Katelyn Squared!!!

Katelyn came home a couple of weeks ago with a science project where she was supposed to build a machine that would complete a task in at least seven steps and using five mechanical advantages. My first choice was to tell her to take the zero and call it good. Unfortunately, it was worth too many points and it wasn't just her grade depending on it because she had a partner. Thankfully, both of them wanted to get started on it rather than wait until the last minute.

I started asking around for ideas..... from the tech and science teachers at my school to my friends who are engineers. This is what I got....

• Piece of cake..... without any specific advice as to how to make it happen.
• So this is a high school project right?
• Can't help you but I'm sorry she has to do this.
• A few just smiled and laughed.

Katelyn researched it on the Internet and found a few videos. I suggested they do something that would trigger one of those lights that you just have to push down on to turn on. Caitlin came over and they drew up a plan and off I went with Katelyn and her friend Caitlin to Home Depot. Even the Home Depot guy felt sorry for us and said that he didn't really know how to make it work. I leaned over to Katelyn and whispered that she was going to be pretty embarrassed when I started crying in front of her friend.

A few hours later, we were not really any further than we were when we started. Caitlin's parents came to get her and said that they had gotten a text..... something about crying and banging heads on the wall. Her dad very kindly said he would see what he could do to help them out! Last Saturday they got together again and Caitlin's dad helped them come up with this pretty cool contraption. This is also where the term Katelyn Squared came from. He said he realized that every time he called Caitlin, they both looked up so he just started calling them that. A huge thanks goes out to Caitlin's parents, not only for saving the project, but also for letting Katelyn hang out with their family. She really did have a good time. They even took her to Red Mango for frozen yogurt and let her stay for barbecued hamburgers. They are big time UTE fans and have lots of cute kids at their house so it's fun for Kate to go there. Caitlin is a cute girl. They went to elementary school together and have both been in orchestra the past two years. I'm glad they will still go to the same school when it splits.

Here's a video. Unfortunately, we were in such a hurry to get the girls dropped off so that I could get to work that I was the lame one who didn't pay attention to the fact the camera was turned. I'm gonna have to bring my computer home and work on fixing this.