Why Vegas?

I get this question a lot: Why Vegas? For those who don't ask, I'm sure they feel the answer is self-evident. Las Vegas is a fun place to go. Period. 

But for many others who claim they don't like Vegas (i.e., it's too fake, too busy, or too...whatever), they often want to know why Leslie and I end up there. Going to Vegas every year runs counter to our vacation philosophy, which states that we should try to visit places that we've never been. Life is short, and you don't want to get stuck in a rut. Thus, you should try to expand your horizons at much as possible. 

Here are the reasons why we break with that philosophy and go back every year.

1. "V" is for Variety

The first reason directly addresses why we break with our vacation philosophy. There is something new to do each time you visit Las Vegas. The first time we went, we spent all of our time walking up and down the Strip. We wanted to see all of the hotels because each one has a unique style or a must-see attraction (e.g., the lions at MGM come easily to mind). Our first trip to Vegas was eyeopening, and we learned a great deal about the city and what it has to offer. 

However, the next time we went, we made sure to get off the Strip and see some of the surrounding sights. Our friend drove us to Red Rock Canyon, Lake Mead, and then on to Hoover Dam. I was stunned by how beautiful the area was. I was stunned mainly because I had no idea that all of this existed outside the Strip.

Just like the saying You can never step in the same river twice, going back to Las Vegas doesn't necessarily result in the same vacation. During each trip, we've gone during different times of the year, and we've stayed in different hotels. During the most recent trip, we stayed downtown because we found ourselves gravitating to Fremont Street in each of our past visits. Why not just go to where the action is?

2. Pumping the Brakes on Gambling

What to drive a Porsche 911-GT3 around a racetrack? Go ahead!

One reason why people say they don't like Vegas is because, "they don't like to gamble." Neither do I, really. I have a strict $10 cap per day. I'm fine to lose that amount of money. Any more than ten bucks and I get twitchy.

Las Vegas has so much more to offer than gambling. Whatever you are into, Vegas has the world's best version of that. If you like sitting by the pool on vacation, they specialize in pools. There are hundreds of them. If you're a foodie and like to eat out, then you are in luck because some of the world's finest chefs have a restaurant in Vegas. It's amazing how good the food is. If you drink alcohol, then there is every conceivable variation of beer, wine, and liquor available. If you like fast cars, then you can rent an exotic car and drive around a racetrack. Literally, anything you can think of, Vegas has that. And more (see reason #1).

3. Mmmm....Fried Frontal Lobe

If you are like us, then you have a demanding job that pretty much requires you to plan, strategize, be creative, and critically evaluate information all day long. You have to be detail-oriented and a great communicator. Where does that leave you at the end of the day, week, or month? For me, my frontal lobe (i.e., where a bulk of higher-level thinking takes place) is pretty much fried at the end of a busy week. Planning a super-fun, action-packed vacation is probably the last thing I want to do. Going to Las Vegas is like pushing The Easy Button because all you have to do is make 3 decisions:

1. When should we go?
2. Which airline should we fly?
3. Which hotel should stay in? 

Once those decisions are made, you can "plan" the rest of the vacation on the fly.

4. Be Yourself.

This is my favorite (and the hardest) reason to describe if you've never been to Las Vegas. We once saw a guy walking around in nothing but a speedo, cowboy boots, and sunglasses in the early morning. We couldn't figure out if he lost a bet, was on drugs, or was dressed to impressed. Either way, it didn't matter. Nobody was going to harass him because you can do or be anything you want. There isn't a single person who is going to care because there is already too much going on anyway. To quote Jane's Addition: Nothing's Shocking. 

That means you don't have to apologize or explain yourself to anybody. You can do what you want, when you want, and how you want (within the bounds of the law, of course). If you want to dress like a tiger, go ahead. If you want to eat lunch at 9am, that's fine too. Nobody cares! You don't have to explain yourself. You can just...be yourself. Doing so is very liberating.

Back to Life; Back to Reality

Finally, coming home is fun because Vegas can be draining. The "always on" mentality of the city can start to wear you down after a while. My recommendation is to keep the trip short (i.e., 3-4 days), go off the Strip at some point, and realize that you're going to go back and do all the stuff you missed this time around.

Why Industry and Not Academia?

Woody Allen is credited with saying: If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans. If I were to roll back the clock 12 years, and told God my plans, he would have been rolling on the ground. That’s because, when I was an undergrad, I wanted to go to graduate school and earn my PhD. My overall goal in life was to become a professor of psychology at a small, liberal arts college. I was interested in exploring a small area of inquiry called the Cognitive Psychology of Scientific Discovery.

Scientists are experts in their respective fields, and one of the most intriguing empirical studies that I had ever read was written by Micki Chi (i.e., Chi, Feltovich, & Glaser, 1981). I contacted her by email, and asked if she was taking graduate students. To my delight, she said she was giving a talk near my home town (Bowling Green, OH), and she invited me to attend. I drove to the University of Toledo where she was giving her talk, and I had a chance to speak with her in person. After that meeting, I sent a follow-up email and asked if she thought our interests were sufficiently aligned for me to apply to her lab. She encouraged me to do so, and fortunately I was accepted into the University of Pittsburgh’s Cognitive Psychology program.

While I was working in Micki’s lab, the cognitive program had a requirement called a “first year project,” which was a small piece of research that is typically an ongoing line of research initiated by one’s advisor. My first year project was to code scaffolding episodes in tutorial dialogs. Have you ever read the book, Who moved my cheese? Well, I felt that my advisor moved my cheese because I wanted to work on projects related to expertise or scientific discovery and not tutoring. Tutoring was not on my list of burning scientific questions.

Seven years later, I finally earned my doctorate, and it was time to look for a job. I applied to several universities that had an opening for an assistant professor, which is the opening level of the professoriate. I did not even get a phone interview with any of the universities. Because I was not competitive, I decided to increase my marketability by pursuing a post-doctoral position. Fortunately, the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (PSLC) had just been funded by NSF and Kurt VanLehn, the co-director, had an opening in his lab. He graciously accepted me into his lab.

I had a wonderful experience working in Kurt’s lab because I became a member, by proxy, of the field of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). ITS is a small subfield of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and a few tutoring systems have become well known in the field. One in particular had become a commercial success. The Cognitive Tutor, inspired by the work of John Anderson, Al Corbett, Ken Keodinger, and others, had been empirically demonstrated to boost student learning in many areas, including Algebra, Geometry, and LISP programming. Given its success, Cognitive Tutor was spun off as a small company called Carnegie Learning, Inc.

Because of the intellectual roots and the close connection to the work being conducted in the PSLC, representatives from Carnegie Learning attended the monthly PSLC lunches, which was served buffet style. While standing in the lunch line one day, I found myself next to Steve Ritter, the Co-Founder & Chief Scientist of Carnegie Learning. I had been working in Kurt’s lab for about a year, and Steve asked me what my plans were after my post-doc ended (a post-doc typically runs about 1-2 years). I told him that I was looking for options, and Steve said they were interested in conducting some research of their own. Given the similarities between our interests, we decided to meet, and we eventually wrote a couple of grants together.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), none of the grants we wrote were funded. Because my own post-doc was coming to a close, I decided to go back on the job market to find an academic position. I applied to three schools, and I got a phone interview at one of them. I also applied for a job at the RAND Corporation (the building on the corner of 5th and Craig). Although my applications were well received, none of them turned into viable job offers. I then wrote a grant with Tim Nokes to the PSLC, and the project was eventually funded.

Gusteau, the main character in the movie Ratatouille, believed, “Anyone can cook.” Along the same lines, I believe, “Anyone can become an expert.” The probability of becoming an expert is vastly increased with higher levels of education, and entrance and success in colleges is largely contingent on one’s mathematical ability. Becoming proficient in math is best served by a tutoring system that is always available, never gets bored or frustrated, and does not cost a lot of money to employ. I revised career aspirations to move into industry because I was eager to learn an answer to the following question: How can we design, create, and deploy commercially viable tutoring systems to help students efficiently learn mathematical problem solving?

Lessons Learned

1. Have a goal in life, and never give up on that goal. Tenacity often wins out over life’s random tangents or detours.
2. Always keep your mind fixed on your goal, but stay flexible about the details in achieving your goal. It might work out, but not the way you planned.
3. Talk to people. Take the initiative to contact people so you can tell them about your plans / interests. Who knows where you next job might come from? It might be in the buffet line at a seemingly routine lunch.

Why a Tesla (now) Instead of a Porsche 911 (later)?

Ever since I can remember, I've wanted a Porsche 911 Turbo. Like most American kids, my love of cars came from my Dad's infatuation. Most of his professional life has revolved around cars. After working for the Anderson's Tire Center, he went back to school so he could teach automotive at the local community college. During his tenure as a teacher, he taught two primary subjects: electronics and transmissions. Both are necessary (and complicated) topics for mechanics to understand when repairing modern automobiles.

When my Dad was young, his father owned a Porsche 912, which was an affordable version of the vaunted 911. My Dad loved this car. Unfortunately, my grandfather sold it before my Dad had a chance to buy it from him. I don't know if that's where the seed of my infatuation started with Porsche in general – and the 911 in particular – but it seems likely.

My grandfather's Porsche 912 and nameplate.

When I was in my early teens, I subscribed to Motor Trend. I poured over every page, memorizing the 0-60 times for all of the important exotic cars. I didn't understand everything that I read, but I loved it nonetheless. I hung a poster of a 911 on my wall (which I still have somewhere in the garage). It was my dream to own one. It was my obsession. But I was also realistic. It's an expensive car, and one that I wouldn't likely be able to afford. So it hovered just out of reach for most of my life. 

That is, until recently. What I hadn't counted on is leaving academia, getting a job at a software company, and not having any kids. All of these decisions allowed my wife, Leslie, and I to save our disposable income. It also never occurred to me (I don't know why) that purchasing a used Porsche could put a 911 within my financial reach.

Owning a "certified used" car actually worked out well for us, although our used car was a far cry from a Porsche. When Leslie and I graduated from grad school in 2005, we replaced her Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a 2003 Honda Civic. It only had about 13,000 miles when we bought it, and it was the perfect car for us. It was extremely reliable, and the cost of ownership (including gas, insurance, and maintenance) over the lifetime of the car has been extremely low. 

My beloved "midnite porsche" poster. So cool!

When I got my first real job after grad school, I started an informal "fund" to save up for a 911. Every bonus that I received, I put into my fund. After 12 years of driving our dependable Honda Civic, I had saved up quite a bit of money. I wouldn't be able to afford a new car (or a Turbo for that matter), but I was finally within striking distance of owning a used 911!

What I hadn't counted on was the founding of Tesla Motors (July 2003). Their first car was the Roadster, which only millionaires could afford. But they sold enough Roadsters to finance the development and production of their second car, the Model S. To get the company off the ground, the Model S had to compete with luxury sedans from BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus. By "compete", I mean it had to completely exceed them in terms of materials, features, and polish. It also has to be drop-dead gorgeous – enough to turn heads when it drives by. 

More than good looks, however, the car had to out-perfom all of the cars in its class. Therefore, the engineers at Tesla spent considerable effort making a car with performance numbers that can only be obtained by a sports car (the Model S is technically classified as a "luxury sedan"). Going back to my teen-age infatuation with acceleration, the P100D (base price: $134,000) will accelerate from 0 to 60 miles an hour in a mind-numbing two and a half seconds. By comparison, the Ferrari LaFerrari is ten times more expensive ($1.4 million), and it is only a tenth of a second faster.

In a nutshell, that's the history of my interest in cars. So why did I buy a Tesla (now), and not a Porsche 911 (later)? The main reason Leslie and I decided to buy a Tesla now is because of a startling new statistic. For the first time in several decades, the average American's life expectancy has dropped. Our generation isn't going to live as long as our parents or grandparents. 

Those are the national statistics. When I look at my own family, things don't look a whole lot better. In 2014, my Mom was officially diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. In the years since her diagnoses, her progression has been alarmingly fast. Since there is a large genetic component to Alzheimer's, I am squarely at risk. I am doing everything I can stave off this horrific disease. But in the end, there are no guarantees.

Meet "Sparky" our Tesla Model S 75D.

I could roll the dice and continue saving for another day. In fact, for most of my life, I've always had my eye squarely on the future. I save for retirement, I don't live beyond my means, and I don't wear fancy clothes. I bought a house that I could afford, I don't have any credit card debt, and my education is completely paid for. On balance, I've done everything right. But saving for the future comes at a pretty steep cost, especially if you die young.

This purchase, this one luxury that I have allowed myself, represents a chance to enjoy the present moment. It's my hedge against not being able to enjoy driving a really fast car one day. And for the record...I'm going to drive the hell out of this car. 

Carpe Diem