Saturday, May 3, 2008

A Faire Afternoon

The boys and I just got back from the Maker Faire at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. Quite a collection of creative people were assembled, purveyors of everything from rockets, robotics and electronics to beads, calligraphy and knitting. I think the best thing about setting up there would be the interaction with other inventors, getting inspired by their ideas; the worst thing would be getting stuck with a booth next to the guy who makes "music" on an amplified rake.

Muna and Aidan made rockets and set them off outside, they played with magnets, bicycle wheels, wind tunnels, marble roller coasters and LEDs. They saw robot insects, robot crabs, robot dogs, robot birds, and real goats for some reason. We ate the most expensive hot dogs I've ever had and some pretty good kettle corn, too. I've never been to a fair on the West Coast that had fried dough. Why is that? It's definitely not the health issue: every place out here has funnel cakes. So what do I have to do, mix some dough and set up the stand myself? I'm tempted to start up my homemade pizza biz (there was no pizza in the whole fairgrounds) and charge five bucks a slice. Anyway, I had to steer the boys clear of most tables that said, "Do not touch," but they still seemed to have fun. They even had a brush with greatness:


Now I know who the big limo outside was for. On arriving home, I asked them what their favorite part was. Muna's was making the rocket, and Aidan's was meeting R2D2. When Lucy came home, Aidan shouted, "We rode a bus!" Yes, we rode a school bus from the free parking to the fairgrounds, but it wouldn't have made the top 10 memories of my day. Cheap thrills, indeed.

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