My new pal Detlef may be the most un-PhD-ish PhD I’ve ever met.

He was our host for our work in Germany.  We had long hours in his car getting to and from the places we were visiting, so I was all ready to apply all my Dale Carnegie skills to prompt worthwhile discussion during the drives.

No need.  Dr. Detlef was the most garrulous “academic” I’ve ever met (the quotation marks are there because he works in industry, not teaching or researching).  I had trouble keeping up, and not only because of jetlag.

I discovered late in the day he’s also a hard rock and blues fan — he’s seen AC/DC twice, the first time back in Bon Scott days.  He and his coworkers Andreas and Karsten are even onto Airbourne already, and are also big fans of Joe Bonamassa!  (I got them in the end, though — they’d never heard of Bloodline.)

Between that and his penchant for driving up to 180 kph (or 110 mph) on the Autobahn, he gave my travel buddy and me adventures we never anticipated.  Thanks, Detlef!