This weekend, Columbian Squires from throughout Michigan will descend upon the smallest city in Michigan, Omer, to attend the annual State Canoe Race. Most of us don’t race anymore (we tube down the river), but we do have one team that will be trying to win the only trophy (from the old school trophies) that Circle 801 has not won. Best of luck, boys!

I will be blogging and maybe doing a podcast from the Riverbend Canoe Livery, where we are camping. Wish us luck!

Guess what?
Originally uploaded by Ray "The Lion King" Bilyk.

Ever since she could talk, she said that she did NOT want to eat a hamburger. (Jennifer and I think that someone told her it was yucky and it stuck with her.) Well, imagine our surprise on Wednesday when she said, “I think that I want to try a hamburger.” Then she got this look on her face like we were uninformed and said, “You know, I like to try new things!” No argument here, kid. Off to McDonald’s we went, and here she is… eating her first hamburger. She said that she wants to try a cheeseburger next time.

Another cow bites the dust….

I did a new podcast here. I thought that you could see it automatically, but it’s not working as I expected.

By the way, check this out… My Odeo Channel (odeo/6ddf98721f2dc4f8)

This day represents what our founding fathers fought to bring forth onto this new nation. What we were was a grand experiment, and regardless of our political affiliation, we still in the ‘experimental’ stage. Be safe out there!

Speaking of experiments, I’m going to try to take some pictures of some firework displays that the ‘neighbors’ will be doing tonight. I’ll let you know how it goes…. Again, BE SAFE!

Detroit has an annual fireworks display during the ‘International Freedom Festival’. Part of the fun is going around and finding the best spot in Detroit (or Windsor, Ontario, Canada) to watch the display. My ‘pride’ tried to go down to Historic Fort Wayne to watch them. In the past, it cost $5.00 a carload to go and watch them a couple of miles down the river, but on the riverfront. It’s a great view.

We drove up to the guard gate, and the lady says, “$18.00”. I said, “What? What for?” She replied that it’s $10.00 for parking, and $4.00 per person. (My daughter was free… Gee, thanks!) I was shocked! There was no sign indicating the price. In fact, there has been no advertising about seeing the fireworks at Historic Fort Wayne at all (unlike in previous years). I said, “Oh no! Not tonight!” I turned the ride around, and headed back home.

My daughter is disappointed, but to arrive at 8:30PM, leave at 11PM and to be charged $18.00 for a parking spot and a piece of grass to sit on? No thanks! Even a Yahoo! Group dedicated to saving Historic Fort Wayne said it would be $5.00 per car and $1.00 for walk-in admission.

I’m forwarding this blog entry to someone at the Detroit Historical Museum. I’m hoping for an explanation. I’m not going to hold my breath.

There were bad storms in the area last night, so I turned off all the electrical equipment (including the web server) last night. I brought it back up this morning at around 6AM.

This is ‘Brothers-in-law Birthday Week’ for me… My brothers-in-law, Jim Vote and Wesley Krymski, are celebrating their birthdays. Unfortunately, Jim’s birthday was Monday and Wesley’s was yesterday. Sorry for missing it, but hey, I’m a guy! I don’t remember those birthday things. Happy Birthday anyway!

Both my sister and mother-in-law are going for surgery today. It’s hard to concentrate because I’m thinking about them. Please give me a hand and either pray for them, or do whatever you do for people you care about…

Thanks!

UPDATE (5:14PM EST): My mother called my wife to let her know that my sister is in recovery and that ‘things went well’.

The great thing about technology is that we can take advantage of it to improve communications. I’m sitting at the back of the convention floor this morning ready to give the results of the elections. Before the elections, we had an excellent presentation by a seminarian on vocations. (I wish we had recorded it. Hopefully, he will present to us again.)

By the way, if someone can give us the proposed by-law changes and the results, that would be great!

There are 8 circles here, each with 4 votes, for a total of 32 circle votes. There are also 7 votes for the State Board. There are a grand total of 39 votes, with 20 votes needed to win.

Here we go! The first election is for State Chief Squire. We have Kevin Hernandez (current State Marshal Squire) and James Kubinski (current State Bursar Squire), both nominated last night. After one ballot, the State Chief Squire for 2006-07 is KEVIN HERNANDEZ. Congratulations, Kevin!

During the counting of the ballots, State Chief Squire Jacob Boyce gave the State of the State Circle report.

The next election is for State Deputy Chief Squire. John Stawasz was nominated last night for SDCS. This morning, Kris VanOcker was nominated and accepted the nomination. After one ballot, the State Deputy Chief Squire for 2006-07 is KRIS VANOCKER. Congratulations, Kris!

During the counting of the ballots, we heard the area reports from Saginaw, Detroit-South, and Grand Rapids.

The next election is for State Notary Squire. Sean Roland was nominated last night. John Stawasz and James Kubinski were nominated and accepted the nominations. After one ballot, the State Notary Squire for 2006-07 is from my own circle, Circle 801, SEAN ROLAND!!!. Congratulations, ‘Sugar’ Sean!

During the counting of the ballots, we heard the area reports from Lansing and Detroit-North.

The next election is for State Bursar Squire. Thomas Gatchell was nominated last night. John Stawasz was nominated and accepted the nomination. After one ballot, the State Bursar Squire for 2006-07 is THOMAS GATCHELL. Congratulations, Thomas!

During the counting of the ballots, we heard the Bursar’s Report from a class act, State Bursar Squire James Kubinski. He could have ran for one more year at that position (since he was appointed for the position during his first of two years at it), but when nominated, turned it down. I wished that he would have ran again. He’s been doing a great job! Hope that he stays on somehow…

The next election is for State Marshal Squire. Sam Touqan (from Circle 758, a friend of Circle 801) was nominated last night. John Harrington was nominated and accepted the nomination. The first ballot was a dead tie, with one person abstaining (the rumor is that it was the State Father Prior). So, after a total of two ballots, the State Marshal Squire for 2006-07 is SAM TOUQAN. Congratulations, Skunk!

Brief information was brought up about Banquet Committee, the rock-climbing wall here at the hotel, and the Squires Scholarship testing. Also, there were apologies given between SCS Jacob ‘Cake’ Boyce and SMS Kevin ‘K-Dez’ Hernandez. It was something about things mentioned during the by-laws voting last night.

The next election is for State Sentry Squire. Kurt Fraser and John Stawasz were nominated and accepted the nomination. (I don’t know when…) After one ballot, the State Sentry Squire for 2006-07 is KURT FRASER. Congratulations, Kurt!

During the counting of the ballots, State Squires Director Fred Mainville had a couple of door prizes to give away… 2 backpacks filled with ‘crap’ (his words, not mine).

We next had comments from Past State Chief Squire, Former State Squires Director, State Warden and State Advocate-Elect, Michael Malinowski. Then, there were comments from the State Board.

The meeting closed at 11:18AM. ‘Nuff said!

Two Squires and Three Counselors (including myself) from Fr Daniel A Lord Circle 801 are travelling to Ludington, MI for the annual Michigan Columbian Squires State Convention. One of the Squires, Sean Roland, is on the State Board, so he has a meeting today before the official start of the convention on Friday. At this convention, the Squires, each representing their local circles from across the state, will vote on a new slate of state officers, any by-law changes and resolutions, and any other business to come before the State Circle. We will also have a banquet where we hand out awards for various activities. (Circle 801 is hoping to bring a few of those home.) Wish us luck!