Nerd is the Word!

A year or two ago I saw a great bumper sticker on a car that read, "Talk nerdy to me." I loved it! I came home and told my husband that geek is the new chic. His response? "No, it isn't." I insisted, "Yes, it is!" He replied with certainty, "No, it isn't." I had to acquiesce. Yes, I use words like "acquiesce," which explains why I thought nerds were suddenly fashionable.

Now, I happen to think my husband is one of the coolest guys on the planet. But, why wouldn't I? Just compare the two of us in terms of high school experience:

Dom: Vice President of his senior class.
Me: What's a senior class? Is that the class I was in for that year I hardly went to school?

Dom: Captain of the water polo team.
Me: Tried out for three sports and wasn't asked to join any teams. Looking back I can't believe I actually tried out for three sports.

Dom: Prom King.
Me: I actually went to prom--don't ask.

Dom at my reunion: "Hey, that's Dom over there! Isn't he two years younger than us?"
Me at my reunion: "Who's that girl with Dom?"

Go Trojans!

Now, I just want to clarify something. I am using high school to illustrate my point. Be aware that Dom is no Al Bundy whose glory days were all in the past when he was on the high school football team. I swear Dom does not sit in front of the TV with his hand tucked into his waistband. I mean, we don't even watch television any more. He's still cooler than me.

So, why am I talking about this anyway? It is my response to geeksugar. See, I knew it! Geek is the new chic. It says so on the trademark! That makes it true and me right. Geeksugar was fun to check out. As I admitted before, I am hesitant to learn about technology, so I was apprehensive about this tech site. But it was fun to navigate and I learned something too. I watched a youtube video that explained RSS feeds. RSS is one of those things I've wondered about but been afraid to ask.

You know how dumb you feel when you've known a person for over a year, perhaps worked with them, but you don't know their name? There's a point when it is just too late and embarrassing to ask. Technology is like that for me. I am so out of the loop that I don't even know when it's too late to ask things like: What's an RSS feed? What exactly does 2.0 mean anyway? Isn't texting an ineffective means of communication?

By the way, Dom so thinks nerds are cool too. Obviously! He married one, didn't he?

The Flickr Kickr

I know it's boring, but instead of mashups or Mappr, I simply liked Flickr's search feature the most. It is much more fun than Google images because of the artistic photos. I know it isn't comprehensive like Google because it is a display of personal photos and it relies on self-made tags. But I still thought it was fun. I've looked for Briard, Jane Austen, redhead. All are fascinating.

First things first

Since I already set up a Blogger account last year I thought I would simply use it to post for 27 Things. I cannot help but think of the virtual world like the real world, with a finite amount of space. I hate to clutter it more by adding yet another blog that no one will use. However, because I am supposed to track my 27 things progress with the blog, and that one has limited access and use, I decided to create a new blog: Borelli's Blog.

In response to the 7 ½ Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, I find that the easiest for me is Habit 2: Accept responsibility for my own learning. I consider myself a lifelong learner as I am an inherently curious person who is creative and a perpetual student. For instance, this May I might just earn my second masters. I'll get my exam results in a week or two. Why did I do it? Certainly not for my job--just for my own edification and enjoyment.

The most difficult habit is Habit 6: Use technology to my advantage. I find change difficult and adapting to new technology is hard for me. Learning new media is not an exciting challenge for me, but typically something I must do to adapt to my environment. I don't know how to send a text message, I have never learned how to record on my DVD recorder, and I don't even remember my voice mail password. Naturally, my 25 month old son knows how to navigate youtube, so I have a feeling I'll be forced to adapt in the years to come.