Day 109: Retiring as the committee chair

Last night I retired.  While I would LIKE to be retired before I'm 40, I haven't struck-it-rich yet.  I actually retired from the position of Troop Committee Chair of my Boy Scout troop.  I am now back to having the best job in Boy Scouting -- Assistant Scoutmaster.

My "new" role, well, is a role I've already been doing anyway. Now I just have more time to focus on it.  I'm focusing in on high adventure activities for the older scouts (14-17 year olds).

My first couple attempts at transition out of this job failed.  One failed back in 2007-ish.  I transferred the job, but then a couple of weeks later the new adult wanted out.  Times were tough and he was over-committed.  Another attempt failed this summer where the new candidate was almost ready, but then realized that he'd probably only be able to hold the position for another year and that's a fairly short time.  

The parents and other volunteers in this troop are great.  They kept helping and looking for one of them that would be good for this position.  This position goes to a dad who is former scout, who is an Eagle Scout, has a relatively young boy in the troop, and didn't already have a position. Yay!  I look forward to mentoring him as necessary.

Here's the ceremony I put together.  It ends with the fairly common "investiture ceremony" found on the Internet.  The fist section I wrote myself.

Troop Committee Chair -- INVESTITURE CEREMONY

I appreciate every volunteer and parent involved in this troop. A troop can only operate when supported properly by a Chartered Organization, like Westwood church, a functioning troop committee, as well as the Scoutmaster and an entire cast of volunteers and parents. The troop is only as good as the dedication of its scouts and its parents & volunteers. I have had the privilege to serve as the Troop Committee Chair since April of 2005, nearly 5 1/2 years. I have seen the troop grow and evolve from just a handful of scouts that were tired of the regular routine to what I see as a vibrant and healthy scout troop with a strong program.

Let me tell you more about this position:

The Troop Committee Chair is appointed by the chartered organization and registered as an adult leader of the BSA. The troop committee chairman appoints and supervises the committee and the leaders. These responsibilities include: (but is certainly not limited to )

• Organize the committee to see that all functions are delegated, coordinated and completed.
• Maintain a close relationship with the chartered organization representative and the Scoutmaster.
• Interpret national and local policies to the unit.
• Call, preside over, and promote attendance at committee meetings and any special meetings that may be called.

The administration of a successful troop goes well beyond that of a single person. I remind us and call upon all of us, scouts, parents, and volunteers to recognize that we each must do a job and play a supporting role in this troop's operation.

Like much in life, Scouting is about the JOURNEY, not the destination. We've come to a new point in our journey where I turn the role the Troop Committee Chair to another for the next segment of our journey.

At this time, I call upon to be installed as the Troop Committee Chair.

Place your left hand on the TROOP flag. Give the Scout sign and repeat after me please: " I promise to do my best -- to be worthy of the office -- of TROOP COMMITTEE CHAIR -- for the sake of our scouts -- and fellow leaders in this troop -- and the World Brotherhood of Scouting." Two.

I thank and congratulate you on this position. Fulfill the responsibility to which you committed and be an example to our Scouts and fellow leaders. Please join me in thanking and welcoming him as the Troop Committee Chair."

Day 57: Twilight

Another book completed from my list.  At this point, I kind of wish that I had put more books to read on my list.  It's especially nice to have found that the library has audio-books for download.

This is the next book I completed in audio-book format that I've been listening to in the car to-and-from work.

I don't know anything of the hype on this book or the series.  I haven't seen the movie.  Based on recognizing it as a vampire novel and that it has been popular, I figured I'd give it a shot.

The book was decent.  It was more of a romance novel that I had expected.  Unlike the previous books in my list, this isn't one where I captured quotes.  I'll consider reading the next in the series.

Day 50: The Heights of Peoria

The girls and I visited my parents who live near Peoria.  Item 22 on the list is about visiting them but also doing something fun while there.

We stopped by "Tower Park" in Peoria Heights.  A few dollars and a few minutes later, we were headed up the glass elevator on the side of the 200 foot tower.   This was a pretty hot day and it was a nice relief to be at the top of the tower where the breeze was much stronger.

Day 43 - Eat, Pray, Love

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I suppose this isn't your typical "guy" book.  Possibly you might consider it the chick-flick of novels.  However, I enjoyed this book immensely on a variety of levels, which I won't actually cover her.  But as an example, it was a good lesson in diversity.  I learned about Italy, India, and Indonesia, of the countries, culture, people, history, and religious practices.

It was also amazing to hear it being read by the author. I very much appreciated hearing the Italian words rather than just reading them.  I loved that she broke into an imitation of the accent when she was quoting someone's words.

I checked this book out as a downloadable audio book.  It's wonderful that our library system has become sophisticated enough that I can check out a book, download it, and then transfer it to my iPhone.

I love being able to listen to a book while in the car on my commute. Or with my eyes closed, resting on a blanket spread under a tree, or while folding laundry.  If I had my pick, it would always be relaxing in the shade, but it does help the other two less enjoyable activities be more enjoyable.

One thing that I found difficult about an audio book is that you can't highlight or mark something to later come back to it.  I realized over half-way through the book that I could, however, take a quick screen snapshot when I hear something I like to capture the chapter and time-stamp, and then later come back to it.

Some quotes:

• You are after all, what you think. Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts and you are the slave to your emotions.  ... You are never where you are.  You are always digging in the past or poking in the future, but rarely do you rest in this moment.
• Remembering something my guru once said:  You should never give yourself a chance to fall apart.  Because when you do, it becomes a tendency and it happens over and over again.  You must practice staying strong instead.
• Happiness is the consequence of personal effort.  You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.  And once you have achieved a state of happiness,  you must never become lax about maintaining it.  You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever to stay afloat on top of it.   If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment.  
• Attraversiamo, Let's cross over.

Day 31 - What am I going to watch now?

I'm in no hurry to find another TV show.  It's summer time and life is busy.

Last week I completed watching my most-recent favorite TV series: Heroes.  It hasn't been renewed for a 5th season.  I will need to figure out what my next TV show is.

The last couple of TV shows that I watch from the start tend to have a death sentence within the first couple of years.  So watch-out, whatever I pick is probably going to go the way of the dodo bird.

Initial TV show ideas include:

• Firefly
• Lost

Day 31 - Point Omega

Point Omega, by Don DeLillo

I grabbed this fairly short novel (117 pages) on the new releases shelf as I was leaving the library at closing time.  Also it has a wonderful front cover.  I remembered seeing it as a recommendation on Amazon a couple of week prior.  I wasn't going for short--I was going for different.

This fiction novel was definitely different.  I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't been so short, I would not have made it through.  The book consists of 3 characters, the main one has retired from a top secret strategic war planning role as a civilian at the Pentagon.

The story is very much not an action/adventure story as I first imagined.  Instead this is very much a thinking book.  It delves into the each of their heads and their thinking and their thinking-about-thinking.

Different is good to broaden my horizons.  This book was definitely a different experience and I've never read anything like it before.

Day 30 - Flossing is a good thing

Flossing, yuck.  It's never something I've done all that much or consistently.  Thankfully I have pretty healthy teeth and even with out much flossing, I've only ever had 1 cavity.  But flossing is good, is important, and is to be done. OK, OK. I know all that but still haven't done well at it and so that's why it made the list.

I started Item 6 on June 24th, 2010.  This is the day I had my 6-month check-up and cleaning at the dentist.  I figured there was really no better day to start given my teeth were freshly cleaned.

Now I'm over 1 week in and I haven't missed a day.  Eleven more weeks for this item and then to keep doing it for good.  Somewhere a long time ago I heard or read that after 12 weeks a habit should be formed.  That's why I picked 12.

Also, now having read the Power of Less for Item 9 I realized that I had a unknowingly done a couple of other very good things when I set this goal that should help with motivation, namely:

• Anticipate - I set the start date a couple of weeks in advance, knowing that I had my dentist appointment. 
• Set an easy goal - I set the goal to be 4x per week, yet hoping to be doing it every day.  I figured that 4 was a lot better than I had ever done and was pretty much every-other-day.  
• Put up a chart - I put a small chart on my bathroom mirror so I can mark off each day.

So far so good.  I'm getting faster at it too.  I might actually have to buy some more floss one day.