jr conlin's ink stained banana

i'm not sure if i'm being a good influence.

One of the neighborhood kids is a spazz. Ok, before you read into that, allow Kent to explain. In his most elegant terms:

The competitive imperative in the nerd is rooted firmly in the Spazz developmental stage. A Spazz is that one kid in every third-grade classroom who lacks the simple motor control needed to walk and chew gum at the same time. i can't think of a single nerd who didn't begin life as a Spazz, forever doomed to trip over a nickel, throw like a girl, dance like a zombie, and be chosen last for every team sport they have a name for.

He's a nerd in bloom. A gentle soul on the way to becoming a proper dork and progressing all the way up to total nerd. (i'll note that i tend to disagree about the difference between "geek" and "nerd" from Kent, but that's just arguing syntax.) He's happily taking things apart, poking things to see how they work, and dabbling into the depths of things kept in God's Domain. His eyes lit up at my suggestion of messing around with breadboards and circuitry designs, he's devoted to Mythbusters, pleasantly cynical, and starting to understand the power of screwing with stuff.

Sadly, his path to full on geekery is a bit stymied by not having terribly technical parents, so i've kinda stepped up to the role. First step: i'm handing him a copy of Hefty Heron 8.04 he can screw around with, with the full knowledge that "things don't always work quite right, but you can always get the code and help fix it." He's having trouble grasping the idea that folks can build something for free that's actually worth using, but i think he'll get it.

i am so bringing this kid to Maker Faire next year.