Sometimes All You Need Is Little Rubbing: On Cryptex Construction (Part 3 of ...More Than 3)

Sometimes all the problems in life can be fixed with a little time, perspective, and a bunch of sand paper (60 grit, nothing finer). After grinding down all the rings and imposing my iron-fisted rule on those that would not fall in line, all the rings now fit. And so we're back on track:

So we're getting close to finishing. The end caps need to be carved out, and stained. I have a lovely dark, dark mahogany stain left over from a previous project that should turn out nicely. After I assemble and glue everything together, all that's left is final decorating and engraving the tumblers. I was originally upset that after wire-brushing the metal tumblers, there is still a dark grey patina left over. However, this will make the engraving (which should reveal the bright silver metal) pop, which should give a nice effect. I have also reduced the 7 tumblers to 6, for both logistical reasons and stylistic. I came up with a new passcode that is more symbolic, and will lend itself to a better riddle, and perhaps a crossword, if I can manage it.

~~~~~~~~~~

I also had a little botulism scare. I had been joking that I might get botulism from the Yale Fruit Bars I made yesterday. I actually became a little paranoid, and couldn't sleep for a while. Psychosomatic symptoms ensued. The thing is, that the fruit did taste a little funny, and were all mushy when I opened the can (they were over a year old). Now, baking it should take care of the bacteria, but I tasted a bit before I baked it (I had to). I don't think there's actually a real danger, as the last botulism case from commercial food products happened in the 70's. Aside from that, the CDC reports an average of 25 cases nationwide every year, which is not a lot. Though, I have always been told I'm special.

~~~~~~~~~~

So I would have never thought I'd reach point in my life where I'd have something to say about running, but now I do. After running mostly every night this Summer, I've discovered a few things:

-I've finally reached a point where what I consider to be running is what everyone else considers to be running.

-I like to run at night because it makes me feel like I'm running faster for some reason. It also makes me less self conscious.

-Play scary music while you're running through dark, deserted neighborhoods, like Enter Sandman by Metallica. It makes you run faster. ABBA also makes me run faster, for a completely different reason.

-I cannot run downhill. It feels weird and I end up tripping and hurting myself. I much prefer skipping, while humming this song to myself.

-Along those lines, even though the music is loud and you can't hear the world, they can definitely hear you.

-Runners in Hawaii are very friendly. Whenever I'm out, I see many other people also running around my neighborhood. I don't know any of them, but they always smile and wave to me and are generally friendly. It's only in passing, but there seems to be some unspoken club I've unwittingly joined.

-I get why deer freeze when they get caught in the headlights of a car. It's very disorienting.

-Those high-tech Under-Armor type shirts that are supposed to wick away sweat from your body have an upper limit: A breaking point, past which it seems to reverse its functionality and actually suck moisture in from the atmosphere.

-Stretching is actually important. Who knew?

-Nipple chaffing is real. And it is painful.

Beware The Puffy Can: On Culinary Mimicry

Today was a resting day. Which meant I got a lot of things done.

Of interest: I decided to do a bit of gastronomic experimentation. The Yale Dining Halls every once in a while have these fruit bar things: a layered sort of bar dessert with some sort of fruit middle layer. I really like them, and I even stock up whenever they have them to devour over the ensuing week. Today I decided to see if I could recreate them.

In theory they're pretty simple: some sort of crumble/cookie/pie crust dough, pat into the pan, lay on the filling, and top with another layer of the dough.

I decided to base the dough portion on something that resembles a shortbread/sugar cookie. One feature of Yale's bar things is that they mix rolled oats into the dough to give it some texture and health benefit. It just so happens that there's a big container of raw rolled oats in my house after a brief foray into eating oatmeal daily to try to lower cholesterol (not mine). As such, there's a ton left, and they're beginning to get old.

Here's the loose recipe I came up with:

Yale Fruit Bars (Ver. 1.0)

Dough:
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-1 cup rolled oats
-1/4 cup granulated sugar
-3 tbs. honey (I used clover. I honestly can't tell the difference between honeys.)
-4 tbs. melted unsweetened butter
-a splash of vanilla (or however much comes out when you bump your arm against the refrigerator)
-some cinnamon (or however much it takes to make the dough look like the skin of a teenager with bad acne. The speckling, not the color.)

Fruit Filling:
-1 can cling peaches
-2 tbs. granulated sugar

or

-1 can fruit pie filling (Strawberry had the most recent expiration date. A little over a year ago.)

Combine all the dough ingredients into a bowl. Preferably one just slightly too small for all the ingredients, causing you to spill most of it on the counter. The final consistency should feel like really dry play-dough, crumbly, but able to be pressed into a ball. Divide dough mixture in half. Press half of the mixture into a 9x9 baking pan. Bake the bottom layer of the bars at 350F for 20 min until light/medium brown. Test how hot the oven is by tapping the metal rack with your hand. Don't believe the oven thermometer. The machines are trying to deceive you.

To prepare the peach filling, drain all syrup from the peaches, and combine with sugar in a food processor. The final consistency should be like baby food. Also make sure to use a can of peaches two years past its expiration date. I've always been told that as long as the can isn't puffy, it isn't botulism. Use pie filling as is. Spread a thin layer over the bottom layer (somewhere between icing a cake and buttering toast. About 3mm for you quantitative folks). Place back in the oven and bake for another 10 minute to let the fillings set up. Remove from oven and press top layer of dough onto the fruit filling. Return and bake until medium brown, around another 20 minutes.

Here's the finished product:

Some thoughts. Not bad for a first attempt. It wasn't un-tasty, it just fell short of recreating the Yale fruit bars.
Things to improve:
-The bake time is absolutely ridiculous. Not baking something for an hour. Cranking up the heat next time. As Aunty Marialani says,you can either bake the chicken at 850F for 1 minute, or 5F for 4 days. Love Aunty Marialani, made the day much much better. You all need to watch the whole thing. (Also, this one, also from Rap Reiplinger).

-The oats should be toasted prior to baking.

-Not sure if the sugar/shortbread cookie base is the best. Perhaps I'll try something more crumbly along the lines of the topping to Apple Brown Betty. Brown sugar instead of white. Also might try a pie crust base as well. Since I plan on toasting before, I might try a granola type base as well.

-Also, the ones at Yale have shredded coconut in the dough as well.

-I don't think the butter is the right shortening. I want something a little crispier. Sub a combination of margarine and canola oil for the butter to play around with texture.

-Need to work on the fruit filling. Will try some sort of jam or preserve. Preferably one that isn't 2 years expired. If I die tomorrow, it was the food poisoning. There's a sample of the offending pastry in my oven. Test it. Find out what killed me. Find a medium, and relay the results of the analysis. I'd be curious as hell (or heaven, as it were). If I just get sick, you'll all hear about it in graphic detail.

Futility and Frustration: On Cryptex Construction [con't]

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse.
-Coldplay

It has been a very frustrating last few days.

I've worked very had and have very little to show for it. What should have been an easy two day project is soon becoming like a part time job. I've probably put in 6-7 hours a day since Friday when I began this, and have accomplished much less than I would like to have at this point.

The problems began when I tried to cut metal. Remember those nifty rings I had the last post? Those were meant to be the tumblers. My plan was to simply cut a channel in the ring, there by allowing the pins to pass through, and boom, cryptex. I have a Dremel, which is a wonderful rotary tool, with many different attachments. However, none of them were really suited to cut the amount of metal I intended. After destroying most of my Dremel attachments, and realizing that grinding down metal makes it very very hot, I gave up. I went to the hardware store to price the metal cutting bit I actually needed, and decided not to sink $25 into this project for a diamond saw blade.

So I had a problem. My tumblers could not do more than look pretty, which was fine by me. However, this did mean I had to scale everything back one tube size. This meant I had to find a tube that could either fit in the smallest tube, or one that could fit in the space between...I ran through many options and permutations.

I finally settled on finding a tube that could fit in the smallest one, downsizing everything. But where to find such a tube? I spent the better part of Sunday searching my house, yard, garage, and neighborhood for a tube the right size. It became an obsession. The Monday after was bulk garbage pickup, which meant people were bringing out broken furniture, refrigerators, etc. to be disposed of by our lovely City and County workers. I'll admit I dug through what some might consider garbage. After several hours of searching, sticking pipes into holes and other pipes, fearing I need a Tetanus, I went home defeated.

A brief digression. I've been running in the evenings throughout this summer as some misguided attempt to be healthy and whatnot. Not the point. During these runs, I've discovered something rather surprising. I don't know my neighborhood as well as I thought I did.

Now, we've been living in this house for the 15 going on 16 years (cue the Sound of Music), before which we lived less than a mile away, and some intervening years we spent in Palolo Valley, which is a stone's throw away. And for the most part, I know where things are in Kaimuki and towards Kahala, and I can recognize most houses and landmarks. But in a recent run, I ventured into an area I had never seen before, maybe 10 blocks from where I live. It was a rather nice area (which is probably why I've never been there), and reminded me a little bit of the game Morrowind (which is fun if you have the patience to spend literally hours traveling between cities. Hooray for quick travel in Oblivion). I started feeling rather adventurous, and rather dangerous, which is a nice feeling when you're on an adrenalin high. So I decided to explore a little more.

In Kaimuki, there's a fire house nestled into the this big hill that once used to be an `imu (a sort of underground oven where Hawaiians cooked stuff. Think of a surf and turf clam bake, minus the surf). This is also how Kaimuki got it's name, as Ka means "the", `imu is the oven thing, and ki is the ti leaves that they wrapped the food in for cooking. This is also apparently where King Kalakaua had his ostrich farm. Anywho, at the top of this hill/oven is a little mini park that truly exists for no reason. I had remember going up there as a little kid, and finding it rather unimpressive, so I was curious to see if anything had changed.

Now, I might not make the best decisions in the world, I'll admit that. But I'm getting better. As I was walking up the to the park (it started with a P. Hawaiian names, can't remember most of them), it occurred to me how stupid this idea was. It was pretty dark (I think I went out around 8). I had left my phone and wallet at home (since they make running harder) and just had my iPod. Considering bums, hobos, and hooligans like to hang out at parks at night, I realized that I was sort of walking into the opening of a Law and Order episode (the regular one. Hopefully not an SVU one. No.). But I was curious, and I figured if anything happened, the would probably only take my iPod, rough me up a little (or a lot), and then I'd have an interesting story to tell.

At the top, I found what I expected. Although it was lovely, much better than I remember, I couldn't help but notice the rather shady looking characters hanging out just beyond the reach of the lamp light. It was hard to tell anyone was there, save for the smoke that would occasionally puff into the cone of light. It smelled like pot. I also noticed what looked like a makeshift tent propped up against the side of some electrical shed thing. More smoke. I didn't care for the cackling coming from the darkness, so I turned around and left.

Back to cryptex. I'll save you all my frustration, as I'm sure there's more to come. After shaving down what I would have to reckon as 1/32" from a PVC pipe I ended up buying, all the pipes seemed to fit. Everything looked promising. Here's a look at the mechanism of the cryptex, exposed:

Pretty much all I had left to do at that point was to attach the metal ring coverings to hide the grooves in the tumblers, and install end caps. This is where today's little dose of frustrations popped up. The tumblers were technically too small for the metal rings, as PVC likes to shrink and contract when you cut it axially (yeah, I didn't know this either). So I had to install plastic shims into each ring to decrease the effective inner diameter. All that was left was to super glue metal ring to PVC tumbler.

However, at some point in the drying process, the ring shifted, causing it to become unaligned to the central axis of the cryptex. This means that there are now awkward gaps in 4/7 of the rings. I have many options, none of which I like. I could grind down the metal to make it fit. I could grind down the PVC to do the same. I could also soak the whole thing in acetone, remove all the pieces and start again. I could also make it a 3 ring cryptex, instead of 7.

I think I will either record some music or cook tomorrow. Both are good options. I've been collecting a bunch of weird instruments I can play to varying levels of proficiency. I won't spoil it, but I'm looking at a Sino-Hawaiian fusion. It should be interesting. On the cooking front, I've been watching Ace of Cakes, and have been inspired. Perhaps I'll work on my crepe recipe. Many options. It's only Thursday.

I also need better tools. The tools I have are more suited for structural construction. House building, foundation laying, that sort of thing. They don't really work for the fine detailed work I'm aiming for. The one exception is my Dremel. However, I've realized I don't have the most skilled hands in the world, and have much to learn. Perhaps if I had better tools, a chop saw, a lathe, a router, etc., this project would be easier. But, I still hold that handcrafted work holds a special charm. And so I'll soldier on, wherever that may lead.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. This project has left me a bit dispirited. I think I need a mental break. But I will return, for I take great pride in all the work I do, and will not let this project turn out sub par. I've been watching the movie Young @ Heart which is about the senior citizen choir that tours and sings contemporary songs. They do a cover of Coldplay's "Fix You". And as the song says, cryptex, I will try to fix you.

Seven For The Dwarf Lords, In Their Halls Of Stone: On Cryptex Construction

So my first project of the remainder of my summer is to build a cryptex, as detailed in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code.

I've always loved to build things. As I've said before, my grandpa was a contractor, and I suppose somethings trickle down. I love the process, the work, and the sublime satisfaction once I can stand back and admire my handiwork. My family has never been well off, and I've always hated spending money on things I didn't think were absolutely necessary, particularly on myself. No class ring, no grad party. I opted for a free trip to New York over Prom partly for that reason. As such, if I've ever wanted anything, I've settled on making it myself, to varying degrees of success. I've gotten much better over the years, and I'm hoping this cryptex will show that. And besides, building things is a good work out. My body aches in all the right places, and my hand is covered in blisters, making it very difficult to do many things. But it's an excuse to spend the day outside, and much better than sitting around the house watching Seinfeld.

I take an unconventional approach to construction. I've never been one to take lessons, and really hate being told what to do. I much prefer figuring things out myself. As such, most of my carpentry, masonry, and metalworking education has resulted from pure curiosity. I'll dig a tool out of my grandpa's tool closet, and spend an hour figuring out what it does, and how to use it. My latest discovery was a pipe cutter, which I'll get to in a moment.

Part of this unconventional approach is a lack of blueprints or any discernible plan. I should plan things out, and it would probably make my life easier, but I usually get too excited to sit down and write things out. I much rather dive into cutting and sanding with a general blueprint in my head.

On Thursday, I went to City Mill to get supplies. All in all, this project's going to cost me around $8 in raw materials, which is not bad at all. Without a definitive plan in hand, I walked around City Mill carrying an assortment of pipes and fittings, seeing what would work well for my cryptex. I love walking around hardware stores. There's just so many parts and pieces I build an entire project around. It's like Lego's for grown ups, but more organized than the gigantor plastic bin I kept mine in. I still, however, get strange looks as I wander. I'm not the normal patron of hardware stores, which are usually filled with grizzled contractors, plumbers, and ruffians. I'm rather fresh faced and stick out rather sorely.

The basic design of this cryptex is similar to a bike chain lock:

A central drum which contains the guarded material. This is held in place by a series of rotating drums which block a set of pins from sliding out. Pretty simple in design. My design calls for a 7-character alpha-numeric combination.

The first task was to make sure the Central Drum could slide easily into the Main Body. These parts were to be made out of PVC, which don't have a problem sticking and can be sanded down pretty easily, making them ideal.

A note about PVC. The dust particles are carcinogenic. One should look up this sort of information before they start sanding and inhale huge plumes of the stuff. I eventually got a mask on, if that makes it any better. If I get cancer, let's blame it on this, rather than all the other stupid things I've done in lab (dimethyl chloride burns a little when you spill it on yourself).

Getting the two pipes to fit was a bit of a struggle. I wanted a snug fit, so I got two pipes that almost fit, figuring it would be pretty simple to sand down. What I didn't fully thing through, is that I had only hand tools, making is very difficult to sand 1/32" uniformly from the surface of the Central Drum.

The first thing I tried was to make a makeshift lathe type thing. This did not work and taught me it's very important to have eye protection. Then I tried to construct a sort of table router:

This did not work. It did not work at all. It just left me covered in a thick layer of PVC particles. the components kept shifting around and made the pipe very uneven in a rather obscene manner. I had to throw it away. I finally decided to bite the bullet and just sand it down by hand. Three hours later, I had a pipe that could fit into another pipe. Whoot. I added the channel in the Main Body for the pins, and called it a night.

Friday I cut the Rotating Tumblers. Seven of them, hence the LOTR quote in the title. And they look pretty epic. And they're heavy as hell, which should make for a nice weight in the finished product.

There are many ways to cut a huge pipe into smaller rings. A lot of people use a band saw with a diamond bit blade, or some other powered means. Me? I like hand tools. There's something about the tactile interaction of man, tool and raw material that gets to me. Very visceral.

Let me introduce you to my friend, the pipe cutter:

It doesn't so much cut the pipe (by removing material, as a saw would) as insinuate itself between the metal, via your hand and a dull little wheel. You clamp this thing on the pipe, and spin it around a couple million times, tightening the bolt little by little as you go. This is the reason why I'm in pain as I try to type this. Many unsightly blisters. But I'm loving every moment of it.

Another 3 hours later, and I have 9 nicely shaped rings (two for the endcaps). I finished off by sanding down the rough edges of the rings to make them line up flush against each other. For this I got fed up with hand tools and busted out my Dremel, an electric rotary tool.

All the parts are cut, now it's just a matter of assembling and installing the locking mechanisms, which shouldn't take more than a day. Here's what I've got so far:

Some lessons learned from this project thus far:
-Wood and flesh are not that dissimilar, and saws, drills, sanding disks, and power tools will not make a distinction.
-The same thing goes for metal and pipe cutters.
-Eye protection is important.
-As are face masks.
-Sun strokes are nothing to mess around with.
-Cat's don't like loud noises, and will freak out.
-When cats freak out, their claws come out and grab hold of anything soft and fleshy.
-Sanding requires a lot of repetitive stroking movements that make me a little self conscious.
-Headphone wires are very thin and should be treated with care.
-Duct tape and paper towels are much better than Band-Aids.
-Make sure you know which way the metal sparks are going to fly before you turn on the power grinder.
-If you scream like a little girl over metal sparks flying at your face, the neighbors will peek over the fence.

Yes, my workshop is a mess, but I like it that way.

What Goes in Must Come Out

To show you all that these contests are real, here's some photos of Anthony enjoying his prize:

Stochastic, Fantastic, and Really Bombastic

And just like that we're done. It's been seven weeks, and I would like to say that it seemed so short, but it really wasn't. At times, it seemed like time was slowing to a stop, and at other is seemed to proceed at the normal pace, but I wouldn't say it ever flew by. But that doesn't mean I didn't have fun.

Things I Will Not Miss:
-Having to scramble in the morning to make lesson plans
-Having to play Yes or No
-Having to yell
-Dealing with tattletales and whining
-Walking the 2 miles to work
-Running the 2 miles to work when I'm 20 minutes late
-Being told I need to go to art school
-Teaching kids how to fold paper in half
-Asking what did we do yesterday, and having the smart-ass kids raise their hands to tell me "I wasn't here yesterday"
-Having to clean up mystery liquids that leaked out of the garbage bag because kids drag them across the ground instead of carrying them
-Washing said mystery liquids out of my hair because kids like to fling the leaking bag into the garbage bin
-Being told my mouth is too small for my head

Things I Will Miss:
-Most of the kids
-The people
-That genuine look of excitement when I show them the homopolar motor, or square bubbles
-Being called Mr. Science
-Being called Mr. Money-moto, Taketono, Cortez, or any variation thereof
-Hearing "wow, Mr. Sakimoto is mean today, yeah?"
-Having things remotely interesting things to write about
-Getting paid
-Being looked up to
-Feeling like an adopted big brother, father, uncle.
-Their little sweaty hugs
-Seeing their shock when I tell them how many sentences I have to write each day (hint: it's more than the 5 I ask from them)
-Reaffirming that I love science
-Reassuring myself that I am making the right career choice for myself

Wednesday night was a nice cap to this program. All the morning and afternoon teachers were invited to a party to unwind and collectively debrief. Honestly the most fun I've had all summer, which says something, I just don't know what. So many inside jokes, so many laughs, so many good people. I'm saddened to think that there's little chance I'll see many of these amazing friends and coworkers again, since my summer plans for next year don't involve me coming home. But I count myself lucky to find a job that has been rewarding in so many ways, and to make so many new friends. Awesome Summer Job: +1000 experience, +3 hit pts., +2 armor. Level Up.

This summer has been by far my most exciting, most painful, and most worthwhile one. I have been pulled to these ecstatic highs, and several soul crushing lows, by both this program, and other poignant facets to this summer experience. As we move closer towards fall, and that inevitable return to school, I'm not sure what to make of it.

I like the analogy of Brownian Motion. It's stochastic, meaning that it appears random, contrary to the determinism of Newtonian Mechanics. But if you had the computing/brain power to track every atom, every collision and every trajectory, it would appear very Newtonian. They often make the analogy of stirring jelly in to a bowl of pudding (or something British). As you swirl the jam into the pudding, everything becomes mixed. Can you unmix it just by going backwards? In theory, if you could track every atom, you could. But in reality you can't, it's nearly impossible.

I can track my personal trajectory pretty well. I know where I've come from, and can see how I've changed and progressed this summer. But what worries me is the gazillion other pudding molecules in this bowl with me. I know that it's impossible to simply return to the status quo, to revert back whenever it seems convenient. And why would I? Progress, growth and change are all wonderful things, at certain times. What I would find comforting is a sort of periodicity, and natural rhythm that I can rely on and return to when necessary. I seek not for stagnation, but stability. That perhaps is not the right word, but I'm rather out of sorts at the moment.

It's a mystery to me, what I shall find this coming fall. I can judge how I would fit in to the circumstances I left at the end of the spring term. It's like being led into the middle of a forest, then being blindfolded and told to find your way out. Easy, I know where I am, I saw everything on my way in. But what if the landscape changed. Trees switched places, ridges and valley sprung up where there were none before. Though my physical point in time and space has not changed, the landmarks by which we navigate have changed, or disappeared altogether.

I'll keep updating this blog, as I have many projects in the works for the remainder of the summer. The first one I'm tackling is making a cryptex, a la The Da Vinci Code. I'll post pictures once I make more impressive headway. I would start another, less narrowly defined blog, but I don't think I could stand to realize that only two people are still reading this thing.

So let us continue with this summer...

Let The Debriefing Begin!

I know very few to none are going to read this full mess, a few more will skim it, and most will just completely ignore it. But getting people to read has never been the point of this blog. I've always found writing is my choice medium for collecting and clarifying my thoughts, and this is no different. So, whether you care or not, let the debriefing begin.

My life this summer has been like an Ibsen play. The author feels no need to secure a happy ending, but rather likes to throw people into situations and see how they react, regardless of what strings must be pulled. As soon as I find something I can enjoy and rejoice in, the Universe decides to play a malicious game of keep away with my happy. Today was my last day teaching these kids, since tomorrow is a "fun day" where they'll have rope courses and stuff like that. I was pretty happy about being done, as this job has been a strain on my patience and confidence in the future. But more on that later.

Once I came home, it was supposed to be simple. An easy night of relaxing and catching up with friends across the Ocean. I don't know what I was thinking. Why would I want to ever make things simple for myself? I turned on my computer, and it freaked out. I've had issues with computers before, but never like this. A program on my computer "AntiVir Solution Pro" was telling me that almost every program file on my computer was infected. I didn't remember installing such a program, as I already have triple redundancy in my computer security (Norton, Symantec, and this thing called CA Security Suite), so I don't know why I would have downloaded a trial version of a 4th. But considering this "spyware program" wouldn't let me go on the internet (I opened Mozilla Firefox, and I was told that Internet Explorer was blocking a potentially malicious sight. Very fishy), I suspected all was not well.

Literally every program was reported as "infected". I tried to open up the backup program for my external harddrive, and it was blocked. I tried to open up the in-house system restore feature, and again, was blocked. Could not open a single program. I couldn't even wipe my hard drive and reboot the system. Fully paralyzed. As I slowly realized I had gotten cluster-f*cked by a bogus virus scanning program, I had to laugh. Laughter slowly developed in to weeping, and weeping took a left turn at punching things and floored it down swearing boulevard. So I tried using my mom's computer to look up how badly I had screwed myself. I found several sights with unhelpful suggestions, recommending I do things like go on the internet and download another virus scanning program (uh uh uh, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, and I might as well bend over and...well, yeah). The solutions that didn't require me to download things, had instruction that followed something like this:

1. Find this hidden folder that is called something completely different in Vista. We don't know what it's called, so good luck.
2. Find this hidden file that's a string of random letters and numbers. Every time the virus infects a computer, it's a different string of random letters, so we can't tell you an exact file name. Oh, and all the other important system files in that folder are also named by a string of random letters. You can try this, but we can't guarantee success.
3. Since you probably couldn't do the first two steps, you might as well bend over...and unplug your computer because it will never work again.

If it wasn't for Safe Mode, I wouldn't be able to write this post, so thank God (who can't go faster than the Speed of Light) for that. I think this is also a sign that I should take the plunge and just go ahead and upgrade to Windows 7.

So ignoring those 4 hours that were delivered unto the Gods of Futility as temporal sacrifice, it was a pretty good day today. As I said, it was relatively easy. I had decided that I deserved an easy day for once. So we played with bubbles. And learned. Always learning.

After some 11th hour planning, and an ingenious suggestion from Angela, I settled on showing the kids how to make square bubbles.

Square Bubbles! Impossible you might say. I had the exact same reaction. But observe how I speak the truth.

And,

Huzzah! True, not what I imagined when I heard Square Bubbles (I was thinking of those crazy bubbles Spongebob blew), but rather mind blowing. Kudos.

But it wasn't just a "blow bubbles" day. They had to learn science. That's how this whole teaching thing goes. I explained about the micell structure of soap, and the weird polarity things that accompany it (something I only remember hearing off hand in 7th grade). I also went over why the sphere is a geometrically favorable shape (ratio of volume to surface area). It was a great lesson to reinforce somethings we have gone over, as well as teach them something practical (why soap works the way it does).

With the oldest group, E group, we did a Mythbusters experiment based on the Humpty Dumpty myth. The task was: put humpty dumpty together again. I suppose I am learning, because I had the foresight to tell them to go out side to do the experiment. I still have much to learn, as I should have rephrased the instruction "smash it against the ground".

One group was able to successfully put the egg back together again, while the others made a terrible mess. Here's the reassembled egg:

A little more tape than I would have liked, but they did it. And were very pleased with themselves. Pictures cannot be posted for certain reasons.

And I give you my pen-ultimate shirt pocket:

And because I decided I would give myself an easy day, my pocket is empty. But my heart is full. I challenge someone to come up with something cornier.

My last class of this program had 3 kids in it because it was one of the small groups to begin with, and many had already gone home:

And as I sat there watching my kids have the time of their life with nothing more than a bucket of soapy water, I started mentally debriefing, pondering, and thinking, as I must always do towards the end of a project.

I think it's fair to say that I've grown a lot in the past 7 weeks of this program. I had never worked with kids in this capacity before, always opting for work with the elderly as my community service of choice. And though there are many similarities (frequency of bowel movements, short attention spans, the smell), they differ greatly. I've learned how to command the attention of distracted, ADD little children, if only for a few moments of the day (talk loudly and be the most distracting thing in the room). I've learned how to deal with them on an individual basis (it's very important to go down to their level, and meet them at their height). I can definitely say that I've picked up important job (and life) skills from this experience. Though I have much to learn and to improve upon, the task managing children no longer seems so daunting. And after this experience, I know I will make a great father. Someday. I do find it odd that after through this program, I began to feel protective of some of these kids. I take it as a good sign. Papa Bear, that whole complex.

But what's more striking than how I've grown, is how I've come to view myself. I've always struggled with viewing myself as the appropriate age. As a young kid, I always felt much older than everyone else. Perhaps it was because I was well behaved and didn't do the immature things that make teachers cry (experience), but I felt too old for my classmates. As I grew old, this feeling inverted, and I struggled to view myself as old. And when I finally turned 18, went off to college and became "independent", I still felt like I was in middle school, trying to figure out how this whole "switching classes for each subject" thing worked.

Up until this summer, I'd found it hard to think of myself as an adult, and a member of the workforce. My first job, working in an engineering lab, did nothing to cultivate my personal maturity, as I worked under a pile of grad students, researchers, post docs, and a PI in the insular womb of academia. Even working on my own research project did nothing for me. But this summer has changed a lot. I feel like an adult.

I look back and I'm pleasantly surprised by what I was able to accomplish. I proposed and planned my own curriculum. I conducted 5 hours of classes each day on my own, following my own lesson plans. This and the many little things along the way have changed my personal perception. Which is a good thing.

I've been mentally planning the timeline of the next few years for some time now. After Yale, let's say another 4 years of grad school. Getting a job, getting married, getting a family, that whole bit. It all seemed so grown up, and so imminent. And it honestly terrified me. Aside from the legal reasons (and a whole host of other ones), I've never touched alcohol because it seemed too mature. I didn't feel like I was anywhere near being at a point in my life where it didn't seem odd and out of place. And while I'm still too young for some of the things I've mentioned above, and I have much left to grown into, for the first time in my life I feel on track. Not mired down by social retardation, by keeping even with the pack. It feels good.

And here's my final thought for the night:

I've also found the converse is true. This program has made me feel very young. I think many scientists become jaded by academia, since it indeed becomes much harder and much more abstract. Unless you're the type that really really likes numbers (not me), science can seem like a chore at times. But this experience has reintroduced me to some of the fundamental wonders of the natural world. Magnets are still awesome, and still seem like black magic to me. Baking Soda and Vinegar will forever make me giggle. And bubbles, well, they're bubbles, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I'm sure as I become busier and more entrenched in this whole living thing, that I'll lose sight of what I type here. As I dive deeper into my engineering courses in the fall, I'll forget how awesome even the simplest circuit is, or how a high pitched squeal of joy can light up a room. But in this rare moment where I have time to think, debrief and ponder, I can appreciate the wholeness of this experience, the complexity of emotion and sentiment.

The aging of eternal youth. I think that sort of sums it up for now. Ah, look at the time. I must be going, as I must still go to work in the morning. So that will be it for now, readership. I know most won't make it this far in the post, and I'd even be so cocky that no one will bother with these last few sentences. But that's perfectly fine. They've served their purpose.