Yesterday, Bug took the “day off.” As a contrast, I’d like to walk you through today, which actually started in the wee hours of the morning when Bug came into my room, unable to go to sleep until he’d completed his sketch of a warp tunnel he wants to design.
The warp tunnel involves the use of dual engines and power sources (to avoid single point of failure), large metal tubing (big enough for a truck to fit through), a tread (like a people-mover) that goes underground, and then he lost me. It was 1:30am. I try, but hey, I’m human. Fortunately, getting it down on paper seemed to free him up to sleep. Sometimes that boy’s mind just needs permission to shut down.
Later this morning—much later—he was ready to greet the world of the living for another round. After a shower, he loaded the dishwasher, and joined his sister and me in the car for the trip into San Jose to pick his father up from the airport. On our way, we were treated to Science Friday on NPR. Not his sister’s favorite, but she seemed to enjoy it today as the discussion was about the origins of scientists and how science and art were initially more intertwined subjects.
This was the perfect segue to our next destination, The Tech Museum. Once at The Tech, we had a quick lunch (They have the most delicious food at The Tech, I swear.) with Daddy-O, left him in the Café to do some work, and headed off to explore.
First stop, an old favorite, designing roller coasters:
And, then riding the coaster in the simulator:
We spent quite a bit of time in the new permanent exhibit area, Technology Benefiting Humanity.
Next up, trying out liquid vision glasses (glasses that use fluid for the lenses):
Powering a radio by hand:
Creating a circuit to power an LED bulb with solar power:
We toured an installation of globes representing different statistics:
Yeah, that’d be Africa, followed by North America. We talked about what it would be like to walk 15 minutes for a drink of water. Bug said, “I’d walk 15 minutes, then build my house there.” Then, he kind of chuckled and said he realized that wasn’t a feasible solution, looking at the map. And when you look at the next few globes, you’ll start to see some patterns emerge. We did.
Some of the other stats included literacy rates and energy consumption. I didn’t get pictures, but I’m sure you can guess what those maps looked like. It was striking to see them all in a row.
And that was just what I photographed before my battery died. I have some video of the kids composing music on a wall that I’ll try to upload later. I didn’t want to completely bog this post down with images. But, it was incredible to watch and hear. Have you ever wondered what polka-dots sound like?
There was time spent designing water turbines, positioning mirrors for solar power, and pedaling bikes to generate electricity for light bulbs and fans. He drove a car simulator to determine how to get the best MPG based on design and driving technique. Then, it was time to go.
We met some extended family we hadn’t seen in far too long for a reunion dinner. Time to reconnect. Even though the kids had been at the museum for hours, they were engaging and only started to wither toward the end of the evening.
Bug shared the details of his warp tunnel design and found a kindred gamer to talk shop with—someone who didn’t just nod along like I’m wont to do after the second hour or so of his impassioned explanations about Kirby or Princess Peach.
When we got home, it was time to bring Daddy up to speed on the Flight of the Conchords since he’d been out of town. Since Bug had already seen the episodes, he played Spore, but sat with us as we re-watched the series. Then, it was off to bed and podcast time once again.
Oh, one last funny I just remembered. There’s a robotic arm at The Tech that you program to spell things with blocks. Here's what Bug programmed today:
He thought it was the height of hilarity. I quite agreed.
