Let There be Light

One of the things I hate most about an older home is how dark they are.  I guess people in the 50's didn't really like overhead lighting.  Several of the rooms in my house are under lit and the living room is just plain dark.  For the past few years I've been planning to put in recessed lighting in our main room - it just never seemed to happen for whatever reason.  That all ended last weekend.

I borrowed some tools, chalked the ceiling, squeezed into the attic - and created one huge mess!  In spite of my outbursts, a little colorful language, and one major mistake.  The lights are in and they look good.  Shining a little light on the room has changed everything about it.  I think there should be a metaphor in there somewhere, but we'll settle for being able to see for now.

UCET 2013

At UCET last year I had the weight of the entire conference resting on my shoulders.  As president, I had spent months preparing for each little detail that may come up the two day event.  Then, my term  ended.

I could exhale.

I could stop and smell the roses.

I could get ready to do it all over again.

We just concluded this year's UCET conference and I had a total blast.  It was so much fun to see colleagues from around the state.  To learn new ideas and ways to integrate technology.  To teach and share some of my stuff with the teachers of Utah.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the conference.

One of the best parts of being involved  with the organization is the chance to work with good friends.  In fact, one of my best friends, Robert, was this year's UCET president.  A couple of years ago we made a pact.  I would serve as president one year and he would follow the year after.  It was great working together and I think we carried on the tradition of excellence at UCET.

As part of the conference Robert and I took on the roles of the Tool Man and his faithful assistant Al.  I bet you can guess pretty quickly which part I got.   Sometimes you get typecast for having a beard.  The spoof we were in was a classic.  Bad puns, terrible acting, and a great time.

So our busy season is over for a time.  I hope everyone else learned as much and had as good an experience at UCET 2013 as I did.  Let's do it again - say 12 months from now....

Check out UCET's Tool Time

Keep Austin Weird

As part of my trip to SXSWedu I'd been going out and seeing the sights of Austin with one of my coworkers.  We'd been to several restaurants, visited some historical sights, and people watched with the best of them.  We thought we were just about done with sight seeing.  Until I started checking out Yelp under Things you can't miss.  That led us to earlier tonight when Mindy and I exchanged the following texts:

So, do you want to get something to eat?

Not sure.  Not really hungry.

Ok - do we want to go out and see anything?

Museum of the Weird.

I'm in!

We headed back down to 6th Street and straight to the Museum of the Weird.  It certainly lived up to it's name.  A shop of curiosities - there were all kinds of shirts, banners, posters, games, and stuff that was just plain weird.  We quickly realized that the reason we were there was to take a tour of the truly weird museum at the back of the store.

We saw it all.  Shrunken heads, fossilized Big Foot prints, wax figures from famous horror movies. This place was just crazy.  As we ended our tour through the exhibits the final show was about to begin.

Richard, a local performer, asked if we wanted to see the rest of the show upstairs.  Normally, I'm not one to head upstairs with strange people, but curiosity got the better of me.  I'm glad I went.

In the loft of the museum were several additional movie props, including a huge figure of King Kong.  Very cool.  The real highlight was Richard himself.  He was a personable fellow who immediately engaged us in conversation.  Upon learning we were from Utah he proclaimed:

UTAH!  I love Utah!  You must be Mormons.  I love Mormons.  I want to move to Utah to become a Mormon.

It's not everyday you hear someone say those words.  Turns out Richard has performed at the Utah State Fair for several years and is completely taken with our clean city and style of living.  We encouraged him to come on out and become a Mormon in Utah.  After a little more small talk Richard took to the stage to perform.

He pulled out a large black case.

Opened it.

And removed a two foot sword.

A real one

And then...

You guessed it.

He swallowed the sword.

No gimmick.

Down the hatch.

It was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed live.  He did it twice and both times I couldn't close my eyes.  It was incredible.

The Museum of the Weird certainly lived up to its billing.  Although I think the weirdest thing was meeting a guy who wanted to move to Utah to become a Mormon.

The LBJ Presidential Library

Most of you out there know I am a total political junkie.  I love all things about politics and the history of our country's leaders absolutely fascinates me.  Once I knew I was heading to Austin there was no doubt I would visit the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library.  How often do you have the chance to visit one of presidential libraries?  Not living in Utah.

The museum really brought Johnson to life.  He was a little before my time and I really didn't appreciate all the parts of our national history he shared in.  I knew about the Civil Rights Bill of 1965 and how he ascended to the Oval Office, but his life was a mystery to me beyond that.

I loved my time in the library.  It showed me how great our country is and how impressive each and every president is.  Regardless of their flaws, presidents should be revered for the work they do to better the lives of the american people.  I am so glad I had the chance to spend a few minutes browsing the history of this innovative man.