NSTA conference in Philly... lets start at the end of the Cosmic Times

I put ice on my ankle

I limped to the train, then to home

A man asked, "Are you OK?"

I fell.

My right foot found a pot hole on a busy street in downtown Philly.

Why am I telling this story backwards...

Lets start here, at home, the night before the conference. I sent a Tweet to a person I had never heard of before.... "which workshop???"

The NSTA conference had 10 billion workshops to choose from, so you need help at times. Often a workshop will call you by name, other times it is a random moment at Twitter.

The woman, to whom I tweeted, works for NASA and she was behind the creation of The Cosmic Times which takes on the human story of unraveling the nature of the universe. Two workshops later it was all over and I headed out into the city to treat myself to lunch. When I am by myself, I will often sit at the counter, which sometimes leads to conversation.

My waitress asked if I was in town for the conference which eventually led to me finding out she has a brother, who has similar traits to my students. Turns out her brother has enjoyed learning history looking at it from the present moment then going back. I said, "Hmmmm..."

It was a short walk up 16th to the train station as my mind worked itself around the idea of heading backwards while teaching the history of the human understanding of the universe... the light turned green... the pedestrian walk light turned white and I stepped forward to cross Chestnut Street.

Maybe next year NASA will fly me to San Francisco so I can co-lecture about my adaptations to their lessons. One has to hope to get there somehow. For now, I am hoping the ice cuts the swelling so I can move with a bit less pain.


...