A word on one of my « coworkers ». He is the database administrator at work, in fact the best damn DBA I had the pleasure to work with. He is self taught in this field, changed career several times.
He is also pretty handy with systems (Windows / Linux) not just Databases, does some neat programming too. Hard worker, reliable, efficient, dependable. On a personal side, he is married, traveled quite a bit in Australia, has four and half daughters (two + twins + a newly discovered pre marriage older one…) Two years ago he decided to shape it up a bit, and he is now a marathon man (already 3 marathons done). Redid pretty much everything in his house, got a few websites, etc…
Yes, I like him. He is an “individual”, which be my standards is a pretty high status already. He has also earned my respect both professionally and personally, which is pretty much the top of my pyramid before sleeping with me…
Last year, he came in my office (good times, no shared office then, I was acting director while my boss was working for the ministry of education for a year) and told me he was just diagnosed a mild bipolar with Tourette traits. Of course I already knew he was an unusual guy, this, just like for me, was just putting a label, a name, on his personality.
Bipolars do have some pretty definite med treatments, which he adapted to very well, keeping the strengths while shoving away the bad sides of bipolar (harsh decisions, destructive behaviors and such…). It’s normal, I do believe there is little he could not achieve, he’s “the man” after all (private joke).
See, another proof than extraordinary individuals can’t be “normal” peoples, by definition. Sure he is on the extrovert scale, sure I won’t discuss Kafka or geopolitics with him, sure I won’t hit bars with him either, but none the less, he is one of those that are standing out of the mass (in a good way, not in a mass-murderer clown politician kind of way [not targeting anyone in particular here]).
And if I deal with a particularly hard project with impossible goals and tight schedule, guess who I’ll turn towards to? I’ll choose an extrovert friend over any sheep, anytime!
February 20th, 2008 at 20:59
Well I’m the DBA, Mild bipolar or severe depending on the day or who you ask. Like Jack says, it’s just another label for the word Cool, excentric and when not taking my meds, TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN…
I share the same respect for Jack that he shares for Me. YING and YANG. Enjoy NY!
February 21st, 2008 at 9:28
I actually do enjoy NY very much, by far the most “european” city I have seen in North America, it sure is due for a full post… And with enough budget, Manhattan is definitively livable in (a smaller/quieter street near central park… What can I say I like to keep my options open
)