August Update

---

Things have been busy both at home and at work, and I’ve been silent on this web site for a while. Here’s an update.

Maker Faire

The boys inside the Tornado Intercept Vehicle


On July 30, we went to the Maker Faire at Henry Ford Museum. This year’s Faire was somewhat expanded from last year’s, and there were more tables and demonstrations inside the museum. We met Sean Casey, best known from his work on the show Storm Chasers. He built a tank-like vehicle that he drives directly into the line of a tornado, then captures it on film. He and his rig were featured in the IMAX movie “Tornado Alley”, which we saw at Adler Planetarium last month. The kids got to sit inside the “tank” while I impressed Mr. Casey himself by commenting that I saw his movie and that I like the part of the vehicle that drives spikes into the ground to anchor it in high winds. He said that was his favorite part too, but I bet he says that to all his fans.

There were a number of attractions from last year, like the life-sized Mouse Trap game, and the circular bikes that can be pedaled by 6-8 people.

J was quite enamored with the 3-D printing machines that are obiquitous at the Faire, and I agree. They’re pretty cool.

A 3-D printing machine takes the plastic in the spool you see at the top, melts it, and dispenses it out of a small nozzle that moves back and forth. Each layer of carefully-placed plastic builds on the previous, until the object is fully formed.

Dental and Baseball News

Collegiately-colored braces - they say "Go Blue" with every smile.

On August 15, M’s weight rose very slightly with the addition of braces. Part of his new hardware is colored alternately maize and blue. J and I told him that when we had braces, they came in one color: metal.

On August 16, we went to Comerica Park to watch the Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins. It was a beautiful night, and the boys and I took turns filling out the score sheet for the game. It wasn’t the score sheet format I learned when I was younger, so it was a new experience for each of us.

J and I went to Media Day at UM stadium, and she took a picture of the new, gigantic scoreboards/video screens they've been installing over the past few months. Believe it or not, it looks bigger in person than it does in this picture.

Side Projects, and a Link to Finish
I have been working steadily on a software project for the school’s Run-a-thon, a fund-raiser for the school’s PTO and the John R. Crosby Memorial Foundation. It’s a program into which a timekeeper can enter start and finish times for runners. There are some goals for the total number of minutes the kids will walk and run, and the program will keep track of the grand total and display it on a screen.

Here's a link to a great penguin someone made from typewriter parts. Very creative!

---