It's been so, so long since I last wrote. More than a year...good lord. Sometime last spring, in the middle of writing my Capstone and a couple months before presenting, I made a top ten list of what I would do with my free time when I was done. Re-posting it here would only be depressing, but suffice to say, I've only accomplished about two things on that list. I haven't written more. I haven't written any songs. I haven't played my guitar any more. Mostly my "free" time has been occupied by fretting about things over which I have little control, and playing games on Facebook. Oh, and I have exercised and lost some weight so I could participate in everything at Space Camp. What, you didn't hear? I was chosen to attend Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy in Huntsville, Alabama at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

A little over two weeks ago, the day after school let out, I boarded a plane in Portland and headed off to Dixie. Honeywell picked up the tab for my air fare, as well as nearly everything else, during this week. More about the great things Honeywell's employees do later on in this post, but for now I'll continue with the narrative.

Upon landing in Huntsville, I was struck by the variety of aerospace and military contractors represented on the kiosks at the airport. Boeing, Grumman, Honeywell, and many I hadn't heard of; all have a presence in Huntsville. The airport itself looked like Portland: neat, tidy, about the same size. Not a lot of direct flights.

We were instructed to find a person in a blue flight suit near baggage claim, who would collect us and get us on the bus to UA Huntsville. I was disappointed to find the flight suits had been foregone in favor of navy polo shirts. It must have been casual Friday there, too.

After gathering our luggage, about eight of us from flights coming in from Atlanta and Chicago--out of 85 total--got on a bus and headed to campus. My first reaction was that Huntsville looked a lot like Bangor. The dirt was red, and the plants were different, but surprisingly familiar. After a short while the rockets of the U.S.S.R.C. came into view, and what I came to recognize as a Saturn V later in the week, dominated the landscape. Near the Center, we got off the interstate and in a couple of short minutes we were on campus and being dropped off at the dorm.

After a short check-in procedure, and invitation to dinner at 5:30,  I was in my quad, meeting my quad-mate Tyler Johnstone from Sacramento, CA. I took a shower, moved in, and we went down to dinner. I found out Tyler is a teacher in a STEM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) program called "Project Lead the Way" . His students start out using Sketch-Up to design in 6th grade, but by 7th grade they are using high powered CAD programs. I vowed to find out more about PLTW. So the even cooler thing I found out about Tyler was that he got a grant from Disney some time back, and they asked to film his classroom. Occasionally the ad still airs on the Disney Channel, so now I have to (reluctantly) spend some time watching the Disney Channel in hopes of catching it. Phineas & Ferb it is. But EVEN MORE impressive: he's a private pilot. But STILL EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN THAT: as a result of being in California, and having some ties with Disney, he was asked to serve on a panel in Los Angeles about having more reliable science in the movies. Did anyone ever see "The Elegant Universe" with Brian Greene on PBS? Tyler was on this panel with Brian Greene. Have any of you ever seen "The Naked Gun"? or "AIRPLANE"? Jerry Zucker directed those movies. Tyler was on the panel with him, too. That was the panel, those three people. Tyler is pretty impressive...for a young guy...and, spoiler alert, he ended up earning the "Right Stuff" award during our week at camp, signifying the camper of the week. I felt kind of like Michael Scott, consoling himself as being the guy who was able to entertain Dwight Schrute: "Dwight gave a great speech. That's the word on the street, anyway. And I entertained Dwight to no end with my bar story, so I captivated the guy who captivated a thousand guys. Can you believe that? A thousand guys."

After dinner we found out there would be a bus running to Wal-Mart at 7. If you know nothing about teacher conferences, know this: teachers love to socialize. And sometimes socializing is facilitated by trips to Wal-Mart. I was relieved to find that Sam Adams has made it as far south as northern Alabama. By the time we were headed back I was already being referred to as "Sam" and "Variety Pack". I also picked up some almonds, cherries, and grapefruit. It wasn't me, but our trip also led to one broken bottle of wine on the sidewalk. It was kindly replaced at no charge by the store, on grounds of "faulty bottle". Point, Wal-Mart.

That night I was able to get in a short run, though the humidity, even after dark, was absolutely stifling. After a cold shower, I repaired to the t.v. lounge, where I met a few more people from Team Destiny as well as people from other teams. We decided to have a door decorating contest, but I think most people chickened out when they realized there were elementary teachers among us. We knew we had no chance. Tyler and I did, however, fashion a little something out of the Sam Adams Variety Pack box for our door. It looked classy. The final thing we decided was that whenever we heard the words "Team Destiny" that we would do jazz hands. It just seemed right. Quite late, another busload came in from the airport, bearing our third roommate, Tim from Washington (state). Later on would come Josh, from Minnesota, sometime after the rest of us had gone to sleep.

The next morning we boarded a bus at 7:30, and headed to the USSRC for breakfast and to start our day of Space Academy. Not long into the morning, we found out how strong fate can be. We filed into the auditorium to meet our crew trainers. Team Destiny (JAZZ HANDS!!!) met our crew trainer, Michael Kelley, who was a microphone guy (male cheerleader) for the Auburn University Tigers. Michael, whenever showing enthusiasm or excitement, gave spirit fingers. Not quite jazz hands, but pretty similar.

I'm going to have to end this entry here, and pick up later on. I promise not to take another year before my next post.