The Nerd Confession Thread

[cjparker]

I'm not sure if I'm a nerd or a geek, or some transmogrified version of the two.

*In third grade I read the Encyclopedia Britanica for fun.
*Which led me to an interest in genetics....in fourth grade. Drove my teacher batty.
*So then I found The Complete Works of Shakespeare......another teacher driven round the bend.
*I can take apart a computer and put it back together again, better than ever.
*I watched Alan Shepard's suborbital flight when I was home sick from school one day. After that I was hooked, and my folks knew I was going to be "sick" any time there was a televised launch.
*So of course I knew the names of all the astronauts, their mission name, the name of their capsule and all that.
*I was one of the people who was part of the write-in campaign to name the first shuttle "Enterprise".
*And I have watched every ST episode ever televised, and seen all the movies.
*I, along with six other sorta sane people, witnessed an amazing UFO display one July evening about 10 years ago, along the Calif coast.
*I speak Geek.
*Lost made perfect sense to me. Big Bang is one of the very few shows I have ever found knee-slapping hilarious.
*My idea of a real good time is to read a book from beginning to end, even though potty breaks sometimes spoil the mood. Years ago when I was an impoverished young single mom, I spent my last 35 cents on a used paperback book.
*I have met Robert Heinlein (a total disappointment) and Arthur C Clarke. (He was still alive at the time.)
*A friend who passed away had some of his remains launched into orbit. He invented bucketloads of cool going-into-space stuff.
*I have never, not ever, seen the split-finger Live Long and Prosper sign given without returning the greeting....yeah, even on tv shows.

 

[abifae]

my dad's birthday is july 20. *brags*

 

[bibliophile birds]

Alright you wannabe nerds - I almost felt left out because I didn't know what 90% of what you guys listed was until I googled them. Then I remembered that I had stuff that may still allow me into your nerd club.

man, that reminded me that when i was 8, all i asked for on Christmas was a telescope. i begged my parents and thought happy telescope thoughts for Santa for months.

when Christmas morning came around, i greedily opened my gifts to find a telescope from Santa... the crappy kiddy kind. i immediately informed my parents that Santa was an idiot because this telescope was a refracting lens telescope and i clearly had no need of it when i could have a much better catadioptric telescope. i mean, how was i ever going to see the Horsehead Nebula in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex with this dinky thing?!?

i think my parents gave up hope of explaining me to their friends that very moment.

 

[k0xxx]

And then there's... this .

 

[tortoise]

my dad's birthday is july 20. *brags*

MY BIRTHDAY IS JULY 20!

For real.

My boyfriend gave me a microscope for Christmas and I articulate animal skeletons for fun.

In high school, I was the president of the Fencing Club, was in Model Railroad Club, and Chess Club. And Academic Decathlon.

Do I get to be a non-sci-fi nerd?

 

[xpc]

And then there's... this .

Funny, but didn't know Dilbert was an animated cartoon - the doctor kinda sounds like Steven wright.

 

[xpc]

I still own all of these computers and quite a few more but these are the oldest.

This was my first "real" computer bought in 1986 right after buying my first house - wife was not happy as she was also brand new and not wise to my ways yet. A 1200 baud modem introduced me to the pre-internet which for us regular people only consisted of bbs' and war dialing.
2 floppies no hard drive, I did get a 20 meg drive later after saving $500 up for it. 4 color cga monitor could render up to 16 shades.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=183

I don't know why but I own 2 of these bought in 1985 and only used to generate lottery numbers.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=508

This one I cut my teeth on with learning BASIC in 1982, also learned the peek & poke commands for making animation. Still have in original box.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=98

I still have this in the original box from 1980

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=262

I took this in as trade on a new system I built for someone 10 years ago, built circa 1977.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=409

I accidentally threw this out when closing my electronics shop, it was the original IBM PC. And believe it sold for $4000 in 1980.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=274

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

you know, i'm such a nerd i dont even know where to start with my resume.....

so i'll just say it. nerd. thats me. totally. and i dont even feel bad about it.

i guess i could say that i'm probably the only one in this amish town who can effectively swear in Klingon. i used to carry around the dictionary in my purse (grades 4 - 6). and yes, i can quote most if not all of the dialogue for the usual nerd suspect shows. them boys on the big bang theory - those are my people. and i've never once be mistaken for cool, hip, nor superfly.

and i very nearly got into a fist fight on a plane to las vegas where there happened to be a star trek convention. some supercool people were nerd-baiting some gal who was going and were making fun of her. she thought they legitimately were interested.... but didnt see them rolling their eyes. one more snotty word from them and i there would have been fisticuffs.

and yes i had a birthday trip to vegas so i could go to the star trek experience. i swooned when we got to the bridge and almost cried when i got my picture with a Klingon. based on the reaction of the ticket seller, i think i was the most enthusiastic fan they'd had in a while.

now i'm just nerdin' it up down here on the farm.

 

[freemotion]

WAIT!!! Who has a "Star Fleet Academy" sticker on their car?

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

right next to the NRA sticker....
;-)