Who am I?

I'm sorry, I've never formally introduced myself and I've already started sharing my opinion. I guess I assumed that this blog would primarily act as a means of interacting with people who already knew who I was.

I'm a 25 years old college graduate who lives in Wooster, Ohio with my wife Rachel and 2 cats Jack and Charlie. I'm a Project Leader for a Contract Research Organization that does pre-clinical toxicology testing on pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. My degree is in Chemistry, but my interests would probably lead you to believe that I'm a bit more interested in Engineering and Technology than the sciences.

I've been very blessed to live a life that has allowed me to explore any whim or interest that may catch my fancy. Some of my first interests lay in Geology. I had a rock collection for quite some time when I was about 7 or 8 and I also had a rock tumbler with which to polish stones that I had found. As a related interest, I enjoyed fossil hunting. Growing up in Holmes County, I had the opportunity on several occasions to wander through some of the strip mines in the neighboring fields. I took a slight interest in Entomology, accruing a small collection of bugs and learning how to preserve specimens.

My brother was (and still is) very much interested in preparing electronics to do pretty much whatever he asked them to do. I have a very tough time visualizing things that don't have a physical manifestation, and as a result, I much preferred building models of airplanes and boats than building electronic circuits. However, I never really wanted to build models just to look at them, so I built quite a number of Guillow's rubberband powered airplanes. They were the type of things that required tremendous patience in waiting for glue to dry and meticulous fingertip dexterity. Once the model was built, I would typically take it outside for a test. More often than not, I ended up with a wing that was warped, or something was amiss with the model and it never really flew correctly. I would normally keep trying until the wing broke, or the model was in some way damaged. Fortunately, one of my favorite parts of building models was finding ways of improvising a repair to get the model functioning again.

Some of the other hobbies that I pursued were building remote control boats. I owned several and would pilot them around our family pond. I was always trying to find a way to get a boat to turn better, make more power, or in some way make the boat a little bit unique. Another project that I took up was playing the guitar. I can't really call myself a musician, but guitar is visual enough that it was something that I could manage and actually do well. Of course, as with all of my other hobbies, I couldn't leave the equipment well enough alone. I wanted an electric guitar, but was unable to afford to buy one, so I decided to build one. My first electric guitar was kind of lopsided and just didn't seem to be proportional. However, it did play pretty well and I actually liked the way the neck felt on it. It was fretless with markers inlaid into the neck for reference, which had been calculated and placed by yours truly. This guitar was torn down to build the 2 subsequent guitars that I would build throughout High School. Once I was actually able to afford a real Electric guitar, I picked up a Mexican built Fender Stratocaster. Of course, this instrument couldn't be left alone, either and got some graphite bits, a Tele string tensioner, and a few other bits.

I guess all of this leads up to my most recent and most significant hobby to date; automotive tuning. As I mentioned in my previous post regarding Ford cars, I currently own a 2003 ZX3 hatchback with a Zetec engine in it. This is the first and only car that I've ever owned to date. The car was specially ordered with all the options that I wanted it to have in early 2003, and arrived at the dealership the week of my Birthday. I have to thank my parents for helping me purchase the car, which was intended to be reliable transportation during my college years. I had only owned the car for about 5 months before I had ordered a set of aftermarket wheels for the car. Several months later, I purchased a cat-back exhaust to give the vehicle a sportier tone. One thing that I wanted to do as I started modifying my Focus was that I wanted to learn how cars work and how to work on them. As a result, I've done almost all of the work on my car to date, with the help of fellow Focus owners who had more experience wrenching. There are a lot of people out there who want to drive a tuner car, but are completely unwilling to do their own work. A hobby is meant to be a learning experience for the hobbyist. Those who pay people to do all of the work, aren't hobbyists, they're consumers who should stick to their Scions.

Currently, I'm still really enjoying the automotive hobby, although I'm kind of getting to the point where I'd like to develop better street cars, instead of the uncomfortable, uncompromised intent of my Focus. I've recently been really looking into Porsche 911s and older British sports cars. Obviously, my life situation makes owning a $90K+ Porsche is a pipe dream, but its a huge change in thought from even 4 years ago, when I did not like the image that Porsche (and other luxury brands) stood for. Many people see these cars as status symbols to show that the owner has been able to earn lots of money and has the opportunity to flaunt their success. However, my opinion has recently changed to see that the desire to own and drive a Porsche is something that can be achieved with dedication and the motivation to attain it. I'll hopefully be driving one in 10 years or so.