I need some. I figured this out the other night on the way home. When I had my weekends as my own, I went home semi-regularly. Not as often as my folks would have liked, or even as much as I would have liked, but about once a month or so, I’d get in the truck and point it towards wherever Mom and Dad were calling “home” at the time.
When I drive, I figure things out. I’ve never understood it, but I think it’s because driving doesn’t take up a lot of conscious thought for me. Oh, sure, I watch what’s going on, but that’s almost automatic. [I hear Dad cringing, and I hope USAA never reads this.] I can sort of zone out, just looking at the scenery and letting my mind wander.
You know, for an engineer, I have quite diverse thought patterns. Most engineers that I know have very logical thought processes–A, then B, then C, then D or maybe E depending on those before. Me, I go from A to Q to pi. My life forces me to try to control those thought processes, but when I drive, I can stop trying to control things and just let my mind wander.
Oftentimes, I’ve gone on the road extremely stressed and come off of it clear as to what’s going on. I think I know what all is right and wrong in my life right now–there’s a lot of each–but I am too close to all of my problems to really have a feel for it all. It’s such a cliche, but I really can’t see the forest for all the trees.
I’ve got about 30 hours in a car awaiting me in the next five days. I think I’ll figure a lot of stuff out. I think I’ll be better for it, too.
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7 Comments
The one aspect of my job I hate is all the driving, especially towards the end of each quarter.
I did about 500 miles in a week. That may not be a lot, but it’s a lot to me.
Heh. Mine was 1000 … one way.
Whoa!
I’m going to get caught up one of these days. I used to read your material regularly, but got lost somewhere… who knows…
But anyway, I wanted to comment on your assertion that engineers think linearly. Yeah, I guess that some do. I mean, individuals who’ve gone through engineering school and have a degree and, therefore, the right to call themselves an engineer. But, you know, I’m not certain that all of them are engineers. Most of them are, unfortunately, technicians and technologists.
I know that’s not a popular position to take, but there it is. It’s based on a long history of observation, in public, private, and academic sectors.
I think that the real engineers have an ability to think linearly, but that they think in other ways too. They have an ability to get outside the problem, to free associate, to find other ways of looking at something. That’s what the team for the nearly lost Apollo (was it 13?) had to do to come up with a solution to save those astronauts. That was not linear thinking.
Whew…. that was a blog entry for me… but I put it here. Enjoy… and keep up that alternative thinking — it’s really, really important.
I won’t argue with you, seeing as you’re an engineer and a teacher of them.
Awww…. that’s no fun!
Yeah, I’m a punk like that.