I've always felt....
That turning down the offer to go out and wreak semi-legal havoc with one of the "coolest" guys in school (on numerous occasions) in order to stay in and play Tomb Raider on the Sega Saturn was a turning point in my life.

Also spending 6pm-12midnight on the internet playing TFC back when it was only free to connect between those hours when I should have been outside gallavanting with girls.


p.s. if you reconnect just before 12 midnight (i.e. 11.57) you get TWO MORE HOURS.

Take THAT system!


----

Oh and going by what tinypod said a few posts back, I fall into the category of cringing intensley at my effort but being fully aware that there are infinitely geekier people than me in this thread that revel in it :)
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Thu 13 Mar 2008, 9:28, Reply)

Mmmmm........
and thinking about it; I have a large box of assorted lengths of speaker cable and interconnects. It's always good to have. One never knows when these goodies may be required:)
(Dellamorte Dellamore Fuck it all, fuck it up, fuck it., Thu 13 Mar 2008, 7:15, Reply)

Hi fi heaven.
I was thinking what a bunch of nerdy dorks you all are, especially on the computer front, as I didn't get my first computer until three and a half years ago and never played dungeons and dragons or any of that shite.
However, I do enjoy listening to my tunes and movie soundtracks through decent equipment. I love upgrading an amplifier, speakers, turntable or CD player and love listening to all my tunes again to hear even more of that fabulous detail. Woo hoo. Same goes for surround sound.
I feel sorry for all you peasants with portables and midi systems.
And finally, I love being a music snob. Hurrah.
(Dellamorte Dellamore Fuck it all, fuck it up, fuck it., Thu 13 Mar 2008, 7:04, Reply)

Does anyone remeber that clever 80's invention...
mouse covers?
Handy little things to keep your mouse dust free and warm? (well, I didn't know what the hell they were for)

I bought my mother one for christmas that year......it was a mouse...with a little tail, ears, whiskers, and everything. It was white with pink eyes.
( flirting with badgers What? It sounded good at the time., Thu 13 Mar 2008, 3:47, Reply)

Right then.
How many of you remember the old Lone Wolf books? The young-adult novels that were similar to Fighting Fantasy, but had a consistent story you followed, playing as the eponymous "Lone Wolf"?

Well, a few years ago, Mongoose Publishing decided to revive the product line as a traditional D&D-style RPG. Guess who wrote the only published adventure for it?

That's right. Me. Beat that.
(The Ghost of Stephen Foster, Thu 13 Mar 2008, 2:57, Reply)

Not a geek, but can wax lyrical about PDA's
Ok, so the company I work for repairs and upgrades PDA's. I never knew shit about them until I took the job as the assistant to the CEO of the company.
It's a small company, but the title correlates with the pay, so I'm not complaining about doing other stuff in the office as well as running out to Starbucks for him.

I can tell you the benefits of HTC over the (new) i-mate, ETEN, iPAQ and Axim PDA's, as well as the various different names that each device is known as by carrier.
I can tell you how much ROM and RAM is available on the new units, and whether or not the architecture of a device allows for a RAM upgrade. We are one of only 2 companies in the world that does RAM upgrades on Windows Mobile devices.

*sigh* I guess I am a bit of a geek.
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Thu 13 Mar 2008, 1:30, Reply)

Piano
My grandad, bless him, gave me and my sister a Yamaha keyboard thing to play with when we were about 13 years old. Thing is, it was probably from the 70s, very old and tacky, but it still had a few instrument noises in it, with a few terrible MIDI drum beats for the budding musicians. Naturally, the old school keyboard intruiged me (I still had my Amiga 500 set up in my room so I could play Q-Bic for hours at a time).

Anyways, my sister and I used to argue a lot over the PC, desperate to chat to our online friends as some sort of social verification that we actually meant something in the world. My sister had just taken over the "shift" for the evening, my parents were out and I had nothing to do. So I fetch this old keyboard downstairs and start to prick about on it. Short on space, I had to play it from the floor, and it was most comfortable to play lay down. Before long, I'm familiar with all the tempo buttons, all the different instruments and drum beats and can basically operate it to a decent level. Five minutes later and I'm confident enough to play in front of a camera.

I started with an up tempo "jam" as it were, bashing keys to a backdrop of tinny steel drums and maracas. If you heard it now, you'd probably mistake it for windnoise, but it increased my confidence no end. I took my shirt off, ever the showman, and put a hat over my head...that's right, I was going to play blindfolded.

I was loving it, playing "chords" and what not, speeding up and slowing down, changing volume and that, really in my element. All the little buttons did something different and I was in a veritable wet dream of awful home brewed music. I continued for at least 15 minutes, before removing the hat and speaking to the camera in my prone state. I begin to discuss my influences and how I really secretly liked the Spice Girls. My love for Star Wars came up and after ranting for 4 or 5 minutes about the genius of my music I say in my clearest voice. "Music...is....POWER!!!" and drift into an impromptu vocal rendition of an explosion and the superman theme, pretending to fly through the air, riding the wave of confidence I had just bodged together.

My sister, pissed off that I'd ruined the last 20 minutes of her internet time by pricking about in the corner, got her revenge and emailed the video to my friends, with several commenting on my love of girl power and Princess fucking Leia.

Worst part is that we got the keyboard when we were thirteen, my sister didn't email the damn thing til I was 20.
(peakofphysicalfitness, Thu 13 Mar 2008, 1:08, 3 replies)

Methinks....
there are only 2 categories of people here.

Firstly those who think they have a good post and post it, whilst grinning like excited loons, spectacularly chuffed with their lack of real life but full-to-the-brim virtual lives, and

secondly those who have thought of crackingly embarrasing tales but after wading through endless replies have silently and reluctantly conceded that they have been out-geeked.

There could be a third category of those who are just reading and thanking the Good Lord above that they have a life, but there isn't.

I know you all well enough to know that there just isn't.

Length.... something complicated involving calculus probably.
(tinypod will never learn. Ever., Thu 13 Mar 2008, 0:42, 7 replies)

d&d
When I was about 12-13 ish, I heard all about this dungeons and dragons thing. It sounded ace.

I thought it was like some kind of super computer game, the like of which my puny ZX Spectrum could never match. I heard stories of the epic adventures kids at school had had.

I wanted a go. I so wanted a go. I wanted to be a warrior called Vladimir or something. I wanted some fucking adventures.

So, finally, I got invited to join in a game. With much anticipation I weilded the stupid-sided dice and we got going.

After about 5mins, I thought 'This is fucking shit' and went home.
(inflateable, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 22:40, 2 replies)

Self shame
Everyone knows about the Peridoic table song, (if not www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html. Theres others that are also very good)
Well, i downloaded it to my MP3 player...

I still love it every time it comes on.

I am also trying to find the sheet music for the piano to learn, if anyone knows where it is it would be great...

Also i understand everything on the Big Bang Theory, although im 16, but thats not such a big deal.

That is all.
*W00t 2nd post ever*
(Procrastinate now! It's not opposite day!, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 22:37, 9 replies)

10 reasons why i "win"
i bet none of you are as nerdy as i am feeling tonight...

1 i just got in from work. this is the earliest finish all week. and i got to the office at 8am.

2 waitrose were waiting outside when i got home. that was my wednesday night hot date. the supermarket. although i had cancelled a "date" with a complete lechboy with whom i used to work earlier in the day. waitrose was a better bet, frankly.

3 the delivery boy was... yes... Hot Polish Boy! and i now have his phone number (sadly because i was late. meh!). although he is clearly about 16. no, 17. he's old enough to drive the van. anyway, this has cheered me up royally, especially walking up the stairs behind him. hmmm, maybe i am the lech.

4 waitrose have replaced my fab ice lollies (45 calories instead of the 4,500 haagen dazs calories i feel like consuming after my week)... with MINI MILK LOLLIES. ffs. what am i, 6? so now i'm flaked out on the sofa eating lollies that were meant for babies.

5 the lollies are melted because i was late for my date with Hot Polish Boy.

6 i am annoyed that i have missed america's next top model so far this week.

7 i just bid #350 on a first edition book on ebay.

8 i've never played dungeons and dragons. but the cartoon was on the other day and i couldn't go out til it had finished.

9 i find myself playing games with strangers on the tube/bus. sometimes it's put the blokes in shaggable order. sometimes it's spot the spy. other times it's how many deaths can i imagine for the lemming like twats who force their way on when there's clearly no room and stand all over my feet.

10 all the above is 100% of fact.

gash.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 22:16, 5 replies)

well
Mr Trouser and I are probably the only 2 people in our town still with Acorns... and I'm writing this whilst in the pub with my mates just because I have a new phone. Not only a geek but a gadget geek to boot!
( Mrs Trouser is probably annoying Dave just by being here on, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 22:03, 3 replies)

Winner
Will getting on the Front Page of this QOTW be a "good" thing or a "bad" thing ?
(kitescreech still here, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 21:58, 1 reply)

One man's geek is another man's weirdo
I have to say that I've been really impressed with the wide variety of madness that is this week's qotw. Some of the posts I've read and thought, "Bloody hell....weirdo alert!"
And then I've got to the ones which border on OCD and thought, "Wow! What a fantastic idea! That's soooo cool!"

So my 'fantastic' is no doubt someone else's 'weirdo'...but it's all good stuff.

I've also been impressed by the sheer scale of knowledge (and occasional ignorance) displayed in these posts.

My word, what a broad church of nutters B3ta is!

All have 100 points.

You've all done very well.
ten extra points for anyone who can tell me which tv programme that last comment comes from...
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 21:23, 5 replies)

Deliberate mistake?
I spotted the punctuation error in the QOTW... oh, and I've been involved with a few home movie projects with a couple of friends (not that sort!).

The movie thing started when we were 6th formers (aged about 17 for any 'Merkins out there), and my friend who we shall call "G" started to reminisce about the film he made when he was 7 years old. It was called "The Robbery" and was pretty much what you'd expect of a 7 year old (i.e crap in an endearing sort of way). Skip forward five years to when G was 12... he made "The Robbery 2".

The idea came about - more than likely due to the consumption of shitloads of alcohol - that we should make "The Robbery 3". And so we did. And it was shite, but we had great fun writing, filming and acting in it... thanks to more alcohol...

The more perceptive among you will have spotted that a five-year cycle of film making had been happening; sadly this stopped when it would have been time to make "The Robbery 4", we were all too busy with finishing uni and trying to blag our first proper jobs (not strictly true, we made another couple of films over the intervening years, so the cycle was already messed up, although the "The Robbery" franchise, for want of a better word, was left untouched). Let's face it, on previous evidence none of us would ever make it as actors/scriptwriters/producers/directors.

However, 2009 sees the 20th anniversary of G's first film. Frankly, it's an opportunity we can't let go of. Other friends have heard about our plans and are surprisingly keen on being involved. This fact concerns me, as it means that our other friends are as nerdy as us - possibly more so.

A couple of points...

- The Robbery 3 (or TR3 as we sadly call it when we talk about it - which is surprisingly often) was filmed mainly on location at G's house. The scenes in his bedroom - stop sniggering at the back - feature a Star Trek Next Generation wall clock.
- Part of the soundtrack was ripped off from a Quantum Leap CD
- We Photoshopped a picture of me (badly) to fake a past identity for my character*.
- The obligatory death scene made use of obscene amounts of Tomato Ketchup. Which didn't even show up on the camera we were using. Bah.
- The obligatory shoot-out scene just before the end features me getting shot in the head*; the effect was achieved using tomato ketchup again, and the entry wound was remarkably clean. It looked more like the red dot more usually witnessed on some Asian ladies' foreheads (called a "Bindi", I believe)
- The bullet causing said gunshot wound must have had time-travelling abilities, or proved to be lethal at approximately 0.09735 MPH. Thanks to the complete lack of proper editing equipment (an early minidisc deck, and 2 VCRs) meant that we couldn't sync overdubs very well, the result being that the gunshot was heard about 5 seconds before it killed my character off.
- G and "B" (the other friend involved) have made an extended DVD including all 3 existing robbery films, and featuring optional commentaries for each.
- I have watched said DVD (including commentaries) at least 3 times, and as I type this I can see it (resplendent in its specially-designed DVD case) staring back at me from the shelf.

*Apologies for the plot spoiler.

Length? About 55 minutes for all three films plus commentaries...
(Home Bargains was last seen wanking like a safari park chimp:, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 21:16, 2 replies)

Rocks
I'm a geologist.

Enough said.
(Errorist, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 21:07, 2 replies)

ah yes...
The good old days of the Transworld Games BBS. Downloading Captain Comic over a 9600 baud model took a long long time!
(r2b2 has ear cataracts?!?, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 20:49, Reply)

let your geek flag fly
Done it all and still doing it today. I've been an obssessive comic fan since childhood, have to follow everything, Wednesday is the most important day of the week simply because it's comic day. I love to chat about how characters are doing and how storyline's are developing to people who quite honestly couldn't give a fuck. Love games, started programming in Basic with my spectrum 48k and got sucked in, owned every console and computer up to the ps2, none of the new fangled shite interests me mind, except maybe rock band. Can't just be happy with the actual consoles and got into the emulation scene pretty heavily. I married a girl who was into d20 modern and she got me to the point where I was thinking about rolling a dice to get through my day. Tea or coffee? lets roll and see? epic sad. I love making lists and following lists. I bought the rather amazing protoculture book, Anime: 1958 - 1988 but was so disappointed that it only went to that year I added my own sections. Now I think I have the most comprehensive list of Anime ever compiled and I'm the only one who ever reads it. Ah and sci-fi, I'll watch most everything but love Doctor Who, Trek and BSG. I believe no minute of my day is wasted, I'm never bored because there's way too much to get through, while I'm at work, every moment is spent thinking about what I'm going to do later, whether it's meet friends and play games or roll some 20 sided dice, catch up on comics, discuss the good and bad of Harry Potter with my wife (who right this moment is sobbing over some draco/snape fan fiction) or simply spend it online, finding a new obsession. You say nerd and geek like it's a bad thing!

*oh yeah, Lord of the Rings too, books mainly, but the movies are top, to the point where I got the Tree of Gondor tattooed on my arm.

Next tattoos I'll be having will be a StarBrand on the bottom of my arm (+100 geek points if you know not only what I'm talking about but the importance of the placing) a Green Lantern insignia on my shoulder and of course, when I can get around to it, the whole "one ring to rule them all" around my bicep, in the black speech or Mordor of course.
(Suddenly, zebras Safe and sound for eternity, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 20:34, 2 replies)

Undo
Whenever I spill a cup of coffee, or drop toast jamside down on the floor -- I instinctively reach out to a phantom mousepad to click the 'Undo'button.
( hismastersvice cunting flange-jammer, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 19:49, 5 replies)

denim rosy,
a earthenware giving ministry.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 19:41, Reply)

Deep unrelenting shame
1) I'm a fanboy of obscure British indie bands, such as Marion. I've got all my records signed.

2) I've played Warhammer, TMNT, D&D and Call of Cthulu. And I'd do it again, gladly.

3) Created my own rock and roll roleplay system with my brother. It was excellent.

4) Still have some of the dice.

5) I've watched The Lost Boys 50+ times.

6) Which is about as many times as I've watched
the Matrix.

7) I watched Buffy and Angel. When they didn't show the final series of Angel on terrestrial, I bought the box set.

8) I'm now reading the comic books of both.

9) My memory for phone numbers is pretty good. I can remember my girlfriends mums phone number from 15 years ago.

10) I still make mixtapes. And 'hand craft' the covers.

11) When people call tapes obsolete, I remind them of the difference between that term and obsolescent.

12) I play Football Manager (aka Spreadsheet Manager) on the pc, surely the darkest nadir of Nerdishness.

13) I've read everything William Gibson ever put into print and wrote my dissertation on cyberpunk literature.

14) I literally can't walk past a Streetfighter machine of any sort. I've completed 1,2, and Alpha 2 with all the characters. I consider 3D Streetfighter games to be heresy.

Length? Haven't had any complaints.
(teepee_uk sniggers whenever anyone uses the word 'period', Wed 12 Mar 2008, 19:33, 5 replies)

i've spent the last week
compiling a list of my nerdish leanings, ranking and cross analysing them in hopes of deciding what would make for the best answer.

this process itself is probably nerdy enough, so ill leave out how excited i got buying a giant d20 the other day. it was massive tbf
(salvadorbones, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 18:19, Reply)

Speaking of Excel...
I once worked for Ann Summers in their head office (a really fun place to work and I still get the 20% staff discount ;) ). Unfortunately we didn't have internet access so I had to find other ways of entertaining myself when I got bored. The main way I wasted my time was by firing up Excel and listing out the Fibbonacci sequence (the next number is the sum of the previous two) in the left hand column then working out the ratio between numbers in the second column. Eventually you get a ratio of 1 to 1.618 - the Golden Ratio. I would then take the first 25 or so ratios and copy the sequence a half dozen times and graph them. I found that it looked exactly like a heartbeat like you see on a heart rate monitor.
I actually found myself doing this several times a day trying to refine my graph. I think i've even done it at home!
(Phelpsy Bollocks trapped behind radiator since, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 18:11, 3 replies)

GPS
I take my GPS with me every time I go somewhere I haven't been before. I then process its data using PERL scripts, store that in a MySQL database, and use PHP and AJAX to make it available as an overlay of a Google Maps mashup. It looks like this:

(click for bigger. Colors indicate speed: green = slow, red = "car going fast", pink = shinkansen, blue = airplane)
(chase, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 17:50, 5 replies)

I've been working on
an Electro cover of 'Rock Lobster'...


'nuff said :]

EDIT: Plus I'm never without my Umbrella Corporation sweatband :D
(Badgers wear Corpsepaint it's true, I've seen them..., Wed 12 Mar 2008, 17:31, 5 replies)

Is it just my geekiness...
... or is this AWESOME:

Roller Suit
( Axai is in Montréal, Canada O.o, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 17:15, 4 replies)

Le Nerd Internationale
I went to Cannes and they had the Festival des Jeux in the place where the film festival is held. 'Jeux!' I said. 'Let's go and check out the French nerds!' This is because I have a secret attraction to nerdy men and was interested to see if the French ones could lend a sophisticated air to the genre.

Sadly not. I still prefer English ones.
( thealternativefact, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 17:01, Reply)

just occurred to me
that as far as I've seen, no one has mentioned guitar geekiness

I'll admit that I don't know all there is to know about them, but there's got to be someone on here who will appreciate my Fender American Series Strat with a humbucker at the bridge, in shoreline gold with a black scratchplate....
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 16:57, 15 replies)

OT: Wooohooooo!!
Just bin to do the shopping, and have noticed that for the first time in 7 years, they have McVitties Choclolate Hobnobs on the shelf!!!

I've bought 3 packs, and have rushed home to introduce the missus to TRUE Munchie-Snackage and pop the coffee machine on..

Right.. Thanks.. just needed to share.

As you were people.. Go back to out-geeking each other.
( Humpty Dumpty was Pushed Is unaware of having any limits., Wed 12 Mar 2008, 16:36, 6 replies)

I'm selectively geeky
In that my only major source of geekiness is Doctor Who. I like other sci-fi shows but I couldn't set pub quizzes on them (as I have done for Doctor Who. Twice). As a result of this my friend, who is curating an arts festival (sort of, it's been done very much at the last minute in a state of blind panic) asked me to write a play that combined Doctor Who and the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

This took me about 4 hours.

The geekiest part is not that I'm knowledgeable to include constant references to Doctor Who which no-one else will get, but that I read that in one version of the Orpheus and Eurydice story, they start the tale 'on the run from the son of Appollo'.

So the very first line of the play is a reference to an alternate version of a Greek Myth, in a Doctor Who story, and also contains a reference to Battlestar Galactica.

Click if you're geeky enough to get this.
(thePontificator, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 16:19, Reply)