Geek Mom

I found this website – Geek Mom. Meh. Not really me. I mean I’ve always been a book nerd, but this was a different genre of geek.

Then over in the right hand column I noticed the banner ad. “LA Police Gear. 5.11 Tactical.” As I consumed my morning coffee, “LA Police Gear. 5.11 Tactical.” mug firmly in hand.

Huh.

Am I a Geek Mom?

Well, yes, I have a Ravenclaw iPhone case. No, I do not feel silly. Any other questions, muggle?! (My colleagues will likely recognize this as the phone that played an audio text at full volume in cubeville. My fellow Potter fanatics will recognize this as the fact that my Hogwarts crested iPhone delivered a technologically advanced Howler.) Are you totally perplexed? Go read the books.

No need for a kerfuffle from this debate – geek, nerd, dork… And yes, I’m sure it’s kerfuffle, not kerfluffle. I had this conversation with a friend. It ended with excited exclamations that we both had the Webster’s dictionary app! (I also have the Oxford unabridged version. Don’t judge me.)

In fifth grade I won the award of “Most Likely to Read Every Novel Ever Written.” I follow Twitter accounts like GoodCopyBadCopy, ProofedPoorly, and Grammar Girl with great enthusiasm.

Turns out, GeekMom is a Wired magazine blog. I totally read that.

Smart. Savvy. Social.
GeekMom is a community of moms on the cutting edge. Content will cover anything and everything of interest to moms who are also geeks – whether that means you’re into video games, felting, home chemistry experiments, rockets or electronics.

I work in technology.

But I need a translator. I work with engineers. I spend meetings staring at the white board with a blank stare. Friends and family call me a word nerd, but I would dare to argue that “words” is not a category in which one can classify the white board markings. I’ve understood but a single thing from an engineering meeting. “We made an oopsie.”

The brilliant detective in me was quickly able to deduce: that’s bad. (Connotative linguistic reasoning for the win.)

I spent my educational years on a mission to avoid science. And I’m pretty certain chemistry was sent my way by the anti-christ as some form of corporal punishment for past misdeeds. So there are no home chemistry experiments going on. On purpose anyway…

From audio boards to computer programs (and this blog), I’ve always been a fan of push-buttons-until-it-works-or-shit-blows-up technique.

Maybe I’m not a technically a “geek.” But I haven’t yet discovered the NerdMom website. And I do like techie things – gizmos and gadgets galore.

And coffee in my self-proclaimed tactical mug. (It fits in my newfangled nectar-of-the-gods coffee maker; this automatically makes it my favorite travel mug.)

As my friend oft reminds me, “Embrace your nerd stripes. Don’t go trying to earn stars, but embrace your stripes.”

My children will be so proud. Or I will be wildly successful in an adolescent implementation of Project Embarrass My Children.

You’re welcome.

What a geek.

I know.