New Honorary!

Jesse's Floridian friend, David Eric Escobar, was inducted as an honorary member of the Cousin Club in an informal ceremony on Saturday, December 29, 2007. We should have a picture here, but alas, we don't.

David was given honorary status by a 9-0 vote of the membership (with 2 abstentions) at the annual Christmas gathering, and becomes the 14th member of the club. He was given Ł 1,341 as a welcome gift, and shall be referred to as "David E." within the new CC Bank online system. (The other David will now be "David P.")

Inducted at the age of 17 years, 128 days, he is the fifth oldest member of the club.

* * *

Now that we've decided on a ceremony (and there really wasn't much to decide), we can induct Craig at our earliest convenience. Too bad that might not be for a while.

Give Thanks!

It's November, and the last of our twelve monthly template designs is now up. Thanks again to all those who helped out in the Icon Contests!

November also means that Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away. Post your plans for the holiday weekend here!

And of course, the bank has shelled out interest for October... enjoy your earnings.

Spooky

The Cousin Club blog is a little bit spookier for its October theme. Bank totals and birthdays have been updated. Enjoy.

Induction Clarification

Technically speaking, Craig Lawrie's honorary membership status was confirmed, but he has not yet been officially inducted. That's what the ceremony is for.

Right now, the only real things (minor in my opinion) differentiating him from regular members are:

1. He doesn't yet have a vote at official meetings. Such official votes, though, generally don't include deciding on activities, so he can still have input on that.
2. He doesn't yet have a CC Bank account or a balance thereof.
3. His birthday is not yet set to be recognized in the monthly birthdays list.

He will receive all of these rights after his formal induction, which, personally, I'd like to have done in December. We'll have to use our November meeting(s) to plan the event. If we don't get our acts together, we might have to wait until March or May 2008, and that's no good for anybody.

Sorry for any confusion about Craig's status, but we all know he's as good as in!

Induction

As many of the members are already aware, we have a knew member to the Cousin Club. Craig Ian Lawrie was inducted into the Cousin Club, as an honorary member. He was inducted on August 4th by a unanimous vote of all those present.

We are very pleased to have Craig as an honorary member of our club. An official ceremony may be held at the closest possible convenience. Until then...Congratulations Craig!


PS. I'm sure that Tim will see this post and consequently have more to say on the subject. But, alas, I tried!

September

I just got back from a Pitt Trumpet party and figured that since I was awake, I could take the necessary ten minutes to do the monthly update to this website, which is now complete.

You know the drill... you know what's changed. Enjoy.

General Update

The template has been updated for August, and bank interest for July has been added.

Mini Golf Scores

Scores from mini golf at Castle Mini Golf today:

	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	Front	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Back	Total
Par	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	2	2	20	2	2	3	3	2	3	2	3	2	22	42
Jim	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	2	2	+5	2	2	3	2	3	3	2	2	3	E	+5
Marilyn	3	5	3	2	3	2	2	3	2	+5	3	1	2	4	3	4	2	2	3	+2	+7
Carolyn	4	2	3	2	4	2	6	2	2	+7	2	3	4	2	5	2	2	3	2	+3	+10
Helen	3	2	2	3	2	3	3	3	3	+4	3	3	4	2	4	4	2	4	3	+7	+11
Jesse	2	3	3	3	2	3	4	4	2	+6	3	2	3	3	4	4	4	2	3	+6	+12
David	3	2	3	3	2	3	5	2	2	+5	6	2	3	3	4	3	2	3	3	+7	+12
Ruth	2	2	3	2	2	3	4	3	5	+6	5	2	3	6	3	5	2	3	3	+10	+16
Tim	2	2	3	3	2	5	6	6	4	+13	4	2	2	6	3	3	5	3	2	+8	+21

Congratulations to Marilyn for her Hole in One on the 11th hole, and to Jim for winning!

P.S.: I'm not ashamed of my poor scores. I never claimed to be great.

New Icons

Nobody was participating in the icon contests, and I was finally able to access Photoshop, so we came up with our own icons for the rest of the undecided months. Here they are:

July	August	September	October	November

We'll be keeping the July layout for the first few days in August, since July's almost over. Then we'll move on. See everyone at the Fun Week!

Almost there...

The family reunion and Cousin Club Fun Week are almost upon us!

I can't wait to see everyone!

Template Issues

A few weeks ago at my house, we installed a new hard drive on our family computer and got it running Windows XP. But Photoshop is on the old hard drive, and the two don't recognize each other.

To make a long story short, for the time being, the Cousin Club blog will stay with the June template. I mean, it's still summer; we can still have a smiling sun in the corner, can't we?

On totally unrelated notes:

• Bank interest for the month of June 2007 will still be added just after midnight on July 1, 2007.
• Remember to submit your response forms for the Cousin Club Fun Week by July 15, 2007.

Here's hoping your June was wonderful, and wishing you the best for July!

Cousin Club Fun Week 2007

Members of the Cousin Club,

You are invited to the ninth annual Cousin Club Fun Week, to be held from August 1-8, 2007 at Jim and Carolyn's house!

Just so you're aware, Dan Rice Days will be held in downtown Girard all day on Friday, August 3 and Saturday, August 4. The Fun Week will also coincide with the annual J. W. Whitehill reunion at Waldameer Park and Water World on Sunday, August 5! A separate announcement has been sent to your home with additional details.

We know that many of you have other activities scheduled for this busy time of the summer, and so we ask you to select four days (aside from the reunion) on which you can be with us so that we can effectively plan the rest of our activities. We would also like to know what people would like to do while they're in Girard, so please fill out and return the paper response forms that were mailed to you, or fill out the online response form no later than July 15, 2007.

With the exception of Reunion Day, decisions on what to do each day will be made on a daily basis by consensus of those present, obviously taking weather into consideration. This blog will be used throughout the planning process as an open forum for discussion as far as coordinating when people will be in town with the activities they choose, so that activities need not be repeated. Please utilize the comment function effectively, and include the "Fun Week" label in all new posts pertaining thereto.

In order to fully use the Cousin Club blog, you will need to be sent an invite and create a Google Account. If you need an invite, please email Tim and he will set one up for you. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to call Carolyn.

We hope to see all of you here for a few days in August!

July/August Icon Contest

First of all, happy April to everyone! The bank balances have been updated, and the template is much more "springy." What are your Easter plans? Make sure people know!

Anyway, the winning icons for the May/June icon contest have been selected, and they are shown to the left and right of this message. Thanks to everyone who submitted icons!

And now it's time to announce the July/August icon contest: The deadline will be 11:59pm ET on Friday, April 27, 2007. If we don't receive enough entries by then to make the contest worthwhile, we'll simply choose our own icons for July and August.

Here is a taste of what the templates will (roughly) look like:

Enter your icon for July Your icon can go with this color scheme in July! Just submit it by 4/27/07 for a chance to win. For the latest news on the template schemes, click here. Or, learn about other contests.

Enter your icon for August Your icon can go with this color scheme in August! Just submit it by 4/27/07 for a chance to win. For the latest news on the template schemes, click here. Or, learn about other contests.

Please note that the images will also be placed on the respective backgrounds for each month, so your icon will partially be judged on how well it fits the existing color schemes selected for each month (i.e., orange with purple is typically not a good idea). Submissions must be greater in size than 150 by 150 pixels, and will be scaled down to be no greater than 150 pixels wide. So simple images are just as good, if not better, than intricate ones, but they need to be big enough to be scaled down properly.

Again, the deadline for July and August submissions is 11:59pm ET on Friday, April 27, 2007. Email all submissions to:


Note: The script will be programmed once all the contests are done (hopefully in early June). In the meantime, I can't promise that the winning entries will go up exactly on July 1 and August 1, respectively. Sorry.

The September/October/November contest will be announced shortly after the conclusion of the July/August contest.

Easter is Coming

Easter is now only two weeks away! What are everybody's plans? Post them as comments here!

Deadline Extended

Due to a low number of submissions received, the deadline for the May/June Icon Contest has been extended to Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 11:59pm ET. It will not be extended further.

Good luck!

March

Happy March, and luck 'o the Irish to all! Thanks to an Excel spreadsheet I made last month, bank interest for February has quite easily been added to the balances, and meanwhile, the template has taken on a more "green" look.

Remember, you can submit icons to appear in the place of the pot of gold for May and June! The deadline for the May/June Icon Contest is 11:59pm ET on this Tuesday, March 6, 2007, although if we don't get any submissions whatsoever, it may be extended. Stay tuned to this blog for the latest info!

May/June Icon Contest

The winning icons for the March/April icon contest have been selected, and they are shown to the left and right of this message. Thanks to everyone who submitted icons!

And now it's time to announce the May/June icon contest: The deadline will be 11:59pm ET on Tuesday, March 6, 2007. If we don't receive enough entries by then to make the contest worthwhile, we'll simply choose our own icons for May and June.

Here is a taste of what the templates will (roughly) look like:

Enter your icon for May Your icon can go with this color scheme in May! Just submit it by 3/6/07 for a chance to win. For the latest news on the template schemes, click here. Or, learn about other contests.

Enter your icon for June Your icon can go with this color scheme in June! Just submit it by 3/6/07 for a chance to win. For the latest news on the template schemes, click here. Or, learn about other contests.

Please note that the images will also be placed on the respective backgrounds for each month, so your icon will partially be judged on how well it fits the existing color schemes selected for each month (i.e., orange with purple is typically not a good idea). Submissions must be greater in size than 150 by 150 pixels, and will be scaled down to be no greater than 150 pixels wide. So simple images are just as good, if not better, than intricate ones, but they need to be big enough to be scaled down properly.

Again, the deadline for May and June submissions is 11:59pm ET on Tuesday, March 6, 2007. Email all submissions to:

Please refrain from sending submissions directly to Tim.

Note: The script will be programmed once all the contests are done (in mid-May). In the meantime, I can't promise that the winning entries will go up exactly on May 1 and June 1, respectively. Sorry.

The July/August contest will be announced shortly after the conclusion of the May/June contest.

Time is Running Out!

We currently have two submissions each for March and April in the March/April Icon Contest, and time is running out to have yours considered! Remember, the deadline to enter the contest is this Monday, February 12, 2007 at 11:59pm ET. See the post for details and requirements.

February

Happy February!

The template has been updated, and the interest for January has been added to the bank balances. Remember that the deadline for the March/April Icon Contest is Monday, February 12, 2007 at 11:59pm ET. Read the post for more details.

March/April Icon Contest

To amend Laurel's post about the monthly icon ideas, since she told everyone to send emails to me, and ultimately I have to deal with things, I should set the deadlines to fit my schedule.

The deadline for the March/April icon contest, as outlined in Laurel's post will be 11:59pm ET on Monday, February 12, 2007. If I don't receive any entries by then, I'll simply choose my own icons for March and April.

Here is a taste of what the templates will (roughly) look like:

Enter your icon for March Your icon can go with this color scheme in March! Just submit it by 2/12/07 for a chance to win. For the latest news on the template schemes, click here. Or, learn about other contests.

Enter your icon for April Your icon can go with this color scheme in April! Just submit it by 2/12/07 for a chance to win. For the latest news on the template schemes, click here. Or, learn about other contests.

Please note that the images will also be placed on the respective backgrounds for each month, so your icon will partially be judged on how well it fits the existing color schemes selected for each month (i.e., orange with purple is typically not a good idea). Also, bear in mind that images will be resized in Photoshop to be between 125 and 150 pixels wide (the same size as all the other ones so far), so simple images are just as good, if not better, than intricate ones.

Again, the deadline for March and April submissions is 11:59pm ET on Monday, February 12, 2007. Email all submissions to me (Tim). And if you don't have my email address, ask and ye shall receive.

Note: Because I haven't programmed the script yet, I can't promise that the winning entries will go up exactly on March 1 and April 1, respectively. Sorry.

The May/June contest will be announced in late-February 2007.

Untitled

This is actually Aunt Beverly, on behalf of Scott and Daniel, signing them up.

Monthly Pictures

As Tim has already mentioned, and as you may have noticed the colors on this site will be changing monthly according to the colors that we found appropriate to represent each month. Also, every month the picture will change. The December, January, and February pictures have already been chosen but we would like your input on the pictures for the other 9 months.

To keep it simple we will ask that for now you only send ideas for March, and then once we have the perfect March picture we will move on to April and so on and so forth! Email the pictures to Tim by February 16th so that we will have enough time to choose the winning picture.

Be creative and think of a clever picture to depict March and then check out the site on March 1st to see if your picture was chosen.

~Laurel~

More Bloggers!

We're gradually phasing in the addition of more Bloggers to this blog, so that all the cousins can be better represented. This was ultimately the intent of this blog, although we weren't quite ready for it until now.

So this afternoon I sent out a couple invites to Cousin Club members.

For those wondering why Laurel hasn't ever posted to this, it's simple: It's the end of the semester for her, and she's been very busy. She has had much input over how this blog has formed, and she promises to post soon.

January Birthdays

I added this month's birthdays to the sidebar (albeit a little too late to celebrate either). Birthdays will be denoted each month by the birthday cake icon. Enjoy!

Bank News

We recently overcame the technical difficulties and have been able to post the bank balances. Interest for December 2006 was added, and the balances posted are thus accurate as of 1/1/07.

Also, there is nearly Ł5,000 presently in circulation. Don't forget to deposit your money in the bank at the end of a club event, or you won't be able to earn interest for probably a couple months. It's just that simple!

Finally

Sorry.

I finally got around to updating to the template scheme for January. The problem lied mainly in the fact we didn't have a picture for January yet, like the Christmas tree for December. That, and I don't have Photoshop on my laptop. Now we have the proper picture, and the proper template to match. And I've got one ready for February, too.

Please remember that the script to have the template automatically change is still not in existence. This is an ideality, and will not necessarily happen. It would be really nice to have a picture for every month before I program that.