Just What Are They Laughing At?
Posted by Heather in Gifted Children, Quirky Kid Dossier, This Mom GigApparently I’ve become the laughing stock of electronic nerds throughout my city.
See, I’m on a top-secret mission. To find tiny vibrating pager motors. You remember pagers, right? Those things they used way back in the 1980’s, even early 1990’s to alert you that you needed to stop and use a pay phone to call your office.
It’s almost like this top-secret mission is actually an archeological dig.
I found the motors online, but I wanted to see if I could find them locally (the mad scientist is impatient.) So I called a few electronic-type stores to see if they carried them.
“Yes, do you carry vibrating pager motors?”
“Um, what?”
“Vibrating pager motors, do you sell them?”
snort, giggle, laugh “No, we don’t.”
That happened twice just yesterday. I’m not mentioning the reactions I got last week from other stores.
What’s so funny? Is it a woman asking for a vibrating motor, as if I need to repair a sex toy? Because it’s just ridiculous to think a woman married for over 13 years with two kids uses a sex toy enough to break the damn thing. Besides, if after 13 years your man still hasn’t figured out how to satisfy you without the regular use of electronics, your last concern is a vibrating pager motor. Or maybe it should be your first concern? I don’t know.
Or is it the fact that someone is even looking for pager parts in this age of smart phones that I’m being laughed at?
Whatever, though. Laugh away, electronic nerds, I have a bigger and smarter nerd in my pocket. These tiny vibrating motors are for my son who has taken a sudden interest in robotics. He wants to build his own robots. He’s also begun asking questions about dark matter. Solar panels are on his list of required materials too.
So let’s see…dark matter + tiny motors + solar panels + robots= we’ll see who’s laughing in a few years.
Please pardon me while my son and I go practice our maniacal laugh.
Entries (RSS)
[...] This post was Twitted by QueenOfShake [...]
I love it. My son is also asking to build robots, is obsessed with evolution (yes, carrying around an enormous evolution book at the buckle of the bible belt probably does spell trouble) and takes an active interest in what (if anything) is beyond our universe. His latest topic of conversation? The Hadron Collider. These subjects send me into a tailspin because I get scared at the thought of even traveling to the moon – so how will visit him when he is living on Mars?
Sophie, Inzaburbs´s last blog ..Guess My Age
Remember the movie “Better Off Dead”.
Your son is Badger, the kid who…well, I won’t ruin it if you haven’t seen it. Watch it if you haven’t…watch it again if you have.
Awesome kid, your son.
He can come out here and hang with my daughter and husband…they’re doing science project motors.
Heather´s last blog ..When Adoption’s Not An Option
Let’s never get your son and my son together. I’m afraid of what they would come up with! At least we can hope they will only use their power for good and not evil. It’s all about figuring out how to power stuff with solar or wind power or a stationary bike here. I am afraid of what will happen when his brain catches up with his big ideas.
And hey, after 2 kids and 15+ years, I don’t knock the regular use of electronics. I blame the two kids for screwing things up. The area has been traumatized.
You guys need to check out Jonathon Coulton’s songs about our future robot overlords…I mean, protectors.
TexasRed´s last blog ..Santa Swap Thank you!
Oh, that’s awesome. Remember that I knew you when, okay?
anymommy´s last blog ..Health and Safety
They TOTALLY think you are trying to repair a vibrator! Ha! Repair and vibrator should not ever be used in the same sentence.
Good luck with the vibrating motor!
Try getting in touch with someone at your local High School to get a contact for the Robotics club. They WON’T think you are crazy, and may have some good suggestions.
Tracey´s last blog ..I’m bothered and upset….this is long.
You could always put an ad on craigslist asking for old pagers and just remove the motors that way. I bet there would be some response. In fact, if I were still at my old job (and not a SAHM), I’d have 3 or 4 pagers I could send you.
Amber´s last blog ..Getting Ready for Christmas
I actually saw a pager store the other day. I wondered who in the hell still uses those. There should be a huge graveyard of them somewhere. Maybe you should put an add on Craigslist.org asking for them. Someone might have a few hundred or so. It isn’t like that antique is very desireable. Unless someone likes sticking them in their pants and paging themselves.
Why didn’t you just get him a few, um, personal vibrators and let him take those apart?
joeinvegas´s last blog ..old cartoons
First up? A robot to do your ironing…
[...] Just What Are They Laughing At? – Queen of Shake-Shake [...]
There is a store here in Orlando that stocks electronic surplus and hard to find items: http://www.skycraftsurplus.com …maybe they carry them and will ship?? or can tell you who does? A real wonderland to people who tinker. I’m a mother of a gifted child (and was one myself), these are great years to encourage interests down any rabbit hole. My son takes everything apart. (Read: grrr.) And the questions he asks! You’re doing a great job by giving his interest wings. Maniacial laughter is a bonus.
Tanya´s last blog ..Starfish ~ by Eleanor Lerman
Solar power sex robots? I’d give him a B+ for the idea alone.
home and uncool´s last blog ..Can I Interest You in Hanukkah?
Of course those 12 year olds hear a woman saying “vibrating” and can’t get past that..
i cannot wait to see what P comes up with. Your brilliant one
which reminds me of the time i was humiliated in high school.
i went with my (extremely conservative, catholic, apparently quite naive) mother (of 13 children) to the pharmacy in kmart who asked for “a vibrator”. then “a vibrating machine”. “it’s for my husband”.
her husband (my dad) had emphyzema & there was some contraption he could put near his chest, that i guess vibrated & released some of the junk he accumulated. i dunno. i didn’t care to get specifics.
i’m not sure she understood how lucky she was that she was a regular at the pharmacy, and i think the pharmacist could finally figure out what she was needing.
good times.
much luck with getting the parts you want.
mpotter´s last blog ..the first time…
So….I’m embarrassed to admit it but I kept my pager from middle school. You know, just in case my friends throw a 90s party and I need it as an accessory. Or maybe I’m a mere 20 years away from being on that show Hoarders. I’ll take the motor out and mail it to you if you want. I can’t promise it’ll still work but it’s worth a shot.
Megan´s last blog ..This Week, on The Dating Game
Nice! Anyway, I think it’s great that your son has developed an interest in robotics and stuff. As a dad, I’m having a tough time trying to catch along with my daughter’s interests. LOL.