Thursday, July 10, 2008

You Know You Need Re-Geeking When...

LeVar Burton no longer looks strange to you without Geordi La Forge's shiny banana clip...

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

It’s not just the Mommyverse where geekiness is

pooh-poohed (sorry).

Try the REAL serious corporate world. Sure, my husband can wear his Klingon cufflinks and carry the Romulan Star Empire keychain I got him but even that’s radical for the life we’re leading these days. Gone are the days of the tie with the tiny Starfleet insignia hidden in the pattern. Sigh.

I’ve found that the best thing to do when going to an event in CW (corporate wife) mode is to immediately seek out the IT folk. Instead of listening to boring, makes-me-want-to-pour-hot-tar-in-my-ears subjects I don’t usually understand, I’m pretty much guaranteed to find a reason to get through the evening without too much alcohol if I find somebody who can take apart and put back together every Blackberry in the room. I’ve got some lines to suss out the like-minded. Quoting a Rule Of Acquisition such as number three is good for the particular situation my husband finds himself in these days (a rueful forty-five thrown in so his job won’t be in danger!). 255 always gets a laugh (and, once, a ‘you WILL let me know if you and your husband ever part ways’ that bordered on the decidedly sincere).

It’s not just the boys with Jeri Ryan screensavers who can keep you amused. I once spent a brilliant half hour in Tokyo with a top IT partner for a big accountancy firm. On a whim, I wore the Klingon cufflinks to this after-work drinks thing I promised to attend (‘you’re my eye candy’ jokes the Better Half and he wasn’t far off that night). I’d spent the day in Ikebukuro at Tokyu Hands hunting for funky items for which this store is well known – try a whole Godzilla department -- and was not looking forward to what was sure to be a decidedly dull end to the day. Long story short; I wound up sitting on a bench in the coat check with this chap so he could look through the bag of goodies I found. I left with addresses for his favorite Tokyo and Hong Kong shops. My new friend had a consultation with the bartenders and got as close as possible (in his broken Japanese) to an Aldebaran Whiskey for me.

It was vile, but it’s the thought that counts.

IWOM