What am I?

A question is put forward from time to time that elicits many different reactions from different people. That question is "what is a nerd" or "what is a geek?" When this question is asked to me I generally tend to wax on about the different types of nerds, and the qualities that make up nerding, and then the differences (both quantifiable and intangible) between nerds and geeks and how to tell them apart.
This topic came up recently in a conversation and my mind, unhappy with all of my explanations and pontifications up to this point, has been working the answer over and over on autopilot ("if it weren't for that horse") until today when the answer dropped into my lap unexpectedly. I say unexpectedly because I had no idea my mind was working on this particular problem (which you already know if you got my Lewis Black reference).
SO.. here is what I came up with.

Nerd: an individual that eschews public opinion and social stature in the pursuit of a particular subject.
When used without a qualifier denoting the subject, the subject is assumed to be technology and academic pursuits.
That guy is such a car nerd. or That girl is a nerd, meaning she has such a strong interest in computers and her schoolwork she is willing do ignore popular opinion in the pursuit of the subjects.

Geek: an individual who pursues a subject while staying within the bounds of social acceptance and remains socially coherent.

The geek definition is a fairly new take on the word and is used in this context more commonly by younger generations. This is most likely due the the rise of "Geek Chic" during the technological boom of the late 90's and early 00's. This new use of the term is usually used to denote someone who has near nerd status but has minimized the impact on social interactions.

I consider myself a geek with strong nerd tendencies.

GEEK FACTOR 10

I am blogging this on my PDA, in the M.U., using the Campos wireless network! I have about an hour and a half before my next class and no homework today. I know this won't last long so I a trying to enjoy it while I can. I just wish coffee wasn't $2.00 a cup and Tacobell didn't smell so good. I don't have a keyboard so I am going to stop here and read a book until class time.

No one is looking

So I made a few discrete inquiries and found out that no one has come looking for an ipod shuffle at the lost and found. I think this is odd but I also have realized my mindset is not the same as 95% of the rest of the world.

Its raining today. It makes me glad I don't have to walk around campus all day like I usually do. Today I only have 2 classes and they are in the same building. I love the rain, but after living in San Diego for a few years I no longer like to walk around in it. Besides, its still pretty damned cold out.

My mind is pretty much wandering right now. I'm waiting for class to come rolling in like some tidal force of time and boredom that sweeps up all ambitious and hopeful students in its path only to grind and soak them into unmotivated, unthinking, office dwelling drones. I can see it sitting there on the horizon, 2 hours away, waiting for its time to come sweep me up in its inescapable path of mundane droning and dry text based destruction.

Shuffled morales

So today was pretty eventful.. and its only 2pm!
It was the first day of school. I have a carpool buddy because we have the exact same school schedule (hooray sweet sweet carpool parking spots). Unfortunately we have the first class is at 7:40 am everyday except Friday. This means getting up at 6 and out of the house by 7. Thanks to a judicious amount of coffee there was no tardiness today :)

I was walking to my second class today (on the opposite side of campus) and as we where passing the memorial union I noticed a brand new ipod shuffle in the graveled landscaping. I picked it up and immediately started to scan the vicinity for someone who could have dropped it or was looking around like they had lost something. It was still pretty damn early in the morning and there wasn't a whole lot of traffic in that particular corner of the campus and I didn't find anyone that fit the description.
Not wanting to be late for class I had to get moving and I wasn't gonna just drop the thing there on the ground for someone else to find. I put it in my pocket and scurried off to class.
After class I had to hurry home so that I could get a visiting friend off to the airport in time for her flight, leaving me no time to find the campus lost and found.
After taking my friend to the airport I came home and jumped on the computer to check my email and try to fix my IPAQ (I will save that little story for later). While I there I decide to try to find the lost and found location and policies for ASU.

It turns out that items turned in to lost and found are held for 60 days then donated to a charity (I assume they mean goodwill or the like). This brings me to a moral dilemma. I would like very much to see this $80 toy returned to the poor kid that lost it. Unfortunately there are really no distinguishing features about these new shuffles, though I guess he could tell the lost and found guys what songs he put on it and they could all listen for those songs. They just happen to be mostly top 40 crap every college kid is going to have. He has everything from the latest rap song to the latest pop, alternative, mexican rap, VH1 pop, hard rock, and emo. I have heard nothing that would really distinguish this guy's shuffle from anyone else just guessing as to what would be on Joe Random college student's ipod.
I also do not trust the lost and found people to be honest. Lets face it, do you think the student worker they hired (and is getting paid minimum wage) is going to let that thing sit for 2 months unclaimed and then send it off to a charity? I think it will end up in the pocket of the student worker.

If the policy was a little different and I would be able to claim the ipod shuffle after its 60 day hold period I would turn it in tomorrow. Lets face it, a free shuffle is a pretty sweet deal.

So do I turn the thing into lost and found hoping that whoever lost it doesn't assume that all college students are materialistic fiends lacking most basic sets of morals who would never pass up a chance like this to acquire a free ipod, even if it is only the shuffle? Do I trust that if I do turn it over and the original owner comes looking it will actually be returned to him, or do I just put the thing in my pocket and with the assumption that the kid has already written the damned thing off?

"Flacid with rage"

Stephen Colbert understands:



It seems that there was some confusion as to what I was angry about with the iPhone. Most of my rage was pointed at the media and the fanboys who where so wrapped up in the fact that there was an actual iPhone in existence they seemed incapable of forming coherent sentence. Instead of extolling the virtues of the revolutionary interface all they could say was "look at the pretty touchscreen!"

In other phone related news.. I will probably be spending a large chunk of change on my wife. Sprint announced the Motorola Q is now available for their network. I would get one for myself but I do not like the non-touchpad interface used for Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphones or the mini-QWERTY that has become so popular. I love my iPAQ and its tapable surface. I can't imagine playing bejewled without it plus all that screen real estate makes watching movies on it very nice.

iRant

You will all have to bear with me on this one. This has been stewing for about a day now, ever since my F5 riding ass read the up to the minute reports straight out of endagdet's CES coverage.
Thats right, I'm talking about the iPhone. Its the current super buzz topic and I don't think there is anything short of free energy that could take that title away.

Now, after reading about this thing and trying to digest the abundant (yet oddly vague) information about it I came up with some very quick conclusions.

Number 1: OS X. WTF? Ok.. ok.. you need to get this thing out there, no need to write a whole new platform for it, but why call this thing a phone? Why not just call it a mini-tablet PC with a built in phone?

Number 2: A touchscreen. There are already touchscreen based phones. They are called PDAs with built in phones? These have been out for about 5 years both for the Pocket PC and Palm based platforms... and people have been complaining that they don't want a touchscreen on their phone for 5 years. This is one of the reasons current smartphones are hard to find with a no shit touchscreen (that and the fact that windows mobile 5 for smartphones was designed so it wouldn't need a touchscreen to save costs on the hardware.) This interface is pushed even further by the use of gestures for the iPhone instead of the tried and true pointing and tapping.

Number 3: Support for Widgets, Google Maps, and Safari, and iTunes (of course) with CoverFlow, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP, WiFi, and IMAP push from Yahoo to get your emails. Gee this sure sounds like more than a phone to me.. and doesn't Cisco already own the trademark for the iPhone they released 2 months ago?

THIS THING ISN'T A DAMNED PHONE, IT'S A PDA RUNNING OSX!

This is where the ranting begins. The world is seeming to go apeshit over this thing and its not even out yet. Everyone is amazed at the functionality that is built into this device (and they should be). What gets me is that all the news agencies and the world in general seems to be slobbering at Steve Jobs feet for thinking of putting all these things into one package.
Holy shit people. The pocket PC with integrated phone has been around forever. It does everything the iPhone does and more, its also been doing it for a very long time. The palm PDA phone has been around even longer! Look at the current generation. The Treo is a great device. What does it do you ask? Well, it plays your MP3s, it surfs the internet, it lets you read your email, it has bluetooth 2.o, it has a camera.. wow, doesn't that sound like the iPhone?

My anger isn't with the device, it isn't with apple, its with all the fan boys who are proclaiming a new age of enlightenment because Apple has released their own version of the same shit that has been around for years. I understand that the phone is a nice step forward. I understand that it is very appealing to alot of rational consumers and I also understand that it looks very pretty. What I don't understand is how people can ignore the last decade of development or the fact that the iPhone is entering a crowded market.
I know most people are looking at this thing with a sane and rational view but it seems to me that most of the people on the soap boxes have completely lost it.
I don't hate apple (contrary to popular belief) but I am starting to hate the cult following it is cultivating and the way people are putting on blinders to everything not made by Apple Inc.

To hopefully dissuade some of those out there looking to tear apart my argument, remember that this was a rant. I know the iPhone clearly not a smartphone. It isn't designed to be one. True to Apple's tradition of keeping things over simplified so that they don't scare technophobes off they have created a device that is also true to the world wide trend of ever increasing functionality in phones. Kudos to apple for once again answering the call of the consumer. I thing the iPhone will become a fairly common sight. I am just afraid it will be because of sheer popularity and not on actual merit. Maybe that is because I am just used to being let down by Microsoft products.

I'm going to stop here. My post is becoming disorganized and hard to read. I will close with these final thoughts.

The iPhone is a pretty interesting platform all things considered. It is a far enough divergence from current smartphones that it probably won't be competing for the same market. It has alot of things integrated in it, many of which I desire, some that I don't. The screen looks great, it has a large storage capacity, and I'm willing to bet the sound quality is pretty good for voice calls. I won't be getting one. I can do the same thing for cheaper using a non-apple product like the Motorola Q or the Treo 700 series (take your pick, palm or windows based).

RIP face fuzz

The "beard" got shaved today. Once again I am smooth. My chin is cold.
This marks the end of my vacation. I'm buying books tomorrow.

Time to get back to "work"

Well, that was a lovely two weeks. I had a great time going on vacation to Denver and San Diego. I spent way way more money than I should have but it was worth every penny. Why? I will tell you why. The other morning I woke up, rolled over and started rubbing my wife's back in an attempt to wake her up in the only way that doesn't make her mad at me for waking her up. I started with a soft stroke or three then moved in to focus on rubbing the usual problem areas of knots and tension. Thats when I ran into a problem. They where not there. I'll let that sink in for a moment.
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Now that you have contemplated the gravity of that statement I feel no need to elaborate so I will move on. I too have some New Years resolutions. Ok, its a couple (NOT a few). My first is to maintain my GPA. That is to say that come this time next year I still want a B average. My second resolution isn't to lose weight or get in shape, its something much more reasonable. Portion control. I have decided to go back to my old eating habits of only eating when I am hungry and then stop eating when I am no longer hunger. The system worked well for me for 25 years and now that I have finally gained enough weight that I no longer look like a stick pretending to be a tree I can need to cut back on my mass intake. I would also like to see an increase in vegetable intake but that isn't a new years resolution, its more like a craving. (Shhh.. just between you and me, I don't like all meat all the time, just mostly meat most of the time.)

I'm kind of tired for playing Wii all afternoon with one of my friends so I think I will stop hear and go to bed at a reasonable time.