And then there was Imahara. His plans for the dream date include Go-kart racing and flying in a wind tunnel. And these plans, along with Imahara’s tech cred, got a lot of interest from potential bidders. Wrote one blogger, “HOW COOL WOULD TIME WITH GRANT BE?!? We could tour the MythBusters warehouse, get the inside scoop on the Star Wars prequals, or just build remote controlled mice for my cats to play with. (Don't you judge me! And, besides, the ones on the market suck.)”
The fundraising event in San Francisco was hosted by the Guardsmen, a volunteer organization that provides services to inner city youth.
While there hasn’t been an official report of the auction results yet, according to Imahara’s twitter feed the top bidders who will be joining him for a day of adventure are a pair of “science gals.”
Tekla S. Perry is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., she's been covering the people, companies, and technology that make Silicon Valley a special place for more than 40 years. An IEEE member, she holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State University.