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Saturday, May 22, 2004


B.S.A. and B-Day

Last night, as I mentioned, I went downtown to the Hyatt Regency for the Boy Scouts of America National Convention Awards Banquet. Having been to several Council Distinguished Citizens Awards Banquets in the SW Florida Council, I sort of knew what to expect, just on a larger and grander scale. 1700+ people were in attendance for the festivities and it was especially good to see old friends from my council again. Don Sharitt was the gentleman that invited me as a guest to the dinner and has been a friend for several years. However, and he did not tell me this, my presence was a surprise to the other folks there! Don Hughes, my first CubMaster when I was in elementary school and a long time family friend, was surprised to see me as was SW Florida Council President Gary Bull. Don Hughes and I sat next to each other telling embellished stories and making fun of most everyone we saw - thus, it was a typical night of entertainment with him and highly enjoyable!! It's even funnier when you get him and his brother together at the same time! The prestigious Silver Buffalo award was given out; it is the national recognition award given to those whose dedication to Scouting is unmatched. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was among this year's honored recipients. The entertainment by the Broadway Exchange was superb as they sang and danced to many Broadway classics. Several members have just come off runs of Broadway shows, so it was a real treat. My only question is, here in this great city, why did they import talent (good as it was) from NY City? All in all it was a wonderful evening and great catching up with some of the finest Scouts I know.

Today is my 23rd birthday, and I began my celebration by having some scrambled eggs and speciality coffee. I got to talk to Grandma for a while when she called which is always great and then the family called and I talked to them. Given that my birthday has always been after school let out, I have always been home for it until this year, so it was a little different. I opened my gifts while on the phone with the family, so that was funny. The weather has been and continues to be very rainy and thunderstormy (if that is a word) and so, as I suspected, softball practice was cancelled for today. But that is just as well, because now I will have time to enjoy my gifts and relax.

On a side note, my mother informed me that my youngest brother Brennan (16) received a summer reading list from his high school. The list included Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I want to know whose brilliant idea it was to assign such an awful book to a group of sixteen year olds for summer reading! (Actually, I do know who it was...) What a dumb idea! What a dumb book! I struggled my way through it in college, declared it to be silly, ridiculous, and that it ought to be relegated to that section of books that go in the historical museum under the heading, "Things We Used to Think Were Great Until We Actually Read Them". High school boys are going to take one look at that book and consign it to the grill. High school girls will likely sigh their way through the first 100 pages, then get bored, realize life is nothing like that anymore, and go do something else, like call the boys. If one student actually reads the entire book honestly, I'll be surprised. It's slow, boring, antiquated, and generally dreadful. Ok, I'm done with that now. I'm gonna go sit on the couch and read a better book.

-R

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