General Discussions

**ExpressoDan** · 07-25-2006, 02:59 PM

Okay... this might sound a bit odd, but I've come to the conclusion that I'm a geek and I'm okay with that. Now I've realized that I spend almost every waking moment behind a computer screen. I need to get out more.

So what do you do to get out?

**sweetdesignz** · 07-25-2006, 03:04 PM

Party, play soccer, hang out with my friends.

**vangogh** · 07-25-2006, 03:41 PM

Out? What's out? This cave I live in is pretty comfortable. No reason to step outside. Scary out there.

Actually other than the usual hanging out with friends, I also bike and play softball spring through fall. I tend to be a little more hermit-like during the winter, and probably could still use a little more time out in the summer sometimes.

I just try to find some interests that require me leaving the computer screen.

**Christopher** · 07-25-2006, 03:59 PM

I'm obsessed with work. When I'm not actually working working (ie. for money), I'm working on things that I want to create. I guess I'm lucky enough to actually enjoy the work I do

Sometimes it's hard to rip myself away from the PC, but it happens!

Hanging out with friends is a big release. Playing poker is one of my favorite things to do (which is even better when I win

). I also usually go out for an hour drive around 9:30pm to get a coffee, which gives me time to be by myself, relax, and listen to some tunes

**ExpressoDan** · 07-25-2006, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chroder

I'm obsessed with work...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chroder

I also usually go out for an hour drive around 9:30pm to get a coffee, which gives me time to be by myself, relax, and listen to some tunes

LOL I think I've found my clone!! I really like to work too... I work a full time job and go home and work on things... call it a creative release? Also, I smoke (I know I know) but going to the coffee house where I can chat with friends and have a cup of coffee with a cig is a good release...

**ADAM Web Design** · 07-25-2006, 08:10 PM

Get a girlfriend and let her do the thinking for you, Dan. It's so much easier for things like this.

When I need to get away I...

Go to the beach. Wasaga Beach is one of the few left in Ontario that doesn't suck and isn't polluted. It's also as far removed from a computer as I get.

Play mini-golf. I can't help it. It's fun, and it's cheap!

Bowl. Nothing like hucking a 10-pound ball down an alley for hours on end.

Shoot pool, although finding a good pool hall is getting harder and harder.

Usually go wherever the GF tells me to.

**stOx** · 07-25-2006, 09:17 PM

The only time i go out is when i go starbucks for coffee or to the pub for beer, and even then i usuallly go with other geeks so we usually start geeking it up anyway. Luckally i don't look like the typical geek (i don't wear glasses, though i think i need them) so people don't know of my geekness untill they see my linux t-shirt and say "what's that penguin about?" then they get the "linux is like communism" speech.

**praveen** · 07-25-2006, 11:26 PM

see, i dont agree with the suggestion...

u get a girl friend and go out with her.. natural tendency is to look at other girls nearby and you get into trouble with your present girl friend.

instead stay near the computer and nothing of that sort will happen..

i spend close to 12 hrs on the comp at work, go home which takes 5 mins and sit in my pc for another 4-5 hrs..

in the weekend i go out to eat with friends.. that's all and so far it has kept me sane

(i think)

**Harvey** · 07-26-2006, 03:58 AM

LOL st0x, you wear a Linux t shirt when getting away from the 'puter! Ah, that's funny. They have to get to know me for an hour or two to realise but by that time if they're anything like me they find it interesting lol.

Starbucks! Some people love it, some people hate it. Most people like it as much as another coffee shop. I don't get why people dislike it. There are groups against it! Me, yeah I like Starbucks.

That, shopping, cinema, staying in and watching movies, partying and meeting new people balance it out. In fact, IMO non-geeks are worse than us 'cos they spend all their time on Myspace trying to make friends when we can actually earn money online!

Good topic, Dan btw.

**praveen** · 07-26-2006, 04:49 AM

seriously though,

sometimes i switch off the pc and go out.

many a times, i have myself unaware of happenings with family and relatives...

so i make sure that i spend atleast 2 hrs a day away from it.

watch tv, go out or just do nothing and watch the ppl go by.

**ibbo** · 07-26-2006, 06:23 AM

I spent a good decade been like some of those people above. My eyes have gone square ive had coders block and just spent too much time at the machine.

Now I get out as often as possible. Machines can take over your life which means you aint got no life cept cyber life (is that life).

Dropping into the boozer for a few is always a good idea and playing 3 card brag with the locals is always profitable (if you can stay sober-ish).

I mostly look forward to getting into the mountains (not that we have that many in the UK) and donning my climbing shoes and putting my life in my mates hands. At least 2 times a month.

Beets geeking anyday. And been a geek dont go down well if you have teenage kids.

I sometines boot up my machines when i get home (bought a new router two months ago, its still in its wrapper). Thats how much of an anti sit at my machine 24/7 I have turned.

But i suppose if I was offered 100k wage I would do it all again (OR would I).

Ibbo

**Minaki** · 07-26-2006, 07:00 AM

This is why I took up cheerleading... and it's worked.

One day I realised that all the people around me have something 'active' that they do. Steve goes climbing, Pete plays ultimate frisbee, Chopper goes canoeing... so I thought I'd better take something active up. I saw that the Uni had a cheerleading squad, so I thought what the hell, I'll join. Since then I've also taken up Ice Skating and I'm gonna start going to Gymnastics when we get back from Nationals, so I can learn to do kewl things like standing back tucks

(yeah right...)

So other than being a geek, I am also:
- A cheerleader
- A surfer
- A Skater
- A Heavy Metal drummer
- Also do things as and when they crop up, like house paries, trips to the pub, clubs, theme parks, holidays, days out to the continent, etc...

**KML9870** · 07-26-2006, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by praveen

u get a girl friend and go out with her.. natural tendency is to look at other girls nearby and you get into trouble with your present girl friend.

Depends entirely on the girl (woman). If she is an intelligent & confident woman she understands that all men look at women - period. I am intelligent and confident enough to know that just because my hubby looks at other women doesn't mean he's going to be unfaithful - and if he gets to look - I get to look too

. Most of my female friends & relatives are the same way, it's the "look, don't touch" rule. In fact, I buy my hubby Maxim & Playboy subscriptions - he's gonna look anyway, I may as well get "good wife" points for understanding that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibbo

And been a geek dont go down well if you have teenage kids.

Ibbo

That's one of the ways I distract my self from my pc - 16 year-old boy (who likes to hang out here too) and a 12 year old girl, plus my hubby & family and a few friends.

My hubby will start accusing me of loving my computer more than him if I spend too much time on it. My family calls or emails me on a regular basis to keep me informed of family happenings & events.

I also read, sew occassionally, go hunting with my hubby & kids. During the summer we go swimming and kayaking too.

**ibbo** · 07-26-2006, 11:17 AM

"My hubby will start accusing me of loving my computer more than him if I spend too much time on it."
Oh my have I heard that one more than a thousand times (reversed roles of course).

Ibbo

**ExpressoDan** · 07-26-2006, 12:04 PM

This is very interesting to learn about the "other side"

LOL I have been accused of loving the computer more than my spouse.... Needless to say, we are not married anymore. LOL I do currently have a girlfriend and she is a smart intelligent person who knows that everyone (male or female) looks at attractive people of the (insert sexual preference here) sex. She's a great person for other reasons too.

Anyway, I do a lot of stuff she likes to do, but sometimes she lets me drive and I decide... At the same time I get wrapped up with the computer when she's not there and a tend to lose touch with people like praveen said.

I'm not your typical geek either, I look like a normal guy... actually I'm hot LOL, but when my conversations start with cutting the grass I end up analyzing it and turns into something computer related.

I used to ski, mtn bike, rock climb, backpack, everything out door related. Lately, it just seems like I have a tether wrapped around me... Doesn't help that i moved away from the mountains and can't really do any of that stuff as easily as I could before.

**vangogh** · 07-26-2006, 12:34 PM

I've actually lived the other side myself some. Thoigh I was a geek in high school and back to my geeky ways now somewhere in between I spent a number of years living life as a bohemian artist like my namesake. I was a bit more bohemian than artist though.

Spent plenty of time living life in the undergound nightlife of the New York music scene for a number of years. I don't think people who first meet me are thinking geek until they get to know me a little better.

Nothing wrong with any of us staring at a computer screen most of the day. It's what we do. I'm pretty obsessed with working too now like many of us so my time in front of the screen is easily up over 12 hours at the moment as my free time is still often spent working on something geeky.

I do manage to find some activities beyond the computer though.

**Harvey** · 07-26-2006, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan

everyone (male or female) looks at attractive people of the (insert sexual preference here) sex.

Could that have been anymore carefully written?!

I see many of ye spendeth 12 hours per day a la PC. Me on average probably about 2-3 hours per day - which, interestingly, is about what the average American (funnily enough nobody did a survey for the UK) spends watching TV. IMO, earning money, learning and stimulating the brain is better than watching TV anyday! On the other hand, TV's great.

I'd use the term "geek" loosely around here. I reckon webmasters (i.e. us) are a sorta type of geek - reasonably sociable ones with lives outside of the box. After all, other than the search engine and spam bots, who else uses the web? People!

Vangogh - Heh, a bohemian lifestyle. Something I should've expected with somebody with, well, Vangogh as their avatar and username (based on an extremely limited knowledge of artistic culture so forgive me if that made no sense)

**ExpressoDan** · 07-26-2006, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harvey

I'd use the term "geek" loosely around here.

I don't mean to offend, it's all in good fun

On that note... I looked for some definitions on the term "geek" and some pretty funny results came back

Quote:

A geek is a person who is fascinated, perhaps obsessively, by technology and imagination. Geek may not always have the same meaning as the term nerd (see nerd for a discussion of the disputed relation between the terms).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geek

This is one of those written by a "non-geek"

Quote:

In computers and the Internet, a geekis a person who is inordinately dedicated to and involved with the technologyto the point of sometimes not appearing to be like the rest of us (non-geeks).Being a geek also implies a capability with the technology. Although historically,computer and Internet programming and hacking has been a male thing, thereare now many "girl geeks." The term "hacker" generally connotes competencemore strongly than "geek" does. ...
www.infoprovider.com/infobase/g.html

**Harvey** · 07-26-2006, 03:18 PM

eek, sounds like I'm being uptight and offended there! Nah not at all, I just meant there are few absolute social recluses on this board since webmasters do websites for people...

In fact there's a topic by me with a link to the geek rating quiz on here somewhere...

**ibbo** · 05:13 AM

So as anyone been diagnosed autistic or does anyone beleive they are autistic in any way?

Bright sparks (GEEKS to be sure) show traits of autism (indeed many famous geeks were autistic). It would certainly explain away the relentless hours you spend fascinated in front of your machines tinkering and playing with the same line of code just to refine it that little bit more.

Of course you need not be autistic in anyway to be so devoted to your machines.

And no this is in no way meant to be an offensive thread for I beleive I am autistic to some extent too (more commonly Asperger Syndrome).

ibbo