Bizack in the T to tha U to tha C

[Ben E Lou]

Whew! After a fantastic month-long assignment as Summer Staff Coordinator at YoungLife's Crooked Creek Ranch, I began the long trek home yesterday morning. I don't know what possessed me and the co-worker driving with me, but we decided not to stop at night as we did on the way out there, but drove through the night, making the 1,500-mile trip in a little under 24 hours, arriving here an hour and a half ago. It was an incredible month of being "on the front row" getting to see God work in many, many lives. I'm both sad and glad to be back home, but home I am. GHSA allows full pads starting TODAY, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing dem boys strike one another this afternoon and evening.

To the person whining that someone hasn't gotten a suspension yet:

I just received your "reported post" e-mail. Obviously, I've been afk since Saturday night. I'll sort it out and see if whoever it is deserves a boxing.

--Ben

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

To the person whining that someone hasn't gotten a suspension yet:

I just received your "reported post" e-mail. Obviously, I've been afk since Saturday night. I'll sort it out and see if whoever it is deserves a boxing.

--Ben

This is the type of excitment we need around here.

[MikeVic]

Welcome back, Kotter.

[FBPro]

Welcome back boss......

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

Yay Ben's back! Now about these Werewolf threads...

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Farrah Whitworth-Rahn

Yay Ben's back! Now about these Werewolf threads...

Having not had time (or inclination) to read anything superfluous this past month or so, I haven't checked into them. What is the deal anyway? Is there a game called "Werewolf," or is it something else? A brief synopsis, please?

[rkmsuf]

From what I can surmise you pretend to either be or not be a werewolf and eat people.

Peregrine is your man on this though.

[John Galt]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Having not had time (or inclination) to read anything superfluous this past month or so, I haven't checked into them. What is the deal anyway? Is there a game called "Werewolf," or is it something else? A brief synopsis, please?

Werewolf is kind of like the new "trout" in rectum."

Except that it is really nothing like "trout in rectum."

Maybe it is more like a cross between Hattrick and Wignifty.

[Ben E Lou]

If anyone is curious, here's part of an e-mail I fired off to someone who asked a week or two ago where I'd been:

> I'm in Colorado for the month. One
> of the responsibilities of a full-time staff person
> with YoungLife is that we are usually assigned to work
> for a month during the summer at one of our camps. Due
> to various scheduling conflicts the last few summers,
> my last camp assignment was in June of 2000. Normally,
> I'll do an assignment roughly two out of every three
> summers. Anyway, I left Tucker on June 22nd, and will
> return on July 25th or 26th. We have wireless internet
> access in my living quarters, but in the particular
> job that I have I'm outside a ton, so I decided not to
> try to post here and there during the month. I'm
> checking the board once or twice a day for trolls, but
> that's about it.
>
> FYI, if you need to contact me before I return, it is
> easiest for me if you use this e-mail addy. I can
> receive e-mail on my bellsouth account, but cannot
> send any due to the lack of an SMTP server here.

[Ben E Lou]

Bottom line of the above:

Apologies to those who e-mailed methis month and received no response. To be honest, I just didn't feel like copying e-mails and e-mail addresses from Outlook Express over to my 'net browser in order to send using the yahoo account I set up midway through the month away.

[Senator]

Is this the reason your IHOF team has fallen on hard times?

Glad you are back. Please ban HFP for lack of participation. And Shorty just because.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Senator

Is this the reason your IHOF team has fallen on hard times?

Glad you are back. Please ban HFP for lack of participation. And Shorty just because.

If Shorty gets banned does he complain about. And does anyone hear him?

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by Senator

Is this the reason your IHOF team has fallen on hard times?

No, that;s due to (a) lack of talent and (b) poor management.

[John Galt]

Originally Posted by Senator

Please ban HFP for lack of participation. And Shorty just because.

I second the esteemed Senator's motion.

[Ben E Lou]

More in the "if anyone cares" area... (WARNING: This turned out to be a really long post...)

My job, as mentioned above, was Summer Staff Coordinator. To explain what that is, I have to explain a little about our philosophy of camping. We believe that everything should be done with excellence, and for as affordable a price as possible. Having the benefit of a being a large organization with access to a significant potential corps of volunteers, we try to set up a "win-win-win" situation: we have right around 100 volunteers at every camp who serve for a month: 40-50 college students and 50-60 high school students (depending on the needs at the particular property). The high school kids are known as "Work Crew" and the college kids are known as "Summer Staff." All come for the month, and serve in vital roles around camp in exchange for a place to stay, physical food and "spiritual food," if you will. As one might expect, the Summer Staff jobs are of higher responsibility than Work Crew:

WORK CREW JOBS:
SERVERS--They serve, bus and clean 3-4 tables in the dining hall.
PITS--They wash dishes.
TAWASHIES--They get "to washie" your toilets.
LAUNDRY--Wash the camp sheets and towels, as well as do the laundry for all Work Crew and Summer Staff.
OUTDOOR CREW--Rake the infield and volleyball courts, sweep the basketball courts, do various projects around camp. (Their biggie this month was doing the landscaping around a new staff housing building. They brought in big rocks and dirt to build up a nice flat area for staff kids to play on, built a rock pond, poured concrete for sidewalks, etc.)

SUMMER STAFF JOBS:
HORSE WRANGLERS--Run the horse rides
BAKERS--bread, desserts, etc.
COOKS--kitchen support
ROPES WRANGLERS--Run the high-element ropes course
LIFEGUARDS--We have a pool, hot tub, and waterfront with a water slide and "blob" as well as canoes, etc.
RIDGERUNNER WRANGLERS--Run the four-wheeler course that campers get to drive.
MOUNTAIN BIKE WRANGLERS--Lead campers on mountain bike trail
SNACK BAR--run it
CAMP STORE--run it
OFFICE--We maintain a "business office" for the camp well away from where campers hang out, but we also maintain a "Summer Office" near the camper dorms where camper mail comes in, parent phone calls come in, stamp purchases can be made, etc. Two Summer Staff girls run the Summer Office.
MOUNTAIN LUGE WRANGLERS--Run the mountain luge ride
WRANGLER COOK--Some cabins get to do a 6:45am horseback ride which includes a breakfast cooked out on the range over an open fire. A Summer Staff guy cooks that breakfast each morning.
TOWN RUNNER--Runs errands for camp, takes non-urgent medical needs to the clinic in town (usually for x-rays when ordered by the camp doctor)

The situation ends up being a "Win-Win-Win" as such:

FOR WORK CREW/SUMMER STAFF: They get to live for a month in an environment with others their own age who are passionate about serving Christ. They are also invested in by the "Assigned Staff" (aka myself and others responsible for their "care and feeding." Basically, my job for the month was to hang out with, encourage, mentor and disciple the 22 guys on the Summer Staff. Because the Work Crew kids require more close supervision and care, each work crew job has its own boss--a YL Staff person who works alongside them in their job and is also responsible for "care and feeding." Generally, a Work Crew boss has 6-10 high school kids under his or her care.

FOR CAMPERS: Having that many volunteers *significantly* lowers the cost of our camps, allowing us to provide *much* nicer facilities and services than similarly-priced camps for teenagers.

FOR ASSIGNED STAFF: It is *such* a blessing to live in community for a month with our families and other staff families. We have 2 large lodges that are adjacent to one another where we are housed for the month. I laugh harder than I ever laugh when I'm on assignment, and get closer to other folks like nowhere else.

Essentially, during the day I would walk around from Summer Staff job to Summer Staff job, just getting to know them, encouraging them, serving with them when needed, and serving them however I could--mainly taking water and gatorade out to their job sites; It gets very, very dry at 9,000 feet. Basically my role was to a friend and mentor to them. We met as a whole Summer Staff twice a week for worship and teaching, led by myself and my female counterpart, and once a week I met just with the guys, and the Womens' SS Coordinator met just with the girls.

So, for those who were wondering why I was so busy and not posting much this month, there ya have it. Sorry, I wasn't beta testing anything. I certainly had no time to do that. The only text-simming related things I did were:

1. Got in a few IHOF game-day exports
2. Got in a few FBCB-FOFC exports
3. Ran a bunch of OOTP test leagues, since my laptop was sitting idle for the huge majority of the time. Figured I'd put the afk time to *some* good use.

--Ben

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

No, that;s due to (a) lack of talent and (b) poor management.

a. lack of talent
b. bad luck on busts. That will even out over time.
c. very little management this month (and I just noticed what time it is. I doubt I'll be able to get today's export in, either.)

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

(and I just noticed what time it is. I doubt I'll be able to get today's export in, either.)

Flag	Subject	From	Date	Mark
	Upload Confirmation	Upload Confirmation	Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:58 am

[Celeval]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

FOR CAMPERS: Having that many volunteers *significantly* lowers the cost of our camps, allowing us to provide *much* nicer facilities and services than similarly-priced camps for teenagers.

Would it save more money if we brought our own sleeping bags?

[BigJohn&TheLions]

Good to know that the H.N.I.C is back on the J.O.B. and everything is A-OK!

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Celeval

Would it save more money if we brought our own sleeping bags?

Nice facilities + volunteers to wash your linens = NO SLEEPING BAGS!!!

[Subby]

It would be awesome if their was someone that could help you moderate the boards while you were gone.

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by Subby

It would be awesome if their was someone that could help you moderate the boards while you were gone.

[vtbub]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

Where does one get sunburn in Scotland? Or is that windburn?

[Subby]

Originally Posted by vtbub

Where does one get sunburn in Scotland? Or is that windburn?

Sheepburn...

[Silver Owl]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

I saw nudity !! TO THE BOX WITH HIM!!

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Anaheim 35, Tucker 9. Nice to see that worked out for you.

[KWhit]

Ouch.

Wasn't Anaheim 1-13 before that game?

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Nice facilities + volunteers to wash your linens = NO SLEEPING BAGS!!!

Just curious, how many kids showed up bringing them due to your repeated browbeating from past years?

[SegRat]

Originally Posted by Elvis

So, how's the beta testing of Jim's new game coming along?

It's incredible. You guys are going to be very impressed.

[Easy Mac]

so who's getting banned?

[digamma]

So much drama in the T-U-C,
It's kinda hard bein' Sky D-O-to the G.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by vtbub

Where does one get sunburn in Scotland?

Apparently right on the ol' bum!

*rimshot*










very poor word choice there, I know...

[vtbub]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Apparently right on the ol' bum!

*rimshot*










very poor word choice there, I know...

You'll be here all the week?