I don't want to make any rash accusations, but I'm pretty certain that someone has been spiking my food with Nerd Juice. A few pieces of evidence, gathered over the course of the past week.
1. Last week at work, someone was trying to test something (a theory or something), so they told me to pick a number. I picked 8.2. They said, "No, a whole number." I replied haughtily, "Well, you should've specified that you wanted an integer!" It came out of my mouth so quickly, I wasn't even sure I said it. The only confirmation I needed, though, was the mortified look on my colleague's face.
2. During a profound, alcohol-fueled conversation on Saturday night with a group of acquaintances, someone mentioned that the universe was 13 billion years old. I then made out a big deal out of telling him that it was actually 13 POINT 7(!) billion years old, and that if he wanted me to document this fact, I could go home and get my old astronomy book!! I'll be damned if anyone besmirches the age of the universe on my watch.
3. In this entry, I was actually considered asking if anyone here was going to the Austin Dot Net Users Group meeting on Monday. Nevermind that this site is read exclusively by prison inmates and confused Japanese ladies; let's get together for some cream soda and compiler talk after the meeting!
It's not that being a nerd is completely unfamiliar to me. I go through alternating periods of almost-cool and then horrendous nerdiness on a 2 year basis; I've gotten used to periodically demolishing any status I've built up through good taste and pithy remarks with a few unfortunate tirades on graphing calculators and a zeal for the works of Gene Roddenberry. Even though I'm firmly nestled in a nerdy trough right now, I still think there's hope. If I were beyond repair, I would've noted by now that my nerdiness could be graphed across the years as a sinusoidal function. I'm only commenting hypothetically about that though, so I insist that I can be salvaged.
How will I bring myself back from the brink, you may ask. Well, this weekend, I am going to administer some emergency rations of Michelob Ultra and reality TV. That won't get me to almost-cooldom overnight, but it will dispel any notions I have on who'd win a fight between Mace Windu and Worf. It's not going to be pretty, but then it rarely is around my apartment.
Posted by Cody at March 4, 2004 06:10 PMIs there anything cooler than chatting it up with a person in class and discovering that she actually knows THE Ben F. Schumin (http://www.schuminweb.com/). Yah, that's right. I know a person that knows Schumin, and you guys don't. You just know a person that knows a person that knows Schumin. You got nothing!
Posted by: Pdiddy at March 4, 2004 09:23 PMI think you need to inform the man himself of this.
Posted by: Cody at March 5, 2004 10:23 AMBelieve me, I'm on it. I'll give an update after I talk with him.
Posted by: Pdiddy at March 5, 2004 05:21 PMSchumin was online when I got in tonight and so I started to tell him that I had a story that I thought he would enjoy. Well, apparently Schumin must have sensed that I met someone he knows and called 911 thinking I was stalking him from across the country. (They can't prove anything.) He signed off without saying a word. Should we get a pool going on how many times I have to IM him before he listens to my story. I know this was only my first time, but I have a gut feeling it's going to take some time.
Posted by: Pdiddy at March 6, 2004 02:59 AMWell, you can cancel any plans for the pool. I got a hold of him and he enjoyed it. I won't say he went crazy or anything, but he liked it. And if anybody was going to put money down on attempt #2, consider yourself a future recipient of a high-five from yours truly.
Posted by: Pdiddy at March 6, 2004 10:02 PM