The Troubadour

Sunday, January 27, 2013

America's Secret Weapon is Failing Us. It's Time for You to Step Up to the Plate. The Imaginarium.

Now that is what I call studying.

We should see this in all our schools and universities.

Hello Troops,
America has relied on a secret weapon far too long to maintain our position as world leader in science and technology.   Changes are necessary in both our educational system and in the mind set of our students if we are to maintain our super power status in the world. America needs its youth to realize the dangers ahead if action isn't taken now. The choices are clear. Maintain the status quo and witness the decline of the American Empire, or change our way of thinking and educating to guarantee the best is yet to come.

Its time to make a decision regarding your education Decide to take the hard classes. Decide to get good grades. Get use to the fact that school is hard. Griping and complaining is a waste of your time and energy. It gets you nowhere.

"Mr. Williamson, I didn't have time to get my homework done. You can't believe how busy I am after school."

I hear this excuse for not getting assignments in on time from a few of my very able, very capable students; thank goodness it is only a few. The majority of my very able, very capable students work hard to get their work in on time and done well.   I don't worry about them. The students I worry about are the ones with great intellectual talent MINUS an inner motivation to succeed. This student is a teacher and parent's greatest challenge. Some of them pull out of their educational free fall while others don't. The ones who don't represent a tremendous loss of human potential. It is a national tragedy.

Your successes in school pave the road to success later in life. I urge you to imagine where you want to be in ten or twenty years. Believe in those dreams and trust the fact that you have what it takes to get there. Get the education required. This is where the formula gets difficult. This educational component is the part of the success formula where kids start to give up. Don't let that happen to you.

Getting it done it is the final step to success. Don't forget failing is part of 'getting it done'. Who hasn't succeeded without their fair share of failures. We learn from our mistakes.

Your family, friends and teachers are cheering you on.
Now, go take on the world.

Mr. Williamson

The Imaginarium
Success always begins with imagination. Remember to always make the ordinary, extraordinary.

Valentine's Day is three weeks away.

Time to start thinking about that person you'd like to like but afraid to make your

true intentions known.

Perhaps this imaginative Valentine's Day card will help :)

Not the best way to sell books but you've got to hand it to them for cleverness.

More of Those Things that Drive You Nuts!

Manipulating Photographs didn't Start with Photoshop

Awesome Street Art.

Imagination: A

Imagination involves finding commonality between two things which are seemingly unrelated

Become a master of the art.

Mario and Peach,

The Later Years.

Whoops, that sticker really changed the character of the book.

Is this how business really works?

I love Mark Twain

Who said cigarettes kill?

She's 48 and Still Doing Fine.

Anyone else dying of curiosity?

This store has its customers guessing.

Chinese car. German bicycle.

Refer to the video above.

Astronaut Food has Changed Over the Years.

A good adage for those wanting to change an existing system.

You'll have your work cut out for you and it won't be easy.

I'm thinking this book was written about you.

Now you don't see this everyday.

Creativity: A

Enjoying life to the fullest knowing every day could be your last.

Learn this before you get too old.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Pictures from the Space Center's Past. The Imaginarium.

Hello Troops,
Thank you for taking time from your busy day to gather here in The Troubadour with other Space Center fans for your daily imagination workout. Tonight I've got a few pictures from the Space Center's Golden Age to share with you; so pull up a digital chair, gather around our digital fire and let's share some wonderful memories.

The end of camp staff line up. How many of them do you recognize?

Anyone who has ever been on a Space Center Overnight Camp should recognize what's happening in the picture above.

It is Saturday morning, 9:52 A.M. The overnight camp ends at 10:00 A.M. The campers are sitting on the stage's risers with their end of camp survey form and pen. At the bottom of the survey is the "A Pat on the Back for the Volunteers" section. It is time for the campers to tell me who they want to recognize for a job well done.

My speech went something like this....

"Troops, You'll remember when the camp started last night, I told you that most of the people who work at the Space Center are volunteers. Now its your turn to do something nice for them. Look at the bottom of your survey. Notice the section that says "A Pat on the Back for the Volunteers". You tell me who you thought did a great job and I'll give them a portion of the money you paid to come to camp as a tip. You've already paid the money, now tell me who gets it.

Notice there is a first, second and third place line. Your first place person will get more money than your second place person, and your second place person will get more money than your third place person. You can split your tip up between three people OR you can give your whole tip to just one person by leaving the second and third places blank."

At this point in my speech a dozen or so hands always popped up (those were the polite campers). I didn't call on them because I knew if I waited a fraction of a second longer, the one camper who never followed the 'raise your hand to speak' rule would shout out the what everyone else was thinking.

"Mr. Williamson, I don't remember any of their names."

"That's why they are all standing out in the hall. I'm going to bring them in and tell you their names."

I'd walk over to the gym door, open it, turn around and walk back towards the campers. The staff followed behind.

"Here they are Troops, the people who made your lives miserable."

The staff lined up just like you see in the picture above. The staff stepped forward when their names were called and told the campers which ship they were in and the part they played.

The staff line up ended every camp for nearly 22 years.

This is Adam Hall running an Odyssey mission. Adam started at the Space Center as a volunteer and rose through the ranks to became a Flight Director. Did he fly any of your missions?

Adam is currently serving an LDS mission. We hope he comes back to the Space Center when he returns.

Noticing the young volunteer on the left worshiping the arrival of the Saturday morning WalMart doughnuts.

Mr. Daymont is the man with the doughnuts. Mr. Daymont was a Magellan Flight Director. He worked two of the four overnight camps we held each month. Mr. Daymont got up extra early on his Saturday mornings to pick up the doughnuts for the everyone's breakfast. I did the doughnut run on the Saturday's Mr. Daymont had off.

It's 6:50 A.M. Mr. Daymont is arriving with the doughnuts. The staff have been up for 15 minutes. They've been patiently waiting in the Discovery Room for him to arrive.

No one touches the doughnuts until I set out napkins, open the box and say, "OK Troops, come on up for your vitamin rings."

The staff were allowed ONE doughnut. The campers had to finish their breakfast before they could have more.

Ah, wonderful memories......

We want to thank all of you who attended one of the Space Center's Overnight Camps. It was our pleasure to serve you.

Mr. Williamson

Community Bulletin Board

Mr. Williamson,

I was wondering if you could advertise my Eagle Project on the blog.

"Hi! My name is Nathan, and I'm working on my Eagle Project. For my project, I'm going to be sewing weighted blankets for Kids on the Move, a nonprofit organization helping children who are developmentally delayed or disabled. These weighted blankets feel like a hug---literally. You can throw them in the dryer to heat them up, or cool them down however you'd like. My Eagle Project is going to be from 9-3 on February 9th at the LDS meetinghouse at 325 N. Canal Drive in Lindon. You can come for any length of time and all help will be appreciated. Thank you so much!"

Thanks,

The Imaginarium
Remember to make the ordinary, extraordinary.