Home.17 August 2002
Greetings to All.
This is our first post-Philmont Newsletter. I hope everyone has fully recovered from our shared adventures in Colorado and New Mexico. Much to discuss:
1) Health OK? - It has now been more than two weeks since our return from Philmont - more than enough time for the symptoms of any water-borne illnesses such as Giardia or cryptosporidium to have manifested themselves (flu-like feelings, fever, explosive diarrhea, badly upset stomach, etc.) If you have any such symptoms, please see your family physician and (MOST IMPORTANTLY) let me know. As you will recall, the rapid onset and diagnosis of Giardia for Hank and Matt McE. after the 2000 Philmont trip enabled a much faster diagnosis and treatment for the other 4 members of that Crew who were subsequently so afflicted.
2) Merit Badges and Trek Evaluations - I will be sending out the Merit Badge Questionnaire and the Trek Evaluation Form a little later this evening, to all trekkers (that is, including those who already completed the Merit Badges as a result of a previous summer). Further instructions will be included in those mass emailings. Be on the lookout....
3) Crew Gear - Our quick review prior to the PA trek suggests that all of the items were returned (THANKS!); however, if any forgotten items showed up in your luggage, please return it to me asap, as I will be finalizing the Philmont gear this coming weekend. If you find (or have already found) anything, please place it/them on the front seats of the white van by COB Friday. Thanks.
4) Photo Reunion Session - I have already sorted the initial run of photos (I say "initial" because we (or the photo shop) have misplaced at least one and possibly two rolls of film, plus we have various pre- and post-trip photos taken by various parents yet to be turned in. In general, we have an excellent set of photos; I think I tossed less than 25 unusable shots from about 40 rolls, not bad. The only exception was the rock climbing, where one roll came up bad for most of the climbing shots. That is unfortunate, but it is one of the drawbacks when using auto-everything cameras (trying to split a frame between a dark background (rock) and a blinding sky).
Anyway, each Scout will receive roughly 100 photos (Hugh and Thomas S. about 150), about 2/3rds featuring themselves, and 1/3rd being an assortment of all other Crew members. In addition to that, we have several hundred "multi-subject" photos to select from for reprints (most of you have been through this drill before). I would like to try for our photo selection either this Sunday evening (8/18) or the following Sunday (8/25). PLEASE EMAIL ME YOUR AVAILABILITY ON BOTH OF THESE TWO NIGHTS. The selection normally takes about 2 hours start to finish, plus I need at least one (and preferably more) assistants to help me set it up. EMAIL ME IF YOU CAN HELP ON SETUP ON EITHER/BOTH OF THESE NIGHTS.
A few other items will also be distributed during the first reunion session, most notably Todd's various awards.
5) Receipts - I need ALL receipts for expenditures made for this year's Philmont trek (e.g., including Ted's expenses for airfares, Hugh's cell-phone charges, etc.) Mark each with your name and what it was for, if not already obvious. Front seat of the van, please, in an envelope.
Note that it usually takes me several weeks to get the accounting completed - partially due to inertia, partially due to tardy receipt turn-ins, and partially due to waiting on my credit card statements. I will have little sense of the overall costs until I'm finished, and will not deal with refunds (or more likely this year, requests for additional fees) until that time. Please be patient.
6) Diary - Joy G. has already typed up about half of this year's diary's rough notes. Note that it usually takes me many weeks before I'm finished and happy with the final product (I am a lousy writer, but a pretty good editor.) I hope to distribute it by the SECOND Photo Reunion Session, but that is optimistic and hopes for a lot of things to go right as I prep for the startup of Troop operations in 3 weeks.
- Bob
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