It looks like we will finish tomorrow with no problems (they have had to stay late ... even for extra days ... in years past). The scope and logistics of this sort of operation stagger my mind. They have to calculate the number of people needed to grade 300,000+ students' essays in the course of seven days (my day seven counts the day of my arrival, which was the day before the essay grading started) so that we all finish at about the right time. If we finish too soon, that is obviously wasted money. If we finish too late, they have to pay a LOT more (especially if flights and hotels have to be rearranged). To top it off, it was a new test this year. They had to base the average reader's pace off of a sample test that they ran last year. That's some crazy math!
I used my Uber app for the first time today to go to the Natural History Museum of Utah's viking exhibit. It was informative and interesting, but I don't know if it was worth the overall cost (admission and Uber). The rest of the museum was blocked off (they kept this section open for us World History teachers at special request) so I didn't get to see their dinosaur section. The gift shop was closed. Also, they didn't have any of the cardboard viking hats left by the time I asked (I had hoped to at least get a couple for the boys). Still, I enjoyed my time there and I certainly learned some interesting elements of viking life.
Included are some pictures from the museum. I took pictures of all of the swords I saw. In most of them, I tried to get my hand in the picture to give a sense of scale (and to not how small the sword hilts were ... none of these were used two-handed). One set of broaches looks like viking figit spinners. There is also a picture of a snail that was on the sidewalk outside of my hotel this morning.