Space Center News. At A Glance.

Hello Troops,
I don't have to be back to work until Friday. Why am I back to work on Wednesday? That's not the question you should be asking. The question you should be asking is, Why did I come back to work on Monday!?

If I waited to come back to work until Friday I would be so buried in emails, phone calls, mission bookings, teachers booking field trips, registrations, and Everything else I would be caught up until this time in the year 2012. So, here I am, up to my eyeballs in "things to do".

Me, earlier in the day. It only got worse. Paramedics were called,
oxygen administered and I'm feeling much better

So, just so you don't think I'm the only one buried in work at the Space Center as we heroically try to open for private missions on Friday, let me show you a few other pictures.

This is Christine and Adam. They just took off their Environmental Hazard Suits and are reviewing the new, almost clean Odyssey Control Room. The Odyssey was built in 1991/92 and, to my reckoning, hasn't been deep cleaned since. They even found an old bottle of salsa that expired in 2008! We might put it on Ebay - what perfectly stewed poison. Some demented person would pay big money for that.

I reminded the Odyssey staff that unlike wine, salsa does not improve with age. I chastised them once again for eating in the Control Rooms and then we 'disposed' of the salsa.

In addition to the good cleaning, the Odyssey's drawers and cupboards were cleaned out. They found old training tapes, VCR tapes of missions told long before humans discovered how to make fire, and props last used on the stages of pre revolutionary France.

This is where the overflow of 'stuff' was deposited during the delousing of the Odyssey Control Room. Yes, that is my desk. As you can clearly see, my staff have no fear of me. I can cuss all I want about the sheer volume of junk piling around me and they just grunt, shrug their shoulders and proceed. I get no respect around here......

While the Odyssey was being scoured, Stacy was in the cafeteria working on the Galileo. This is a prop used in one of the Galileo's missions. You see that Stacy is tidy and well organized. Even her messes are tidy. Let that be a lesson to all of you that work and volunteer at the Space Center. Cleanliness is our Creed!
"What was that? Just what I thought. Another grunt and a cold shoulder shrugged in my direction. No Respect I tell you from that Odyssey Gang!"

Stacy also had the Programming Guild in today to install the newest version of Cocoa Controls for the Galileo.

This is one of the new Cocoa Control screens for the Galileo. Our programming boys do good work, as long as we feed them a steady diet of Coke, chips, and red meat when they're good. Oh, we let them out once in awhile for fresh air but not to long in the sunshine mind you. Their white skin burns quickly leaving their work to suffer.
Now, on a happier note. I bought new chairs for the Odyssey. The Captain's chair was replaced. The old chair was splitting at the seams. The result of hundreds of nervous children scratching the leather of the chair in sheer desperation when faced with overwhelming obstacles all associated with a good Odyssey mission. I'm hoping the new Captain's chair will last more than a fortnight.

What do you think of the new blue chairs? I spent a few hours online, visiting every school furniture site I could find, looking for chairs that resembled something more modern than 1955. I found two styles that met the objective and went with the cheapest. Let it be known that I firmly believe that a penny saved is a penny earned,
(and I'm talking about real American Money, not that phony Canadian stuff).

Here you see two of the chairs at the Sensors and Tactical stations in the Odyssey. Cool aren't they? Modern, Yes? Ultra Modern? Don't tell me I'm pushing it because in my opinion, I would classify these chairs as UberModern! And yes, you may quote me on that.

Our younger Kyle (Not the Fish) has spent much of the week so far in the Discovery Room. It needed a new coat of paint. The carpets were cleaned as well. The Magellan staff may not recognized the clean and freshly painted Discovery (which is why I'm posting this picture so they will recognize the room and not think they've somehow entered the twilight zone and evaporated into an alternate reality where the Magellan staff actually CLEAN and MAINTAIN their Briefing and Staging Room).

Yes, the room is messed up as we paint and clean but that can all be put right when the endeavor is completed - hopefully by Thursday evening.

And finally, to wrap things up, I'd like to update you on other items of interest.


This is Emily, Odyssey Set Director, congratulating Devin for getting his Odyssey Pin.
Devin really knows how to turn on the charm when a camera is nearby.
Emily, on the other hand, is just........... Emily.


This is Devin actually getting his pin. This is the real Devin we all have to put up with when the camera isn't visible. I shot this picture before he saw the camera and could react.

This is Devin getting his Phoenix pass from Alex, the Phoenix Set Director. Again, he wasn't aware of the camera before the picture was shot. He was upset but quickly got over it when I said the camera failed to take the picture so it wouldn't be posted.

This is Alex presenting Josh A. with his Phoenix Pin. Alex has been studying the Roman classics this summer in preparation for his Art History Class he will be taking this school year. This is his 'Julius Caesar' pose. I think he's got that Roman statue look down, don't you?

This is Stacy. This is Joseph. Stacy is giving Joseph his Galileo Pin. Joseph is happy.
Stacy is happier. We are all happy at the Space Center. The Space Center is a happy place.
This is Stacy. This is Alex. Alex also got his Galileo Pin. Wait, is this Alex? Hard to tell sometimes. Alex is a great worker, when he isn't walking into walls.

This is Stacy. This is Matt. Matt is one of our long distant volunteers. He lives in Logan! We don't know how he gets here or how he gets home. We think he uses some form of technology unknown to mere mortals.

And finally. This is Logan. Logan looked sad during our Award Ceremony so we brought him up to the front and told him to pretend we were giving him an award. He perked right up.
(Logan actually received his Year of Service Pin. Great Job Logan and thanks).

Well, that's about it for today. I'm tired of typing and my neck hurts. Time to go home and ponder the mysteries until I'm needed.

Mr. W.