It's Friday. What a Happy Day.

Hello Troops,
Our first Friday back from the Christmas Holiday. Highland Elementary students will be attending our overnight camp. Tomorrow is the January Super Saturday. Fun and excitement all around. Let's get this weekend off to a great start.

By the way, when is the last time you attended a Space Center program? Perhaps its time to book a Super Saturday or private mission. Don't forget a summer camp. Summer camp registration begins in two weeks.

Are we ready for a few items from the Imaginarium......

Hogwart's Approved Game Consoles


I've always wondered about those Hufflepuff kids. What criteria does the sorting hat use to select a Hufflepuff? The mental picture I get of a Hufflepuff is someone soft and cuddly. I'm wondering if Mrs. Weasley was a Hufflepuff. Did we ever get to meet a Hufflepuff in the movies. Perhaps we didn't because they were the ones that never came out of the library....

Here's an idea of something creative to do the next time its snows. Surprise everyone on your block. Go out and turn all the parked cars into something from Cars. You'll be the talk of the town.


This next one cannot be true. They forgot something..... duct tape.
OK, this is for all of you out there that love the British sitcom "The IT Crowd". It is awesome and has Mr. Williamson's seal of approval (although it would be rated PG if it were a film so perhaps not for the youngest in the home. The Brits can be a bit 'off color' at times with their humor). Any more of you "IT Crowd" fans out there?


And from the "Why didn't I think of this when I built my house" Department... It is the ultimate 'get away' room.

And finally, The Pirate Crossword Puzzle.

OK Troops, you've had your fun. Time to strap on your gear and head into the trenches. There be ignorance to conquer in all it forms today.

Remember, use use your imagination or lose it. Do something creative today, even something as simple as driving a different way to work, or be really daring and instead of that Diet Coke, how about a Diet Dew! What about brushing your teeth with your opposite hand, or ordering something from your favorite fast food stop that you've not tried before. Think of the endless possibilities.

Have a Great Day and I hope to see you soon at the Space Center.

Mr. W.

It's Wednesday at the Imaginarium

Hello Troops,
We are well into the thick of it at the Space Center. It's day 3 since we all returned to school and work. The staff seems to have adjusted back into the cycle of get up, work, school, bed. The simulators are behaving as expected except for a few glitches. The Galileo put me in a foul mood yesterday. Foul moods dampen my usual cheery disposition. The amp didn't come on so the ship had no sound. Perfect timing too, the field trip was ready to fly A Diet Coke Zero brought me out of it (whoops, the secret's out. The way to pull Mr. W. happy out of a foul mood is a Diet Coke Zero served at exactly 33 degrees. A box of Whoppers has been know to help as well).

We've enjoyed telling Midnight Rescue for the past couple days. It makes a nice change from endless tellings of Perikoi. It's the variety that makes it survivable.

By the way, the summer camp schedule is almost ready to be posted, I worked on it yesterday. Be sure to sign up for summer camp.

OK, how about a few items from the Imaginarium to get your Wednesday off to a good start. I've got a few examples for you today.

We start with this...

Yep, I admire the attitude displayed in this picture.

Everyone wears this "I'm completely normal and I'm cool," front so they can better fit in with the crowd they want to hang with. That is normal. We all want to be part of a tribe, but what are you like when there isn't a soul around to impress? Yes, yes..... The sign is right isn't it? You've got your weird ways like everyone else. Just to let you in on a secret; its that peppering of weird that makes you, YOU. It's what the people that know you best, like about you. So, let the real you out once in awhile for an airing. It will do your soul good.

By the way, are you as sick of winter as this snowman? I was fed up with winter last Tuesday. I drove to Harts to pick up my morning Diet Dew and Snack Wells. I found my car door's lock frozen when I returned to my car. The automatic unlock button stopped working a year ago so I was stuck. I wasn't wearing a coat which made matters worse. A jacket wasn't very effective in the 15 degree weather. Five minutes of shivering and working the lock finally opened the door. I was in a foul mood. Winter is officially scratched off my favorite seasons list.

And finally, something from Lego that shows real imagination.

Have a good day and I'll see you at the Space Center. Make it sooner rather than later.

Mr. W.

P.S. Cloverdale's Bookmobile is coming to your street. Click here to look at the new titles.

http://ourcloverdale.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-donations-to-cloverdale-village.html

Procrastinators of the World, Unite!

Hello Troops,
I'm sitting at home shell shocked and attempting to come to terms with he fact that this is my last day of leave before I pick up my kit and splosh through the slush and muck, across field and forest, to rejoin my comrades in the trenches. Ignorance is once again to be engaged. Our holiday truce is concluded. One more good meal tonight, then its a steady diet of rations; warm beans (if we can make a fire) perhaps flavored with a bit of pork rind. The brown water the cook calls coffee will wash it down.

I had great expectations for this Christmas vacation. There was a list of things I'd hoped to accomplish but didn't. There's a little angel sitting on my right shoulder right now, chastising me for my laziness. There's a little devil sitting on my left shoulder congratulating me for slacking off. My current headache is the result of their quarrel.
"That list will have to be done. You've just procrastinated," the angel is saying to me.
"There's always tomorrow," the devil just countered.

Sometimes you just need to just stop on life's busy highway and vegetate. Sometimes you need to grab a hot cup of whatever and just stare. I've been known to stare out the window or at a point on the wall or at people I don't even know or at that box in the living room (whether its on or off). I let my brain drift to find its own course, taking me along for the ride. Of course this kind of mental adventuring requires a great deal of sustenance. Frequent trips to the kitchen provide the fuel and Christmas time is always the best time to find the most delicious mental fuel laying about.

I noticed my belt has shrunk over the past two weeks. Cheap leather is the only explanation. I'll have to either purchase a new belt or make fewer trips to the kitchen. Hummmmmm, I hate tough choices.

Space Center News:

• The Galileo is about to get a new set of simulator controls. Our Programming Guild has been working for months creating ship controls in Cocoa (Apple's language for the iPad and iPhone).
• The Magellan has a couple new large signs to dress up its blank white walls. We hope to have more made.
• The Phoenix's Control Room was reorganized. The Phoenix staff have more counter space now.
• I took a few minutes yesterday and started up the Voyager. The Voyager has a personality of its own and if its neglected too long (like the past two weeks we've been closed) it acts up and throws a bit of a temper tantrum (meaning something won't work, either a computer or sound mixer or monitor). I spoke nicely to the ship before I started anything. I turned on the lights, went up to the bridge and explained why we've been gone for so long. I told her that she was never forgotten during our absence and how excited we all were to come back. With fingers crossed I started to turn everything on. I'm happy to report that the Voyager responded well to my soliloquy. Everything ran perfectly. Fingers crossed I get the same results tomorrow.

OK, how about a G Rated Sunday chuckle? Of course you won't get it if you don't know your basic physics. By the way, this is Sheldon from "The Big Bang". It's a better than your average run of the mill comedy.


Have a Great Sunday and I'll See Many of You in the Trenches This Week.

Mr. W.

P.S.
Read about the strange Implosion in Cloverdale, but keep it hush hush. Something just released on the notorious CloverLeaks.

http://ourcloverdale.blogspot.com/2011/01/cloverleaks-brings-you-truth-about.html