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This page was created on September 7, 2004 at 8 p.m. near San Francisco, CA. My name is Jamie. I am an explorer. I live for adventure and find it everywhere. From urban exploration in the city to backpacking across a part of New Mexico (twice). I am an Eagle Scout and eternally grateful for the skills and patience I have learned through the Boy Scouts. I realize that after all I have done, it would be a shame to forget it. So to remedy this dilemma I decided to write it all down from memory. The beauty of
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>>October 27, 2004<<
Tell me what is wrong with this statement: American citizens over the age of 18 who are not in jail have the right to vote for president. There is nothing wrong with this. Yet, look at this: people who live in Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands and Commonwealth of the Marianas Islands are American citizens. Puerto Ricans have been citizens since 1917. Yet neither of these four terrtories have the right to vote for president. Puerto Ricans have a population large enough to hold eight electoral votes! That would seriously sway the election. I don't find any of this fair. The 23rd amendment pretends that DC is a state so that they can vote, why can't we propose an amendment to pretend the same for the other four? This is not hte first time this has happened. Neither Alaska nor Hawaii were allowed tov ote until they became states, but honestly being a state is just a title in the eyes and minds of millions of Americans. I truly believe that Puerto Rico should have its eight electoral votes and Guam, US Virign Islands and Commonwealth of the Marianas Islands should each have one since they have one non-voting representative in Congress. That brings me to another point. Why don't their representatives vote? Excuse me, but why the hell do they have a single delegate that gets to be in committees but cannot even vote? That is crazy. If they are American citizens then they should be able to vote for president, have an electoral vote and a voting representative in BOTH houses of Congress.
>>October 9, 2004<<
I'd like to draw everyone's attention to an issue that is very important. The San Jose Earthquakes have a 30-year history in the Bay Area but are now faced with the threat of being sold to investors in Texas and moved away. Several local investors have come forward to purchase the team and keep them in the Bay Area but your help is needed in building a new stadium for the team. Multi-use soccer/entertainment stadiums have been built in Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio, and are on the way in Chicago, New Jersey, Dallas, and Denver. These are modern, state-of-the-art facilities that are an asset to a community. For example, Denver's stadium is being designed by HOK Architects, best known locally for designing SBC Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. (I recommend the Soccer Silicon Valley web site at http://www.SoccerSiliconValley.com for more information.) Please do whatever you can to help create a new stadium for the Earthquakes. For example, write to your elected leaders or post posters. Also, the Earthquakes would do much better as a San Francisco team than as a San Jose one main reason. Soccer is internationally more popular than football, basketball an baseball. Even though San Jose is a larger city, San Francisco is more international. I fully believe that they would serve a better purpose there than anywhere else.
The main part was copied and pasted from the aformentioned website, I would have reword it, but I did not need to, it says everything it needs to say.
Furthurmore, is anyone else pissed off at the NHL right now?
>>October 5, 2004<<
I am watching the Vice Presidential Debate right now. All they do is say the other is wrong. Well, that's mature. I think it would much more interesting to watch Kerry, Edwards, Bush and Cheney duke it out gladiator style in a coliseum like in the Roman times. Wouldn't it be much easier to watch them fight to the death with tridents, knives and shields? It would certainly be more entertaining than C-SPAN. Furthurmore, I have to say that Cheney looks like an ogre and Edwards looks like the shiny poster child model for Congress.
>>September 10, 2004<<
Forget the Bay Trail, or even the Tahoe Rim Trail, it's all about backpacking the one real trail: The Pacific Crest Trail. I figured it all out, I can do this in three months with a group of four including me. This is definately going to happen. All the way from Canada to Mexico on the PCT is a feat few can accomplish and I know I am one of them. Go to http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0406/excerpt1.html to find out more.
>>September 7, 2004<< (Granted these did not happen on 9-7, but this was when I wrote them down.)
::Scotland:: This was a copasetic trip. In the Marin Council, every four years starting from 1997 we do an exchange program. It started because San Rafael's (the base of the Marin Council) sister city is Stirling, Scotland. So in order to do something with this my council and the scouting council over there decided to co-host an exchange program where Marin scouts will fly over and live with Scottish scouts for three weeks than a year a later they will some over and live with us. I did this trip the summer of 2001. The Marin group left SFO and headed over. After that it was a blast. From cycling, hiking and kayaking to backpacking, camping and just hanging out we all had a great time and made good friends. Then the next year they came over. We backpacked in Yosemite and Emigrant Gap. The Yosemite trip was fun, but the Emigrant Gap one was even better because my group was twelve scouts and two adults. The twelve of us were 15-16 years old and we lost our leader on the second day. So here we are lost in Tahoe Nat'l Forest for a day with one leader who does not know the area. Suffice to say we turned it into one of the best backpacking trips I have ever been on.
::Florida Keys:: So this was two days after the Scotland trip in 2001. This time I was with five other scouts from my troop. We flew down to the Florida Sea Base on Islamorada in the Keys. Sea Base is the sailing and S.C.U.B.A. side of the BSA. But my crew did neither. Instead we went on the Outisland Adventure. This one was cool because we did this the same time Survivor was actually interesting. So here is how it worked: we kayaked five miles out to Big Munson Island (which happens to be conveniently close to Hew Hefniers private island, which as I hear it has many films produced there, hmmm... an desolate island of teenage boys only a mile away from a luscious island of playboy models... too bad dreams don't come true). On the island we live there on the beach for four days like Survivor. It was amazing, there were water spouts, real coconuts and more snorkeling than one can imagine. We sailed out to a coral reef and snorkeled (isn't that a funny word "snorkel"). But then someone in our group accidentally kicked a sting ray and it chased us- for while. To pass the time we explored the island. We also had fun on an American Indian war canoe for two miles. At the end we had a Gladiator-like tournament with hermit crabs and in our sand "coliseum". On the way home our flights were canceled so we were all split up and sent on different planes. My group of two other scouts was sent to Cleveland then Salt Lake City and then finally SFO. The whole trip was worth it: twelve miles of kayaking and great snorkeling. The only thing I regret is the smell of sargassum, or "ass grass" as we called it.
::Philmont:: This is the by far the greatest BSA high adventure camp. You just have to go there to know what I mean. I went two years in a row. I can't explain how important Philmont is in words, so I made a photologue. I will post it later when I figure out how.
::Rim Rovers:: Not-so-special in the big realm of adventures, but fun nonetheless. In the Bay Area there are six peaks, if a scout climbs them all with his troop then he gets an arc patch. By completing them all the scout finishes his circle. The six peaks are: Mt. Tamalpais, Mt. St. Helena, Pinnacles Natl. M., Mission Peak, Mt. Diablo and Mt. Whittenberg. The best one by far is Mt. St. Helena. That was my first BSA outing. The nicest is Mt. Tam b/c the view. The ugliest is Mission Peak. The tallest is Mt. Diablo, which I think they named after my sister.
::Triangle Trip:: I went on a solo road trip from San Francisco to Las Vegas to Reno to San Francisco in the early summer of 2004. This was great because I was alone. I had a lot of fun. I also beat my speed record. Now, mind you, this is not the fastest one can go, but when you're in an SUV then this is pretty fast. My original was 111 mph in American Canyon on I-80, but I beat it on I-40 going 113 mph. The exact route I took was US-101; I-580; I-205; I-5; CA-53; I-15; NV-604; US-95; US-6; Gabbs Pole Line Road; NV-361; US-50; NV-343; I-80; CA-37; US-101. The best part was Gabbs Pole Line Road. This was listed in Adventure Magazine as part of the Canada to Mexico route on dirt roads. I took this before that was published. It is an amazing road; you do not see another person for three hours. You can go as fast as you want and it does not matter. The road is minimum maintenance and mostly dirt so you cannot go faster than 50, but it is worth it. I also went to the Nevada State Park- Berlin Ghost Town and Dinosaur Dig. IT was cool to see dino bones in the ground, but honestly- they look like rocks, not bones.
::Camp Marin-Sierra:: This was definitely an adventure. On a whim I applied to be a camp counselor. I volunteered all summer at Camp Marin-Sierra, which was the Boy Scout camp I used to go to when I was younger. This was the most fun I have ever had during a summer. I worked Maintenance (until I hurt myself), Tradin' Post and Nature (Hey Jenny D! How are thee?). I taught three merit badges at Nature: Oceanography, Weather and Dog Care. Jenny D was my director at Nature; she is perhaps the most environmentally-conscious person I know who happens to be cool about it as well (if that makes sense.) Either way if you want to start a recycling program or save a turtle the call Jenny D. While I liked Maintenance and Nature, my favorite part was the Tradin' Post. This was the camp store; I worked with a director who knew exactly what he was doing. It was an important learning experience since I am the school treasurer this year. Everything I learned from my director I used in school. From proper inventory to excel to simple store management I learned from him, I would definitely have been lost if I did not work there. Also, when I turned in the school budget and merchandise inventory sheet the school administration told how helpful and excellent of a report it was-- I could not have done it without working at the Tradin' Post. I met a lot of great people who I hope will be friends for a long time. We went through a lot of fun times, and some unhappy ones as well, but that is not what matters. The things that matter most at camp are the people you work with. Cohesion in a staff will make a camp better than anything anyone can create on a brochure. Lee was the greatest program director ever! And Seamus did a great job filling in. For a while I did not know if I wanted to work there again next year, but I think that for right now my answer is "Sweet on!".
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BSA
Marin Council
Berlin Ghost Town
NOAA
FEMA
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Copyright © 2004 Jamie Swartz. All Rights Reserved