Monday July 26, 2004 Matt Ingenthron's Stream of Consciousness
Monday July 26, 2004 I'm getting ready to make a quick entry about my automotive pursuits from the weekend, but I decided first I should explain this category and why I created it.
There are certain things that go together with computer geekyness. A computer geek need not have all of these traits, but the correlation between these items and computer geekyness is high. Examples are:
- Enjoying mathematics
- Being very practical in things financial
(with the requisite areas of weakness of course) - Being practical in things automotive
- Enjoying taking things apart and figuring out how they work
(I think this trait leads to computer geekyness, because it's not a secret that these things haven't evolved enough to make sense to most people) - Finding out where the limits of things is
(ex.: overclocking, racing, not working on things until up against a deadline) - Enjoying automomobiles and motorcycles
- Having an ability to work very well with people of a similar mindset
You'll note that two of those are mutually exclusive. Or it could be said they share a mutex which is locked by one or the other interest at birth or shortly thereafter in early socialization. But I digress...
Anyway, automotively speaking, I'm in the latter category. I've always been interested in cars. I don't know why this is. When I was young I watched a lot of CHiPs, and my mother reports that I would have a HotWheelsTM car in both hands at nearly all times. I don't quite know why this is, as my parents weren't overtly automotive enthusiasts. Pehaps with enough data, some kind of explanation would emerge, but I don't have that data-- so I'll just blame it on genetics.
I'm slightly different in that I don't pledge allegiance to any one particular brand or type of vehicle. They all have their merits (with the occasional exception).
I've done SCCA solo in the past (and want to do more), I currently drive an Infiniti G35c and I enjoy carving up the Santa Monica Canyon roads on the weekend. I wish I had more time and money to persue this stuff some more-- I just haven't had it.
That gives you a primer. Now you can listen in on any of my rantings/ravings in this area as time goes on. It is, afterall, called a stream of consciousness.
( Jul 26 2004, 09:42:52 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [3]Post a Comment:
Comments are closed for this entry.
My dad was one of the founders of the Pacific Sports Car Club in the 1950s, which merged with the California Sports Car Club in the early 60s I think. When they used to have parties they were very cool in a Watusi-on-the-beach sort of way (we lived on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, so lots of beach parties).
There was this guy named Harlan Hall who used to come to all their parties and sit in the corner reading comic books and drinking milk. He was a Math Nerd working for one of the defense contractors...maybe Hughes...still living with his parents in his 30s and saving all his money (in currency, he didn't trust banks) to periodically buy a new Porsche (again, with a lump cash payment) from Vasek Polak up the road.
Is THAT the kind of motors and math you're talking about?
Posted by Danese Cooper on July 26, 2004 at 03:51 PM PDT #
Exactly!
Actually, I'm a bit envious-- I got the 'financially conservative' strain mixed into my being, so i'm not overly leveraged and driving an exceptionally nice car or something like that. Maybe I should become less responsible....
Posted by Matt Ingenthron on July 26, 2004 at 10:21 PM PDT #
Posted by Kathy Fehr on October 09, 2004 at 06:43 PM PDT #