More about my Sunday Morning Television habits and Patch Trading and Selling (1 Aug 10)

By Mike Walton on 20 August 2010 in Uncategorized

This morning started with a swim…I have been remiss in swimming at the pool in the hotel for a couple of days. I returned back to my room, showered and changed clothes while watching the Sunday morning “talk shows”.

On a typical Sunday morning, I would spend it in several ways: I would go to a church service, either with the rest of the Reid/Doyle household or by myself to one of several local churches I like or were invited to visit. I really like Excelsior United Methodist Church, the church that the Reid/Doyle clan goes to, even though most of the people going there are well into their 60s and 70s (and most don’t recall that I was there previously…I frequently have to go through the “I’m NOT NEW” spiel with them…*hehehehehee*). Or the Reid/Doyle family would take pity on me and go on, leaving me home while I sit, coffee mug in hand, and listen, talk back to, and yell back at the various “talking heads” and their guests on the Sunday morning discussion programs while they go off to church or other errands around their home.

Meet the Press (“If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press”). This Week (not with “David Brinkwad” any more…it’s “Georgie boy”). Face the Nation (I think it’s the best right now). Reliable Sources (with Howie Kurtz and his look at the media…I personally feel that anyone working in public affairs, journalism, or mass communication (what’s that? *smiling*) should watch this show…it is a good critical analysis of the week in media!). And MY FAVORITE (really I just love looking at her while she’s talking), Candy Crowley’s “State of the Union”.

State of the Union is CNN’s Sunday morning issues and debate show. It is hosted by one of my FAVORITE CNN personalities, Candy Crowley. As I’ve stated before, Candy is a perfect example of the fact that smarts and hard work beats a size 2 figure and lots of “assistants” any day of the week!

To be honest, in the past I used to just record the other shows and watch the CNN “Sunday wrap up show” called “Late Edition” and hosted by Wolf Blitzer. It was the “Last word in Sunday talk” because it came on well after all of those other shows were broadcasted and it gave newsmakers one final time to “state their case” to those people like me, news junkies and informed citizens. Many of the times, what was discussed and argued on that show became front-page news the following Monday. So as we slugged it out in Iraq and Afghanistan; or dealt with fallout from the release of the the Abu Grab photos; or spent time with community leaders talking about the support they give to the Army and Army Reserve — I found myself in front of or near the television set on Sunday mornings to hear what my national military and civilian leadership felt about things — and writing down nuggets of “sound bites” that I can use in a future speech — whether it was me or my general delivering it.

When Blitzer went to host “The Situation Room”, he gave his show over to John King, CNN’s White House reporter (senior political correspondent). King renamed the show “State of the Union” and added some gee-whiz things to the show (most notably his skill at using the “magic monitor”, the super-sized I-Pad touch screen which many CNN folks now are skilled in using). John King left his show for the replacement show at 7pm ET now called “John King USA” and that’s when Candy came in. She still covers the Capitol Hill “beat” for CNN and is frequently on other CNN shows to explain what the thought is up on the Hill.

(She’s as cute and smart in person as she is on the television screen. Trust me on this, gang!)

I have been following Candice (Candy) Crowley, CNN’s Senior Congressional Correspondent, since the first days in which she was hired by CNN to be the “backup” to Wolf Blizer and later John King. She’s smart, funny and was very kind to take the time during the Republican National Convention to take a photo with me and to even kiss me on the cheek and thank me for my service!! It was great to see one of the many CNN folks I grew up with in person. The RNC was in the Twin Cities and my installation’s color guard provided the opening ceremony on the final (best) day of the Convention.

It has been a habit — if I am not there on Sunday, people who know me can count on me being SOMEWHERE where I can watch the shows and take crib notes; or spending as I would Sunday evenings in my hotel room in Germany (because of the time difference, those shows came on after the “NPR block” on Sunday evenings and were repeated early on Monday mornings).

Or setting the VCR for a four-hour block and replaying it back later.

This Sunday was no different than the other Sundays — I sat, coffee in my hand, while watching the Senators, the pundits, the Presidential spokespersons, and the hosts talk about everything political that past week. NONE of the shows mentioned the National Scout Jamboree going on down the road; the President’s “nose thumbing” as Fox Sunday did state (I don’t watch FOX Sunday, sorry…I don’t get a good feeling that I’m hearing several sides of a discussion when I watch that show…at least the others attempt to present several sides of an issue or discussion); nor the future of youth programs like Scouting (which I suggested to Candy Crowley via her website and Twitter).

But I watched anyway, out of habit.

After “State of the Union” was over and done with, I turned the TV off, continued to get dressed and grabbed my gear. I had a LOT of places to go on this Sunday!!

It rained overnight — a little rain shower to cool things off. Not much but enough. The first place I went to was to the Kinkos…er…FedEx Office store. I needed to upload the images from the previous day as well as to catch up on personal email, My laptop could do the task for me for free, sure…but the screen is small and I could not also upload the photos I needed to and place them onto a CD at the same time that I was going through a couple thousand (yeah…the actual “peg count” was 1733) messages from five accounts.

Afterward, I drove around and with assistance; I found a place to get my Jamboree nameplate engraved. I had forgotten that in most shopping malls, there is a store called “Things Remembered” which as part of their “attraction” engraves messages onto practically any and everything. I gave the ladies the blank Jamboree plastic name tag, wrote down what I wanted it to say (my name and NSJ-JTF Public Affairs, what I was there for) and was told to come back in an hour.

I found the Wendy’s in the mall but chose instead to eat pasta at some other place. An hour later, I returned to Things Remembered, picked up my new nametag, and went on to the next task.

The next task was to GET RID of two boxes’ worth of patches, pins and neckerchiefs. These were duplicates, triplicates and many extras of things I have held in my own personal “collection” of Scouting things. Before I left for the Jamboree, I filled the backside of my van with all of the things discovered in the various boxes held in storage for the past ten years: pins, lots of patches from activities and events, some OA flaps taken off uniforms, and some CSPs (Council Shoulder Patches). My goal was to trade, sell, or give away as much as I could, returning back to Minnesota with three less boxes of “stuff”.

Funny, that’s what EVERYONE ELSE who collects trades and catalogs Scouting memorabilia had in mind!! While I can say that SOME of my stuff — position patches and insignia, neckerchiefs and pins, and sets of neckerchief, patch and large back patch — were sold and I used that as “gasoline money”; the MAJORITY of things stayed right there in those boxes!

People always ask me “What do you collect” and “What are you interested in?”

For starters, I am not a “dye-in-the-wool” Scouting collector. I don’t collect every variation, color, design flaw or change in various patches or other insignia. Mainly I’m a “one of a kind” guy. I collect position emblems – I have one of each position (minus some national officers) in my personal collection. As the design changed, I have the new version but I don’t go out of my way to get the “one with the red background, the one with the orange background and the one with the orange background and the bronze border” for instance. One of each.

I collect the small square knot insignia — the official ones and the “spoof ones” and the “unofficial ones”. I collect old BSA Award medals and medallions. I collect the Transatlantic Council segments and central patch emblems. I collect the red and white Transatlantic and Kentucky Council emblems. I collect any College Scouter or special college-age Scouting insignia. I collect ONE CSP (Council Shoulder Patch) from EVERY LOCAL COUNCIL and am re-starting my collection using the official BSA local Council directory in 2003 (my previous collection, which is complete, was started and used the BSA’s local Council directory in 1973).

Those are the things I collect. I don’t collect “patch of the month”, OA, NESA, or Jamboree stuff except for those items I have attended or participated in. I don’t collect coins, activity patches, or merit badges. I leave those things to the “experts” out there — those who have the equal to the Scott stamp collecting book which says “if a patch has no broken threads, never been worn, and was preserved well, it’s worth muchodenero big bucks!”

I have a binder (go figure!) of those things important to me which I show at Scout-o-ramas, shows and mall “Join Scouting” displays. Otherwise, it’s just stuff I have and keep… *smiling*

I first went back to the Ramada Inn and sat down while people peered and picked through my two boxes of patches and things. I had the opportunity to educate a couple of people about the “square knot insignia” and the GIFT (Get Involved For Them!) insignia. I met Dan Parker there and we stood and talked about Scouts-L for a few minutes before we were impeding traffic in the hot small conference room.

Dan Parker…
Dan and I stood and talked during the Tradeoree in Fredricksburg. It is absoutely GREAT to talk with Scouters from Scouts-L and the other forums during these national events. I am constantly humbled by the number of Scouters who come and bring their friends, their spouses and/ or the kids in part to meet me. It also demonstrates better than anything else the size of the Scouting community and their concern for each other!

I traded for some items. I got rid of some of my National Committee insignia (I still have some left). I even had a couple of the Internet Roundtable Staff patches to give away. But I still had PLENTY of stuff to get rid of.

I told one guy that I was going to just go down Thomas Road and toss this stuff out on Tuesday…of course; I could not do this, because one cannot drive down Thomas Road (the place at the Jamboree with the National exhibits and the Armed Forces Adventure Area). He offered me $100 for the entire box, and I turned him down.

“There’s more than $300 worth of things in here and we both know it…” I said.

“Okay, how about $120 for the box?”

“Nope. If you want the entire box, it’ll have to come closer to $300 than that…”

“Wait a minute…you just said that you’re gonna just give it all away to some Scouts out there…why won’t you just take the $120 and be done with it?”

I thought about it for about 10 seconds. Then I told him, “I didn’t come here to make money, that’s why. If some kid out there ends up with a $40 patch that I just tossed out to him, that’s fine and dandy for him. But he doesn’t deal with this stuff like you do. You’ll go through, get the “good stuff out” and then throw the rest away, and you KNOW that’s what you’ll do….”

He nodded.

“So if I could make some kid or adult happy, that’s what I’ll do….You interested in anything in here?”

He looked into the box, found a couple of patches and paid me $10 for them. I didn’t see him again.

I also saw Ben Duffett and his family there. Ben marched with me in the Centennial Parade last weekend. I asked him to allow me to take a photo of the Centennial Parade CSP each participant received.

Ben Duffett
ben is showing the Centennial Parade CSP issued for the Parade….eBay has it for over $100

“You don’t have one? Did you get a packet?” Ben asked me. I told him what happened to me and other members of the Eagle Scout “marching group”. He told me that there’s an email out there (I got it, thanks, Ben for the reminder!!) that explains how to get the items to include the special CSP from the organization which put together the Parade.

So after sitting and talking and sharing Scouting stories for about a couple of hours, I packed up and went out to the other Tradeoree, over at the Eagles Lodge on the northeast part of town. There, I sat there for about two and a half hours before someone came and asked about my neckerchiefs.

“Two dollars each or five for five,” I would say to those passing by the table.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“I’ve got too many of them. The ones that I will keep or trade later, I’ve got in the van. The rest of these just need to go…” I answered.

“I’ll take them all…$40?”

“Sure…thanks!”

And with that, most of the neckerchiefs went away. I still had a small stack that the guy did not want. I also managed to get rid of some other patches….and I gave seven Scouts the opportunity to get three patches each….for free. One Scout tried to come back and get three more but I told him that it’s a three-patch max per Scout.

I enjoyed the soup and sandwich there while waiting for the day to finally end. There was a place in the Lodge whereby they sold soft drinks, warm foods like coffee and soups, and candy bars. It is set up for the Bingo nights in the place, but the Scouters who rented the place enjoyed it as well…

I also had both Stevensons as well as the other lead memorabilia traders and collectors to autograph the poster of the old man sitting there telling his grandchildren (or just some family with Scouts) about the various items in his “collection”. I see myself as one of those old men, sometimes: sitting in my office, going through patches and pins, remembering what I did to get this item or who gave it to me, all with a pleasant smile on my face.

I’m going to bed now…big day tomorrow – I am going to finally meet up with Ida and go see this massive multi-million dollar collection of Scouting “stuff”!!

—
Settummanque is writer, military officer, dad, friend, traveler,
public speaker, webmaster, Eagle Scout, and/or “sweetie”
(LTC) Mike Walton. South Lake Minnetonka area, Minnesota.
http://www.settummanque.com

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About Mike Walton

Take your standard Oliver North. Add strong parts of Bill Cosby and Sir Robert Baden-Powell (the founder of Scouting). Throw in Johny Bravo without the "hurhhs!" and his pecks. Add a strong dose of parenting, the sexuality of a latin lover, and Mona Lisa's smile. And a 40 year old's body frame. That's me basically *grinning*