spynotes ::
  February 19, 2007
A Pineapple Under the Sea

It�s feeling alarmingly like finals week here in the Spy household. AJ�s science fair is Thursday and we have to set up Wednesday after school. And of course, there are the two conference papers I have to give next week. And Mr. Spy has some deadlines of his own.

The projects are fairly under control, although there is still work to do. We�ve mocked up the display and are holding out for a few more pictures to make the visual presentation complete. We also need to buy more Life Savers. AJ�s project was testing people�s ability to taste while holding their noses. We blindfolded them and gave them a candy while they held their noses and had to try to identify the flavor. Then they had to try again with an unplugged nose. It was pretty interesting. Most of the test subjects did abysmally with their noses plugged and extremely well unplugged. Two subjects did perfectly both ways. Those two were The Girl Next Door and her brother. We�re wondering if they�re genetically better at tasting. But of course, we don�t have much of a data set.

AJ was really into the testing, but he�s kind of bored with the presentation part. We took advantage of his recent interest in photography and had him take picture of things that were sweet, sour, salty and bitter for the part of the poster that explains how taste works. We learned that the old maps of tongues with tastebuds divided into zones for each flavor are thought to be false and we wrote about it. AJ and his dad collected some other taste facts for the display. But all in all, I�m not sure how much fun AJ had. I know he loves science and experiments, but the whole format of the science fair, which got him so excited at first, seems to have taken the wind out of his sails. I can�t help but feel like it�s my fault, that we�ve pushed too hard to finish, that we picked a project that didn�t interest him beyond the fact that it got us to bring candy into the house. So I guess I�m feeling a little disappointed at the venture. I hope he has fun at the actual fair, though. I think he�s going to enjoy the scientific demonstrations. And maybe we�ll get some better ideas for next year and for things to try at home.

As for me, paper number one is pretty much done � I need to tweak a couple of things, check a couple of facts and replace some of my words with quotes. And I need to make the handout. I should have a draft of paper number two done tonight. The handout for that one is going to be beastly, so I want to leave plenty of time to get that done. If I do polish it off today, I�ll be a couple days ahead of my drop dead schedule, so all is well. And if I can possibly help it, I will never be delivering multiple papers at the same conference again.

AJ is still in recovery. He is currently lying on the family room couch looking stoned, so tired is he. He is watching a Spongebob marathon. He�s earned the rest.

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