oh. my.

Further proof that the world is full of goodness is found HERE.

Suttonhoo is a dear friend, and she has joined forces with The World's Best Mechanical Engineer and his Brother (both friends we've never met) to bestow upon Joe-Henry some real life magic. A while back, TWBME very generously posted a series of experiments for Joe-Henry on Suttonhoo's blog, after hearing that JH had a penchant for knowing how the doors work on the MAX train. It was quite a series, and deserves a second look. Their generosity of spirit continues, and we here at the McQ household, all of us, are verklempt.

We offer a million thank-yous, and it still doesn't seem like enough. You make the world golden.

The First Experiment

It takes a village, as you know, to keep a six year old busy during summer break, and we've been lucky enough to have The World's Best Mechanical Engineer entertaining us with his feats of Mechanical Engineering Derring-Dew, and lobbing us a few fabulous experiments to try as well. This is all courtesy of my friend Suttonhoo, who gave so much lovely space on her superworldly, supersmart blog to this process, and took my thinking out loud "I wish I knew The World's Best Mechanical Engineer so I could foist Joe-Henry's questions about the Max Train Doors off on him" and ran with it, in her inimitably generous fashion. I've been feeling a bit guilty that it's taking us so long to get to them, as he was so kind to answer Joe-Henry's questions in the first place, and he's a busy man, he's not just ANY mechanical engineer, for God's sake he's the World's BEST, and I don't think it's wise to keep the muckety mucks waiting!

However, I have a six year old, whose attention span fluctuates between "TOTAL" (when watching television he CANNOT hear my voice) and "NONE" (in the toy store, he hops from thing to thing like a flea), and I've learned that like in most of the rest of life, timing is everything. So today, armed with our list, we headed out in the pouring rain to Radio Shack.




As we walked into the store, we were immediately assaulted with colorful remote controlled vehicles, all of which he wanted, and "Ooooooh, mom look at THIS one! What? Oh, I know, I know, we're not getting a toy. But look at this one!"


We were also assaulted by some loud rap music, which one employee turned up louder the minute we walked in (and yes, TWBME, I do believe it was GANGSTA rap!). Fortunately for us, the manager, a nice, if somewhat bitter middleaged man, came out of the back, asking if he could help us, while immediately turning down the music and telling the twenty-something employee that it wasn't appropriate. UNfortunately, they didn't have even one of the things on our list, this being a specialized MALL Radio Shack (is there another kind?), and so they only carry obnoxious remote control toys and nothing like motor wire or magnets, etc.

We then walked down the mall to Target, to see if we could get a can of Mountain Dew. They'd sell us a gallon, but not a single can. Now, I know TWBME swears by the stuff, but I know my boy, and fizzy stuff just isn't in his repertoire, and I don't want to buy a gallon jug or six pack of stuff that no one in this house is going to drink. I do plan on making him try it though, if only to take a picture of the face he makes, and I'll finish it up and hope against hope that I don't get addicted.

So, strike two, and out of Target we shuffle, heads hanging low. The only thing that could save the day was a trip to Orange Julius, and just as he is about to open his straw, I remember the astonishingly simple experiment we were given. One of the first in the series on pneumatics. Woooooohoooo! We're saved! The only thing is, he doesn't want to wait for me to take pictures.




But I'm the mom, so I MAKE him wait. I also remind him of the cool pneumatics experiment with the straw, and as I tear off the end of the wrapper, he gets it, and his eyes light up.


After getting hit in the eye with a straw wrapper for about five minutes, I tell him it's time to drink his Strawberry Julius so we can head home. To which he replies "Okay, Mom. But pneumatics is SO much fun!"



And that's how we turned a failed shopping expedition into a fabulous experiment on pneumatics!
Thanks TWBME! You SO live up to your name!

Last in a series

Check out the last question Joe-Henry asked of The Worlds Best Mechanical Engineer, over at Detritus.
This has been an amazing series. Stay tuned this week to see how these experiments turn out!
Thanks, Worlds Best! We look forward to the questions you have for Joe-Henry!

Pop a Mountain Dew and check it out...

The World's Best Mechanical Engineer strikes again over at Detritus, courtesy of my pal Suttonhoo!

Also, stay tuned next week, when school is out and Joe-Henry and his momma attempt to do the experiments in this awesome series!

Time + Heart = Generosity

This is a Huge Hug and a Shout Out to my friend Suttonhoo over at Detritus, and to The World's Best Mechanical Engineer, a dear friend I've never met.

It all started with me getting winded trying to keep up with my son's long list of questions about how the doors work on the Max Train. I jokingly suggested to Suttonhoo that I'd love to direct some of those questions to TWBME. She was seeing him in the next couple days, so she asked if he'd be willing to answer a few questions from a six year old, and he gamely said "Yes!"

I posted about this a few days ago, but he has steadily been supplying the most amazing, innovative, exciting and best of all UNDERSTANDABLE answers to Joe-Henry's questions about the way things work. Of course, it's a given that Joe-Henry would understand them, I'm talking about understandable to ME. He makes Mechanical Engineering thrilling. And funny.

Really, truly, you need to check it out. The whole series is right here.


Thanks again to The World's Best Mechanical Engineer and the Fabulous Ms. Suttonhoo.

answers to life's questions...

...will need to be answered somewhere else.

But answers to a six year old's questions, questions about doors and trains, etc, asked of THE WORLDS BEST MECHANICAL ENGINEER, through the generous spirit of Suttonhoo over at Detritus, those answers can be found here.

Honestly, I just couldn't take anymore door questions, so I passed them along, and THE WORLDS BEST MECHANICAL ENGINEER answered them brilliantly.

Thank you, WBME! Thank you!