Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Slim Goodbody at Dillon Lecture Series

Slim Goodbody at Dillon Lecture Series


This morning Slim Goodbody was at the Dillon Lecture Series. I didn't know who he was, but the hundreds of school kids in attendance certainly did. I guess he's been doing this for 30 plus years and was a fixture on Captain Kangaroo.

I always go to the lectures if possible, even if I don't know anything about the person, because I figure it will be interesting. And this was, although it was certainly not my favorite by a long shot. It was all geared toward kids, but it was neat to see them so interested.

They bussed in kids from all over and invited them to come sit on the floor so it was kind of cool - I was surrounded by kids and they were really enthusiastic about him.

At one point he had kids come up on stage who could do something unusual with their muscles and have them demonstrate. We saw kids walk on their hands and a chest roll and other fun stuff.

He did share some neat facts that I made note of:
Only two creatures live longer than humans - tortise (200 years) and a tree that is 4,900 years old. That means it was growing when the pyramids were built.
Two creatures have bigger brains than humans - elephant is 13 pounds and whale is 17 pounds while humans are 3 pounds. But compared to body weight ours is largest.
Heart is the hardest working muscle in the body - the diaphragm is the second hardest working muscle.
Every mammal has 7 bones in their necks - humans, mice and giraffes all have 7.

One of the most interesting bits he did was have five kids come up and he gave them each a word - I Will Never Smoke Ever. He then tapped them on the head at various times and used those words in a variety of ways to get across that message. I thought that was really effective.

I had to leave the luncheon early to get to the marketing training that was being put on by the Hutchinson Community Foundation. It was really, really, really good. I was glad I went.

Tonight was Altrusa, so I've had a really full day. Leadership starts at 8 a.m. tomorrow so I need to try and get some rest. I haven't had a break all day.


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Errands, Exhibits and Experiments


It was a busy day again. I will be tied up most of the day tomorrow and all day Wednesday so I'm trying to get a lot done before then. I spent the day running around, but I did get to see Trish for lunch. It was just a spur of the moment thing to call and it worked out. We ran into Teresa at the restaurant but she was busy thinking through a project and didn't join us, although we did chat briefly.

Tonight was the Arts and Humanities board meeting. It was also the opening of an art exhibit we're doing at Stringer Fine Arts. It's a neat exhibit called, "How the Ink Feels."

It's a travelling exhibit of letterpress broadsides by distinguished artists and writers. The exhibit features sixty-four matted and framed letterpress broadsides, which illuminate prose and poetry selections by well-known writers. Most pieces were printed using manually operated letterpresses a technique which has changed very little since the Middle Ages. The pieces are collaborations among the printer, the writer, and the artists, printmaker, woodcut illustrator, calligrapher or paper maker.




Some of the artists and writers whose work is included in the exhibit include Max Heim, James Agee, Maurice Lapp, Wendell Berry, Hui-Ming Wang, Rita Dove, Patrica Waters, Naomi Shihab Nye, and William Stafford.

I didn't get to stay for the official opening reception because I needed to spend time working on some MHA and personal projects tonight.

Tomorrow I'll be tied up all day with a Dillon Lecture Series and then an HCF marketing meeting. And Wednesday will be leadership all day, so my time to devote to projects is minimal this week.

Tonight on the way home I stopped by a restaurant Mike at Roy's recommended to me. It's on east fourth and is an unassuming place. However, he told me the food was really good, and he was right. My favorite part was the homemade pineapple turnover I had. Man, that was good.

I like to try the local places and this one had escaped my attention.