The sun was in our eyes and the wind in our hair. We could smell the fresh air as we breezed down the straightaways and negotiated tight curves surrounded by expensive machinery. No, we weren’t cruising in a Ferrari; we were learning how to GPS map at Camp Guyasuta. For the last few meetings Mr. Stewart has announced that the Allegheny County Parks department is looking for help to GPS map the county parks. This was our first training session. We met at the ranger’s station at Camp Guyasuta for orientation and to familiarize ourselves with the equipment. The GPS units cost $5,000 apiece and the antennas were another $2,000! They would allow us to hike the trails, taking position measurements and making notes about each point. The data would all eventually be combined into a specialized computer drawing program and new maps of the parks would be generated. The county parks ranger supervising the project showed us a recent map made of Hartwood Acres and the results were amazing. Superimposed over the old map, it was clear why the new ones were necessary. Old trails were corrected and new ones were now shown. The Hartwood mapping had been done by a trail biking club but they are no longer involved in the project. Thus the need for us. The goal is to send several teams out to each of the county parks between now and the beginning of May. (Some are already done.) By May, we will need to suspend mapping as the tree cover interferes enough with GPS signals to drag the process to crawl. By the end of the day at Guyasuta, we all had hiked and played with the equipment enough to feel comfortable to move on to the real thing. Tentatively, the next session is scheduled for March 12 (a Sunday) at Deer Creek park. This is a great Scout activity with a chance to enjoy some outdoor time mixed with providing a vital service to our community. If you’d like to join in, there is still time. We’d like to put together another two or three teams of one adult and two scouts. You can learn the equipment on the job at our next outing. Talk to Mr. Stewart if you are interested. And of course, scouts will receive credit for service hours for time spent on the project. Philmont scouts can get credit conservation hours  towards their 50 mile hike award. I hope to see you there.

Jerry Vockley
Scoutmaster, Troop 380

hi it's max i know i can't compete with justing 'cause he's fonny (that has two meanings), so all i'm going to say is this:

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I recently noticed I had not acted on this message:

Hi, Phillip...Although the e-mail archives are on  the e-mail distribution list for Troop 380. it doesn't seem to have gone in to  it.  I'm not sure if I did something wrong...  

I hadn't linked the new vershion to the navigation bar properly, which I now have fixed.  All the e-mails were archived successfully.  Thanks for pointing this out.

Also, Justin has made the first post to our blog since I opened it to Scouts!!!  As a reminder, use the e-mail address "troop380.org@istaromar.com" in blog posts.  I will foreward anything that isn't spam.




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-Philip

I have added our standard navigation bar to both the Troop Blog and the SeaBlog.  This ought to make navigation from them easier.  If you have any problems with the navigation bar, let me know.

Good mourning, Troop 380 website visitors!  It's the webmaster.
I thought it would be a good idea to start off with my ideas about what this blog (see this post) may do for our Troop.  First of all, as webmaster, it will allow me to place website news in one centralized place where all visitors can access it.  Also, it will allow non-sensitive announcements and informational messages to be avalable to the public, so that Scouts and others from outside of our Troop can benefit from them and get a taste of the goings-on in our Troop.  Finally, Blogger's coment system will allow me to easily gather feedback from readers.

As for my anouncement, I wanted to let the Troop know that I created set of pages on our upcomeing trip to Sea Base in the members' area last night.  Suggestions are encourages, and make shure to check out the protected SeaBlog!

Scouts and Scouters:

I have created a Blog for the Troop.  It can be found either at http://bsatroop380.blogspot.com or through the web page navigation bar.  If you don't know what a blog is, this Wickipedia article explains it rather well:

"A blog is a website in which journal entries are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called "blogging". Individual articles on a blog are called "blog posts," "posts" or "entries". A person who posts these entries is called a "blogger". A blog comprises hypertext, images, and links (to other webpages and to video, audio and other files). Blogs use a conversational style of documentation. Often blogs focus on a particular "area of interest", such as Washington, D.C.'s political goings-on. Some blogs discuss personal experiences..."

I will be e-mailing some of the leaders with posting information later today.

Other website issues:

•  I have fixed the missing pages in the member section, although the new log in system is still needed.  I am working to repair the original system, but I really can't say how long it will take.
• The navigation bar is starting to look a bit long, especially now that the blog has been added.  If anyone has trouble viewing it all, please tell me and I will look at re-arranging it.
• Also about the navigation bar, the addition of the Blog entry would fall under the category of major change.  As such, it is possible that the navigation bar may display weirdly for some people.  If it happens, tell me (browser, operating system, and other pertinent information would also be appreciated), and I'll fix it.
  

This is a test post as the Troop in general. You can ignore it, too.

"To see the world in a grain of sand,
All heaven in a wild flower,
To hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
Eternity in an hour."

If this works, there will be no more test posts.
This is the end of the post.

This is a test post.  You are welcome to ignore it.

1. unus
2. duo
3. tria

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy brown dogs.
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy brown dogs.

"...And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh.  Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace!  And lips, oh you doors of breath..."
Romeo and Juliet (Shakesphear)

• bold
• underlined
• highlited

End of post.

This blog is curently under construction for Boy Scout Troop 380 of Fox Chappel, PA.