A Short Weekend and Our Fallen Lady on the Rooftop.

A Cream Cake and Candy Apple?
Today Phillip is a happy boy.
Isn't it always the simple things in life?

Hello Troops,
A few weeks ago I opened the 4th grade hallway's custodian closet and climbed the ladder to the rooftop to check on the air conditioners - the true workhorses of the Space Education Center. Three were working perfectly. One however, was not. The unit responsible for cooling the Space Center's office, Phoenix and Odyssey simulators sounded tired. The cooling fan's motor was layered in an orange coat of rust. The unit looked like it belonged on the roof of an long abandoned factory.

"Hold on friend," I whispered as I patted her on her dark gray metallic housing. She responded with a gurgle followed by a stoke of wheezing and the sound a vacuum cleaner makes when you accidentally suck up a screw left on the carpet after your last attempt at home decorating.

It is with sadness that I report the old girl gave up the fight with summer's heat yesterday morning at around 9:00 A.M. Dave stopped at my desk asking me if there was something I could do about the air conditioning. The temperatures in the Phoenix were uncomfortable. Right then and there I knew we had a problem. The office, Odyssey and Phoenix are always the coldest places in the Space Center.

I climbed the ladder and found the unit's blower was working but her compressor wasn't. The large fan was motionless. I knew we had a real problem, especially with the temperatures that day expected to get dangerously close to 100. I drove home and got two fans for the ships. During lunch one fan was put in the Odyssey and the other in the Phoenix. I found the school's large carpet drying fan. It too was drafted into service, blowing air into the front hatchway of the Phoenix.

The campers survived our unintentional Amazon rain forest simulation and came out at the end of the camp none the worse for it. I can't say the same for the folks that came for the 3:30 P.M. private missions. The emerged noticeably drained. Their skin was red and blemished. It looked like they were saved from becoming the main course of our new rain forest mosquito's supper.

I'll go to work extra early on Monday and call the school district's maintenance department. Hopefully a knight in shining armor will arrive, kiss our fallen rooftop princess and restore her to her former glory. We have a full plate of private missions tomorrow and a four day camp starting Monday evening. We need a happy ending to this fairy tale.

We are down to our last two weeks of July. Our main summer season is racing down the tracks toward the end of the line where all will disembark to enjoy a nice two week rest before we reopen again for normal operations on August 16th.

I'd like to thank all of our Troubadour readers who spent some time with us on the Space Center Railroad's Summer Express! We've had a fantastic journey so far with only a few minor setbacks. Hopefully the tracks ahead are clear and the ride smooth.

I'd like to show you a few things from Wonderland's There and Back Again Lane. We took a stroll down the lane last week but didn't get very far due to constant distractions. Today I thought we'd give it another go. Remember, you never know what you'll see on and around the streets and lanes that lead to and from the Imaginarium.


The Hollands are gone for the weekend and contracted their home's security to one of Wonderland's creative home security companies. The Janus group prides themselves in their effective, inexpensive, carbon neutral home safety system.

It moves when anyone approaches, then speaks with the vocal patterns one would expect from a deranged clown.

"Are you sure you want to come any closer?" it asks.

Imaginative solutions are the norm here in Wonderland. Thinking outside the box is the standard.


What is imagined can become real in Wonderland. The good folks that work in the Imaginarium see to it with precision and attention to detail. I imagined how cool it would be to have a new lobby for the Space Center. What do you think?


The newspaper for those that would like their daily dose of depression summarized. Pretty much always the same, isn't it?


Thomas Tinker fell asleep on the sofa while his parent's watched a National Geography Special on the nation's National Parks. The Imaginarium took it from there.

Little Helga, captured forever in wood.

The Tour de Middle Earth races through Sauron's Realm.

The Treecloud in the field where the lane turns north.

The Spatsky sisters enjoy a moment to themselves after hanging their wash on the lines to dry. They live with their husbands in side by side cottages. The odd traveller would be mistaken to walk by without accepting their sure to be offered invitation to tea and biscuits. Be ready for the best gossip Wonderland has to offer highlighted with several good chuckles and a warmth that comes from lives richly lived.


Morris is waiting for us at the Lanes' Cherry Apple Inn. Checkers is his game and hardly an afternoon passes without him talking someone into playing who happens by the Inn looking for a cold drink and heaping helping of the proprietor's greatly admired Shepard's Pie with mushy peas. I'm hoping you have an appetite and are ready for the challenge. Mind you, Morris has a tendency to drift off from time to time. This can be used to your advantage. Let him sleep for a minute or so after you make your move then loudly wake him up...

"Morris, Make your move!"

He wakens slightly disorientated and confused. That's when he rushes and makes mistakes.

Finally, a thought for all of us who have lived long enough to understand its true meaning. Remember, life is a journey we stumble through together. Let's help each other and don't forget to remind those we walk beside that embarrassment is a cloak we each take a turn wearing.


Now, let's rest up because we've got a full week ahead of us. Fingers crossed about our rooftop friend. May she find her second wind and continue to help us brighten the days of all those that visit us at the Space Education Center (despite her rattling, groaning and wheezing). We really miss her.

Mr. W.

Our Week is Winding Down and the Camp Goes On.

Hello Troops,
I have a moment to enjoy my office chair, kick my shoes off, put on my headphones and update The Troubadour's readers with news, chills and thrills (without putting too fine a point on it).

This week started with an Overnight Camp and is ending with an EdVenture Camp. Sandwiched between are layers upon layers of private missions. The Overnight Camp went as expected - uneventful. Uneventful is a camp director's dream. Not so for the working staff and volunteers. They like things smelling out of the ordinary. The difference is responsibility. I'm responsible for everything that happens and they're not. They can afford to let their hair down. On the other hand, I do everything I can to keep mine from falling out!

So, what's happening right now as I type?

• Our 45 campers are in their class session with Mrs. Remy, Mrs. Houston and Julie Ann doing something with forensic science and astronomy and other things pulled from our curriculum's Cupboard of Wonders.
  
• Several of our staff are in the cafeteria, in costume and memorizing their parts as they film scenes for the upcoming Leadership Camp. There are backdrops and special lighting and props. It is quite the production. The camp is expected to be amazing. Five of them just rushed frantically by my desk looking for costumes for another scene. I'm tucked safely away in my corner of the office and far from the maddening crowd.
  
• Aleta just left with the Space Education Center's credit card to pick up our standing order of chow mien and rice from American Fork's Whistle Wok where she is affectionately known as 'the space lady'.

Dinner will be served at 7:00 P.M. At 7:40 P.M. I blow my Shrieker 2000 whistle to call the campers in from the playground. They will change and get ready for swimming. I'll walk them to the pool for one hour of water entertainments. We walk back to the school at 9:30 P.M. They change, then a video then bed. Most of them will be too tired to talk - something we count on so we can get a bit more sleep. Now be honest, don't you wish you were here? I can smell the jealousy from here.

Have you missed your regular updates from the Imaginarium? Let's take a moment and step outside to see what there is to see.


Our first stop, the subway. And who should we meet but Walter Wimple Jones, director of the Imaginarium's Office of Pseudoscience. Apparently he lost a bet with his undersecretary concerning the correct method to plant an inspiration into the mind of a physicist concerning the bridge between time and space in relation to strings on the quantum level. I'm amazed I got the words typed, let alone understand them.

Walter's consequence for losing the bet is to ride the subway from the Wonderland Station to its terminus then back again. Sitting in a far corner out of everyone's way was Walter's misunderstaning of the penalty. The truth of the matter is evident in the photograph above. Walter stands in the doorway greeting everyone as they enter and bidding farewell to those exiting. Poor Walter.



This sign is all well and good on your door but much more frightening if hung around your mind.


Peter Piper Patch has spent the best part of an hour staring at the reflection in the large mirror in the west corner of his school's music room. He is convinced the boy staring back isn't him. He knows there is another Peter Piper Patch beyond the looking glass and he is determined to prove it.

Peter Piper Patch is one of the Imaginarium's active files. The reflection we provide is perfect in every way - programmed to reflect his every move, gesture and twitch except every third viewing at exactly 24 minutes 6 seconds into the stare. At that exact moment the reflection's eyes will hesitate for 1/2 a second in a matching gesture.

"I knew it! I knew It!" Peter always shouts. "I know you're not me. Who are you and where do you live?"

Peter's questions are never answered directly - instead his imagination ponders all the possibilities. It is the magic of life, courtesy of the Imaginarium.


And finally a new piece of art recently painted by the proud parent of two teenagers. This piece sits in the Imaginarium's north lobby. It is titled, "The Mind of Your Teenager. Resistance is Futile. Understanding is Futile. You Will Be Assimilated".

I use this painting as my guide to understanding the teenagers that work and volunteer for me at the Space Education Center. It speaks volumes.

Have a Great Weekend Troops!

Mr. W.

What's an Overnight Camp?

They're outside, moving slowly across the playground,
looking for anyone wearing wool or smelling of lamb chops

Hello Troops,
"What's an Overnight Camp?"
That's a good question, considering we haven't had a regular one night overnight camp in several weeks. Our last two Overnight Camps were part of the Ultimate Camp. Tonight's camp is 100% traditional so during the staff meeting I reminded everyone how an Overnight Camp differs from an EdVenture Camp.

• The campers are not issued name badges.
• There are no death dots or bonus signatures.
• There is no before bed video.
• The camp stops for the night at 11:00 P.M.
• The staff get refreshments in the Discovery Room.
• I get up at 5:45 A.M. and make the WalMart doughnut run.
• The campers are up at 7:10 A.M.
• The campers go straight to the cafeteria for breakfast, bypassing the gym.
• The campers leave at 10:00 A.M.
• We have a staff meeting afterwords to review the surveys and award points.

There you have it, a traditional Overnight Camp. I heard several staff say , "I remember that," as I made each point. The longer camps are in their final few weeks at the Center and then the summer season will end. It's been a good run.

It's 9:58 P.M. and the simulators are running on full steam. Casey is running the Voyager. Dave is in the Phoenix. Christine is at the Odyssey's helm. Brittney is directing the Magellan and Ben is in charge of the Galileo. I'm at my desk with headphones on. My music helps me stay focused on the task at hand and, if turned up loud enough and the noise cancellation system activited, drowns out the thundering sounds of the simulators which surround me.

We run our joint camp with the Astrocamp campers from Thursday to Saturday. There are 13 of them coming from Ogden. They are usually great kids.

With all that said, I believe its time to visit Wonderland and look at what our Imagineers have been up to.

Our news from the Imaginarium begins with Carol Melps, a four year veteran tour guide with BiLo Tours out of London. She came to the Imaginarium's Center for Creativity Studies looking for treatment to restore and rejuvenate her imagination . After several tests our best therapist concluded that Carol Melps of 15 Wimpledell Circle, Little Bottom, Surrey had a chronic irreversible condition. Her imagination and creativity were in a severe state of atrophy. Despite our best efforts it was decided that she'd waited too long for treatment. She was discharged and sent back to the real world. Carol is once again directing tours for BiLo Tours in Spain. We wish her the best of luck and hope her condition doesn't infect her customers.

Carol, at work. Uninspiring and Wearisome to her Clients.
Click to enlarge

We leave Carol and move along to those who still harbor that spark of imagination and wonder.






It's nearly 10:30 P.M. In 30 minutes it will be ice cream, a cookie and bed. 44 campers will drift away on clouds of Space Center dreams (nightmares for some) and the staff will wander aimlessly through the hallways, too exhausted to think rationally, until I order them to bed.

Good Night,

Mr. W.