Today, my wife Connie, along with several other teachers and chaperones – and 2 bus-loads of students head off to Gettysburg and Washington DC for an annual 3 day whirlwind tour. I dropped Connie off at around 5:00 AM at Endeavour Middle School – we followed the buses in (what timing). Connie immediately switched into “teacher mode” and started directing folks where to drop their stuff off, talking with the drivers, etc. I brought her bags to the bus, kissed and hugged her goodbye, and zoom – off she went!
Connie, her co-worker Carrie, and their friend Debby (a former New Haven student) have planned this field trip for 6 years, and they’ve got it down to a science (sorry if that was a pun, or anything). It takes a boat-load of planning and work behind the scenes to pull this trip off, and this year they had a wrench thrown into the works – several of the businesses they had used in the past have gone out of business. I went on this trip a couple years ago, and the itinerary was amazingly organized and ran pretty much like clockwork. When I was there, I got to see the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for the first time – a real treat for me!
I found out as I was writing this post that the Space Shuttle Discovery is now at the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center – there… in DC… I called Connie to whine – she said she’d get pictures…
UPDATE
Wed. May 2:
5:27PM, Gettysburg: Bus #1 kept overheating. Had to load all 72 people on bus #2 for final hour. A new bus was sent to them. ADVENTURE! Connie comments:”Never a dull moment when you travel with us 
”
5:55PM, Gettysburg: Connie finds a sword. Texts me: “it’s cool, want it?” Me… she asked ME this…
11:26PM, Gettysburg: Students “taped in,” everyone crashing.
Thur. May 3:
6:38AM, Gettysburg: Connie wakes to thunder.
8:12AM, Gettysburg: Battlefield tour was overcast and wet.
12:50PM, Gettysburg: Left for Harper’s Ferry.
5:50PM: Stopped at Burger King on the way; Connie’s tummy feels like YUCK (she did not specify before or after BK).
10:03PM, DC: Connie texts: “MLK Monument wow!”
Fri. May 4:
(May the 4th be with you)
7:43AM, DC: “Morning in the subway” Was all she texted.
9:35AM, DC: At the Nation’s Capital, on a tour.
12:00 PM, DC: Text:”Sitting here in a storm with the dead” – Connie’s at Arlington National Cemetery, in a storm.
1:50 PM, DC: At Arlington National Cemetery – “Saw a funeral procession. 6 white horses carrying the casket, proceeded by honor guard and band.”
American Meteor Society
Portals in World of Warcraft
Dear developers and game designers of Blizzard Entertainment‘s World of Warcraft:
When Cataclysm came out, you removed ALL of the teleport portals from the city of Dalaran. You caught shit from your users for doing this – and you should have. So you went and put ONE portal back in Dalaran – back to the capital city only. There is no portal TO Dalaran from those capital cities; this is a minor annoyance and, to put it lightly – completely ludicrous.
Any society that had working portal technology, be it medieval/Low-tech, or far-future/high-tech, would have them ALL OVER THE PLACE!
Here are some references:
Larry Niven: Flash Crowd
Peter F. Hamilton: Pandora’s Star