#GeekSpeak: The sometimes random misadventures of @Abby_Cake

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Abby. I met her in Chicago at the #20SBSummit, and this chick is raaaddddd!! She considers herself more of a nerd than a geek - but I think she's just all shades of random and awesome. Oh and FTR, the TNTML stance on nerds versus geeks are that nerds are products of a genetic predisposition, and geeks are raised. BOOH-YAH!!! I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT ABBY!!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Abby_Cake

I don’t like purses.

I don’t find them to be enjoyable accessories, interesting companions, or particularly accessible. I don’t like the way they rub against my side as I walk or pull down my cardigan on only one shoulder. On the other hand, I can’t imagine having a wallet either. I do not like the feeling of being uneven while seated and I fear it would put a permanent dent in my behind.

I left my purse at home this weekend while we are out of town. Already I feel more free. I don’t have anything remember when we leave a restaurant, and I don’t have to scavenge every time I want to use my phone. This experiment in untethering got me thinking: why do I carry purses at all?

Hyper-preparedness seems to be the obvious answer.

In our consumerist culture we are encouraged to buy things which will keep us prepared for any scenario. Jared and I are only two people, yet we own upwards of twenty dishes. Just in case we want to have a dinner party for his entire extended family. We only drink tea from one or two favorite mugs, yet we have at least ten. For that imaginary tea party I’ve been talking about.

We have all these items in our purses for the same reason — just in case. Kleenexes, different brands of lipgloss to match each outfit, a hairbrush, hair ties, earrings, sunglasses, a wallet overflowing with coupons, receipts, and cards. We have discount cards, credit cards, debit cards, frequent shopper cards, sandwich punch cards — it’s overwhelming! The excess weight fatigues my shoulder and makes me feel like a weighted down pack mule.

In addition to purses, we fill our pockets with physical unimportance. When I empty Jared’s pants I almost always find a pocket knife, pen or sharpie, keys, headphones, occasionally bottle caps or tools of some kind. He absently tucks things away in his pants and forgets.

But why wander while being so weighed down?

<strong>Every item we carry is a burden.</strong>

My goal is to eliminate these burdens before they add up. This week, I will take the time to evaluate each item in my purse, determine its worth, and either keep or discard it. Ultimately, I will probably downsize the purse itself to something much smaller.

Think about what you carry with you. What is important? What is just in case? What is trash?

Eliminate the trash, evaluate the just in case, <strong>keep what’s important.</strong>

xx, @abby_cake

#nerdsunite

Want more from Abby?? Check out her blog over yonder - and don't forget to drop her a follow on twitter!!

#NerdsUnite: Suzie Signmaker & #OWS

<editorsnote> So, now apparently we have opened the door wide with the Occupy movement. See! I told ya'll that I personally wouldn't talk about it, but apparently a WHOOLLLLEEE lot of you have a lot to say about it - like my GirlsIRL partner Jenn Hoffman. Here's her take. HIT IT JENN!  </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JennHoffman

“Get a job, you hippie.”

If this is your reaction to Occupy Wall Street, you aren’t thinking critically.

I have a lot to say about OWS, but first let’s address this ridiculous “sign” made by a typical Suzie Signmaker (pictured above).

Simply put, this girl is an idiot. She’s an idiot because she assumes the people at OWS are all jobless. She’s an idiot because she assumes all the OWS supporters come from one mindset or one particular point of view. She’s an idiot because she assumes all the protesters majored in “Bitter Women’s Studies” rather than “Biology”, when statistically students who major in the “ologies” are unemployed, underemployed  or in as much student debt as those who majored in a specifically directed liberal arts areas such as gender studies. She’s an idiot because she thinks that if you care about the socio-economic advancement of Americans you must be a lazy communist left-wing wacko. She’s also an idiot because her mother was probably also a useless idiot who taught her that women should not have careers, or they will become hateful dykes who major in things like “bitter women’s studies.”

But mostly, she is an idiot because she doesn’t understand that her parents raised her in a time when the average family COULD afford to have her mother leave work to “raise her properly.”

This time no longer exists.

This time no longer exists because the middle class she so was so lucky to be part of in the 80s or 90s is slowly being eradicated by the gaping hole in between the have’s and have-not’s. People like the hard working father she describes would have to SURVIVE rather than THRIVE in America today. Suzie is blinded by her own blissful experience, so Suzie can’t see that.

The men and women of Occupy Wall Street are protesting because good, decent, hard working people can’t even afford the modest lifestyle she was so fortunate to have. She doesn’t realize that engineers have been laid off at exponential rates since the 90s, so maybe her father was a hard worker – or maybe he was just lucky. She doesn’t realize that when she was growing up, greedy home lenders weren’t giving out dirty mortgage loans with balloon payments, leaving many people just like her parents unable to keep up with rising cost of even their “modest” homes. She doesn’t realize that if many of these people did get a job at McDonald’s they would still be unable to pay their basic bills, afford any form of Healthcare or make enough money to get out of the insurmountable amount of debt you  incur just to attend college, visit a hospital or put food on the table.

Funny enough, me and this girl Suzie are not very different:

MY dad was also successful computer engineer and MY mom quit her career to “raise” me right too. We also lived within our means and were not in any credit card debt or danger of losing our home when growing up. I majored in Communication and Sociology in college and I have an MBA (majors that are apparently acceptable to her) and I was employed straight out of college.

But unlike her:

I AM the 99% and I know it. She is part of the 99% too, but she is too simple to understand that the other 1% depends on her ignorance and complacency in order to keep her right where she is: Blind and going nowhere.

So Suzie, keep making your silly signs and sticking your empty head deeper and deeper into the sand. In the meantime the rest of us more evolved people will be busy trying to organize all the bitter women, hippies and communist whackos so you can afford to remain stupid, useless and dull.

#nerdsunite

click here to follow Jenn on twitter

www.jennhoffman.com

#NerdsUnite: An Observation on #Occupy

<editorsnote> For weeks now people have been posting on my wall, and tweeting to me that I should cover something on Occupy Wall Street. I, personally, will never ever ever ever evvveeerrrrrrrr talk about politics. It's not my passion, man - I'm an effin hippie! BUUUUTTT I'd adore it if someone DID come on board to cover it!! Insert Monica. I met her in San Fran on one of my many adventures, and Occupy Wall Street is her passion - so now she's here to talk about it! YAYYY FINALLY!!!  </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Monica Aguilar

It’s an amazing time to be alive.  Opportunities to create yourself are everywhere. Nowhere was this more apparent than on campus at Occupy Berkeley yesterday during their strike. I approached this event with a lot of trepidation and fear. What if there’s a riot? What if I get shot? What if I get arrested? Ugh, I was so nervous.

Luckily, nothing like that happened. Instead, I found myself in the vortex of a movement with so much energy behind it. Participants included parents, old hippies, the unemployed, non-students, and of course, the students and teachers. What amazed me about UC Berkeley was how many groups there are!! If you want to join a group that’s doing a drive for canned goods for food banks, step right up!  Want to join the effort to ban the sale of plastic water bottles? (YES!) Then join them in their next meeting. Speak Korean and want to join your native folk in a cause? Go for it. It was truly amazing to see all this diversity and opportunity in one small section of their campus.

The reason I went to this event is because it’s a part of a three week project I’m doing for an internship at an ad agency in San Francisco called The Citizen Group. I am visiting 3 Occupy locations in the Bay area to find out, why are people joining these movements? What does it mean to be a ‘citizen’?  I thought it would be an adventure to talk to people and get a behind the scenes look as an observer versus a participant.

I guess you might call it urban reporting. I can guarantee that you won’t find this on your local news channel. My next stop? Occupy Oakland. The following week will be at Occupy San Francisco. Pictures of my time at Occupy Berkeley can be found here. At the end of all this, I’ll be producing a video of my journey.  

Oh, the joys of heeding the call to find the answer to the age old question; why?  

How about you guys? If you could, what would you want to ask these people who are choosing to risk their lives for a cause? Inquiring minds wanna know.

#occupynerdsunite

click here to follow Monica on the twitter

#NerdsUnite: I just graduated college!! But um, now what?

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Megan. She recently just graduated from SDSU and is now entering the world with a fresh pair of eyes in a stinky economy. In these series of posts she will discuss her thoughts and discoveries as she ventures out into the real world. Hit it Meg!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @MegCorbs

This is so hard to admit, to myself, let alone to the whole TNTML community but sometimes it feels so good to just let it all out. To let the monsters out of my head even for just a moment.

I've been feeling so incredibly vulnerable and down lately. 99% of the time in a very positive and happy person. If I had a dollar for every time someone said "you smile ALL the time" I'd be a rich, rich person. That being said, let me explain where my head is currently at.

I've been unemployed for a few months now. While I do have an amazing job waiting for me in January it's been hard for me.

I have been working since I was 14 and extremely proud of that fact. Plus it helps my ADD mind to have something to keep me busy.

I'm one of those weirdoes that actually loves working and accomplishing things on a daily basis. There is nothing better than coming home after a long successful day at work.

I haven't had that for quite some time now. While I'm happy I am out of my last job, it still doesn't make the whole unemployment thing any easier.

I don't like feeling that I don't have any worth. To see my bank account shrink instead of increase. To not have stories to share at the end of the day.

Last weekend my sister had her reception for her wedding. All the family and family friends that were there were asking what I had been up to. Not going to lie, it was definitely a hit to my ego to say "I'm in-between jobs until Jan."

I know that what I have in front of me is incredible and something to be excited for. It's just so hard to make my ego take a back seat for a few months. 

I need to realize that it's ok to be down once in awhile. It's because of these down times that the good times feel that much better.  I do have a lot to look forward to and my life is only about to get crazy exciting so if I'm bored or feel worthless for a few more months, that's ok.

I am going to be ok.

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Megan on twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a ginger (and a nerd of all trades!)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Layne. I forget how we first started talking ... I think it was on twitter, and then we totes became besties of Facebook, and then we started reading each other's blogs and like commenting and like and like and like ... this chick is RAD annndd she's a ginger. No, seriously. Welcome to the world of Layne and the thoughts that are inside of her head. HIT IT GIRL! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Layne Tanley

On Sunday, the most incredible thing happened. Neil deGrasse Tyson showed up on Reddit, and participated in an "Ask Me Anything" thread. It was amazing. I completely nerded out for a couple of hours reading the questions, replies, and subsequent discussions. The opportunity to have such a candid chat with Dr. Tyson was not lost on the Reddit community at large, and some really fascinating insight occurred as a result. The thing that hit home the most, for me, was his response to this question:

Let's back up a little, shall we?

I am a huge fan of Tyson. To me, he's the new Sagan. Not that Sagan could ever be replaced or copied, but in that like Sagan, Tyson is able to talk about abstract, complex information and theories in a way that is accessible and digestible to the masses. He brings humor, reverence, and joy to the subject of the cosmos, astrophysics, space travel, and science in general. His passion is palpable, and when you listen to him speak about the future of science, from the limitations to the infinite possibilities, you cannot help but sit up and pay attention. So, when he has said before that children are born scientists, that their minds are open, while the adult mind is often closed, it makes me think long and hard about why, and how to combat that.

What he's talking about is a child's inherent curiosity, their need to ask why, how, what, who? Why is the sky blue? What are stars made of? How did that tree grow from that acorn? Children want to discover all of these things and more. The wonder of it all is not lost on them, they are not born cynical, they learn it. Children are also born fearless. We have to learn that if you don't look both ways before crossing the street, you may get hurt. As children, we hugged everyone. Said HELLO! to everyone. Shared with everyone. Over time, we become guarded with our personal space, protecting ourselves from others, we can walk into an elevator with 5 other people without making eye contact.

When we start out as children, we're given a blank page and all the colors of the rainbow to draw with. We created chaos and noise and declared them ducks or cars or planets, met with cheers and smiles in appreciation of our creativity. Pats on the back. Then, we had to color inside the lines, and when we painted a duck purple, we were met with disapproval: Ducks aren't purple. Who ever heard of a purple duck? Then, we had to have a reason to create. The paper and crayons were no longer a staple, they became a "hobby." Something to be done only when the "important" things were finished. Like the dishes, laundry, those TPS reports and taxes.

And what about the possibilities? In the beginning, a cardboard box could be, and was, ANYthing. A time traveling device, a space ship, a classroom, a magical fortress. They said you could be anything you wanted to be, go anywhere you wanted to go. As we got older, being anything and going anywhere was prefaced by "as long as" or "if you do x first, then y." Then there are all the "buts." What happened? 

I'll tell you what happened. Our frontal lobes happened. As we developed the ability to fear, worry about, estimate, and predict consequences, we became less likely to take those risks. Hell, we didn't even know what risk was! All of a sudden, we were less likely to look beyond the box and see something else. We worried about how we looked, how we acted, how we were perceived. When we looked in the proverbial mirror, we compared ourselves to others, to what we think is normal, and what we think is possible. 

Well, fuck that.

Our generation has one of the greatest tools available to the aspect that is curiosity: the internet. Now, we can reach out to everyone and everything. We can see what open minds can really do. What they have done, and what they are doing. We can look at all the ways to use that cardboard box, ways we never would have imagined, and be inspired. We can find others who are taking risks, and as those risks pay off, the risk decreases. We become more confident in our abilities, more willing to dive in, head first, with vigor and joy. 

Now, we can look in the mirror, and the reflection is grand. We can seek out others who are being and doing anything, going anywhere, and reach out to them. Connect. Congratulate. Encourage. Grow. We are no longer bound by "normal" or the expectation of what is normal. We no longer have to organize our dreams and wishes into "possible" or "impossible." Only actions separate us from that which is and that which has not yet been done. We can challenge the norm and discover things about the world, the universe, and everything in between with the click of a button. Now, that's what I call wielding resources. We have the power to change anything we set our minds to. 

Now, the question is, will our generation step up to the plate and ensure that curiosity and wonder remain sacred to our own children? I certainly intend to. Do you?

#nerdsunite

Want more from Layne? Click here to follow her on the twitter!