Category Archives: Geekness

How to get up in the morning Redux

Funny how one of the most viewed posts on my blog is one called “How to get up in the morning.”

I thought it a bit of an odd fluke til I read over at MakeUseOf.com that THEY also noticed it’s something people search on a lot. So they reviewed an online alarm clock that allows you to pick the song you want to wake to.. and a lot of other stuff. And it’s on your computer so it will even work when you’re traveling—presuming you travel with your computer. (HA! Silly me, of COURSE you travel with your computer! Doesn’t everyone?)

And they this other link to a  great DIY project: World’s Loudest Alarm Clock

Hope you don’t live next door to me!

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/a-great-online-alarm-clock-metaclock/

Wristphone: Can flying cars be far behind?

watchphonePeople of my generation (including Ted Forth of the comic strip, “Sally Forth”) are pretty universally bummed that when the century turned, we did NOT have flying cars.

But today IEEE Spectrum reported from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the phone to make Dick Tracy proud!

LG has a prototype for a wristwatch phone! If Dick Tracy started using a phone on his wrist in the 30s and it took 70 years to become reality… well then, does that mean we’ll have flying cars in 2080?

Bet I won’t live to see it. But maybe–if i HAD grandchildren…. which I am NOT pining for–maybe I could promise THEM flying cars. Then they could be disappointed in me long after I’m gone.

What a way to start a day.

Why man creates

Photo by puravidapuravida from MorgueFile.com

One of my all time favorite movies is Why Man Creates released in 1968 by Saul and Elaine Bass. Is it animation, comedy, history or all of the above? The segment, The Edifice, is a particular favorite. Checkit out here.

This morning I stumbled on a funny little video chronicling  (less accurately) the development of electronic equipment,  technology and the internet from 1951 up to the present day.  Or sort of.

Anyway I liked it.. and when something  reminds me of my favorite things it’s a good way to start the day.

Check it out over on Geeks Are Sexy here.

Technology is my friend

I am more than a bit wowed by technology and generally cool stuff. I love American Science and Surplus for so much stuff you never knew you needed.
Nun Chucks
In December, I visited Milwaukee on a corporate wife function. But first on MY agenda was a visit to SciPlus — in the snow!

[Thank you Jill, the talking GPS. Sometimes, not so affectionately, referred to as the “bitch in a box.”]

Oh, the things you can find there. And the fun you can have later with airport security when your suitcase is filled with rare earth magnets and blocks of aluminum. And that’s not even mentioning the Nun Chucks! It’s this great little plastic shooter that tosses little bitty nuns across the room!

But this morning I found a fabulous post over at Geeks are Sexy about

Johnny Lee, whose amazing Wii Remote hacks – which turn the $40 device into a digital whiteboard, multi-touch display, and 3-D viewer

Oh, I SO want one of these. Imagine how you could trash the competition who’s just using that nasty old PowerPoint!

And so it goes!

Engineers and Geeks

I’m working up to some over hauls to my website. I already have a “Special for ADHD” page which I hope is helpful for some people… You know who you are. But that’s not my whole target audience.

I also love working with business owners and technical types. So I’ve been toying with making a page specifically for each group: for business owners and for “engineers and geeks.”

Today, my engineer husband explained to me that I would offend both groups if I did. He says, “Engineer is a profession. Geek is a life style.” Further, engineers do not want to be called geeks which is somehow “less than” and geeks see engineers as old farts.

I don’t know if it’s true. But it’s an interesting predicament for me.

I see the best of both groups as people with lots of ideas, showing creativity in ways that would not necessarily impress a 7th grade art teacher. BUT it’s precisely their kind of creativity that gets bridges built, gets electricity to work in my iron (Ha! If I knew where it was!), gets this blog to work so simply that probably my mother, if she wanted to, could figure out how to comment on this.

Wurlitzer snare drum beater plans by W.J. Kerchner

Geeks didn’t really exist when my dad died in 1982. Nerds, yes. But they were different.

Here’s a story. My father played piano — methodically, not beautifully. You could recognize the tunes. But he was an engineer. And so his greatest pleasure was figuring out how to make a piano play itself.

This picture is of one of the plans he made for building a Wurlitzer snare drum beater. He’d borrow a part. Build two like it. Return the borrowed one. Keep the one he needed; one he’d sell. He’d also make up the plans and sell them. I found this set on eBay about 25 years after he died!

Now that’s creative!

That whole different way of seeing things fascinates me. And what fascinates me is what keeps me doing this coaching work with people I really like!

What do you think about this? Let me know.
Am I far off? Or is my husband? (Which, by the way, would make ME happier!)