What About Socialization?

American Science & Surplus is probably one of the coolest stores on earth. They specialize in selling the kinds of stuff that you would never go looking for, but that you have to have when you see it.

Living in the Chicago area, I’m lucky to be only a 15 minute drive from their store. But I was double-lucky on my last trip there, when I learned of their annual warehouse sale.

Clearly, a field trip to their suburban storehouse was required. And as soon as we pulled in to the parking lot, I could see that we were in good company.

Entering AmSci headquarters, we first walked past a series of cubicles decorated with stuff that I recognized from their catalogs and store: inflatable moose heads, misappropriated lab equipment, and plastic jeejaws of all descriptions.

From there, we passed into the warehouse proper, and I was immediately reminded of the closing scene from Indiana Jones. But instead of crates of ancient artifacts, the shelves were lined with everything from electronic components to discontinued toys to scientific and medical apparati of curious appearance.

We grabbed a cart and started threading our way through the narrow aisles. I could feel the press of people lining up behind us, and since the aisles were not wide enough to let one cart pass another, I felt a bit rushed.

So after the first few times that Lydia asked if she could get one thing or another, I finally told her (and myself), “We’re not going to be saying ‘no’ to much of anything today. If you think you might want it, throw it in the cart!”

We ended up spending just over $100 dollars, and ended up with an enviable trove of goodies, including:

• 4 Gooseneck LED reading lights, in pieces
• A Halloween votive candle holder
• 4 sheets of magnetic sparkly paper
• 12 sheets of sparkly paper
• A new hot glue gun
• A combination laser pointer / gooseneck LED light
• A bunch of anti-static bags
• 23″ inflatable ghost with LED eyes
• 30″ inflatable spider with LED eyes
• 32″ inflatable bat with LED eyes
• Plastic vampire teeth
• 6×8 tarp
• Pair of boot liners
• 2x 115 volt stepper motors
• 24V and 12V cooling fans
• 4 packs of dripping blood window clings
• 4 small DC motors
• 5 velcro tie straps
• Pink, blue, and green gel-filled, prism-shaped ruler
• SOMETHING SECRET from the US Navy that’s going to my Dad at Christmas-time
• Prang air-hardening modeling clay
• Transparent plastic anatomical frog model
• Harry Potter physics experiment kit
• 2 pieces of polished petrified wood
• 2 massive, plastic-coated, donut-shaped magnets
• A miniature disco ball
• Set of 5 Dremel bits
• An eyeball straw
• A glow-in-the-dark 3d fossil puzzle
• 2 sheets of magnetic frogs
• A box of 64 quarter-sized ring magnets
• 8 bottles of white glue
• A pack of “Easy Squeezy” clay
• A pack of “base ten” cards

Funfunfun. Now, my secret laboratory feels much better-equipped…