“High school sophomore Ben Englert gave up gaming and tries not to multitask as his “brain can’t handle it.” He is, however, trying to program Spark the robot (right), to walk.”
I just found this ADORABLE photo of Ben and his robot from when he was younger and featured in the Chronicle for being “Young and Wired” (see also: The nerdiest of the nerdy.)
Awwwwh.
EDIT: Just noticed how phallic his robot is. lol.
We indulged in some ego surfing this afternoon (ever tried 123People?), so here’s the rest of my 15 seconds of fame from that article:
Sophomore Ben Englert started tinkering with computers in grade school and had his own eBay account at 12 so he could buy and sell components. In middle school he also spent a lot of time gaming, he said. His mother, a programmer, installed a program that kicked him off at a certain time, but it didn’t take long for him to figure out how to kill it. He put the trick on his Web site to share with other students. His mother switched to another product, but he found his way around that one too. She gave up and he continued gaming.
But by ninth grade, with escalating homework and interests, Ben gave up the gaming on his own, he said. He also stopped trying to multitask — a decision he made on his own. “My brain can’t handle talking to a lot of people and doing my homework,” he said.
At home, he’s built a media center, a box that manages all his digital inventory of songs and information, and a powerful computer in his garage that contains four hard drives, some found in dumpsters.
During a visit to his home, he pointed out Spark, a robot he’s borrowed from the school and is trying to program to walk a straight line, which is more complicated than he’d imagined. His mother Susanne said she used to be “a little worried” about the time he spent plugged in and still wishes he’d get more exercise. But now she sees how his interest in computers has become a creative outlet. He currently has six computers that he’s worked on at home. His school laptop sits on his desk, dwarfed by a bigger monitor that he uses to view everything from video clips to the screen of his grandmother’s computer, which he can troubleshoot from his room. When he’s not at school or rehearsing for a school musical, he spends some of his time writing software programs — including one for registering school computers and another for student laptops that shows how much time is remaining in class.
And to think now I can’t even successfully modchip a Wii. Sigh, to have fallen so far.
