He's Doomed

First - to all of you waiting anxiously for the next installment of "Giving Up My Samantha" - it's coming.  Even though it happened over two years ago, it's still emotionally trying to re-live that time in our lives.  I want to get it down on paper though, so don't worry...you'll get the whole story :)

And now to Ben - our oldest child.  He's sweet and smart and considerate.  And doomed.  To be an engineer, that is.

Hubby and I are both engineers.  We met in college in fact...mechanics of materials to be exact.  How's that for breathtaking romance?  Actually, it's a pretty neat story - maybe my next series (I'll have to have him write his version too though, it's only fair) :)

I have a degree in mechanical engineering, and once upon a time I actually used my (now withered) brain cells for something besides figuring out how many cans of tomato sauce I need to open if I want to make a double batch of spaghetti sauce.  Sometimes I even pull out my fancy calculator to figure out stuff like the unit price of toilet paper.  It makes me feel smart.  I'm sure it makes my poor calculator want to spit out it's batteries in protest.  Ahh, to remember the good old days of calculating stresses, strains, trajectories, and angular motion kinematics.  Didn't know I was such a geek, did ya?

Hubby is a civil engineer.  Need a roof truss, building, bridge, road?  He can design you one.  He could also do some really glamorous calculations about sewer design for you.  I'm a witness.  I sat with him and some of his classmates when they actually calculated the critical velocity...of a turd.  No kidding.

College...those were some rip-roarin' good times.

You should see my beautiful pocket-protector.  It has flowers and hearts and stars on it.  Just kidding.  Or am I??

Anyway...Ben.

Ben is a Cub Scout this year, and we just got the supplies necessary for the wonderful Pinewood Derby.  It's a scouting event in which the boys design and carve/build their very own little car made out of a piece of wood and a couple of wheels.  The goal, of course, is to have your car beat the pants off the other scouts' cars when they roll them down the race track.  Speed, distance, and style baby...that's what it's all about.

Thankfully for me, there's an "open division" in which anyone can enter their car.  Like geeky moms and dads who would otherwise drive their sons crazy trying to control how they do their car.  Ben can do his however he wants...but mine is gonna win.  Mark my words.  I fall asleep designing the thing in my head.  You can take the girl out of engineering, but...you know the rest.

I'm not the only one who can't stop thinking about the big event.  Ben has been talking about it non-STOP.  And just look what I found the other day:

Good Lord.  Do you know what that is?  I promise, neither Mr. or Mrs. Geek have been teaching our kids the basic of aerodynamics, never mind the art of doing engineering drawings.  But just look what Ben did all by his geeky self (sniff, I'm so proud!)!!  The car on the left, aka car "A", is in an aerodynamic shape.  See how the air (represented by the arrows) flows right over the car?  The car on the right, car "B", is not as aerodynamic because it has a square front, which offers lots of friction for the poor little air-arrows.  The get stopped right at the front of the car.

That's my boy!  

Seriously...he's doomed to be an engineer.

But if he decides he'd rather take a more athletic route, there's always boxing.  That would sure make his Wisconsin Papa proud - must be in the blood.  Then again...are there points for dance moves in boxing?