Rough Seas Ahead

Hello Troops,
This is day two of two busy days at the Space Center. Double field trips yesterday and today mean four classes will keep us engaged until 6:00 P.M. Private missions start after the last school bus leaves. Some of us will emerge from the this grueling herculean task unscathed. Others, chained to their stations until the last bus disappears into the dark of night, will leave the Center bruised, unwashed, dishevelled and smelling heavily of human child and musty Voyager uniforms.

Our school's principal spent time and effort scrubbing the school's faculty room for today's principal's meeting with the Alpine School District's Superintendent. She left this note on the Space Center's white board: "NO ONE GOES INTO THE FACULTY ROOM FOR ANY REASON. I CLEANED IT FOR A MEETING". Knowing I suffer from selective memory syndrome, she told the night custodian to find me after my last mission and tell me not to let anyone use the faculty room.

Thirty minutes later....... The bus driver for the 2:00 P.M. field trip walked into the office.
"Do you have a microwave. I'm starving."

It was 5:30 P.M. She had another thirty minutes to wait before our field trip ended, then a 45 minute drive taking the students back to their school in Salt Lake City. The microwave was in the faculty room. I hesitated, remembering the principal's note on the white board behind me.

"Sure," I replied. I wasn't going to say no. How could using the microwave mess up the faculty room?

She didn't cook a Lean Cuisine or a Hot Pocket. She burned a bag of popcorn! The faculty room stunk to high heaven of burned popcorn. The school's hallways smelled of burned popcorn. We went into disaster clean up mode. I set up fans and left instructions for our night custodian to wash the tables and walls with the strongest disinfectant legally sold.

Now I get to return to school and smell the results. My fingers are crossed. If that smell isn't gone I'll be in deep trouble. Yes, even Mr. Williamson has a boss and I think I'm in for it today. I'll be cleaning toilets and raking leaves for the next two weeks.

Perhaps its time for a few things from the Imaginarium:

The Berlin Subway? If not, it should be.

Who says you can't improve on an existing design. The Rocking Chair reinvented.




Live Live Differently.


I know the feeling. We deal with small humans daily.

Again, Imagination and perfection in design.

The Space Center Twenty One Years Ago.

Hello Troops,
Last week marked the 21st birthday of our Space Education Center. To commemorate the event I'm posting pictures taken a week before the Space Center opened on November 8, 1990.

We start with the Space Center's Office, also known to us old timers as its original name "The Briefing Room".


This is looking toward the front of the room. Principal Stan Harward is standing in the room's doorway. On the right are the original classroom coat hangers and cubbies for student's belongings (the Phoenix sits there today). The cubbies were removed a few years later and staff bunks were built in their place. The big screen TV is roughly where the Phoenix's main viewer sits today. You can see the white board, still on the wall in its exact same place after 21 years. The tables and chairs are used today in Discovery. The Briefing Room was first used for the classroom session of the field trip.


The Staff Board was at the front of the Briefing Room. We had nine volunteers when the Center opened in 1990. I was the only person on the payroll. The first picture is of Jeff Schoonover. Today Jeff is the principal of Provo High School. His children attend Central School. Kyle Sanderson's pictures comes next. He is a math teacher and Asst. Football Coach at Pleasant Grove High. Jake Mattson is next. He lives in Las Vegas with his wife and four children. Burke Craghead is next followed by Tony Grover. Tony is a lawyer in Salt Lake City with two children. I can't make out or remember who the person is at the end.



Recognize the sink? Its not there anymore. How about the drawers? Yep, this is the where the Odyssey's Control Room sits today. The Gift Shop used to sit right here.

The Briefing Room looking toward the Voyager's entrance.


The back of the Briefing Room before the Odyssey. My desk is next to the filing cabinets. The mural was done on butcher paper by our Young Astronaut Club. To the far left you'll see the doorway to the library, today's home of you know who! Notice my less than comfy desk chair.



This was the bulletin board behind my desk at the back of the room. That bulletin board covered the hole in the wall that today leads to the Odyssey's Engineering Section.

And now, we move on into the Voyager Mission Simulator (as it was called then).


The short doorway was still a hazard as it is today. Notice there is no Captain's Loft. That was added a few years later.


Now a turn into the unfinished Voyager Control Room.


Then down to the Crew Quarters. Same red counter top


And up the spiral staircase to the Voyager's Bridge. This is the original furniture. We opened without raised platforms for the Captain's, Security and Record's stations. They were added only after I discovered the students sitting at those positions couldn't see the Tactical Screen. The box in the picture sits where today's Engineering Station is located. The box was the home of the original Robotic Arm (an idea I tried to import from the Challenger Centers).

In this photograph you see the Captain's desk in the distance. In the foreground right is Security. Foreground left is Records. You'll also easily find the left and right wings.

This is the front of the Bridge before the main viewer and TV were installed. The original two emblems of the Space Center are still there today, hidden by the two large black and gold Federation Emblems.


We descend down from the Bridge looking back at the Security Station.


And finally a right turn will take us back to the Briefing Room.

A Few Items of Space Center News and Commentary.

Before we get started with today's post, I'd like to draw your attention to a gift left on my desk Friday morning from my union. My life at a glance!

Hello Troops,

Yesterday's warmth is making a speedy easterly exit up and over the mountains, leaving us venerable to the whims of an approaching cold front. I'm glad I wore my jacket as I made the outside rounds checking for unlocked doors.

Earlier Friday evening our conscientious neighbors fouled the air with backyard leaf burning Druid ritual fires. Their chanting doesn't bother us, nor their peculiar robes. What is bothersome is the smoke from their fires, drawn into the school through our air conditioner's air handlers. I'm seriously tempted to call in the Christian Brothers to squash the heretics.

The school's air conditioners stop compressing air to conserve electricity when the outside temperature drops below 54 degrees. Dampeners automatically open, drawing cold outside air into the school for cooling. We breath our neighborhood's sooty mixture all day. There is no escape. I'm consistently asked if I just returned from a camping trip when people smell my clothes. I understand the logic behind this cooling system, but cooling by bringing in outside air is a poor system for places like Pleasant Grove where half our homes are heated by buffalo chips and high sulfur coal.

We had a few reasons to shake hands and celebrate over the past few weeks.

I'm shaking Nathan's hand and congratulating him for receiving his One Year Pin. Nathan was unaware of significance of the Honor, hence the look of confusion.
"You've been with us one year!" I explained.
"Have I?" Nathan queried.
"You have," I answered.
"Have I?"
"Yes, you have."
"Have I really?"
"Nathan, you've been here one year so stand still so I can pin this on."
"What is it?"
"Its your Year Pin."
"Is it?"
"Yes it is."
"Oh is it?"
"Yes Nathan. IT is!"

Good Grief.


I'm shaking Christine Grosland's hand after successfully pinning a 5 Year Pin on her collar.

"Any words of wisdom you'd like to share with everyone?" I asked. Christine looked confused. Then a calmness overcame her as she pulled something from the very essence of her consciousness.

"Do not touch the sides of the door because you might be electrocuted. And, ah.... we're out of left thumbs in our box of spare parts. I think we have plenty of right thumbs........"

"You're good Christine. Sit down."


This is me pinning Rachel's 5 Year Service Pin onto her collar. We were both so overcome with emotion that a bit of something unpleasant escaped. Such things are a common occurrence for me whenever I climb stairs or stand up quickly. I attribute it to my advanced age.

It is difficult to identify the culprit. Of course I was blamed, but now that I examine the picture I'm starting to wonder. Let's just say it was the shortest pinning in Space Center history.
(Sorry Rachel, the pictures was just too good. Rachel is an awesome sport. I hope..)


This is Stacy receiving her 10 Year Service Pin. People tell me I have an electric personality. I've never believed them, until now. I think it was the combination of a thunder storm, my hand in contact with a metal pin in close proximity to Stacy's collar bone and a sudden lightening strike that generated the voltage.

Stacy has nearly recovered. She still slurs a few words, but other than that, she's 80% of her former self.


I'm offering my hand to Megan after awarding her 10 Year Service Pin. My gesture was immediately refused.

"How long have you owned that hand?" she asked.

"53 years," I answered.

"Have you sanitized recently?"

"It's been an hour or so."

"OH THE HUMANITY!" Jorden shouted from the back of the room where he stood with his back firmly planted against the wall. Everyone at the Space Center gives Jorden a wide berth, knowing his fear of germs and viruses. Jorden unzipped his black fanny pack and pulled out his face mask and hand sanitizer. In seconds he successfully removed his can of Lysol spray from a custom made holster and sterilized the air around him.

Megan smiled, waved me off, took a bow and returned to her seat.



Megan and Stacy wanted a picture together celebrating 10 Years at the Space Center.


Megan and Stacy started at the Space Center when they were very young. They loved playing aliens and perfected the 'alien face' our volunteers still use to this day.



This is Dave Daymont shaking Nathan's hand. Nathan recently completed his Phoenix passes.
"Did I?" Nathan asked.
"Yes you did." Dave responded.
"Did I really?"
"Yes, Nathan. You really got your Phoenix pin?"
"Oh did I?"
"You did."
"When did I do that?"
"Today, during the camp."
"Did I?"
"Yes you did."
"Did I really."


This is Dave Daymont shaking Nicole's hand. Nicole was awarded a Phoenix Pin. Nicole has the strongest grip of anyone working at the Space Center, and only releases after the first bone breaks.

Dave knew her award day was coming. In anticipation of the event, Dave spent the last few evenings studying the proper technique for administering the Vulcan Death Grip. He planed on administering the shoulder pinch right before the pain from her grip became unbearable. This picture was taken just before Nicole bore down. Dave applied the grip. Nicole loosened the tourniquet. The stand off lasted more than five minutes before I called it a draw.


This is Devin congratulating Logan for earning his Odyssey Pin. That is not a look of joy in Logan's eyes.
Devin is standing right next to him.
Devin looks a bit off center, if you know what I mean.
Devin has his hand on Logan's lanyard. The lanyard hangs around Logan's neck.
Devin chases loose chickens around Alpine.
Enough said.


Finally, I'm giving Jack his year pin. Jack is afraid of pins and needles. I believe it stems from a horrible accident involving a pet cat and a pair of knitting needles.

I successfully attached his pin to his lanyard only after taking him through a series of breathing exercises. Just before I reached for his lanyard I ordered him to shut his eyes. This picture was snapped shortly before he passed out.