I’ve spent almost no time in Dallas, Texas before. In fact, I think this trip will likely double the amount of time over my lifetime that I’ve been in or around this city. I flew in this morning to meet with a sales guy from IBM (he probably doesn’t think of himself as a salesman, more like an account rep or something). I’m staying at the Embassy Suites and I’ve not much of an idea where I am in this city. I think I’m somewhere just west of downtown Dallas. The picture was taken from my hotel room balcony this afternoon. It was very overcast today, making it hard to tell directions here. It’s supposed to rain tonight but so far, no rain.

There is, naturally, nothing on TV. I’ve seen the cycle on CNN Headline News several times through. Everything else on the few channels available in this hotel is so inane as to be unwatchable. Austin Powers is not anywhere on the list of movies worth my time. I think the TV selection is so sparse on purpose — so guests will spend the money watching pay-for-view movies. We had an early dinner at a local steakhouse and have retired back to the hotel room for the night. So, I’ll spend time on the computer catching up on all the things that I haven’t had time to do on the computer.

I’ll fly back home tomorrow about noon, just in time to have the Priest-aged boys over for a video game night at the house. That should be a lot of fun — I certainly don’t have the hand-eye coordination needed to play these games but it sure is fun to watch. The upper picture is of the skyline in the afternoon, the lower picture about the same shot at night. Downtown Dallas is quite pretty at night.

Last week I was invited to spend a few minutes at Otera Elementary School with Mrs. Vogler’s Math, Engineering, Science Achievement group (MESA) — 5th and 6th graders who are interested in these subjects. If you ever want an ego trip, spend a few minutes with these bright kids! I had a great time! I talked with them a little about the process to make computer chips. They asked lots of good questions and were really engaged with the discussion. I was impressed with these kids!

I was also very impressed with Mrs. Vogler. She is an excellent teacher with delightful patience. She started the group out with a small puzzler while the kids were having a small snack of Capri Sun juice and animal crackers. The puzzler was a two-person game of connecting lines between numbers arranged in a six-sided circle using felt-tipped markers. Each team had two colors and the person who drew a line and completed a triangle would loose. It was fun to watch the kids as some of them had the "aha" moment when they realized they didn’t have to use the same marker each time it was their turn. After my short presentation, she took them through the process of figuring out how to build a bridge. She knew the right questions to ask to stimulate their thinking. It was clear I was watching a master at her trade. You’ve my vote, Mrs. Vogler, for my favorite teacher. Thanks for letting me be there for a few minutes.