Is It Weird to Love Finance, Science, Technology, and God?
Instead of digging up memories of my distant past, let us consider whether or not I am weird in the present. I think the short answer is YES. In truth, my fascination with the subjects mentioned happened over the fullness of time. In case you had not heard that particular phrasing, it came from two old English comedy programs called Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. It is no surprise that the English came up with Monty Python after seeing those programs. The head civil servant and minister were the key characters. When the minister asked why government programs took so long, the civil servant would reply that the programs would work over the fullness of time. In other words, stop asking questions.
As a young boy I was fascinated by dinosaurs and astronomy. I grew up in the late 50s through the 60s. Those were great days for both fields of study. New dinosaur fossils were being found everywhere. Astronomical telescopes were getting larger and better. Manned space flight began in those years too. When Jack Kennedy promised to put a man on the moon by the end of the 60s, everyone jumped on board and we succeeded. I mentioned before that I took a first semester course in Astronomy from James Van Allen. Being around him was a dream come true. In those days, he was very grandfatherly. That only added to his mystic.
Once you are bitten by the science bug, I do not think you ever recover. When the theories of dark matter and dark energy emerged later, I was overwhelmed. Everything that had been studied to date only accounted for four percent of our universe. Whoa! That means we basically know nothing after thousands of years of study and experimentation. Unreal!
My love for technology came later. There were no mobile phones or personal computers then. In college, I recall typing a program into punch cards and handing them to one of the operators. They fed the cards into the mainframe. Later, I received my printout to determine whether I had written it correctly. Less than ten years later, I had my own personal computer at work. They still cost $5,000 in those days, with no hard drive. Barbaric!
Since then, as my children grew, I bought a Commodore 64, one of the first consumer PCs. Over the ensuing years, I build my own PC, and upgraded hard drives and RAM. Hooked again. I may be one of the few crazies who does not need their children or grandchildren to help them program anything. Another lifelong love was created.
Accounting/ Finance was an afterthought. When I went to college, I thought I would be a stock broker or some other executive. I only took three accounting classes, which were required for my degree. I graduated in 1976, which was also a recession year. Lucky me! The only job offers I had were from an SS Kresge story in Wisconsin, or an iron foundry in Iowa, less than fifty miles from the university. I went to the foundry. I just could not see me pushing around the blue light special beacon.
Careers evolve over time. I found my niche in manufacturing accounting. The foundry lasted two years. I then worked in medical device factories in Missouri and Mexico. Later I would work for an irrigation manufacturer, a hearing protection company, and a label printer. Everyone needs their numbers.
I have no complaints about my work life. It was fine, although it did not end too well, but that is okay too.
Of course, I have not mentioned God yet. I think He has always been with me. I believe He is also with everyone else. We are part of Him, and we are His children. That is my view. When life is less than great, it is easy to forget that connection. I will never forget it again. After all, He got me through all of it. Life is an amazing journey. Enjoy the ride.
My first computer was the Apple IIC. I believe it was 1983 when we got it. I thought it was the coolest thing. I love the constellations, but I’ve never taken a course in astronomy, even though I’ve thought of it. Maybe I will one day. Great post, Karl!
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Apple has always made very good machines. Having been weened on PCs, I never could get the hang of the Apple operating system. In my jobs, it was always PCs, especially since Excel came out. I don’t think I’ll ever change, and that’s fine with me. I do recommend learning about astronomy. With all the recent advances, it is truly mind-blowing. You can also try reading rather than classes. Hawking wrote some great books which are aimed to non-science people (like me). All the best.
Life is certainly a journey, Karl, and your post is a great illustration of that. I also punched cards, only I had to feed the mainframe myself. I learned that most of the people learning programming in my class were linear thinkers. Their stacks were way smaller than mine. I’m a non-linear person, but my humongous stacks worked just as they were supposed to. God invented science, so the two will never cancel each other out. You’ve traveled an interesting road! Thanks for sharing it. And may your journey continue to draw you closer to God while expanding your mind.
Blessings,
Patty
Thank you, Patty. Life definitely has interesting and challenging twists and turns. My voyage has only brought me closer to God. That is a blessing indeed.
Karl–I often wish I paid better attention in science class. When I worked at MIT many years ago, I learned a great deal about DNA from the biologists I worked with. Then, from 1980-84, I worked at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for George Low, who headed NASA when the country put men on the Moon. I wrote speeches for him, press releases and articles for magazines. He was a true Renaissance man. He could have a conversation about any topic–science, music, art, literature, engineering, architecture, whatever anyone could bring up. A miracle man. He remembered every employee’s name on campus. He lit up a room. What a gift he was.
Wanda, wow! Those experiences must have been amazing. After my few science classes at the university, I spend the rest of my career in factories. I did love to read about cosmology and astronomy though. There were several authors who wrote at a level for the general public. I think everyone’s favorite was Stephen Hawking.
Karl, my husband worked on those dinosaur computers when he started out as a programmer. He also worked for Commodore for a short time in the early nineties and has some funny stories about that place – the owner/president, Jack Tramiel, was a bit crazy. He walked through the place one day and fired everyone but three people, one of whom was my husband. In the lobby was a young man, and Tramiel said to him, “You’re fired!” The young man said he didn’t even work there. “Okay,” Mr. Tramiel said. “Your hired. Now, you’re fired.” Luckily, my husband got another job and got out before the place folded. Thanks for the fascinating post!
Maura, your husband’s experience must have been when Commodore was going under. Business leaders go a bit crazy when their dreams start to crumble. Often, the company was their whole life. I have worked for a few nutty bosses, but none were quite that loony. I would have loved to be the man in the lobby. He has to laugh about that experience even today. Thanks for the story.
Karl, my apologies – George has told me that I conflated two different stories. Jack Tramiel wasn’t the one who fired everybody but my husband and two others, and my husband never personally met him. That incident did happen to George just weeks before Commodore folded. But the story about Tramiel firing everyone was told at the company and had supposedly happened at another time. Sorry for the confusion!
Maura, don’t worry about it. We all make mistakes. It was a great story though.
I was thinking of the computer punch cards today when I was having computer issues. If it weren’t for those cards, I might have majored in computers. But I didn’t have the patience to wait for the cards to be processed only to find out I had a mistake. It would tell me the line but not the mistake. Then I would hand the cards back and pray I found the mistake. Boston University was a huge school so the wait was long.
In my college years (1972-1976) computers were still mainframes. I had no desire to create programs or debug code. I still don’t! I do love the flexibility our laptops and smartphones provide. When I was young, the only way to know the weather outlook was to watch the local news. Now, it is updated continually on my phone. Of course, like back then, the forecasts were not very accurate. As I recall, I only took that one computer class because it was a requirement for my degree.