Max Power!

I have no idea what happened to Monday's portion of Where I Stand. I'll repost it next Monday. Also, I can't remember if I warned anyone about spoilers before I started posting it. But I really should have. 
Also, I swear I had a great idea for a blog post. But I can't remember it right now. I should have written it down. I'm a writer. You'd think I'd be better about that kind of stuff. But fortunately I have a backup idea, and I hope it proves just as interesting.
So our family has a friend. He's sort of an honorary uncle, one of my dad's best friends, and he's been staying with us for quite a while to help my dad finish a house he's been flipping. He's a school bus driver, and the kids on his bus call him Max Power. For the sake of privacy, that's what I'll call him today. Max Power.
Anyway, Max is quite a character. He's tall, large, and has a really weird voice. It's super scratchy, as if he's smoked for forty years. But that's just the way he sounds. He's been poked and prodded by doctors for most of his life, since everyone insists that his voice just can't be normal. But it is, and he's cool with it.
Anyway, he just seems like a normal guy. Before he drove school busses, he worked with my dad in construction. He's done roofing, carpentry, and carpeting, and probably plumbing. He knows his way around tools. But he doesn't strike you as the type of person to talk about anything besides typical grown-up stuff--cars and work and God and the state of the nation.
I never thought I'd be able to have a conversation with him about subatomic particles and parallel universes.

Aldi's sells something called Quark. It's a German yogurt-type thing that's always white no matter what it tastes like. It's healthier than normal yogurt, and since Max is pre-diabetic, we decided to put him on the same no-carb diet my dad's on. He inspected it and said to me, "You know what a quark is, in physics, right?"
"Of course," I said, recalling my high school chemistry course. "It's the smallest subatomic particle there is."
The other night, we had a decent chat about parallel universes. I've studied the parallel universe theory a bit, simply because I've got an idea for a sci-fi book that involves a time machine with a mind of its own. Max actually corrected a couple of my ideas.
I'm reminded now of the people who worked at Domino's with me. The music major. The future architect. An old classmate of mine is working at Walmart. He's one of the smartest people and fastest readers I know.
How many people do we look down on every day? We think that someone's less intelligent than we are simply because they work at a construction site instead of an office. We judge people on appearances. I do it, too. I don't trust girls who wear too much makeup and are always dressed to perfection, but apparently, my sister found a mentor in a girl like this.
Who do you know who's smarter--or dumber--than most people think they are? Let me know about them in the comments below! God bless you, dear readers, and don't forget to check us out on Amazon!