My thoughts, rants, and mostly tweets – in convenient blog form.
Kevin, Murph, and I discuss all kinds of things. The KCBS, Eddie Van Halen is a jerk, some guy beats a toddler to death, and so much more. Go have a listen, but not around kids or if you are sensitive to vulgar language.
We keep trying to have a perfectly clean show, but it doesn’t seem to happen.
Links from the show:
UPDATE: There will be a 2nd Tournament due to the success of the first one. Contact us at jaycees@mvn.net if you are interested in participating, sponsoring, or just have questions.
In case you somehow missed it, I am a member of the Mount Vernon Jaycees.
This Saturday, May 31, 2008 we will be hosting a Guitar Hero Tournament at the Granada Center for the Performing Arts. Registration will open at 8AM, with Easy level competition starting at 10AM.
I won’t bother posting the boring details here. The Register-News printed our press-release regarding the event here.
i will say that we are putting major effort behind this concept, and it should be great fun for everyone involved. We greatly appreciate the Granada group letting us rent the facility for this project, and will be giving 100% of the door proceeds to them.
The prizes for each winner’s category will be ~20% of the total registration in the form of a gift-certificate, and will vary of course with participation.
Yes, this post is purely for advertisement of whatever I want. I pay the bills, I can do that.
First off, the Mount Vernon Jaycees meet every Wednesday evening at the Old Train Depot. For those of you not aware, it is located at 2nd Street and Broadway on the East side of Mount Vernon, Illinois. We start things up at 7:30PM, and are generally done with the official meeting by 8:30.
This past Sunday (5/18) the Mount Vernon Jaycees held a training session for the entire South Region of the Illinois Jaycees. Illinois’ President Tanya Lee was here helping with the training. While she was here she presented VP Kevin Fradelos with the “Outstanding Fundraising Project” award for the first trimester of 2008. This was a result of the fundraising event held to assist two local families. At this event as well, she named Mr. Fradelos as South Region Director.
Next up, I would like to mention the podcasts I have been putting up for your enjoyment. Kevin, Emily, and I get together most Fridays and record ourselves chatting about various topics. I know the content is over-the-top occasionally, but we keep it pretty toned down except for a few obscenities from time to time (Mom, this means you won’t want to listen).
The first 3 podcasts have gone over quite well with over 50 plays/listens each. Unfortunately, the last two I haven’t been able to track as my stats program spazzed out on me. Please go, listen, and let us know what you think. Make sure you go listen to Kevin at his site, bigkev.us as well. He puts on two more shows during the week Monday and Wednesday. They are generally interesting, even if he’s not always right.
Finally, I would like to mention Blubrry.com. Blubrry is one of the places this podcast is listed, and offers many services/advice for free. Recently, I had some questions regarding Kevin’s RSS feed, and the stats from my site that Blubrry tracks. Within 24 hours (on a Sunday) I received an email from the CIO of RawVoice (they own Blubrry) with an explanation and suggestions for how to fix my issue. THAT ladies and gentlemen is service. I am shocked at the time, politeness, and from whom I got a reply. All of this from a FREE product for an unknown such as myself. Please go have a look around over there if you haven’t yet.
Thanks for reading all my plugs, and keep reading – there’s more to come I’m sure.
PS – We’re now on iTunes.
The Sweetcorn and Watermelon Festival is no more. I am kind of sad to see it go since it has been around since I was a young child, but it is past time for a change.
The mere name conjures hokey inbreds having a hootenanny. Don’t get me wrong, we are a rural community. I appreciate a hootenanny as much as the next guy, but such an event doesn’t convey the best image for a community trying to grow and attract business/residents.
I’m not sure how well a Scarecrow Festival will change that perception, but at least our community members are making change.
I do see opportunity with the new version of the city’s fall festival. There are plans in the works for something in addition to what will already be going on. I won’t reveal it just yet, but it should be fun.
The Jaycees are having a Guitar Hero tournament March 1st for primarily kids. We have been planning and arranging this for a few weeks, and it has come together nicely.
We approached the school district about giving them a flier to send home with the kids so they and their parents are aware. This way the kids have something positive to do over the weekend instead of playing in the mud.
District 80 asked us this morning what the district was going to get from this distribution. Quite frankly, nothing. We are just trying to present something fun to do late on a Saturday. (Disclaimer: there is a $10 entry fee)
Upon learning that the district would not financially gain from this distribution, they declined to allow the distribution of our information.
I could understand if we were for-profit or stood to gain greatly from this venture, but we don’t. It’s not like we were asking for an endorsement nor advertisement in their newsletter. Just send this sheet, printed at our cost, home with the kids in their folder.
Every week there are several sheets sent home with my kids wanting money for something. Also, the school holds several funding projects every year that we are, of course, obliged to give money to and harass our friends and family.
Please bear the money-grubbing ways of District 80 in mind if you ever think about doing something positive for the kids to participate in and need to let them know about it.
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