A Week's Worth of Thoughts and Sanitized Sabbath Humor.

Hello Troops,
A few comments for a Sunday and then I'll shut the computer down and unplug from the matrix.

We had a good week at the Center. Of course, working with the finest students in Utah both as volunteers / staff and as attendees is what makes it a joy to come to work every day. Here are a few news worthy items:

1. The Center's programmers, led by Guild Master Matt Long, known to us at the Center as The Ever Fearless Master of Computations, spent a few hours last night after we all went home from the Overnight Camp installing and testing the new Cocoa controls for the Galileo. We hope to have the new controls running for our patrons in January.
2. I instructed the Programmers to investigate the use of IPad's to replace the Voyager's Bridge computers. The Voyager is due for a computer upgrade at the end of this school year and I seem to be feeling a yearning for IPads instead of the Mac Mini's we were planning to use. Call it a hunch, but I'm thinking the coolness factor of the Voyager would skyrocket with new chairs with IPads installed in the armrests. What do you think?
3. Congratulations to Dave Daymont for taking the trophy for Best Overnight Mission. The weekly award goes to the ship and Flight Director that receives the highest evaluations from the campers as written in their post camp surveys.
4. Emily Paxman was awarded the Plural Person of the Week Award at the Post Overnight Camp Meeting on Saturday. This highly coveted award goes to the person or persons classified as 'Plural' by our campers in their post camp surveys. One camper wrote of Emily, "Emily gets my first place vote. They were fantastic!". Emily, Emily and Emily all voiced appreciation for this young camper's nomination. They were proud to accept the honor.

The Quote of the Week

Our quote of the week goes to Alex Anderson, Set Director of the Phoenix.

Alex: "Mason, you almost got your Phoenix 2nd Chair Pass. There was one thing you didn't do that you need to do to get a pass.
Mason: "What?"
Alex: "This is going to sound a bit strange but I'll say it anyway and then explain."

This conversation was so interesting I stopped what I was doing at my desk to listen in.

Alex: "You didn't read my mind and do what I wanted you to do during the mission."

Yes my friends, we expect everyone that volunteers at the Space Center to have super human powers. Secretly, we are hoping to attract only Jedi Knights but they are very few and have full agenda's, leaving very little time for volunteering at the Space Center.

In Alex's defense, he did elaborate and explain what he meant, and in a way, it all made some sense. But regardless, Alex gave us the quote of the week. Thanks Alex.

A Few Sunday Sanitized Chuckles


This picture is for all our volunteers and staff that recently took the ACT test this weekend. Its another one of those hoops one must jump through to move ahead in life. Call me old fashioned, but requiring students to demonstrate they actually learned something in school is a good thing.
I'm hoping you are all over the horror of the event and are recuperating well. Here's hoping all of you score well enough to get you where you want to go after high school. Warning, anyone found scoring below a 10 will be fired immediately. My worry isn't over your grades. My worry is your ability to walk, think and breath at the same time - all required to work at the Space Center.


OK, how cool is this? A sunset on Mars as the human eye would see it. Imagine an entire planet without one living thing on its surface to enjoy it. It's like Mars is challenging us to travel the ocean of space between us and conquer its harsh environment. Anyone out there think we are up to the challenge?

The good guys or the bad guys? Hmmmmm.......

And finally, I'd like to purchase several of these posters to put up and down the hallways of Central School. They will match that part of my Bridge Speech where I tell the children "You are always on camera. Big Brother IS watching you!"

Are we ready to get back into the trenches? Another week is starting and Ignorance is preparing another offensive.

Mr. Williamson

Ever Vigilant. Ever Ready!

I'm not sleeping. This unflattering photograph shows me mentally working on an equation to help Steven Hawking estimate the rate of a black hole's evaporation. I'm proud to say that I am one of the few math teachers that can do math in my head. I close my eyes to shut out unwanted distractions (as seen above). I always knew my pre-algebra would come in handy.

Hello Troops,
Ever Vigilant, Ever Ready. The True Soldier at his post at 12:16 A.M. There isn't a thing that gets by me when I'm on duty at Camp.

The younglings are in bed. One of Mrs. Houston's charges is sitting on the bench in the lobby waiting to go home. She's had enough. The trauma of sleeping away from home is too much. As you see, I've grown quite accustomed to it. Now do not be mistaken. I'm not really sleeping. I'm on duty. Ever Vigilant, Ever Ready is my creed.

OK, problem solved. Email to England sent and I wish all a Goodnight,
Mr. W.

It's Friday! Time for an Encounter of the Third Kind with the WalMartians.

Hello Troops,
It's nearly 6:30 A.M. and time to get ready for my weekly field trip to Wallyworld (Walmart) to spend the Space Center's hard earned money on edibles and consumables for tonight's Overnight Camp.

The Walmartians know me well after years of shopping every Friday morning. We have our own body language. For example, I walk up to the bakery counter and clear my throat. They see me. I wave. They wave back. I nod. They nod back. I blink 7 times, walk 6 circles around my cart and tap my head 15 times. They mirror my signals showing me they understand. I turn away from the bakery with a thumbs up and proceed to the bananas knowing my bakery friends know I'll required 7 dozen donuts at 6:15 A.M. Saturday morning.

Another example of how the WalMartians and I understand each other is when I get to the cashier for check out. I smile. She smiles back. I touch the side of my nose. She taps her forehead with her left index finger while using her right index finger to enter the school district's tax exempt number into the register. You see, its all done without one spoken word. The Walmartians know me and I know them and their peculiar ways.

How about a chuckle or two from the Children's Section of the Imaginarium Public Library.

"Once upon a time on a planet far away there lived a simple bounty hunter doing the best he could to scratch out a simple existence for himself and his clones....."

"No matter how many times he tried, Capt. Kirk could never master the Vulcan greeting, until one day on the rocky planet of Gilgone. There, while stranded after a failed expedition......"

"Apollo Bear and Starbuck Bear listened while Adama Bear explained the danger they were facing from their Cylon bear creations. Starbuck Bear chewed on her cigar while doing all she could to keep from exploding in anger over the loss of her planet and her favorite honey tree."

"Rabbit Paul Atreides stood in the silence of Arrakis' night. The shifting sand beneath his paws was the first indication a sandworm was present. He took several steps back and waited...."

Later I'll be wishing you all a good night from my desk at the Center after we put 45 kids down for the night.

Have a Good Day,

Mr. W.