Not your typical rocket scientist

As I'd said before, I'd like to explore some of my co-workers. They are interesting and entertaining, wise and wise-cracking, fun and annoying. But I have endured worse! Today I present for your consideration a person that everyone likes, bar none. Not only an intelligent person and hard worker but simply a nice fellow as well.

Jonathan W. is a new safety engineer with NASA. He was working with the vehicle integration team as a contractor for Hernandez (now Bastion) Engineering, but a NASA safety position opened and he applied for it. The result is that he is doing nearly the same work with exactly the same people.

Jon seems quiet and unassuming on first glance. He is a tall and thin fellow whose bald pate gleams in fluorescent light, additionally set off by the close-cropped hair around the sides of his head. A quick smile flashes across his face, igniting impish eyes which only show wrinkles when he does smile. Always dressed in perfectly pressed and matched clothing, Jon's appearance belies the fact that he plays in a rock band on the side. That is a fact that only came out over a year after I met him, by carefully prospecting the rich lode of personality that lies just beneath Jon's calm and polished exterior.

This calm facade hides a myriad of complexities and contradictions that one would never guess by a quick observation. Sitting in a meeting, Jon proclaims deep and enduring love for his laptop computer because it frees him to go to any available corner to work. However, when the same (or any other computer or machine proximate to his hearing range) fails to respond properly, Jon mutters with cool malevolence, "I hate computers."

Watching him in a meeting can be entertaining if the meeting runs long or flirts with boredom. Jon can hide everything behind a sphinx mask if he so chooses. Or he can allow his thoughts and feelings to play the stage of his face like character actors emoting at their highest state of motility. Jon's frustration, amusement, anger, even disinterest can clearly be noted in the movement of eyebrows, turn of mouth, glimmer of eye, or blank expression. His calm still in place, he begins to speak what was recently carved in his countenance. His point made, Jon will retreat back to his computer, thoughts or hiding in plain sight. However, a point missed only ignites his passion to share what he knows further. Crossing swords with Jon is taking risk if one hasn't proper knowledge of the subject. Interestingly, once a meeting has adjourned and all issues solved or tabled, Jon can be quite friendly with the people he just hammered for lack of insight or thought.

A fascinating dichotomy.