As an engineer, I’m often accused by my non-engineer brethren of being overly analytical.  I confess that I can’t help scrutinizing some things (well…most things) to try and figure out how they work.  This can lead to satisfaction and a boost in self-assurance when things work as expected, and a compulsive drive for further analysis when they don’t.  I have been blessed (cursed?) with this inclination for as long as I can remember.  I have been formally trained for it in school and throughout my career.  Reinforced by a lifetime of use, this habit is unlikely to ever change.

There is some comfort in knowing that I am not alone in this.  There are very few, if any, STEMers who don’t share this particular habit.  Of course you don’t have to be educated in a STEM field to have habits, and many of them are difficult to rationalize.  The fact that curious things arouse our curiosity is yet another curiosity of humanity. 

Not all of my curious habits stem from engineering.  One that has always produced a tingle in my analytical feelers involves the use of my car’s GPS.  For some still unknown reason, as the robo-voice commands start to come more quickly and the little blue line on the screen begins to twist and turn impossibly, I have an uncontrollable urge to turn off the radio.  I can understand why Helter-Skelter might be a  poor soundtrack for these moments, but the actual content doesn’t seem to matter – the radio just has to be off.  Period. <continue reading>