What Makes A Person A Nerd????

I started a little firestorm over the weekend when one of my friends called me a Nerd. She did not say being a Nerd was a bad thing, she was just pointing out the obvious. Me being me I posted on Face Book that I was Nerd and Proud of it, and requested for all other Nerds to stand up and be recognized. This led to comments coming in faster then I could reply to them. That current status now has 33 comments, and I am sure that number will grow. What I found interesting about the comment was who was commenting. Yes there were a few obvious friends who eagerly jumped at the chance to be recognized as a Nerd, but there were a few people that made comments that I would have never thought of as a Nerd.

"Stops analyzing how much more efficient the star ship enterprise would be if lt.commander data were the capt. instead of picard and puts pen back in pocket protector of her short-sleeved button down shirt. I'm here!!!!"

This particular comment came from an old High School friend of mine. I was stunned when she made this comment because I never for one minute that she would have liked anything sci/fi. I now stand corrected.

This status on Face Book led to an intense philosophical discussion about who is and is not a geek, prompting a few skittish people to ask “Am I a geek?” in quivering, fearful tones.

Since I have embraced the fact that I am a Nerd, and am willing to talk about it openly I am surprised at how many times I have had someone come up to me and say something along the following lines...

"I have a level-62 Paladin on Twisting Nether."
"I went to a Con years ago, and had a really good time"
"The Enterprise could totally take out an Imperial Cruiser"

Sometimes I receive these comments from other proud Nerds, and other times I receive these from people who say almost with a hint of shame.

Its clear the Nerds come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, so my question is....What does it mean to be a Nerd? Post your comments and I will post them on my main site.

Sleep Come Back

Today I find myself tired. Since taking this job I have been getting up very early, generally between 5-6. Now when a person is getting up that early every minute of sleep is important, and if you get woken up even 30 minutes early it can have a profound impact on your energy throughout the day.

For the last three mornings I have been woken up at 5:30 AM by my upstairs neighbor having VERY loud sex. Now those of you who know me well know that I am a very heavy sleeper. So to be woken up by someone one floor above me gives you an idea of how loud she really is.

Now just to clarify most apartments out here do not have air conditioning due to the weather being so cool here all year round, so many people (myself and the women above me included) sleep with their windows open.

Now I say the women is having sex, but the problem is I dont know if she really is. I know she is doing something sexual, but I dont know if its with someone or solo. I say this because she is all you can hear. Did I mention she is loud??

This morning I finally had to say something to her, when I saw we were leaving at the same time. Now she did come out with a guy, but it really didn't look like they were together. I pulled her aside and had the following conversation with her.

Me: Im sorry to bother you, but I live below you, and for the last three mornings you have woken me up.

Her: (after a brief pause, and then a sudden gasp) Im so sorry I didn't know anyone could hear me.

Me: (Im thinking to myself they could hear you in another state) Well I think its because your window is open. There is no need to be embarrassed, but if you could close your window in the morning that would be great.

Her: Yes I can do that, I would have done that before if I had known, but no one ever said anything to me before.

Me: (strange expression on my face) Well they were probably embarrassed

Now tomorrow I get to sleep in, and I must say that I really hope that my morning will be uninterrupted by the screams of my upstairs neighbor!

Heres to hoping!

The Things You Find On Amazon

Look what I just found on Amazon.

ATTENTION: I Can Read

Yesterday I had to go to a pre construction meeting for a job we are about to do. I have been to several of these kinds of meetings in the past and they are always a crap shoot as to if it will be a good meeting, or a meeting you want to kill yourself just to get out of it.

Yesterdays meeting was the later. We had around 15 people packed into a room that would hold 10 comfortably. The Project Manager handed out a meeting and project scope agenda, and proceeded to READ EVERY LINE OF THE 15 PAGE AGENDA!?!?!?!!?

Now this may come as a surprise to some people but I CAN READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I have stated before I really hate having my time wasted. To quote the show Firefly "I can not abide wasteful people" Why was this agenda not sent out BEFORE the meeting, and at the meeting we go over any issues or concerns we might have? Why did we need to sit through almost an hour of this guy doing nothing but reading? Yes it took him almost an hour to read 15 pages, mostly because he kept going off on tangents. After he finished we had another hour of discussion.

I don't understand why people continue to run poor meetings. Do they enjoy boring the hell out of the world? Do they not realize they are wasting our time? Is that how they were trained to do it, and if so WHY?

Thoughts on this anyone?

On a better note only 15 days till DragonCon!

So I was told that we would be meeting at the office in the morning at 5:30AM. If I show up at such an early time, and they are not ready I will have a few words to say. I really hate having my time wasted.

I also decided that Spokane needs someone to take a serious look at the roads, as while I was out picking up supplies for the job I ran into more "road closed" signs then I have ever seen in my life.

On a side note I am currently watching NCIS, and I still love this show. It funny how I got tired of CSI after only a few seasons, but I just don't see me getting tired of NCIS ever.

Small Complaint

OK so I am in Spokane WA today working with our northern office. I was told that work would be starting between 4:30 and 5 AM. So I made sure I was here at 5:00AM this morning. When I got here the project manager was here, but not the crew I was to be training. It is now 7:00AM and the crew is just now getting here and needs another 30 or so minutes to unload some trucks. Normally this would not bother me, but I got into my hotel last night at 11:30 PM, and was up this morning at 4:00 AM. I'm tired and could have used a few extra hours of sleep!

What to Do?!?!?

So I am now moved in to my apartment in WA. It only took me a day or two to get all the boxes unpacked. However now I am putting off hauling all the boxes piled up in myy spare room out to the dumpster. Other then that I like my new apartment. The complex is quiet, and very green.

Other then that I really dont know much about the area. I did a search online for things to do and found several options.

Geocaching - There are several caches in the area, and I do have two travel bugs I need to place.

Ren Fair - There is a Ren Fair going on about 45 minutes from here, and this is their last weekend. Now I know most of you would think that I would jump at the chance to geek out, but to be honest I am not. All my "stuff" for ren fairs is back east, and geeking out is really only fun when you are amongst friends.

IKEA - There is an IKEA store in Portland and I have never been to one. Several of my friends back east have all encouraged me to go. Here is the problem I do need furniture but IKEA is not really in style for what Terra and I like.

Dagorhir - There is a local Dag Chapter here that meets in about two hours, but I run into the same problem with garb, it all back east. I do have two Dag weapons, but I dont really have anything to fight with.

Role Playing - There is a local Role Playing group that is meeting tonight at a library. Now I had a lot of positive experiences when I joined the role playing group in Knoxville and might have the same here. I dont know though.

GI Joe - I could go see a movie but I really am not a fan of movies solo.

So overall I have a great deal of choices, but I am not sure what to do. Any suggestions?