Elves of Sector 5, both freelance and North Pole elves —

We’re getting swamped with new elf sign-ups, both of freelance and North Pole elves. I’m talking MILLIONS.

In an effort to get you all on track PLEASE do the following right away:

1. Read this post from Elf Crash, International Director of Santa Trackers.
2. Have a good home tracking center set up. We do not instruct how to do this. We just encourage you to stay organized.
3. Send in a weekly weather report, either on Friday or Saturday. This is VERY important and it runs until Santa launches.
4. Next week is Thanksgiving, and that’s when the Elf Parade is happening. If you’re decorating your own trike, bike, etc. we’re going to ask you post pictures.
5. Things are about to go crazy, Christmas and Santa’s launch will be here before you know it. If you can check in every day.

If you can attend the scheduled chats, please do so. There will be more chats scheduled, including one with me at some point soon. If you have times/days that are best for you, don’t be afraid to leave that in the comments below.

Are you paying attention? Have you been to Elf University? Do you know your job as a tracker elf?

Let’s pay attention!

After conferring with Elf Roger Star of North Pole Flight Command we have been given permission to extend the chimney inspection deadline in Sector 5 to November 30th.

This is being done to accommodate the number of elves just now signing up to track Santa for Santa.

It’s a good idea because so much of our Sector is in northern areas where there are many chimneys.

You can access the Chimney Inspection report at this link.

We advise getting them done as soon as you can if you have not done them already. We don’t want elves out in the cold and the bad weather doing inspections! So the sooner the better.

Thanks, elves!

Hi Friends in Sector 5,

We are enjoying a lot of new elves in recent days. I thought I’d post some reminders of what new elves need to do:

1. Get your profile right here on SantaTrackers.net. There are instructions for this but you should be able to figure it out easily. You need “Elf” in front of your name, you need a profile picture and cover.

2. Read the entire site. Go to Elf University to see how things work and how to be a tracker elf tracking Santa for Santa.

3. Ask questions. That’s what the Elf Wall is for. Lots of elves here will be glad to help you. It’s a great group.

4. Set up your home tracking center. You spend a lot of time there. Get comfy. Have Christmas stuff around you – a tree, a mug of nog, music, whatever works for you.

5. I’ll be sending out requests now and then for certain reports. If you haven’t done a tracker report yet you can learn the process by sending in these reports from your location as soon as you possibly can: – A roof report, a chimney inspection report, and a weather report. The weather report we will ask for more than any other report between now and when Santa launches. So doing these reports will teach you how to do them. Again, they are very easy.

6. Get familiar with the Santa Tracker Map. We’re in the tracking test flight phase of things right now.

Finally, be sure to check in several times a week. If you sign up, then wait to show up a few days before launch, you’re doing it wrong.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

I have been getting a few concerned messages from some elves in Sector 5. I want to assure you that even though we don’t yet have our Regional Tracking Center finalized for Sector 5 things are indeed happening.

I think as the month of August comes around next week all tracker elves in every sector will see communication coming from their Elf Supervisor, me included. Just because we’re homeless, so to speak, that doesn’t mean we’re not working. For me, I may be working from a cell phone in my car, but I’ll still be working.

Now, to answer your questions: no, I don’t really know what the hold up with. I just know that we have several cities that can host us and the powers that be are talking to all of them still. We’re going to have a Regional Tracking Center, I just don’t know where yet. It has long been out of my hands and I don’t actually get involved in the contract talks. So I cannot really tell you what is going on and what the problem is.

And, like you, I should not focus on that. Things are happening in our sector and we need to focus.

The test flights were over our area this past week for just a day or two. They’ll be back for an extended run some time later.

One of our first goals as a sector will be to see if we can see it when they are over us. Sleigh sightings are a huge part of being a tracker elf and I think we can use the practice. So keep an eye on the Santa tracker map.

Many are asking about reports and when we can start. Our lack of a Regional Tracking Center will mean we will depend upon you for reports more, not less. So be ready. Flight command is not yet asking for anything in particular yet. But I think that will change right around the middle of August with weather reports.

Of course, with the weather, the most important thing you can report is what you actually see. I know a lot of elves check in with local news stations or even the weather service where they are and that’s fine. But your big value is your observation of where you are. Don’t forget that. I know some trackers put a lot of apps on their phones or bookmark websites to check for when Flight Command asks about weather. That’s great. But don’t forget to look out the window.

Since we don’t have a Regional Tracking Center yet I’m going to ask you to hold off on inspections for a while. I’m going to meet with Elf Roger this week to get his ideas about how to handle that while we wait for our assignment. It does not make a lot of sense to have our tracker elves sending in reports we cannot process. We need to solve this problem of no Regional Tracking Center soon.

So hang in there, Elves. We’ll get it together!