Took Samuel to a local university workshop to work on his pinewood derby. I took a bunch of hand tools – coping, hack and wood saw, files, etc.- to do the work. When we got there, the kids were lining up for the band saw. They’d draw their car on the block, and the shop supervisor would cut it for them. Samuel wanted to do that at first, but I got him to use the hand tools. He drew a car on the block from another’s pattern. His first cuts were crooked, but as the first hour turned into a second, he gained confidence with the tools. He got a rough cut out of the wood block, then went back to straighten out his cuts after seeing how the coping saw could make bending cuts in the soft wood. I was going to put the final touches on with the belt sander but saw he was getting it with a rasp. We stopped on the way home at the hardware store and he picked out some paint. He put two coats on it, putting away most of a pizza in between coats. Later, I watched the Bengals choke away a sure victory over the Steelers – for no other reason that having too many millionaire punks on one team. I feel bad for their coach.