first. Like when you don’t know a password you should just try “password”. You’d be amazed how many times that works.

Set Phasers to Roast!

This is my Defiant class ship, the USS Lionheart. What an awesome ship! It works just like in the show, too, with its phaser cannons blowing up ships in one flyby. The space on the left is where all my desktop icons sit. <g> But lest you think this is all I do with my time, Saturday I spent teaching wilderness survival at a scout camp and hanging out with Kelton. Sunday after services I did troop leadership training for the newly elected/appointed boy scout leaders. I also worked on photo album web pages and watched a movie. I’m not addicted to the game! I can quit whenever I want!