A subconversation on the inside 3 turn thread has made me curious -

How many of you skaters are sciencey nerd/geeks? Not just computer geeks, or people who work in a technical field, or just the I'm not cool kind of nerd, but the kind of nerd/geek who reads science books for fun, or enjoys taking apart things to see how they work? The kind who has an analytical mind and applies to everything, including skating?

One of the things I love most about skating is that it engages my mind just as thoroughly as my body, and I'm never bored (like I am with pretty much any other form of exercise). As someone who lives so completely in her head, it's difficult for me to "just skate" or to "listen to my body" - I'm always analyzing, thinking (enjoying) all the detail of edge and force and mass and torque, etc. Very very rarely (usually when dancing with my coach) my head switches off and my feet take over and I just do it without thinking. It's exhilarating. (And then I spent ages analyzing why I was able to experience it without thinking about it!)

Anyway, just wondering - who else is a card carrying member of the geek squad??

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3turn
The Great Skate Experiment

Wanna seek my card?

I over-analyze everything - I know it, my coach knows it! The biggest challenge is to just DO it!

We have had threads like this in other places and there are an amazing number of the scientific types who figure skate.

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

I am. I'm pretty geeky.

For fun, I took Latin, Internet&Liability, Law&Technology and Roman law, physics I took cuz it was easy. For fun, I read stuff like translation of papyrus of Ani or about the dynasties of ancient Egypt. I watched Stargate; SG1, Star Trek, Babylon, etc. I type HTML off the top of my head and I used to go to medieval fairs. Plus glasses of course (and I'm not a candidate for laser or lenses).

It's really helping me with the skating though. I take group lessons so you'd be surprised how much I figured out by myself.
I never have the problem with "just do it" though, it's just that something needs to click in my head first, and then I CAN just do-it.

Okay. I'm in.

Kay

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Visit my figure skating journal
http://www.skatejournal.com/

I normally lurk, but had to reply to this one.

I think the username says it all, really.

I guess I am, since I'm a USFS Accountant and employed in a technical field.

But compared to a lot of the accountants I've met, I'm probably only about a 4 or 5 on the Geek Scale.

Count me in. Especially the part about skating being the only exercise that doesn't get boring *fast*.

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It's all about the dress!

Actually, dancing (ballroom, latin - not ballet) keeps the mind as occupied as skating does, and some years ago a bunch of researchers measured brain activity of dancers and came to the conclusion that the entire brain was working, unlike in other sports. I'm gonna guess the same is for skating.

I am up there too, career as an engineer, now working in a college, teaching electrical stuff. The thing I like about skating though, is how it seems to free my mind, but I can't help analysing everything that goes on.

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UK Passport (figure)
Bronze : PASSED 13-Oct-07 Woohoo
Silver: PASSED 08-Dec-07 Yippee
Gold: Backspin PASSED One Foot Spin ____ Toe Loop ____ Programme ____
The impossible is just a journey away ...

Although I'm a veterinarian I would not say that I am your typical geek at all. (Probably the undergraduate Art History degree...) - but I like technical things to a certain degree, otherwise I would not be so successful in my career (!).

When it comes to skating I do like the technique, but the discussion of torque left me, well.... hanging...

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

Another engineer who can analyse skating with the best of them, but i much prefer just doing it. There's a strange inner peace just doing edges and moves for hours.

<fake shock of horror>WHA!?!?! I'm not geeky enough??? We computer science people go thru 3 semesters of college level calculus and 2 semesters of physics (with calculus) and engineering clases and we're not geeky enough? And all that just so I end up testing software for developers and being told I'm not geeky enough!?!?! WELL, I never!!! </fake shock of horror>



BTW: I actually need a little bit of both to get me to learn skating. Yeah, I need the demonstration in order to see what's going on and try to mimick it. That's my primary coach's job! But I also need the analysis and having stuff broken down into small exercise I can practice to slowly get me to the point where I will finally do the jump, spin, 3turns, FO mohawks, etc. That's why I have a secondary coach...

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

You mean like... like... hardcopy??

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Skate Free

Yup (patent attorney)

Count me in.

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--renatele

I think I have my geek squad card in my wallet somewhere. LOL Most of my family thinks that I'm a nerd. I've always been a avid book reader and yes I am a computer geek. While I may not have suspenders and a pocket protector, I do have a very analytical mind. It's something that my coach constantly reminds me of. He knows me so well, he can tell when I am analyzing a skating element and cuts off my train of thought before I can finish it. Usually he does this by saying, "Now, I don't want you to think about it; just let your body feel the element." This is where I typically start to get frustrated because I have no clue what he means. But there are times when the body takes over the brain and I do things I never thought I could.


BlackManSkating

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Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

I picked up an old biochem text today, probably about 20-25 years old, just to see how much has changed. But in my defense, it was 5 book for $3.79 from the used book store, and I had found 4 books I wanted, so it didn't make sense to pay $4 for 4 books when the 5th one would make the whole thing cost less. But I think that may qualify me as a nerd.

I am a computer geek, but I love science fiction, food science (think Alton Brown) and fixing things. My DH refers to me as an engineer regularly. I'm the staff geek for the admissions department of an engineering university.

But, alas, I am no physics whiz - when I took my first high school class my bells never rang, the lights never lit. I'm terrified of electrical shocks, thanks to a careless brother who's an electrical engineer, so I use a lot of handtools. lol

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Blackmanskating, this one's for you: (and all the other geeks too!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xEzGIuY7kw

Heh, I LIKE this question!

Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Three patents under my belt when I left the field. Last title held in that field was Research Scientist while at Battelle Memorial Institute.

I'm typing this listening to a pair of loudspeakers and amplifiers I built this summer -- and they are VERY geeky speakers (look up Linkwitz Pluto loudspeakers).

I sharpen my own skates, measure how much metal is removed in a sharpening session, keep blade profile tracings to see if the rocker is being flattened, etc. I fuss over stainless steel mounting screws vs. cad plated, and order 100-count boxes of the right screws to have on hand.

I must admit that I've forgotten most of my calculus and differential equations, but golly, I STILL have the punch cards for the Fortran programs I wrote in college. (Yeah, I'm a packrat geek).

I still have a sliderule too. I'm a bona fide GEEK!

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Bill Schneider

Gosh you have got me going now ! When I was doing my apprenticeship, I was writing control software in octal on a Digital PDP8 computer thing, for analysing field data gathered off tractors (I was a mechanical engineer, not a computer person). This was in the UK, whilst some guy across the Atlantic was doing similar geeky stuff ... you may have heard of him - Bill Gates? Guess I was just in the wrong place ...

Never found a sliderule that worked in octal ...

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UK Passport (figure)
Bronze : PASSED 13-Oct-07 Woohoo
Silver: PASSED 08-Dec-07 Yippee
Gold: Backspin PASSED One Foot Spin ____ Toe Loop ____ Programme ____
The impossible is just a journey away ...

Yep, geek here too. Love math, science fiction, computers, and reading. Very visual learner, but need the verbal, technical explanation to correct my mistakes. I'm an attorney biologist, or maybe a biologist attorney. Never sure.

You can put me on the geek list too.

Right now, I'm contemplating a double major in math and physics because I just can't decide which one is more fun!

I also have math books on my Christmas list. After all, I'll need something to keep me occupied between skating sessions over winter break...

I'm a veterinarian, so of course I have all the science background. I usually have to understand the physics involved in order to grasp a concept in figure skating. However, I love the artistic side, feeling the music, and the lovely costumes, so not really a geek - except that I read all my vet journals, and I always listen to lectures on diverse subjects while driving (the Great Courses tapes and CD's that you can take out of the library - everything from History of the Supreme Court to Philosophy or learning a foreign language) - is that geeky?

Me too. Mechanical Engineer (in the medical device industry).

And if you want REAL proof of my geekiness... I've been to Star Trek conventions.... *shhhhhhh*

Skating's a real release because I have to concentrate soooooo hard on it that my brain isn't allowed to think about anything else. It's "mentally restful", in a way. But it peeves me to no end that I understand WHAT I have to do (physics-wise), but my body just won't do it!

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When asked what his "secret" to success was, Wayne Gretsky said: "Skate to where the puck is going and not to where it has been."
Is the figure skating version of this: Skate as if you're doing an axel and not just learning how to hop?