Saturday, September 16, 2006
The Scientific Method
Roommate Liz and I went to the Museum of Science & Industry today. I haven't been since I was a kid, and back then my parents were following their general rule of presuming anything potentially fun to be dangerous, so we mainly looked at a lot of diagrams about thermal energy. Today we got to do it all, though. We visited the dollhouse, perhaps the exhibit with the loosest connection to either "science" or "industry," and saw how tiny imaginary creatures can live a life far better than anything of which you or I could dream. We went down into the coal mine with an elderly, hyperactive man who clearly hated everyone in sight and made frequent, wishful references to tunnel collapses and other mining disasters. We even walked through the giant heart, which takes all of about seven seconds and is about as thrilling as walking through Gary, Indiana. It was an amazing morning.
Of course, this did provide me with yet another opportunity to reflect on my own unreadiness to assume any kind of parenting role. As children dashed by me, jamming all the buttons on the flight simulator and cramming cheetohs into the model of the eye, I realized that not only did this behavior horrify me, but it was also not so terribly far removed from the potentialities of my own. I mean, Roommate Liz and I purposefully crashed the submarine simulator against enemy craft and/or whales more times than I can even enumerate. Clearly I am not quite ready to be the grownup.
Photos of the stunning day will follow shortly.
Roommate Liz and I went to the Museum of Science & Industry today. I haven't been since I was a kid, and back then my parents were following their general rule of presuming anything potentially fun to be dangerous, so we mainly looked at a lot of diagrams about thermal energy. Today we got to do it all, though. We visited the dollhouse, perhaps the exhibit with the loosest connection to either "science" or "industry," and saw how tiny imaginary creatures can live a life far better than anything of which you or I could dream. We went down into the coal mine with an elderly, hyperactive man who clearly hated everyone in sight and made frequent, wishful references to tunnel collapses and other mining disasters. We even walked through the giant heart, which takes all of about seven seconds and is about as thrilling as walking through Gary, Indiana. It was an amazing morning.
Of course, this did provide me with yet another opportunity to reflect on my own unreadiness to assume any kind of parenting role. As children dashed by me, jamming all the buttons on the flight simulator and cramming cheetohs into the model of the eye, I realized that not only did this behavior horrify me, but it was also not so terribly far removed from the potentialities of my own. I mean, Roommate Liz and I purposefully crashed the submarine simulator against enemy craft and/or whales more times than I can even enumerate. Clearly I am not quite ready to be the grownup.
Photos of the stunning day will follow shortly.
