A New Week and the End of Spring Break.

Hello Troops,
Its over. There is a depression hanging over Happy Valley. Thousands of students and teachers realize Spring Vacation is over. This time tomorrow we will all be back in school. The sooner we grasp that fact the sooner we move on. I’m moving on. There is too much to do as we prepare for the summer season and you have too much to do to get through this school year with high grades which leads to happy parents which leads to a happier life for everyone concerned.

The Last Hurrah!
Saturday I had to make a stop at WalMart for a few things. On the way back, I didn’t handle two stop signs very well. I have a tendency not to come to complete stop (as in 0 miles per hours and your wheels aren’t turning at all) at stop signs unless there is traffic. In other words if I’m the only car within sight I come to almost a complete stop, look, and proceed forward. There are times I don’t stop right on the painted line at the stop sign as well.

I made a couple of those near stops coming home from WalMart. Wouldn’t you know one of Pleasant Grove’s finest happened to be sitting there watching. I turned on Center Street to check the school when I saw the lights flashing. I pulled over in front of the Baptist Church next to Central.
There isn’t much that embarrasses me but getting pulled over is one of them. Add to that is where it happened - right on Center Street, across from the school. Everyone knows the Battlestar and everyone in those neighborhoods that have, or every have had, students at Central know me. Are you getting the picture? Car after car passed. Everyone in the car straining to see Mr. Williamson being interrogated by the police. Of course they keep you there for what seems like eternity - giving everyone in the community time to call their neighbors and family, set up lawn chairs and watch. You’d think I was getting busted for drugs. People were at their windows.......... yea, you get the picture.

The policeman was very professional. I was given a mini lecture on the correct procedures for stopping at a stop sign. A warning was issued and he let me go. I was overwhelmed by the urge to speed away but knew that wouldn’t be wise. I wonder how many people are going to ask me what that was all about on Monday. So, I'm telling everyone now, it wasn’t a drug bust, I wasn’t speeding, I didn’t even run a stop sign. I failed to come to a complete stop. There, you have my confession. No ticket issued but a huge serving of embarrassment was plopped on my plate. You should see me drive now. My driving matches the kind of car I drive. I drive a Lincoln - an old fart’s car and starting today I drive just like an old fart. I come to a complete stop - on the white painted line. I’m not going to get pulled over again in Pleasant Grove. If its going to happen let it happen in American Fork.

OK, that's all I have to report. More news and updates as the week progresses.

Thank you to the staff and volunteers that came in every day during Spring Break to work on the simulators and missions. I appreciate your time and dedication.


Mr. Williamson

To See the End of the World

From birth to death
we live in a box.
Vision is limited to the space around us.
We see dark and nothing else.
Yet there is something we feel beyond.
We can’t see it. Our human senses are limited.
But we know it is there, waiting to be understood.

Boundaries and fences are part of natural life
Yet they cannot be used to define us.
By nature we seek to break down the boundaries.
Our humanity leads the charge to
breech the barriers and peer into the unknown
without surrendering to danger.

One day humans will proclaim, "All is known".
And when that day
comes in the far away of time,
another boundary will be found.
Another dark impenetrable wall,
and the eternal quest begins anew.

Friday. Spring Break is Coming to a Close!

Its Friday of Spring Break. We were at work before you pulled yourself out of bed. “What were we doing?” you should have asked, but since you didn’ t, I asked the question for you.

The Ghost
Nothing to report. We did a complete ectoplasmic search of the school. We got a reading in the school’s basement. It turned out to be a florescent painting of a monster. In the 1980’s the school’s basement was used as a Halloween spook ally. That false reading gave me a start. The professional Ghostbusters didn’t blink an eye. A bit of fluorescent paint is nothing compared to seeing a swarm of ghosts take a cow out of a field and disembowel it before your eyes. They tell me that ghost’s retain their personalities after death. I was told to be happy our mischief maker was either new at the game or a librarian before death.

They left the school after setting a few traps resembling baby food jars with electrodes protruding from what appeared to be a lime jello base. We have been EUC free for a few days now so our problem may be solved. Time will tell.



The Galileo
The Galileo team is working on simulator repair. The Galileo is tenderly cared for by Set Director Stacy Carroll and her team of Flight Directors: Rachel H., Taylor T., and Ben M.

The Galileo was spit polished on Thursday. The team suffered from mild dehydration afterwards. A few gallons of sparkling and refreshing elementary school water did the trick. They are good as new. Painting followed the spit polish. Stacy cleaned the air conditioning ducts. The Galileo is ready for school’s start on Monday.

The Phoenix
Megan Warner is the Phoenix’s Set Director. She is painting today. The Phoenix’s trim is getting a new coat of silver. I’m smelling the fumes from my desk. I wondering if my reasoning is affected. Paint fumes are known to kill brain cells so elephant to the tramp for silk tub and drain. There was were and I said apple and for lunch!

The Odyssey
Emily is working feverishly on the Odyssey’s new summer story. We talked for thirty minutes and came to the conclusion that the Voyager mission “Lewis and Clark” would work well for her ship. We may make a mid course change. We will discuss this further once they return from Home Depot.

Spencer R. and Kyle Herring are wrapping up the Odyssey refit. Today is clean up and light installation. The Odyssey will be ready for the Monday crowd.

A Friday Off?
I have meetings later today and should be free in time to spend a Friday night away from the Space Center. Imagine that, Mr. Williamson getting a Friday night off! I won’t know what to do with myself. I’m thinking of a movie but understand movie theaters are more crowded than they were the last time I went to a Friday night movie in 1990.
Maybe I’ll rent a video or go out to eat or ......... I’m lost. What should I do on a Friday night? I’m like a fish out of water. I’ll do more research on the topic and should have a decision by Saturday afternoon.

All the Best,
Mr. Williamson