I usually don’t describe myself as a nerd, I almost always say geek.  Nerd usually is reserved for the hardcore, or at least in my mind.  The word “geek” comes across as being ever so slightly more socially adept and slightly less technical, but that may just be splitting hairs.  In any case when I stumbled onto this post called The Nerd Handbook, I realized that while not everything fits exactly with me, there were a lot of things in here where I was thinking, “my god I do that all of the time”, and “my god, poor Nikki”.  It’s sort of a handbook for nerd understanding written for the significant other in a nerd’s life. 

The almost painful understanding of computers, love of toys and puzzles, multiple points of attention (and distraction)  and appetite for information, these are all very much bang-on.  The relevancy filter is something I am prone to and struggle mightily with sometimes.  My brain definitely has a mind of it’s own sometimes and I have to fight to keep it on track.  I don’t think I conform to some of the other points, like inability to make small talk and the control issues part, but you probably know someone who does map to that stuff exactly.

Anyway, I’m hoping Nikki reads this little article and maybe has at least one small moment of “oh that’s why he does that”.