I had many types of toys when I was a kid but the ones I remember clearly were tools for creating things: Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets, etc., and wooden 3D puzzles. I always enjoyed solving problems and creating things.
In my early teens my toys were real tools: multimeters, vacuum tube testers and factory manuals. I fixed TVs and restored antique radios and TVs from the late 30s and early 40s. I have fond memories of varnished cabinets, tubes that glowed purple when they had a vacuum leak, and TVs with front panel controls for the horizontal hold, vertical hold and fine tuning. In my late teens I added socket sets, wrenches, and timing lights to my toolkit; I maintained and fixed cars.
It has been a long time since I changed a clutch or even changed the oil but I’m still fixing things. The difference is now I use my tools to develop new tools — I’m a programmer and my tools are programming languages.
Analyze a problem, develop a solution, lather, rinse, repeat. It’s what I do and I enjoy doing it.
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I played with blocks made from scraps of lumber. My Dad would cut them into interesting shapes and sand them. We had boxes full of them.
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“Analyze a problem, develop a solution, lather, rinse, repeat. It’s what I do and I enjoy doing it.”
We have a lot in common in our backgrounds and present pleasures. I do enjoy working through problems and finding solutions. In fact, I’m writing this comment to check out a new Popular Posts plugin!
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