The Space Education Center Closes for Upgrades

Hello Troops,

I hoped August would be good to us.  We worked hard all summer long.  We set a new attendance record for the summer season.  We spent countless hours at the Center running camps and private parties.  We survived the government free breakfast and lunch program.  Everything seemed to be going our way.  August was suppose to provide a few weeks of rest and relaxation and then we would all march happily back into the trenches for the school year season.

UNTIL......

During our yearly scheduled maintenance we discovered several electrical issues that must be resolved.  We also have other issues in the actual simulators that must be changed and update to meet current code.  These issues will required the Center to be closed for several months while our district's maintenance department works through the repair and refit process. 

Children worldwide react in shock to the News.

Not to fear.  All will be fixed.  We just need some time.

The bad.  

• The Space Center will be closed until all the work is done. 
• All employees are off during the upgrade.
• All volunteers are off during the upgrade. 

The Good! 

• We will get a perfectly working Space Center with enough power and plugs for everything we need.  
• Our ships will be up to current building codes. 

Staff and volunteers, that means you won't have to put up with me for a few months!  You can rejoin the real world, smell the roses, walk down the sidewalk and reintroduce yourself to your neighbors, relearn the names of your siblings, parents, friends and cousins, go on a date or two if your old enough, text a long dismissed friend and ask, "Want to hang out?"  The possibilities are endless. 

Enjoy your freedom!

  

Feel the wind in your hair and the sun on your back.

Campers

I must apologize to everyone who had their private missions and overnight camps canceled because of the upgrade.  Those of you who were scheduled to come on one of the August or September Overnight Camps will have two options.  You may have your money refunded or you may choose to receive a gift certificate for one Overnight Camp to be redeemed once the Center reopens.  I will be calling to ask  your decision.  

Field Trips

The Center will open for field trips as soon as the work is finished and we get the green light that all is well.  I anticipate it will be a mad house of schools and teachers trying to book their classes for the shortened Field Trip season.    

The Space Center's Reopening Day

   

This shortened field trip season happened once before during the 1999 - 2000 school year when the Center was closed for remodeling until the end of November.   That year the Center took one grade level per school (primarilly 6th).  Many new schools have opened during the last 12 years.  Hopefully some teachers will take a Space Center break this year and go to Clark Planetarium instead.

To be fair to all schools, a lottery will be held for the remaining field trips days.  Teachers, please visit the Space Center's website or blog regularily for updates.  You'll be told when to call for a field trip slot.  Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.  This upgrade is absolutely necessary and must be done now.  

Staff    

Addition information will be sent by email.  I will keep you all updated on developments.  If it comes down to spending your afternoons on the curb near the WalMart with a cup in hand and a sign reading 

Out of work

Anything will help.

God Bless

let me know and I'll be right down to help.  You take one side of the street and I'll take the other.  I'm also willing to help you dumpster dive for redeemable bottles and aluminum cans.  Please don't ask me to join you at the plasma donation center.  Needles and I don't get along very well.  We could also do some street performances to raise a bit of cash.  My voice is survivable, I just need someone who can play an instrument. I know Zac plays the guitar. 

You know troops, we could become real Troubadours, traveling from bus station to mall to train station performing.  I'm thinking song, dance, aerobatics, magic tricks and a few select readings from Shakespeare.  

Again, I'll send more information out by email and please call me at the Space Center during school hours if you have any questions.  We can get through this and will have better, safer ships when all is said and done.  

Mr. Williamson? 

What shall I do during the upgrade?  For the first time in 21 years I'll be able to live a somewhat normal life, arriving for work right when I should and not an hour early, and leaving at 4:00 P.M. and not 7:00 P.M.  I'll have my weekends free!!  I may actually see a movie.  Gee, I think the last one I saw was way back in 1990.  Are they still $3.00 for an evening ticket?  What will happen if I become accustom to a normal life, and don't want to return to a 70 hour work week?

I really like what this guy is doing and think I might franchise and start a conversation corner here in Utah.  I'm fairly intelligent and know something about most things.  I engage well and have been known to twist an ear from time to time with witty remarks.  Look for me outside University Mall on Friday nights between 5:00 and 9:00 P.M.  Who knows, I might get invited to join someone for a nice meal at one of the mall's restaurants.  That will save on the food budget until the Center reopens.  I'll be taking a cut in pay during the upgrade and will also need to find a way to makes ends meet :)

In addition to my Conversation Corner,  I will write another school mission and polish the ones we are currently telling.  

Let's not let this bump in the road get us down.  Always think positive.  All will be well.  

Now, join me for walk through the Imaginarium.  We need a laugh.

Something very Van Gogh about this......

Meet my nephew and niece.  They spend their summers in Hulett, Wyoming where

my sister and her husband own an old west museum and antiques shop. They spend the school

year in California.  

My nephew and niece run their own side business during the Sturgis Bike Rally in  August.  Look at their new sign.  It reads,  'Hot Dog's Soda and Water'.  Yes they have apostrophy in Dog's.  I pointed it out.  

"These are Harley riders, do ya think they're gonna notice?" was Draker's response.

I sent them the following picture to teach them the importance of correct punctuation.

They didn't get it.  I attribute it to their poor California education.

I love these three characters.

I love their town.  Mayberry is just the place for me.

Missing is my forth favorite person - Floyd.  I could spend 

hours sitting with him outside his barbershop watching the days tick by.

Finally!  

I get it!  

I wish I could say this to some of my student's parents.

It could be offensive and we would't want to offend the unruly child's parents, do we?

You know how much I respect humor in packaging.

This gets a 10.

Two examples of pure imagination in design.

Do I hear an Amen from the congregation?

We had our problems back in the day.

It wasn't just drunk driving you know.

What I do when I want to take life to the edge.......

OK NASA. Get it right next time.

Send the Google Earth car to Mars.  Geeeeze.

Its a no brainer.

Americans can't win.

And finally, a traffic engineers design of a bridge linking two

countries where they drive on opposite sides of the road.

Hong Kong (they drive on the left) and Macau (they drive on the right)