Work Projects

Sometimes you have to weather the storm to be able to see the blue skies beyond. That was not a very eloquent statement though it was the best I could come up with on as little sleep as I have gotten recently. Now I am choosing to not go into too much detail with this post though it is going to be something that will shape my future either positively or negatively based on how I/we respond so it has to be part of the journey. 

Recently our ESC data center was attacked by a nasty little thing known as Ransomware. Taking down multiple systems and causing multiple days and nights of work, the incident has exposed several things that have been hiding under the surface and need to be addressed. My team has stepped up to work any and all required time to get us back on track to which I am eternally grateful. 

To make things worse, the entry point for this attack was patched to the required level as directed by the security standards. We happened to be the benefactor of a “Zero Day Hit” which means that we were attacked with the new version before the security gurus knew it was possible. The updated standards came out the next day. Thanks guys! (just kidding)

So…to put a silver lining on the situation. At least I can say, “We were FIRST!”

Excited would be a minimal way of stating how I feel right now! After returning from a trip to Los Angeles with 5 of my colleagues, I am beside myself knowing that the far fetched idea of bringing the STEAM Carnival to DFW is about to happen. This is something that I have been working on with my folks here at the ESC as well as the team from Two Bit Circus. Things like this don’t just happen without the help of dedicated people, the relentlessness of the individual, and a lot of luck on the side.

Without knowing final details it is looking like we will be hosting the event over the course of several days at the ESC. I can’t wait to see the kids light up the way that my son and I did when we were guests of the Carnival in San Francisco. We are going to blow the minds of the North Texas districts with this event. 

In addition, we had the pleasure of visiting a very cool place called Trash 4 Teachers. Their concept of providing teachers with clean recycled materials for their classroom is brilliant. Brent turned us onto this place while we were there. Hoping to get them as part of our Carnival as well. Fingers crossed!

The Carnival has come to town! Well it at least has come to San Francisco so I decided to go to it. Just didn’t sound as good to open the post with “I have come to the Carnival!” Not the same ring.

I had the pleasure of attending a wonderful briefing with Cisco and VMWare out in the San Jose area over this past week. Hoping to bring back several things to put in place at the ESC though the focus of this post is centered around the weekend event prior to the briefing known as the STEAM Carnival.

I decided to fly into California two days early to visit and review an event that was introduced to me by some friends at Cisco and iSchool Initiative. The STEAM Carnival was founded by two guys name Eric Gradman and Brent Bushnell who run Two Bit Circus. These guys were running around the place having so much fun and making minor modifications to the attractions in the process as well. It was a pleasure to actually get to meet them briefly in passing and then have a sit down with Brent a couple days later. More on that shortly.

The Carnival was so amazing that my oldest son bought his own plane ticket and flew to California on his own to join me. Seeing the Carnival through this perspective made this something that I HAVE to bring back to the students of Region 11. This has to happen!

I can’t describe all of the great things that we experienced at the Carnival without going on and on forever. I will say that a couple of highlights of the event included the Dunk Tank Flambe, the Wave Pendulum, the button wall, and this rocket ship game where Cooper and I dominated several small children. Play to win! 

Two days later I had the privilege to sit down with Brent at a small coffee shop and share my idea of bringing the Carnival to DFW. The conversation started slow and then picked speed as I learned of his fondness for STEAM education. Come to find out his dad is Nolan Bushnell who invented Atari. What a cool family!

Fingers crossed we can make this happen in the future in DFW. I want this experience for our kids!