Interview Me – 5 Questions

I saw that Dr. Beth Snow did the whole 5 questions meme that I’ve also seen on Keira’s and Airdrie’s blog. Being self-absorbed as I am, I asked her to interview me this time. Beth and I are good friends, so I knew she’d ask questions that would be very specific to me, and she most certainly did. So, here are my answers!

1.  When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Credit: Nine Inch Nails Official

You might be shocked (or not) but I seriously wanted to be a doctor. A medical doctor, that is. Now, I am a different type of doctor, but I have just as much respect for MDs as I do for PhDs. You’ll see… my grandfather on my father’s side, two of my uncles (one on my Mom’s side, one on my Dad’s) were all MDs. I grew up with this sense that I was destined to help people and cure their illnesses and mitigate their suffering. Add to this the fact that my grandmother on my mother’s side was a nurse, and I’ve got a hell of a lot of health care practitioners in the family.

Funny how things go, as I grew up, I modified my interests. My brothers are all engineers, and I thought that it would be non-sensical not to go the engineering route. First, I thought of biomedical engineering. But, at the time when I was about to start my undergraduate, I didn’t get the sense that biomedical engineering had evolved strongly enough in Mexico (and at the time, I wasn’t planning on moving from there).

So I went with the career I thought was the toughest one at the time, the most complete and the most exciting: chemical engineering. Masters and PhD degrees later, I still identify myself as a chemical engineer, although my business and social science training provide me with what I think is a much broader spectrum of career possibilities. But I can tell you one thing… if you invite me to a chemical plant (as Molson did when they invited me for a tour of their Kitsilano plant at the Brew 2.0 event) you will see my eyes brighten and my smile sparkle. I still am a chemical engineer!

2.  If you could see any one performer in concert, who would it be and why?

Credit: Ianiv and Arieanna on Flickr

Growing up, my parents raised me and my brothers in the classical music realm. I grew up with Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Chopin. The kind of piano pieces I play (despite the fact that I don’t play nearly as well as my brothers do – they play concert-level) is very much influenced by Chopin and Beethoven.

But as I’ve grown older, I’ve become very open to other kinds of music. My very favorite artist right now, hands down, is Vancouver-based Sarah McLachlan. Every time I’ve wanted to see her in concert, there has been *something* that has precluded me from seeing her. Actually, in recent months, I’ve had such bad luck with live performances (I couldn’t go to kd lang despite the fact that I actually had tickets) that frankly, I’d be very happy seeing Sarah McLachlan this 2009. Her voice is just amazing, her music brings me to tears and moves my heart in ways that many other performers don’t. And, of course, she IS Canadian

3.  What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Credit: Eszter on Flickr

My biggest guilty pleasure is watching romantic (girlie) movies, curled up in the couch with a cup of rooibos tea and a fleece blanket. Yes, I admit it. I did watch “Sex and The City: The movie”. Not only that, I rented it. Furthermore, I have rented “27 Dresses”, “P.S. I Love You” and (hangs his head in shame) “Never Been Kissed”. Ok, somebody find me refuge… where can I hide now?

4.  What was the best present you got for Christmas this year?  The worst?

Credit: Murmull0s on Flickr

I’d have to divide these amongst material and non material. The best present (not material) I got was the chance to spend Christmas with my brother and family and Mom. Was such a wonderful time. The worst (non material) was the cold temperature in Calgary – 37 oC. Not for me. The best present (material) I got this Christmas was my trademark cologne, Herrera for Men. My Mom knows I love this cologne. My worst material present was definitely the huge amount of snow we have been getting since Christmas! And it’s been snowing for over a day now here, nonstop! ARGH!!! Somebody take me to Mexico, pronto!

5. Are you a Canucks fan yet?

Credit: Miss604 on Flickr

As many of you may know, I used to care less about hockey a year ago, but I am definitely a Canucks fan, now. Rebecca has been a primary influence on this aspect, since she is a die-hard Canucks fan. Besides, John and her (along with JJ, DaveO and Alanah) have The Crazy Canucks. Moreover, people on Twitter are *always* talking hockey. I seriously have to ramp up my game. So yeah, I am a Canucks fan. But I still need to be MORE of a Canucks fan Work in progress!

Want to get in on the fun? You can be a part of it by following a few simple steps…
Send me an e-mail with the subject line “Interview Me”
I’ll respond within 24-ish hours with 5 questions directed to you (I promise to try and be unique)
Answer the questions on your blog (or Facebook or MySpace) and link back to this original post
Invite others to participate by re-posting these steps

Related posts:

1. Interview Me: Grace Carter (Invoke Media)
2. 7 Questions with Mojave
3. Seven questions with The Hush Now (@thehushnow)
4. Was it worth doing a PhD? Part 2: Asking interesting questions
5. Canucks game: Calgary vs. Vancouver