December 18th, 2009

After a few hours of 'work' at the consignment shop I headed home about 2pm to get ready for a ceremony I would be attending for a friend from my club. The ceremony was in honor of him achieving the rank of Eagle Scout in boy scouts.
I'd also invited my best friend along as company and by 4pm we were both roaming the closet to get the right outfit.
I settled on my nice pair of blue jeans, a black belt with purple designs, a white shirt with 3/4 sleeves and a shiny color, a purple beaded necklace, and black boots. I pulled my hair up in a ponytail and put on some make-up as the finishing touches.
 At 6pm we were out the door and on our way to the rec center. It was a good 40min drive by interstate and we made it there on time.
For the ceremony they'd set up about five rows of tables with chairs. A few of the chairs here and there had balloons tied to the back. Against one of the longer walls was the the podium with a table behind it. When we got there the boy scout troop was still adding the final touches to the room. They brought in a stand that held six candles each with a different emblem on their holders. Near that was a wood cut out of an eagle.
The ceremony started at 7pm with the presentation of the colors and an invocation. This was followed by a speech from one of the Troop's advisors and being an Eagle Scout. From there it led to the lighting of the candles, a different scout lighting each candle. The last one was lit by my friend and he remained up front. After further speeches my friend's parents were then escorted to the front and presented with pins in honor of their help. My friend's mom then pinned the Eagle Scout award on his shirt.
Its said that only 1% of boy scouts make the rank of Eagle Scout. And in this troop's history, my friend was the youngest of 18 to achieve that rank.

It was an interesting ceremony and in the end I am glad I attended.

December 17th, 2009

This morning I got up at 6am to get ready for a volunteer opportunity. At 8am I would be one of the many volunteers to help with 'Sincerely Santa' at Wal-mart.
Sincerely Santa is an organization that works to give needy kids gifts for Christmas.

Today, volunteers met at the 'Site to Store' area in the back of wal-mart to shop for the last of the letters from these kids. Next to the sign in sheet was a three ring binder full of hundreds of letters.
After signing in and given a quick orientation volunteers were each handed a letter from the binder, grabbed a shopping cart, and went around Wal-mart to find items for the child based off of the information in the letter. When they were done shopping they would return the cart with the letter to the 'assembly line' of volunteers that would bag the gifts to be processed at a different location. The shoppers would then grab another letter and cart and head back out for more shopping. This cycle continued until all letters were completed.
The operation was done with the help of Walmart employees, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Hillsborough County Fire fighters, an Airforce rotc group, and several other volunteers. 
These volunteers were able to finish the job in a matter of two hours.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/dec/15/santas-helpers-hit-store-2000-kids/news-breaking/
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/hillsborough/hcfr-sincerely-santa-shopping-121709

December 16th, 2009

I survived yesterday!
The fifth grade field trip actually wasn't that bad. Along with my friend and I, there were about ten other volunteers. And on top of that were the five or so teachers and about 3 employees of the JA Biztown. I think there was about 150 students. The JA Biztown is a building that has a section that looks like a mini mall. The different stores that line the left and right side of this section are operated by the students. This gives them an oppurtunity to experience what its like to run a business, write checks, purchase items, etc. At this JA Biztown the businesses included Bright House, Verizon, Teco, Bank of America, mix 100.7, Tampa Bay Lightning, Mcdonalds, Government Offices, and a few others.
I oversaw Tampa Bay Lightning and had five kids operating the store. There was a CFO, a CEO, and three Sales people. The town starts with about half an hour for setup. The kids read the folders for their job which explains their responsibilites. One of the Sales people picks up the merchandise and they work together to price the items. Their goal is to be able to pay back the bank loan and make profits.
Through out the day there and two sets of breaks and in each set the breaks are divided in three groups so the stores are always manned. Students get paychecks twice in the day and are able to deposit them at the bank and use their checkbook and Biztown money to buy stuff around town. They get to keep the stuff they buy.
Since I'd never been to a JA Biztown before I was a bit nervous but the staff was good about making sure you knew what you needed to do. Volunteers had a folder with instructions and if they needed help then Biztown staff was available to assist. My group of kids were really good at following directions and when the end of the day came they'd successfully sold all of their merchandise and all of them seemed to have fun.
I think I'd do it again next year.

December 14th, 2009

Tomorrow the community service club I'm a member of is having its Christmas Party. But before I get to 'enjoy' the party I'll be subjecting myself to torture. My mom is a fifth grade teacher and being the christian woman she is was able to sucker me into helping the fifth grade with a field trip. So not only do I have to get up about 630am in the middle of my first week of 'vacation' I must deal with snooty kids who don't understand the meaning of respect.
But I guess it should be interesting. Could turn me away from ever having kids or at least give me an idea of what 'not' to do when raising kids. At least I don't have to worry about any of that stuff, so long as I don't meet someone.