December Goals and November Review

Goal, er, well a Try

I'm going to first go over the final review of my November goals.

1. Produce more than consume
1. Make 12 attempts to get a short story (there are several possible) and/or “Tabernacle” published by the end of the month
2. Write or Edit every day (defined as Writing = at least 1 word, Editing = at least 1 correction)
3. Make creating apps outweigh consumption apps on my phone (more time)
4. NO YouTube while working
2. Focus on Health
1. Exercise daily (defined as anything >10 pushups)
2. Yoga daily
3. Get to 1 pullup

1. Production Results
1. D- I didn't make any publishing attempts except this blog
2. A I did that 28/30 days
3. B With the limits I made I'll give myself a B for the reduction
4. A maybe about 90-95%
2. Health
1. A about 90-95%
2. B I didn't do as much yoga, but I did start physical training for my shoulder and that was a lot of stretching so I counted that
3. F I didn't really even work on this

For December I want to build on what I have already, but not reinforce failure. Additionally, a lot of these are habit builders. If I have successfully built a habit I don't need to use is as a goal for future months.

December Goals (in priority order):

1. Health
1. Physical Therapy daily (stretch goal: do it twice) 
2. Set up garage exercise stuff (punching bag, drag tires, bag toss, tires for using sledgehammer on)
2. Volunteer
1. Support Scouting America
1. Attend the Northeast Illinois Council (NEIC) Training committee meeting and volunteer for something
2. Attend the Aptakisic District Committee meeting and volunteer for something
3. Contact NEIC Council Ops Officer to see what help they need
2. Attend the Wauconda CERT meeting and volunteer for an event
3. Switch to Spanish from Dutch on Duolingo and get 15 hours (30 min a day for 30 days)
3. Produce - Make one publishing submission

Now that I've made them public you will have to hold me to them. I can't use the endorphins of posting them to make me feel like I've already accomplished something.

If there is something you would like to see me do more of, please let me know.

 

Καλό Καλοκαίρι! Happy Summer!

Wow, Greek again.  That is indicative of my renewed efforts.  I think the only major goal I'm going to have for 2014 is to learn Greek.  I'm going to have to get serious about this.  It has been going on far too long for me to not know it better.

I rode my bike to work four days this week.  That's the most in one week so far this year and I finally hit 25 commutes.  That's very far off the pace I set two years ago when I rode my bike to work over 75 times (that's about 1/3 the workdays in a year and several hundred dollars of savings in fuel alone).  I got rained on very much yesterday and a little earlier in the week.

Let me review my goals:

1. P90X - done
2. Learn Greek - behind
3. Quarterly Dates - No dates so far this year.
4. Get a New Job - I've been checking the job boards, but haven't found anything yet.
5. Get Girl Scout Training - done
6. Gold Commissioner JtE - working on it.  I have to, others are depending on me, especially scouts.
7. Fortnightly History Podcast - Although I'm far behind in my original schedule,  I've been reading up on Chicago History and podcasting.  I set up my podcasting equipment in anticipation of recording a podcast and of recording the guidebook for the Chicago Lincoln Avenue Trail, but I'm having some trouble getting it to work right.  I think I'm going to tank this as a goal because I need to work on the CLAT more and the others.
8. Learn the Trees  - I am going to put Learning the Trees and Participate in an Archaeology activity on hold for this year.  By not fretting over these I think I can concentrate on my Greek studies.
9. Participate in an Archaeology Activity
10. Join a Club - We'll see.  If it helps to concentrate on Greek to skip this one too, then I will.

For the second half of the year here are my goals in order of importance:

1. Learn Greek
2. Gold Commissioner JtE
3. Get a New Job
4. Quarterly Dates

Four goals, six months.  Think I can do it?

Late Report

It's been two weeks since I posted.  That's a shame, but since I've finished two big goals I didn't think I had too much to report, but it turns out I do.

I started riding my bike to work.  Not too much to start, I rode one day two weeks ago, but that was a very rainy week (more rain than most entire months of April).  Last week I rode two days.  This week I'm hoping to ride three days.

I think I'll more fully report those rides in a later post.

I took a week off of exercise for the most part, then last week I worked out 4 days (down from 6), but back to pretty intense workouts.

I went looking for a second yogo DVD.  I have a Kathy Smith one from Beach Body, but that is only 20 minutes.  The P90X one is 93 minutes.  That's too much of a drop.  I guess I'll keep using the P90X DVDs but in my own mix, and only on days I don't ride my bike.

We went camping with the Girl Scouts last Friday.  We were in one of the leaders backyards but, it was pretty intense since we were out from about 18:30 until 09:00 the next morning and we squeezed in three meals and a snack.  Everybody got a chance to light a fire, learn some knots, erect a tent and cook. 
Next Friday we are going to the local Council's Camporee, but that's in cabins with dining hall meals.

I had been working on quite a bit of Greek too, spending my lunches with electronic flashcards.  I'm building my vocabulary at a glacial pace, but now I need to practice.

Belated - Weekly Report, Kαλό Mήνα, etc.

Happy April everybody.  I missed reporting last week and I missed wishing everyone a happy new month.  To top it all off I posted my "Papa Story" in the wrong blog (I've also posted it in Papa Stories so no worries).

Let me tell you a bit about P90X.  The system is designed with 12 different exercise routines.  5 of them are cardio based (Cardio, Plyo, Core, Kempo, Yoga) and 5 of them are circuit based weight training.  Each week you do a circuit day, followed by a cardio day, circuit day, cardio day, circuit day, and finally a cardio day.  There are two more DVDs: an intro disk and an Ab Ripper X disk.

Since you have 5 cardio and 5 circuit disks each they do 3 of each type in a week.  They then divide the whole program into 3 phases.  There are three really hard weeks in each phase followed by an easier week.

I'm in the last week, which is an easy week by design.  I'm on Day 85 today.  Since I had to miss 10 days throughout the program I've decided to do an extra hard week before I bring it in with an easy week to finish.

As if that weren't confusing enough, the hard weeks are divided into a more general routine and a more specific routine.  For instance, in the general week you get a disk called "Back and Arms," in the more specific week, one of the disks you use is, "Back and Biceps."  In Phase 3 you do one general week, one specific week, one general week, one specific week and a rest week.

I'm adding in a hard general week.  BTW, I'm still at 227lbs and my knee still bothers me.

I think my knee is going to bother me forever now.  I don't think it will ever stop being something of an irritation.  I will probably have good days and bad days, but I suspect that it will be generally down hill now until I need to get it replaced some years in my future.

On a much brighter note, I DID finish my Level 2/3 Girl Scout Outdoor training.  I'm now certified and our Girl Scout troop can officially go tent camping.  So we can check that goal off as completed.  Hooray!

That gives me an idea for this month's poll: 
Are you still following your New Year's Resolution? 
I say that I am.  Is anyone else?

In my monthly goal review, I'm on track for P90X, and my Girl Scout goals.

We did not go on a date in Quarter 1, so that is a fail so far.  However, there are 4 quarters of course, so I can still get 75% in this category.

I have met with my mentor and I think I have the new jobs board at work figured out.  I attended a class on setting up your career development in our new system.  So that is all positive for finding a new job, but there is nothing currently out there for me to apply to.

I'm working on the Gold level of Unit Service for our Boy Scout District's Journey to Excellence.  It will take all year to find out how we do, but it's looking good so far.

I have not really worked on the Fortnightly History Podcast, but now that two of my primary goals are coming to an end I should be able to work on that more.  I'm also getting ready to start riding my bike to work again.  When I do that I will have more time to think about things, and I will have a better view of the trees in the neighborhood.

The weakest spot in my work on learning Greek.  I havent' done much in that vein, but I have decided that I am going to get up from my desk and walk around a bit each half hour.  When I do that I will study my Greek flashcards.  This should help me a bit.

Another Anniversary. Is That Down?

As I sit here with my bad knee up, and thinking about Dad's anniversary I am reminded of our 1981 trip to the Great Smokey Mountains portion of the Appalachian Trail.

In 1981 Dad was 39, seven years younger than I am now, but he too suffered from a bad knee that year.  That combined with a bad experience he had on the 1971 attempt at the same trip made him take up a particular strategy for the '81 trip.

In '81 Dad and Rich Zeremba were the two adults and there were seven scouts, Jac Charlier, Dave McCormick, Don Cotar, Shawn, Ken Klusendorf, Myles and me.  I was the Senior Patrol Leader, but we were all very seasoned, experienced, expert campers.

Dad's strategy was to hang back with Z, be the last ones to leave camp each day, and to be the last into camp each evening.  We had no problem with this as we had a crack crew and a great youth leader (me) with a plan (duty roster).

We young bucks loved to stop for a rest and as soon as the adults reached us on the trial, we would hop up and rush off.  I rarely saw Dad on the trail.

One day as they we were hiking along we passed a Ranger who was doing some sort of ranger-y things in the National Park.  I remember I didn't pay him much mind, but when Dad reached him they had been having a rather rough day.  It was one of our longer days and it seemed like we were hitting several peaks.

Leaning wearily on his hiking staff, and breating heavily, Dad asked the Ranger how far it was to the campsite.  The Ranger said that it was only another couple of miles and not to worry because it was all, "basically down" to the camp.

It was five miles I think and when Dad and Z finally made it up the mountain to the top where our camp was he collapsed in the Adirondack shelter mumbling something about how, "Up" was the same as, "Basic Smokey Mountain Ranger, 'Down.'"  From that day forward Dad used that phrase whenever he could.

We woke on our last day on the trail with only seven members in our shelter.  Dad and Z were gone, and so were their packs and gear.  This was very disturbing because we woke with the dawn.  They must have left in the dark of night.

We quickly got ready and got on the road ("hit the bricks" as Dad would say) as soon as we possibly could.

I was hesitant and wanted to search around before we left, just in case, but the rest of the boys were determined to catch Dad and Z up before the end of the trail.

I was the last to leave that day.

Somewhere about halfway through the day's hiking Jac and Don caught up to the adults.  They wouldn't let them pass.  It seemed that my Dad was, despite being last every other day, and clearly the slowest member of our group (with his bum knee and all) determined to be the first to finish with whole length of the park.

Sure enough he was.  I found him laying on the grass beside the road with his feet up and his shoes off.  We had reached our pick up point about four hours ahead of schedule and with no way of alerting our Ground Support (Aunty Mae).

So, in the end the Ole Man put one over on us.  He pulled a Kobiashi Maru and changed the rules of the game so he could win.

As the song says, Dad, "...cut a hole and pull me through."  If anyone can, you can.

Weekly Goal Report - Some Good, Some Bad

I am very late in reporting.  This report is actually for the week of March 10-17.

That's not the bad news.

The bad news is that I have now missed 10 days of my P90X program.  I'm on day 73, but in the past 4 weeks I have missed at least one day in each week.  The program calls for working out six times a week, but in the past three weeks I've only worked out four days each.

This is due in a large part to my injured left knee.  I would estimate that it is now at about 95% and doesn't cause me pain at all when not in use.  When I first start walking or when I exert myself a little then it does cause discomfort.  I have no real pain at all with it unless I exert myself quite a bit at a certain angle.  I am nervous about it though and shy away from what may, at the time, seem like slight discomfort when I'm exercising.  When I actually hurt it this time I didn't really feel any pain when I was actually exercising.

Day 5 of the P90X weeks is almost always a leg workout, so you can see why Day 5s have been missed, deliberately and not.

Day 6 is Saturday and the day when I have to actually steal time from family time to make exercise time.

Excuses are over.  This week I am determined to do whatever it takes to get in 6 workouts.  I only have a few weeks left.

The question is begged though, with 10 days missing, should I continue until I make them up?  If I just go 90 days from when I started then the end is on 7 Apr 13.

The trouble with just continuing is that the program is not regular.  The concept is to cause muscle confusion by varying the workouts.  It is not the same thing every day or even every week.  There are two kinds of leg workouts and probably about three kinds of arm workouts.  Sometimes arms are combined with back and sometimes legs.

I also can't just go back and do those exercise days that I missed because as I said, quite a few of them are leg workouts and I can't do back to back to back legs.

I'll let you know what I figure out.

The good news is that I'm on Day 73 of P90X and the last time I weighed myself I was 227.  That's the lightest I've been this year.

In other good news, I finally signed up for Girl Scout Outdoor Training Module 2&3.  This is an all day outdoor training and I'm going to do it tomorrow.

And to close out with just a hint, a pinch, a whisper of bad news, it is supposed to only get up to 37 degrees tomorrow.

Goal Report (P90X Mostly)

I'm done.

I'm done with week 6 of P90X.  There was no problem with that, but now I'm part way through week 7.  I had shied away from the Plyo because I had hurt my calf doing it when I was doing my first attempt at P90X.  I had figured I had waited and been doing Cardio as a substitute for long enough.

I did Plyo yesterday and today I couldn't walk on my left knee.  Well, of course I could, but only with extreme pain.  Well, I guess that's it then.  I have to find another high intensity cardio workout with low impact.

I have not done the Girl Scout training yet.  That's bad and I have to fix it.

P90X eX-Xvi

Going to take up cycling around Miami?

I have completed week V of my P90X work.  I completed week IV but that was a cake walk because it was the resting week.  Week V started Phase II with some new routines and a slightly different pattern.  It was a bit tough because of scheduling.  I had to skip Tuesday and I didn't get to Friday or Saturday until after 10:00pm (2200).  It is done now though and in the books, now to continue with Phase II.

If you are wondering about all the roman numerals it is because I found out this morning that today they confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI is going to retire at the end of the month.  RETIRE?  I didn't know they could do that.  Wikipedia says the last time a Pope retired was in 1415 (that's before there WAS an America (the continents I mean, not just the country (and by this I'm sure you know my tongue is firmly plastered to my cheek)))!  I wonder what the deal is exactly and when the College of Cardinals will meet up to elect a new one.  I'll have to keep an eye on it.

I'll let you know right now that although I consider myself a Secular Catholic and a Deist, if I'm elected, I WILL serve.  It has always been my contention that if the College of Cardinals sends up the white smoke and comes out with MY name then the hand of God must be in there somewhere.  Who am I to question the will of God?

My Girl Scout goal is to get Outdoor Training.  I have yet to reschedule, but I do have new emphasis and reason to get off my thinking place and do so.  Our troop is planning a camping trip in April and next month is March, when I have to get my training.

On a Chicago Lincoln Avenue Trail note.  As you know my goal is to develop and write a fortnightly podcast of Chicago History to reinforce and compliment the CLAT work we're doing.  This afternoon I'm meeting with part of the steering committee to do a little steering.  We are going to work on writing a proposal for prospective Eagle Scout candidates so that the project to work on the CLAT with us is within the guidelines of the requirements for the Eagle Scout project.

Camping Plans

My youngest Prop and I are planning on going camping tomorrow with her Girl Scout troop.  I don't know if we will have a car capable of getting us there, but we are going to try.

Being out in the wilderness with my daughter's Girl Scout troop, I may not be able to post and get you the Cthulhu content you have come to expect and frankly deserve.  I will try to make up for that before and after the trip (if we make it).

At least I'm pretty sure we won't be stopped by these guys:

Zombie Letters from e-zombie.com

2012 Goals One by One - Spiritual (Scouting)

I gave myself the following goals for 2012:

Spiritual (Scouting)
Commissioner's Key

1. Goal
Earn Commissioner's Key by the end of the year

2. Benefit of meeting the goal =
Demonstrate proficiency to those I support, encourage other Commissioners to excel, push myself to perform at the right level to provide the right service to my units, and make myself more comfortable with my role as a Commissioner

3. Reminder of this benefit =
Get the patches and pin them in my hat until I earn them

4. Anti-benefit, the benefit of not accomplishing this goal =
More free time to work on my other goals

5. Alternate means of achieving the anti-benefit =
Better organization. Work better, not harder

6. Task list (or milestones, or intermediate goals) =

Commissioner Key Requirements
I. Training
1. - Done - Complete the three session training program outlined in Commissioner Basic Training Manual
2. Complete personal coaching orientation including the orientation projects.

II. Tenure
1. - Done - Complete 3 years as a registered commissioner within a 5-year period.

III. Performance
1. Earn the Arrowhead Honor Award for your position. Earn Unit Commissioner Arrowhead
a. - Done - Visit each assigned unit eight or more times throughout the year
b. Fill in and follow up on Commissioner Work Sheets or self assessment forms for each assigned unit:
c. Conduct membership and leadership inventories in each assigned unit
d. - Done - Attend six District Commissioner staff meetings and provide the training topic for one meeting
e. - Done - Participate in a charter review meeting that results in on-time unit reregistration
f. Participate in a charter presentation
g. - Done - Attend a council Commissioner conference, and
h. Help a unit resolve a specific problem or improve some aspect of their unit operation.

7. Next Step =
Commissioner worksheets and work with units on problems

8. Who do I have to be to be able to make this goal (or who will I be when I make it) =
Unit Commissioner

9. Accountability =
• I will remind the District Commissioner and my ADC that I'm working on this and intend to complete it.
• I will carry and complete the tracking card
• I will schedule dates in my calendar

Owasippe 2011 - 100 Years Old

 I find that there are just not enough pictures of Owasippe on the internet, so I wanted to fix that.

Owasippe is the oldest Boy Scout camp in the US.  They celebrated their 100th anniversary this year.

My family has been going there since my Dad started in the 50s.  I believe I've attended about 16 years myself, two of which I worked on camp staff.

Sunset on Lake Michigan

Map of all of historical Owasippe on old tent canvas

The memorial for the centennial, made from old canvas and all of our thumbprints (forming the leaves of the trees)

Carlen's now abandoned waterfront

Our cabin at Reneker, the family camp on Owasippe

I took some photos while I was there this year so here they are:

Our bathroom

The road leading to the sections camps at which my brother Shawn and I worked, Crown and Carlen (respectively)

My idea of the perfect church

Reneker's "Lodge" with pool behind

Remember Pearl Harbor Day

This post is about my thoughts from last Sunday, December 7th, 2008. I would say "Happy" Pearl Harbor Day, but that just doesn't sound right.

I'm writing this because I think I'm more coherent when I write than when I speak extemporaneously. If I were to script out what I'm going to say I might as well just type the article and post it.

The Orthodox gospel reading today was from Luke 13:10-17 (BTW, the Orthodox readings tend to be shorter than the Roman Catholic readings for some reason). The story is about how Jesus healed a woman and was chastised for it because it was working on the Sabbath. Jesus responded, not with a swift, "Shut up, it wasn't work, it was a miracle for crying out loud." He said that the guy who criticized him untied his donkey to let it have a drink on the Sabbath.

I wonder what the situation was that surrounded this. To me, the miracle of healing someone right before their eyes should have been staggering. I don't know how any one could have questioned that. Were they performing "healing miracles" all the time? Did they think that Jesus was doing the same type of, "trick" they were doing? Weren't they impressed? Why wasn't Jesus outraged, why did he play word game with them? Why didn't he just tell them to be quiet?

You must understand that I never believed in miracles, not even before my Crisis in Faith (which started in July 08). I always felt that GOD didn't set up a beautiful, well functioning universe jut to break the rules that G made for it. Miracles are things that work on the mind, not physics or reality. Now, I'm not even so sure of that.

Let me get into the other thoughts I had when I was standing there in church (in the Orthodox service you mostly stand). I stand in the Narthex or the back of the church (more on that later) when my daughters are in Sunday school.

What's the purpose of church? What's the purpose of prayer? Let me suggest that they are useful even if you don't believe in GOD or are shaky about your faith. The reason is that it gives you time to think, time devoted only to thoughts about GOD, the universe, our place in it and our relationships with each other. I think this time is very useful.

I was thinking that I personally use church time and prayer to my own advantage. I listened to a podcast called Skeptoid. The podcaster in that show is an atheist and he suggested that our moral centers are the same for all humans, regardless if you believe in GOD or not. That our morals grow from a basic human cultural community, guided by GOD or not. With that in mind, I think that church could be the way to strengthen that moral center. If you believe in GOD you are there with other believers. If you don't believe then you could put the very same teachings (love your neighbor, etc.) to work to strengthen your moral character, just take out the GOD driven part.

When I was in Afghanistan I led prayer services when there was no priest available. Do I feel hypocritical about that? No, because I was just there to facilitate others prayers even if I didn't pray myself (I did at that time though, but my argument still stands). They used GOD as the source of their morals and strength, I used the community. When I'm with a group of Catholics I feel at home. I know what they know and I know a lot of what they believe. If they are good Catholics I should have nothing to fear, IF they follow the morals prescribed in their religion.

I wonder if you can pray to the community. My prayers for years have been the type of prayers for strength and guidance. The types of prayers for the strength and intelligence to use what I have been given. I could just as easily meditate and try to use the strength of the community around me.

There is a book by Stu Kaufman called Reinventing the Sacred. I haven't read it yet, but I've read a review and in it he talks about the fact that people need a "sacred" and there is sacred right here in the world around us. The beauty of nature and the human community at its best are awesome and worthy of respect and perhaps veneration themselves

In an article I read recently called "Religion for Skeptics" by L. Karl Branting. It was very heartening. In it he said that GOD performs two essential functions for humans, transcendence and morality.

I've written about morality already, but this transcendence is something I find very dear. This is the part where I say I WANT there to be a GOD. I NEED the transcendence. My Scout law tells me to be reverent, but doesn't mandate to whom or what to be reverent.

Branting says that the community is a kind of meta-being (my word) that we are beholden to. It provides the morality. It provides the thing that is bigger than all of us (as individuals). It provides the immortality we all want.

This immortality is not only in the memory of us (which we all know and which seems hollow to me), but in the way we shape others and the world around us, just by being here. Every one of us, no matter how small, petty or reclusive adds to the human "inertia."

This is the community that I'm referring to when I say, "pray" to the community.

There is one small problem. Human communities are flawed because of what they are made of. GOD, if G exists is not, because G isn't made of the same stuff. This is a stronger base for most. It is just that I can't use that base anymore. I have to hope that the human community and it's evolution are moving in the right direction, and maybe I can help it. This is called Cultural Evolution and I think I'm going to have to believe in it to keep up this idea of a community based morality and transcendence.

I have to explain why I stand in the narthex. I do because I don't feel comfortable in the actual church and I think I might make others uncomfortable (what with my note taking and all). That puts me OUTSIDE the community. That doesn't help at all. I need my wife and children to act as my chaperones or proxies.

On the other hand, what my Father said is becoming stronger in my mind. He said that basically Boy Scouts is his religion. I think this may be closer to the truth than he imagines.

In church they talked about leaps of faith. On another episode of Skeptoid the host said that to use science to find evidence for GOD was going against religion, even though it is being done to supposedly help reinforce faith.

This is similar to Douglas Adams' argument that if you have proof of GOD then GOD ceases to exist because GOD is dependent on faith alone. When you have proof you don't need faith, and you actually can't have faith, by definition.

The problem with this argument is painfully obvious, but what I want to point out is the problem of seeing no need to try to find evidence for GOD. The reason I see for looking for evidence of GOD, or for using logic to figure out GOD, or just the logical questioning of GOD is this, you will always need to make a leap of faith in order to believe in GOD (who, by definition is outside, beyond our direct observations and proofs), but just like an actual leap, the more narrow the gap, the easier the leap. Some people can leap very far, some can't go much more than a long step. Personally I always needed a very narrow gap between GOD and our reality.

GOD is in the leaping, not either side. Right now I feel like the space has closed up and there is no room to leap at all.

Maybe the perfect human community in the distance (cultural evolution) is an effort worth working for, and maybe eventually leaping for.

Poll #1 Results - What You Want Illini6 to Be

The results are in. I have a few points I want to make after I give you the raw data.

Here it is in popularity order:

Military and Deployment Issues = 9 (69%)
Inner Prop's Inner Thoughts = 6 (46%)
Inner Prop's Family Life = 6 (46%)
Anthropology = 6 (46%)
Inner Prop Writing Exclusively = 5 (38%)
Rugby = 5 (38%)
Scouting = 5 (38%)
ConCultures and ConLangs = 4 (30%)
Exercise Log and Discussion = 4 (30%)

Thirteen people voted, with the last one sneaking in a vote for Anthropology on the last day. Not one topic got no votes at all.

I need to say that I have created a blog specifically for family issues of the Inner Prop. It is called Flowers of Mundelein. So that is out of the running.

I reserve the right, as the blog owner to lock in a subject. Since the original purpose of this blog was and is to share my writing I am going to continue to do that. I think it didn't get more votes because it said "Exclusively." Next time I will watch my wording better.

Clearly the voters want Military and Deployment issues discussed here. I will certainly do that.

The next top vote-getters were Anthropology and Inner Prop's Inner Thoughts. I will keep those and try to expand my Anthropology and Archaeology discussions.

I will also keep Rugby and Scouting in, but limit the discussion of them.

I will go ahead and drop Exercise discussion (never really started that) and Conlang / ConCultures off the blog for the most part. I'll keep ConLang / ConCulture in if it partains to a specific story, but not on its own.

With this list in mind I propose a new schedule (that I will try to stick with):

Monday is Fiction Day
Tuesday is Guest Star Day
Wednesday is Anything Can Happen Day
Thursday is Anthropology Day
Friday is Military / Deployement Day.

What Makes an Expert?

My Dad used to always say, “This is what an expert is: ex is the unknown factor and a spert is a drip under pressure.”

I’ve been doing research to improve this blog and I’ve been looking at other people’s blogs. They all seem to know so much.

I give a run down on the topics I put on the poll to see how I stack up as an “expert” in these topics:


· WRITING FICTION - While I have been studying this topic more fervently in the last twenty years than any other (except maybe Excel) I hesitate to claim to be an expert since I have made a grand total of $10 on my writing. It’s all about the art though, right.

· DEPLOYMENT – I am an expert on Illinois Army National Guard Deployment to Afghanistan 2004-2005. That is a fairly limited topic (understatement). I don’t know how many people would really be interested or how many articles I could really get out of that. However I am currently the Family Readiness Group leader for the 108th Sustainment Brigade who are being deployed to Iraq soon. I will have a pretty good insight to what those soldiers and their families are going through.

· RUGBY - I do consider myself to be one of the most knowledgeable people that I know in this topic. I could easily become THE font of knowledge about the subject in the Chicago Area Rugby Football Union (CARFU), but first I want to watch the DVDs I have of the recent RWC. I want to watch them as if they are live and I don’t want the end to be spoiled. Give me a couple of months and I am right there.

· SCOUTING - I am an Eagle Scout and I was a District Executive for four years in the Chicago Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. I was an active scouter from age eight until age twenty eight. Trouble is, I’ve been out of the BSA all those years. I’ve been involved with the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) for the past six years, but I’m no expert there.

· ANTHROPOLOGY - I thought, “I have a BA in Anthropology, maybe I can write about Anthropology” but there are some really intense Anthropology and Archaeology blogs out there, and some of them are amateurs. I don’t know if I could add anything useful.

Then I remembered that part of the reason I wanted to study Anthropology is because I wanted to be an expert on Native Americans for our Boy Scout troop. I wanted to make the costumes we used in ceremonies and the actions of the actors more authentic. But I recently found out that there is already a blog about Scouting and Native Americans. It may be all anyone needs on the subject. Maybe I’m a little too late on this topic.

· CONCULTURES AND CONLANGS – ConCultures means Constructed Cultures. These are made up cultures and peoples. They are a combination of anthropology and fiction and I feel I have at least a good background in both of these. ConLang means Constructed Languages. I wrote a previous post on this subject. It goes hand in hand with ConCultures, but I have had less training in linguistics.

· MICROSOFT EXCEL. This wasn’t one of the choices in the poll, but I am definitely at expert level on Excel. In fact I would go so far as to say, if there is anyone out there reading this that is having a problem with Excel they can send me an email at innerprop@sbcglobal.net and I will help them.


So I guess I do have some expertise in some subjects. I’ve been thinking of taking the approach of the original Mickey Mouse Club and have a different theme each day. The MMC had the following schedule:

· Monday is Fun with Music
· Tuesday is Guest Star Day
· Wednesday is Anything Can Happen Day
· Thursday is Circus
· Friday is Talent Round-up

I could go with:

· Monday is Fiction Day
· Tuesday is Guest Star Day
· Wednesday is Anything Can Happen Day
· Thursday is Rugby Day
· Friday is ConCulture Day.

What do you think?