Rick’s Rants and Raves

Our weekend started Friday evening with a D&D game with some friends. We knew it was a good game when we started laughing about the idea of all our adventuring party tied on a rope together, like beads on a string. It immediately went downhill from there.

Saturday was jammed packed from 9AM to 9PM:

• 9 AM We loaded up a bunch of cookies (’tis the season!) into the Pilot so that Anne and Emily could sell at the local YMCA during their 3-on-3 hockey games.
• 10 AM Nathan and I went running around to pick up last minute items for the Blue & Gold Banquet to be held that evening. After we returned, I worked on fleshing out the details of the agenda for the B&G
• Noon – I picked up Emily at the YMCA cookie table and dropped off Nathan. Emily and I got her volleyball gear, and some lunch on the run in time for…
• 1PM arrival at the Hilltop YMCA for a 1:30 volleyball game. I took a few pictures.
  
• Emily’s team won! And in the teen leagues, they actually keep score
• 2PM Anne and Nathan arrive for his street hockey game at a different YMCA. Nathan’s team also won! Way to go Bennett kids!
• 3PM Emily and I arrive home where I finished my agenda for the B&G banquet, then made my dish (sloppy joes) to share.
• 4PM Anne and Nathan arrive home. Nathan rushes to take a shower while I finish my preparations and start loading the car (160 paper plates, napkins, plastic ware, cups, 10 gallons of Hi-C, food (not that much), awards, advancements, prizes).
• 5PM Nathan and I arrive at the church to find the main door and the side door locked. We happen to see someone coming out another side door, and they decide we look trustworthy enough (thanks to the uniforms) to let us in to the church. We then found that a rarely used side door was unlocked, but there was no way to have known that. Oh well, only 10 minutes lost.
• We started setting tables up for 100 people. I didn’t have any idea how many people would show up, but I was guessing it would be 100-120, and we could jam people in to more tables if needed. It was pot luck so I just had to be sure we had enough plates (hence the 160) etc to cover them.  The more people that came, the more food would arrive.
• 5:30 PM  Scouts and parents start arriving for the Blue & Gold Banquet bringing with them a lot of great food. It was about this time that I realized the one thing I had forgotten to pack the agenda. Fortunately one of the den leaders had a draft copy that I’d sent the previous day.
• 6:10 PM We start eating
• 6:30 PM We start the meeting. Fortunately, Anne was able to take a bunch of pictures while I presented advancements and awards to the pack. The meeting went reasonably well (if a bit long) but I was a little “out of sorts” without my more detailed agenda. I think I remembered everything, but it was still very annoying.
  
• I counted about 90 scouts and adults at the banquet. It was a good turnout and the kids seemed to have fun.
• By 8PM the B&G was over, except for the clean-up. Fortunately we had a lot of help.
• 9PM we arrived home and unloaded the car. I crashed on the couch with a beer and relaxed as Anne and I caught up and decompressed from the day. Phew.

Sunday wasn’t quite that busy. Anne and Emily had another cookie booth, this time at Lowes, from 12-4PM. Owing to the time change, and just being wiped out, I slept in until 11AM, then helped the load up and head off. I spent much of the afternoon clean up the house and attempting to get Nathan to pick up his own stuff. The phrases Herding Cats and Pulling Teeth come to mind–perhaps “Pulling Cats’ Teeth while Herding them” is an apt description. Anyway, I did laundry, dishes, ran some errands, cleaned up the garage, took the recycling, etc etc etc.

Anne and Emily arrive home around 4:30 about the time Anne’s mom arrive to take us to dinner. It took us a while to make a decision, but eventually settle on a long-time favorite, California Pizza Kitchen. We had a pleasant dinner then decided to try Jeni’s Ice Cream in Grandview for dessert.

While we were enjoying our dessert, three young men came in and two of them looked familiar enough for me to do a double take. Then a triple take. I checked with Anne, who agreed that she was pretty sure they were Jared Boll and Derick Brassard. I stood up and rather sheepishly approached “Hey guys, I hate to bother you but are you Jared Boll and Derrick Brassard?” They confirmed. I looked at the third guy and apologized “I’m really sorry, but I don’t recognize you” to which he responded “No problem. They’re the recognizable ones. I’m Marc”. I smiled and said thainks and sat down, anxious to not be a pest and allow them to enjoy their ice cream. After they ordered and it became clear they were going to leave, I approached (encouraged by Anne) and asked if it would be OK to take their picture with my kids. They were very gracious and agreed.

Emily encouraged them with something like “Beat the Oilers!” (they play Edmonton tomorrow night) to which they responded with kinda weak “Yeah, we’ll do our best.” I wished them luck and thanked them for the photo op. No one else in the ice cream shop seemed to get what all the fuss was about.

Anne later informed me that the Marc that I didn’t recognize was Marc Methot.

The kids were just tickled pink. Anne kept having squee moments for an hour.

What a great weekend.