Inquisitive Minds Want to Know

This week I had to give a 4-6 minute speech in my communication class on a personality trait of mine. I was to bring 3 objects which represent this trait in the past, present and future. I brought 3 books: "Discover How Things Work," Java and an Engineering textbook. Here's the rough copy of what mom typed up after I gave her my practice speech. You might see some of Mom's input with idioms. Maybe, I'll sit down sometime and correct the speech to what I actually gave, but this gives those interested an idea of one of my traits.

Curiosity Speech
Have any of you wondered how something works? Well, so do I, because I have a curious and inquisitive personality.
Well, I take things apart to discover how they work on the inside and then read about how they work and how to make things work other ways and how to build altogether new things.
I developed my inquisitive nature very young! When I was 9 months old, I learned how to climb out of my crib and started a life of exploring. When I was less than two years old, I would unscrew the light bulbs in my lamps; peel the layers apart to get to the filament. I wanted to know how that light bulb would glow. So, my concerned parents took out all of my lamps. I also was curious about the plugs that covered all the outlets in my room. I figured out how to pop the plugs out and started putting things into the outlets to see what would happen. When my mother saw me sticking a bobby pin into the outlet, my room was rearranged so all the furniture was placed over each outlet. Wow, my curiosity had put me in the dark!
My dad seeing my inquisitive nature began to read to me when I was 3 from the 26 volume set of the Children’s Encyclopedia. I can remember sitting unusually still and quiet while he read each page and we would then discuss each article. This further fueled my curiosity of life.
My mom bought me this great book, “Discover How Things Work,” hoping to satisfy my curiosity before the house was dismantled. What a great book. In this book I learned how things work that use electricity. I also learned how other things work such as an ________(flip open book). I was always known in school as the boy with lots of questions. I just wanted to know how it worked.
In high school I loved my physics, chemistry, math and Engineering Challenges classes. I would work on building the lightest and strongest balsa wood tower . I designed and built a tower that weighed less than 3 pieces of printer paper, was 7 ½ inches tall and held over 700 pounds. With this competition win I was able to go to the World finals in TN where I actually got to question a theoretical physicist. Wow, was that cool.
Now in college, I decided early on to major in mechanical engineering with a minor in computer science. I have taken many computer classes because I really want to know how computers work, what they can do and how they can do what I want. Currently I am taking a JAVA class and a C++ class where I’m learning these computer languages.
I intend to use my curiosity for life in my career. I am majoring in engineering so I can learn how things work, and how to make things work better. I know that engineering is really just applied curiosity.
Curiosity may have killed the cat and satisfaction brought him back. Fortunately, as a child, curiosity didn’t kill me and satisfaction was achieved in taking things apart, reading, learning and applying my knowledge. I find great satisfaction in applying my curiosity to the world around me. I hope I can develop this curiosity in my career to help make the world a better place.