May 2, 2018

Late Night VAPE – Q2 2018

Special Event, VAPE

[As a reminder, we VAPE to make sure we’re on task and accelerating as a Region. Read Q3.8-Q3.11 in the Q Source for some background.]

PAX
Gus, Soybean, Orange Julius, Choker, Granola, Mama’s Boy, Shoestring, Teacher’s Pet, Toms, Woody, Phat Pat, Pirtle, Captain Obvious, Vocals, Speaker, O Positive, Handsy, Promise Ring, Zima, Carport, Bookworm

THE SCENE: When the VAPE idea was conceived, we thought Saturday mornings after bootcamp would be a great opportunity to include all PAX in these discussions. However, Saturday mornings can get hairy with kids’ soccer games, M’s who want their husbands to “be around”, and travel. The Memphis Qs couldn’t find a Saturday that worked, so we decided to try a weeknight. We settled on a Tuesday at a bar and grill that’s open very late and doesn’t have an annoying trivia crowd. I called and reserved a room in the back for 8:30. Obviously, when YHC showed up at 8:29, there was a family seated in our area. We had nowhere else to go, so we just started piling in.  The poor family, whom the server congratulated for some momentous life event, was completely surrounded by the PAX and wood paneling. 

We came to make decisions and eat crackers – so we got started. Gus stood up and called this a “VAPE Grinder”, drawing the ire of many. Then he ordered a kool-aid and vodka concoction with a cherry (PhP ordered several, but his were yellow?), and YHC started rolling through the agenda.

GrowRuck 12 – 9/21-9/23

  • Toledo had 97 complete GrowRuck 09 (a world record) – our goal is to beat that number. We need at least 30 PAX from Memphis. Everyone at VAPE made a non-verbal HC. 
  • Friday PM 2nd F will be organized by Mama’s Boy and Phat Pat
  • Saturday AM Bootcamp + Grow School will be organized by Gus and Slicnut
  • Sunday AM 3rd F Worship will be organized by Four Eyes
  • Lodging for out-of-towners will be researched/organized by Bruce (Holy Rosary), Handsy (SOS), Teacher’s Pet
  • Hard Commit now and let’s beat Toledo!

F3 Memphis Grow Plan

  • Has been submitted to the Nation (read it here)
  • The goals are intentionally aggressive. Sad Clown Syndrome (SCS) is a real thing affecting men in our communities (just google “male loneliness”). One way that F3 invigorates male community leadership is by eradicating SCS. That’s our mission, and we do that by planting, growing, and serving new workout groups.
  • Goals: 
    • Two metro-area AOs in underserved areas by end of 2018; two more by end of 2019
      • PAX were encouraged to considering being AO Q, headlock guys in those areas, and get them out to nearby workouts
      • Arlington (No Fuego) was mentioned
      • This is our AO Q page that describes the role
    • Near Cities (within 1.5 hours): one by Jan, 2019; a second by Jan 2020
      • Candidates: Oxford, Jackson (TN), Jonesboro, Tupelo
      • Could do a survey to find out where we have the most connections
      • Oxford seems very viable. We’d partner with F3 Jackson (MS). 
    • Far Cities (within 4 hours): one by July 2019
      • Little Rock is the target
  • We’ll use Black Ops and rucks to generate interest and scout AOs
  • Community Outreach
    • O Positive is reaching out to church’s men’s ministry groups to generate awareness and interest in F3. Contact him to get something set up with your church’s group.
    • OP also got connected with Chick-Fil-A’s local family day. F3 will be there to lead some fitness contests and hopefully recruit FNGs. Contact OP to see how you can help.

(MC INTERLUDE)

Upcoming 1st F Calendar

  • Memorial Day (Mon 5/28) Convergence at the Barracks (Granola/Gus co-Q)
  • July 4th – regularly scheduled programming
  • August 18 (Sat) – F3 Memphis One Year Anniversary bootcamp at Mothership (Gus will coordinate Q, possibly bring in Bagger Vance)

Ruck Club

  • Join the Facebook Group – includes new logo and all events
  • Looking to start monthly extended rucks for fun and training
    • Pancho’s Ruck on 5/19, 4pm
    • Soybean planning one for 7/16 evening
    • If you want to lead one, contact Bruce
  • Upcoming rucks:
    • City Ruck Tour: Little Rock (5/26), Louisville (ghost flag ahem) (7/13), Jackson MS (8/4)
    • Sipsey Wilderness Ruck in AL – 7/20 (overnight) – need 3+ PAX to join Gus and Bruce
    • Eli Grow Memorial Ruck – Franklin, 10/13 – more info to come
    • St. Jude Marathon – Bruce and Shoestring have been working on getting a rucking division approved. Even without a division, you can still ruck the half. Registration is open now for Champions (commit to raise $500). Registration for other opens June 1, and will sell out quickly. 

Region Status

  • We’ve got our full Q team (T-CLAPS)
  • We’ve submitted our Grow Plan to the Nation (no response yet)
  • We need to develop and submit a leadership succession plan outlining how we’ll hand-off and rotate Q duties. There are no hard and fast rules or term limits. We just want guys to be able to roll-off and get some relief. Gus expressed his thinking on when he’d like to hand off Nantan responsibilities, maybe around the 2-3 year mark.  
  • If you are interested in serving and helping this thing grow, let the Qs know. If there is something you think could be done better, own it and start doing it. 

Q Open Discussion

  • Safety – We talked about the importance of the disclaimer and watching the six. 
  • AO Qs:
    • Barracks – Toms mentioned the difficulty of ensuring our faster PAX get in good work while also accommodating our slower PAX and leaving no one behind. We all nodded in sincere understanding.
    • Morg – Choker mentioned the successful upgrade at AO Q that happened this month.
    • Berm – Vocals (M/W AO Q) will need help with AO Q duties from 5/25-6/13 (M/W only) while he’s out-of-town, and will likely need to hand off duties entirely by 6/25, when he starts police academy. 
    • Mothership – Teacher’s Pet would like to hand off AO Q duties with the goal of launching a downtown AO on Saturdays.
    • Old Forest – Pirtle was jostled awake and mentioned that there were lots of snakes there Monday morning. On a possible unrelated note, he expressed interest in handing off his AO Q responsibilities. 
    • Sandlot – Four Eyes (not present) is wanting to hand it off. Toms is interested.
  • 1st F (Shoestring)
    • Our first 2.0 workout will be Sunday, May 20, at 3pm
    • This was concluded after much discussion about the best time (Saturday vs Sunday, afternoon vs morning, etc, etc, etc).
  • 2nd F (Phat Pat)
    • Has identified monthly events:
      • 6/2 Levitt Shell concert; 6/28 “The Sandlot” at Overton Square; 7/20 Redbirds game; 8/18 kayak trip (HIM only); 9/21-23 GrowRuck; Oct bonfire + chili cook-off; Nov day after Thanksgiving leftover party; Dec NYE party/parties
  • 3rd F (Four Eyes – in spirit)
    • Planning one focus service project per quarter and will have info on other projects throughout the year.
    • This Saturday is our Q2 service project at SOS. Handsy said there was plenty of work to do, and is excited about us coming to help. 2.0s who can handle unsupervised work are fine to bring. Read the preblast for more info.
    • Saturday afternoon there is an opportunity to serve at Dia del Ninos (contact O Positive for info)
    • O Positive is also planning to set up a weekly Bible study in his home (near the Berm) soon. 
  • COMZ (Teacher’s Pet)
    • Slots is working on a shared Google calendar with all non-workout events (2F, 3F, ruck, races, etc). We’ll publish that to the PAX when it’s ready.
    • Our domain expires in July. 
    • Teacher’s Pet and YHC encouraged AO Qs to make sure backblasts are being tagged and categorized correctly. AO Qs also need to start creating skeleton backblasts if the Q has not published theirs within a week. This will allow us to track numbers more effectively.

Overall, we had a good time, ate all the crackers, and trudged through the agenda. We have to continue to accelerate as a Region. We want an AO at every park in the city, and these meetings are necessary for that to happen.