Ramblin' & Amblin' (2026-10-15): I talked about a lesser man who had
Ramblin' & Amblin' Field Notes with Mike Hall (Staff Software Engineer) Recorded on the move: engineering observations, systems architecture, and software craftsmanship reflections.
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
I talked about a lesser man who had everything and through
his excess wiped out his ability
to do the thing he supposedly loved and then had to face
that no consequences at all. He faced literally nothing. Versus a great man. Not the
only great man I knew.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
He's surely
passed by now. He was older when I was quite young. But he
was a man who had a condition
that hobbled him and he required crutches to walk. But he
was a scout leader.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
This is when
I was in the 1980s, late 80s, maybe. Yeah, late 80s. Very,
I don't think it was the 90s yet. It's hard to remember.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Okay. Oh, alright. Let's root it in
time. Thrasher.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Thrasher. I had
gone to a summer camp. And this is when the thing that the
great man saw the injustice of
and then he took affirmative, positive, progressive action
to ensure that it didn't happen to kids
like me again. I want to be clear.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
I don't need to give any
kind of warning here because
it doesn't involve that. It doesn't involve the dark stuff. But it does involve the kind
of mindset and bullying and all that that allows the dark
stuff. This was just bad.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Bad. The thing is, is this man, the great man, his name is
Mr. Peach. P-I-E-C-H.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
And he
helped protect kids like me. And, um, and he was the
smallest and weakest and most vulnerable,
but he was out there and he was a leader. This was a man
who's a man, a great man. Um, and, uh,
so, okay.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Again, I, I, my, my emotion is for, for recoll
ection of, of, of him and, and what an ideal
is. Um, not, not for the incident per se. I was just mad
and kind of used to it. So it wasn't that
big a deal to me at the time.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
I almost didn't even clock it
because it was just so normalized. Um, I was,
I was at a summer camp at Camp Mackinoshu, um, in Wisconsin
. And, um, nothing about them. They're, they're, they're fine.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
They're, they're, they're,
this is, again, just a scene. And, uh,
I'm in a Boy Scout troop. And, uh, the way I know the time
for this is that Pearl Jams 10 was announced as a special
offer that you could order through
thrasher. I don't think I'd heard Pearl Jams 10 yet at the
time, but I remember that I can cut out a coupon and
and send it in and get it.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Something like that. Um, that,
there, that's, that's when this happened because I had that
magazine and it was what I would read in my tent during
downtime. Um, and, uh, I, I had food aversions. Okay.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
So
what it was is I was a kid. So let's just cut to the chase. I was a kid out on a day camp. I think it was my first like
serious away time from my parents.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
And, um,
I was struggling with it and I was not able to eat the food
, whatever. So the, uh,
the adult leader, um, basically had a bunch of the older
boys get together and force feed me. Um, uh, because I had
to eat and he was going to teach me a lesson. Um, uh, so, you know, like serious karate kid, whatever the
evil dojo leader, um, was, I don't know if they've retcon
ned him to make him a good guy now or something like that,
which is, I wouldn't be surprised.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
But, um, uh,
contemporary to the area, Biff Tannen kind of, you know,
like, we're all going to just gang up and, and might, might
rules everything. Um, and they force fed me. And I guess it
was, you know,
I guess it was pretty traumatic for me. I don't remember
much of it.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um, but, uh, another leader, I guess it was a
pattern of behavior. This guy, I don't remember his name. So I don't want to say it because I don't want to say the
wrong person's name. And it doesn't matter anyway, because ultimately the guy
was kicked out of scouts.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Somebody filed a complaint and he
was not allowed to be, uh, um, a scout leader for a certain
period of time. Well, I guess whatever probationary period had to last. Um,
well, I guess whatever probationary period had to last, um,
I guess whatever probationary period had to last, um, I
guess whatever probationary period had to last, um, I guess
whatever probationary period had to last. So I'm jumping ahead in time.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Sorry. I do that sometimes. Um, so yeah, so he got a bunch of boys to force feed me and
I believe another kid and that he had a pattern of behavior
. Um, I've got to make a decision here.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
So many choices. Do I keep walking on the trail and it's beautiful or walk
down the path. You know what? I've been doing a lot of trails lately.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
I'm
going to, I'm going to stay on the, uh, path lately. This
one is just fun. I just like the trees here and the look,
you can't really see it, but it's a road. It lays out in front.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
There's something kind of like a
little bit, uh, peaceful about that. Um, yeah. So anyway, he got kicked out of scouts through
some kind of formal feeling and this is in the eighties nin
eties. We know what it came out later.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
So like, I don't know
what he did. That was really so bad. I think I was just like, I'm one of
the guys that got off easy. Um, the, uh, um, so what
happens?
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Fast forward. Now this guy wants to be in scout
later again, and, uh, he's now petitioning council,
whatever. Again, I'm a kid. I don't know what's going on.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um, and, uh, I'm in Mr. Peach's troop now. Okay. I like Mr.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Peach and Mr. Schmidt. These were men who were engineers. Um, it was Lamont, Illinois.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um,
Um, but, um, so I think they were, what, what, what was
that? What's the, uh, lab, um, there? Um, sorry. I'm thinking about too many things and it's hard
to bring everything up.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Ah, the laboratory there in Lamont. Um, anyway, they, these were, these were Mr. Peach was
small, you know, he was hobbled by his, his condition. Um, I don't know if it was muscular dystrophy or, but he
had to wear one heavy, thick sole.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
It was like leveling shoe so that way he could kind of walk
, uh, a bit, but he'd be out there on the trails with all of
us, right? He, this is not a man with limits. And, uh, he, uh, he contacted my mom and, and he said, um,
so-and-so was trying to get back in the scouts. He, he spoke more gentler than I do.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um, you know, that's
the part about being great. Um, but he told my mom that, uh
, sorry, but, um, so-and-so is trying to become a scout
leader again. And, and, um, I, I need to prevent that. He can't do it
again because he hasn't changed.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
And, um, he's just, you know, I've talked to him. He's, I'm
, I'm, I'm, again, sorry, I'm putting words in the man's
mouth. Uh, he came and he, he appealed to my mom the facts that
matter and that she agreed for me to give, um, I don't know
, like a deposition or a statement on, on what happened. Because he wanted to make the case that, uh, um, he shouldn
't be allowed to be, uh, so Mr.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Peach wanted to make the
case that this other man should not be allowed to, uh, to
be a scout leader again. Um, and, uh, people are going to go in front of the council
and this is an incredibly brave thing to do. Sorry, I got mosquitoes like crazy here right now. Um, and
Mr.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Schmidt was with him and they both took my statement. And I think I even, uh, here, I'll just, for a second. Hello, good morning. So, yeah, so Mr., uh, Mr.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Peach took my statement and, um,
did whatever he did with the council. I wasn't involved with it any further at that point. But, uh, um, yeah, I just want to say that, you know, we
can sit and talk about baser, mean men, uh, like Rush Limba
ugh. And we can give them, carry their name forward as anything
but any warning.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
But that, we forget that there was great men who had
tremendous spirits and tremendous sense of right and wrong. And the willingness to do something about it because it was
the right thing to do. That was it. No parades for Mr.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Peach. No Medal of Valor for Mr. Peach. Or whatever nonsense got draped on that spider.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
That spider's neck. Yeah. So, yeah, just, uh, you know, the thought that, you know,
Mr. Rogers, another, you know, great man.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Um, just go listen to him. Um, so I'd look for the helpers. So, that's, uh, that's what I want to do. I want to think about the, uh, the Mr.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Peaches, Mr. Schmitz
. The one facing something they didn't shy away. It's pretty cool.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thanks.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Bye. Bye. Yeah. All right.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Thanks. Bye. Bye. It's pretty cool.
Mike Hall
Host, ramblin-amblin
▶ Speaking
Yeah. Alright, thanks. Bye.