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Well it has been quite some time since I wrote anything substantial here on the blog (some would question if I have ever said anything substantial). I know I always have a ton of excuses, but not this time. Just have not felt like typing anything up for a while, but tonight is different\u2026<\/p>\n
So what has been going on since I last wrote (I am guessing sometime in November). Well a ton of stuff and not a lot. Life continues on here in the Thuis house. Without much excitement\u2026 but that is fine with us.<\/p>\n
School<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n Back to school<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 I have decided to head back to school in the hopes that furthering my education will help in the job search. So far I am only taking one class with another to start in March. So far the biggest challenge is just doing the coursework. It\u2019s not hard work, but my class is on the internet and it\u2019s tough to get motivated to sit here and type things up (as indicated by the lack of blog entries).<\/p>\n Work<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n Job Search<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 With near double digit unemployment here in C.S. my job search has come to a screeching halt. The phone has stopped ringing and I haven\u2019t had an interview in months. I am still applying and will not get discouraged as I am sure an opportunity will open up soon. Luckily, retirement does pay for a few things and with a little tightening of the belt we should be O.K. for awhile.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/em>Volunteer Work<\/em><\/u><\/p>\n Cub Scouts<\/a> \u2013 This still takes up way to much time of my life. The boys are now in fourth grade and are becoming a lot harder to keep focused. You would think with four years of experience under the belt things would be easier, but I am finding these boys come up with new challenges for me every day. <\/p>\n Parent involvement has been way down this year at every level, which has made event planning (and all other planning) even more difficult. Our last Pack Planning meeting only had three parents show up and two of those were me and my wife. So needless to say we seem to be planning most of the events. I am not sure what these parents are gong to do next year when we leave the school, but I guess things will work themselves out.<\/p>\n Somehow I have been sucked into a lot more work at the District level for the Scouts. I initially just volunteered to work on the website<\/a> (it hadn\u2019t been touched in two years), and now I am a full fledged worker bee. I assist with just about everything from camps, popcorn sales, and even help run the monthly leader meetings for the Cub Scout Roundtables. My biggest project right now is to put together a large outdoor weekend training class for all the Webelos leaders (4th and 5th grade) to teach them how to camp with their boys. Luckily for me the training isn\u2019t until October so that\u2019s been kind of on the back burner lately.<\/p>\n