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In honor of my not-so-secret birthday, let's discuss what careers we envisioned for ourselves as kids. Did you have just one idea that all your dreams were made of, or was your future more of a moving target?
I was one of the latter - each year I had a new profession that I was gonna be when I grew up. Here's my list; note that my "years" are based on school years not calendar years, as my memories are inevitably tied to what grade I was in at the time, not how old I was.
Pre-school - garbage man
I was in awe of the garbage trucks and how they could "gruff" the trash in the compactor!
Kindergarten - ornithologist
My favorite book was the Field Guide to Birds of North America and I loved to watch hawks and vultures soaring above.
1st grade - construction worker
I wanted to operate a lime green front-end loader because I loved giant construction machines.
2nd grade - center fielder for the Detroit Tigers and wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals
The hometown Tigers had just won the World Series and the Bengals had cool helmets; apparently I was going to be Bo Jackson!
3rd grade - paleontologist
I was going to dig up fossils to study prehistoric mammals; my favorite was Andrewsarchus for obvious reasons. :)
4th grade - zoologist
I wanted to study large mammalian predators such as wolves, bears, and big cats
5th grade - marine biologist
In particular I wanted to study marine mammals, especially orcas and dolphins.
6th grade - fiction writer
Reading countless Newberry Medal books got me thinking that I could write cool stories, too.
7th grade - forest ranger
I loved trees, especially redwoods and sequoias. A family trip to Yellowstone National Park inspired this one.
8th grade - canine and/or dolphin behaviorist
My plan was to understand dog/dolphin communication and ultimately learn to speak their language.
9th grade - astronaut
My dream was to take part in the first mission to walk on Mars.
10th grade - architect
I read a book about Frank Lloyd Wright and loved the concept of blending form with function.
11th grade - aerospace engineer
I loved airplanes and flying; plus, it sounded impressive when written on a college application.
12th grade - helicopter pilot
I had started taking flying lessons and preferred "low and slow" rather than "high and fast" flying.
How did I choose? With my eyesight too poor to become a pilot, I stuck to the most recent available career and became an aerospace engineer; besides, I kinda felt locked in by virtue of my choice of college major. In college I did revisit the pilot idea with the Marines when I found out they offered waivers for imperfect eyesight; however, my vision was way too nearsighted for a waiver and I didn't want to be a back-seater.
I might have considered careers in athletics had I thought that was an option; however, from an early age my mom instilled that such careers were dead-ends and sports were just games. Now that I realize how possible it is to have meaningful careers in athletics, perhaps my interests there would've received more serious attention.
Ironically (or perhaps predictably) I'm presently none of the professions listed above; I still call myself an aerospace engineer but in truth I work as a computer systems engineer for a company that puts their products on aircraft. In retrospect I probably would've preferred a career in the natural sciences because as cool as technology is, it's never more fascinating than nature.
On Sunday while running the treadmill side-by-side with Amanda, I conducted a little experiment. I counted how many steps I took per mile, then I counted how many steps she took. The results?
Andrew:
(~1200 steps/mile) * (7.1 miles) = 8,500 steps
Amanda:
(~3200 steps/mile) * (4.4 miles) = 14,000 steps
I ran 61% farther but she took 65% more steps! How? Well, I bounded 4.4 feet with every step while her stride covered just 1.65 feet. Why? Partly because I was running an 8:30 pace while she ran a 13:00 pace, and partly because my jeans measure a 36" inseam while hers would be 26". (FYI - I'm 6'4" and Amanda is 5'0".)
This doesn't mean that longer strides make you a better runner. In fact, a study of collegiate cross country runners (I wish I remember where I read this) found that as the runners became faster over a given distance, their average stride length became shorter! Apparently turnover is more important than stride length?
Another mantra of running is that smaller people = faster people, since they have to carry less weight and also require reduced torque for their muscles to effect rotation about a joint. (This is also why smaller weightlifters can, pound for pound, lift relatively more weight than bigger folks.)
Anyway, there's no grand conclusion to be had here; just some fun numbers and comparisons. My favorites are these:
With each step of Amanda's, she travels a distance (20") less than what my two feet cover end-to-end (24")!
With each step of mine, I travel a distance (53") slightly less than her entire body covers lying down (60")!