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7/4/2009 Independence DayThe United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congresson July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britainwere now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily byThomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 todeclare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The birthday of the United States of America—Independence Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress.
After finalizing the text on July 4, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms. It was initially published as a printed broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public. The most famous version of the Declaration, a signed copy that is usually regarded as the Declaration of Independence, is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. According to most historians, Congress signed this document on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4, as is often believed.
The sources and interpretation of the Declaration have been the subject of much scholarly inquiry. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural rights, including a right of revolution. Having served its original purpose in announcing independence, the text of the Declaration was initially ignored after the American Revolution. Its stature grew over the years, particularly the second sentence, a sweeping statement of human rights:
6/20/2009 Kimball Scout ReservationThe Camp Kimball Scout Reservation, located at Mount Potosi is located off of State Route 160. The 1,120 acre reservation is located thirty miles southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. This high desert facility is at an elevation of 5,800 feet with daytime temperatures nearly twenty degrees cooler than in the Las Vegas Valley.
Kimball Scout Reservation has over four miles of roads, eleven miles of hiking trails, twenty-two troop campsites, latrines, washstands, two shower buildings, swimming pool, well and water storage system, activity shelters, trading post, large amphitheater, canoe pond, and a worship chapel, Serenity Hall. Kimball Scout Reservation also have a special first-year camper program to help them advance a rank during their week and an adventure program designed to meet the needs of the “older” Scouts who may not be working on merit badges. Kimball Scout Reservation offers more than thirty merit badges for scouts who need them. One of the often-told Scoutmaster Minutes compares a Scout camp to a city. Cities have streets, camps have roads and trails. Cities have buildings and homes, camps have tents. Where cities have many laws, at a Scout camp there are just two, the Scout Law and the Outdoor Code. A Scout Is... Trustworthy Loyal Helpful Friendly Courteous Kind Obedient Cheerful Thrifty Brave Clean and Reverent. These twelve points proudly guide this camp. As an American, I will do my best to be clean in my outdoor manners. I will treat the outdoors as a heritage. I will take care of it for myself and others. I will keep my trash and garbage out of lakes, streams, fields, woods, and roadways. I am humbled that God choose me to mentor and lead these young men in one of the oldest youth programs in the United States. I struggle everyday to ensure a quality program is presented every week to these Boy Scouts. As long as I am able to, the Boy Scout Program will be alive and well.  6/6/2009 D-DayToday is the 65th anniversary of D-Day, the Invasion of Normandy. 65 years ago, Americans, British, and Canadian forces invaded Normandy to free Europe from the tyranny of Nazi Germany. Our greatest generation, ordinary people, did extrordinary things that day. Seeing the Normandy military cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, I am moved to see the rows upon rows of military gravestones. After seeing these gardens of stone, it is fitting that we take the time to honor these men and their sacrifice.
5/25/2009 Memorial DayMemorial Day is one of two holidays in the United States that honors our veterans. Veteran's Day celebrates and honors our living veterans while Memorial Day honors our war dead. To many Memorial Day signals the start of summer. When I think of Memorial Day, I think of near infinite rows of white military gravestones, the final resting place for our honored dead. These gardens of stone show how many hundreds of thousands of men and women who gave thier lives to preserve our way of life. A lot of people take this for granted, but I do not.
 5/10/2009 Lake Mead Railroad Tunnel Trail5/1/2009 Happy May Day!May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to several public holidays. In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, which celebrates the social and economic achievements of the labour movement. As a day of celebration the holiday has ancient origins, and it can relate to many customs that have survived into modern times. -------------------- I remember growing up in West Germany in the 1980's, this was a big deal. Happy May Day. 4/23/2009 2009 Mega Scout ExpoThe 2009 Mega Scout Expo is the single largest program activity sponsored by the Las Vegas Area Council. Area youth from all over Southern Nevada, and from Kingman, Arizona, and Lake Havasu, Arizona, will converge on Sunset Park beginning at 4 pm on Friday, April 24, running through Sunday, April 26. More than 5,000 scouts and adult leaders are invited to camp on the shores of Sunset Park Lake, where an evening camp fire program will introducing the Scouting theme to the boys and the leaders.
This is my second Scout Expo. At the 2008 Mega Scout Expo I found a troop for my nephew. I promised him that if he wanted to be a Boy Scout, I would volunteer. Now a year later, I am the Scoutmaster for Troop 219 and I run the entire program. What a difference a year makes. If you are curious to see the largest gathering of Cub Scouts, Webelos, Boy Scouts, and Venturers, please come down to Sunset Park on Saturday and take a look. It is by far the best youth program out there. In these times of uncertainty, be assured that you will see a youth program that has been largely unchanged for the past 99 years!  4/13/2009 Happy Anniversary!Today is my 13th wedding anniversary. Margie and I were married on Saturday, April 13, 1996 at 1300 hours. I never thought I would make it this far. 13 years on April 13th. Sounds lucky to me.
:)
4/2/2009 Boy Scouts of AmericaFor those of you who didn't know, I am currently the Scoutmaster for Troop 219, Chemehuevi District, Las Vegas Area Council. It is a Community Troop sponsored by The Crossing Christian Church.
What started out as a simple volunteer request for my nephew's Boy Scout Troop a year ago has turned into something much bigger than myself. For me, this is a way to help my nephew Britton and to pay back the Boy Scout program for all of the help and guidance it had given me as a teenager. I struggle every week to mentor the scouts and to provide a quality program for 17 scouts. I believe in the concepts of the Patrol Method and the Boy-Led Troop. It's just hard to convey these concepts to a group of 11 and 12 year olds who want to play Halo 3 and text message girls in middle school. A wise Scout Commissioner once told me that if you do anything with fire, water, or edged weapons, the scouts will follow you anywhere. So far it has held true. This calling has given me a new direction in life away from my computer, and I am a much better person for it.  3/25/2009 LAN Party April 3-5, 2009I will be hosting a LAN party on the weekend of April 3-5. What is a LAN party? Oh let me tell you! A LAN stands for Local Area Network, a group of computers that share resources over a network, such as file sharing and printing. A LAN party is where a group of friends get together (at my house), bring thier computers, and we setup a Local Area Network dedicated to computer games. All of the games we play are highly competitive, depends on a solid internet connection, and is extremely violent. We play these games for several days straight. When I say my LAN party is April 3-5, I mean all 3 days straight! But we are all adults here so it is no big deal. At the LAN Party we setup food buffet style and I am very fortunate that my wife Margie participates in the LAN festivites by cooking for all of us! I am so lucky, my previous life of eating ramen and mac-n-cheese are long gone.
I hold these LAN parties several times a year. It is a great time for my circle of friends to get together, show off our computers, show off our gaming skills, and have a great time! The games that we plan on playing this upcoming weekend are:
Battlefield 1943 (new!)
Team Fortress 2 Left 4 Dead Warcraft Tower Maps World of Warcraft One of our enterprising LANners (Mike, this means you!) will have a portable hard drive available with the ISO images, so we won't be spending half of the LAN installing stuff when we should be killing n00bs online. I am also going to try the Ethernet over power devices. If that doesn't work, we go back to plan B which is the 60' cat6 cable to connect the upstairs and downstairs LAN. 3/21/2009 The Space Monkeys thank you for your generous supportFrom the head Space Monkey...
Thanks to everyone for their generous support. As of this evening we've
raised $3446 - 138 percent of our goal. Words can't express our amazement and gratitude at what you've been able to do for this cause. Those of you who follow along on Facebook have already seen this, but for those of you who haven't, we invite you to view the following video of your fellow Space Monkeys in action: http://media.putfile.com/Space-Monkeys-2009 Thanks again for your generosity and support! James Lyden Space Monkey  3/20/2009 What does one TRILLION dollars look like?3/15/2009 Happy Birthday Margie!Today is Margie's birthday. Margie is my wife of 13 years and is very tolerant of all of my quirks. Here is a small sample of notable people that share my wife's birthday: 1767 - Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (d. 1845) As you can see, Margie is in very good company. Happy Birthday! 3/3/2009 Today is Square Root Day!Math lovers and numerologists take note: Today, March 3, 2009, is square root day. when the numbers of the calendar align so that the month and day are each equal to the square root of the year as expressed in two-digit form. (In today's case, 3/3/09, 3 is the square root of 9—in other words, 32 = 3 x 3 = 9). Square root days arise in every year whose last two digits a perfect square, or a number whose square root is a whole number: The last square root day was on February 2, 2004 (2/2/04), and the next occurrence will be on April 4, 2016 (4/4/16). This is a rare event and only happens about nine times per century. For you math buffs out there, enjoy your day! 3/2/2009 I am a Space Monkey!It all started with a friendly question from a co-worker, "Would you like to be a Space Monkey?". Of course I was intrigued, please tell me more. And thus it is how it began. Here is a brief description of what I volunteered for: St. Baldrick's Foundation ------------------------------ St. Baldrick’s began as a casual conversation between friends and has exploded into the world’s biggest volunteer-driven fundraising program for childhood cancer! In nine years, events have taken place in 18 countries and 48 US states, raising over $50 million, and shaving more than 72,000 heads. St. Baldrick's is the world's largest volunteer-driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research. Thousands of volunteers shave their heads in solidarity of children with cancer, while requesting donations of support from friends and family. At a St. Baldrick's event, something amazing happens. People who normally shy away from the very thought of childhood cancer find themselves compelled to support this cause after looking into the face of these brave children who are smiling broadly as their friends and family members proudly display their newly shorn heads. Space Monkeys: St. Baldrick's Virtual Event ------------------------------ The Space Monkeys are a St. Baldrick's Virtual Team that is spread around various cities within the United States. These individuals have banded together using the power of the internet to raise money for childhood cancer research. The virtual event and the regular St. Baldrick's events will take place on Saturday, March 7 and March 14. I will be camping with my Boy Scout Troop on March 7 so I decided to have my head shaved early. I called up one of my best friends from CSN and said, "If you are a true friend, you will shave my head tonight!". The rest is history.
"Like a monkey, ready to be shot into space! A space monkey, ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good! From now on, all those with shaved heads: Space Monkeys."
2/27/2009 Iron Girl TriathlonOn Saturday, May 9, my sister Sue will be participating in the 2nd Annual Iron Girl Triathlon at Lake Las Vegas. I have seen my sister and her friend Lucy train for this event for the past several months, and I am impressed. When you see people on TV compete in marathons and triathlons you have to ask yourself, "Can I do that?". For my sister Sue, the answer is yes.
 2/23/2009 Duck Creek Trail (Wetlands Park)From a hike on February 22.
Margie and I decided to give this hiking trail a try. We took my niece Brianna, my nephew Britton, as well as our two German Shepards, Champ and Camy. It is very even, and Champ got real excited when he saw Seagulls on some of the ponds. Very easy two mile hike. About 50 acres of the Duck Creek Trail was burnt in a wildfire back in January 2009.
 Lake Mead Railroad Tunnel TrailFrom a hike on February 16. Our German Shepards, Chanp and Camy, with Margie and I, discovered a great hiking trail next to the Lake Mead Visitor's Center.
Lake Mead Railroad Tunnel Trail. I went on a hike on February 16 with Margie and our dogs Champ and Camy. It was the old railroad link used in the contruction of Hoover Dam. There are five tunnels to go through and it is about a five mile round trip. A hike worth doing!
 The Forclosure FiveFrom the New York Post...
I couldn't agree more with this article. As a homeowner, I have faithfully paid my mortgage for nine years, I did not buy a house I couldn't afford over the long term. These people who want mortgage relief are being rewarded for bad behavior. People on my street are getting a better mortgage rate than me with bad credit. Nice guys finish last.
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