A Thursday Morning Chuckle Before School

Whatever you think you saw, you didn't. Trust us. It WAS a weather balloon

The iPad is Here! Star Trek in Our Hands Today.

Hello Troops,
I know some of you are Mac fans like myself. Others are PC droids. Regardless of your orientation you'll be amazed at Apple's new iPad announced today. I'm drooling over my keyboard and counting the change in my pocket. I want one........
Watch this video. This product is Star Trek here Today!
Mr. Williamson

http://www.apple.com/ipad/#video

Openings for this Friday's Overnight Camp!

Hello Troops,
We have a few openings for our Overnight Camp this Friday starting at 7:00 P.M. and ending 10:00 A.M. Saturday Morning for anyone age 10 - 14 years old. You will be joining students from Lindon Elementary School. Once again, if you're a Blog Reader or Frequent Flyer you can register at the discounted price of $37.00. If you're interested, please contact me by email: director@spacecamputah.org

Thanks,
Mr. Williamson

The Space Center Makes a Difference!

Hello Troops,
Below this paragraph is a testimonial and thank you letter I received from a teacher. We don't get a lot of feedback from our teachers, students and campers. They cheer and clap after a field trip, private mission or camp and they leave. It is nice when someone takes the time to send an email telling us they appreciated the experience and how it affected them. Letters like this energized us and make us want to work harder to created the best field trip and camp possible with our limited resources. After all, what are we after? World domination of course........Is that too much to ask?

Mr. W.

And Now the Teacher's Letter:

Dear Space Center,
It is has been 7-8 years since I took a classroom to Space Camp. Of course, I haven't been teaching all that time. As a matter of fact, I have just gotten back into the field. I teach seventh grade homeroom at a conservative private school in American Fork. I am looking into the possibility of taking both seventh grades next year and was excited to hear that the curriculum would be the same as it was the last time I went.

Because I had recently heard about Space Camp, I decided to see if it would fit the curriculum of the private school I worked for back in 1999. The principal was excited about it, so I sent off for information. We were thrilled that the book I had chosen for my sixth grade that year was The Diary of Anne Frank and that the Camp curriculum was going to cover that same book. I set up a date for us to go in November of that same year. Our principal decided that the small seventh and eighth grade would accompany us.

I worked with that teacher to set up the curriculum to include Science, Math, Language Arts, Music, Art, Literature, Spelling, Orthography/Penmanship, Speech/Oratory, Social Studies, Leadership and "Followership" Skills and PE. We started the day school started preparing our students for this experience. Although we used different student books and manuals, we were able to adjust the curriculum.

The students were not easy to handle, as many of them had been with each other for several years, some for seven years! We and they kept notebooks of our work. When the day came, we did our culminating activity and went to "after-school Space Camp."

It was fascinating to watch the class become a team during the two and one-half hour mission. However, what was phenomenal were the next days, the next weeks, the next months. These students had been somewhat surly in their approach to each other and me during the first several months of school. The next day, students who had had hard feelings, negative reactions to each other and to me, had been "re-born" because of this two and one-half hour experience. They were much more positive towards others in class and out. The looked for ways to help each other have positive experiences with learning.

They had a strong desire to learn, to be a part of a team, to look for ways to help me and they wanted to do their best. They were not little angels all the time, but they recognized that they could change and that it was a better change for them. I had
"new" students the rest of the year in more ways than one. Whenever a student came in who was new to seventh grade, my other students looked for ways to help them acclimate. They all gathered round those who had difficult or hard times during the rest of the year. It was a joy to behold!

Since this experience, I have had both parents and students of that seventh grade write to me expressing that this experience was a turning point in lives. Many of these
same students are now full-ride scholarship students at great universities, working on Doctorates. Others greet me on the street, telling me that that is one of the greatest experiences they have had in their lives, that they remind those with whom they come in contact with about this experience and are now "missionaries" for Space Camp, just like me!!!

What more can I say except what I have already said? I have said this in such a hurry that I hope that I have not been too incoherent!!!

ENGAGE!!!!! (as Commander Pickard used to say)

Mrs. Sharon S.

It Can Always Get Worse

Whenever you think school is just too much.
Whenever you think you'll never understand.
Whenever you think your brain can't hold one more pixel of information

Just remember, there are those that have it worse. Just buckle down and get the job done. No excuses, no blaming, JUST DO IT. Your Education is just that - Your Education. Succeed at it. That's all we ask.

The Old Galileo, Soon to be a Party Bus!

Hello Troops,
Last week I answered a long distance call from a gentleman in Seattle. He introduced himself as the proud new owner of the old Galileo. I was surprised, not knowing the Galileo was back on State auction. It appears all the bidders on the original auction backed out after discovering the simulator needed to be dismantled for shipping. Oh, the astronomical shipping costs acting as a deterrent as well.

“So, how does this Space Shuttle work,” he asked. His voice was pleasant, the kind that usually belongs to a likable, fun loving person. He was driving while on the phone. I could tell he wanted the condensed explanation. I didn’t know where to begin. How do you explain what we do in 30 seconds or less?
“First, let me explain that it is not a shuttle. It is more like a Star Trek shuttlecraft,” I started what ended up being a monologue that dragged on for several minutes. He urged me to speed it up; I ignored the hints and continued to quote from my memorized and well rehearsed one man show called Flight Directing for Dummies. He seemed to be getting it.
“Are you a Star Trek fan?” I questioned. He answered enthusiastically in the positive. Finding that common ground led to several more minutes of explanation.
“May I ask what you’re going to do with the Galileo?” I asked at the end.

If I heard this gentleman right, the Galileo will be placed inside a bus and used for parties and events. His company provides safe transport home from bars and nightclubs for those that ‘had one too many’. Their buses offer entertainment to the sauced passenger as they travel home. It could be a baseball game, or football, or whatever. The interior of the bus in a set, or lounge or whatever.
He says its a fun and profitable business.

This bus is a mobile disco, complete with dance floor.

'The Galileo will be put in a bus and offered as a fun party or transportation alternative. Parents can rent the bus for a birthday party. The kids board the Galileo (inside the bus) for a ride around town while they run their mission. Adults could rend the bus for a fun simulation while going home from a night on the town or as a fun thing to do as they travel to some event (for instance, renting the bus to take you and your friends to another town to attend a football game etc).

This is the link for the company if you'd like to know more about the Galileo's final resting place.

http://partybus.homestead.com/

There you have it Troops. The old Galileo has a new owner and will be leaving Pleasant Grove for Seattle shortly to entertain in a whole different way.

Will you miss the old girl? As a proper send off, you are welcome to write your favorite memory of your time in the Galileo. I'd like to read what you say. Use the comment link at the bottom of this post so others can read what you have to say.

What do you think?

Mr. Williamson

Openings for Tomorrow's Overnight Camp!

Hello Troops,
We have openings for this week's Overnight Camp. Our Overnight Camp is competing with a Scouting Klondike.

If you're interested in coming on an overnight camp this weekend please let me know.
Normal price is $43.00. We can let our Blog Readers and Frequent Flyers attend for $37.00.

You must be between 10 and 14 years old to attend. Caution, be sure we are running a mission you haven't done. The Voyager will be telling Greenpeace. The Magellan will be telling Invasion, the Odyssey will be telling Heir to the Empire, the Phoenix will be telling Supernova and the Galileo will be telling Scorpion Relay. If you're interested in attending please send the following information by email:

Your Name:
Age:
School:
Phone Number:

We will collect payment at the door Friday night. Payment must be a check or cash.
An Overnight Confirmation Form will be sent by email for your parents to complete. The form comes with you to camp.

Thanks!
Mr. Williamson

In Case Your Wondering What A True Hero Is, Please Read On....

Hello Troops,
The word Hero is overused in today's society. I'm convinced that most people really don't understand what a real hero is. May I take a moment of your time and introduce you to one? Please read on....

This is the story of an incredible woman and her amazing gift to mankind. Irena Sendler. An unfamiliar name to most people, but this remarkable woman defied the Nazis and saved 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto. As a health worker, she sneaked the children out between 1942 and 1943 to safe hiding places and found non-Jewish families to adopt them.

For many years Irena Sendler - white-haired, gentle and courageous - was living a modest existence in her Warsaw apartment. This unsung heroine passed away on Monday May 12th, 2008.

Her achievement went largely unnoticed for many years. Then the story was uncovered by four young students at Uniontown High School, in Kansas, who were the winners of the 2000 Kansas state National History Day competition by writing a play Life in a Jar about the heroic actions of Irena Sendler. The girls - Elizabeth Cambers, Megan Stewart, Sabrina Coons and Janice Underwood - have since gained international recognition, along with their teacher, Norman Conard. The presentation, seen in many venues in the United States and popularized by National Public Radio, C-SPAN and CBS, has brought Irena Sendlers story to a wider public. The students continue their prize-winning dramatic presentation Life in a Jar.

In 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and the brutality of the Nazis accelerated with murder, violence and terror. At the time, Irena was a Senior Administrator in the Warsaw Social Welfare Department, which operated the canteens in every district of the city. Previously, the canteens provided meals, financial aid, and other services for orphans, the elderly, the poor and the destitute. Now, through Irena, the canteens also provided clothing, medicine and money for the Jews. They were registered under fictitious Christian names, and to prevent inspections, the Jewish families were reported as being afflicted with such highly infectious diseases as typhus and tuberculosis.
In 1942 the Nazis herded hundreds of thousands of Jews into a 16-block area that came to be known as the Warsaw Ghetto. The Ghetto was sealed and the Jewish families ended up behind its walls, only to await certain death. Irena Sendler was so appalled by the conditions that she joined Zegota, the Council for Aid to Jews, organized by the Polish underground resistance movement, as one of its first recruits and directed the efforts to rescue Jewish children. To be able to enter the Ghetto legally, Irena managed to be issued a pass from Warsaws Epidemic Control Department and she visited the Ghetto daily, reestablished contacts and brought food, medicines and clothing. But 5,000 people were dying a month from starvation and disease in the Ghetto, and she decided to help the Jewish children to get out. For Irena Sendler, a young mother herself, persuading parents to part with their children was in itself a horrendous task. Finding families willing to shelter the children, and thereby willing to risk their life if the Nazis ever found out, was also not easy.

Irena Sendler wore a Star of David armband as a sign of her unity to Jews. She began smuggling children out in an ambulance. She recruited at least one person from each of the ten centers of the Social Welfare Department. With their help, she issued hundreds of false documents with forged signatures. Irena Sendler successfully smuggled almost 2,500 Jewish children to safety and gave them temporary new identities.

Some children were taken out in gunnysacks or body bags. Some were buried inside loads of goods. A mechanic took a baby out in his toolbox. Some kids were carried out in potato sacks, others were placed in coffins, some entered a church in the Ghetto which had two entrances. One entrance opened into the Ghetto, the other opened into the Aryan side of Warsaw. They entered the church as Jews and exited as Christians. "`Can you guarantee they will live?'" Irena later recalled the distraught parents asking. But she could only guarantee they would die if they stayed. "In my dreams," she said, "I still hear the cries when they left their parents."

Irena had a remarkable record of cooperation when placing the youngsters: "No one ever refused to take a child from me," she said. The children were given false identities and placed in homes, orphanages and convents. Irena Sendler carefully noted, in coded form, the children's original names and their new identities. She kept the only record of their true identities in jars buried beneath an apple tree in a neighbor's back yard, across the street from German barracks, hoping she could someday dig up the jars, locate the children and inform them of their past. In all, the jars contained the names of 2,500 children

The Nazis became aware of Irena's activities, and on October 20, 1943 she was arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the Gestapo, who broke her feet and legs. She ended up in the Pawiak Prison, but no one could break her spirit. Though she was the only one who knew the names and addresses of the families sheltering the Jewish children, she withstood the torture, that crippled her for life, refusing to betray either her associates or any of the Jewish children in hiding. Sentenced to death, Irena was saved at the last minute when Zegota members bribed one of the Gestapo agents to halt the execution. She escaped from prison but for the rest of the war she was pursued by the Nazis.

After the war she dug up the jars and used the notes to track down the 2,500 children she placed with adoptive families and to reunite them with relatives scattered across Europe. But most lost their families during the Holocaust in Nazi death camps. The children had known her only by her code name Jolanta. But years later, after she was honored for her wartime work, her picture appeared in a newspaper. "A man, a painter, telephoned me," said Sendler, "`I remember your face,' he said. `It was you who took me out of the ghetto.' I had many calls like that!"

Irena Sendler did not think of herself as a hero. She claimed no credit for her actions. "I could have done more," she said. "This regret will follow me to my death." She has been honored by international Jewish organizations. In 1991 she was made an honorary citizen of Israel. Irena Sendler was awarded Poland's highest distinction, the Order of White Eagle, in Warsaw Monday Nov. 10, 2003. She has officially been designated a national hero in Poland and schools are named in her honor. Annual Irena Sendler days are celebrated throughout Europe and the United States.

“Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory,” Irena Sendler said in a letter.
This lovely, courageous woman was one of the most dedicated and active workers in aiding Jews during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Her courage enabled not only the survival of 2,500 Jewish children but also of the generations of their descendants.

Troops, there are some born to this world different than the rest of us. They walk a different path - a path most fear to tread. These people are my heros.

Mr. Williamson

Notes from Monday's Summer Preparation Meeting

Hello Troops,
I met with our simulator Set Directors, Flight Directors and Education Staff yesterday to discuss the Space Center’s summer season for 2010. You’re wrong if you’re thinking January is too early to be thinking about summer. Stop for a second and think about everything it takes to prepare for the summer.

• Every simulator needs a new story to tell. That includes a story script, video and tactical programming.
• The curriculum for the class session must be outlined, planned and practiced.
• The calendar must be decided upon (days of camps and classes).
• The summer flyer must be prepared, printed and distributed, giving everyone enough time to enroll for camp.

You see, it takes planning. Think of all the problems that can be avoided if you plan and prepare ahead of time.

This is what we’ve decided so far.

• We will take 45 in a camp, not the normal 62. We had 45 last summer and we liked the smaller numbers. It was less stressful.
• Our EdVenture Camps will primarily run Monday to Wednesday, like last year.
• Our Overnight Camps will primarily run Thursday night into Friday morning.
• We will run one Extended Overnight Camp in June, July and August.
• The Voyager will tell “The Grand PooPah”
• The Odyssey will tell “The Plague”
• The Phoenix will tell “Razor’s Edge”
• The Galileo will tell “No More Secrets”
• The Magellan mission is in development and is unnamed.
• Swimming will be at PG Pool as in the past.
• We will offer one Leadership Camp for our older 15 - 17 year olds.
• The price for the three day camp will be $160.00
• We will offer two Super Space Camps! The cost will be $210.00 for the Super Camp. It will run Monday evening to Friday morning.

Shelley Outerkirk is researching the Space Center's impact on education and student attitudes on learning as part of her master's degree program at BYU. Questionnaires make up a major part of her research. Private Mission groups will be answering Shelley's questionnaires. We reviewed the questionnaires in our Monday meeting. You may be asked to fill one out the next time you come for a private mission.

I just got back from trying to book Pleasant Grove's Pool for our summer camps. The ladies at the desk were taken back that I wanted to book so many evenings.
"We have to get this cleared," the older of the two said. She took my list of dates and disappeared through a doorway to talk to her supervisor. Several minutes later she reappeared.
"I'm sorry but this will have to go to the manager's desk for approval," she explained. I wanted to ask why, thinking it was ridiculous a manager had to approve a pool booking. The city rents the pool to private groups all summer long. We are a private group. We want to rent the pool. Is it written somewhere that the pool's private bookings are to be rationed due to a shortage of WHAT? Can you think of what the shortage could be?
Perhaps water. Wait, that doesn't make sense. How about staffing? No, the staff are paid to work the private parties and I'm paying for the party so that shouldn't be a problem. Hmmmmmmm, for the life of me I can't think why the lady at the desk would think I was asking for too many pool reservations. Yes, its one of those strange unexplained oddities we encounter every day as we do our very best to survive living in the Confederacy of Dunces. Sheezzzzze. Blahhhhhhh.

Well, that’s about it. I'm done venting my frustrations. Our Monday meeting went for nearly two hours. The talking is finished. Now it time for action. Time to get the summer 2010 season ready for a successful blast off!


Mr. Williamson

More Creative Thinking for our Disciples of Wonder!

Take a clock and do something different with it. Think outside the box. Be creative in your thought and design. Think of a different way to present time outside your typical round faced clocks or digital read outs.

Here is one person's creative idea. An idea begun in imagination,thought out clearly and presented. Friends, I give you a new way to look at time.

http://home.tiscali.nl/annejan/swf/timeline.swf

You've got to hand it to imagination.

Simply,
Mr. Williamson

Imagination, Creativity, Thinking Outside the Box. Priceless! Its What we are All About.

Changing Times.

The Apple From the Tree. The Moment of Inspiration.

It always falls down. That's how the apple helped Isaac Newton.

An 18th-century account of how Newton developed the theory of gravity was posted to the Web Monday, making the fragile paper manuscript widely available to the public for the first time.

Newton's encounter with the apple ranks among science's most celebrated anecdotes, and it can now be read in the faded cursive script in which it was recorded by William Stukeley, Newton's contemporary.

Royal Society librarian Keith Moore said the apple story has resonated for centuries because it packs in so much _ an illustration of how modern science works, an implicit reference to the solar system and even an allusion to the Bible.

When Newton describes the process of observing a falling apple and guessing at the principle behind it "he's talking about the scientific method," Moore said.

"Also the shape of the apple recalls the planet _ it's round _ and of course the apple falling from the tree does indeed hark back to the story of Adam and Eve, and Newton as a religious man would have found that quite apt."

The incident occurred in the mid-1660s, when Newton retreated to his family home in northern England after an outbreak of the plague closed the University of Cambridge, where he had been studying.

Stukeley's manuscript recounts a spring afternoon in 1726 when the famous scientist shared the story over tea "under the shade of some apple trees."

Stukeley wrote that Newton told him the notion of gravity popped into the scientist's mind as he was sitting in the same situation.

"It was occasion'd by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself ... Why should it not go sideways, or upwards? But constantly to the earth's center?" Stukeley wrote. "Assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter."

Stukeley's account on the Royal Society's Web site joins notes from Newton's 17th-century scientific rival Robert Hooke _ documents that were lost for several hundred years before their recent discovery in a house in England.

Les Miserables at PG High.

Dear Space Center Friends,

In case you haven't noticed, I have been rather absent at the Space Center for the last month. This is because I am performing in Pleasant Grove High School's production of Les Miserables!

The performances on the 21 & 22 start at 7:30pm
All other performances 25 - 30 start at 7:00pm
Doors open at 6:00pm
GENERAL SEATING

Adults $7
Students $6
Children (under 12) $5

I would love to see as many of you there as possible! But you're going to want to get tickets ASAP! It is HIGHLY recommended that you buy your tickets in advance. Tickets are purchased for a specific night and can only be used for that date. You can buy tickets from me, any cast/orchestra member (like Adam H!), the PGHS finance office, or at the door. Currently, the 21st and 26nd are SOLD OUT!

Keep up the good work and I will join you all once again in February. :)

- Rachel H, FD

A Photographic Riddle. Are you up to the Challenge?

Hello Troops,
Take a minute and look at my Cloverdale Post for tonight.
http://ourcloverdale.blogspot.com

You'll find a series of photographs. Each representing a common noun or phrase. Can you deduce what they are? Send your guesses to me by email. Anyone that gets them all right will win the never ending respect of this Space Center Director (you might even talk me out of a candy bar from the gift shop). Getting one or two right will earn a pat on the back or the shake of a hand (your choice) and the partial respect of someone that didn't get any of them right, although I attempted to solve them in a semi conscious stupor after an overnight camp while being lulled into a unfeeling state by a mindless TV show.

Everyone that gets them correct will earn the privilege of being called a "Space Center Brown Topper", a citizen of the Intellectual Upper Crust. Someone mere mortals like myself dream of becoming. Someone who only physically exists in our realm while mentally transcending the barrier between the here and now and the Whisperland of What Will Be.

Good Luck,

Mr. Williamson

Coming this February, An Awesome Star Trek Online Game. Read all About It.

Hello Troops,
Wow, this could be good. A real, multi player online Star Trek game where you can go on long campaign missions, captain your own ship, explore the galaxy etc etc etc. It could be an acceptable online version of the Space Center experience. Check out their web site and tell me what you think.

http://www.startrekonline.com/

Mr. Williamson

Bracken Funk Transfers to the USS Logan.

Hello Troops,
It is my sad duty to report that Admiral Bracken Funk (Flight Director) was reassigned to the USS Logan. He flew his final regular mission at the Space Center last Saturday.

Bracken's family offered him a very good paying job in Logan, Utah. Bracken couldn't turn it down. He moved last weekend. Today I spoke with him on the phone. He was working in the office on a computer program. He was in good spirits but admitted a sneeze of homesickness for his family and friends. He promised to visit every weekend he could arrange transportation (he doesn't have a car). If anyone knows someone that lives or goes to school in Logan and visits Utah County (or even Salt Lake) on a regular weekend basis please let me know.

Bracken is a good friend to everyone at the Center. His energy and enthusiasm know no bounds. His excitement for the Center and its mission is legend. He promises to continue to improve our missions by programming new tactical screens for the Voyager's older missions. A new tactical program for Midnight Rescue is his latest improvement. He did a fantastic job.

We will miss Bracken and the example he set for the staff and volunteers. Of course, we wish him the best of luck in Logan and hope to see him every weekend at the Center is the fates allow and he finds someone with a good car needed a passenger willing to help pay for gas!

Mr. Williamson

The Fun Theory

Now, go make the ordinary extraordinary.

Heaven? Doubtful. The Other Place? At Times!

You never know what to expect when you load a class into the simulators. I've written about this many times. Last week I had a chuckle. I stood at the top of the stairs in my usual place asking to see their Boarding Passes. It is rewarding to hear the exclamations of wonder and joy. It is a pain to grab the odd child that isn't looking at me but looking at the Bridge instead. They are, at times, so overwhelmed by the Bridge that I'm not noticed at all. I wonder how that can be considering my size and the fact that I'm standing at the top of the stairs.

Wednesday a sixth grade girls came up the stairs. She walked past me. I put out my arm to stop her and asked for her Boarding Pass. She presented her papers. I looked to see where to sit her.
"This is so cool! She exclaimed. "This is Heaven!"
That was a first for the Space Center. We've been called many things, both good and
bad. Heaven is one word I've never heard used as a substitute for the Space Center.
My mind starting making connections. If this is Heaven, and I'm in charge of the
Center, then I must be....... I quickly cleared that thought out of my head hoping not to incur the wrath of the Almighty and a seven year curse on the Center - only lifted by sacrificing a few volunteers and a cat of any variety . I showed her to the Scanning
Station.
"She won't think its Heaven after an hour on that station," I thought to myself. Two children later came her friend Jordan. I pointed her to the Left Wing Tactical Station. Jordan sat. The music continued to play as children paraded past me to their stations. Above the music came a voice I'd heard before.
"Jordan," she shouted. "This is Heaven! I'm excited and scared!"
"Sounds like a perfect description of Judgment Day," I thought.

I've got to thank our visitors for filling my day with sunshine and laughter.

A Funny Observation at the Space Center

Hello Troops,
There was a very short conversation on Saturday that made me laugh. I was sitting at my desk minding my own business as I unsuccessfully try to do every Saturday when I heard the voice of Dave Daymont, one of our Phoenix Flight Directors. The voice came from the general area of his control room. His comment was directed to Christine Grosland, an Odyssey flight director.

The background to the story is simple. Christine had an appointment and told everyone she was leaving. She actually said that several times. A moment later she’d reappear, having forgotten something or got sidetracked by a good morsel of hallway gossip (if you’re a regular at the Center you’ll notice the staff like to congregate in the halls and ‘talk’ about everything from the time of day to politics to movies to the place others fall on the coolness scale. Someone like Emily is at the top of the scale, holding the title of Extreme and Mighty Empress of Cool while I’m at the bottom holding the title Lord Muck of the Uniformly UnCool. Everyone else at the Space Center falls in between).

Dave spoke first which drew my attention. (on another side note, those of you that think I not in tune to what’s happening while at my desk looking totally involved in a project are wrong. I’m capable of multitasking. Beware).

Dave to Christine. “Are you still here?”

I thought about his statement and started laughing internally. Was Dave blind? Was he not looking at Christine face to face when he said that? Think about it and you’ll see how silly his statement was. His question should have been:

Dave to Christine. “Why are you still here?”

Wouldn’t you agree? So why didn’t he say that? I believe the answer was in the emotion of the statement. “Are you still here?” is emotionally neutral. The statement “Why are you still here?” could be fraught with peril if spoken. It could be interpreted as “Gee, we thought you were gone. Shhhhezzzz get out of here already. What are you some kind of looser that has no life except work?”

OK. Back to the conversation.

Christine Replied to Dave.......... Are you ready for this one? “Yea, I haven’t left yet.”

Now I was laughing out loud. OF COURSE SHE HADN’T LEFT YET. SHE WAS STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF DAVE. HE COULD SEE SHE HADN’T LEFT. Perhaps she wanted to clarify the fact that Dave was actually seeing her and not some doppelganger or apparition.

You know troops, if you really stop and think about the things you and your friends say you’ll end laughing yourself.

Mr. Williamson