Obsessive-Passion Syndrome

I am really close to someone who suffers from a disorder that I classify as obsessive-passion syndrome (although it’s more of a “hobby-accumulation trait” than a true medical disorder.) My friend’s real problem is that he has more interests than he has time or money...and every few months he finds something new to do, become, have, or see.  Mountain bikes with 29 inch wheels, high-end espresso grinders, DSLR cameras with associated accessories, vacations, cichlids, and words read the same backwards as they are forwards…nothing is safe from this obsession.

To this end, my friend spends hours studying any information that he can garner on the topic du jour.  He researches researcher’s research.  He reads expert opinions and consumer reviews to determine which brands and models are the best.  He scours the internet to discover the best prices. Then he creates beautiful spreadsheets with components, sub-components, specifications, and the best price for each model in his price range.

These matrices are an artful representation – pictures, colors, and logical structure - of his new passion. Any precious spare time he has is spent studying them, obsessing over them, and using them to compare specifications and prices. He highlights the best of each in green, the mediocre in yellow, and the worst in red. He assigns points to each color category - two points for green, one for yellow, and negative one for red.  Each model is assigned a total based upon its associated green, yellow, and red specs. In this way he determines the model that best suits his requirements.

One positive aspect of this obsessive-passion behavior is that it rules out the compulsive actions that often result in buyer’s remorse.  Yes, with this obsession comes the power of patience…and knowledge.

He knows that the best full suspension “29er” mountain bike under $3000 is not the Giant Trance X 1 29er (3 points), the Cannondale Scalpel 29er 4 (1 point), the Trek Superfly 100 AL Elite ( 1 point), the Scott Spark 950 (4 points), or the Specialized StumpJumper FSR Comp 29 (6 points).  Its the Giant Anthem X 1 29er (9 points).

By the way, he also knows that the hard tail “29er” that suits his needs is the Specialized StumpJumper EVO 29. This bike actually ended up with the highest point total of the four (taking the rear shock out of the equation).  He really likes the EVO’s SRAM XO rear derailleur and Avid Elixir 7 brakes. 

The best middle price espresso grinder in his price range is the Rancilio Rocky doserless model. (He wasn't a big fan of the doser version because a YouTube review showed that it requires more ground beans to fill the chamber before it works properly.)     

At the time, the best bang-for-his-buck DSLR camera was the Canon EOS Rebel.  (It’s not that he’s one of those annoying Canon fan-boys, he just found a really good coupon code for a T1i back in the day.  He fully admits that you can’t really go wrong with a Canon or a Nikon.)

When traveling to Maine for an “unplugged vacation”, he and his wife will stay in a cabin right off of Moosehead Lake. (When they visited Vermont, they stayed at a really nice B&B called The Phineas Swann Bed and Breakfast Inn, close to skiing at Jay Peak.) Who knows where they will stay when they go to Hawaii? 

Even though he inherited African cichlids when he bought his aquarium a few years ago, he knew that one day it would be converted to a South American cichlid tank (especially after seeing numerous videos of Jaguar cichlids online).

And palindromes?  Never odd or even.