Typing Without My Glasses

Hello Troops,

Tonight our Space Center world resembles its familiar self.  The girls are in the gym, the boys are in the Voyager and I'm back at my desk.  It is nice not to be chaperoning in the gym. I'm OK to chaperon in the gym when I'm needed , but I get more sleep in front of my desk, and at this stage of the summer camp season, any extra REM sleep is a very good thing.

The title of this post gives away tonight's problem.  In my haste to get here on time, and not being careful and diligent in the preparation of my overnight kit, I've forgotten to pack a pair of glasses.  My neglectfulness was discovered right after removing my contact lenses for the night.  I could put my contacts back on, but I decided not to.  I can still see well enough if I squint and squinting will get me through the night - just like it is getting me through this post.

     

Close your eyes and picture me at my desk.  It is 11:57 P.M.  I'm leaning forward and squinting to see what I'm typing.  One unwelcome sneeze and my entire screen will look like a frosted window on a cold winter's morn.  

I'm always forgetting something.  Last camp i remembered my shampoo and towel but forgot a comb or brush.  Ever try to comb your hair with your fingers after a good shampoo?  It's like trying to play the violin with gloved hands.  

 Fortuna has blessed us with an unusually long string of luck.  Here is one example.  There was a 20 minute power outage this morning at 8:10 A.M. We weren't affected because our first missions were scheduled to arrive at 10:00 A.M. Had this power outage occurred Wednesday, we would have been in deep dodo.  Wednesday will be a camp day.  We hope that Luck will remain a constant travelling companion and chaos and bad fortune find there way to some other organization's camps.

Its time for bed.  I'm finding myself battling fatigue and nearsightedness with a strong astigmatism.  

Mr. W.  

      

Chinese First Manned Docking with Space Station

 

In foreground, Tiangong 1 station obscures the Shenzhou-9 Spacecraft. Credit CCTV.

The Chinese space program completed a major step in their efforts to rival the USA and USSR in space achievements this weekend. It began with the launch of a Long March 2f rocket from the Jiuquan Space Center in the Gansu Province. The Saturday launch in the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft immediately achieved another first for China, as the three-taikonaut crew carried the first Chinese woman to orbit.

Long March rocket roll-out to the pad. Credit: CCTV.

The Long March is carried to the pad by a large crawler, while the crowd gets a great close up view.

Credit: CCTV

Long March at gantry, as support scaffolding moves to embrace it. Chinese Shenzou spacecraft follow Russian Soyuz design, but launch facilities seem to follow Western concepts. Credit: CCTV

Blast off! Credit China Academy of Launch Technology.

After the liftoff on Saturday, the Shenzhou-9 carried the crew to rendezvous with the Tiangong-1 Orbital Module. Previously, an unmanned Shenzhou spacecraft had been remotely piloted to the station and ground controllers had practiced docking procedures. Now, early on Monday morning, the spacecraft docked with a crew of three: Commander Jing Haipeng opened the hatch a few hours later, and was followed inside by Liu Wang.

Inside the module. Hatch opens and Jing Haipeng, on his second spaceflight, waves to the camera. Credit: CCTV

Jing Haipeng approaches the camera while Liu Wang enters the hatch in background.

Admittedly, the interior of the module seems spartan and empty compared to the packed but roomy ISS modules or the often cluttered Russian space stations of the past. Of course the camera lens is allowing a wider view which makes it look a little wider than it actually is, but it still looks nice and orderly in there. Well, let's see how it looks as they get used to working in the module. Meanwhile, China's first woman in space, Liu Yang, remained in the Shenzhou-9 to monitor operations while the module base was established. Eventually she also made her way into the Tiangong-1.

Liu Yang in the cramped Shenzhou cabin. Now, THIS looks more like a Soyuz... Credit:CCTV

The Shenzhou-9 crew inside Tiangong-1, sending greetings to Earth.

Credit is given where credit is due, and the Chinese have certainly performed a great feat in their space efforts with this mission. The people of China must certainly be proud of their accomplishments, and all space buffs are happy to cheer them on and wish them a successful mission. One thing for certain. their TV transmissions were better than the ones that came from the Russian Mir station... ; )

By Mark Daymont

Space Center Educator

From his blog

Spacerubble.blogspot.com

This Last Week. Pictures, News, Stories and Bracken Duels with Fortuna

 Dweeb, A Friend to All

Hello Troops,
We've finished a busy second week of camps at the Space Education Center.  The week started with a one night overnight camp followed by our first Ultimate Camp of the summer season.

I believe we have the Dream Team of staff and volunteers working this summer.  They are all talented, dedicated and driven to provide the best experience possible for our campers.  They are so good there are times I feel unneeded.

Mrs. Clegg is in the cafeteria taking care of the food.  The only thing she needs me for is to offer a helping hand to unburden her minivan from the week's groceries and be there to give her the Space Center's credit card whenever she wants it.

Jennifer Remy and Lorraine Houston are running the classroom experience for the longer camps.  They have it completely under control.  I'm needed once a camp to unlock the storage room where they keep the large flask holding the liquid nitrogen.

Lorraine Houston and Metta Smith are in charge of chaperoning the girls.  I'm only needed to unlock the air handing closet so they can override the central control system to turn on the air conditioning in their section of the school during the overnight camps.

Jon Parker, Bracken Funk, Devin Sudwicks and Zac Hirschi chaperon the boys in the Voyager.  They have several years of chaperoning experience between them and only need me if one of the boys becomes a serious behavior problem.  Other than that, I chaperon the boys assigned to sleep in the gym.  Some camps have far more boys than the Voyager's sleeping quarters can accommodate.  I get the youngest boys - they are easily intimated by my penetrating teacher's look when they misbehave.  One stern warning from the stage (where the staff sleep) will quiet the boys down on the gym floor.

Jon, Bracken, Emily, Dave, Megan, Stacy, Zac and Nicole along with several other well trained flight directors run the ships.  They rarely need my assistance.  I am on hand to unlock doors.  I'm also the one who turns on the hallway music system for their landing parties.  Occasionally they disturb my meditations for a band aid.

Matt Long and Matt Ricks take care of the ship's computer needs.  I'm needed to authorize work and purchase replacement equipment when necessary.  To be honest, everything they talk about is Greek to me.   Their Technogeek is a different language to most of us.

Kyle Jones and Spencer Robinson do an excellent job maintaining the simulators.  They need me from time to time to tell them what project to do and when, other than that, they find me when they need the credit card.

So, what do I do?  I Supervise, pay bills, book missions,  do staffing schedules, register campers for camp,  transfer campers from camp to camp, book private missions, change private mission bookings, field dozens of phone calls daily, answer scores of emails daily, clean bathrooms and school hallways when needed, help Aleta from time to time in cleaning the cafeteria after meals, sooth a troubled camper's nerves, clean up vomit, repair pin holes in the airbeds, turn off the fire alarm when the staff trigger the school's fire alarm system by taking hot showers,  call the fire department and tell them not to send the fire trucks when the staff trigger the school's fire alarm system by taking hot showers, call Mt. Alarm and tell them to ignore the fire alarms when the staff trigger the school's fire alarm system by taking hot showers, monitor the staff and volunteers, work on development - both simulator and story, type the camper's Rank Advancement Certificates, act as the buffer between Space Center operations and the normal day to day operations of Central School, plead 'no contest' to every complaint the school principal and custodians throw our way, then work even harder to keep our operations from impacting the normal day to day running of the school, work to keep our camp's operations from becoming a distraction to the many students attending the school's summer school, work with the three cafeteria ladies in charge of the government's Summer Food Program to ensure our camp food program doesn't conflict or impact the government operation, walk the campers to Pleasant Grove's pool and chaperon while they swim, set up and run the video after swimming, clean up the mess left behind by the campers after video night, run to Walmart at least twice a day for emergency items forgotten in the normal weekly shopping, deal with emergencies like downed computers, injured campers, injured staff, downed sound systems, downed projectors, downed networks, complaints as they come in, refunds when needed,  and so on and so forth.

OK, I guess I'm still needed for a few of the small things.  Other than that, my staff and volunteers have my back on most things and thus - we have a smoothly running summer season.

My patience has been known to wear thin on the second and third days of the longer camps.  The staff and volunteers know not to bother me with small things late at night.  During the day - not a problem.  Yes a problem late at night.

Just last camp I was walking by the cafeteria and found the large plastic barriers built to separate the Galileo side of the school's cafeteria from the school side had been used as props.  Several of the frames were disconnected, one had collapsed to the floor.  I expressed my dissatisfaction to the Galileo's Set Director.  Stacy defended her flight director.
She explained that Erin was unaware of the rule I'd made about not using the barriers as props.  Our discussion got heated. Stacy went home.  Later I acknowledged my error.  I had neglected to tell Erin not to use the barriers as props.  The fault was mine.

I hate it when the staff are right and I'm wrong.  I really irks me.

And so, we move along.....

This is Tori.  Tori received her Odyssey Pin on Saturday from the Odyssey's new Set Director, Emily Paxman.  Emily tooks the reigns of the Odyssey after Christine Grosland, the simulator's former Set Director, left the world to serve an LDS mission to Japan.   This is Emily's first presentation as new Set Director.  She is very pleased with herself.  Tori is pleased with her accomplishment. 

This is Michaela.  Michaela received her Odyssey pin from none other than Emily Paxman on that same Saturday!  Emily is a very busy Set Director who demonstrated great skill and fortitude in the pinning of the pin to both girl's lanyards.  

This is Sam.  Sam is receiving her Galileo Pin from Erin.  Erin is the Galileo's newest flight director.
Congratulations Sam!

I suppose I should congratulate the young and newly experienced Erin on the occasion of her awarding her first Galileo pin.  Look at Erin's enthusiastic expression of disbelief that the honor of making this presentation went to her (Stacy was no where to be found).  Later that morning I cautioned Erin on the inappropriate use of facial exaggerations and excited emotion at the Space Center.  Erin promised to do better in adopting our stoic and more measured approach to staff and volunteer emotional discharges.  We know better than to waste precious emotional reserves on self promoting awards.  Instead, we reserve the bulk of our emotions for the campers during the missions.    

This is Annika.  I'm congratulating Annika.  Annika has been a dedicated volunteer for one year and was therefore awarded her silver one year pin.
  

This is Joseph.  I'm congratulating Joseph.  Joseph has been a dedicated volunteer for one year and was therefore awarded his silver one year pin.  Please notice the reserved smile and firm grip we are both displaying.  Let it be known that I always set the example of cautious reserve in the displaying of emotions.  I hold my full range of emotions in reserve to be used when appropriate (like the time  Jon set off a couple of real smoke bombs in the Voyager thinking that real smoke would be cooler than the fake smoke our smoke machines pump out on a daily basis).    

A Few Staff Pictures...
from Morgan's Facebook Photo Album.

Ben is a Galileo Flight Director.  He knows my rules concerning staff and volunteer lounging in the school's main entrance, yet he couldn't resist the call of several plush cushions from the faculty lounge (aka.. canteena).  Ben can fall asleep anywhere.  He's even been known to fall asleep in mid stride and walk into door frames.

Matt - The Borg made a visit to the Space Center to assimilate Daniel, Connor and Jorden.  The assimilation process was unsuccessful as shown in the photograph above.  Instead, Matt - The Borg made several guest appearances during the Voyager's new mission Much Ado About Horace.  Matt has resisted the call to return to the collective and relishes his new found celebrity.  He will be available for autographs after every three day EdVenture Camp.  Just look for him near the fish tank.

Morgan is one of our long distance volunteers hailing from Park City, Utah.  I'm concerned about Morgan.  There are times she asks to leave her assigned station.  This is what she looks like when she returns.  She has a fear of sunlight, preferring to work in the darkest simulators.  She insists on sleeping alone, in the Borg crypt used for the Phoenix mission "Dark Origins".  Morgan never looks you in the eye during a conversation.  Instead, her eyes lock onto your neck.  As I said earlier, I'm concerned about Morgan and why she asks to work Overnight Camps only.

Fortuna and Bracken Tango

Bracken tempted the Goddess Fortuna last week and it came back to bite him.  The Troubadour's regular readers know all too well that the Space Center and the Goddess of Fortune have a long standing love - hate relationship.  We do all we can not to draw her attention.  So far, this strategy has worked.  Fortuna has curtailed her monthly visits to the Space Center, preferring to spend time tormenting the depressed people of Greece and Spain instead.

All that came to an end last week when Bracken uttered this challenge to the Gods of Olympus.
"I challenge Fortuna to strike.  I spit in her eye.  I dare her to cause the fire alarm to sound.  Fortuna has no power over me. I curse the Gods of Olympus!"

Let me back up and fill you in on a few missing facts.  The Voyager's shower has a tendency to trigger the school's fire alarm if the shower is too hot.  The steam condenses on the heat register and the alarm rings.  We called for a repair and I banned all showers until the repair was complete.  Bracken convinced me that he could take a cold shower and not set off the alarm.  I reminded him that I didn't want to tempt Fate and denied his request.  He insisted.  I hesitated, then thought it wise not to tempt Fortuna and denied his request again.  That is when Bracken utter his fateful words.

The words were spoken and there was no way to bring them back.  What did I have to lose?  I gave permission.  Bracken took his cold shower.  The alarm didn't ring.  All was well, until Saturday morning.

The four day Ultimate Camp was coming to an end.  The campers were assembling in the gym to collect their new Rank Papers.

"My rank is wrong," one of the campers said.
"So is mine," another chimed in.
"Mine too," said a third.

It was a disaster.  Bracken had messed up everyone's rank certificate.  He had the wrong names and the wrong hours.  The camp was to end at 10:00 A.M.  It was 9:45 A.M. when the problem was discovered.  Fortuna had her revenge.  Bracken had a look of shock and disbelief on his face.  He knew my entire emotional reserve was bubbling to the surface.  He knew the explosion would be directed toward him.

To make a long story short, we resolved the problem and sent the campers on their way.  It took the combined effort of most of the staff and an additional 30 minutes of my time but all was well in the end.

"I'll never tempt Fortuna again," Bracken promised.
"I'm holding you to that," I answered.

Fortuna is not to be tempted.  She hears all and sees all.  Bracken learned a hard lesson on Saturday.  There were reasons the Greeks feared their Gods.

Now, we prepare for another week of camps.  I'll see you soon in the trenches.

Mr. Williamson