Thoughts on being a geek
This is a post I wrote a while ago, but never really figured what I wanted to say, what my point was. I didn’t edit it, now you know.
I’m a geek, but I think I’ve crossed the line between cool and freaky. The other day, I was at my friend’s house and she was using her PowerBook to upload files, and somehow I turned the conversation we were having into why she had to install QuickSilver and setup triggers or whatever. She was kind enough not to slap me and make me shut up, but she said something that really made me think, she said I was too geeky.
Why couldn’t I have seen her try to do something and just let her do it?. I had to open my mouth about this geeky program that even if she had installed, she would have never used. I do this all the time. It sucks and it has to stop.
I saw a lady using MSN Messenger on her Mac the other day, and I almost moved to her table just to make her use Adium. Then I thought about it, and figured Adium isn’t better, it’s different and completely new, and even if she spent a day with it and totally learned how to use it, it wouldn’t change anything at all, she would talk to the same people on the same network. Why bother then?.
Another thing I thought was interesting about that one friend of mine, the one who had to listen to my QuickSilver ad, is that she uses her computer to get stuff done. Yea, she gets stuff done on it. She only has a browser, her mail client, itunes and her chat app, and she’s super happy with it.
Then I realized that’s not me at all. But I will be that person, I’m tired of testing out shitty betas of stuff I don’t need. I’m done with being a freaky geek.
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This has been spinning around in the back of my head lately as well as I watch my computer’s fan constantly run because I’ve got so many applications running. My firewall is messed up somehow from some application I use and I don’t know what it is. It’s bad.
I push software on people way too often as well. I’ll go watch my girlfriend use her computer. I convinced her to try out some new browsers and now she’s attached to Camino but I have to really step back and not freak out when she doesn’t want to update to the latest version. It really doesn’t matter that it’s not the latest version so why do I push it? I’m definetly a freaky geek and I want to step back.
As time goes on I find myself getting more and more productive on doing real work on my computer and it really makes me want to just wipe clean and keep a really minimal machine. I think I have a problem with not being able to do this because of my freaky geekiness as you describe. I’m just obsessed with these geeky things that don’t really matter and I need to hold back.
Thanks for the post. I think this may be the last straw to convince myself to wipe clean and practice better habits with myself and with other people in terms of freaky geekiness.
Zach Hale on March 6th, 2007 12:56 pm