Today's Mighty Oak

MountainFest

Major Events November 14, 2011

One year after Campaganza, to celebrate the creation of the Laurel Highlands Council (merger of Greater Pittsburgh and Penn’s Woods councils), MountainFest was held.  Over 2,500 Scouts and volunteers came to our council camp for the weekend.

I ran check-in for the event, coordianting between three offices and the parking staff, who were directing traffic to eleven locations, as well as ran a program area and staffed the front office for the duration of the event.  I provided support during the arena show, as well as during the time before the event when the staff were checking in and making final preparations.  I was heavily involved in the marketing and communication of the event, providing most of the pieces (postcards, flyers, newsletter spreads, e-mail blasts, websites).

Campaganza

Major Events

To celebrate the 100th annviersary of the Boy Scouts, Area 4 of the Northeast Region held Campaganza, an event brining together 10,000 Scouts and volunteers at Moraine State Park.

I coordinated the religous services, as well as provided support for all areas of program, arena show and administration from event conception through the event’s conclusion.

Eagles at the Point

Major Events

I was the stage producer for Pittsburgh 250: Eagles at the Point.

The Boy Scouts produced the opening show for the Pittsburgh 250 celebration.  I was in charge of the talent on stage and coordinated their timing to coincide with the action taking place on far side of the Portal Bridge, unseen by the stage.

Launch the photo gallery.

Laurel Highlands Council

Web design

We switched over from a local CMS to part of the national system, running Sitecore.  After helping with the initial deployment, I continue to provide content and graphic design to the site.

The site was originally created for the Greater Pittsburgh Council, which merged with Penn’s Woods Council to form the Laurel Highlands Council.

lhc-bsa.org

A note about November

Yesterday's nut November 6, 2011

Once again, I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month.  Usually I put up an image that shows my current wordcount and how close I am to the goal of 50,000 words (hint: I’m usually behind).  This year, NaNoWriMo changed websites, so they don’t have that up and running quite yet.  In the meantime, if you’re wondering, you can check out my writer stats here.

Posts will be a little thin this month as I try to once again win, and I’ll be running to write-ins (already been to two as well as the kick-off party), but fear not, I’ll be back soon, I have a lot of stuff to share!

Word-count widgets are working!  Here you go:

 

Yearly tradition

Yesterday's nut November 5, 2011

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.


Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, ’twas his intent
To blow up the King and Parli’ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;


By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Hulloa boys, Hulloa boys, let the bells ring.
Hulloa boys, hulloa boys, God save the King!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o’ cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.


Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we’ll say ol’ Pope is dead.


Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!

“My cousin just died. He was only 19. He got stung by a bee – the natural enemy of a tightrope walker.”

Yesterday's nut October 24, 2011

Couple more updates for you today:

Crazy use of homeland security money.  Sigh.

My friend Patrick discusses his license plate, and how it made him a celebrity.  Fun story.

Unplggd has a cool article about how to keep your earbuds.  Neat idea.

Here’s the duet with Siri:

This deserves its own post, but what the hell?  Stealing babies from people you deem are unworthy?  What the crap, Catholic church?

A fantastic headline for Occupy: We’re Here, We’re Unclear.

And as much as I don’t like his writing, Charles Mudede tells us to stop comparing Occupy to the Tea Party:

Total rubbish. If the members of the Tea Party were about deficits and big government, then they should have gone nuts under Bush. No such thing happened. They only went nuts when the president became black. There is nothing more to them than that.

I tend to agree.

And Paul Constant follows up with the inevitable usage of Godwin’s Law:

Don’t these people see an echo of the swastika in their new power symbol? Don’t they realize that the early Nazi Party was (among other things, obviously) also overtly anti-capitalist?…Don’t they know that the early Nazis tried to garner sympathy with street rallies and marches?

One month in, conservatives still have no idea how to respond to Occupy Wall Street and it is freaking them the fuck out.

They’re talking about the hashtag buy the way, the way Twitter is searched, aka, the number symbol: #

And one more political quote for you, this one from Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan (as seen on The Daily Show, not sure where it came from first):

Bush and Saddam – One Trillion dollars and thousands of US lives.

Obama and Qaddafi – One Billion dollars and zero US lives.

Wherein I talk about sports

The King of Spades October 23, 2011

Written: 10/23/2011

I’m not a football fan.  I’m sure part of it comes from going to the College where the Steelers have training camp.  We put up with a lot to host the most welcoming and best fan experience in the country (as consistently rated by ESPN).  And I find the game boring.  I’ll cheer for the Steelers, but I don’t usually watch the games.

And of course, I grew up with the Pirates….so I’m not huge into baseball.  Again, I won’t root for anyone else, and I like to be cautiously optimistic, but I understand the realities of the situation.

I like watching soccer (and so many points to Ronaldo for coming out in support of marriage equality), I love the Olympics, and like many of my friends, if curling is on TV, there is just something that sucks you in and you can’t look away.

Hockey, however, is my sport.  I love watching it, love rooting for the Pens.  The athleticism is amazing, the pace is fast, and Pittsburgh is a great city to watch Hockey in (if only I could afford to go to the CEC).  I try to keep up as much as I can with all the news about the Pens, so I can hold my own in conversations, which is a big deal for me I think.  It also helps that there are a couple really, really hot players on the Pens.

But anyway, Outsports has an awesome article about hockey, one that I can’t wait to be a reality (and for me to be able to afford):

After our hockey game (he bought the tickets as a surprise), it got me thinking – will there ever be a time when I can go to a Stars game and not be afraid to kiss my boyfriend in between plays or periods?

Check it out and have a read.

Update: As a follow up, Prop 8 Trial Tracker has a cool write-up about Sean Avery’s support of New York’s marriage equality

Update 2: Not about hockey, but soccer (well, football): a professional player who tweeted out anti-gay sentiments about out Rugby star Gareth Thomas was fired for his intolerance and bigotry.  While I don’t take pleasure in the fact that he lost his job, it’s nice to see sports clubs standing behind their stances for equality.  Most of the American leagues (Basketball and Baseball recently) have equality in their player agreements, so it is progress, just slow going.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Amazon and distribution

The Great and Secret Show

Goodreads has a good article up about the elimination of the Middleman in book sales and publishing.  Am I the only one who is scared about the loss of book stores?  Don’t get me wrong, I tend to buy a lot of books from both book stores and Amazon.  But I like my experience better at the store.  I can ask the sales associates for their recommendations, take my time, and maybe even write a book (we’re thinking of doing our NaNoWriMo write-ins at Barnes and Noble this year).

And additionally, I can’t quite figure out where Goodreads is coming from, it’s almost as if they’re advocating for what Amazing is saying, get rid of the middle man and let everyone publish themselves.  The commenters bring up the valid point that without the publishing houses, how else will all the horrible books be taken out of the pile.

Anyway, it’s an interesting read, and it’s a scary, busy time in publishing, that’s for sure.

The medium of occupy

The Great and Secret Show

An interesting article over at Slog:

Those pundits and politicians who still insist that the Occupy protesters don’t have a coherent message need to bone up on their Marshall McLuhan: The medium is the message. And the protest is the medium. What’s so hard to understand about that?

…

But perhaps no aspect of these protests better illustrates McLuhan’s thesis than “the People’s mic,” which as silly as it may sound, and as mundane as its content may sometimes be, is a medium that inherently expresses a powerful message of solidarity and defiance, in and of itself.

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