On Being A Geek

Per Rob O.'s recomendation, I ordered Jon Katz' book "Geeks" (From Barnes and Noble) and started reading it tonight. My wife just finished "Microserfs" , by Douglas Coupland, and loved it. She's already started again. Why mention Microserfs? Because like "Geeks", "Microserfs" deals with what makes me tick.

I loved "Microserfs". Douglas Coupland's writing is personal, funny, ironic, and touching, all without going completely overboard. As a longtime nerd many things in Coupland's book touched a nerve in me.

Katz' "Geeks" is turning out to be a whole different experience. "Geeks" takes the clean-LEGO world of "Microserfs" and rubs off the shine, exposing the pain and isolation of not fitting in, as well as the triumph of being indispensible to a new world of communication. Coupland's "Microserfs" is a novel, "Geeks" is simultaneously an expose and a manifesto, part reality-based television and part Declaration of Independence.

I've only gotten through the first two chapters in "Geeks". I think I'll have more to say later, but for now,

Ciao

--Steve

DW, re: Manila: "We use the tools, we're sick of how awful we are, but we also know that they're the best that are available anywhere. What a conundrum."

image for site

I've spread the template around the site a bit... Now I'm squashing GUI bugs and finding the remnants of old tempalte lying around.

is coming along well. Conversant's style sheet editor is great. The form interface takes a lot ofthe guesswork out of "what do I put where?"

My name is Steve Ivy, and I run redmonk.net. I'm a web developer by trade, formerly of U-Haul, Compass Technology Management, CBN, and ArtLab Europe. My unofficial title could be web architect, designer, and Conversant/XML/R.E.M. evangelist.

This is a test page. This is test content.

Doc Searls has an article on Jabber, an XML-based chat client and server, in the Sept. Linux Journal. Looks like good, technical reading.

This is great. I want a copy of that chart.

Anyone doing Java development and need a good resource on OO design? Try this PDF. Trust me.

sorry about the mess. i was editting temapltes when i broke them. still trying to fix it.

MacFixit, resource extraordinaire for Mac in trouble, has started a Mac OSX page. Here's to all you black belts out there: Welcome to the future, and don't give up!

I love seeing what others are doing on the web. At the main Free-Conversant site, MacroByte has a list of other sites that are using Conversant. Check 'em out! You may learn something too!

Resetting Templates.

I know the look and feel on this site isn't as... "interesting" as the one on my usual site, http://redmonk.editthispage.com, but give it time. I'll be redoing this site shortly, and I may even move redmonk.net here. Who knows?

XMLMag:

"The important thing about XML is that it means that your software can be replaced. Now this may not sound like an advantage, unless you work for a software vendor who's being sued for antitrust, but it actually is an advantage for everyone. Because users have choice, there are fewer reasons for them to wait. And we can have diversity. Not only will there be desktop editing tools for Windows, but there will be equivalent tools for people who use Macs. Maybe someday Unix will be a great writing platform, or maybe something revolutionary and wonderful will come along that no one has ever heard of that you'll want to use to edit your Web site. In the software business you never can tell what's coming next, and with open interfaces the new things can easily be compatible with the old. " I've been selling this idea for 3 years - Dave says it well.

Well, I made it through the night without another dose of Vicodin... I guess there are advantages to not having a nerve. <grin>

"Nate" and I spent 5 hours one night building this... LEGO rocks.

This is a Lego Mac Plus I created some months back. It's been a fixture on my NT machine ever since. I got my first Legos at age 4, and was an avid builder until my late-teens. Even now when I get a chance I pull out the small box of several hundred Legos (those that survived my childhood and that of my two brothers) and have some fun.

mmmm, feeling good.