Graduated from 8th Grade!

Success with Making Batteries

To be honest, I was worried when Cameron came asking for a conductor, preferably copper wire, because he wanted to play with electricity.  After I was sure he was neither going to stick anything into an outlet, nor build something potentially explosive, I supplied him with copper wire.  With some salt water and some aluminum, he managed to generate 1.47 volts.  I asked him where he got the idea and what directions he was following, and he said, with exasperation, "This is just stuff I know!"  (Geesh, Mom!)

Lost in the 80s?

Playing his new Atari 2600 game Pitfall II with his Rubiks Cube nearby and Mountain King on deck.  Time travel?

Sledding!

Solo!

I love how you can hear someone scream when they realized Cameron was going to play!

Time Well Spent

How Cameron spends his time in class instead of doing schoolwork.

Teacher does not approve.

Bewildered by Award

He was confused to be called up for an award in band, looking around him unsure what to do.  "The Student  Most People Want To Be Like."  (A peer nominated and voted award - go Cameron!)  It was accompanied by the comment that ". . . if you need to figure out a complicated pattern or rhythm, he is the go-to guy."  Cameron said, "Yeah, I am pretty good at that."

Jr. Lilac Parade

Texting With the Spie

Life Skills

A proper geek needs more credentials than Portal expertise.

Turning 11

 XBox with a friend

 Official birthday cake inspection.

 Make a wish.

(That doesn't work, you know.)

 Ice cream cake picnic.

 A few gifts,

and a pool party.

That concludes birthday celebration, Day 1.

Kinect Ski Racing

Misc. Facebook Anecdotes I Didn't Want to Lose

Peculiar Pastime

This is what Cameron has been doing for fun.  Travis says he's doing well.
I'll take their word for it.

We Will Never Keep Up

Cameron just needed help to access the internet (the proxy was hung up).  Given access, he opened Chrome, typed "Lord of the Rings guitar tabs," clicked on a link that shows a bars, lines, A's and B's and some such gobbly goo, and started playing the Shire theme on his guitar.

The Spie

Quote of the Week

Auntie: "Cameron, how's school going?"
Cameron: "It's good. Conor said my teacher is mean, but I disagree."
Auntie: "What's your favorite thing you're doing?"
Cameron: "Ummm, astronomy."
Auntie: "What? That's cool! You're learning about astronomy?"
Cameron: "Well, I'm not, but the other kids are."

Future Duck?

Cameron is having fun at Uncle Travis's lab at U of O.

Bet his little brain is spinning!

Cameron at the Office

Cameron came to work with me, created some privacy with an on-end mat, found some entertainment, and didn't bug anyone all day!

(Is this picture diagnostic?)

More Basic Skills

He downloaded a tutorial that is an introduction to visual basic. Actually, he had trouble downloading it because of our parental network controls and sent the following e-mail to his dad. Subject: i hate firewalls. Message:hey dad, could you turn off the firewalls that block downloads? I was trying to download a thing so I could program (and actually save) my programs in basic. but a firewall blocked it. so can you please turn off that firewall at least for a while? thanks for your time. So Michael helped him download his requested materials, and Cameron's brain is whirling (and body twirling). After the first little exercise, he said, "I don't have to type all this! I can do this with a loop!" and off he went. Now he is connecting his loops. All this learned in a very short time, all on his own. I am praying he will have a good 5th grade teacher!

He asked me to put this on Facebook. He was far too busy to waste time on Facebook himself. :)