Moving On.
Here's Me:
I am a second year grad student at the University of Southern California. I work at a place called the "Brain and Creativity Institute." I am in the neuroscience program where my days are spent f*****ing TA'ing and scanning people's brains while they feel some emotion or think about some crap. We look at the brain, we talk about the blobs on the brain, we try to explain them, we have fun. Not a bad gig; there are lots of people doing exactly what I do and who are most likely better at it than I, but here's something that is difficult to put in a CV: I don't think there are many other ex-rednecks working as cognitive neuroscientists. Note here that I'm not arguing that I am particularly redneck, what I'm working on here is saying that I'm a rare redneck with a brain scanner. There are other rednecks, and there are other people with brain scanners, but I don't think there are many that are as intermingled as myself. See?
Okay, so here are a few redneck credentials I thought of of the top of my head.
-My boyhood dog was part wolf. Also, stupid.
-On days when there was a lightning and thunder storm, my father encouraged us to ride in the open bed of our 1968 chevy truck (still have it).
-We cut down trees on our own property to heat the house exclusively for many winters.
-When it snowed on our road, my dad put my sister and me in the bed of the truck, for more traction on the icy road--we were a solid hundred pounds put together.
-The main road to the house had year-round puddles.
-When our stove died, so we took it out and put a piece of plywood over the gap, then put a camping stove on the plywood and used it as our main stove. For about a year and a half.
- Favorite tools: MIG welder, OxyAce torch, Chop Saw, Tubing Bender, HVLP spray gun, any air tool, stud puller, skil saw, etc...
-I have painted multiple cars in multiple driveways.
-Also, burned many a cars in some of the same driveways.
-I went through a phase with some friends where our hobby was picking up cheap cars and hosting our own demolition derbies.
-I was with some friends once when my buddy said this to a cop: "Well, I'm taking that car there, and I'm running it into that car there. what is the problem?"
-I have lived in a homemade teepee.
-If you show me a toyota truck axle, I can tell you what year of truck it came from.
-My friends and I once weedwhacked a field using a jeep, a rope and a boxspring mattress.
-I was lit on fire, while on a roof, by a roman candle that was accidentally lit by other fireworks.
Here are the specs on two of the cars on my resume:
1. 1985 Toyota 4Runner: "that red thing"
-Replaced engine and transmission
-Twin Transfer case
-six inch all pro lift
-SR5 seats
-500 watt stereo
-35'' Swampers
-Custom shackles, bumper, roofrack.
-awesome.
-On a date, I was showing off and got stuck, and sprayed the girl with mud. Bad news was that I had a spare driveshaft and we didn't actually need to get stuck. oops.
-My current girlfriend and future wife once fell out of it--on our first date. Somehow, I ended up selling it a year later...
-it had a way with the ladies.
2. 1968 Chevy C10 pickup, 2wd: The Old Grey Mare
-Owned it since before I was born.
-new crate 350, mated to 700r4 tranny, new driveline
-all new accessories
-battery relocated to bed
-electric fans/ four core radiator
-Painted at home in the driveway for my senior project
-Mice living in the seats, apparently--some upgrades are free!
-Go and stop; better at going though.
-Current girlfriend/future wife recently found the stomach enough to ride in it.
Here are some pictures of trucks I have owned (red), or currently own (gray):
My Brain scanning credentials are much less interesting, but I have some inchoate ones to offer. I did my bachelors at UC Santa Cruz, from there I spent a brief time at the Salk Institute and from there I went to Stanford. I spent a year at Stanford, then I came to work at USC. I have a couple of papers in print, one that deals with the cognitive architecture of working memory, another that found a difference in the brains of gifted adolescent readers compared to their peers. I have three projects currently (F***ing stupid, that, three projects, idiot). One is on how the brain deals with people we don't like when they are in pain, another for how the brain creates the emotion of gratitude and another that I started at Stanford where we have a frontal lobotomy patient that has been kind enough to work with us and help us understand the long term effects of injury to the brain.
Some Nerd pics:
Me in my office at Stanford.
My lab at UCSC.
My College.
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