renaissance men

Today's thought

I have spent the last few years of my life attempting to become somewhat of a renaissance man. It isnt that I want to be some sort of a master of all things. More that i would like to be someone whom most people that know me can feel welcome to call on for help with project x y or z.

Through this process, I have learned how to do quite a varied number of things. I have learned how to be a pretty fair mechanic. A reasonably good welder. Somewhat of an engineer. I am now ok at woodworking. Im a plumber. An electrician, matter of fact, i wired a new circuit into my best friends circuit box last week with the main switch still turned on. turns out, all you really need to know about electricity is the old adage, "dont stick your finger in there."

in any case, the whole point of my writings here is more about finding self than sharing self. I guess what im trying to say is that it seems that one of my favorite things to do really is learning how to do new things. sounds rather circular to me.

To this end, I enlisted the help of a person who is now a very good friend, but 8 years ago was just my buddy's father in law. I'll refer to him as the professor. he refers to me as the apprenti. as if ther ecould really be more than one person as warped as i am.

in any case, at the time that i met the professor, my buddy was making an attempt at fielding a 4 cylinder race car at our local track. it was not going well. our tshirts said "never give up" largely due to the fact the we seemed to be on the brink of such every single time we started the engine at the track.

I can still picture the oddly colored mixture of water and oil, spuna t 6000 rpms, resembling chocolate milk, that we so often found upon draining the oil after a race.

I got to know the professor after asking him to teach me how to build an engine during one particularly long night, during which the IT guy and I , (IT guy being my buddy) were supposed to drop off the car trailer, which was stored at the prof's house, and then pick up ice cream. (never promise your women ice cream and then get caught up in beer and cigarettes with the prof when you're supposed to be right back, it pisses them off)

Long story shorter, they're never really short anyway, I entered a regular regimen of spending my days off from work at the professors workshop. I cannot say enough about the multitude of things that I have learned there. All three of the types of intelligence have been bolstered and grown in that simple mechanic's shop, and in the last eight years, I have grown in more ways than i can begin to express due to my time there.

simple and short, just the way prof likes it,
thanks coops.
Greg