I Live with Engineers

Perhaps it's because my parents were engineers, or perhaps because I grew up in the heart of Silicon Valley, but I seem to attract nerdy friends .  They aren't the classic nerds with Scotch-taped glasses and no social skills; they are perfectly capable of holding an interesting intelligent conversation with one person, but would rather jump off a cliff than go to a loud crowded party.  They are engineers.  They build things, design things, solve math problems, find solutions, and are generally useful, as long as you don't expect the fraternity lifestyle.  Everyone I know is an engineer.  My life is full of them.  In many ways I prefer it that way.  I never have to fix the internet myself, or worry that I won't be able to solve a mechanical problem.  Because of their addiction to learning new things and researching interests they have new things to talk about almost daily and can find out anything you want as long as they have access to the internet (or a library).  The disadvantages of being surrounded by engineers also exist, and mostly manifest themselves when I try to cook.

Making food for my friends is a common occurrence.  It's one of the ways I show affection and appreciation.  Something about cooking for someone makes me feel like we have a real friendship.  However, cooking with some of my friends has pushed our relationships to their very limit.  Try asking an engineer to dice a tomato into 1/4 inch cubes.  Normal people chop the tomato into reasonably sized chunks that are mostly the same size.  An engineer is very likely to pull out a ruler and make each piece identically shaped and sized.  These kinds of skills are important if you are building a bridge or designing a microchip, but not exactly essential to making tomato sauce.  Try explaining that to an engineer.  Go ahead, I dare you.

I am not an engineer.  I have a degree in music and am about to begin a masters program in education so I can teach kindergarten.  I do not have many of the obsessions and quircks that my friends do, but it seems I cannot escape them.  My life will never be free from XKCD quotes and extraordinarily exact measurments.  But do I really want my life to be different? Only when I'm in the kitchen.