Sam I Am

My name is Sam, yes Sam I Am, and I do, for the record, love green eggs and ham, not to mention exotic food, fast cars, sandy beaches, and a host of other things, some sane, some not so sane (for example, I once watched a movie with a pet scorpion sitting on my shoulder the whole time).

I am the brain (or lack thereof, depending on your point of view) behind the SamAntics blog. I had the idea for this about 15 years ago when I was looking for a good name for a company. Unfortunately, someone beat me to the punch on the company (but not the blog!). While I can’t always be first, I can still do it best.

I grew up in Texas (much too hot), moved first to Utah (much too cold), then to Seattle (way too rainy), and am now traveling around the world as a digital nomad. I hope someday to find my happy place!

I am married to my wonderful wife Ashley, who is an avid blogger, aspiring author, and an amazing artist. She is the most amazing woman in the world, and I count myself lucky every single day.

I’m a member of MENSA, and have something known as low latent inhibition. The rare combination of a high IQ and low latent inhibition means that I process and retain information in larger quantities much faster than average, making it easy for me to quickly learn and master new concepts and skills…

…Unfortunately, it also tends to make me extremely bored. 🙁 To combat that boredom, I blog, travel, learn new things and start companies.

My current venture is an Internet Marketing company called VUDU Marketing that specializes in SEO audits and strategies. I’ve done work for a number of major corporations, including Fortune 500 companies. While far from the least expensive option out there, the work is first class and worth every penny.

I’m working on a handful of other ventures, am an advisor to a number of startups, and I’m always happy to lend my experience and expertise to other entrepreneurs looking for advice or help. I’m also happy to donate my time if you are looking for a guest lecturer at a local college, high school, or non-profit organization. Please, feel free to contact me via LinkedIn or Twitter if you need help or advice with a project, a speaker, or anything else. (Please don’t spam me). You can learn more about my business and technical expertise here: SamMcRoberts.com

I’ve always had a lot of opinions, something of a twisted sense of humor, and an unusually adventurous life. If you took Samuel Clemens, Leonardo DaVinci, and Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes), and mixed them all together, you’d have me.

Thus was born SamAntics.

Enjoy the ride.

Join the Conversation

17 Comments

  1. Sam,

    I am contacting you regarding a Senior Marketer opportunity working with the CMO, Product Management and the creative team.

    We are looking for a talented Marketer that can drive on-line customer acquisition strategies and focus on database marketing.

    Please forward a copy of your resume and let me know the best time to contact you to discuss this position in detail.

    Our company is 10 years old and we have over 400 employees and we are growing.

    Thanks for your time and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

    Regards,

    Peter O’Neil
    Senior Recruiter
    Poneil@financialengines.com
    T: (650) 565-7718
    F: (650) 565-2114
    Financial Engines
    http://www.financialengines.com
    1804 Embarcadero Road
    Palo Alto, CA 94303

  2. Hi Sam

    I read your information about LLI. It’s interesting. I first heard of this term when I started watching Prison Break on rentals. It gave me the opportunity to watch it over, comprehend and research the term, then watch it again. I used to have trouble reading books line for line, I couldn’t get the meaning, I would reread lines, paragraphs, etc, time would pass and I would get frustrated, I could scan the page in seconds instead. So, I read that way. I hear every little thing, my parents always said that I have bat ears. I was born in the 60’s, they just said that I was a quiet child. Then, as I got older, I did realize how different I was, the way I spoke, thought, acted. As I got older, I thought maybe I had A.D.D. When I watch a live theatre production, I asked my Mom once what she saw and she said the play, looking at me in a bizarre way. When I watched it, I looked at the backdrops and saw them building in and where they could have done things differently, the same as costumes, lines, position, lighting. When I hear a fire truck, I can imagine all the fireman getting reading, their adrenaline, the people that they are going to, etc etc. I don’t try to think about this, I just do. There is so much more. I just thought that I was strange. I was bored at school, I would stare out the window, listening to the teacher, hear someone tapping their pen, paper crinkling, the birds flying outside, the trunks of the trees, I could ‘hear’ life, I could feel my heart beating, time ticking. Anyways, it’s nice to meet someone, at least read their website and words and know others are out there. I find that sometimes (most times) I spend a lot of time on my own, because there is so much more to conversation than ‘how is the weather’. I also like saving….animals, people, helping them out. I seem to take the initiative in a crisis and notice the smaller things that others don’e. I get a lot of brain overload and sensory overload. Sorry for rambling. Thank you again, for being You.

  3. Finally somebody on the internet who has LLI rather than just somebody who’s seen prison break. My husband has LLI and you’re the first person who’s written something about it on here that he’s said understands.
    I’ve written a novel based on his life to try and raise awareness of LLI, its available on amazon if you type in Cardboard Numbers (named based on the way he tried to explain it all to me. I hope if you read it, you find it accurate.

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  5. Interesting blog. Many conclusions you’ve mentioned that I’ve come to at some point in my life also. When tested in the past my IQ has consistently been in the 150s but I am also very creative having started writing music at the age of 4 (no Mozart, but looking back it was far from bad for a kid much older) and regularly approaching my Maths degree, and the problems within it, from a different angle. Like you I see connections where others feel none exist but where they actually do (and it leads to some wonderful realisations). I’ll read more later but currently in the middle of various chats with friends abroad while watching TV. It was good to see someone else recognise the need to multitask when studying (i.e. watching TV, listening to the radio etc) because so many people assume that is distracting.

  6. Hi Sam, I came accross your blog about experience vs degree (about three years ago)
    I am currently busy with my MBA disseration on exactly this topic and would like to know if I could use your comments as part of my data collection?

    regards

    Ronel Labuschagne

    I also have created a blogging community on this topic

  7. Is this a joke? This is the first I heard of this condition, LLI. There is no diagnosis for this in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV) or International Classification of Diseases (ICD). I watch little TV so didn’t see the show you reference, Prison Break?

    You have described most of the people who are my friends, 50 of my fellow students I graduated high school with in the college prep track, Myers Briggs type INTJ almost verbatim and anyone with a (WISC) IQ in the very superior range (top 2%). There are tens of millons of us worldwide.

    Personally, I can say yes to all but two of the traits you mention that define this syndrome. Why would a chattering monkey dissuade? I have an inner editor who gives me a sound track of all I do. That low key “voice” or cognitive ally, really helps sort the inventive from socially appropriate thoughts and behaviors. The only one thing I ever thought unusual about me is that I read like others drink water and remember almost everything I hear verbatim. Written words enter the comprehension area of my brain without me having to decode and oral discourse lays itself down like a tape recorder in my mind. Otherwise, I pass for normal and thought everyone operated similarly.

    I certainly wouldn’t call this state a problem. I wonder if you are being a little inventive or putting us on with this term, LLI. The nomenclature doesn’t even make sense. Names should be self evident or at least hint of the nature of the phenomenon. I would enjoy a reply. Sandy

    1. LLI is an acronym, not for a condition per se, but for a neural abnormality. We all have latent inhibition, the brain’s filtration process, that keeps too many extraneous details from reaching and overwhelming the conscious mind.

      Some brains filter less than others, and thus have low latent inhibition, which is the source of the acronym LLI. More sensory data reaches the conscious mind.

      Vey intelligent people tend to cope well with the additional influx of sensory data. Average to low intelligence people tend to suffer as a consequence of too little latent inhibition.

      There are plenty of articles out there on the subject. You can go browse through Google Scholar for more info if you’re curious.

  8. Just couple of weeks ago i figured out that i have LLI. I have IQ 155. I’m a first year PhD student. Recently i have a lot of problem in my academic and social lives. I distract a lot (more than my usual), cannot focus as before because i get nervous and stressed very often. I cannot make any friend and feeling so lonely. I don’t know what should i do. Any comment or any advise would be very helpful and i will be appreciate it.
    (English is my third language and i’ve been learned it very recently, sorry for any mistakes)

  9. Hi Sam, I’m studing second grade in Brazil and my school scientific project is about LLI, i wish you could give me some information about people who have it and professional who can help me, thank you a lot!

  10. I recently became aware of the phenomenon termed LLI, and quickly self-diagnosed myself. I scanned the comments of your central post on it, and noticed that you mention consultation with professional psychologists/psychiatrists on the subject. From a perspective of pure intellectual curiosity satisfaction, how helpful did you find those experiences?

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