{"id":5462,"date":"2017-01-08T23:50:56","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T05:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/?p=5462"},"modified":"2017-01-13T20:52:24","modified_gmt":"2017-01-14T02:52:24","slug":"2017-the-first-sunday-that-wasnt-a-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/2017\/01\/2017-the-first-sunday-that-wasnt-a-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"2017: The First Sunday that wasn’t a Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today was mostly spent at Owen\u2019s Lego League Regional Championship. <\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, his team \u2013 organized through his elementary school \u2013 first participated at the regional championship, then moved on to the state championship. His coach explained to me that St. Paul public schools kind of get a free pass: they don\u2019t have to first compete in the sectional challenges like all the other teams. The reason, he said, is because the St. Paul schools don\u2019t start their clubs until mid-cyear.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this year, he\u2019s not in elementary school anymore, so his team first had to compete in the sectionals. They did, and they were awarded the chance to move on. So, today, here I am at a middle school in New Brighton.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the other teammate\u2019s parents picked up Owen early this morning, and then I arrived at the school around 10:00. Like last year, I volunteered to help out with the competitions. Upon entering the school \u2013 a building I had never been in before \u2013 I wasn\u2019t sure where to go. I wandered around until I found a bunch of volunteers, and then asked them where I was supposed to go. They didn\u2019t know, but they pointed me in a direction anyway. So I headed that was and eventually located the auditorium. I walked over to a table where some judges were entering numbers onto laptops, and one of those judges pointed me to a gray-haired man standing near a competition table.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking up at him through all my winter gear \u2013 which was starting to make me sweat \u2013 I informed the man that I was a volunteer, and that I had signed up to help reset the tables after each round. \u201cYeah\u2026\u201d he said slowly, looking around at the three tables and scratching his face, \u201cI think we\u2019re pretty well covered right now\u2026\u201d he left his sentence hanging.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, is there anything else I can do? I got here early, and drove separately from my wife just so I could volunteer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He held up his hand as if he\u2019d had enough of me and said, \u201cSir, we\u2019re all volunteers here, okay?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t sure how to respond to that, so I just stared at him waiting for him to say something I could respond to. Finally, he added, \u201cI\u2019ll tell you what, you see those two guys over there?\u201d He pointed to a couple of boys that looked about the same age as my son. \u201cThey\u2019re just kinda hanging around here helpin\u2019 out where they can. Why don\u2019t you see if they have anything for you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I said okay, but I lied. I walked toward the boys, but then turned and went out of the auditorium. I have an extreme aversion to pity work. If you don\u2019t need my help, that\u2019s okay, you don\u2019t have to fabricate work for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, I have a history with this sort of thing. A history comprised of one other story. When I was a mid-teen Jehovah\u2019s Witness, an elder from my congregation had the job of rounding up sufficient number of willing God-fearers to volunteer as attendants at the local conventions. When he asked me if I would be willing, I couldn\u2019t accept fast enough. Such an honor for a fifteen-year-old! And, regardless, it was really bad form to turn down any job even low-level Watchtower superiors tapped you for. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the day of the convention, I reported for duty at the attendants\u2019 office. They said they had all the help they needed, but that I should probably go talk to the head attendant in the cafeteria. I did, and he said his sub-department was likewise well-staffed, but that maybe I could find an oldster who appeared too feeble to stand in line for food, take their order, then go get their food. So I found some octogenarian, who was nearly overwhelmed with delight as I took her order. Then I stood in line. And waited. And waited. Ultimately, the attendant-in-charge-of-all-things-cafeteria strode over to me and said, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A smidge befuddled, I explained I was doing exactly what he told me to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he clarified, \u201cDon\u2019t wait in line. That\u2019ll take too long. Just go behind the counter and get her meal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So I did. But then the attendant-in-charge-of-all-things-food poked me on the shoulder and said, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d In what certainly must have been obvious to everyone but me, it turns out that volunteers who are hectically gathering and dispensing packaged food to a thousand hungry Witnesses do not want someone who doesn\u2019t know where anything is wandering in their zone, especially if he\u2019s not wearing gloves or an apron.<\/span><\/p>\n

Six months later, the elder again asked me if I was willing to volunteer. I told him no, and once he reeled back in his disdained amazement, he requested a reason. \u201cBecause,\u201d I explained flatly, \u201cyou didn\u2019t really need me last time, so I think there were too many attendants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, six hours later, Owen\u2019s team first won a trophy for winning the best score in the morning trials, then won a second trophy for lasting to the final heat of the head-to-head competitions and garnering the top score in that, too. <\/span><\/p>\n

But did they pass on to state? No, they didn\u2019t. It turns out that a team can get the top score in the two most prestigious events of the day and still not be considered one of the best teams in the competition. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today was mostly spent at Owen\u2019s Lego League Regional Championship. Last year, his team \u2013 organized through his elementary school \u2013 first participated at the regional championship, then moved on to the state championship. His coach explained to me that St. Paul public schools kind of get a free pass: they don\u2019t have to first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5463,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5462\/revisions\/5463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}