Fun stuff on a Friday

Since we're on the New Mexico Outdoors (gay social group) mailing list, we figured the outing to the Explora! Center last night would be a fun thing, and it was! Several times a year, Explora! has an adults-only night, so you don't have to deal with the hordes of screaming, sugar-frenetic, non-adult-conscious hordes that are normally there during the day.

A huge number number of the 250+ interactive displays seems geared more to teens and adults than younger children. Light, sound, touch, memory, anything that puzzles the younger mind and many things you haven't thought about were there. There was even a great environmentally-conscious display of Albuquerque geology and water history, with large air photos of Albuquerque from 1935, 1975, and 2002 showing the urban sprawl of a town of 35,000 to nearly 700,000 and our LIMITED aquifer resources in the scheme of things.

Lots of guys we have seen around were there, as well as Kris and Turtle-Bear showing.

My brother Bruce is the lead carpenter at a place just like this in Shreveport, the SciPort. They're in the midst of a major expansion and remodel, so I'm sure it'll be very similar when the dust has settled there.

Fun to be a kid full of wonder again for a couple of hours!

Fun stuff on a Friday

Since we're on the New Mexico Outdoors (gay social group) mailing list, we figured the outing to the Explora! Center last night would be a fun thing, and it was! Several times a year, Explora! has an adults-only night, so you don't have to deal with the hordes of screaming, sugar-frenetic, non-adult-conscious hordes that are normally there during the day.

A huge number number of the 250+ interactive displays seems geared more to teens and adults than younger children. Light, sound, touch, memory, anything that puzzles the younger mind and many things you haven't thought about were there. There was even a great environmentally-conscious display of Albuquerque geology and water history, with large air photos of Albuquerque from 1935, 1975, and 2002 showing the urban sprawl of a town of 35,000 to nearly 700,000 and our LIMITED aquifer resources in the scheme of things.

Lots of guys we have seen around were there, as well as Kris and Turtle-Bear showing.

My brother Bruce is the lead carpenter at a place just like this in Shreveport, the SciPort. They're in the midst of a major expansion and remodel, so I'm sure it'll be very similar when the dust has settled there.

Fun to be a kid full of wonder again for a couple of hours!

From our OCD C/W dancer

I have to post this email I got yesterday from an old friend of mine, with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. At least he's that way with activities...I've taught him 90% of Mainstream in two lessons, and he's also scoured the internet for teaching tools to finish learning, even ordering a couple of CDs with interactive moving dancers doing the calls.

THIS post though comes from me teaching an old line dance, 'Slappin Leather,' with 2 more beats than the way he learned it when he visited Sidewinders in Palm Springs CA a couple of months ago...

I'm stunned by the way this man thinks!

( A stunning analysis of a line dance )

From our OCD C/W dancer

I have to post this email I got yesterday from an old friend of mine, with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. At least he's that way with activities...I've taught him 90% of Mainstream in two lessons, and he's also scoured the internet for teaching tools to finish learning, even ordering a couple of CDs with interactive moving dancers doing the calls.

THIS post though comes from me teaching an old line dance, 'Slappin Leather,' with 2 more beats than the way he learned it when he visited Sidewinders in Palm Springs CA a couple of months ago...

I'm stunned by the way this man thinks!

( A stunning analysis of a line dance )

Drudge of a day

Spent nearly the entire day cleaning up the Albuquerque Square Dance Center books for the annual general meeting tomorrow. I let some of the unresolved issues sit WAY too long. Sadly, a lot of it was cleaning up the prior treasurer's booking quaffs, since she doesn't know squat about accounting. I thought I had cleaned up a lot of it back in February, but it all reared its ugly head again.

From an earlier post to the Board:

[snip]

single year members** 148
active life members* 94
total ASDC active membership 242

new members 2005 18
lapsed members 2005*** 45

[endsnip]

Pretty low membership, actually. Sad. Net loss of 27 dancers.

I'm now thinking it SUCKS that the Treasurer is also the Membership person, too. Cross checking and maintaining two databases (Quickbooks and/or Excel/Access) makes it just that more timeconsuming.

I'm sure I've put way over 100 hours into ASDC this past year in bookkeeping. Probably more. What is it that makes me want to volunteer for all this? :( I'm the one that thought the Wilde Bunch membership was slipping badly because we're dancing in a 100% str8 environment. Now I'm a BOARD member of that same organization.

Ah, well. It's all for the good. Since both Kris and I are on the board, we're 2 of 7 that keep the Wilde Bunch in good graces.

Drudge of a day

Spent nearly the entire day cleaning up the Albuquerque Square Dance Center books for the annual general meeting tomorrow. I let some of the unresolved issues sit WAY too long. Sadly, a lot of it was cleaning up the prior treasurer's booking quaffs, since she doesn't know squat about accounting. I thought I had cleaned up a lot of it back in February, but it all reared its ugly head again.

From an earlier post to the Board:

[snip]

single year members** 148
active life members* 94
total ASDC active membership 242

new members 2005 18
lapsed members 2005*** 45

[endsnip]

Pretty low membership, actually. Sad. Net loss of 27 dancers.

I'm now thinking it SUCKS that the Treasurer is also the Membership person, too. Cross checking and maintaining two databases (Quickbooks and/or Excel/Access) makes it just that more timeconsuming.

I'm sure I've put way over 100 hours into ASDC this past year in bookkeeping. Probably more. What is it that makes me want to volunteer for all this? :( I'm the one that thought the Wilde Bunch membership was slipping badly because we're dancing in a 100% str8 environment. Now I'm a BOARD member of that same organization.

Ah, well. It's all for the good. Since both Kris and I are on the board, we're 2 of 7 that keep the Wilde Bunch in good graces.