Geek Personality Spectrum: Introversion

So, I was noticing that neither Corrina nor I have posted anything here in a while so I thought I'd through up a post I wrote recently. I regularly read a blog targeted at geeky parents raising geeky kids. Recently, they created an interactive community where members can write their own blog posts and publish them to the community. So I decided why not cross post my latest blog post from that community over to this blog. So, here it is:

I earned my degree in Psychology. I love the brain and everything about it. My Biological Psychology professor really drove home the fact that everything with regards to the brain, behavior, personality, etc. is on a spectrum. There are no black and whites. 

My first post on this forum tangentially touched on one spectrum I'll call the Geek Knowledge Spectrum: breadth vs. depth of knowledge. This time I want to talk a little about what I'll call, for simplicity sake, the Geek Personality Spectrum. Trust me, I am very well aware that personality is far more complex than the simple measure of introversion/extroversion; however, this metric can be very instrumental in understanding one another.

One of the experiments we performed in my bio. psych. course, mentioned above, was to attempt to replicate an experiment to test a famous introversion hypothesis by Hans Eysenk. His hypothesis said that introverts are introverted because they have more baseline brain activity, as measured by EEG which means they need less external stimulation, in fact, they become over-stimulated quickly because of the higher baseline, that's why they prefer more quiet, solitary activities as opposed to loud, crowded parties, etc. for entertainment. Conversely, extroverts have lower baseline brain activity, so therefore need more external stimulation. Eysenk's results supported his hypothesis, and it is fun to think that he's right because it "makes sense", however, many others have attempted to replicate his study with mixed results; some supporting his hypothesis and some refuting it.

I am most clearly an introvert; most of the time a prefer quietly reading a book as opposed to hanging out at loud parties. I also have a small number of close friends, instead of many friends/groupies/entourage/what-have-you. Looking at "geeky" activities, I would hypothesize that self-described geeks would fall closer to the introverted end of the spectrum. That's not to say ALL geeks are introverts, and especially not that all introverts are geeks. But I would be interested to see where a large sample of self-described geeks (i.e. this community) feel they fall on the spectrum and if they think there is my validity to my hypothesis.

As an aside, a while back I found this blog post and thought it was a really good resource for everybody to understand introverts better. If you are one, read it to understand yourself. If you're an extrovert, read it to understand us. The post also explains Eysenk's hypothesis better than I did and points out that only about 25% of the total population are introverts, so I think it would be interesting if Geekdom had a higher proportion.

"Judge Not, And Ye Shall Not Be Judged" - Luke 6:37

My Stake Relief Society Presidency had someone from LDS Social Services do a workshop type thing for us last week. It was nice. The sister talked about depression, anxiety and other things. One of the things she discussed was changing our thought process from being negative to being more positive. She related a story from when she was at BYU and her Sacrament meeting was held in the Orem Institute game room. The story was told to her from a friend, whose Sacrament meeting was held in the same place.

The way the room was set up, everyone was faced towards the front where a couple vending machines were to the right. During one Sacrament meeting, a young man walked into the room, up to the front, got something out of the vending machine, and left. 

How would you have reacted if this happened during your Sacrament meeting? My immediate reaction while she was telling the story was, "What on earth was he thinking!?!" 

The friend was thinking along the same lines I was, and just so happened to be sitting next to the wife of one of the members of the Bishopric. The wife leaned over and whispered to the friend, "Oh, he must be diabetic."

If you had seen the young man in the hall later, how would you have acted? If you thought the way I did, you may have looked away from him or had a scowl on your face, or something else that was probably negative. If you had been the wife of the Bishopric, you may have gone up to him and asked if he was ok and seen how he was feeling. How do you think he felt knowing he had to interrupt a Sacrament meeting because he had to have something to eat? That was probably a hard decision for him to make. 

Her point of the story was that we don't know what has happened in someone's life. We should not be quick to think negatively about the situation we see. We need to watch our thoughts and work on changing them from being negative to being positive. Even when we are cut off by someone when we are driving (another example she used). When we think negatively, we are judging them. 

I thought that was something to share. I know I'm not perfect and need to work on my thoughts. I know of others who judge me and my family and how much it hurts us. Please be more understanding of others. You really don't know everything about them.

Note: I'm in no way singling anyone out or have anyone specific in my mind while writing this post. If you find you are questioning yourself, then maybe you have something to work on, just like me :)

Growing Up Too Fast

I tell my kids to stop growing. They're not listening...lol

I'm in shock. My daughter, my baby, will be 3 in a month. When did that happen? It just doesn't seem right.

My son started Preschool this year. Since when do I have a child that is old enough to go to school? That just doesn't seem right.

It all comes down to this: They are growing up too fast. Who else is feeling like me?

Speak Out with your Geek Out

The following I originally posted not too long ago on both Google+ and Facebook but I have decided to post it again because of a week-long internet event called Speak Out with your Geek Out, encouraging all geeks everywhere to post, tweet, blog, and basically speak out, both on the internet and in person/face-to-face, about your geeky hobbies and act as an example and/or mentor to other geeks who might be a little shy about saying "I'm proud to be a Geek". Since, as you will read below, this is an important concept to me, I decided to join in by reposting this. Now, I'm not saying this is my only geeky interest. This was inspired by a contemplation of the general types of geek out there (sports, computer, D&D, video game, Harry Potter, etc.) and a realization of the category I feel most comfortable labeling myself. Enjoy, and feel free to comment and take part in Speak Out with your Geek Out, yourselves.

(original post:)

Most of my life I've had a hard time feeling like I fit in with anyone (Don't run away, this isn't some sob story, just describing background before my epiphany). As I've gotten older, it has come down to what type or group of people I am or want to be. I enjoy playing sports, but I'm not very good and I don't feel like a "jock". I enjoy lots of geeky topics but I don't know how to program computers, etc. And, "geek" still had a negative connotation in my mind (it was synonymous with nerd and dweeb).

But a couple years ago I found the GeekDad blog (wired.com/geekdad) and began to realize I truly am a Geek and proud of it. I also learned that geeks have interest in lots of different topics and not just comic books and computers, and many even enjoy outdoor activities like biking, camping, etc. Furthermore, I even began to realize that the geek community (I like to call it Geekdom) is a very accepting and very diverse community. Since that time, I have really been growing into my geekery and even feel more confident knowing where I fit in. 

Sometimes I still struggle feeling like I fit in with other geeks that have a large depth of knowledge because I am more of the type that was a wide breadth of knowledge of many topics. This post: (http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/04/the-geeks-dilemma-breadth-vs-depth-of-interests/) helped immensely as I saw in the comments lots of others that were jack-of-all-trades type people, too. (If you can't tell, I rely heavily on the authors of GeekDad, and their companion site GeekMom, to guide me through this journey of self-discovery. My largest circle, so far, is the one I have reserved for the writers on those blogs).

Then, recently, I started struggling with the type of geek I am. I'm not a computer geek, because I don't know how to program them, I'm not a video game geek, because I don't own any consoles, I have always enjoyed tv shows and movies about the Marvel superheroes (and Batman, from DC) but I'm not a comic book geek. I don't even own a single comic. But then, from recent experiences, I realized what type of geek I am.

I am an information/research geek. I like to know things and I am good at finding the information I need, on the internet and other sources. I get a thrill trying to solve the puzzle of how to find what I'm looking for. That's why I like reading so much, I like to learn and take in as much information as I can. I am an info/research geek and I'm proud!

My Theatrical Little Girl

I thought I'd share a little story about Lara during Sacrament meeting on Sunday. Dave was on the stand because he was asked to give a talk, so I was left to manage our ninos by myself, with my gimp foot...lol After the opening song and prayer, Lara was looking at a hymnal, flipping through the pages. Then she stops at one of the pages and begins singing to herself. Not sure what she was singing, but it sure was cute.

The people in the pew behind us chuckled. One of the ladies came up to me later and told me how cute she thought my children were. I'm glad they didn't mind my active children :)

Lara is definitely our theatrical child. She loves to sing and dance, making up her own songs most of the time. Takes after her mommy :)

Blog Changes

I (Dave) came upon the realization recently that I am more of an internet consumer than I am an internet producer. This stems from the fact, as I mentioned on G+ and FB, I am an info/research geek, so I love reading and learning (i.e. consuming information) and not so much spending the time to produce internet content. When I first created my blog, I had grand plans of being a well-known/well-followed blogger that consistently produced relevant web content. Yeah, that didn't happen.

I have been thinking of making some changes (i.e different URL, different layout, etc.) and then realized that maybe I should just merge my random rambling blog with Corrina's family matters blog (since on occasion, I have also covered familial happenings) and get rid of Ruminations all together. Therefore, that is what we are doing. I will be importing everything I have posted on my personal blog into Corrina's blog, and then eventually delete mine. We will still login with separate ids, so you'll be able to tell who is creating what post, but it will be nice to cut down on some o the web-clutter. Therefore, if you're reading this from Ruminations, follow this link to our newly conjoined blog. If you are reading this on Corrina's blog, congratulations! You don't have to do anything different. Enjoy!

Review: Mimi's Cafe

When we used to live in Sacramento, we enjoyed eating at Mimi's Cafe, every now and again. Corrina had been eating there with her family for years and introduced it to me after we got married. We enjoyed the ambiance as well as the menu. Although I have never actually been to Louisiana, it was reminiscent of the type of place you would see in New Orleans, especially the French Quarter. There's musical instruments and gator heads on the walls. The menu was simple but the food was delicious. I'm not a big soup fan, but whenever we would go, I would readily substitute their French Onion Soup for the fries, it was that good. They would also give your table a bread basket with bread sticks, carrot raisin bread (which Corrina absolutely loved), etc (In our younger days, when we would eat out a lot, we would rate restaurants on the type and quality of the bread they would give you as you order). While we were down in Sacramento visiting friends and family this Fourth of July weekend, we really wanted to eat there again.

Unfortunately, they changed their menu and now the place has lost some of its pizzazz. The menu has more options, but now has the feel of any other chain restaurant you could go to. It appears that, instead of embracing their French Quarter personality, they are trying to be just any other French restaurant. In fact, the current specials insert in the menu had the theme of the Tour de France and each week (or so) they were going to highlight a different region of France. The semi-upscale french menu just doesn't fit in with the French Quarter memorabilia on the wall. Corrina commented that the carrot raisin bread wasn't as good as she remembered it, and I felt the same about the French Onion Soup. The soup itself tasted fine, but there was something different about the bread and melted cheese on top. Now, I will admit that the change in taste could be because we haven't eaten there in a long time and our memories deceive us, or the fact that we don't eat out as much anymore so our taste buds have adjusted to the homemade food over restaurant food, but I just can't get over the fact they they changed their menu. Like I said earlier, they are not a French Restaurant, they are a French Quarter Restaurant and should return to that. Their food is average and their menu is average. I don't think we will be returning there any time in the near future.